Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[noodles_leone]

Yes I saw the light the minute Pope Francis, may Holy Greta watch over him for centuries to come, said the word ? climate change ?. From what I understand they want to cancel the not very #metoo friendly 10 commandments and replace them with the vastly more inclusive 9 Planetary Boundaries. Praise be to Her, praise be to him, Amen.

[cigar joe]

Vice Squad (1982) - One of the best midnight movies ever, and holds up on an additional view. The pacing is almost as relentless as Ramrod. A

Agree

https://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/11/vice-squad-1982-city-of-angels.html

[titoli]

Agree

https://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/11/vice-squad-1982-city-of-angels.html

I don't.

http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=13194.msg202422#msg202422

[T.H.]

I put Titoli in google translate and it said it means pissing in the punch bowl.



The Godfather Part II (1974) - This may be the single greatest cinematic achievement considering there are many that believe that Part II is equal or better than the original. I'm not among that crowd, but it's borderline shocking that a sequel lived up to what is in all likelihood the ultimate Hollywood movie in terms of the meeting of art and commerce. The young Vito scenes have the flow and essence of the first movie, while the late 50's story is more complex, but not necessarily better. Just different.

The Michael story lacks the elegance and grace of this first movie, but that's sort of the point. But in the last hour, this is not the perfectly paced masterpiece of the first five hours of the saga, but it's also unbelievable in moments. And darker and more complicated. Maybe the Frank Pentangeli story should have been streamlined in the last hour, maybe not. But this is one of the greatest movies ever made, and a great watch since it's been at least a decade since I've last seen it. A+

[titoli]

I put Titoli in google translate and it said it means pissing in the punch bowl.

My, you're funny.

[noodles_leone]

The Godfather Part II (1974) - This may be the single greatest cinematic achievement considering there are many that believe that Part II is equal or better than the original. I'm not among that crowd, but it's borderline shocking that a sequel lived up to what is in all likelihood the ultimate Hollywood movie in terms of the meeting of art and commerce. The young Vito scenes have the flow and essence of the first movie, while the late 50's story is more complex, but not necessarily better. Just different.

The Michael story lacks the elegance and grace of this first movie, but that's sort of the point. But in the last hour, this is not the perfectly paced masterpiece of the first five hours of the saga, but it's also unbelievable in moments. And darker and more complicated. Maybe the Frank Pentangeli story should have been streamlined in the last hour, maybe not. But this is one of the greatest movies ever made, and a great watch since it's been at least a decade since I've last seen it. A+

I always had (relatively) ambivalent feelings about that movie. I wouldn't rate it "A+" because the strucural flaws bother me a tad too much and lead me out of the movie here and there but I agree with pretty much everything you say.
There is a flaw that bothers me in the first movie and that the flashback structure + complex storylines erases in this one: Part I always strikes me as too linear. Each scene is too heavily linked to the one that comes imediately before. When they send Luca Brasi, here is how it unfolds:

1- Corleone/Sollozzo meeting
2- Without even leaving that scene: Vito asks for Luca Brasi
3- After an elipse of exactly 2 minutes, Vito asks Brasi to be a rat
4- Short Michael and his wife scene to show that it's Christmas so months went by
5- Luca Brasi gets ready (same christmas music as the scene before which highlights how short the previous scene)
6- Luca Brasi enters the bar, gets killed

This whole thing is highly efficient, but it's a bit too efficient for my taste. Especially since, as an audience member, I'm just a tad intrigued at this point by this whole Sollozzo thing, I have no idea this is gonna be the chore story. There is something very "modern hollywood" like in this, and not in a good way. I even feel part 1 also contributed to the religion of efficiency that leads modern hollywood to avoid even making actual scenes where things actually happen. So part 1 is filled up with such examples (usually without even the short christmas break) while part II is never guilty of that.

[T.H.]

My, you're funny.

Grazie

I always had (relatively) ambivalent feelings about that movie. I wouldn't rate it "A+" because the strucural flaws bother me a tad too much and lead me out of the movie here and there but I agree with pretty much everything you say.
There is a flaw that bothers me in the first movie and that the flashback structure + complex storylines erases in this one: Part I always strikes me as too linear. Each scene is too heavily linked to the one that comes imediately before. When they send Luca Brasi, here is how it unfolds:

1- Corleone/Sollozzo meeting
2- Without even leaving that scene: Vito asks for Luca Brasi
3- After an elipse of exactly 2 minutes, Vito asks Brasi to be a rat
4- Short Michael and his wife scene to show that it's Christmas so months went by
5- Luca Brasi gets ready (same christmas music as the scene before which highlights how short the previous scene)
6- Luca Brasi enters the bar, gets killed

This whole thing is highly efficient, but it's a bit too efficient for my taste. Especially since, as an audience member, I'm just a tad intrigued at this point by this whole Sollozzo thing, I have no idea this is gonna be the chore story. There is something very "modern hollywood" like in this, and not in a good way. I even feel part 1 also contributed to the religion of efficiency that leads modern hollywood to avoid even making actual scenes where things actually happen. So part 1 is filled up with such examples (usually without even the short christmas break) while part II is never guilty of that.

Very insightful post, but I don't necessarily agree. For epics that take place over the course of at least a decade, the plot needs to be streamlined in such a manner. FFC couldn't constantly overuse dissolves or montages to show the passage of time, and more importantly, character development is never sacrificed. I will agree that the first movie leaves me wanting more, but for me, it was in the last hour, and maybe splice back in a couple more Sonny scenes -- but that's not a negative for a three hour movie. That's insanely disciplined filmmaking in my opinion.

Modern movies use these techniques (often) stupidly and in non-epics where they're not needed. And the end result usually means the characters and/or plot lack refinement. It would be like blaming T2 for the terrible consequences of CGI.

When you say structural issues in Part II, do you just mean the two parallel stories, or something more specific in Michael's plot?

[noodles_leone]

Modern movies use these techniques (often) stupidly and in non-epics where they're not needed. And the end result usually means the characters and/or plot lack refinement. It would be like blaming T2 for the terrible consequences of CGI.

I totally get this is a highly subjective flaw. Or more precisely, that flaw is the flip side of some of the qualities of the movie.
About T2, yes I actually would totally blame T2 for the terrible consequences of CGI. I'll praise T2 for those very same reasons, but yeah, it's pretty obvious that without T2 then Jurassic Park then Titanic then Lord of the Rings then King Kong then Avatar, we would have MUCH fewer CGI in movies nowadays (at least we would have won a decade or two). But that's just me. I blame and praise movies for their consequences/legacy too.

When you say structural issues in Part II, do you just mean the two parallel stories, or something more specific in Michael's plot?

Both. But i couldn't be very precise on what bothers me exactly with Michael's plot, I never manage to keep the details in mind for more than for a few days after watching the movie (on the business side. The family side of it is the best thing in the 3 movies).

[dave jenkins]

Bardo (Inarritu, 2022) - 7/10
Inarritu at his most Kaufmanesque. Mostly fun, sometimes moving, a tad repetitive (i don't think it's a smart move to show us so often the metaphorical, oniric scene and then the actual one: why not chose and show us just one version of it?). Terrific soundtrack.

Agree, especially about the soundtrack. He found a way to use "Let's Dance" in a dance sequence that was not only fresh and original, it was electrifying. And earlier there was a piece of Genesis's "In the Cage"--I'm willing to bet that never happened before in a feature film.

It's funny, even though this film draws heavily on 8 1/2 and All That Jazz and Wild Strawberries (and even, for those who are cinematically literate, Pafnucio Santo), I actually think I prefer this film to all those influences. And I left the cinema wanting to see it again.

I think I'm going to go with an "8."

[noodles_leone]

Agree, especially about the soundtrack. He found a way to use "Let's Dance" in a dance sequence that was not only fresh and original, it was electrifying. And earlier there was a piece of Genesis's "In the Cage"--I'm willing to bet that never happened before in a feature film.

It's funny, even though this film draws heavily on 8 1/2 and All That Jazz and Wild Strawberries (and even, for those who are cinematically literate, Pafnucio Santo), I actually think I prefer this film to all those influences. And I left the cinema wanting to see it again.

I think I'm going to go with an "8."

There is a particular track (called Liminal) that is clearly a tribute to Vertigo's love theme.

[dave jenkins]

L'appartement (1996) - 5/10. Remember when some people thought this was a big deal? Now all I can see is a badly lit, badly edited film. Could we lose half of the flashbacks, please? OK, this is when Monica Bellucci's was in her prime, so it's not a total loss.

[dave jenkins]

Una voglia da morire (1965) - 4/10. A prostitute is killed, an investigation ensues. It turns out she was a young Italian countess hooking for thrills. Her husband tries to hush things up. It all gets gets a bit too preachy at the end. With Raf Vallone and Annie Girardot. The water polo bit may have been the inspiration for the mimes in Blow-up. https://rarefilmm.com/2022/12/una-voglia-da-morire-1965/

[stanton]

L'appartement (1996) - 5/10. Remember when some people thought this was a big deal? Now all I can see is a badly lit, badly edited film. Could we lose half of the flashbacks, please? OK, this is when Monica Bellucci's was in her prime, so it's not a total loss.

I think it's better. I liked it a lot last year.

[dave jenkins]

Vengeance (2022) - 7/10. Starring B.J. Novak. Written by B.J. Novak. Directed by B.J. Novak. A "darkly comic thriller" with a West Texas setting and with Ashton Kutcher in the John Huston role. Worth checking out.

[cigar joe]

The Interrupted Journey (1949) Brit Noir - Directed by Daniel Birt starring Valerie Hobson, Richard Todd, Christine Norden.

A married struggling writer runs away with a would be publishers wife only to get cold feet at the last minute. He pulls the stop cord on the train he's riding on with the publishers wife just as it comes out of a tunnel. The rail line coincidentally passes right by his house at the end of the tunnel so he takes off across the field and shows up at home telling his wife he took a Green Line bus home instead of the train (explaining the odd hour of arrival).

All domestic trauma is averted. Unfortunately while he is reconciling in the hall with his wife another express train telescopes into the train he stopped killing 30 people including the wife of the publisher, a private detective hired by the publisher to follow his wife and the publisher himself who was on the train.

A police inspector turns up asking why Richard Todds character's name showed up several times in the dead wife's address book and the dead detective has a note book with  Richard Todd's character's initials in it. Some nice twists.

It's sort of a Brit Woman In The Window. 7/10.