Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

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

O.K., but I guess I'm in a forgiving mood.

[T.H.]

The King of Comedy (1983) - Definitely a top 10 Scorsese movie, and while not nearly on the level of Taxi Driver, it's a top tier dark comedy that's obviously incredibly well crafted. Sandra Bernhard steals the show after not seeing this for a long time. The pacing is great. A-

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) - This one just falls apart after the first hour or so, or once Faye Dunaway's charatcer figures out what happened -- there needed to be actual scenes of her making progress with the investigation. Then, there's no more plot and the excellent pacing goes by the wayside. It starts off very well with a blistering pace, but all the picture-in-picture multi screen effects get really old when it's not involving multiple people robbing a bank. And the score is mostly horrid, as is the mastermind's plan at the climax. Grand Slam (1967) is definitely the better late 60's heist/caper flick. C

[Cusser]

"Desperate Journey" (1942) on Turner Classics, starring Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, and Alan Hale Sr. This is one of my favorite films, made during WW2 in 1942 when it wasn't a slam dunk that the Allies would even win the war.

Flynn, Reagan, and others are Allied bombers shot down after an important bombing mission over Germany, and work their way back to freedom after avoiding Nazis, masquerading as Nazis, doing sabotage, etc.  In some ways this is part Indiana Jones, some ways a wartime propaganda film.  But lots of fun, plus my favorite President Reagan does a superb job as the ultimate American.

Disclaimer: this film is pre-woke, so there are no non-white Nazis, no high power women Nazi, no lesbian or gay Nazis, no vegan Nazis, no gluten-free Nazis.....

[T.H.]

Would love to see this double bill on the big screen


The Searchers (1956) - Maybe the greatest movie ever made, and certainly one of my all time favorites that somehow gets better with each viewing. Pure artistry. A++


Hardcore (1979) - Much better on an additional view, and a perfect blend of character study and quasi detective yarn. The time capsule element of the late 70's SD, SF and LA underworld really adds extra flavor, as does the phenomenal score. George C. Scott and Season Hubley have excellent chemistry, and Peter Boyle is always great. This is a rare bleak, dark movie with a ton of soul. A

[drinkanddestroy]

Would love to see this double bill on the big screen


The Searchers (1956) - Maybe the greatest movie ever made, and certainly one of my all time favorites that somehow gets better with each viewing. Pure artistry. A++


Hardcore (1979) - Much better on an additional view, and a perfect blend of character study and quasi detective yarn. The time capsule element of the late 70's SD, SF and LA underworld really adds extra flavor, as does the phenomenal score. George C. Scott and Season Hubley have excellent chemistry, and Peter Boyle is always great. This is a rare bleak, dark movie with a ton of soul. A

I find The Searchers overrated and I shut off Hardcore halfway through.

[T.H.]

8mm (1999) - Maybe one of the last unironic campy movies ever, but there's also a legitimately good PI movie in there for the first half. While I like Joel Schumacher more than the next person (Falling Down, The Lost Boys), he was not the best choice for this type of material -- and this material totally bites Hardcore in the first hour. The problem with this story is that there wasn't an LA red light district in the late 90's and Schumacher's Seven inspired (the Seven writer penned the original script), music video sex underworld is not consistently authentic.

There's some strange acting in here, which shouldn't come as a surprise since it's a Nic Cage starring vehicle. Catherine Keener is basically a universally respected actress, but her performance is absolutely horrific and makes Anne Heche's character in Donnie Brasco seem completely vital. Joaquin Phoenix and James Gandolfini are phenomenal and carry the movie to some degree.

Even with its flaws and quirks, the PI element is pretty strong, but it becomes a Hollywood revenge thriller -- and not a great one. But it's well paced and well directed for the most part. And very watchable. While the aforementioned Hardcore makes 8mm totally unessential, I can't help but like this movie way more than I should. B-


I couldn't find a place to fit this into the mini review, but I would love a lower budget version of this with Gandolfini in the lead (scrap the family subpot) with someone like Alex Proyas, Tony Scott or Kathryn Bigelow directing it.

[noodles_leone]

Arguments (Olivier Zabat, 2019) - 10/10
The best doc I've ever seen after Memory Video. Take that with a grain of salt since I haven't seen that many docs. But still, wonderful movie that none of you will ever get a chance to see.

Le gang des bois du temple (Rabah Ameur-Za?meche, 2022) - 4/10
4 or 5 wonderful scenes, most of them at the begining. Twice as much embarassingly bad ones. The filmmaker, who was at the screening, says the genre scenes (ie the terrible ones) are some kind of tribute to Melville. They aren't. Some very good performances, some so so, some very bad ones. Some people say Rabah is the best filmmaker working today. The good scenes in this one make me feel this is overstated, but he is definitely one of those who count. The bad scenes show he should keep doing what he's good at and forget about genre filmmaking.

[dave jenkins]

Diabolically Yours (1967) - 3/10. Alain and Senta look great . . . but the story is so stoooooooooopid. Oh yeah, let's try a new take on amnesia . . ..

Twilight (1998) - 4/10. Re-heated Chandler, which, given its age at the end of the 90s, lacks a lot of flavor. The filmmaker, Robert Benton, cast an older actor famous for his smart mouth and good-guy roles. Guess who turns out to be the villain? It was so obvious I wanted to end my viewing experience immediately, but then I'd have had to move on to something probably worse. So I watched to the bitter end. Never again.

[noodles_leone]

The other Twilight movies are of course much, much better.

[noodles_leone]

I find The Searchers overrated and I shut off Hardcore halfway through.

YOU ARE OVERRATED

[dave jenkins]

I dunno, I never score him above a "6."

[noodles_leone]

Overrated.

[drinkanddestroy]

According to n_l, a 6 is a terrific movie 

[noodles_leone]

According to n_l, a 6 is a terrific movie 

Oh don't get me wrong: you'd be a terrific movie, but you are a horrible person 

[drinkanddestroy]

Oh don't get me wrong: you'd be a terrific movie, but you are a horrible person 

You?d prefer a bad movie, as long as it were opposed to fossil fuels.