Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[moviesceleton]

Super Size Me (2004) - 6.5/10
Propaganda is propaganda even if it's for a good cause.

[moviesceleton]

A Woman's Secret (1949) - 5/10
Dialogue works but that's about it.

[dave jenkins]

A Woman's Secret (1949) - 5/10
Dialogue works but that's about it.

And a Nick Ray film to boot! Yeah, I was disappointed with it myself.

[moviesceleton]

Riisuttu mies ("Man Exposed") (2006) - 5/10

[noodles_leone]

DYS 8/10

Many flaws, but still some of the greatest scenes ever made.

[moviesceleton]

Rain Man (1988) - 8/10

[moviesceleton]

Vera Cruz (1954) - 8/10

[Groggy]

Gilda - 7/10 - Excellent first half, then the movie becomes a bit silly and forced after George Macready's "death", and the ending is way too contrived. Still, I liked Rita Hayworth a great deal and I enjoyed it for the most part.

[Kurug3n]

Young Frankenstein- 7/10

[moviesceleton]

Born to Be Bad (1950) - 8.5/10
I'm not sure if the satirical ending suits this otherwise great movie...

[dave jenkins]

Is the ending satirical? I just thought it was jaundiced.

Great cast, and a great way to use Joan Fontaine's "innocent" act, which, after all, was always an act (although one tends to forget this while watching Rebecca). This ends up on people's noir lists sometimes, although, as far as I can tell,  there is no crime committed anywhere in the picture.

[dave jenkins]

Neil Young's Trunk Show (2009) - 8/10. There was a special preview showing of this at the Jacob Burns in Pleasantville last night, with director Demme in attendance. I think I've seen all of the concert films done about Neil; my favorites are Live Rust and the MTV Unplugged one, but I also have a fondness for Berlin; I absolutely hated Year of the Horse. If Demme's previous excursion with Young, Heart of Gold, is less than memorable, that probably has more to do with the set list than anything else. Happily, this time out, the song selections are solid, with such little-seen gems as "Campaigner" and "Ambulance Blues", as well as the heavy-rock odyssey "No Hidden Path" (all 22 minutes of it). I take it that the actual live shows, which toured last year, began with an acoustic set, then graduated to full-on electric (the band features both Ben Keith and the Crazy Horse guys), but Demme's conception (and actually he gives his editor credit for the idea) is to alternate the acoustic material with the electric. So, although the actual concert encore was (predictably) "Like a Hurricane" Demme immediately slides us back to a beautiful acoustic rendition of "Cowgirl in the Sand" before the credits roll. It's like you went to the show as Billy Pilgrim. But wait, wait, just as you are about to stand and walk out of the theater, the band is back on stage with an instrumental number, "The Sultan." The song features a guy in a turban banging a gong regularly, and sounds kind of like a Ventures tune. In fact, Demme explained after the film, it was a very early composition of Neil's, done for his "Canadian surf band when he was 19." This bonus track replicates the live experience, apparently, as the band was wont to play it only after the roadies started disassembling the stage. There is very little backstage chat throughout, and no between-song patter; the music is virtually wall-to-wall (the couple exceptions are there for comedy effect, pacing, whatnot). Long takes dominate; Demme admitted he has no patience for MTV-style cutting. Demme was joined on stage by his editor and his DP, and the DP explained how he got some of his more unusual shots: not only did he have five guys with really light cameras running around the stage filming, he also had these fixed cameras about the size of microphones on, well, microphone stands in front of the performers. So you get these really ultra ultra close-ups of Neil (from slightly below) that really make him look scary. Most of my attention, though, went to the music, which was 85% great (I really don't need to hear "Hurricane" again, just as I never need to hear "Roundabout" or "Locamotive Breath" ever again). I look forward to seeing the film again, just because it is unique enough to be worthy of study. Unhappily, the film has yet to find a distributor, so who knows when it will show in theaters--but then, maybe it will be direct to DVD anyway. That would be find by me, as I hope the DVD has plenty of outtakes, maybe even a director's commentary . . .

[moviesceleton]

Is the ending satirical? I just thought it was jaundiced.

Sorry, I don't understand.

[dave jenkins]

Satire is usually funny, but I didn't see anything like that at the end. To what are you referring?

[moviesceleton]

Satire is usually funny, but I didn't see anything like that at the end. To what are you referring?

Well, I think it was on some level funny but because it was so unfitting it really wasn't funny.