Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Groggy]

How about Skyfall ripping off the whole middle section from The Dark Knight? That bugged me more than any plot holes.

[noodles_leone]

What's the rip off for you? The part where Bardem is captured but it was all a trap and then escapes?

[Groggy]

Followed shortly afterwards by an assassination attempt by villains dressed as cops.

[PowerRR]

Don't forget Bond going to Japan and partaking in a clever skyscraper break-in in order to attain crucial information. It's at that point I realized Skyfall was actually The Dark Knight, and the rest of the movie continued to prove it.

I like it though, still.

[Groggy]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - 7/10 - Marine Robert Mitchum and nun Deborah Kerr fight Japanese soldiers on a remote Pacific Island. Middling John Huston: basically a landlocked African Queen, but the stars make it work.

[drinkanddestroy]

Ladlocked AFRICAN QUEEN? Never thought about it that way. But I believe I gave it the same rating you did, or possibly a half-point higher. I figured somebody saw BLACK NARCISSUS and decided Deborah Kerr in a nun costume works well
Yeah, Mitchum and Kerr are good.
There are some legendary stories about location shoots with John Huston (e.g., see Eastwood's very good movie WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART). I don't recall reading anything about the shoot of HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON, where it was or whether anything interesting happened there ... (As I won't have computer access for the next 10 hours, and doing online research on my non-smart phone is not easy), perhaps Groggers - who has by now doubtless read at least 10 books on the subject - can enlighten us about this?   

[Groggy]

Tea and Sympathy - 7/10 - Typical Hays Code silliness: a movie about homosexuality (or homophobia, at least) without homosexuals. That's like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with an all-white cast. Beautifully shot in faux-Douglas Sirk style, great performance by Deborah Kerr, some effective scenes but ultimately undercuts its intended message. Also Billy Jack's in it, for some reason - that alone should bump my grade down to a 4.

[Groggy]

Klute - 7/10 - Works better as a character study/romance than a whodunnit. Jane Fonda's excellent as the brassy call girl, with nice support from Donald Sutherland and Roy Scheider. The mystery's pretty thin though, and the twist ending not much of a twist.

The Celluloid Closet - 9/10 - Excellent documentary about the history of gays in cinema (up to 1995), showing how they've either been victimized, demonized or humiliated. It's based on a very good book, but seeing clips from the actual films makes the argument more effective. Lots of great interviews, from Gore Vidal discussing Ben-Hur to Shirley Maclaine reflecting on The Children's Hour.

[cigar joe]

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) 7-8/10 good, not great, a nice cameo by Christopher Lloyd.

[Groggy]

The Sergeant - 5/10 - Rod Steiger's a boorish NCO who moons over dreamy John Phillip Law. No points for guessing the end. Typical '60s psychodrama, where soldiers are closeted gays and gays are repressed psychopaths (therefore, apply the transitive property). Even the clever idea of pairing a chronic overactor with a costar who can't act wears thin eventually.

[dave jenkins]

Even the clever idea of pairing a chronic overactor with a costar who can't act wears thin eventually.

Worth trying, but now we know, what?

[drinkanddestroy]

The Unknown Man (1951) 6/10

preachy movie about law and justice, blah blah blah, waste of time

[dave jenkins]

The Bad And the Beautiful (1952) - 9/10. The Citizen Kane of Hollywood industry history. With the greatest cast ever assembled: Kirk, Barry, Lana, Dick, Paul, Walter, Elaine, Gilbert, Gloria, and lots of great character bits. Ned Glass has only one scene but it's priceless. And Ivan Triesault (as Von Ellstein--ha!) gives the performance of his life. Too bad the film doesn't have an ending; oh well, it does have a sequel.

[T.H.]

The Bad And the Beautiful (1952) - 9/10. The Citizen Kane of Hollywood industry history. With the greatest cast ever assembled: Kirk, Barry, Lana, Dick, Paul, Walter, Elaine, Gilbert, Gloria, and lots of great character bits. Ned Glass has only one scene but it's priceless. And Ivan Triesault (as Von Ellstein--ha!) gives the performance of his life. Too bad the film doesn't have an ending; oh well, it does have a sequel.

Great movie, but I wish it was shot in color. It's more melodrama than noir anyway.

[drinkanddestroy]

yes, very good movie