Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Jill]

Thor: Ragnarok - 8/10

A lot of fun (funnier than I expected, given the theme) and finally some character development for Thor. Loki is brilliant as always. Valkyrie is a welcome addition, and the lack of Natalie Portman and the rest of the boring humans is a huge plus. Hela makes for a pretty fine villain, and I only realized after the movie that her henchman is played by Karl Urban, making for a rather funny LotR reunion. Also, Heimdall is awesome. I wish he got his own solo movie, because I love Idris Elba a lot.

[dave jenkins]

Pale Flower (1964) - 10/10. Best. Yakuza. Evah. Not Takemitsu's best score, however.

[dave jenkins]

Your Name (2016) - 7/10. Aside from Girls Und Panzer I have no interest in Japanese anime, and I was going to pass on this, but I read a review that suggested it might be a bit better than the usual thing. And it is. It starts out as a body-switch story, then after an interesting mid-plot twist develops into something else. It's kinda Freaky Friday meets Somewhere in Time meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But animated. And with a comet. You could do worse.

Took the new blu for a spin and my first take stands. This is plotted and edited really well--there's not a moment wasted. The animation is first class (it even includes lens flares!). Certain shots of (barely) animated Tokyo brought tears to my eyes.

[T.H.]

Pale Flower (1964) - 10/10. Best. Yakuza. Evah. Not Takemitsu's best score, however.

I would add that Pale Flower (imo) started the stylish, quiet brooding hitman subgenre.

It's my favorite Japanese movie of all time and maybe top 5 overall.

[dave jenkins]

When You Read This Letter (1953) – 8/10. A woman’s picture, shot by the great Henri Alekan using many authentic exteriors of the Cannes setting, the story is fantastic is both senses of the word. When her parents are killed, a novice, Therese (Juliet Greco), leaves her convent in order to take care of her younger sister, Denise. Meanwhile a mature woman with money, staying at the Carlton, is being pursued by Max, a young man out for the main chance. The paths of Max and Denise cross, and although she does what she can, Therese cannot protect her sister from this lothario. Eventually, though, Max decides he loves not Denise but Therese, but Therese isn’t having any. Max is thoroughly worthless, but a charmer. His three love interests are in various stages of self-deception as he flits among them. It may be Max will leave town with one of the women, but not without the promise of a large sum of money attached.

Ginette Vincendeau,  in Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris (2003), finds character motivations in the film unconvincing. However she likes a lot of the mise-en-scene. “Particularly remarkable is a scene on the beach in which Therese, having pursued Max ostensibly to retrieve the money he has stolen, is finally seen to fall for his charm. Hit by a pebble Max has thrown at her . . . Therese falters and he holds her in his arms on the moonlit beach, with the sea in the background. The shot is held for an unusual two minutes and twenty-three seconds. Although Therese’s sudden change of heart seems badly motivated, the shot pictorially has a poetic charge which overrides narrative inconsistency. At that point too, Greco’s hair, which had hitherto been tightly pulled back, suddenly falls loose on her shoulders and she is finally her ‘real’ self, in the more familiar Greco image.” (42-43)

This film has so many great scenes, it's impossible to remember them all. Watching the new Gaumont blu last night I saw one I hadn't remembered: after the car wreck scheme miscarries, "our hero" is questioned by an examining magistrate. The scene is a wonderful bit of cat-and-mouse, with both sides thinking the other is the mouse. After the miscreant leaves the room the secretary asks what the judge thinks. The judge concludes (wrongly, as it happens) that the man had nothing to do with the "accident"--and more's the pity. That bit of cynicism is wonderfully delivered in a cameo by the writer of the film, Jacques Deval.

[dave jenkins]

The 50th Anniversary Blu of The Prisoner is now out (from Network).

The Prisoner: "Many Happy Returns" (1967) - 8/10. I've always liked this episode, but it sure doesn't seem to make any sense. So, the Minders empty The Village, giving No. 6 the opportunity to escape. He goes back to London and makes a lot of noise and convinces "The Colonel" The Village exists and works out approximately where it is. Then the Minders return No. 6 to The Village. What was the point of letting him go in the first place? Here's something interesting, though: I watched this last night, on Friday, Nov. 10th. I had the text commentary turned on, and during the end credits this was revealed: the episode was originally aired in the UK on Friday, Nov. 10th 1967. Just a complete coincidence! I had no idea about that airdate until I watched the disc.

Danger Man: "Colony Three" (1964) - 10/10. Included in the 50th Anniversary set are two Danger Man episodes that seem to anticipate The Prisoner. This one has John Drake going undercover behind the Iron Curtain to take up residence in an ersatz English town where commie spies are trained. Just an amazing episode--it's actually better than a lot of Prisoner episodes. Interestingly, when it's time for Drake to be extracted, British Intelligence sends orders via Section One, the group responsible for Colony Three! And you will not believe the cynical ending. I guess I need to see more Danger Man episodes . . .

[cigar joe]

The 50th Anniversary Blu of The Prisoner is now out (from Network).

The Prisoner: "Many Happy Returns" (1967) - 8/10. I've always liked this episode, but it sure doesn't seem to make any sense. So, the Minders empty The Village, giving No. 6 the opportunity to escape. He goes back to London and makes a lot of noise and convinces "The Colonel" The Village exists and works out approximately where it is. Then the Minders return No. 6 to The Village. What was the point of letting him go in the first place? Here's something interesting, though: I watched this last night, on Friday, Nov. 10th. I had the text commentary turned on, and during the end credits this was revealed: the episode was originally aired in the UK on Friday, Nov. 10th 1967. Just a complete coincidence! I had no idea about that airdate until I watched the disc.

Danger Man: "Colony Three" (1964) - 10/10. Included in the 50th Anniversary set are two Danger Man episodes that seem to anticipate The Prisoner. This one has John Drake going undercover behind the Iron Curtain to take up residence in an ersatz English town where commie spies are trained. Just an amazing episode--it's actually better than a lot of Prisoner episodes. Interestingly, when it's time for Drake to be extracted, British Intelligence sends orders via Section One, the group responsible for Colony Three! And you will not believe the cynical ending. I guess I need to see more Danger Man episodes . . .

I always liked Danger Man/Secret Agent Man better than The Prisoner myself.

[noodles_leone]

I never watched Danger Man, and only saw the first and the final episodes of The Prisoner. I think I would have absolutely love The Prisoner if I had watched it when I was a teen.

[Big Boss 1971]

Snow Dogs 3/6 , stale comedy with Cuba and Coburn , kinda liked it though

[cigar joe]

Cop Car (2015) Director: Jon Watts - with Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Camryn Manheim, Shea Whigham. Two kids who have run away from home find a sheriff cruiser in a wash. They get in find the keys and drive it away on a joy ride across the high plains. However the officer who left it was out burying the loose ends of a drug deal gone wrong. The two kids are having a great ol time until they hear a banging coming from the trunk. 7/10 

[Jessica Rabbit]

I've been watching some 50s Horror/Sci-fi lately. Never really looked into that before. Lots of fun new discoveries.

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).
Them! (1954).
The Thing from Another World (1951).

All three extremely watchable.

The Blob (1958). Utterly disappointing. Judging by this movie it's hard to believe McQueen became such a star.

[cigar joe]

Mama's Dirty Girls (1974) a pretty ridiculous exploitation film starring Gloria Grahame. 5/10

[stanton]

I bought me a The Prisoner DVD Box about 10 years ago.

It is so extremely entertaining that now only the last 2 episodes are left to watch. I think I will manage to watch these 2 episodes this week, or at least until Nov 2028. (but only if my girl friend leaves me (or me her) in between)

[drinkanddestroy]

I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) 7/10

Of course, today people will laugh at this, say it’s a bunch of Red-Scare hysteria, flag-waving written by J. Edgar Hoover; the movie even ends on a shot of a bust of Lincoln as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” plays! But it’s a decent movie.

[Cusser]

"The Man that I Married"  1940.  An American woman and her German husband and child travel to 1938 Germany, he gets caught up in the Nazi movement.  Rate at least 7/10, historical snapshot of the times.