Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Kapo (1960) 8/10

Susan Strasberg plays the young concentration camp prisoner who becomes a kapo.

The concentration camp depiction is very well done.

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo.

Been meaning to watch this. Maybe I'll spin it today.

[cigar joe]

Multiple Maniacs (1970) dir John Waters, Sort of a traveling Carnival the Cavalcade of Depravity starring Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, The Egg lady from Pink Flamingos and the rest of the Waters -Baltimore acting company.

Divine runs the show which also involves kidnapping and robbing the customers, driving around in a rusty 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, that even though the film is in Black and White you just know it's pink.

Music was nice also.

Inspired lunacy on the cheap.

[cigar joe]

Band of Robbers (2015) Written and directed by the Nee brothers Aaron and Adam. An updating of Tom Sawyer (Adam Nee) and Huck Finn (Kyle Gallner).

They grow up and part ways. Huck is just out of prison, Tom is one of the town cops, Becky is his new partner. Tom finds a clue and a treasure man gets back with his ol pal Huck to try and figure out where the treasure map is buried. Indian Joe played by Stephen Lang is pretty good. Chuckle inducing 6.5-7/10

[cigar joe]

Female Trouble (1974) A spoiled schoolgirl with a bouffant hairdo, runs away from home on Christmas Day. She hitchhikes to Baltimore, gets laid and pregnant. Starts working first as diner waitress, then stripper then hooker finally ending up as a fashion model for a pair of beauticians who like to photograph women committing crimes.

Written and directed by John Waters. Starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and the rest of the Waters/Baltimore acting company.

Mindless entertainment with some bizarre sequences. 5-6/10.

Currently ON Demand on TCM.

[XhcnoirX]

Some movies I watched recently... The Whisters in a cinema, the rest on blu-ray or DVD.

The Whistlers (2019): A police officer gets drawn into a gang by a femme fatale, to free her boyfriend from the police as well as find 2 mattresses full of cash. The gang operates out of a Spanish island and communicate by way of whistling (Silbo Gomero), which he first has to learn. Romanian neo-noir that works well and contains tons of references to classic movies. 7+/10

Murder Is My Business (1946): The first PRC Michael Shayne movie starring Hugh Beaumont. Shayne is asked by a wealthy old lady to investigative threatening letters she's been receiving. Soon after she's murdered and aside from the woman's family who despised her, Shayne also becomes a suspect. Not as entertaining as the Lloyd Nolan Shayne movies but pretty decent for a PRC movie. 6/10

The Third Secret (1964): A psychiatrist commits suicide but daughter Pamela Franklin believes its murder and together with one of his patients, Stephen Boyd, starts to investigate. Before too long Boyd isn't sure anymore it wasn't him who killed the man. Slow-burn thriller that picks up pace in the last act leading to a tragic (but not too surprising) conclusion. Franklin is fantastic, Boyd is miscast. 7/10

The Black Book aka Reign Of Terror (1949): Richard Basehart intends to grab absolute power during the French Revolution, while Robert Cummings and Arlene Dahl attempt to stop him. Not the strongest Anthony Mann/John Alton collaboration but it's still gorgeous to look at and highly entertaining. 7/10

[PowerRR]

Four more obscure Altmans:

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) - 7.5/10 (overlooked quasi-comedy)
Fool for Love (1985) - 8.5/10 (one of Altman's best movie-plays, especially as written by Sam Shepard)
The Laundromat (1985) - 8/10 (might be higher but the VHS rip I watched was piss poor quality)
Beyond Therapy (1987) - 4/10 (rightfully his worst movie, though more entertaining than the massively boring Gosford Park)

and -

1917 (2019) - 7/10. Pretty but shallow.

New York Stories (1987) - 5/10
Life Lessons - 8/10
Life Without Zoe - 2/10
Oedipus Wrecks - 6.5/10

Coppola's segment is soooo, so so bad.

[dave jenkins]

Any Number Can Win / Mélodie en sous-sol (1963) - 7/10. Gabin and Delon together again for the first time--and it's a caper film! It takes a while to get going, but once in gear the movie really hums along. Dinner jackets and a Cannes casino, nicely filmed. Great ironic ending, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYjt-yX7jlc

I like this more and more. I'm thinking now it gets a "9." The Youtube link is now busted, but you can check it out here: http://rarefilmm.com/2018/10/melodie-en-sous-sol-1963/

[drinkanddestroy]

Rewatched Scarface (1932) and The Roaring Twenties (1939).

The former (approximately 4th viewing) suffers from the staticity (is that a word?)of the early talking pictures. The latter (I have probably seen it around 6-8 times) is a terrific movie.

[noodles_leone]

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 9/10
First viewing in years. Among all the great movies I've seen, it's probably the most flawed. The best scene is still Knocking on Heaven's Door.

Hateful 8 8/10
It's growing on me.

L'Empereur de Paris 6/10
Terrible dialogues and a certain kind of made for TV feel to the whole thing... but as long as it feels made for the US TV and not the french TV it's still ok. Some good action, and a very nice attention to the reconstition of Vidocq's paris. I like the way they deal with France's complex history of that time and show that the monarchy, the Empire and different kinds of revolutions are all part of today's France (instead of judging everything by today's moral compass). It isn't the kind of vision of history you usually get in mainstream movies.

[noodles_leone]

The Irishman 10/10
Second full viewing. It was 2019’s masterpiece, and undoubtedly one of the greatest films of the decade.

[drinkanddestroy]

The Irishman 10/10
Second full viewing. It was 2019’s masterpiece, and undoubtedly one of the greatest films of the decade.

Flawed masterpiece or masterpiece masterpiece? (IMO it is neither)

[noodles_leone]

Of course it’s flawed (for a start: the deaging), but not half as flawed as a first viewing could make you think. On a second watch, almost everything that happens during the first 2 hours (which are really an introduction: the movie actually starts around the 1h50-2h mark) makes total sense, including the weird pacing. Almost all the editing choices made sense to me.

[cigar joe]

Czlowiek na torze ( aka Man on the Tracks)  (1957) Commie Railroad Noir - directed Andrzej Munk (Eroica (1958)). The film was written by Andrzej Munk and Jerzy Stefan Stawinski and based on Jerzy Stefan Stawinski's story.

The film functions as a mystery as the railroad official try to figure out the facts of the incident. The film also is a fascinating study of life and social changes behind the iron curtain, along with being a nice eye opener into the lives of railway workers and their important and very specific functions. The films flashback structure will remind you of Rashomon, its American remake The Outrage, Citizen Kane, and many, many Classic Film Noir.

A Masterpiece 10/10

Watch (in Polish with English subtitles) a good print here - https://rarefilmm.com/2019/11/czlowiek-na-torze-1957/

[dave jenkins]

A Masterpiece 10/10

Watch (in Polish with English subtitles) a good print here - https://rarefilmm.com/2019/11/czlowiek-na-torze-1957/

Wow, thanks, CJ. I'll check it out.

UPDATE: Just watched it and Holy Shit, what a great film. Not like that crap they make these days. Thank you, CJ.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[cigar joe]

Wow, thanks, CJ. I'll check it out.

UPDATE: Just watched it and Holy Shit, what a great film. Not like that crap they make these days. Thank you, CJ.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Well if you liked that you should definitely check out another that I liked a lot.

The Red Lanterns with Tzenni Karezi (below)



https://rarefilmm.com/2019/12/ta-kokkina-fanaria-1963/