Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Return to Sender (2022)- 7/10. An interesting update on Repulsion, and only 18 minutes long! https://vimeo.com/623987708?

[noodles_leone]

Pacifiction (Serra, 2022) 9/10
That would be a 10 if it was 30min shorter. Don?t miss it. And see it on the biggest screen you can find. If you are a Jewish wherewolf though don?t waste your time you are gonna hate it for all the reasons you can think of.

[dave jenkins]

Pacifiction (Serra, 2022) 9/10
That would be a 10 if it was 30min shorter. Don?t miss it. And see it on the biggest screen you can find. If you are a Jewish wherewolf though don?t waste your time you are gonna hate it for all the reasons you can think of.

Sounds awful.

[dave jenkins]

The Drowning Pool (1975) - An objectively better plot than Harper, or at the very least, a much more thought out conclusion to said plot. While part of me prefers the colorful mid 60's poppy charm of Harper, this is the better movie, and that water sequence is pretty damn clever when graded on a curve of all the 'James Bond's in danger, how does he escape' sequences. Great cast all around, Murray Hamilton is great as usual. B

According to Glenn Erickson*, the Paul Newman film Twilight works as an unofficial final Harper film, with Paul Newman playing a PI with a different name. I've never seen it, but it is coming to blu-ray soon from KL. Reviews of the disc are starting to come in: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-tm-twilight-without-vampires-in-blu-ray.377716/

*Maybe Eddie Muller

[cigar joe]

According to Glenn Erickson*, the Paul Newman film Twilight works as an unofficial final Harper film, with Paul Newman playing a PI with a different name. I've never seen it, but it is coming to blu-ray soon from KL. Reviews of the disc are starting to come in: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-tm-twilight-without-vampires-in-blu-ray.377716/

*Maybe Eddie Muller

I found it visually uninteresting and boring.

[noodles_leone]

Sounds awful.

It's great though. And it's a neo-noir (in case somebody else is reading).

[T.H.]

According to Glenn Erickson*, the Paul Newman film Twilight works as an unofficial final Harper film, with Paul Newman playing a PI with a different name. I've never seen it, but it is coming to blu-ray soon from KL. Reviews of the disc are starting to come in: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-tm-twilight-without-vampires-in-blu-ray.377716/

*Maybe Eddie Muller

Sold. Gene Hackman is also in it. Plus Susan Sarandon and Reese Witherspoon, who was low key great back then. Even if I agree with CJ, it's still worth a shot.

It's great though. And it's a neo-noir (in case somebody else is reading).

Not sold. You're too pro contemporary cinema while I'm too anti. Can't see me liking this.

[cigar joe]

It's great though. And it's a neo-noir (in case somebody else is reading).

I'll check it out

[drinkanddestroy]

I saw Bertrand Tavernier's My Journey Through French Cinema (2016) on TCM. Enjoyable watch.

I did not know that Jean Renoir had spoken in favor of the Vichy government. According to Tavernier, there is a letter Renoir wrote to a Vichy official, not sure if German or French, in which Renoir bemoans the proliferation of Jews in the movie industry (Tavernier never says the word "Jews," he uses a word like "them" but it's obvious who he is talking about). Also, either Tavernier or one of the others in this movie says that before Renoir went to America in 1940, he said that when he arrives in America he is going to try to convince authorities of the merits of the Vichy government. No discussion of whether he actually tried doing that.

[dave jenkins]

Richard Stark Month continues!

QT mentions him in his new book. Eddie Muller talked about him in a recent podcast. titoli highlighted him in a new thread on the board. OK, I'll play. Films based on Stark books:

The Split (1968) - 7/10. Jim Brown is getting his crew together again . . . for the very first time! He's got Borgnine, Klugman, Sutherland, and Oates! The mission? Boosting gate and concession receipts at the Coliseum during a Rams game! OK, the heist isn't such a problem . . . the big challenge is . . . (can you guess???) the split! Look out for dirty cop Gene Hackman! (What's his play?) And how much skin is Diahnn Carroll gonna reveal ? (SPOILER: not much). titoli passed along the link (thanks, man) and I'll put it here as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgm9QUsKB2M

[noodles_leone]

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021) - I don't know, 6/10?
The best way to describe it is to say it feels 100% like a Park Chan-wook movie. Is it good? Of course not. Park Chan-wook don't make good movies, I suspect he isn't even trying. He's mostly stitching together lots of stuff. Lots of different tons, different scenes, different movies and putting a strong (although ALWAYS very much disputable) art direction to tie the room together. I love art direction in movies, but cinema isn't about art direction. So Nightmare Alley is this. Tons of different stuff put together in the same pan and then cooked for 2 hours. The violence is great. But feels totally out of place. Half the movie feels like a Netflix adaptation of some obscure 1950's noir book. Which isn't a compliment. Some scenes feel like real cinema. The good thing about that method (which, like I already stated 3 times, never ends up making an actual cinema movie) is that most of the time you have no idea what's coming next because the movie could go any direction. Unfortunately, most often than not, "any direction" ends up being one of the clich? options. So you kind of always know where things (relationships, storylines...) are going to end, you just don't know what the movie is going to do with it. In 2 weeks I'll probably have a couple of scenes left in mind and the rest of Nightmare Alley is gonna be lost in time likes tears in the rain.

Zai Zai Zai Zai (Fran?ois Desagnat, 2020) - 4/10
When you read the comic book it's pretty obvious this would make a terrible movie. It ends up making a bad movie, not a terrible one. So it's a win, I guess?

Wind River (Taylor Sheridan, 2017) - 8/10
Hadn't seen it in a while. It's the typical 4/10 movie that is saved by a cool setting (+2) and a great sequence (+2) toward the end. That would have been such a great movie with a better director.

[dave jenkins]

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021) - I don't know, 6/10?
The best way to describe it is to say it feels 100% like a Park Chan-wook movie. Is it good? Of course not. Park Chan-wook don't make good movies, I suspect he isn't even trying. He's mostly stitching together lots of stuff. Lots of different tons, different scenes, different movies and putting a strong (although ALWAYS very much disputable) art direction to tie the room together. I love art direction in movies, but cinema isn't about art direction. So Nightmare Alley is this. Tons of different stuff put together in the same pan and then cooked for 2 hours. The violence is great. But feels totally out of place. Half the movie feels like a Netflix adaptation of some obscure 1950's noir book. Which isn't a compliment. Some scenes feel like real cinema. The good thing about that method (which, like I already stated 3 times, never ends up making an actual cinema movie) is that most of the time you have no idea what's coming next because the movie could go any direction. Unfortunately, most often than not, "any direction" ends up being one of the clich? options. So you kind of always know where things (relationships, storylines...) are going to end, you just don't know what the movie is going to do with it. In 2 weeks I'll probably have a couple of scenes left in mind and the rest of Nightmare Alley is gonna be lost in time likes tears in the rain.

You have a good take on this. Have you ever seen the original?

[noodles_leone]

You have a good take on this. Have you ever seen the original?

I haven't! Should I?

A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor, 2014) - 8/10
Very good film about capitalism. What holds it from becoming the masterpiece it's trying to be:
- the action scene lack intensity. They have good ideas and are pretty clean but they aren't as strong as they should be. It's a shame because they should balance out the overall coldness of the film. Yet, they don't. Unsurprisingly, Chandor is more at ease with dialogue scenes with a genre inspired cinematography than with actual genre scenes. The best one is the shootout on the highway, and mostly because of the dialogues.
- some stuff is too much on the nose (the heavy handed symbolism of the blood/oil in the end) or too clearly stated yet not demonstrated (Chastain's character stating that everything Isaac did was enabled by her and her father's shady actions).
Needless to say, Drink is still 100% wrong about the movie's gorgeous cinematography.

[dave jenkins]

I haven't! Should I?

Well, I'd like to hear them compared by you. In terms of story, they are very similar. But visually they are quite different.

[dave jenkins]

I haven't! Should I?

A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor, 2014) - 8/10
Very good film about capitalism. What holds it from becoming the masterpiece it's trying to be:
- the action scene lack intensity. They have good ideas and are pretty clean but they aren't as strong as they should be. It's a shame because they should balance out the overall coldness of the film. Yet, they don't. Unsurprisingly, Chandor is more at ease with dialogue scenes with a genre inspired cinematography than with actual genre scenes. The best one is the shootout on the highway, and mostly because of the dialogues.
- some stuff is too much on the nose (the heavy handed symbolism of the blood/oil in the end) or too clearly stated yet not demonstrated (Chastain's character stating that everything Isaac did was enabled by her and her father's shady actions).
Needless to say, Drink is still 100% wrong about the movie's gorgeous cinematography.

I like what THIS noodles_leone said better:

Hum, I'd argue that the emotional weaknesses of that film mirror quite precisely its intellectual ones. I had a second watch the other day (I got it for 5 bucks on iTunes) that pretty much confirmed the impression I had (I haven't read my initial review though so I may be contradicting myself). Still, there is no denying that some events/characters in the film are only there for intellectual purposes instead of servicing a good story.