What movies did you see last week? (6/17-6/23)

Villain (2010) - This was a very compelling crime film, humane and deeply affecting, that was quite gripping from start to finish, even though some overly melodramatic parts brought it down a little. Another very good film from Lee Sang-il. - 7.5/10

The Town (1997) - Ceylan's first film, while quite interesting, does feel somewhat slight and incomplete. - 7/10

Salome (2013) - An interesting experiment by Pacino, although I didn't think it was a very successful one. Also, something in his performance here just feels off. Chastain is incredible though. Possibly her best performance. - 6/10

Leon: The Professional (1994) - I watched this film as well last week and I agree with you that the writing and tone was all over the place. I also thought that it had a slight pedophilic vibe that I found incredibely unpleasant. Apart from some amusing moments, I didn't like this at all. - 3/10

Chastain's best performance imo!! Just flawless!!!!

As for Leon, I really like this film. Yes, a slight pedophilic vibe (or not that slight) but a nice story and great performances by Oldman, Reno and most of all Portman. 

Really surprised you guys hated it and that you had never seen this before (if that's the case).

Glad you think Salome was Chastain's best performance. It's the pinnacle of a career full of great performances. She's definitely among the best actresses working today. 

As for Leon, I had only watched parts of it before, never the whole thing. And I'm not a fan of Luc Besson at all, that's why I postponed watching it all until last week. I think it might actually be my least favorite from him. It just didn't work for me at all. I still consider The Big Blue as Besson's only (very) good film.

The Nun (2018) 4/10

The Other Side of the Wind (2018) 9/10

Child’s Play (2019) 7.5/10

Toy Story 4 (2019) 9/10

Shoplifters (2018) 7/10

The Guilty (2018) 9/10

Lucky (2017) 8/10

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019) 8/10

Late Night
Serenity
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 4
Jack Reacher

Fiddler on the Roof - I wasn't expecting this to be so boring. For me to enjoy a musical it needs to have two things, actually three: an interesting story and characters, great songs, and eye-popping visuals. This movie falls short on all accounts. The setting is compelling but the sociopolitical climate and cultural shifts take backseat to Tevye's troubles marrying off his daughters and his hard-headed traditionalism, and those aspects of the plot are its least interesting. Also wasn't crazy about the songs or the film's dull muddy color palette. Topol's performance is effectively strident but the rest of the performances didn't much register. Frey and Mann were competing for accolades but Norma Crane as Tevye's wife out-performed all of them, and not a single nomination to show for it. 6/10

Spider-Man Homecoming (rewatch) - my brother was watching it so I stuck around. Same as it was in 2017, kinda bland light entertainment. 7/10

Gattaca (rewatch) - same as above. my brother wanted to see this again so I stuck around. Have a new appreciation of Jude Law's performance but the whole premise still feels a bit on the nose and Hawke and Thurman come up short. Phenomenal use of location though. The world is so richly realized. 7.5/10

Madame Rosa - an aging ex-prostitute (an Holocaust survivor) takes an Algerian boy under her wing in this tender humanist French drama directed by Moshé Mizrahi. 8/10

The Nasty Girl - Partially based on the life of Anna Rosmus, this German film by Michael Verhoeven is a sobering reminder of how pernicious political ideologies continue to exist underground when they've been defeated publicly.The story begins innocuously enough; a young popular highscool student tries to write an essay about her village during the Third Reich, but in the process discovers that practically all the village officials were Nazis. This revelation begins a lifelong pursuit for justice and the truth that paints a huge target on her back. Stolze's performance is the highlight. 7.5/10

The Fugitive Kind - Usually can't really get into these Tennessee Williams melodramas but the tragedy on display here is pretty compelling, as a drifter and rebel played by Marlon Brando finds himself in a town that seems entirely set against him. Brando and Magnani are explosive. Woodward is captivating in a supporting role. 7.5/10

Gaby: A True Story - Refreshingly straightforward depiction of cerebral palsy. Great performances from Rachel Levin and Norma Aleandro. 7.5/10

Edward Scissorhands (rewatch) - As transgressive a depiction of white suburbia than you'll find in any Lynch film. burton pruportedly wasn't trying to be judgmental but I'm not buying it, because the grotesquely plain cookie-cutter suburbs in this film (modeled Burbank where Burton grew up) are the root of all the film's evils. Peggy is the only one in this middle class nightmarescape with any humanity. 8/10

The Ice Storm (rewatch) - Not as in love with this as I used to be. Still love the performances. Sigourney Weaver holding a bullwhip is the sexiest image of the 90s. 8/10

The Ninth Circle - Croat wartime melodrama about a boy whose family forces him to marry a Jewish girl to save her from going to the camps. Initially frustrated by his new lack of freedom, he eventually comes to fall in love with her for real, but is it too late? Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1961 Academy Awards, this has some powerful moments but struggles towards the end. 7/10

Ménage - a bitingly hilarious satire from Bertrand Blier about a bisexual drifter who pops into the life of an unhappy couple with nothing to lose and upends their lives by seducing her and then him while turning them both to a life of petty crime. Michel Blanc and Miou-Miou give really touching performances. Depardieu plays the drifter with customary vigor and takes no prisoners. Simultaneously scummy and oh so sexy.

King & Country - starring Tom Courtney as a captured deserter and Dirk Bogarde as his defender. It's one of those antiwar films focused around a court martial, so think Paths of Glory or Breaker Morant, but this comes up short of both of those. It's a little too short to justify its character arcs and ends with a squeak instead of a bang. Highlight is Bogarde's closing remarks at the court martial, but this felt like lesser Loesy. 7.5/10

Shoot the Moon - two deeply unpleasant people fight for two hours and try to dissolve their marriage. There's something missing here. We don't know why these two characters fell out of love or started despising each other. The performances are excellent but without Alan Parker delving into these characters' motivations a bit more instead of indulging in their impulses, there isn't much reason to sympathize with them at all. 6/10

The Rat Race - Forgotten little romantic drama from Robert Mulligan with a seriously bitter edge. A sax-toting boy scout from the Midwest shows up in NYC expecting to be a paid musician and instead finds himself shacked up with a woman up to her neck in debt with no prospects. His innocence is exploited at every turn and her loan shark tightens the grip. Debbie Reynolds is just phenomenal here, and Tony Curtis is no slouch either. Kay Medford is also a lot of fun in a supporting role as a cynical landlady who secretly has a heart of gold. 7.5/10

First Reformed is more my speed in matters of faith.

I get what you're talking about when you say anti-religious folks can enjoy Fiddler too because it is hugely popular and seems to resonate with a lot of people, but for me personally a 3-hour movie about a person's relationship with god is not something I could connect with, and I pretty much tuned out Topol whenever he started talking about it. I'd much rather Perchick the revolutionary had been the lead. The sociopolitical and cultural elements of the story are far more interesting to me than the spiritual ones, let alone the family dynamics of Tevye balancing his love for his daughters with his obsession with tradition. As the film went on it became harder and harder to sympathize with him.

As for the cinematography, I don't so much have a problem with the color palette as that Oswald Morris didn't really bring anything to this setting. Obviously a film set in a small Russian village isn't going to have the eye-popping colors of an Oklahoma or Singin' in the Rain, but I was still hoping for some creativity, especially from someone like Morris. Apart from a couple silhouettes the films shots are all really basic. The movie looks dreary but not in an interesting way, just dreary in a boring way. It's like Oswald Morris just held up his camera to the setting, and then he got an Oscar for it.