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Post by Martin Stett on Jul 22, 2019 16:40:46 GMT
The Siege (1998) -- This movie is trying to preach a message about hatred of muslims, but undermines itself by painting in such broad strokes and stereotypes that it all comes off as a terrible action cartoon. 3/10
Gone Baby Gone (2007 rewatch) -- Casey Affleck is as great as I remember, but the movie is a bit too much of a made-for-TV procedural. Still builds up to that brilliant climax and epilogue which makes it one of the best films of the year. 8/10
Nostalgia (1983) -- More of a mood than a proper movie, but it was strangely hypnotic. I'll openly say that this isn't my cup of tea, but it wasn't a bad movie either. Just not my thing. 5/10
It's a Wonderful Life (1946 rewatch) -- This movie is dark as hell before Clarence shows up... I like it. Clarence is a bit much in tone-shifting at first glance, but even his part of the story gets progressively more nightmarish as time goes on. 10/10
Sicario (2015 rewatch) -- When I first watched this I saw a "CIA sure is evil" movie, and I thought it was okay. When I watched it a year ago, I saw it as a cosmic horror film of someone selling their soul for knowledge of things that no man should know, and my appreciation as a character piece was much stronger. On my third watch, I see... well, pretty much the same thing, except that it's even scarier to watch Kate's obsession grapple with her morality. Even with my air conditioner broken, this gave me chills. It just gets better every time I see it. 9/10
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 22, 2019 18:04:46 GMT
North By Northwest (rewatch)
Joe (2013)
Rebecca (rewatch)
His Girl Friday
Crazy, Stupid, Love
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Jul 22, 2019 18:44:16 GMT
The Return of The Living Dead - 9 / 10
Hot Tub Time Machine - 6 / 10
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - 8.5 / 10
Nothing in Common - 7 / 10
Empire Strikes Back (big screen) - 10 / 10
Lost in Yonkers - 7 / 10
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Post by themoviesinner on Jul 22, 2019 19:47:02 GMT
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - 8.5/10
War And Peace (2016) - 9/10
Re-cycle (2006) - 2/10
Young Aphrodites (1963) - 7/10
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 22, 2019 20:56:20 GMT
A Pure Formality (1994) 7 or more. Reviewed in Last Movie Watched thread.
Kitten With a Whip (1964) 6ish or more. Reviewed in Last Classics Watched thread.
Cat People (1982) 6. Some few fine stretches when the directing/editing isn't clunky, writing weak, but who cares when Kinski is on screen..., she takes pulchritude to new places, it's an underrated perf, too.
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) 6. Some lovely, lively scenes, especially Lucille Ball’s numbers, female oriented and ironic at best, but is bothered in the margins and the ending falls flat.
The Art of Self-Defense (2019) 6. Struggles to match its muted absurdism with its character study, little depth, insular uneven but watchable, about a barren town and some pathetic people playing out their desired manliness via cult tactics, or else those compromised by them. Poots should’ve had a bigger role, Eisenberg very good, whistle-in-water meek with sociopathic edge, he saves the thing.
True Believer (1989) 6. Weak supporting casting, narrative feels thin for too much of the running time, ultimately a decent straight courtroom drama pre 90s Grisham gush, but with a good James Woods perf who as usual effortlessly mixes at once a loose energy and driven intensity.
Turbulence (1997) 6 or more. Underrated! Sort of Die Hard 2 + Speed + Con Air. It isn’t convincing for a second but it isn’t trying to be either and Liotta’s perf is a Cage-esque wig-out, some of which has to be seen to be believed, like when he's chugging champagne maniacally laughing while flopping around the airplane as it swivels a complete 360.
Phoenix (1998) 5. Extremely trite crime pic, I’ve practically forgotten it already, but Liotta pushes it forward with all sorts of energy.
Tuff Turf (1985) 6. Lost me in the dead-serious second-half, but Spader is quite good and funny like when they crash the country club party.
Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) 5. Schlock slasher-musical not remotely on par with the underrated first one. It apes Elm Street (unafraid to admit it either: there’s a cop character named Kreuger, lol). They should’ve cast same actor as the jock crush and the dream-demon-dude to highlight the sexual panic theme it wants to go for - really a no-brainer, it would’ve saved budget and other movies in the 80s were using actors in that dual two-sided way like Grease 2 and Modern Girls.
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Post by JangoB on Jul 22, 2019 23:32:33 GMT
Camille Claudel - A fine film with an astonishingly brilliant central performance from Isabelle Adjani who just once again proves that she's among the greatest actresses the movie world has ever known.
Seabiscuit - REWATCH. Haven't seen it in years but my opinion hasn't changed upon this rewatch - this is a formally well-accomplished piece that just somehow rings hollow despite there being plenty of supposed emotional beats throughout. Maybe it's because the movie tries to deal with too many events in its 140-minute running time (a perfectly fine film could've been made about its last act alone), maybe it's because Gary Ross simply doesn't infuse it with real personality. The story just doesn't truly come alive. But its formal qualities are really solid, if impersonal.
The Doors - I haven't been on drugs but the experience of this movie made me feel like this must be what it feels like. And I mean that as a total compliment. I have no personal connection to the band and Morrison himself so I can't really say that Stone's portrayal offended me or anything like that - this was more of an 'experience movie' for me than anything else. And I was completely entranced by it. It's not pleasant but dammit if it isn't hypnotic. And it was kinda wonderful to see a musical biopic be this vicious towards its subject. Major props to Val Kilmer's performance and Robert Richardson's amazing cinematography.
Rosemary's Baby - REWATCH. This Polanski classic is as great as it's always been and nothing will change that. How the fuck did they not nominate Mia Farrow back in the day?
The Song of Bernadette - After "Wilson" turned out to be a slog I was sort of trepidatious about watching another 150-minute Henry King Oscar-bait flick but this film was a much more powerful emotional experience. It is long but it is also rewarding - in times when mocking religion is fashionable and cool, it was pretty wonderful to watch a movie which made me believe in a divine miracle. I'm not a religious person but I appreciate that the film did evoke a feeling of awe in me. A lot of that is actually due to Alfred Newman's fantastic score which really did a lot of heavy lifting. I really liked this film.
Carmen Jones - Major props to Otto Preminger for making a 1954 musical with a fully black cast (I don't think I saw one single white person on the screen) but I just wish he made a better movie. Bizet's music is immortal but the lyrics were hit-and-miss and the (rather thin) story itself was presented in a pretty dull way. Dorothy Dandridge gave a pretty fiery performance which I really enjoyed but why the heck were she and Harry Belafonte dubbed during the singing parts? Doesn't make much sense.
The Long Day Closes - It's hard to make a memory piece that audiences can fully immerse themselves into but Terence Davies accomplished something quite special with this film. Somehow another person's past felt like my own and even if the experience sometimes felt too disjointed and episodic, the warmth and authenticity of the moments portrayed was undeniable.
The Beach Bum - A series of hilarious and free-spirited adventures devoted to 'taking the most out of life' philosophy. This is Harmony Korine working in a much lighter mode than usual while still having the distinct elements of his oeuvre, particularly his love for people from the outskirts of society's accepted norms. Pot and beer, sunshine and neon, poetry and hedonism - an excellent trip! And I was in tears of laughter on once occasion which hasn't happened with a first-time viewing in a long ass time to me.
The Lion King - REWATCH. Before seeing the 'new' one I decided to refresh my memory of the original so that I could see exactly how much of a ripoff the remake was gonna be. And what a pleasure to report that my longstanding half-aversion towards the 1994 movie is finally over. What a surprise, it's actually pretty great.
The Men - Brando's big screen debut performance was certainly quite impressive while the film itself was fine but somewhat lacking. It seemed like the movie was doing all the right things but at the same time I couldn't help but feel that it was all a bit undercooked. Still, good to have a Hollywood movie of that age about disabled veterans. Even if "The Best Years of Our Lives" dived into that topic with better results four years prior.
Hello, Dolly! - I was kinda delighted by this! I was afraid that it'd be a chore to sit through but instead it was a joyous experience. Some of that is thanks to "WALL-E" which engraved 'Put On Your Sunday Clothes' in my head - seeing the actual sequence was just great. And actually a lot of the music is very memorable, the lyrics are pretty excellent, the comedy is funny, the secondary subplots are all engaging (something that doesn't always happen in musicals) and visually the film is a wonder to behold with its colorful 70-mm photography, opulent sets and brilliant costumes. It may be slight but it's still such a pleasant watch.
3:10 to Yuma - The 1957 one. It was quite good. It's certainly nice to see American westerns of that time which played with the genre and character tropes. I dug it.
Midsommar - An astonishing leap forward for Ari Aster after the disappointing yet promising "Hereditary". This did everything I wanted and more - it completely pulled me into its highly specific and unique setting, both its location and atmosphere captivated me and it was as bizarre and absurd as I wanted it to be. The warmth and beauty of its amazing visuals created a wonderful combination with the emotional darkness and the external nastiness that occured on the screen, and the lead character's inner journey was quite something to behold. Just about everything here worked for me as well as it could. I'm generally not a fan of the horror genre but 2.5-hour auteur-made pseudo-horrors are something that I apparently just fucking adore.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jul 23, 2019 0:03:23 GMT
True Grit (2010)
Wreck-It Ralph
The Lion King (1994)
First Man
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