Last Movie You Saw, Name & Review Movie • Page 211

Before Sunrise - 4 1/2 out of 5.

Loved how natural the acting was between the two leads. The long takes added to the authenticity of their interactions. If someone told me there was no script and the entire film was improvised I’d believe it.

 

Anime has good and bad stuff like everything else. Most of my favorites are in series but I echo a lot of the great movies mentioned here. Akira is a classic across all genres.


I watched Anatomy of a Fall yesterday. Thought it was really good. I learned about the French legal system in college but it was cool to watch how it plays out. So much different than ours where the defendant says as little as possible and judges don’t do any investigating. I would hope if that class is still being taught today they would use scenes from this movie.

 

Hit Man - 10/10 this movie is perfectly pitched for me and, hey, finally a 5* movie this year!

 

I know absolutely nothing about the French legal system, but this is really interesting additional information! When I watched it, my impression was that the courtroom scenes were so farcical (the analysis of P.I.M.P, the deep dive into her books, behavioural interpretations etc) as it uses the structure of a courtroom thriller, but wasn't interested in the legality of whether she killed her husband at all, it's entirely about the subjective. The film isn't actually engaging in whether she is guilty or not from a legal standpoint, so we can dismiss that too, and focus on our subjective feelings if she did it or not.

From your understanding, was that actually a realistic depiction of a French court? That would change how I thought about the film ha.

 

I’m not an expert on the system or anything but the general details seemed accurate from what I learned. A judge, rather than the prosecution, is the lead investigator and does the pre-trial questioning. It’s better designed to get to the truth rather than just prove the first suspect did it. The trial process also seemed more or less accurate. The accused can interrupt other testimony to make clarifications and the judge can ask the accused questions directly at will.

 

Parent Teacher - 3/10
Rare Cummings L. This 17-miinute single-take short film is impressively directed and performed (even if it feels a little less realistic and a bit more theatrical than it should), but ultimately falls apart when you realize it is essentially that Network monologue rewritten for the "kids these days and their damn cell phones" crowd.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - 6.5/10
Finally got around to this one and it's solid! Supremely cozy and watchable; if you're looking for historical, sea-bound horror, this will scratch that itch. Competently directed and well-performed, especially Corey Hawkins' leading performance. I wouldn't call it dry, but it is a bit long, and they really don't flesh out the characters as much as you'd hope (even the non-disposable ones). It still feels overlooked and very much worth the watch for a specific crowd.

Viy - 8/10
A Soviet folk horror with some incredibly ingenious cinematography and practical effects work. Much of the exposition has aged as you'd expect a Russian film about seminarians from the 60s to, but once you get into the meat in it, you can really see the way this thing feels like middle ground between William Castle and Sam Raimi. Matte painting backgrounds, rear projection, flying coffins, and about a dozen different types of ghouls. Essential, unforgettable horror history,

The Wicker Man (1973) - 7.5/10
For a movie about harboring naked children on a privately owned island, I regret to inform you that young Christopher Lee bears some resemblance to Jeffrey Epstein in this one. Those comparisons aside, The Wicker Man mostly earns its place in the halls of horror history; its score and musical numbers are truly surreal, and modern viewers will be surprised at how much Aster seemed to borrow for his own intriguing swipe at the material, Midsommar. The thing that somewhat holds this one back for me is intentional, and it's Sgt. Neil Howie's stiffness. He is presented as largely unemotional and wooden, qualities that make his outburst during the film's landmark finale all the more effective, but also make it somewhat difficult to connect with his character for a majority of the film. (The reveal is also a hard sell, but the payoff is so jaw-dropping that it's hard to care.) A film that I imagine will only get better with repeat viewings, and if Straw Dogs didn't exist, I'd likely call it the European culture clash film to end all European culture clash films.

Up - 8/10
Its reputation precedes it, and it is true that the film's opening sequence is both brutally bittersweet and real. That realness stays with the film's human characters throughout, and it's truly the film's biggest strength, as its actual story begins to lose steam once we incorporate talking dogs and squirrel jokes. If you squint, however, you can almost envision this as a uniquely American take on Studio Ghibli's brand of emotional, soul-seeking fantasy. There's lots of beautiful animation and effective sight gags, but most importantly, the film wears its heart on its sleeve for nearly its full runtime as evidenced by a lovely closing sequence. And no amount of chipmunk-voiced dogs in biplanes can take that away.

Horror in the High Desert - 8/10
A smart, well-paced found footage mockumentary with shockingly believable performances and the intelligence to unravel alongside its viewers. Sure, we know this is a horror film, but until Gary's tense final footage is revealed, we're constantly on our toes wondering if this is a true crime story, a paranormal story, or something else entirely. A very underrated flick and one of the best uses of the format in recent memory.

Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva - 7.5/10
Using the event of the previous film as a jumping off point and nothing more, Horror in the High Desert 2 is creepier, more ambitious, and more esoteric, even if its reach slightly exceeds its grasp. Fans of the first film will love this as it doesn't tweak the formula too much; it's another detailed mockumentary crafted with care about another genuinely unsettling disappearance in Nevada's high desert. Horror fans are lucky to have an independent filmmaker like Dutch Marich keeping the subgenre alive and executing it as well as he is.

 

Anatomy of a Fall does show how there is no perfect system and often times you’ll just never know. Our system is complete shit where one side manufactures truth and the other side hides it as much as possible but even in a system that is more neutral and transparent like the kid says sometimes you just have to make a choice and that is a scary thing when you’re talking about choosing to put sometime behind bars.

 

such a great film

 

Very interesting, thank you!

 

I’m super into anime and manga. There’s so much of it and there’s good and bad, just like any kinda media. I think if more people gave it a chance, they’d enjoy it. But everyone’s different.

 

Deadpool 3 - 8.5/10
I really enjoyed it. Only a couple jokes didn’t land for me and I laughed a lot. I really dug the cameos I never saw coming. The actress that played Cassandra Nova did an awesome job being creepy, but I expected her in X-Men 97, since the plot this season really involved her in the comics. I don’t expect another Deadpool movie, since this was a good “send off”. I get the humor could be cringe to some people, but I think Ryan Reynolds has so much fun playing the character and it really shows.

 

I fucking love Shinkai. I feel things when I watch his movies that very few others can elicit.

 

Images from this show up in my dreams/nightmares every so often. Just really hits that eerie/uncanny sweet spot so well.

 

Longlegs - 9/10
I totally loved this. Nicolas Cage reminded me of Heath Ledger’s Joker performance. The movie was like Zodiac, Seven, or Silence of the Lambs, but if A24 made it. See it in theaters before it leaves and go in blind. It’s one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. My only complaint is you really have to “suspend disbelief” for the ending.

 

Possum - 6/10

about as grim a character study as I can remember ever seeing. the protagonist is a man haunted by his own fragmented memory. it is far too cryptic for its own good at times and suffers as a result of this, I feel. I didn’t hate this by any means but I’m not sure there’s a dollar amount you could pay me to watch it again.

 

Saw Touch today and thought it was completely wonderful. The bones of the story could have been cliche but in practice it's literary, delicate, and beautiful. I'm genuinely shocked it's on the FOURTH page of popularity in 2024 on LB. People need to watch this thing.

 

The Boys season 4 - 8/10
I just finished binging this. I love the characters in this show. Anthony Starr should get an Emmy for his portrayal of Homelander. I just have two complaints. The political commentary has always been in the show, but it’s been a bit more subtle and less heavy-handed in previous seasons. I’m not one of those people that think it went “woke”, but they went “all in” with current events and it just seems they’re trying too hard. And this season seems they’re going way too hard with shock value. Still, a great finale. They’re going to need a lot more episodes next season to wrap all this up…

 

I love that my kids are now old enough to endure a cross country flight by watching movies and dozing off. I can't remember fitting three whole films into a single flight. Here's what I watched last night:

Free Time - 7.5 / 10
One of my biggest fears is that everyone around me is simply tolerating my presence. That the only thing that keeps everyone from severing ties with me are the various social niceties we've all constructed to get through our days without too much drama and confrontation.

This film takes someone who is utterly incapable of taking a hint and surrounds him with people who are incapable of giving one. Every conversation in this film stalls out in an agonizing sputter of "yeah"s, "well"s, and "so..."s.

Watching this felt like making small talk with your spouse's coworkers. It was brutally awkward, but also hilarious in how it lays bare our absurd, collective aversion to telling someone to simply go away.

Problemista - 8.5 / 10
I love it when movies get me to learn something from someone who, in real life, I would (and do) avoid at all costs.

When Elizabeth tells Alejandro — a guy who is passive to a fault — that he won't get what he wants unless he "becomes a problem for someone," it made me realize that my own go-with-the-flowiness can be at odds with getting what I want. I'm not going to start haranguing Apple support staff for lost photos, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much heart the film had for Elizabeth, a character that would have been little more than a punchline in any other movie.

Evil Does Not Exist - 8 / 10
Stillness is not something I have much of in my life anymore. I'm always rushing to get the kids to school, make dinner, line up my next work project, or tidy up the house. Silence is an indulgence I rarely grant myself. So when a film forces that type of stillness on me, I'm immediately sucked in.

Like the talent agents, I'm charmed and tempted by the type of life these villagers live—following a schedule set by the predictable duration of daily tasks rather than calendar notifications. I dream of identifying trees by their bark and birds by their molted feathers. But even those most at harmony with nature are not a part of it. Humans and the natural world will always be at odds with one another—taking only what we need is still taking. This movie rewards thoughtful watching, particularly when trying to untangle the final moments.

 

Cruising - 7/10

it’s nice to see Pacino in a role where he’s not an absolute caricature of a human being and I do like Friedkin a fair amount so I was somewhat excited for this one. now whether it delivers or not is largely left up to the viewer, and it kind of did for me and was also a bit of a letdown. there was closure at the end but just barely enough to suffice. glad I watched it but can’t see myself returning to it

 

Friedkin rules.

 

I know I must have seen The Addams Family multiple times as a kid, but I couldn't recall a single thing about it so it was one to watch again. It is a mediocre film but the commitment of most of the cast makes it more memorable than most. Julia in particular treats it like the most important film of his life, like he did in trash like Street Fighter.

Thelma and Louise is the best movie I have seen of the list we made. Everyone knows the iconic ending but it is really so much more than that, and kind of a radical film for that time period. The commentary over the film would be exhausting in 2024, with people seeking to downplay the pent-up trauma that leads to the inciting incident and the escalation. It is fascinating to discover that Scott had tried to give away the directing job to multiple people for so long because it is often very clear when we are getting committed and creative Ridley Scott versus messy, unfocused Ridley Scott. Even though the film is primarily about womens' rebellion over the terrible men in their lives, there is so much empathy in people like Keitel as the detective and Madsen as the somewhat unrequited lover. It suggests that there is another way, more empathetic and equal, than what Thelma and Louise had to put up with in their lives.

 

Prometheus - 8/10. This was a cool sci-fi film.
Alien: Covenant - 5/10. I really didn’t care for this one.

 

Alone - 6.5/10

 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance (John Ford, 1962)

The end of the old west and old Westerns, and the beginning of the new, ushered in by two men who defined Westerns to begin with; John Ford and John Wayne.

We have a clash of ideals and approaches to violence and what the role of the law should be, almost a Mexican standoff of ideologies, embodied by our three men, Ransom, Tom and Liberty. We see the inability of democracy to stand up to systemic violence, or outlaw violence, and how sometimes the only way to meet that violence is head on with your own brand of it. It's not just one man, Liberty (an apt and pointed name) is an embodiment of violence inherent in early America, and Ransom becomes beloved for meeting Liberty with violence.

While Ransom may appear as a pacifist of sorts (he's certainly not a marksman), it's retribution and vengeance he's after from the beginning, humiliated by Liberty's way of life, he seeks his own revenge through law, thinking that will be the answer. Tom ends up straddling both men, recognising the danger and incompatibility in a man like Liberty, while also realising that there's only one way to deal with him. It's a remarkably tricky film in that we initially see it simply, Ransom as a Liberal hero, Liberty as a wild outlaw needing to be brought to justice, but is the West that Ransom welcomes in any less violent, or has the method just changed to being a more polite version of violence, but still destructive nonetheless?

I feel like there's probably hundreds of different ways to read this.

 

Exploding Kittens - 7/10
Nine episode adult animated comedy on Netflix based off the card game from creator of The Oatmeal. God comes to Earth as a cat to help a family. It gives off millennial humor and Family Guy vibes, but there’s some good character arcs.