What was the last movie you saw?

Blast of Silence is an interesting film--it reminded me of Taxi Driver. The lead made me think of Robert DeNiro.
And it is Christmas-themed. Very bleak.
 
Lamb (Icelandic-Swedish-Polish): Not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be. Pleasantly bizarre. I only wish the characters reacted more realistically to the hybrid creature, as it would have been easier to relate to them.

Licorice Pizza: Despite much appraisal from critics, I felt let down by this one too. My main mistake was going into it without knowing much about the plot. Interestingly, though, there hardly seemed to be one. I'm just not a fan of this kind of storytelling.
 
À bout de souffle (Breathless 1960) - This must have been pretty terrific stuff 60 years ago, the camerawork alone - long fluid hand held shots in location interiors that move around in ways big Hollywood studio cameras never could and the editing with its rapid jump cuts that must have seemed extraordinary at the time. It still clips along at a pretty pace. L liked it - though the subtitles on the BFI version I saw were a little sparse in places - why is it that sub-titlers rarely think it's important to include anything that isn't directly spoken by someone on camera - or obviously in the scene. There was one moment in this where the two lovers are hiding out in a cinema. The shot is a close up of them kissing while the dialogue of the film being shown is heard load a clearly - but un subtitled. Presumably Jean Luc Godard wrote / chose the words that were playing on his soundtrack with care () the whole film was I understand shot without sound and then dubbed in the studio) so why not include this obviously important dialogue in the subtitles? In other places even my clumsy French could tell that what the characters on screen was saying had been clumsily condensed, stripped of its rhythm and simplified. Annoying. Another off the 1001 list .
 
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Assignment To Kill 1968 - This is the one with Herbert Lom. It also has a ski resort, and a cynical view of spying ---and it is mostly forgettable like the one I re-watched yesterday.
 
Dune (1984)

A far better film than I remembered. First time around (I hadn't read the book) it seemed like a disjointed mess, and I really hadn't got a clue what was going on. Now that I know the plot, it is much, much better and some of the visuals (costume designs etc) are really very good.

Not the greatest film ever, but one that is not as bad as has been previously suggested, especially with multiple viewings.
 
The Matrix: Resurrections. Boring dialogue and poorly-choreographed fighting scenes. It's not even nostalgic. What a disappointment.
 
alexvss said:
The Matrix: Resurrections. Boring dialogue and poorly-choreographed fighting scenes. It's not even nostalgic. What a disappointment.
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Agreed, but nothing about it makes me loathe it more than Reloaded (n) and Revolutions (n). The Matrix franchise is basically one half decent late 90s action movie with a lead actor who can't act to save his life.
 
paranoid marvin said:
Dune (1984)

A far better film than I remembered. First time around (I hadn't read the book) it seemed like a disjointed mess, and I really hadn't got a clue what was going on. Now that I know the plot, it is much, much better and some of the visuals (costume designs etc) are really very good.

Not the greatest film ever, but one that is not as bad as has been previously suggested, especially with multiple viewings.
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I have a soft spot for Lynch's Dune but I would advise anyone thinking about watching it to avoid the 50 minute longer, TV, 'Alan Smithee' edit like the plague. I watched it, and the original Lynch version, back to back last year and I'm still having cold sweats.
My notes about it are buried somewhere in here (in October):

JunkMonkey's 2020 Movie Diary

Last Year's list January Shaolin Drunkard - A 1983 chopsocky 'comedy' of high octain WTF?ery which had Number One Daughter and I in hysterics for its entire running time. Highlander : The Source - Holy ****ing CRAP! What an amazingly awful film! I was in hiccup inducing uncontrollable...
www.sffworld.com www.sffworld.com
 
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Memories (1995) - Daughter Number One (anime fan that she is) made me watch this one. "I think you'll like it, dad." She was right. It's a portmanteau film. Three science fiction shorts. The first and third are excellent, the middle one a little overlong but still good.
 
Train to Busan - Korean 2016 - you want zombies, Korea has a knack for 'em.. They look great and run in swarms real good. The zombie plague hits suddenly and we are on the train to Busan, so people end up having to have to lock themselves in one car and keep the undead in others... but we can guess that pretty much the entire cast is going to expire, except of course the kid and the pregnant lady. They didn't have to do in everyone, it was already enough, but they chose to, and so the last five minutes are strictly tearjerk city .., but the scene where the train starts dragging dozens of zombies behind it... all scratching and clawing and climbing over each other to get back on the train.. oops is that spoilage ? well, it'looks like it was fun to film this... so no worries,, there's plenty more action where that came from, thus it was engaging, and I don't even like zombie flicks.
 
KWAIDAN 1964 --Finally got around to this--I heard of it decades ago. It has an interesting visual look and sound design although as Lovecraft might say of Japanese hokku poetry, "we admire it from afar." I especially wanted to get as far as possible from the singing blind guy Hoichi the earless. His singing voice made me wish I had no ears. Also, my mind was wandering to Godzilla now and then. The first story is the creepiest and makes me wonder if this was an influence on THE RING--"long black hair."
 
KGeo777. There is a loose sequel called Peninsula.

I haven't yet seen it myself.
 
KGeo777 said:
KWAIDAN 1964 --Finally got around to this--I heard of it decades ago. It has an interesting visual look and sound design although as Lovecraft might say of Japanese hokku poetry, "we admire it from afar." I especially wanted to get as far as possible from the singing blind guy Hoichi the earless. His singing voice made me wish I had no ears. Also, my mind was wandering to Godzilla now and then. The first story is the creepiest and makes me wonder if this was an influence on THE RING--"long black hair."
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Haven't seen this, but I admire it's source -- same title -- written by Lafcadio Hearn.
 
NOIR ALLEY has a Japanese film this time. Good background info, as Muller is usually doing.

CRUEL GUN STORY (1964) Yakuza boss needs the help from a guy doing time, so, he arranges for his early release. Togawa (Joe Shishido) initially turns down the job, but eventually accepts. They will rob an armored car carrying the money from racetrack betting, etc.

It has a similar technique as an American heist film that I wrote about several months ago. They will divert the armored car using detour signs, directing it to take a little used road, where the ambush will occur. As usual, things go wrong; in fact very wrong. But they do escape with the money, and all seems well; except for the gang's various members plotting to take it all for themselves, since two of them had gone elsewhere for whatever reason.

But these guy were hired by the Yakuza, and are to deliver the money to them. The idea of betraying the mob is absurd, since they know they cannot get away with that, but, what if the mob decides to betray them?



Two OUR GANG short films:

MEN IN FRIGHT (1938) Darla is recovering after a tonsillectomy, and the boys want to seem like really great guys, bringing her goodies to eat, knowing she cannot have them. Alfalfa is tricked (though it seems unlikely) to trade his clothes for this other boy's hospital gown plus a nickle. goofiness follows.


ROBOT WRECKS (1941) Upon seeing a 'real' robot at a department store, the gang wants to build their own, to perform their chores. Being given a load of crap, by the guy at the demonstration, they build a body, and fill it with junk. When they are distracted, two other boys use the body as a costume, and cause havoc when the gang tell the 'robot' to do their chores.
 
Jeffbert said:
Another NOIR ALLEY film,

TIGHT SPOT (1955) I almost forgot about this one! The story is about police attempting to both convince a frightened witness Sherry Conley (Ginger Rogers) to testify against the mob boss Benjamin Costain (Lorne Greene), and keep her alive and well enough to do so.

DA Lloyd Hallett (Edward G. Robinson, 1st time I ever saw him smoking anything other than a big cigar!? a cigarette just seems odd!) & Vince Striker (Brian Keith) have tricked the mob by not taking her to the city jail, but to a hotel instead, where she takes advantage of the situation and orders expensive meals, etc., but she insists she will not testify.

Two days until the trial, and mob boss is not happy that her location remains unknown. but he has bought / bribed some police, and expects to eliminate the witness very soon.

Tense drama, & best of all, this one is new to me!
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Just watched this. Interesting crime drama. I'd forgotten how hulking Brian Keith was as a young guy and I'm happy I didn't see this as a youngster, I'd have been scarred for life seeing Papa Ben Cartwright acting so vicious. I somewhat disagree with Eddie Muller about Ginger Rogers, who I thought was fine if a bit old for the role; this further confirmed my impression that 1950s hair styles for women were largely designed to make them look older than they were and as unattractive as possible.
 
Kickass 2.

Lacks much of the fresh humour which makes Kickass worth watching.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

Same general comment as for Kickass 2. Both of these sequels try to use the formula that made the first films a success, more clumsily, and with diminishing returns.
 
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