Apologies if there is already a thread such as this and if so please moderate. I'd be interested in getting a snapshot of a movie you have just watched with a mark out of 10, and brief description/overall feeling. I'll start with one I watched last night. The Midnight sky 2020 Netflix. I've heard a lot of negativity about this movie principally that nothing much happens and it's slow and boring. After watching it I can appreciate why people are saying this, it is slow the pacing is terrible and there's hardly any story to grab onto. However I quite enjoyed it, it's a beautifull looking film in that the special effects are superb. I don't think George Clooney is a great director so far as I say the pacing was terrible the acting on board the spacecraft in my opinion was second-rate. This is the kind of film where everyone speaks in self-serious, borderline parodic register as they fret over the fate of humanity, and George seemed liked the only classy actor in the whole thing. The Neil Diamond sing-along was cringeworthy. I'm reading the book at the moment which is actually very good... I believe it's the author's first effort. 6.5/10
I have two. The Thing starring Kurt Russell Cape Fear starring Robert DiNero I know. They are old movies but they are Classics.
The Ghostwriter Seemed like a well paced mystery- thriller until I got to the end . Instead of tying all the threads together , it basically unraveled. Without posting a total spoiler, all I can say is why would the main character try and flee any possible danger all through the movie, and then turn around to foolishly court disaster? Ridiculous - the end undid the entire film for me. 3 out of 10
locked down new anna hathaway on HBOmax 2/10 simply horrible and boring and mundane and not worth watching.
The Gentlemen was superb. Role of a lifetime for Hugh Grant. Needed to watch it twice to follow Colin Farrell properly. Matthew McConoughy and Michelle Dockery were superb and out of their usual lanes. Henry Golding not only got out of the Last Christmas lane, he was doing 130 the wrong way on the freeway. Charlie Hunnam positioned himself for more great roles. Most imaginative plot twists I have seen since Breaking Bad. Great sound track and supporting cast.
My Boy Jack which is the story of the Kipling family at the outbreak and of WWI. 10/10 Christopher Robin - an adult overly zealous career man Robin revisits his his friends in the wood. I missed the whole Milne stories thing so I learned a lot and much enjoyed his character creations. Next to read are the Winnie the Pooh stories. 9/10 due to slow in parts
Just watched.. Mulholland Drive By all intents a very classy and very well directed movie. The trouble is I didn't have a clue what was going on during the last 40 minutes of the movie. I think it was what one would class as 'surreal'. If anyone has figured it out please tell Superb performance by Naomi Watts. 6.5/10
Critical Thinking starring John Leguizamo. 4.5/ 5 Excellent! Could have done without the over-the-top violent killing near the beginning. Seemed a bit like "sensationalist violence" (that's not quite the right phrase but I can't think of it).
The Sound Of Metal 2020 Story of a drummer in a Rock band who suddenly goes deaf. Rather a touching story, very well directed and realistic movie. There isn't much music in it actually but more the way he struggles adapting to his condition. Its quite a scary prospect, if you're a drummer, wear those 50% ear plugs, don't risk the old tinnitus. I'm giving it 8/10 ...recommended.
The Tax Collector A "tax collector" working for a local crime lord finds his family's safety compromised when the rival of his boss shows up in L.A. and upends the business. Rating 3/10
I watched the documentary Friedkin Uncut yesterday. An excellent overview of the director's fascinating work and career.
(Spoilers) An amazing film full of unfulfilled Hollywood dreams, murder, suicide, conspiracy, and an internal fantasy from a lost soul. Poor Diane/Betty. Lynch's commentary on the manipulation of the studio system is just fantastic. You know he has sat in that very meeting with a studio chief and producer telling him it is not his movie anymore. The espresso incident was classic. The golf club scene is probably how Lynch really feels about it. The scene with The Cowboy is by far one of the best. The manipulating of the studios on the director. Lynch is brutal in his attacks. He makes fun of all of them. Diane & Camilla - the actual people in the actual events. Betty & Rita - Diane's fantastical dream of how she saves Rita after almost being murdered and is a one of a kind actress whom directors and actors love. Rita falls in love with Betty instead of the other way around. Puts Diane in the place of power. Try watching it again with the knowledge that Diane kills herself at the beginning and all the good things that happen to Betty are Diane's delusion/dream of how she wished her Hollywood life went. When actually she was not a very good actress and she was used by Camilla and tossed aside. She sees herself as Rita's savior in her dreams and envisions herself in the places where Camilla actually was. The last 40 minutes is when Diane's dream and reality start to collide and the guilt of hiring someone to kill Camilla drove her to the end. She was in love with Camilla. It is a beautiful movie. To think it started out as TV show. I know, that really did not explain anything just made it more complex. It is a complex movie. The scene in the theater is absolutely gorgeous with Rebekah Del Rio singing the Roy Orbison song "Crying" acapella. Wow! Silencio 10/10
Goon: Last of the Enforcers. One of the crappiest movies I've ever seen. To bad to deserve a raiting. My buddy wanted to se it.
From Up On Poppy Hill, Studio Ghibli, 2011. Subtitled version. Ten out of ten, as are most Ghibli films. A boy and a girl fight to save their high school's decrepit club house...and once a certain photograph is revealed, fight their rising attraction for one another. This takes me back to my own school days, with the warmth of nostalgia for a past I never had.
The Witch. I loved this movie. Set about 200 years ago in New England during the time of the Puritan establishment. A family is ostracized and goes into the forest/wilderness to create a new farm but living nearby is a witch, who persecutes the family. Direction by the wonderful Robert Eggers, who also recently did The Lighthouse. Creepy. I felt I was there. 8/10
"Unhinged" 2020 movie starring Russell Crowe and Caren Pistorius. The movie starts in a plausible manner, a bit over the top, but still within reason and understandability. It quickly escalates into very violent, some for the sake of gratituous violence, as well as quite outlandish in what they expect the viewer to accept without wiriting any reason into the script to help with suspension of reality. The protagonist (Rachel) makes silly choices on top of silly choices and often guides the antagonist (Tim) to his goal. I found myself mentally checking out after the first real violent scene where Tim leaves the gas station. After that I did not care for either character and simply finished the movie....Everyone in the room watching disliked the movie for some reason. This movie had potential but it was blown before the half way mark....Too violent without just cause. Too many nonsensical happenstances. Too much suspension of reality without any reason for asking us to suspend reality. I would rate this movie 2/10.
Cyrano, My Love. 7/10 Enjoyable dramatisation of the writing and initial staging of Cyrano de Bergerac in 1897. The movie begins with Edmond Rostand, poet and playwright, unable to write anything of consequence for two years. Through circumstance, he winds up offering well-known actor, Constant Coquelin, a new play, for which he has only the title, Cyrano de Bergerac. We witness the twisted and oftimes comic path that leads to the development of France's most famous play. I would possibly have rated the movie a bit higher, but the fact that I don't speak much French (the movie is subtitled in English) kept me from becoming more immersed in the story. I don't object to foreign-language films, not at all. But for me, I find that with my brain reading the dialogue, I am unable to fully immerse myself in all the subtleties that comprise a great movie. Anyway, I heartily recommend Cyrano, My Love.
"Contact" starring Jodie Foster. Politics, religion and even a monster (Jake Busey). I've always liked good sci-fi and this ones near the top of my list. Also 'Passengers'. I'd rate both 9 out of 10. Contact streams free this month on utube.
The Joker Blu Ray. It was different and thought it moved rather slow but couldn't stop watching. Overall, I enjoyed it. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
