Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Ezekiel]

The Driver (1978)

Found it much better this second time, four years later. Dare I say even great. It's smart. Walter Hill is one of those few directors who is also pretty good at writing. He was still working on this movie while doing extensive rewrites of Dan O'Bannon's Alien script. That one he was not credited as writer for, which is an injustice by the Writer's Guild. O'Bannon complained to them after Fox was going to put, "Written by Walter Hill and David Giler, based on a story by Dan O'Bannon." I was gonna say that it's strange that I've never seen Ryan O'Neal in anything else, until I remembered he was Barry Lyndon. He and the detective played by Bruce Dern have a lot of screen presence in this.

I've listened to all her albums. Her music kind of makes me wish I could speak French. Especially the two concert films I own on disc, since they're visual. The other is Avant que l'ombre, from 2006, which I liked slightly more but haven't rewatched yet. Neither have subtitles.

I spent the last five weeks translating these, as well as En concert (1989). I had second thoughts in the beginning. The way she often plays with words just doesn't translate. The poetry is diminished. It's why I will never muxe the documents into the rips of my Blu-rays, no matter how good I may eventually get them. They are flawed by nature. But when I watched Live 2019 and Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy without my subs last year I remember wishing that I had some idea of what she was talking about. So I tried to write the translations as well as I could and kept bugging the French speaker I was working with. It's gratifying to finally be done. I haven't decided yet if I like Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy or En concert the most. I haven't watched them since I finished subbing them this morning. But they're both great shows.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Glimmer Man

Made famous and really only worthwhile for this story by Stephen Tobolowsky. This was the halfway point in Seagal's freefall impression of a career, mediocre by the heyday standards of Under Siege but with enough clout to still con actual good actors in supporting roles and pretentious enough to pass for a cheap knockoff of an actual movie (ie. Se7en) instead of being a transparent money laundry operation in the form of DVD shovelware.

Otherwise this is your typical Seagal flick. He's starting to get MovieBob fat, contrives Russian hookers into the plot, will only dignify a single punch against his self in the whole movie (but only because he gets to mock the weakness of the hit immediately after) and basically pattycakes bad guys with tremendous aid from stunt doubles and obfuscating editing.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Glimmer Man

Made famous and really only worthwhile for this story by Stephen Tobolowsky. This was the halfway point in Seagal's freefall impression of a career, mediocre by the heyday standards of Under Siege but with enough clout to still con actual good actors in supporting roles and pretentious enough to pass for a cheap knockoff of an actual movie (ie. Se7en) instead of being a transparent money laundry operation in the form of DVD shovelware.

Otherwise this is your typical Seagal flick. He's starting to get MovieBob fat, contrives Russian hookers into the plot, will only dignify a single punch against his self in the whole movie (but only because he gets to mock the weakness of the hit immediately after) and basically pattycakes bad guys with tremendous aid from stunt doubles and obfuscating editing.

To hear it put so plainly, it's depressing how many '90s flicks this take is exchangeable with. There was a lot of junk with none of the '80s fun that came out of that decade. I'd like to say things got better, but history predicts the sine wave of cinematic output. I want to think we're in the beginning stages of the uptick, but that remains to be seen; not much else than super hero fodder being trod out of late.

Oh, Kevin Smith confirmed Clerks 3! That's a thing! Clerks 2 was... not great, but surely Smith can recapture the magic of the original film in a third movie, right?.... Right? I mean, there MUST be a market for now +50 year old quik stop employees and their eloquently-written shenanigans to captivate modern audiences, right?? Tell me there's hope...

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Tell me there's hope...

there's hope...

hope...

hope...

p...

...

 

[Gordon_4]

Eh, I mean personally I would find that less than ideal, as far as motivation for a character? To just handwave it away, as an excuse for her violence, and then expect me to empathize with her without any real investment in her BEFORE she became a violent woman. Well, I mean basically that sounds like the amount of backstory and time they gave MahMah from the Dredd film in 2012. "She was abused, and became homicidal, the end." And...well she wasn't the protagonist of that story

Yeah but the simple beauty of Ma-Ma’s backstory is that even with that bare bones and paint by numbers bit of history, we can envisage the actual depth of the horror merely by coupling it with our observations of Mega-City One up to that point. We combine that environment with a backstory like abused sex worker and it’s all too easy to imagine her spitting upon her hands, clenching a dagger - or indeed, a penis - between her teeth and hoisting a black flag and start cutting throats.

Man, Dredd is such a good movie. I’m a go watch it again tonight.

 

[happyninja42]

Yeah but the simple beauty of Ma-Ma’s backstory is that even with that bare bones and paint by numbers bit of history, we can envisage the actual depth of the horror merely by coupling it with our observations of Mega-City One up to that point. We combine that environment with a backstory like abused sex worker and it’s all too easy to imagine her spitting upon her hands, clenching a dagger - or indeed, a penis - between her teeth and hoisting a black flag and start cutting throats.

Man, Dredd is such a good movie. I’m a go watch it again tonight.

I agree, Dredd is a great film, but you can't say that Ma-Ma is a very deep character. She's just female sexual assault revenge given flesh. I mean they don't frame her like she's justified in what she's doing. She's a HORRIBLE person, that treats everyone around her like she was treated, further making the world shit. So if that's all the motivation you give your PROTAGONIST, well don't expect me to really give a shit for her plight.

Plus, since her actual thing is that her anger issues are framed as a condition, not trauma, I find myself extra-unsympathetic. Sorry but I've lived with someone who is violent due to mental disorders and chemical imbalances, and it's still just as violent and painful, and terrifying. So, it doesn't make me want to cheer her on, no matter how you slice it. *shrugs* I just don't really find gratuitous violence all that compelling anymore, no matter the framework really. It's why I don't really enjoy the John Wick films beyond the first one, which at least had some motivation for his blood bath, though it's still excessive. JW 2&3 are just mindless slaughter for nothing but action set pieces.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

So apparently The Suicide Squad is out in some places, and is quite good. Wonder if I'll be able to watch, cinemas haven't been open here for more than a year.

 

[twistedmic]

To hear it put so plainly, it's depressing how many '90s flicks this take is exchangeable with. There was a lot of junk with none of the '80s fun that came out of that decade. I'd like to say things got better, but history predicts the sine wave of cinematic output. I want to think we're in the beginning stages of the uptick, but that remains to be seen; not much else than super hero fodder being trod out of late.

Oh, Kevin Smith confirmed Clerks 3! That's a thing! Clerks 2 was... not great, but surely Smith can recapture the magic of the original film in a third movie, right?.... Right? I mean, there MUST be a market for now +50 year old quik stop employees and their eloquently-written shenanigans to captivate modern audiences, right?? Tell me there's hope...

I feel like Kevin Smith was a product of the nineties and should have stayed there. Much like Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler comedy movies.

 

[Dalisclock]

To hear it put so plainly, it's depressing how many '90s flicks this take is exchangeable with. There was a lot of junk with none of the '80s fun that came out of that decade. I'd like to say things got better, but history predicts the sine wave of cinematic output. I want to think we're in the beginning stages of the uptick, but that remains to be seen; not much else than super hero fodder being trod out of late.

Oh, Kevin Smith confirmed Clerks 3! That's a thing! Clerks 2 was... not great, but surely Smith can recapture the magic of the original film in a third movie, right?.... Right? I mean, there MUST be a market for now +50 year old quik stop employees and their eloquently-written shenanigans to captivate modern audiences, right?? Tell me there's hope...

Yeah, realizing Dante and Randal are pushing 50 is just gonna be depressing, especially if they're still meant to be working at the fast food/convicence/video store. I loved the first one, the 2nd was fine but really, I'm not sure what the point is for number 3?

 

[happyninja42]

Yeah, realizing Dante and Randal are pushing 50 is just gonna be depressing, especially if they're still meant to be working at the fast food/convicence/video store. I loved the first one, the 2nd was fine but really, I'm not sure what the point is for number 3?

I could see it being used as a lens for how things have changed? How those of us in that age demographic, in a lot of ways (like most people really) still think like kids, or at least view the world with that kid lens. But as time moves on, that lens is more and more out of focus. You could argue "well that was the point of Clerks 2" and I would agree, but, there is always further change in life as we get older. My life in my 30s was significantly different than now approaching 45, and was even more different back in my teens/20s when Clerks 1 was hot. So, yeah, not so much a nostalgia train? Though it wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of that. But I could also just see it as a reflection on life, and aging, from the viewpoint of a pair of relatively static characters, with a familiar archetype for the audience. An audience that has aged with the characters, so find themselves in similar situations. Approaching/at 50, with kids...probably in college, maybe grand kids, still trying to figure out the fuck are they trying to do with their lives, or what they want out of it.

Of course it might just be donkey fucking and nerd wars about LOTR and Star Wars, you never can tell with Kevin. *shrugs*

 

[Piscian]

Man, Dredd is such a good movie. I’m a go watch it again tonight.

It's one of my recent favorite movies, probably seen it at least 15 times. Only movie that ever came close to making me enjoy a Justin Bieber song

 

[Xprimentyl]

Yeah, realizing Dante and Randal are pushing 50 is just gonna be depressing, especially if they're still meant to be working at the fast food/convicence/video store. I loved the first one, the 2nd was fine but really, I'm not sure what the point is for number 3?

I honestly didn't see the point in Clerks 2. It wasn't bad, but the first film in its quaintness and razor-sharp, clever writing felt intimate and immediate; then the second felt like "Look, we have money now, so here's a buddy comedy in color!" That, and the characters felt pathetic, not having evolved much beyond where we met them in the first film despite the lessons we intently watched them chew through previously.

I prefer the likes of Mallrats and Chasing Amy, Smith films that exist in the same Clerks universe, but are simultaneously independent of it. I'll always find Clerks to be the best of Smith's work and feel it will never be topped, even by Smith himself; he's too "Hollywood" now. That said, of course I'm going to see Clerks 3.

 

[happyninja42]

It's one of my recent favorite movies, probably seen it at least 15 times. Only movie that ever came close to making me enjoy a Justin Bieber song

If you like hearing how slowing music down immensely gives everything an ethereal, beautiful, otherworldly quality, then you should check this out.


the song is already haunting and ethereal, slowing it down just turns it into something new entirely.

 

[Piscian]

I honestly didn't see the point in Clerks 2. It wasn't bad, but the first film in its quaintness and razor-sharp, clever writing felt intimate and immediate; then the second felt like "Look, we have money now, so here's a buddy comedy in color!" That, and the characters felt pathetic, not having evolved much beyond where we met them in the first film despite the lessons we intently watched them chew through previously.

I prefer the likes of Mallrats and Chasing Amy, Smith films that exist in the same Clerks universe, but are simultaneously independent of it. I'll always find Clerks to be the best of Smith's work and feel it will never be topped, even by Smith himself; he's too "Hollywood" now. That said, of course I'm going to see Clerks 3.

I'd consider myself deep into the KS fandom. I love most things he does, I really liked Chasing Amy. However Clerks 2 is one I watched exactly once. I'm unironically scratching my head right to remember what the point of that movie was. It certainly wasn't particularly funny or relatable unlike the original. Something about accepting getting older maybe? Idk. I don't actively hate it, it was harmless but entirely forgettable. I do not want a clerks 3.

 

[Xprimentyl]

If you like hearing how slowing music down immensely gives everything an ethereal, beautiful, otherworldly quality, then you should check this out.


the song is already haunting and ethereal, slowing it down just turns it into something new entirely.

Man, you are absolutely correct. I've been experimenting with slowing down music I love for decades, and you are right; it turns a familiar song into something completely different. It's absolutely incredible how such a simple process creates something so new.


I could list hundreds of examples, but I'm certain your time is precious (and frankly, I think 99% of people never click on shared videos.) We should hang out some time; I'll buy you a beer. Bring your earbuds.

I'd consider myself deep into the KS fandom. I love most things he does, I really liked Chasing Amy. However Clerks 2 is one I watched exactly once. I'm unironically scratching my head right to remember what the point of that movie was. It certainly wasn't particularly funny or relatable unlike the original. Something about accepting getting older maybe? Idk. I don't actively hate it, it was harmless but entirely forgettable. I do not want a clerks 3.

Same. I went into Clerks 2 expecting more Clerks 1 and got a buddy comedy. Nowhere near as intellectually engaging as its predecessor. The first film felt like a passion project scraped together to introduce us to interesting characters with depth and relatable issues; the second felt like it tried to capitalize on the success of the first without any of that spirit. I do not want Clerks 3 either, but since it's happening, I have to see it. It can't exist and me not consume it. I don't expect to like it, so I'm hoping my low standard is exceeded at least enough for me not to hate it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Well, I mean basically that sounds like the amount of backstory and time they gave MahMah from the Dredd film in 2012. "She was abused, and became homicidal, the end." And...well she wasn't the protagonist of that story

Dredd still holds up well after nearly 10 years. I know some people complained about the action being "too basic", but that was because those people were used to/acting as if shaky cam style editing was not bad or nothing wrong. That just makes Dredd all the more better in action than its many then contemporaries. Sucks we're never getting a sequel. I know there was a rumor of a Netflix TV series, but I don't seeing it happen either.

 

[happyninja42]

Man, you are absolutely correct. I've been experimenting with slowing down music I love for decades, and you are right; it turns a familiar song into something completely different. It's absolutely incredible how such a simple process creates something so new.


I could list hundreds of examples, but I'm certain your time is precious (and frankly, I think 99% of people never click on shared videos.) We should hang out some time; I'll buy you a beer. Bring your earbuds.



Same. I went into Clerks 2 expecting more Clerks 1 and got a buddy comedy. Nowhere near as intellectually engaging as its predecessor. The first film felt like a passion project scraped together to introduce us to interesting characters with depth and relatable issues; the second felt like it tried to capitalize on the success of the first without any of that spirit. I do not want Clerks 3 either, but since it's happening, I have to see it. It can't exist and me not consume it. I don't expect to like it, so I'm hoping my low standard is exceeded at least enough for me not to hate it.

I like both of those samples. Most ambient/chill EDM fits my tastes. And the cool thing about the slowdown trend, is it doesn't even really need to be any of those things, and it becomes ambient/chill EDM as a result of the speed difference

Dredd still holds up well after nearly 10 years. I know some people complained about the action being "too basic", but that was because those people were used to/acting as if shaky cam style editing was not bad or nothing wrong. That just makes Dredd all the more better in action than its many then contemporaries. Sucks we're never getting a sequel. I know there was a rumor of a Netflix TV series, but I don't seeing it happen either.

Yeah I fucking loved Dredd. Since we're singing it's praises, this is a essay video about Anderson in that film, that I just fucking love.
I know I've linked it before but, hey, never hurts to share a good thing.


I like how he points out the humanity of Dredd, in his subtle actions. That he isn't a mindless killing machine. My favorite being how he deals with the vagrant before going into the block. But yeah, that movie is so damn good. And, the parts I like about it aren't the hyper violence, it's the character development between the leads, taking Anderson through her Training Day of Hell. The violence is secondary for me. It's shot very well, but it's not the appeal.

 

[BrawlMan]

I like both of those samples. Most ambient/chill EDM fits my tastes. And the cool thing about the slowdown trend, is it doesn't even really need to be any of those things, and it becomes ambient/chill EDM as a result of the speed difference


Yeah I fucking loved Dredd. Since we're singing it's praises, this is a essay video about Anderson in that film, that I just fucking love.
I know I've linked it before but, hey, never hurts to share a good thing.


I like how he points out the humanity of Dredd, in his subtle actions. That he isn't a mindless killing machine. My favorite being how he deals with the vagrant before going into the block. But yeah, that movie is so damn good. And, the parts I like about it aren't the hyper violence, it's the character development between the leads, taking Anderson through her Training Day of Hell. The violence is secondary for me. It's shot very well, but it's not the appeal.

Yep, saw that vid back in 2016. Wonderful!

 

[Ezekiel]

Mylene Farmer en concert (1989)

A moody live show that goes back and forth between sadness/melancholy and fun, with the distinct 1980s sound that I didn't hear in her later shows. There's a lot of dancing, and some of the costumes resemble her music videos of the day. It's the shortest of any of her shows I've seen, at only 94 minutes, but I found it the best. The runtime just made it easier to watch again an hour later. She has some of the best entrances and exits I've seen. The exit in Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy (2006) in particular.

I wondered why this Blu-ray got so many bad reviews before it arrived. The reason is that it's not even HD, it's a 720X576 anamorphic SD video at an extremely high bitrate (for DVD) with uncompressed audio. I don't know if this was originally just mixed for stereo or matrixed stereo, but I enjoyed both the 5.1 and 2.0 tracks.

Shot on film but edited on video, I don't think it will ever look any better. Unless Universal decided to find all the original pieces of film and recut them, which just doesn't happen for concerts and music videos. I mean very, very rarely. See a-ha's Take On Me and Freddie Mercury's Living On My Own (which are incomplete, had to recreate elements). Encoding this movie in 1080p would be pointless.

 

[Gordon_4]

Dredd still holds up well after nearly 10 years. I know some people complained about the action being "too basic", but that was because those people were used to/acting as if shaky cam style editing was not bad or nothing wrong. That just makes Dredd all the more better in action than its many then contemporaries. Sucks we're never getting a sequel. I know there was a rumor of a Netflix TV series, but I don't seeing it happen either.

Dredd’s action is, much like the man himself, brutal and efficient. Basic is too crude and does the movie and filmmaking a disservice.