Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Asita]

A ★★½ review of Bambi (1942)

To get the positives out of the way first, this movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The paintings for the landscapes are beautiful to look at, and the animated drawings are very well done for the time period as well. There are definitely some shaky moments, like characters talking without...

letterboxd.com

...Not going to lie, after that review, I'm kinda curious about how you'd react to Chirin's Bell.

 

[thebobmaster]

Never heard of it.

 

[Asita]

Never heard of it.

Short version? About 45 minutes long, focuses on a young lamb. Starts off about as happy as Bambi...and then things take a hard turn when a wolf kills Chirin's mother, at which point it becomes a cautionary tale about revenge (albeit with a few "Ok, but why though?" story beats that belie its 1978 release and young target demographic despite its tone). You can actually find it pretty easily on Youtube.

Bear in mind though, my suggestion of it is mostly just morbid curiosity rather than an actual recommendation.

 

[Baffle]

Cop Car.

Kevin Bacon has had a bad guy's face since Sleepers, amazed EE employ him. Netflix briefed this as a cat-and-mouse thriller, but it isn't really, more just 'man chases boys, boys do nothing to outwit man'. It's okay, probably wouldn't stay up late to watch it.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of Saludos Amigos (1942)

That was...certainly something. Half documentary and half animated skits, the highlight of Saludos Amigos was the last segment, a gorgeous watercolor painting segment set to the tune of a samba called "Aquarela do Brazil", which is also the name of the segment. The last part of this segment also...

letterboxd.com

 

[Trunkage]

So, people were going on about nostalgic movies on the last page...

It took a little while but I watched all of the LotR movies with my kids. First thing I can say is, this was more successful than Star Wars. They wanted to keep going where they haven't been fussed about wanting watching Empire Stikes Back. They were constantly asking questions about how the world worked and in particularly the ring and palantir. So, that's a win.

I dont think I can add much more praise on this than what has already been stated. There was one issue I dont remember being brought up previously. I don't like the editing in this movie at all. It chops and changes so rapidly at times, and not just during battles. Other times, it does that sweeping walking thing that just wastes time.... which caused Jackson to cut out parts of the journey. This might just be a problem translating it to movie. Eg. The move going from Caradhas to Moria was less than a minute but in real life would have been a month and they skipped over some challenges on the way. Time is all squirly and really effects the dramatic tension

Otherwise, it's still a pretty good film that holds up after 20 years. I'd probably move it down to an 8.5/10 due to issues I can see now, but still a top tier movie

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Bodies Bodies Bodies, 8/10

This is a really fun and clever slasher thriller about a group of annoying entitled gen-Z 20-somethings who party together at a giant mansion during a hurricane, when all of a sudden people start dying. It's very much in the vein of classic paranoia thrillers like And then there were none, but with a heavy dose of great satire. The characters are almost all completely unlikable, varying degrees of self-absorbed and narcissistic, which counterintuitively makes the movie very engaging, because you get the sense that any of them could be a psycho underneath. It's really well written, and while it's not an outright comedy, there are some genuinely hilarious and comedically satisfying moments to be had. It's very efficiently made, being set entirely on one location, relying on very good dialogue, and being mostly lit only by cellphone flashlights. The acting is all very good. All the actors tread the fine line between engagingly realistic and insufferable, with the highlights being Pete Davidson and Maria Bakalova (or Borat 2 fame). Bakalova in particular shows some damn solid dramatic chops, and I have a feeling she might be a star in the making. It's also really well paced, not a moment of it feels wasted, and there's some genuinely great tension in it.

At times it can be a bit hard to parse just how seriously you're supposed to take it, because it kind of wanders between purposely exaggerated stupidity approaching something like Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, and playing a lot of it very straight and seriously. But I suppose it's aiming to be Scream for generation Z, so that kind of tonal mercuriality is to be expected I guess.

I checked it out tonight and I'd probably give it a 7/10. While exaggerated, the movie sorta epitomizes this young generation. All the 20-somethings my boss hires all have some sort of mental issues, it's pretty astonishing actually. The climax of the movie is amazing because you're like "yeah... that's totally what they'd do" while you're just shaking your head at them. The one scene where there's 2 characters, a gun, and a phone and obviously the 2 characters are fighting over possession of the phone and not the gun.

 

[Gordon_4]

I checked it out tonight and I'd probably give it a 7/10. While exaggerated, the movie sorta epitomizes this young generation. All the 20-somethings my boss hires all have some sort of mental issues, it's pretty astonishing actually. The climax of the movie is amazing because you're like "yeah... that's totally what they'd do" while you're just shaking your head at them. The one scene where there's 2 characters, a gun, and a phone and obviously the 2 characters are fighting over possession of the phone and not the gun.

Thats not as stupid as it seems, although the question of why not grab both certainly hangs in the air. But I work with a bunch of ex-coppers and they’ve all said that if the choice is between your gun and your radio, take your radio.

 

[Bartholen]

I checked it out tonight and I'd probably give it a 7/10. While exaggerated, the movie sorta epitomizes this young generation. All the 20-somethings my boss hires all have some sort of mental issues, it's pretty astonishing actually. The climax of the movie is amazing because you're like "yeah... that's totally what they'd do" while you're just shaking your head at them. The one scene where there's 2 characters, a gun, and a phone and obviously the 2 characters are fighting over possession of the phone and not the gun.

One of my (quite few) Gen-Z friends gave the movie his seal of approval of being one of the very few movies to actually succesfully satirize his generation, so that's a win for it. Actually now that I think about it, the scene where several characters are arguing and constantly weaponizing what issues or mental problems they have agiainst each other feels like a sort of dark counterpart to the scene in Mean Girls where all the girls in school basically have a collective therapy session.

 

[lostinreality]

So, people were going on about nostalgic movies on the last page...

It took a little while but I watched all of the LotR movies with my kids. First thing I can say is, this was more successful than Star Wars. They wanted to keep going where they haven't been fussed about wanting watching Empire Stikes Back. They were constantly asking questions about how the world worked and in particularly the ring and palantir. So, that's a win.

I dont think I can add much more praise on this than what has already been stated. There was one issue I dont remember being brought up previously. I don't like the editing in this movie at all. It chops and changes so rapidly at times, and not just during battles. Other times, it does that sweeping walking thing that just wastes time.... which caused Jackson to cut out parts of the journey. This might just be a problem translating it to movie. Eg. The move going from Caradhas to Moria was less than a minute but in real life would have been a month and they skipped over some challenges on the way. Time is all squirly and really effects the dramatic tension

Otherwise, it's still a pretty good film that holds up after 20 years. I'd probably move it down to an 8.5/10 due to issues I can see now, but still a top tier movie

Needless to say, I was not aware it's been 20 years. I will be processing this for a while.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Thats not as stupid as it seems, although the question of why not grab both certainly hangs in the air. But I work with a bunch of ex-coppers and they’ve all said that if the choice is between your gun and your radio, take your radio.

At the time the scene happens, the phone was not important to survival, but the phone was more important to them obviously.

One of my (quite few) Gen-Z friends gave the movie his seal of approval of being one of the very few movies to actually succesfully satirize his generation, so that's a win for it. Actually now that I think about it, the scene where several characters are arguing and constantly weaponizing what issues or mental problems they have agiainst each other feels like a sort of dark counterpart to the scene in Mean Girls where all the girls in school basically have a collective therapy session.

Yeah, I don't think any movie or show has satirized this young generation. Maybe they think that they wouldn't be able to take it...

 

[Trunkage]

Needless to say, I was not aware it's been 20 years. I will be processing this for a while.

Sorry for the existential dread

Dont worry, it gets a whole lot worse as you get older....

It also gets worse when you realise something like Ghostbusters is almost 40 years old

 

[Trunkage]

At the time the scene happens, the phone was not important to survival, but the phone was more important to them obviously.


Yeah, I don't think any movie or show has satirized this young generation. Maybe they think that they wouldn't be able to take it...

After all the incorrect comments about Millenials, hopeful people learnt their lesson

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★ review of The Three Caballeros (1944)

A notable step up from the previous movie, but still not entirely devoid of issues. As a direct followup from Saludos Amigos, this film has a bit more structure to it. On his birthday, Donald is given three presents, which serve as lead-ins to various segments of the film. The first segment...

letterboxd.com

 

[twistedmic]

Sorry for the existential dread

Dont worry, it gets a whole lot worse as you get older....

It also gets worse when you realise something like Ghostbusters is almost 40 years old

Realizing that the original Jurassic Park, which you remember seeing in theaters on its original run, came out pretty much thirty years ago isn’t much fun.

Nor is realizing that nearly half the people you work with are younger than Spongebob and more than half have never known a time before The Simpsons.

I made myself sad. I am now going to stare at my ceiling and try to ignore the time projected there from my alarm clock.

 

[Gordon_4]

The Transformers: the Movie - 10/10

This movie is simultaneously dumb as shit and brimming with lots of really cool ideas. Like take the opening five or so minutes which is totally devoid of anything to do with the Autobots and Decepticons: instead we see this giant mechanical planet backed by eerie music as he descends upon a world populated by robots and eats it. Not destroys it, motherfucking chomps it down and digests it. Now what sort of movie is that an opening for if you divorce it from Transformers?

Anyway, for such a rampantly corporate product the people making either actively conspired or were guided by the Force to make the best possible version. The suits say to clear the decks for new toys? Okay, so we the get the shuttle scene where the Decepticons are the most dangerous they’ve ever been. Megatron straight up executes Ironhide - a big fan fav then and now - with one of the most cold blooded lines he’s ever had. Then we get what’s arguably the set piece; the Battle of Autobot City. It serves to introduce us to the new Autobots going forward (and Perceptor of all bots) and each comes across strong. Script says Optimus has to die, okay let’s give him one final moment of awesome capped by him and Megatron dual Mano a Mano and follow that with an utterly heart wrenching deathbed scene backed by some powerful scoring - the scene legendarily had young kids of the day in tears - as Peter Cullen, the voice of a thousand absent fathers, emotes the FUCK out of Optimus’ final moments.

The Decepticons get in on it too; Astrotrain bitches about the weight, Starscream orchestrates to toss the injured but not dead Decepticons into space, while some of them beg for their friends not to but it turns out mercy is not a thing among the Decepticons. Starscream gets his most iconic scene and lines as he personally tosses Megatron into the void and declares himself leader. Then Megatron meets Unicron and until the bitter end, decides to argue and bargain with him; and even then his new form Galvatron is rather determined to get out of this new arrangement as quickly as possible. And his first order of business is give Starscream his final notice and remind him a true leader of Decepticons needs no crown, only power and the will to use it.

Anyway, I love everything about this movie: even the stupid parts because at least they’re earnest and the hits that need to hit, are damn good. It was the best Generation 1 Transformers ever looked and became a yardstick for the franchise going forward.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, watching the Gen 1 series after the movie is a bit of a letdown, the movie is just made of win. Ok, the plot is all over the place, but there's so many epic (literally epic) scenes. Galvatron's rise to power. The Dinobots crashing an execution and starting a people's revolt of shark monsters. Everything in the final battle.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

I Blame Society - (prime, purchase)
The Columnist - (prime, purchase)
It would be nice to do these separately, but fate has ensured I cannot keep these in twain: I first heard of them both from the same podcast, one after the other. Kept confusing the two for weeks following. Then I tried to buy one, thinking it was the other, only to see the other on the recommended list of the one I unintentionally bought. They're also both satires covering modern issues, each about a woman protag deciding one day that murder is kinda ok and a little bit fun actually and continuing that hobby to its logical end. So you see, they entwine and knot through my consciousness like an aggressively symbiotic furball whether I want them to or not.

However, IBS (lol) is a 'found footage' social media video blog format with many intentional cringe, yet unmelodramatic moments of crazy where the protag woman is pretty much just filming her own descent into madness for some film director portfolio material she is hoping to get a good gig out of. While Columnist is a proper movie film with movie film script, movie film moments and movie film performances. It's also Dutch? So on a basic audio/visual level, the latter is simply more pleasing to watch, it's got the solid direction, acting and satirical forseen narrative that'll rub those anxious comfort zones while getting those messages clearly presented to the unsuspecting innocent viewers.

IBS (really shouldn't lol, but...) Is not as easy to settle into and harder to recommend, but it does do one important arc better: the moment of transformation from non-killer to gleeful murder psycho, which tbh a lot of murder films have trouble with. While Columnist seems to go murdery after reading too many online comments on day - which, yes they are nasty, but nowhere near the depravity of the shit we see in the real life abyss here - IBS (the novelty's worn off now *sigh*) has got a smoother and more believable transition instead, along with the various hints that this lady was already a bit dodgy beforehand. Also I did chuckle at one line from a producer guy who knew he was about to die by her hand, being something like "wait I gotta delete some photos off my phone first!" And though they both share similar messages, IBS is a lot less clear and a lot more scrappy in its presentation. So in the end, I think I'd recommend The Columnist as a safe bet for most audiences, but still kinda respect IBS a little bit more with its uncomfortable offbeat approach.

 

[Baffle]

Repoman. Not bad, but I find anything with Jude Law hard to watch. Just something creepy (and I think its deliberate so that's not rude). Man's got a funny idea of paradise I tell you.

Dictated but not read.

 

[twistedmic]

Repoman. Not bad, but I find anything with Jude Law hard to watch. Just something creepy (and I think its deliberate so that's not rude). Man's got a funny idea of paradise I tell you.

Dictated but not read.

I never watched that version, but I quite enjoyed Repo! The Genetic Opera. It’s the same basic idea but in an actual opera where everyone sings everything. It’s got some awesome songs and creepy as shit villains.

The guy that played Giles in the Buffy show plays the Repo man.