Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Johnny Novgorod]

Leave the World Behind

I kept wondering if this was made during COVID. Turns out it's based on a book written during COVID. So it's about a vaguely sketched apocalyptic event and the fall of society, because no one knows what's going on or who's doing it or why is it happening, all of which is glimpsed through the perspective of a family vacationing for the weekend just outside the city.

What it boils down to is a very simplistic story about people getting over their prejudice for each other and joining hands for a moment of Can't we all just get along? Which is a nice sentiment and all, but the movie appears to think it's all you really need.

I liked how it was shot and directed and there was some effective tension in a few scenes but the movie kinda just shuffles past them and refuses to build up from them. It's all tension and no stakes. Never felt like anyone was in danger.

 

[gorfias]

Godzilla Minus One, 8/10

A Godzilla movie actually made me cry. I'm being serious.

I haven't seen many Godzilla movies, but this has got to rank among the best of the best. It looks "Holy Shit!" stunning for its budget, the human element is incredibly engaging, it's dark and disturbing, Godzilla is a properly villainous force of nature, the music's great, it's just fantastic all around. It uses plot elements that would be tired tropes in lesser films to incredibly satisfying effect. The psychological element with the main character is especially engaging, since he's wrestling with massive survivor's guilt, and just guilt in general, and it's destroying him from the inside. The movie's faults lie mainly with its production values: sometimes the effects aren't the best, Godzilla can look a little goofy sometimes and his movements don't quite hit that proper sense of weight and scale a monster the size of an office building should have.

This could have been a good movie if Godzilla wasn't even in it. With him in it makes it all the more terrific. And he isn't an anti-hero in this. Nope. Full on force of destructive nature. It has what so many other movies do not when the action spends so much time with the not the monster: it gives us characters with story arcs to be interested in. And to think the whole thing cost about 1/2 what an episode of She Hulk went for.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Cell: Strange / Great

John Cusack plays a man on his way home to makes amends with his estranged wife. Whilst waiting in the airport with his cell phone having just died, an inexplicable event causes everyone on their cell phones to go absolutely bat-shit crazy and violent. In an attempt to escape the chaos in the subway below the airport, he meets Samuel L. Jackson, a subway conductor, and together they devise a loose plan to escape into the city to see if they can discover how far spread this phenomenon has spread.

It's basic a pretentious zombie move. I say "pretentious" because I think there's some sort of message about cell phone culture, just not clear what that was. And the ending leaves you with mostly unanswered questions which sometimes is okay, but when over the course of the film, they make it a point to introduce questions and reel you in with intrigue, well, it's not satisfactory to just END with no appreciable punctuation.

 

[BrawlMan]

Cell: Strange / Great

John Cusack plays a man on his way home to makes amends with his estranged wife. Whilst waiting in the airport with his cell phone having just died, an inexplicable event causes everyone on their cell phones to go absolutely bat-shit crazy and violent. In an attempt to escape the chaos in the subway below the airport, he meets Samuel L. Jackson, a subway conductor, and together they devise a loose plan to escape into the city to see if they can discover how far spread this phenomenon has spread.

It's basic a pretentious zombie move. I say "pretentious" because I think there's some sort of message about cell phone culture, just not clear what that was. And the ending leaves you with mostly unanswered questions which sometimes is okay, but when over the course of the film, they make it a point to introduce questions and reel you in with intrigue, well, it's not satisfactory to just END with no appreciable punctuation.

As far as "zombie but not a zombie" genre films from the 2000s, I consider 28 Days Later and The Crazies the best. I just wish the latter didn't end on a sequel hook, and for the former I pretend the sequel doesn't even exist.

 

[Thaluikhain]

As far as "zombie but not a zombie" genre films from the 2000s, I consider 28 Days Later and The Crazies the best. I just wish the latter didn't end on a sequel hook, and for the former I pretend the sequel doesn't even exist.

Huh, didn't even know they made a remake of The Crazies, I've only seen the 1970s version. I liked how people kept making mistakes that turned out to be awful, but made perfect sense from the character's point of view and information.

 

[thebobmaster]

Cell: Strange / Great

John Cusack plays a man on his way home to makes amends with his estranged wife. Whilst waiting in the airport with his cell phone having just died, an inexplicable event causes everyone on their cell phones to go absolutely bat-shit crazy and violent. In an attempt to escape the chaos in the subway below the airport, he meets Samuel L. Jackson, a subway conductor, and together they devise a loose plan to escape into the city to see if they can discover how far spread this phenomenon has spread.

It's basic a pretentious zombie move. I say "pretentious" because I think there's some sort of message about cell phone culture, just not clear what that was. And the ending leaves you with mostly unanswered questions which sometimes is okay, but when over the course of the film, they make it a point to introduce questions and reel you in with intrigue, well, it's not satisfactory to just END with no appreciable punctuation.

As a fan of the Stephen King novel, I HATED this movie. It took basically everything about the book that was good and threw it out to make an incomprehensible mess.

 

[Piscian]

As a fan of the Stephen King novel, I HATED this movie. It took basically everything about the book that was good and threw it out to make an incomprehensible mess.

Yeah, Im a big Stephen King fan, having read most of his books, Cell happens to be in my top 5. Its got a lot of heart. I was really deflated when the first trailer came out and it was made obvious that the studio just kinda shit this one out. I got maybe 10 minutes in and noped out. Its not that its schlocky. I dig silly stuff like Langoliers and maximum overdrive. Cell is just a cheap and lazy cash in.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of Spectre (2015)

This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.

letterboxd.com

 

[Piscian]

I rewatched Kill Bill Vol.1&2 over the last couple days.

I have a very strange viewer relationship with Quentin Tarantino. Ive seen just about all of his movies, some several times and I still can't really say if Im a fan and I could rattle off a pretty deep list of complaints about his films, but I often come back to his library and its difficult to really articulate why.

The last week Ive had near 16 hour days at work where Im working 9-7 then working 12am to 4-6am so Im at best catching 2-3 hours of sleep a day.

The reason I provide this context is that I just have not had the mental energy to watch anything engaging. Anything I need to pay attention to or contemplate.

With acknowledgement of how insulting it is, this is where QT films shine for me. His films are imo trash. Films whos only real goals are to position powerful actors to chew scenery and disarm critical analysis by making the actual stories as lowbrow and shallow as possible. You don't need to "think" about whats happening on screen.

This isn't Schindler's list or There will be blood. It feels like very intentional, anarchistic film making. Making Kurt Russell hunt cheerleaders in the desert. I can fade in and out of awareness in time with the music telling me the important dialogue is happening now.

Honestly, Kill Bill volume 1&2 are stupid movies about goofy assassin's, emulating those shitty kungfu exploitation movies of the 70s we used to watch on USA and TNT. The only heart to the film is the protagonists obsession with revenge and the only reason to watch is for the violence and watch zoom cuts on the eyeballs of a star studded cast as they emote rage like they are above petty awards like oscars. Theres nothing to debate, nothing to ponder.

Like all his other films this is a cartoonishly large deep fried creamcheese eel roll. Im too exhausted to finish the analogy.

Did I watch both films without feeling the run time seep in? yes. Are they good films?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I rewatched Kill Bill Vol.1&2 over the last couple days.

I have a very strange viewer relationship with Quentin Tarantino. Ive seen just about all of his movies, some several times and I still can't really say if Im a fan and I could rattle off a pretty deep list of complaints about his films, but I often come back to his library and its difficult to really articulate why.

The last week Ive had near 16 hour days at work where Im working 9-7 then working 12am to 4-6am so Im at best catching 2-3 hours of sleep a day.

The reason I provide this context is that I just have not had the mental energy to watch anything engaging. Anything I need to pay attention to or contemplate.

With acknowledgement of how insulting it is, this is where QT films shine for me. His films are imo trash. Films whos only real goals are to position powerful actors to chew scenery and disarm critical analysis by making the actual stories as lowbrow and shallow as possible. You don't need to "think" about whats happening on screen.

This isn't Schindler's list or There will be blood. It feels like very intentional, anarchistic film making. Making Kurt Russell hunt cheerleaders in the desert. I can fade in and out of awareness in time with the music telling me the important dialogue is happening now.

Honestly, Kill Bill volume 1&2 are stupid movies about goofy assassin's, emulating those shitty kungfu exploitation movies of the 70s we used to watch on USA and TNT. The only heart to the film is the protagonists obsession with revenge and the only reason to watch is for the violence and watch zoom cuts on the eyeballs of a star studded cast as they emote rage like they are above petty awards like oscars. Theres nothing to debate, nothing to ponder.

Like all his other films this is a cartoonishly large deep fried creamcheese eel roll. Im too exhausted to finish the analogy.

Did I watch both films without feeling the run time seep in? yes. Are they good films?


View attachment 10320

Tarantino to me is like a metal band that grew up listening to metal and formed another metal band who fanboys about their heroes and does fun fan interaction and covers and are very technically proficient but don't offer much new to the scene other than encouraging curious listeners to go seek out the originals. They're like Trivium or Dream Theater or some such. It's all... fine.. whatever... but kind of crazy when anyone has strong emotions about any of this stuff either way.

 

[BrawlMan]

Are they good films?

Not really. They are entertaining and the first movie has excellent action, but the second movie falls apart immediately and is your usual Tarantino stuff. I find the second movie really boring to watch, and drags on for way too long. The first movie is just cribbing from Lady Snowblood with a few other things. The only thing I got to thank the first volume for doing is introducing me to the band, 5-6-7-8's, and using the same animation studio that did Linkin Park's "Breaking The Habit", did the animation for O-Rinshi's backstory. What doesn't help with that I really don't like a lot of his works and I don't find them good or interesting. Especially when he was cribbing from Black culture and try to act like he was "one of us".

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I rewatched Kill Bill Vol.1&2 over the last couple days.

I have a very strange viewer relationship with Quentin Tarantino. Ive seen just about all of his movies, some several times and I still can't really say if Im a fan and I could rattle off a pretty deep list of complaints about his films, but I often come back to his library and its difficult to really articulate why.

The last week Ive had near 16 hour days at work where Im working 9-7 then working 12am to 4-6am so Im at best catching 2-3 hours of sleep a day.

The reason I provide this context is that I just have not had the mental energy to watch anything engaging. Anything I need to pay attention to or contemplate.

With acknowledgement of how insulting it is, this is where QT films shine for me. His films are imo trash. Films whos only real goals are to position powerful actors to chew scenery and disarm critical analysis by making the actual stories as lowbrow and shallow as possible. You don't need to "think" about whats happening on screen.

This isn't Schindler's list or There will be blood. It feels like very intentional, anarchistic film making. Making Kurt Russell hunt cheerleaders in the desert. I can fade in and out of awareness in time with the music telling me the important dialogue is happening now.

Honestly, Kill Bill volume 1&2 are stupid movies about goofy assassin's, emulating those shitty kungfu exploitation movies of the 70s we used to watch on USA and TNT. The only heart to the film is the protagonists obsession with revenge and the only reason to watch is for the violence and watch zoom cuts on the eyeballs of a star studded cast as they emote rage like they are above petty awards like oscars. Theres nothing to debate, nothing to ponder.

Like all his other films this is a cartoonishly large deep fried creamcheese eel roll. Im too exhausted to finish the analogy.

Did I watch both films without feeling the run time seep in? yes. Are they good films?


View attachment 10320

Good gawd…how do you even function enough to watch anything, and what kind of work requires that kind of schedule? Kudos and good luck with finding more time for sleep, which is all I’d be looking to do.


Anyways, Tarantino movies are basically a movie nut’s homage to his favorite genres. They are entertaining especially if one loves dialog and he has a pretty good ear for soundtracks that fit well.

Not really. They are entertaining and the first movie has excellent action, but the second movie falls apart immediately and is your usual Tarantino stuff. I find the second movie really boring to watch, and drags on for way too long. The first movie is just cribbing from Lady Snowblood with a few other things. The only thing I got to thank the first volume for doing is introducing me to the band, 5-6-7-8's, and using the same animation studio that did Linkin Park's "Breaking The Habit", did the animation for O-Rinshi's backstory. What doesn't help with that I really don't like a lot of his works and I don't find them good or interesting. Especially when he was cribbing from Black culture and try to act like he was "one of us".

Volume 2 was his basically him wanting to merge a kung fu flick with a spaghetti western. Mileage may vary but it still had some standout moments. It delved deeper into the gang and Beatrix’s past, and still had a few kick ass fight scenes. Plus the whole bit being buried alive to remembering her training in order to bust out was arguably a high point across both volumes.

 

[BrawlMan]

Volume 2 was his basically him wanting to merge a kung fu flick with a spaghetti western. Mileage may vary but it still had some standout moments. It delved deeper into the gang and Beatrix’s past, and still had a few kick ass fight scenes. Plus the whole bit being buried alive to remembering her training in order to bust out was arguably a high point across both volumes.

There are standout moments, there are other moments that feel dragged out or you could have dropped this and not miss anything. For me personally, it's not worth going 2 hours of 40 minutes through that again.

 

[Piscian]

Good gawd…how do you even function enough to watch anything, and what kind of work requires that kind of schedule? Kudos and good luck with finding more time for sleep, which is all I’d be looking to do.

Thanks, my vacation starts like..now. I still have to sit on 2024 planning bridge, but I literally have a white russian in my hand when this call is over I'm gonna sleep like 24 hours straight. They're aware. My boss called me last night and said they put for another christmas bonus for me. Hopefully, things will calm down in a few months.

Anyways, Tarantino movies are basically a movie nut’s homage to his favorite genres. They are entertaining especially if one loves dialog and he has a pretty good ear for soundtracks that fit well.


Volume 2 was his basically him wanting to merge a kung fu flick with a spaghetti western. Mileage may vary but it still had some standout moments. It delved deeper into the gang and Beatrix’s past, and still had a few kick ass fight scenes. Plus the whole bit being buried alive to remembering her training in order to bust out was arguably a high point across both volumes.

Carrying that same thesis from my earlier rambling, I do think QT movies are for "film aficionados". You get a lot more mileage if you're the type of personal who likes exploring film as an artform more than good or bad film "making". Like you think Solaris or Stalker are quality films because of what they present, not necessarily pacing or storytelling.

With Kill Bill Volume 2 I felt a keen sense that it was QT saying "Look what I can do with mutherfucking Carradine". David Carradine has always been one of those beloved "supporting" actors and it feels like the entire film is wrapped around giving David center stage to see if he can make a monster empathetic.

Thats not to say Uma thurman wasn't still good and yeah the grave scene is her big moment in the film imho, but I do think Volume 2 shows how QT doesn't care if the "movie" is good, hes after memorable performances. QT wants us to "remember the name".

It puts us in a precarious position as viewers. I'll put my foot down now, and say I think Inglorious Bastards is a shit movie *audience aghast*. I think it's no better than a gross Wolfenstein DLC pack, but everybody and their mother remembers Brad Pitts lines "Killing Nawsi's". One can't help but point out how good Christoph Waltz was.

The more I think about it the more confident I am that QT is a bad film maker, but damned if I'm not in the mood right this moment for a Django rewatch.

 

[Gordon_4]

Thanks, my vacation starts like..now. I still have to sit on 2024 planning bridge, but I literally have a white russian in my hand when this call is over I'm gonna sleep like 24 hours straight. They're aware. My boss called me last night and said they put for another christmas bonus for me. Hopefully, things will calm down in a few months.



Carrying that same thesis from my earlier rambling, I do think QT movies are for "film aficionados". You get a lot more mileage if you're the type of personal who likes exploring film as an artform more than good or bad film "making". Like you think Solaris or Stalker are quality films because of what they present, not necessarily pacing or storytelling.

With Kill Bill Volume 2 I felt a keen sense that it was QT saying "Look what I can do with mutherfucking Carradine". David Carradine has always been one of those beloved "supporting" actors and it feels like the entire film is wrapped around giving David center stage to see if he can make a monster empathetic.

Thats not to say Uma thurman wasn't still good and yeah the grave scene is her big moment in the film imho, but I do think Volume 2 shows how QT doesn't care if the "movie" is good, hes after memorable performances. QT wants us to "remember the name".

It puts us in a precarious position as viewers. I'll put my foot down now, and say I think Inglorious Bastards is a shit movie *audience aghast*. I think it's no better than a gross Wolfenstein DLC pack, but everybody and their mother remembers Brad Pitts lines "Killing Nawsi's". One can't help but point out how good Christoph Waltz was.

The more I think about it the more confident I am that QT is a bad film maker, but damned if I'm not in the mood right this moment for a Django rewatch.

If nothing else, Inglorious Basterds paid its dues by introducing Christoph Waltz to the world at large. Its existence is justified by the gift from God alone.

 

[gorfias]

Absentia 2011 on Amazon Prime and Freevee

I was writing of how great and prolific a film maker Mike Flanagan is when @Piscian told me to check out this 2011 film by him very early on.

Like other great film makers in their early days this movie is all creativity, virtually no budget but the talent and promise shine through. Practical effects. But it has a terrific story and interesting, not card board cut out, characters. (Think Speilberg and "Duel" or Christopher Nolan's "Following". ) Total antidote to most of the drek we see these days.

Spoiler

There is an evil presence in a tunnel running through under a bridge. A pregnant woman is gifted the children's book, "3 Billy Goats Gruff". Clever!

A+

 

[Bartholen]

Heavenly Creatures, 8/10

This is an early Peter Jackson joint based on a real-life story in the 1950s of two teenage girls falling for each other and eventually murdering the mother of one of them. Considering this is still an odd one out in Jackson's catalogue, I was expecting it to be more subdued and subtle than his usual output. Turns out this wasn't the case: it's very animated and colourful, bordering on over the top, as a lot of Jackson's early work was. It's like Sam Raimi films: you always know when you're watching one. This works in its favor though, since it's depicting hormonal teenagers experiencing the most intense of emotional turmoil. It captures that sense of manic emotionality really well, and it's really disturbing. These girls are basically making each other go completely bugfuck crazy, and any efforts of course correction by their parents fall on deaf ears. There are a lot of scenes that made me squirm in my seat with discomfort, since a ton of it concerns underage sexuality, and it doesn't shy away from it either. In a lot of parts I was wondering if this film would even get made today. For a film of this subject matter there's a lot of effects and fantastical scenes, and you can kind of sense Jackson cutting his teeth for that stuff here.

I don't know if there's a lot I'd criticize. The acting's all good, there's a lot of really creative cinematography and the classical-inflected score fits the story.

 

[BrawlMan]

Godzilla Minus One, 8/10

A Godzilla movie actually made me cry. I'm being serious.

I haven't seen many Godzilla movies, but this has got to rank among the best of the best. It looks "Holy Shit!" stunning for its budget, the human element is incredibly engaging, it's dark and disturbing, Godzilla is a properly villainous force of nature, the music's great, it's just fantastic all around. It uses plot elements that would be tired tropes in lesser films to incredibly satisfying effect. The psychological element with the main character is especially engaging, since he's wrestling with massive survivor's guilt, and just guilt in general, and it's destroying him from the inside. The movie's faults lie mainly with its production values: sometimes the effects aren't the best, Godzilla can look a little goofy sometimes and his movements don't quite hit that proper sense of weight and scale a monster the size of an office building should have.

I just came back from the theater and saw this. Godzilla Minus One is an S-Rank movie for me. They did everything perfectly or as close to perfect as you can get. I am ready for the next Kong X Godzilla movie coming out next year. We monster movie fans are eating great this year and next year.

 

[thebobmaster]

Bond. Dive. Over.

A ★★★★★ review of No Time to Die (2021)

This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.

letterboxd.com

 

[Xprimentyl]

Leave The World Behind: Huh? / Great

A couple and their children are vacationing in a remote, rented home near New York City, and during a general service outage, the home owner and his daughter show up requesting to stay until they can figure out what's going on in the city.

I dunno. It was well acted, but not exactly sure where it was going. It was clear on the social commentary it went for, but it mostly just sorta "happened," then ended where a different movie would have taken off. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but also not sure why I can't because nigh objectively, it has a lot of holes and intrigue it doesn't bother addressing leaving the viewer with a "you think about that while these credits roll" vibe. I almost feel like it's my fault that I didn't completely "get" it.

The movie is saved (for me) by Mahershala Ali. He has been phenomenal in everything I've seen him in. His screen presence is just... captivating. He could sell me the clothes I already own and am already wearing. If he were to start a cult, not saying I'd join, but I'd read his literature... and then I might join the cult. He's the kind of guy I wouldn't mind my girlfriend cheating on me with, like, I'd understand; I'd ask him for pointers on my next relationship and respectfully leave her to him and apologize for the inconvenience.

I guess I can recommend it if only for the masterful acting and oddly enthralling web it weaves.