Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Bartholen]

Poor Things, 10/10

Incredibly weird and unique, and just plain incredible. I can well see what all the fuss is about. This is one hell of a movie, a rare gem. A completely uncompromised vision dancing to its own tune, eschewing any and all conventions, genre and expectations. Going into it I had no idea what it was about or what it was like, and that was a good thing, because it let me fully immerse myself into the fairytale-like atmosphere and style. From the very first frame it looks absolutely stunning, and then just keeps firing. The deliberately artificial set and visual design, and the experimental cinematography that makes most wide shots look like a miniature diorama creates a film that looks unlike anything I've ever seen. This is what people talk about with the phrase "every frame a painting". It's just amazing.

The performances on display are all stellar, but this is like 75% Emma Stone's show, 15% Mark Ruffalo, and 10% everyone else. She delivers a career defining performance that's simultaneously fearlessly unique, and will also have all the "best acting ever" video creators drooling. This is genuinely Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse. or Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man tier, unironically iconic. I simply cannot overstate how outstanding her acting is in this. I was already mesmerized by her mere physical acting at the start, but that grows into an incredibly nuanced and deep character study the likes of which we see like once every 10 years, if even that. Ruffalo gets to flex his acting and comedic chops for once, and he's glorious as well.

The story is full of twists, turns and mood changes, and pulls them all off with flying colours. It's funny, cerebral, disturbing, incredibly sexually graphic and just bursting with all sorts of interesting and thoughtful ideas without ever one treading on another. I had no idea where the story was heading next, and the 2 h 20 min runtime just flew by. I honestly can't name one thing I'd criticize. I initially rated this a 9/10, but in cases like this I have to admit defeat: it's a 10, and proper Oscar sweep material.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I watched Thief (1981) for the first time and man this movie was so fucking cool I'm both sorry that I didn't watch it earlier but happy that I'm still able to experience stuff of this caliber for the first time. This is now my favorite James Caan performance and makes it into a Top 5 for Michael Mann.

 

[Piscian]

I watched Thief (1981) for the first time and man this movie was so fucking cool I'm both sorry that I didn't watch it earlier but happy that I'm still able to experience stuff of this caliber for the first time. This is now my favorite James Caan performance and makes it into a Top 5 for Michael Mann.

I have the full size theater poster in my living room


They really don't make movies like that one anymore

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★ review of Body Bags (1993)

"Richard! How are you doing?" "GUESS!" As this is an anthology film, I'll review each segment separately. The final rating is an average of the scores. However, I will first discuss the wrap-around segment. Featuring John Carpenter himself as the coroner telling the three stories, he's basically...

letterboxd.com

 

[Bartholen]

Caligula, 3/10

This is the story of the mad roman Emperor Caligula, portrayed by Malcolm McDowell. It's one of the most infamous movies of all time in multiple respects. Alongside movies like Apocalypse Now and Cleopatra this had one of the messiest productions in history. It's also one of the most graphically depraved movies of all time, even 45 years after release. But considering it's basically hardcore fetish porn for sizeable chunks of its runtime that's not exactly a hard bar to clear.

Fittingly for a movie with such a turbulent history, there are tons of different versions of this film, including a supposedly revolutionary, 3-hour long one released just last year, which I'm now very intrigued about. Because the one I watched (156 minutes) is one boring-ass turd. This is basically a Showgirls scenario in the sense that any point the film is trying to make gets buried under endless gratuitous nudity and scenes of boring pointlessness where nothing happens. The film basically has no structure, pacing or plot to speak of. It's just scene after scene of Caligula doing irresponsible, depraved things and acting unhinged, while the adults in the room shake their heads and gurmble about what a dickwad he is being. Interrupted constantly by random porn inserts, and that's not an exaggeration in any way.

There are occasional, brief glimpses into what the film is actually trying to be: a character study of the corrupting nature of power, and the inevitable depravity of unchecked authority. And it's actually really engaging and captivating. But that stuff is all front-loaded into a few scenes with Peter O'Toole, who's playing the preceding emperor whose mind is firmly crumbling to pieces. Alongside McDowell he is the single saving grace of this film. Beyond that there's basically nothing of redeeming value here, aside from it being a fascinating curiosity by virtue of its mere existence. I guess the music's okay and the costumes look good, but that's just surface glitter. It's really boring, repetitive and ungengaging. If you want a better movie about ancient Rome, there's loads of those. If you want better porn, you can just go to Xvideos. If you want to watch shock videos, you probably already know how to find them, you sick fucking freak.

Awful through and through.

 

[Bartholen]

The Lobster, 8/10

This is Yorgos Lanthimos' mainstream breakthrough from 2015. It's about a man played by Colin Farrell, who after getting divorced is sent to a hotel where he has to find a new partner and fall in love within 45 days or be turned into a lobster. That's the initial setup for the plot, which expands from there.

It's very deliberately stilted and weird. No one acts or talks like an actual human being in this movie. They're more like approximations or shallow imitations of how people act, and that's the point. The world they inhabit is purposely alienating, isolating and inhuman. This could make it horribly depressing, but it actually makes it funny in a very particular, awkward and uncomfortable way. Even when there's fairly little outwardly comedic about the film, it's so awkward to watch that the only reaction to a lot of scenes I could muster was incredulous laughter. Much like Poor Things, this movie has a style and sensibility all of its own.

Considering this movie is from 2015, I'm kind of blown away by how prescient this movie feels in a world of declining birthrates, increasing loneliness and social atomization. I don't know how prevalent those topics were when this was released, but it feels terrifyingly current and topical today. It's hard not to think of how social media and dating apps have affected relationships when the characters stiltedly give 3-sentence summations of themselves to try to make themselves seem desirable. The monotone way everyone talks feels like no one's really talking or conversing, but just doing text-to-speech into the void. The acting's all great, the movie looks gorgeous despite how drab, muted and overcast the scenes are, and the score complements it perfectly. Despite it being funny a lot of the time, there are also scenes that made me squirm in my seat, and that mix of discomfort and weird humor works very effectively. So yeah, it's pretty great.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

The Lobster, 8/10

This is Yorgos Lanthimos' mainstream breakthrough from 2015. It's about a man played by Colin Farrell, who after getting divorced is sent to a hotel where he has to find a new partner and fall in love within 45 days or be turned into a lobster. That's the initial setup for the plot, which expands from there.

It's very deliberately stilted and weird. No one acts or talks like an actual human being in this movie. They're more like approximations or shallow imitations of how people act, and that's the point. The world they inhabit is purposely alienating, isolating and inhuman. This could make it horribly depressing, but it actually makes it funny in a very particular, awkward and uncomfortable way. Even when there's fairly little outwardly comedic about the film, it's so awkward to watch that the only reaction to a lot of scenes I could muster was incredulous laughter. Much like Poor Things, this movie has a style and sensibility all of its own.

Considering this movie is from 2015, I'm kind of blown away by how prescient this movie feels in a world of declining birthrates, increasing loneliness and social atomization. I don't know how prevalent those topics were when this was released, but it feels terrifyingly current and topical today. It's hard not to think of how social media and dating apps have affected relationships when the characters stiltedly give 3-sentence summations of themselves to try to make themselves seem desirable. The monotone way everyone talks feels like no one's really talking or conversing, but just doing text-to-speech into the void. The acting's all great, the movie looks gorgeous despite how drab, muted and overcast the scenes are, and the score complements it perfectly. Despite it being funny a lot of the time, there are also scenes that made me squirm in my seat, and that mix of discomfort and weird humor works very effectively. So yeah, it's pretty great.

Is the twist that he's turned into a lobster at the end and is much happier for it?

 

[Bartholen]

Is the twist that he's turned into a lobster at the end and is much happier for it?

In case you wanna know

Spoiler

No. There's no twist at the end. The main character ends up escaping the hotel and settling with a group of outlaws called "loners". They refuse to participate in the system, but also impose strict restrictions on forming any kind of romantic relationships with fellow loners. The main character falls in love with one of them and they escape together. I was expecting the end to be that they both turn into lobsters and live together in that form. What happens instead is that the woman gets blinded, and the main character decides to blind himself too for some unspecified reason, and the movie ends right as he's about to do it. It's an incredibly jarring and abrupt ending, and you can interpret it in lots of ways.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

The Lobster, 8/10

This is Yorgos Lanthimos' mainstream breakthrough from 2015. It's about a man played by Colin Farrell, who after getting divorced is sent to a hotel where he has to find a new partner and fall in love within 45 days or be turned into a lobster. That's the initial setup for the plot, which expands from there.

It's very deliberately stilted and weird. No one acts or talks like an actual human being in this movie. They're more like approximations or shallow imitations of how people act, and that's the point. The world they inhabit is purposely alienating, isolating and inhuman. This could make it horribly depressing, but it actually makes it funny in a very particular, awkward and uncomfortable way. Even when there's fairly little outwardly comedic about the film, it's so awkward to watch that the only reaction to a lot of scenes I could muster was incredulous laughter. Much like Poor Things, this movie has a style and sensibility all of its own.

Considering this movie is from 2015, I'm kind of blown away by how prescient this movie feels in a world of declining birthrates, increasing loneliness and social atomization. I don't know how prevalent those topics were when this was released, but it feels terrifyingly current and topical today. It's hard not to think of how social media and dating apps have affected relationships when the characters stiltedly give 3-sentence summations of themselves to try to make themselves seem desirable. The monotone way everyone talks feels like no one's really talking or conversing, but just doing text-to-speech into the void. The acting's all great, the movie looks gorgeous despite how drab, muted and overcast the scenes are, and the score complements it perfectly. Despite it being funny a lot of the time, there are also scenes that made me squirm in my seat, and that mix of discomfort and weird humor works very effectively. So yeah, it's pretty great.

You know, when I was watching that movie I was waiting for a reveal that the whole "turning people into animals" thing was some sort of elaborate lie and it turns out they just euthanize them. But they just let this absurd plot device stand and I respect them greatly for it.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

In case you wanna know

Spoiler

No. There's no twist at the end. The main character ends up escaping the hotel and settling with a group of outlaws called "loners". They refuse to participate in the system, but also impose strict restrictions on forming any kind of romantic relationships with fellow loners. The main character falls in love with one of them and they escape together. I was expecting the end to be that they both turn into lobsters and live together in that form. What happens instead is that the woman gets blinded, and the main character decides to blind himself too for some unspecified reason, and the movie ends right as he's about to do it. It's an incredibly jarring and abrupt ending, and you can interpret it in lots of ways.

Hmm, put in something that weird and you assume they'll do something with it, but guess not.

 

[gorfias]

Caligula, 3/10

This is the story of the mad roman Emperor Caligula, portrayed by Malcolm McDowell. It's one of the most infamous movies of all time in multiple respects. Alongside movies like Apocalypse Now and Cleopatra this had one of the messiest productions in history. It's also one of the most graphically depraved movies of all time, even 45 years after release. But considering it's basically hardcore fetish porn for sizeable chunks of its runtime that's not exactly a hard bar to clear.

Fittingly for a movie with such a turbulent history, there are tons of different versions of this film, including a supposedly revolutionary, 3-hour long one released just last year, which I'm now very intrigued about. Because the one I watched (156 minutes) is one boring-ass turd. This is basically a Showgirls scenario in the sense that any point the film is trying to make gets buried under endless gratuitous nudity and scenes of boring pointlessness where nothing happens. The film basically has no structure, pacing or plot to speak of. It's just scene after scene of Caligula doing irresponsible, depraved things and acting unhinged, while the adults in the room shake their heads and gurmble about what a dickwad he is being. Interrupted constantly by random porn inserts, and that's not an exaggeration in any way.

There are occasional, brief glimpses into what the film is actually trying to be: a character study of the corrupting nature of power, and the inevitable depravity of unchecked authority. And it's actually really engaging and captivating. But that stuff is all front-loaded into a few scenes with Peter O'Toole, who's playing the preceding emperor whose mind is firmly crumbling to pieces. Alongside McDowell he is the single saving grace of this film. Beyond that there's basically nothing of redeeming value here, aside from it being a fascinating curiosity by virtue of its mere existence. I guess the music's okay and the costumes look good, but that's just surface glitter. It's really boring, repetitive and ungengaging. If you want a better movie about ancient Rome, there's loads of those. If you want better porn, you can just go to Xvideos. If you want to watch shock videos, you probably already know how to find them, you sick fucking freak.

Awful through and through.

You can watch the far better "I Claudius" episodes on Youtube. Really fantastic story with its own similar take on Caligula. It was on PBS here in the US in 1976 and does have a little nudity in it, which, pre cable for me, was a big deal.

You probably heard of the Tic Toc thing: women ask their men how often they think of ancient Rome and the answer is basically, a lot. Shows like this may answer why that is so.

 

[McElroy]

Anatomy of a Fall
A man falls to his death in the French Alps. Maybe his wife helped gravity a bit. They go to trial. Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner and Academy Award nominee doesn't have the most original outline (very reminiscent of a recent Max miniseries Undoing with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant that I watched late last year and can't help but compare it to), but makes it work damn well with great editing and an intimate viewer experience despite the distance the characters have between them. Sandra Hüller plays Sandra, a German writer (doesn't speak a word of German in the movie) who's married to Samuel Theis'... Samuel (very creative) and delivers a naturalistic bilingual performance. The best part of her is how she both cries and laughs during the movie. She laughs quite a lot despite not being a psycho and you can understand why. Reminds me of the stressed grins and chuckles Logan Paul and his gang captured on that famous suicide forest video. There are some infernal wisecracks in the courtroom in Anatomy of a Fall that among other things make it feel very different from American courtroom dramas. Funny costumes, for example.
9/10

 

[Bartholen]

Hmm, put in something that weird and you assume they'll do something with it, but guess not.

It's not like they ignore that plot device altogether.

Spoiler

The "turn into an animal" element is constantly hovering over the characters' heads like a sword of Damocles. It's something the characters are desperately trying to avoid, but it being basically a metamorphosis or a second life makes it register as something different than just the threat of death: some characters would rather die than face their fate, some are resigned to it and already planning in advance for it. At one point that element is used to cover up a murder. So it's not like that element of the story has no bearing on the plot at all, it's more of a background element.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★★ review of Rango (2011)

"Thespians? That's illegal in seven states!" The plot of the film follows a chameleon named Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp). Stranded after his tank falls off the back of a truck, he finds his way into a desert town with the help of an iguana named Beans (Isla Fisher with a surprisingly good...

letterboxd.com

I slept on watching this one for way too long.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Poor Things, 10/10

Incredibly weird and unique, and just plain incredible. I can well see what all the fuss is about. This is one hell of a movie, a rare gem. A completely uncompromised vision dancing to its own tune, eschewing any and all conventions, genre and expectations. Going into it I had no idea what it was about or what it was like, and that was a good thing, because it let me fully immerse myself into the fairytale-like atmosphere and style. From the very first frame it looks absolutely stunning, and then just keeps firing. The deliberately artificial set and visual design, and the experimental cinematography that makes most wide shots look like a miniature diorama creates a film that looks unlike anything I've ever seen. This is what people talk about with the phrase "every frame a painting". It's just amazing.

The performances on display are all stellar, but this is like 75% Emma Stone's show, 15% Mark Ruffalo, and 10% everyone else. She delivers a career defining performance that's simultaneously fearlessly unique, and will also have all the "best acting ever" video creators drooling. This is genuinely Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse. or Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man tier, unironically iconic. I simply cannot overstate how outstanding her acting is in this. I was already mesmerized by her mere physical acting at the start, but that grows into an incredibly nuanced and deep character study the likes of which we see like once every 10 years, if even that. Ruffalo gets to flex his acting and comedic chops for once, and he's glorious as well.

The story is full of twists, turns and mood changes, and pulls them all off with flying colours. It's funny, cerebral, disturbing, incredibly sexually graphic and just bursting with all sorts of interesting and thoughtful ideas without ever one treading on another. I had no idea where the story was heading next, and the 2 h 20 min runtime just flew by. I honestly can't name one thing I'd criticize. I initially rated this a 9/10, but in cases like this I have to admit defeat: it's a 10, and proper Oscar sweep material.

IMDb’s Parental Advisory on Sex & Nudity

Spoiler

Severe
Based on 891 votes
Extensive & graphic nudity with explicit & pervasive hyper sexed female sex acts including female infantilism & fetishism with male sexual predation, molestation & male age/power imbalances enacted, monetized female sexuality with BDSM, bisexual sex & voyeurism involving children.

Narratives include female sexual liberation & empowerment entailing sex work and it entailing the overly & unapologetic engagement in sexual activity inclusive of female sexual discovery themes incorporating both childlike & pubescent-like mentality & imagery.

A female's hyper-sexual exploits include explicit childlike/child-minded public & fixation masturbation with fetishistic objects, mass graphic child/pubescent-minded sex with a grooming, predatory middle aged male, & via a decisive proclivity to vastly monetize her hyper sexuality she partakes in explicit underage voyeurism by performing graphic sex acts with a father in front of his two young sons.

In its conspicuous entirety, the film's unequivocal pervading & overtly explicit sexualized female nudity & graphic sexual content borders on NC-17 territory, inclusive of illegal sexual activity including the presence of children in said contexts.

Without having seen it, that all kinda gives the impression that the filmmakers must’ve been pretty talented with how this is all presented to not come off (no pun) as fantasy pedo porn or something.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The World's Fastest Indian: Fine / Great

Anthony Hopkins portrays Burt Munro, a New Zealand motorcycle racer who has restored a 1920's motorcycle and is dead set on breaking a land-speed record in the salt flats in America.

I dunno. Wasn't a bad movie, just kinda "meh." It does a weird thing where, at every point of expected conflict, everything just sorta works out for ol' Burt. It's a movie about the ideal merits of a stiff upper lip and accommodating personality, "ideal" being the operative word there. I've not dived into the wiki facts of the actual man because the film led me to believe there's nothing of note to be found there.

 

[Bartholen]

IMDb’s Parental Advisory on Sex & Nudity

Spoiler

Severe
Based on 891 votes
Extensive & graphic nudity with explicit & pervasive hyper sexed female sex acts including female infantilism & fetishism with male sexual predation, molestation & male age/power imbalances enacted, monetized female sexuality with BDSM, bisexual sex & voyeurism involving children.

Narratives include female sexual liberation & empowerment entailing sex work and it entailing the overly & unapologetic engagement in sexual activity inclusive of female sexual discovery themes incorporating both childlike & pubescent-like mentality & imagery.

A female's hyper-sexual exploits include explicit childlike/child-minded public & fixation masturbation with fetishistic objects, mass graphic child/pubescent-minded sex with a grooming, predatory middle aged male, & via a decisive proclivity to vastly monetize her hyper sexuality she partakes in explicit underage voyeurism by performing graphic sex acts with a father in front of his two young sons.

In its conspicuous entirety, the film's unequivocal pervading & overtly explicit sexualized female nudity & graphic sexual content borders on NC-17 territory, inclusive of illegal sexual activity including the presence of children in said contexts.

Without having seen it, that all kinda gives the impression that the filmmakers must’ve been pretty talented with how this is all presented to not come off (no pun) as fantasy pedo porn or something.

It being always presented in varying levels of comedic context goes a long way to keep it from feeling creepy. The scene where the main character has sex in the presence of two children is no creepier than the sketch with the same premise from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. While it's always very explicit, it never felt leery or pornographic to me. There's not much lingering on the explicit parts, and the ones where that is present the framing is always tasteful.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I wish Poor Things released digitally already. I'm pretty excited to see it.

 

[McElroy]

I wish Poor Things released digitally already.

lol, he doesn't know cinema projectors are digital lmao

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

lol, he doesn't know cinema projectors are digital lmao

Oh, silly me.