Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

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Hawki

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-The duo are accompanied by "bard guy," whose name I can't pronounce, and no, I don't care. Bard guy tags along because...reasons. He has a harp that breaks a string every time he tells a lie, said lies usually being exagerrations of his ability and fame. You'd think that this would set up a character arc, but it never amounts to anything. Writing this now, it strikes me as so bizzare that the writers didn't realize what they had, or if so, decided not to act on it. Both Eilonwey and bard guy are set up perfectly for character arcs that would mimic Taran's, but the story doesn't do any of it. And bar loyalty to the books, I can't understand why.

-Gurgi is annoying, but not excruciatingly annoying, so, um...yeah, I got nuthin.

-The Horned King is nothing special. As I mentioned, we know nothing about him, or his motivations. And he ends by simply walking, and then being sucked into the cauldron at the end. That's right, the villain is defeated because he gets careless, despite the fact that Taran, right before him, is struggling to hold on from being sucked in.

So, yeah. The film is bad. I guess the best thing about it is that it's a classic "darkest before the dawn" story before Disney roared back in the 90s. Reportedly, Disney is doing a live-action adaptation of the books, and unlike many of their live-action remakes, this is one I'd welcome, because the cartoon film is wretched. It's bad. Just bad.
 

BrawlMan

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Without Remorse - I found it pretty good all things considered. It's clear while Extraction was inspired by The Raid and Call of Duty, WR inspiration mainly comes from one of the other Tom Clancy works like Rainbow Six. Other inspirations are Bourne Identity, the later Mission Impossibles (mainly 3), The Raid and some minor John Wick. That said, the film the action in WR is better than the action found in all of the Bourne films. No shaky cam, the action is clear and precise, and Mike B. Jordan did a lot of his own stunts. The film never made me bored and the action got me invested, even though the plot was pretty predictable.

I won't lie, I got super giddy that this film is starting a Rainbow Six film franchise. I know that's been in the back burner for over 20 years. I would not expect Jordan of all people to start it. Then again, he did admit to being a big fan of Rainbow Six growing up like many of us in the 90s and early 2000s.

The movie is a B grade in my opinion. I've already seen the dissonance. Critics seem to dislike the film or find it average, and general audiences either love it or are more forgiving. I more so side with the latter, but I hope and bet that future films will do a bit more to standout. Thanks for the enteraining thrill ride Jordan. You see next time with your next action project and Creed III.
 

Hawki

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Nomadland (8/10)

If I did decimals, this would be more of a 7.5/10, but as is, I'm rounding up.

This film is...interesting. It's certainly a film that I think is going to leave a mark in my memory, and for the better at that. That said, it's not the film I expected when I went into it.

For starters, this film is set in 2011, and while it's not stated outright, the impression I got is that it was set in the context of the GFC's aftermath. We deal with Fern, a woman who lost her job when a company closed up shop. With her husband dead and no home to go to, she begins living out of her van, and takes a seasonal job in Amazon. So, immediately, the first thing I thought of was poverty. However, while that arguably plays a role in the film's themes, it's not really the focus. Rather, the film focusses on 'nomads' - people who drift across the US, going from place to place, doing short-term jobs. Considering the quality of some of these jobs (such as museum tour guide, or heavy machinery operator), this isn't a question of poverty, because a lot of the jobs that the nomads get could easily be long term. So while this isn't a mark against the film, it did diverge from what I was expecting. Rather, the film is a mood/character piece, mediating on why people have taken up the nomad lifestyle, what it means in the context of insecure employment and a frayed social safety net, and the question of moving on from loss.

As far as subjects go, that's fairly interesting, but what truly buoys this film is its delivery more than its subject matter per se, and rather how it presents it. That most people in the film are playing themselves is a nice tidbit in of itself, but what the film truly excels at is its dialogue and editing/pacing. All of the dialogue feels completely natural, and nothing in the film is wasted. Shots last only as long as they need to - a few seconds to convey exactly what needs to be conveyed. In the hands of a lesser editor and/or director, this could have been disastarous, but everything in the film flows naturally. It's a feeling of authenticity that lasts from start to finish.

Also, the theme music. Wow...

Overall, very solid piece of work.
 

Hawki

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Oliver and Company (5/10)

Another Disney Dark Age/Bronze Age film. Not nearly as bad as The Black Cauldron, but most films are better than that drek. However, just because it's better, doesn't mean it's good.

I'm actually going to go point by point here, so on that note:

-The animation of this film is...something. The characters look one way, while the backgrounds have a kind of painterly look to them - less clear. I don't know if this is intentional or simply due to budgetary constraints, but it's noticable nonetheless.

-The "Once Upon a Time in New York City" intro song is horribly mismatched when Oliver starts being chased by dogs. I mean, jeez...

-Speaking of Oliver, it kind of struck me how little character development or background he has. If this is an adaptation of Oliver Twist, at least in the original text, we know some things about Oliver (mother's dead, forced to work in a workhouse, etc.) before being taken in by Fagin. Here, a lot of that backstory is simply absent. I know, with a 75 minute running time you have to cut out some stuff, but even so...

-"Why Should I Worry?" is the only good song in the film, but it's still a good song, so that's nice. It's still rolling over in my head as I type this.

-Dodger's motivations though are weird, in that, I'm not sure if he's intentionally trying to ditch Oliver or not. In the song, that seems to be the case, but when Oliver turns up in the gang's lair, he kind of acts like it was all part of his plan. Which might be him saving face, but then he seems to genuinely care, but it's character development that occurs over just a few days and gah!

-Fagin and Sykes don't make sense. We know that Fagin owes Sykes money, but how much money, and why he owes Sykes is never explained. You could argue that it's not relevant, but, well, here's the thing. Sykes gives Fagin three days to pay him back. A large part of those three days is the gang trying to get Oliver back after being 'kidnapped' by Jenny. So, basically, they're screwing over their master to help some cat they barely know, while they're meant to be scrounging up material that can pay a certain amount that's never specified.

-Jenny is...well, she's kinda "bleh," and so is everything that's associated with her section. First, yes, boo hoo, your parents won't be home for your birthday, but you've got a butler, and live in a fancy house, and I've just seen a guy who's living in a dilapidated boat, fighting to get enough money to stay alive, so the film kind of shoots itself in the foot as far as the 'empathy contest' goes. Also, here, we get two songs that waste our time. First, how much Jenny loves Oliver (bleh), and Georgette singing about herself (meh). Ideally, in a musical, a song should further the character and plot, or at least one of those things. The former does practically none of this, the latter only furthers character, and it's characterization that's established through dialogue later on anyway.

That brings us to Oliver himself in this process. That Jenny gives him a name tag called Oliver (yes, he was called Oliver before, and in million to one odds, gives him the name he already had), but that aside, this section doesn't really work. The idea is that after a lifetime of hardship, Oliver has finally found someone who cares for him and give him a good life. However, the thing is, we barely know anything about Oliver at this point. Yes, we know he was in a "free cats" box and wasn't chosen, but that's really it. The hardship he's suffered in the film has lasted only a few days, whereas the implication is that the dog gang and Fagin have lived this way for years. So when Dodger and co. 'save' him from Jenny, and Oliver wants to go back, and Dodger is "what, you're too good for us riff-raff?", he kind of has a point. Not literally the one he's making, but one can understand why Dodger might resent Oliver for getting the high life when he's been a gang member for an extended period of time. However, the film expects us to side with Oliver.

-So, Fagin's plan is, once Oliver has been returned, is to ransom him off to his owner. Here, we get insight into why Fagin isn't developed properly (we have no idea how much money he owes Sykes, so I can't judge if this is a sound plan or not), and why Sykes is an idiot. To deal with the latter, first, Sykes' only security are two dogs. He's a loan shark/gang leader (never really explained), but he has no human staff on him. Second, things go awry when Jenny turns up with her piggy bank (hardly a ransom), Sykes kidnaps her, and declares to Fagin that "our accounts are settled." So, let me get this straight. On one hand, Fagin still owes you money, but you're letting that go. Second, you're kidnapping a girl, and holding her for ransom, and somehow assuming that you'll get away with it. Newsflash, New York isn't going to care if you knock off some bum, but kidnapping a rich girl? That's insanely risky. And since all we have seen of Sykes's thugs are two dogs, then, well, hardly Cerberus going against the NYPD, is it?

-So, the gang rescue Jenny, and cue a chase, because Sykes is so desparate to get this kid back that he's willing to drive his very expensive car onto a subway, and be hit by a train (said train going on even AFTER destroying his vehicle, so...yay for public safety?)

-So, Jenny celebrates her birthday with the gang, Oliver stays with her, and Fagin goes off with the gang, free of Sykes, but still poor. Geez, you could have, I dunno, written him a cheque or something? Sheesh. Because as this film has shown, Oliver apparently deserves a happy ending (a life of luxury), while Fagin, Dodger, and all the other dogs don't because...reasons. Again, free from Sykes, but still living off pickpocketing and theft. Yay...

As you can see, I'm mixed on this film. I'm tempted to say that a problem is too many characters, but I don't think the no. of characters is inherently the problem (the dog gang are explicitly archtypes and supporting characters). Rather, the problem is that the main characters simply aren't that fleshed out. It's hard to sympathize with Oliver and Jenny too much when characters like Dodger and Fagin have it so much worse, and end the film in a similar situation they were in before. Added to that is how the stakes are poorly explained, and that Sykes is an idiot, and you get an average work like this.
 
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thebobmaster

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Watched a horror movie named, depending on where you are, A Bay of Blood, Death of the Twitch Nerve, and various other titles. It's originally Italian, directed by Mario Bava.

It was pretty good. It's pretty clear that some movies took inspiration from this film, such as the first two Friday the 13th films, and it's a pretty fun watch for a proto-slasher. It's a murder mystery, but one with quite a few twists to make things interesting. It's not a long watch, either, clocking in at under 90 minutes, so if you want to see one of the earliest movies that can claim the term "slasher" as a subgenre, you can do a lot worse than this, and the kills are definitely something to behold.
 

gorfias

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Double toasted ripped the crap out of this movie.

Double toasted seemed to adore the movie. Not sure what you're writing about.
I watched it. More horror movie than social commentary like "Falling Down" which Barbara Hershey nearly ruined by herself as her performance almost derailed what the movie was about. But it was a pretty good horror movie.

For those wondering if he snaps just because of this traffic incident, the very opening of the movie shows that he's done this before. He's just unhinged.
 
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BrawlMan

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Double toasted seemed to adore the movie. Not sure what you're writing about.
Watch the whole review again. I didn't say that they have a major hatred, but they did rip into it. They find it entertaining, but just average and that's something you do not need to rush to the theater. It's what they do. Sometimes Double Toasted a little rip on good movies or their favorite movies is for a joke.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Double toasted seemed to adore the movie. Not sure what you're writing about.
I watched it. More horror movie than social commentary like "Falling Down" which Barbara Hershey nearly ruined by herself as her performance almost derailed what the movie was about. But it was a pretty good horror movie.

For those wondering if he snaps just because of this traffic incident, the very opening of the movie shows that he's done this before. He's just unhinged.
Curious how you felt Hershey "nearly ruined" Falling Down?

Also, both Falling Down and Unhinged have basically the same premise; the latter is just more violent with a singular person receiving the ire of a crazy versus society in general. I feel both films have some level of social commentary (given that Crowe's exposition at the traffic light IS a social commentary,) but Falling Down is more typical '90s action flick whereas Unhinged, as you suggest, goes for straight anxiety horror.
 
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gorfias

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Curious how you felt Hershey "nearly ruined" Falling Down?

Also, both Falling Down and Unhinged have basically the same premise; the latter is just more violent with a singular person receiving the ire of a crazy versus society in general. I feel both films have some level of social commentary (given that Crowe's exposition at the traffic light IS a social commentary,) but Falling Down is more typical '90s action flick whereas Unhinged, as you suggest, goes for straight anxiety horror.
The "working" premise of Falling Down is that things are so f'd up that a normal, decent person could be turned into a menace. Hershey speaks lines to Douglas that sound like excuses but the reality is, she is afraid of him. Society's failings aren't why he is a menace. He was always violent. If she is afraid of him individually, there's nothing wrong with society: he's just a violent evil jerk. Fix this. Same lines, not afraid. Just arrogance. "You do not get to come to your child's birthday because you (a guy that just got laid off) aren't current with paying support". Our current law works along these lines. And could turn a decent guy insane and violent.
Unhinged? We don't know why the main antagonist is so monsterous. Sure, everyone experiences things to piss them off. He is different. A nut. So, just a horror movie. While falling down is now supposed to be about a guy that is not a nut but about a normal guy that our warped society turns into the bad guy.
 
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Johnny Novgorod

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Curious how you felt Hershey "nearly ruined" Falling Down?

Also, both Falling Down and Unhinged have basically the same premise; the latter is just more violent with a singular person receiving the ire of a crazy versus society in general. I feel both films have some level of social commentary (given that Crowe's exposition at the traffic light IS a social commentary,) but Falling Down is more typical '90s action flick whereas Unhinged, as you suggest, goes for straight anxiety horror.
Crucially, I like and can relate to the Michael Douglas character in Falling Down. There's nothing to like about Crowe's character in Unhinged.
 

MrCalavera

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Crucially, I like and can relate to the Michael Douglas character in Falling Down. There's nothing to like about Crowe's character in Unhinged.
I recently re-watched "Falling Down" and was surprised how well it holds up. Yeah, there are some elements that feel dated(it's downright soaked in the american 90s culture), but people who complained about it being another "angry white guy" power fantasy completely missed their mark. This ain't Death Wish.

I wouldn't say i like or relate to D-Fens, but i totally get why Michael Douglas cites it as his favorite role.
 
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Agema

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Real Steel (2011)

Another entry into the pantheon of how to make a film that ruins the simplest joy of large robots smashing the crud out of each other, although to be fair, it's better than anything in the Transformers series.

Hugh Jackman plays a boxer turned robot controller. The whys and hows of this are poorly explained. So there were boxers, and audiences wanted more violence, and so they started using robots, despite it being completely unclear why a boxer would be any good with the sort of gamepad controllers used for a robot. Or why that woman off Lost, Hobbit and Ant-Man whose name temporarily escapes me (such is my memory these days) who wanted to keep her dad's boxing gym going happened to be a mechanic. Just accept it, okay? Jackman's character is a wasteful ass pissing his life away so you know this is your basic redemption plot and - lo and behold - he conveniently gets saddled with his long-ignored son and must convert from deadbeat dad to productive member of society. Their robot is of course a out-of-date cutesy underdog that must go up against a super-high tech gazillionaire robot, because of course it is, as no cliche is low enough. And along the way with this most baseline of human bonding, some robots fight. Oh, yawn.
 
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Thaluikhain

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Or why that woman off Lost, Hobbit and Ant-Man whose name temporarily escapes me (such is my memory these days)
Evangeline Lilly, also known for vocally opposing covid restrictions until loudly called out and doing a lot of backpedaling?
 

Gordon_4

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Assault on Precinct 13 (original) - 2/10

The two points are for Carpenter’s legit excellent score for the movie. Other than that it mystifies me how this boring, badly acted, nihilistic and frankly stupid piece of shit ever became a cult hit rather than fodder for MST3K. Seriously, I don’t fucking get it.
 

BrawlMan

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Assault on Precinct 13 (original) - 2/10

The two points are for Carpenter’s legit excellent score for the movie. Other than that it mystifies me how this boring, badly acted, nihilistic and frankly stupid piece of shit ever became a cult hit rather than fodder for MST3K. Seriously, I don’t fucking get it.
I disagree heavily. Give the guy and his team a break. They were working a vvveeeerrry looowwww budget. Carpenter definitely made better films afterward, but this movie did give him the jump start. The movie is more like a 5 or 6. It's definitely better than the remake, and I though the remake (which took place in my home town) was just okay. AoP13 definitely has a hard boiled and gritty edge over the remake. Also, where the fuck are you getting nihilism from? I never felt that from the original. More people remember the original over the remake, due to the fact that remake was so-so and average. Another thing, the British love the shit out of this movie, because they are big in to Westerns, while it has become very blase with most of us. Which explains the cult following there, and eventually in the States.

The movie is essentially a then modern remake of Rio Bravo. Carpenter originally wanted to make a Western, but did not have the budget, hence what we got.
 
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Gordon_4

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I disagree heavily. Give him the guy and his team a break. They were working a vvveeeerrry looowwww budget. Carpenter definitely made better films afterward, but this movie did give him the jump start. The movie is more like a 5 or 6. It's definitely better than the remake, and I though the remake (which took place in my home town) was just okay. AoP13 definitely has a hard boiled and gritty edge over the remake. Also, where the fuck are you getting nihilism from? I never felt that from the original. More people remember the original over the remake, due to the fact that remake was so-so and average. Another thing, the British love the shit out of this movie, because they are big in to Westerns, while it has become very blase with most of us. Which explains the cult following there, and eventually in the States.

The movie is essentially a then modern remake of Rio Bravo. Carpenter originally wanted to make a Western, but did not have the budget, hence what e got.
Nhilism was the impression I got from the crooks: but it might just have been my mood when I watched so I’m happy enough to be wrong. As for everything else, don’t care. The actors were flat, the dialogue was wooden and honestly the story makes no sense: I can see maybe five or ten hardcore idiots taking some kind of blood oath but most street gangs even back then were smart enough to not just try and besiege a police station - even one on its last active night. The remake wasn’t a great movie either I’ll grant but the motivation was much more understandable and Fishburne at least had some charisma about him as the villain.

Its a shit movie, but no filmmaker starts out perfect and John Carpenter’s later output speaks for itself.
 

BrawlMan

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I can see maybe five or ten hardcore idiots taking some kind of blood oath but most street gangs even back then were smart enough to not just try and besiege a police station - even one on its last active night.
Carpenter state he basically made all of the gang members homicidal and suicidal zombies. Plus, it's obvious plot was not the strong suit nor the point of the film. The dude had admitted that Night of the Living Dead was his inspiration for this film as well.

The remake wasn’t a great movie either I’ll grant but the motivation was much more understandable and Fishburne at least had some charisma about him as the villain.
That's all the remake has: Fishburne. Everything else is generic and been there, done that a million times. Corrupt police and government officials. I give the remake credit for having it take place in Detroit during winter, and nice role reversal, but nearly everything about it feels typical. The bad guys have strategy other than "attack, attack, attack!", so points to the remake there. Yet the original was already somewhat a comic book and not that realistic, so I don't see it as much as a flaw for the original.
 
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gorfias

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Carpenter state he basically made all of the gang members homicidal and suicidal zombies. Plus, it's obvious plot was not the strong suit nor the point of the film. The dude had admitted that Night of the Living Dead was his inspiration for this film as well.


That's all the remake has: Fishburne. Everything else is generic and been there, done that a million times. Corrupt police and government officials. I give the remake credit for having it take place in Detroit during winter, and nice role reversal, but nearly everything about it feels typical. The bad guys have strategy other than "attack, attack, attack!", so points to the remake there. Yet the original was already somewhat comic booky and non that realistic, so I don't see it as much as a flaw for the original.
Movie scared me witless back in the day. And agreed, the gang members were just stand ins for zombies. What happens to the little girl at the ice cream truck? Might be old hat now but back then? The stuff of nightmares. When the admin lady kind of laughs seeing the guy walking outside get shot thinking he had just slipped? Reminds me of other movies where a person is shot and the violence is so quick it is almost painless and they don't know what is really happening. Chilling. I loved the performances. They were like elevated cheesey B movie actors (as were the actors in the early living dead movies). The remake was trash.
 
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stroopwafel

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Evangeline Lilly, also known for vocally opposing covid restrictions until loudly called out and doing a lot of backpedaling?
I had a crush on her in Lost but she looks a bit rough in her old age.

Night in Paradise. Very cool Korean gangster flick. It's about a guy who's out in the dumps because of some tragedy and whose associates try to protect him from a falling out with a rival clan. The sit-downs with Korean mobsters were fantastic with some truly palpable tension. The depressed guy meets some depressed girl who has some kind of undisclosed terminal illness but is also a highly skilled sharp shooter. They have some heartfelt chemistry without it really evolving into a cliche relationship/affaire. Some great action scenes that were never too over the top and a genuinely harrowing finale.