What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Easy A. 2010

Emma Stone. ∞/∞

[MSU]

028 -- Compartment No. 6. One of the best things about the pandemic seems to be that foreign-language movies have a far better chance of making it to my wee town in the midwest. I've no idea what the co-relation is but it's definitely a thing. But for every The Worst Person in the World, there's a Compartment No. 6. This Finnish / Russian effort is about a Finnish student living in Moscow who goes on a train trip north 1,200 miles to Murmansk to see some petroglyphs and in doing so has to share a compartment with a gruff Russian miner who tries to sexually assualt her within five minutes of meeting her. Over the course of the journey, they develop an unlikely friendship. I feel like I missed something in this and came out with more questions than answers, and little in the way of enthusiasm to find out. A generous 4/10 because it was interesting, I suppose, seeing parts of Russian life in an unspecified year that I'd never seen before.

[JustOneCornetto]

The Bed Sitting Room (1969)
An anti-war comedy based on a play by Spike Milligan and directed by Richard Lester, it's totally bonkers, absurd and surreal in equal measure. A fantastic cast including Spike, Pete and Dudley, Roy Kinnear, Arthur Lowe and Ralph Richardson playing Lord Fortnum who mutates into a bed sitting room, yes I did say that!! Loved this so much and will be watching another of Lester's anti-war comedy films tonight, How I Won The War.
9/10

[accies1874]

Not done this in a wee while so bit of a backlog. Three are missing to lump in together. 

40. The Duke (2022)* - Cinema

It's British Old People Cinema - the worst genre itw. If you're the one person in the world who finds the old man at the football's daft asides funny then this might be for you. 

41. The Princess Bride (1987) - DVD

Enjoyable fairytale that most people have probably seen. Never strays too far into self-importance or embarrassment which is important for something like this. 

42. Election (1999)* - BBC Three

Starts out like Rushmore and ends more like American Beauty. The setup is absolutely top notch, entertainingly fleshing out the main players and establishing their conflicts and motivations for what's to come. It also does the Wants v Needs thing set out in this video really well:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE7SkcoyVAI

The central characters all* have the same basic need but the plot is driven by their wants/desires and the perils of chasing them at all costs. Their needs effectively drive their wants but they just don't know that so constantly strive for superficial, temporary resolutions to solve their dissatisfaction with life. It also goes on for 15 minutes longer than it could have done which is actually good. If it finished 15 minutes earlier then it could have been wrapped up adequately but that extra time ties up the themes and arcs really, really well. 

*bar Paul who provides a kick of empty-headed neutrality which slots in nicely

43. Booksmart (2019) - BBC iPlayer

The first time I saw this, I just couldn't get over how much of an a-hole Molly was, and her arc didn't manage to resolve that for me. She was still as much of an a-hole second time around but her redemption felt a bit more sincere rather than used as justification. In fact, pretty much all of the film's cast of characters have a nice wee pay-off both narratively and emotionally which makes the world feel more fleshed out. Wilde also uses different genre styles to sort of represent the different factions of high school which is funky. 

44. Clueless (1995)* - Sky Cinema

This was great until it wasn't. They constructed a really funny high school world and dialogue style but just lost their way with what to do with it around halfway through. Sad. 

45. Anastasia (1956)* - Film4

Is People in Fancy Clothes Talk in Big Rooms a genre in and of itself? Yes imo. 

46. Dude Where's My Car? (2000) - Channel 4

I want this remade as an entirely straight paranoid thriller where a hungover teenager tries to piece together their drunken antics from the night before and face up to the personality duality of binge drinking. It would be the greatest film of all time. 

49. Red Rocket (2022)* - Cinema

This is class. Sean Baker creates these simple, everyday stories that place the audience as voyeurs of struggle and it’s fascinating watching the characters adapt to shite circumstances they find themselves in. Red Rocket is interested in webs of exploitation and what that does to people, all from the perspective of one of the biggest a-hole main characters you’ll see on film this year. Watching him wreak havoc on a group of people who have very little anyway is captivating and it runs parallel, almost allegorically, with its political messaging.

The film looks amazing too. It sort of took its cinematography and the connotations of that grainy, chilled look and used that to question depressing reflection and optimistic anticipation.

50. Not Another Teen Movie (2001)* - Sky Cinema

I went down a wee bit of a rabbit hole with teen movies so decided to give the “spoof” a go. There are mostly two things I enjoy about teen movies: 1) the language of them – the dialogue is said sincerely yet can raise a smile effortlessly, and 2) they’re completely inconsequential yet they mean everything for the characters. These mean you can create stupid-ass flicks that are entertaining and have both no stakes and all the stakes in the world. At their best, they’re easy watches without making you feel like you’re wasting your time. However, they’re generally very self-aware and often parodies of themselves which makes a spoof largely pointless. When the thing you’re parodying is already high on the stupid scale, there’s nowhere for you to go beyond more boobs and more “gross out” moments. 

51. Kimi (2022)* - Sky Cinema

Quite an odd one. Very contemporary with its technology and references to COVID but has a tone and music that frame it as Hitchcock-esque. It all felt very self-contained in that there was a wee conspiracy contained to a handful of characters, it may well have been filmed in a couple of days, no one will remember it after a week, and Soderbergh will go out and release another couple of films within the year. If the story was more engaging then it would’ve been a fun caper.

[MSU]

029 -- A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (#1 in a series of working my way chronologically through movies distributed by A24, just coz) Ooft. One wonders what it was about writer and director Roman Coppola that got producers to greenlight this heap of keech. The influence of Wes Anderson is pretty clear in this tale of a graphic designer, Charlie Sheen, who is dumped by his girlfriend and tailspins into a midlife crisis told through a series of barely related fantasy sequences. The only thing worse than the movie is how it obviously thinks it's great and hilarious and worthy. Actually impressive how Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza and Mary Elizabeth Winstead could all be involved in something as bad as this. The first movie since Your Highness that I've wanted to punch. 0.5/10

[MSU]

030 -- Ginger & Rosa (#2 in the A24 series). Much better than that Charles Swan shite. It's one of those British indie movies that's full of American and Australian actors putting on British accents while Timothy Spall broods in the corner somewhere, pronouncing things properly. Elle Fanning and Alice Englert are the titular friends, born at the same time in neighbouring beds at the end of WWII, who find themselves 17 under the shadow of nuclear destruction. Their friendship is put to the test when Ginger's creepy af dad attracts the attention of Rosa. It's quite interesting from a perspective of kids behaving like adults while their parents behave like kids, and it doesn't resolve everything it sets up, but the central performances are so good, particularly Fanning, it's just about worth a watch. 6/10

[Paul Kersey]

Le Cercle Rouge

Super cool French crime thriller from the 60s. 

Perfect in every way.

10/10

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005)

This popped up on Prime and I thought, "Oh aye, there's a Robert Carlyle film I've not seen". As the bold Robert doesn't do many poor films, I gave it a go and, tbh, was pretty well blindsided by a great wee romance/flashback/redemption tale. As far from Begbie as you can imagine, his character, a widowed baker, keeps an appointment on behalf of an RTA victim and finds a way to move on with his own life. One scene near the end absolutely yanks the heartstrings.

I must be getting to be an old softie, but an easy 8 out of 10. Recommended.

 

 

[Detournement]

7 hours ago, Paul Kersey said:

Le Cercle Rouge

Super cool French crime thriller from the 60s. 

Perfect in every way.

10/10

If you've not seen Le Samouri it's the same director and also stars Alan Delon (RIP). Both are absolute classics. 

[JustOneCornetto]

How I Won The War (1967)
Another anti-war film directed by Richard Lester which has some great biting satire but could probably have been edited down by about 20 minutes to make it a bit tighter. Saying that the cast is great with Michael Crawford the incompetent officer tasked with building a cricket pitch in North Africa with the aid of his troop including John Lennon, Roy Kinnear and Ronald Lacey. Also liked the real life war sequences interspersed in the film and shown with a colour tint.
7/10

FlagQuote

[MSU]

031 -- Spring Breakers (#3 in the A24 series).  God, I hate James Franco. Here he plays a Florida white-rapper who bails out four largely interchangeable and unlikeable college girls who have robbed a restaurant to get a week of debauchery in St Petes. I think if I was 13 this might just be the best movie ever made and I'd be blind before by 14th birthday. As it is today, in 2022, there are other places to go for this sort of thing. Directed and written by the bloke who wrote Kids for Larry Clark 30 years ago and it kinda covers similar ground of apathetic, disaffected youth, only this time in the sun and with fancy teeth. 3/10 

[accies1874]

031 -- Spring Breakers (#3 in the A24 series).  God, I hate James Franco.

I don't think you're the only one

[MSU]

032 -- The Bling Ring (#4 in the A24 series). This is the first movie I've ever seen that's based on an article in Vanity Fair, and claims to have its basis in fact where a group on fame-obsessed teens in LA track the whereabouts of their favorite celebrities and then burgle their homes when they're out. It's weirdly interesting, especially considering that the majority of the movie feels like it's young girls and a boy cooing as they discover Audrina Patridge's handbags, Megan Fox's home security, or Paris Hilton's pet monkey. It's like the world's most pointless crime heist movie. Imagine Ocean's Eleven were planning on stealing Andy Garcia's moisturizer and you're not far off. In its favor, the look and music of the movie are both fabulous, and Emma Watson's turn as a vacuous Hollywood wannabe is pretty convincing, as is her accent, but the whole thing has a pet project feel to it, particularly as it comes 10 years after Lost in Translation. It's like the main objective was to just get it made and concerns about quality were much further down the list. I wish I knew if it was meant to be funny. 5/10

[BFTD]

11 minutes ago, MSU said:

Audrina Patridge

If anyone else was wondering, it's not worth the five seconds Googling it.

[MSU]

5 minutes ago, BFTD said:

If anyone else was wondering, it's not worth the five seconds Googling it.

A hover-over on the movie's Wiki page is all that's required.

[BFTD]

9 minutes ago, MSU said:

A hover-over on the movie's Wiki page is all that's required.

That's more effort than right-clicking her name on here, FFS.

Stop encouraging people to waste their precious seconds!

[Detournement]

14 hours ago, MSU said:

031 -- Spring Breakers (#3 in the A24 series).  God, I hate James Franco. Here he plays a Florida white-rapper who bails out four largely interchangeable and unlikeable college girls who have robbed a restaurant to get a week of debauchery in St Petes. I think if I was 13 this might just be the best movie ever made and I'd be blind before by 14th birthday. As it is today, in 2022, there are other places to go for this sort of thing. Directed and written by the bloke who wrote Kids for Larry Clark 30 years ago and it kinda covers similar ground of apathetic, disaffected youth, only this time in the sun and with fancy teeth. 3/10 

Spring Breakers is utter genius. So is Korine's most recent film The Beach Bum. He understands America.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Amazon Hot Box

Trashy "women in prison" film.

An innocent female student is wrongfully locked up in a third world prison with cruel Nazi guards.

Utterly ridiculous but with enough gratuitous nudity and gore to keep it entertaining. 

6/10

[MSU]

032 -- The Spectacular Now (#5 in the A24 series). A fairly straight forward coming-of-age drama that sees Miles Teller (out of the new Top Gun if it ever comes out) at the prime age of 25 try to pass for a high-schooler in what at first appears to be a piss poor Ferris Bueller. Generous casting aside, a sparkling script that doesn't try to make every teenager's line of dialog full of irony makes this the first of the A24 movies I've genuinely enjoyed. A supporting cast that includes Bob Odenkirk, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Brie Larson, and Shailene Woodley all seem to be buying into it and giving it their best. 8/10

[scottsdad]

The Dark Knight Rises.

For a movie I enjoyed when I first saw it, I was bored rigid re-watching this. Of the Nolan trilogy only The Dark Knight stands up well nowadays. Overly serious, often tedious.

Having recently gone through the Batman movies (except the new one in cinemas), Tim Burton's are clearly the best (and I'd have Batman Returns over Batman). Then The Dark Knight. Then the 1966 Batman. Joel Schumacher's movies should just be burned they were so very awful..