What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[accies1874]

So that's it. 253 across the year, 186 for the first time, 62 new releases and 39 trips to the cinema (both most I've done). Definitely won't be doing this for every film in 2023, but it was definitely a fun venture. 

[accies1874]

19 hours ago, yoda said:

I think my top five for the year are (in no particular order):

Aftersun

Decision To Leave

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Worst Person In The World 

The Banshees of Inisherin

Aftersun, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Hit the Road, Red Rocket and Amulet are pretty secured as my five faves, but I'm gonna rewatch a few different ones over the next few days to see if anything else sneaks in (or out). 

6 hours ago, MSU said:

Well, I did it. I documented every fucking movie I saw in 2022. Been an interesting wee journey, and I've enjoyed reading all the comments and recommendations and stuff on this cracking thread.

So to close out 2022, I have:

170 Climax (#77 in the A24 series) I expected a difficult watch given it's Gasper Noe and all, and that's what I got, but it was for different reasons than, say, Irreversible. The thing that kept frustrating me was I hated everyone in it, dancers are really boring, I didn't care what happened. Technically, it's pretty impressive but that didn't make it any less of a slog to get through. Most positive thing I can say is I'm glad it's over. 5/10

171 Babylon -- Finally, after expecting The Fabelmans or Empire of Light to be a love letter to cinema and being wholly disappointed to find that they weren't, at the third time of asking, this is it. This is the love letter to cinema that I'd wanted. But it's a case of being careful what you wish for, because this love letter is from an abusive former partner and it might also be a suicide note. A debauched rollercoaster ride through the early days of Hollywood and the transition into talkies proves to be uneasy for Brad Pitt and a captivating Margot Robbie and her glorious side-boobs. There's quite a bit of Paul Thomas Anderson in Damien Chazelle's story and direction. Most obviously it tips its hat in the direction of Boogie Nights, but there's some Licorice Pizza in there in some of the rarer quieter moments, and there's a confidence in the quirkiness that I rather admired. Mesmerizing stuff. 9/10

172 The Whale (#128 in the A24 series) I'm a bit of a sucker for Darren Aronofsky. Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a 600lb English teacher who can no longer leave his home and who is given a week to live by his part-time carer and nurse. During this time, he tries to reconnect with his daughter, reconcile with his ex-wife, and allow himself to grieve for the loss of his boyfriend, and gradually explain the significance of a poorly, but honestly, written review of Moby Dick. Based on a play, it's confined mostly to one room in a house, and is in 4:3 ratio to make it that bit more obvious that the house is Charlie's grave. The ending destroyed me. 9/10

173 Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody -- Hoo boy. Bad musical biopics tend to be really bad, and this one absolutely honks. Rather than find a narrative thread through Whitney's life, or focus on one pivotal moment, the movie blusters through her life from one IMPORTANT MOMENT to the next, with no connection to what came before or lead into what happens next. People, usually Stanley Tucci, burst into rooms to announce, Hey Whitney, they want you to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Hey Whitney, you're about to break The Beatles' record for consecutive number ones. Hey Whitney, Kevin Costner's on the phone. Naomi Ackie's portrayal of Whitney is so bereft of charisma and presence as she' mimes to genuine performances, and about the only interesting thing the movie gives us is the realization that the whole package needs to be in sync for it to work. Someone who looks a bit like Whitney, who moves a bit like Whitney, but who can't be Whitney just doesn't convince. And once you spot that Bobby Brown's gap between his teeth is pencilled in, you can't unsee it. 3/10

Happy New Year, folks!

Shame you had to end the year with such a stinker - although I don't have any sympathy with you choosing that - but it's been good fun reading your highs and lows of the year. Made me feel like I wasn't completely insane doing this. 

[Scotty Tunbridge]

6 hours ago, MSU said:

173 Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody -- Hoo boy. Bad musical biopics tend to be really bad, and this one absolutely honks. Rather than find a narrative thread through Whitney's life, or focus on one pivotal moment, the movie blusters through her life from one IMPORTANT MOMENT to the next, with no connection to what came before or lead into what happens next. People, usually Stanley Tucci, burst into rooms to announce, Hey Whitney, they want you to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Hey Whitney, you're about to break The Beatles' record for consecutive number ones. Hey Whitney, Kevin Costner's on the phone. Naomi Ackie's portrayal of Whitney is so bereft of charisma and presence as she' mimes to genuine performances, and about the only interesting thing the movie gives us is the realization that the whole package needs to be in sync for it to work. Someone who looks a bit like Whitney, who moves a bit like Whitney, but who can't be Whitney just doesn't convince. And once you spot that Bobby Brown's gap between his teeth is pencilled in, you can't unsee it. 3/10

I went to see this on Boxing Day to get out the house for a bit and agree with this. As I was watching it I was thinking this seems to be going at 100mph and not in a good way.

These biopics all seem to follow the same pattern as well so I’m getting a bit bored with them, I don’t know if that’s because all musicians life’s are broadly similar but they all go along the lines off:-

humblish upbringing, get discovered, hit the top, drugs, friends/family/manager rinse them for money, redemption, death (if applicable).

Edited January 1, 2023 by Scotty Tunbridge

[tongue_tied_danny]

The Many Saints of Newark.

I'm not particularly a fan of The Sopranos but I thought that I'd give this a go.

It's the epitome of "meh". Some decent acting and some of the scenes of the race riots were well done but overall it wasn't all that interesting.

One for Sopranos fans only I think.

6/10

[Ewanandmoreagain]

 

No Time to Die - formulaic , silly to start                                   with.

Not too subtle , then improved with Madeline reappearing as Blofeld's only in person contact with the outside world , until .....

Ending more emotional than OHMSS !

( Atlantic Road looks amazing )

Edited January 1, 2023 by Ewanandmoreagain

[Clown Job]

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Netflix

The story 3 young German teenagers who enlist in the German army and are deployed to western France in the final year of WW1 

Not really much to say except its an absolutely superb film. Way beyond my expectations and just highted some of the horrors of WW1.

Would highly recommend, although it is in German.  

[scottsdad]

Interstellar (2014)

Interesting to begin with, but too long, boring and the end was a big anticlimax. 

[MSU]

Might as well log 2023 then. Kicking it off with a cheery wee number.

001 -- All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). Having recently watched the 1930 version, I was in no hurry to see a pointless remake, but it turns out this is neither pointless nor really a remake. The broad brushstrokes are roughly the same as it documents the horrors of trench warfare and the futility of it through the eyes initially enthusiastic young men desperate to give their lives for their country, but the emphasis is largely different. We skip a lot of the "you owe it to the Fatherland" stuff at the start and we see more of the war from the perspective of those making the orders, not just those following them, and as a German production in the German language, it feels more authentic. 8/10

[DrewDon]

Finally caught Aftersun tonight. 

Wow. Just wow. 

[DA Baracus]

On 02/01/2023 at 00:45, scottsdad said:

Interstellar (2014)

Interesting to begin with, but too long, boring and the end was a big anticlimax. 

I used to think you were a decent poster.

[JustOneCornetto]

On 31/12/2022 at 16:03, Detournement said:

Vertigo (1958)

I've been rereading Lolita this week and noticed that on the first road trip they visit Mission Dolores near San Francisco where the vital scenes in Vertigo, which came out a couple of years later, take place. So I thought I'd rewatch Vertigo with Nabokov and Kubrick in mind. 

In Lolita Humbert claims Lolita is almost a reincarnation of his first child love Annabel and in Vertigo you have Jimmy Stewart's Scottie attempting to turn the slightly skanky Judy into the classy Madeline who he loved and lost. The subtext to all that is obviously Hitchcock trying to replace Grace Kelly with other blonde actresses after she ditched him to become a European royal. The stuff with Madeline being possessed by the painting of her old world grandmother seems to allude to the American aristo Grace desiring to become a real aristocrat. There is a constant fetish/theme around girls/women's clothes in both Lolita and Vertigo and having watched all the Kelly/Hitchcock films he obviously liked to dress her in black and white and it's noticeable that a very important scene in the film he has Kim Novak in black and white. 

A couple of other things I noticed for the first time are that when Scottie has undressed Madeline and is waiting for her to wake up he has a porn mag on the table in front of him and that the Maddie Ferguson character in Twin Peaks who is Laura's cousin/doppelganger derives her name from Vertigo. 

 

Yeah Lynch likes to reference his favourite films in his work, as well as Vertigo other films like The Wizard of Oz, Sunset Boulevard (his character in TP, Gordon Cole) and 8 1/2 which is heavy on dream reality, can be seen throughout Twin Peaks and some of his films. Hadn't spotted the Maddie Ferguson one before.

[Stellaboz]

On Hogmanay watched Avatar 2. 

 

5/10 

Very boring plot and the ending, despite being exciting, had so much nonsensical conclusions. 

Visually awesome aye, but so are Lisa Ann films in their own way. 

Basically, big ass war happens and main guy shites it and runs off. H

[UpInTheAyr]

The Menu on Disney Plus. 

Honestly, can't remember the last time I enjoyed a movie as much as this. Best to go into it knowing nothing about it but its full of great surprises, build up, and hilarious quips by Ralph Fiennes. Gem of a film.. 

 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

Five Fingers ( and Operation Cicero )

Two films about the Albanian spy in the British Embassy during World War two.

Both embellish the " truth " , the latter more so.

James Mason is very good in places in the former and the film is quite exciting at the end.

The latter is Turkish dubbed English. I do not see why , if the German diplomat was murdered in Turkey , the Turks would be suspected rather than the Allies. The romance between Cicero and                      did not happen

 

[Detournement]

Lolita (1962)

I reread the book last week so i watched the both the films to compare and contrast. When i watched this last year I thought Kubrick had focused on Quilty rather than Humbert because of censorship and also because if you have Peter Sellers in a film you use him. Rereading the book Quilty is a minor character but is always in the background and appears to be running some sort of Epstein style paedo blackmail operation with occult aspects. Once you watch the film and look for that it's sticks out a mile. Kubrick uses lots of pyramid imagery in scenes with Quilty which are prominent throughout his films and are usually associated with corrupt elites.

Lolita (1997)

This version with Jeremy Irons as Humbert removes all the humour and most of the Quilty stuff and instead chooses to make Humbert sympathetic and sexualize Dominique Swain as Lolita to a very surprising extent. Kubrick used a 14 year old actress and made her look older and removed all the overt rape. This version has a 15 year old who looks younger and the film has all the brutality from the book. Somehow despite that Irons is portrayed in a more sympathetic manner than Mason. It's a strange film.

Play Misty For Me (1971)

Clint invents the bunny boiler genre. Clint plays a late night radio DJ who is into poetry and jazz who gets tangled up with a crazy female listener. It features loads of scenic shots of Monterey and Carmel where Clint would later become mayor, it has a long scene where Clint is grooving at the 1970 Monterrey Jazz festival to a Cannonball Adderly set and apart from the psycho bird it's all good California vibes. You can see why Clint got so raging later on in life because in 1960s Carmel he was probably living at the apex of human (male) civilization and the only way was down.

 

[scottsdad]

2 hours ago, Detournement said:

Play Misty For Me (1971)

Clint invents the bunny boiler genre. Clint plays a late night radio DJ who is into poetry and jazz who gets tangled up with a crazy female listener. It features loads of scenic shots of Monterey and Carmel where Clint would later become mayor, it has a long scene where Clint is grooving at the 1970 Monterrey Jazz festival to a Cannonball Adderly set and apart from the psycho bird it's all good California vibes. You can see why Clint got so raging later on in life because in 1960s Carmel he was probably living at the apex of human (male) civilization and the only way was down.

 

First movie Eastwood ever directed

[Detournement]

7 hours ago, scottsdad said:

First movie Eastwood ever directed

I'm going to try and watch them all over the next few months.

[jimmy boo]

A Man Called Ove

This is the original Swedish version of the new Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto. Grumpy old widower stuck in his ways and thinks he can boss everyone about has his world changed when new neighbours move in next door. Told in flash backs and is both funny and emotional.........8/10. 

[DA Baracus]

Batman (1989)

Hadn't seen this in years. In fact I can't remember the last time I did. Must be at least 15 years.

It's much better than I recall, possibly because I thought it was campy and daft as Batman Forever and Batman and Robin (although less so).

However, it's a really good Batman film that gets loads right, and only has a couple of moments of silly campiness that don't detract from the film at all. Gotham feels run down, grimy and corrupt. The atmosphere of the city feels malign.

Michael Keaton is great as Bruce Wayne and Batman. He plays them just slightly differently and nails both I think, although he's not in the film for a surprising amount of time. 

That's because the real focus is Jack Nicholson's Joker/Jack Napier, although they too are different like Bruce Wayne and Batman are. Nicholson's Joker comes across as genuinely unhinged and with a sense of danger, comparing favorable with Ledger's portrayal. It blows Leto's dogshit attempt out of the water. Leto's Joker seemed to created by dull suits in a shiny boardroom who used Excel and PowerPoint to build a consensus on what constitutes 'wacky' and 'keeraazzee!!!!!'. The result was a shiny, corporate piece of nonsense that exuded no menace at all and was a boring, irritating dullard who was no threat to anyone. The Fast Show's Colin Hunt would have been more convincing.

Anyway, Nicholson nails Joker. The film is very enjoyable and there's good support from Kim Basinger and Billy Dee Williams. It's a basic enough plot but doesn't waste time on Bruce Wayne becoming Batman (he arrives 'fully formed' and the viewer's hand isn't held with who and what Batman is; there's only a small allusion in a brief conversation between Batman and Joker at the end, like a couple of lines) and doesn't waste time in general. The late 80s vibe is present but doesn't smother the film in cheese.

Really, this film was more of a Joker film featuring Batman, but as an introduction to Batman, with a sequel very much in mind (see the introduction of the Bat Signal at the end) it did what it needed to, and did it very well. 

 

Oh, and Batman kills Joker. None of this 'chuck him in prison' daft moral code, only for Joker to break out and murder hoardes more, rinse and repeat.

Edited January 6, 2023 by DA Baracus

[BFTD]

Oddly enough, I was just listening to Mark Kermode comparing Burton and Nolan's Batman (Batmen? Batmans?)

Apparently he was expecting something more like the Nolan films back in 1989, and was disappointed that it still shared a bit of the OTT camp of the TV show. Bit of an interesting choice to kill Joker at the end, but there was still the notion that Batman's villains were an ensemble, with Joker not being particularly any more important than Penguin or the Riddler. Plus, they probably knew fine well that they weren't getting Nicholson back for a sequel.

Also, I still think Cesar Romero when I think Joker, even after so many others have put in such a good shift.