Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Sock Monkey]

American Mary: Katherine Isabelle stars as Mary Mason, a financially-strapped med school student who begins illegally performing extreme body modification operations to alleviate her debt. A traumatic event spins Mary further into the dark world, which may end up costing her everything.

There was quite a bit of potential in the first third of the movie. The script dips its toes into numerous ideas that could have been fascinating: illegal body modifications and what drives people to spend their lives changing themselves, the idea that the profession of surgery might attract a certain type of people for the wrong reasons, the blurring ethical lines of Mary's choices and the slow unhinging of her personality. In more seasoned hands, this could have been a creepy psychological movie along the lines of Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't know what to do with the ideas it presents and flounders through it its remaining running time until its finale that feels more like a plot point than a culmination of the movie's themes and events. It is unfortunate as Katherine Isabelle as Mary and Tristan Risk as Beatress, an exotic dancer who has modified herself to look like a creepy version of Betty Boop, are both fantastic in their roles. Grade: D

[bugen]

Gloria: A biopic based on the life of Gloria Trevi, the "Mexican Madonna," the story follows a group of young girls headed by Gloria as they receive musical training from virtuoso Sergio Andrade. Gloria breaks into stardom under his tutelage, which serves to attract more young girls wanting their own paths to glory. Sergio, superbly acted by Marco Perez, has a sexually predatory relationship with the girls, seducing them and spinning their emotions throughout the film, with seemingly ALL of them head-over-heels for the manager. While he keeps everyone’s money and forbids the girls having any relationships or boyfriends outside of their little ‘family,’ there is a sympathetic side to this monster which is beautifully captured by Mr. Perez.

Gloria, the high-energy focus of attention has major emotional swings throughout the film. Sofia Espinosa, cast for Gloria after an extensive search, seems so perfect for the role the director speaks of waiting 5 years for her to grow older so she wasn’t too young for the movie. From the first moment she takes the stage in a kind of Star-Search television program she disregards all rules, all recommendations and tears up the floor with frenetic and sexualized moves while belting out the vocals. The crowd goes wild even as the President of the network demands she be taken off the air, only to eventually about-face as he sees the money to be made by supporting her.

At the center of all of this is the plight of the group of girls, who don’t realize they’re victims.

This is a very good movie, well below everyone’s radar. When it hits the streets in a couple of months show it to someone and become a hero as long as he or she is fine with subtitles – the film’s in Spanish.

4 stars

[Sock Monkey]

Recently, I've realized that while I consider myself fairly well-versed in my movie viewing, I have somehow neglected to get to some older classic films. So I've decided to correct that.

Casablanca: Praise upon praise has been heaped upon this movie and its script and for good reason. The classic Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman love story would feel simplistic if given a beat-by-beat breakdown of the movie, until you realize that its the performance and the lightning-fast, razor-sharp script that gives this movie its lifeblood. You have to pay attention to get all the jokes and all nuances the script throws at the audience. The performances are uniformly great and of course this has some of the most quoted lines in movie history. Some movies don't hold up well over time, this one surely does. So, so good. Grade: A

Rear Window: James Stewart plays a professional photographer who is confined to a wheelchair in his apartment building after getting one of his legs broken on assignment. To pass the time, he starts watching his neighbors and finds himself embroiled in a mystery when he thinks that one of his neighbors has killed his wife. This is hailed as one of the great suspense movies of all time, but I was surprised to find just how funny the movie is. Stewart's banter with his girlfriend (Grace Kelly, who is flat-out gorgeous and beguiling in this role; I dare any red-blooded man to not fall in love with her character) and with his nurse is fantastic. While there is a lighter tone than some of Hitchcock's other work, it doesn't diminish the suspense in the final act. Grade: A

The Last Picture Show: A coming-of-age story set in a small Texas town, following two friends (Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges) as they work their way through their last year of high school and beyond. Shot in black and white, this is a stark, cynical look at growing up. While touted as a movie about the town's social and sexual mores--and it is--I found this to be more a study of adulthood and the regrets that life piles on year after year, a fact that the adults are all too aware of and the teenagers can't seem to grasp even when its laid down at their feet. I felt the movie meandered some near the end and while most of the acting is great, some of the smaller parts of the town folk felt a little uneven. That being said, this was still a great movie. Grade: B+

I still have An American in Paris, Citizen Kane, and The Godfather (which I faintly remember watching a long time ago, but I don't know if I got all the way through it or not) on tap.

[TerryE]

Rear Window: (Grace Kelly, who is flat-out gorgeous and beguiling in this role; I dare any red-blooded man to not fall in love with her character).

So true!!

[Brian861]

Just saw Black Mass this afternoon. Great flick if you're a crime/mob/Depp Fan.

[Dan Hocker]

I managed to catch a showing of The Martian last night, and I can't recommend this movie enough. I'd call it a return to form for Ridley Scott, though given how good the source material for this movie is, it would've been pretty hard to screw up.

[subie09lega]

I managed to catch a showing of The Martian last night, and I can't recommend this movie enough. I'd call it a return to form for Ridley Scott, though given how good the source material for this movie is, it would've been pretty hard to screw up.

That's great, Dan. I've got tickets for this evening so it's good to hear it's worth watching.

Last week I went to The Visit with a group of guys and I must say I've not laughed so heartily for a while. I know some people really dislike this movie (including most of those in my party) but I thought it was great and I still chuckle when I think about some of the parts. The twist at the end is something I hadn't expected. I heard it classified as comedy/horror which I guess is what it is but I thought the comedy was the better of the two.

[Dan Hocker]

That's great, Dan. I've got tickets for this evening so it's good to hear it's worth watching.

Last week I went to The Visit with a group of guys and I must say I've not laughed so heartily for a while. I know some people really dislike this movie (including most of those in my party) but I thought it was great and I still chuckle when I think about some of the parts. The twist at the end is something I hadn't expected. I heard it classified as comedy/horror which I guess is what it is but I thought the comedy was the better of the two.

Interesting, all of the movie review shows / YouTube channels I watch liked it a lot. Though none of them mentioned the comedy aspects of it. Most where saying it's a pretty big step back in the right direction for M. Night Shyamalan.

[TJCams]

I'm really looking forward to The Martian. I haven't read the book, but I'll probably pick up a copy of it, as it seems like it would fall under hard sci-fi, which is my #2 after horror. I mentioned in another thread that the overview sounds a lot like a book I read by Ben Bova titled Mars, which is a great read for any hard sci-fi fans. My wife is actually wanting to see this too, and she's not a sci-fi person at all! We will get to it eventually - going to avoid the opening weekend craziness though. We don't go to many movies anymore....it's so darned expensive anymore (unless of course you go on Tuesday which is discount day/night).

Also looking forward to Crimson Peak, which is coming out soon as well.

[subie09lega]

Interesting, all of the movie review shows / YouTube channels I watch liked it a lot. Though none of them mentioned the comedy aspects of it. Most where saying it's a pretty big step back in the right direction for M. Night Shyamalan.

The kid in the movie is a hoot, he has got some great lines and he plays it so well. Here's a couple lines to listen for that just made me laugh out loud. No spoilers and in context you'll see what I mean. Becca is the sister:
Becca, what the hell?!
Becca, guess who I am! (still laughing over this one)

I read some reviews on Fandango before going and they were mostly either 1 or 5 stars. I do think it's one of his better movies but I did skip a few of the later ones, or tried and couldn't get into them (Lady in the Water). Not sure why I've never seen Devil.

[Dan Hocker]

The kid in the movie is a hoot, he has got some great lines and he plays it so well. Here's a couple lines to listen for that just made me laugh out loud. No spoilers and in context you'll see what I mean. Becca is the sister:
Becca, what the hell?!
Becca, guess who I am! (still laughing over this one)

I read some reviews on Fandango before going and they were mostly either 1 or 5 stars. I do think it's one of his better movies but I did skip a few of the later ones, or tried and couldn't get into them (Lady in the Water). Not sure why I've never seen Devil.

I stopped consciously seeing his movies after The Village. I guessed the ended to that movie in the first 5 minutes.

[Dan Hocker]

I'm really looking forward to The Martian. I haven't read the book, but I'll probably pick up a copy of it, as it seems like it would fall under hard sci-fi, which is my #2 after horror. I mentioned in another thread that the overview sounds a lot like a book I read by Ben Bova titled Mars, which is a great read for any hard sci-fi fans. My wife is actually wanting to see this too, and she's not a sci-fi person at all! We will get to it eventually - going to avoid the opening weekend craziness though. We don't go to many movies anymore....it's so darned expensive anymore (unless of course you go on Tuesday which is discount day/night).

Also looking forward to Crimson Peak, which is coming out soon as well.

I probably wouldn't really classify The Martian as hard Science Fiction. It probably more like "realistic" science fiction, as most of the science in the movie / book is about as close to reality as the author could get it, and most of the technology in the movie is fairly realistic and stuff we could probably do now if we just threw enough money at it. I think the best pitch / description I've heard for the movie is that it's Castaway meets Apollo 13. The book is a pretty quick read (audio book is only 10 hours) and is probably the best book I've read in a couple years.

[subie09lega]

I stopped consciously seeing his movies after The Village. I guessed the ended to that movie in the first 5 minutes.

I think that some of the people that I was with didn't like it because it does move slowly, which is how his earlier movies are and it's just about people in normal life. It was made on the cheap and there isn't CGI everywhere. It's a simple plot that builds up. I think knowing I was about the only one in the group liking it made me enjoy it all the more as we were watching. I decided that some movies are best watching alone (horror/suspense) so I don't need to listen to people gripe about them after.

[mhatchett]

I don't watch everything he does, but I can't write him off after Unbreakable. The scene with Samuel L. Jackson explaining his connection with Bruce Willis really elevated the whole movie. Some of his other stuff...ARRRGGGHHHH lol!

[subie09lega]

I don't watch everything he does, but I can't write him off after Unbreakable. The scene with Samuel L. Jackson explaining his connection with Bruce Willis really elevated the whole movie. Some of his other stuff...ARRRGGGHHHH lol!

I took a date to Unbreakable and when it got over we looked at each other and shrugged. I dismissed it but years later I watched it again and loved it, completely different movie the second time around and I still love it. I like most of them more the second and successive viewing knowing what's going on and looking for the clues.