Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Brian861]

You would be correct. 2 and 3 are The Last Jedi and Rouge One. I still can't decide which I like better.

Mine as well, as most fans I'd image. I really enjoyed Rouge One. Still a few weeks out before I get to The Last Jedi. My hopes are high!

[Sock Monkey]

Watched a trio of flicks over New Year's Eve and Day:

Detriot is a brutal, nerve-wracking tale of abuse of power leading to senseless death during the Detriot riots. Though a little long, it's a powerful movie anchored with amazing performances. A-

Dunkirk didn't quite do it for me as much as other Christopher Nolan films and I don't know how much I will rewatch it, but for sheer film-making this movie felt up there with the best of Spielberg. A-

Brawl in Cell Block 99 couldn't quite live up to my expectations after absolutely loving the director's previous film, Bone Tomahawk. An interesting exploitation flick throwback, this rather deliberately paced, very bloody flick is anchored by Vince Vaughn's knockout performance of an incarcerated drug runner who has to resort to more and more violence to protect his wife and unborn child. It didn't quite hit the mark for me, but I feel it will get better with repeat viewings. Grade: B

And, since my wife LOVED Brawl, I had to show her Bone Tomahawk, which she loved as well and is still one of the best flicks I've seen in recent years. Love this violent horror/western. If you haven't seen it yet, take the time to check it out. A+

[jeffingoff]

Watched a trio of flicks over New Year's Eve and Day:

Detriot is a brutal, nerve-wracking tale of abuse of power leading to senseless death during the Detriot riots. Though a little long, it's a powerful movie anchored with amazing performances. A-

Dunkirk didn't quite do it for me as much as other Christopher Nolan films and I don't know how much I will rewatch it, but for sheer film-making this movie felt up there with the best of Spielberg. A-

Brawl in Cell Block 99 couldn't quite live up to my expectations after absolutely loving the director's previous film, Bone Tomahawk. An interesting exploitation flick throwback, this rather deliberately paced, very bloody flick is anchored by Vince Vaughn's knockout performance of an incarcerated drug runner who has to resort to more and more violence to protect his wife and unborn child. It didn't quite hit the mark for me, but I feel it will get better with repeat viewings. Grade: B

And, since my wife LOVED Brawl, I had to show her Bone Tomahawk, which she loved as well and is still one of the best flicks I've seen in recent years. Love this violent horror/western. If you haven't seen it yet, take the time to check it out. A+

I tell people that Bone Tomahawk is like a mash-up of Unforgiven and Off Season. Fantastic movie! Kurt Russel is awesome in it. And now I have to see Brawl!!!

[Sock Monkey]

I tell people that Bone Tomahawk is like a mash-up of Unforgiven and Off Season. Fantastic movie! Kurt Russel is awesome in it. And now I have to see Brawl!!!

That is an apt description. And I fully believe that every movie would be made better with 50% more Kurt Russell in it. Speaking of which, a few days before Christmas I caught a double feature at a local theater of John Carpenter’s The Thing and the original Black Christmas. I love The Thing and couldn’t pass seeing it on the big screen and have been meaning to check out Black Christmas for years. There was only about 15 of us in attendance, but it was a blast!

[bookworm 1]

Watched Gerald's Game over the weekend. Excellent movie. Super adaption.

[Sock Monkey]

Watched Gerald's Game over the weekend. Excellent movie. Super adaption.

I've been meaning to get to that and 1922, but keep getting sidetracked. Some day soon, though.

[daverob]

I watched 68 Kill last weekend, which I mostly loved. The lead actress' performance is outstanding. She rules the entire movie and she's the main reason to watch it. I loved the role-reversals compared to what you see in typical pics like this one.

I also watched the most recent Fast and Furious movie. I've rarely seen a series of films that sits so well at the intersection of utter ridiculousness and entertainment. I don't think I'd ever pay to see one in the theater but not so bad to watch at home or on a flight, with a book or iPad in hand for the slow parts.

[Sock Monkey]

I watched 68 Kill last weekend, which I mostly loved. The lead actress' performance is outstanding. She rules the entire movie and she's the main reason to watch it. I loved the role-reversals compared to what you see in typical pics like this one.

I also watched the most recent Fast and Furious movie. I've rarely seen a series of films that sits so well at the intersection of utter ridiculousness and entertainment. I don't think I'd ever pay to see one in the theater but not so bad to watch at home or on a flight, with a book or iPad in hand for the slow parts.

I almost picked this up on my last DVD run, but ultimately passed. I've heard good things about the movie, but I really did not like the book.

[Sock Monkey]

Safety Last! was an absolute blast. I'm not very familiar with silent cinema and have never seen a Harold Lloyd film, so I wasn't too sure what I was stepping into, but with multiple positive recommendations I was optimistic. I absolutely loved this movie. This was so much fun.

It's essentially the story of a guy who goes to New York and promises his girl back home that he'll send for her once he's found success. Naturally his letters home exaggerate his stature at his work where he's actually a lowly clerk. The façade presented to his girl begin to fall apart when she decides to join him in the big city. Lighthearted, funny, and romantic, this still holds up 95 years after it was originally released. The majority of these gags still work like gangbusters. The Criterion DVD is packed to the gills with extras including all the Lloyd shorts that feature him as the same character and the picture looks fantastic. Highly recommended! A+

Spartacus: It's been twenty years since I've watched Spartacus and finally decided to revisit it on Blu-Ray. I remembered the some of the fight scenes, but had mostly forgotten the details of the plot and found myself swept up again in the story of the slave revolt. It's hard to watch this movie now and not compare it to Ridley Scott's Gladiator, but where Crowe's Maximus is stoic and driven by his anger and grief, Douglas's Spartacus is driven by the righteousness of his cause. Also "I'm a Gladiator" is weak substitute for the "I am Spartacus" scene. Well worth a rewatch if its been a while. Grade: A

Mayhem: Horror has yet to really tackle the "office people trapped and kill each other" concept successfully. This film follows a corporate executive working for a soulless corrupt firm that, after getting framed for a mistake that was not his, decides to take matters into his own hands. There's a inhibition-dampening virus that has infected everyone in the building and is letting their base impulses take charge including our protagonist. The building is quarantined for the next eight hours until the airborne antidote can take effect. The question is: can our hero get his revenge--with the help of his new friend--within the eight hour window so that way he won't be held liable for his actions by a court of law?

Not nearly as clever as it wants to be, the film is full of shallow tropes instead of characters, which could have worked if the characters had started as shallow caricatures and developed into something deeper along the way, unfortunately the arrogant coke-snorted evil boss stays that way until the end. Entertaining, but not ground-breaking. Grade: C

[Martin]

Safety Last! was an absolute blast. I'm not very familiar with silent cinema and have never seen a Harold Lloyd film, so I wasn't too sure what I was stepping into, but with multiple positive recommendations I was optimistic. I absolutely loved this movie. This was so much fun.

It's essentially the story of a guy who goes to New York and promises his girl back home that he'll send for her once he's found success. Naturally his letters home exaggerate his stature at his work where he's actually a lowly clerk. The façade presented to his girl begin to fall apart when she decides to join him in the big city. Lighthearted, funny, and romantic, this still holds up 95 years after it was originally released. The majority of these gags still work like gangbusters. The Criterion DVD is packed to the gills with extras including all the Lloyd shorts that feature him as the same character and the picture looks fantastic. Highly recommended! A+

Spartacus: It's been twenty years since I've watched Spartacus and finally decided to revisit it on Blu-Ray. I remembered the some of the fight scenes, but had mostly forgotten the details of the plot and found myself swept up again in the story of the slave revolt. It's hard to watch this movie now and not compare it to Ridley Scott's Gladiator, but where Crowe's Maximus is stoic and driven by his anger and grief, Douglas's Spartacus is driven by the righteousness of his cause. Also "I'm a Gladiator" is weak substitute for the "I am Spartacus" scene. Well worth a rewatch if its been a while. Grade: A

Mayhem: Horror has yet to really tackle the "office people trapped and kill each other" concept successfully. This film follows a corporate executive working for a soulless corrupt firm that, after getting framed for a mistake that was not his, decides to take matters into his own hands. There's a inhibition-dampening virus that has infected everyone in the building and is letting their base impulses take charge including our protagonist. The building is quarantined for the next eight hours until the airborne antidote can take effect. The question is: can our hero get his revenge--with the help of his new friend--within the eight hour window so that way he won't be held liable for his actions by a court of law?

Not nearly as clever as it wants to be, the film is full of shallow tropes instead of characters, which could have worked if the characters had started as shallow caricatures and developed into something deeper along the way, unfortunately the arrogant coke-snorted evil boss stays that way until the end. Entertaining, but not ground-breaking. Grade: C

Glad you enjoyed Safety Last, That is a classic. I may have to pick up the Criterion edition to see the movie again and all the extras!

[Sock Monkey]

Glad you enjoyed Safety Last, That is a classic. I may have to pick up the Criterion edition to see the movie again and all the extras!

The Criterion disc is well worth the price, especially during one of B&N’s 50% Off sales. This movie has really energized me and wife to seek out more silent cinema. I don’t think I could do a steady diet, but as nice accents to my regular viewing habits, it works quite well. This might be because a lot that I’ve come across are comedies which are usually not my favorite genre.

[Sock Monkey]

I've been catching up on some TV shows lately:

Stranger Things 2 was almost a complete misfire for me. I know some people enjoyed this season as much as the last, but I felt that WAY too much time was paid to the new plots that had little to no payoff for the amount of time put into them like the pet monster, the new brother and sister in town, and the romantic love triangle between the three teens. The season felt half-baked to me. Grade: D

American Gods Season One is a hard one for me to recommend. The book has its critics, but I personally loved it and I loved Bryan Fuller's previous show, Hannibal (though I have yet to see Season Three), but the show ran very hot and cold for me. When it hit the sweet spot for me, I really liked it, but when it didn't work, it just fell flat. Ian McShane is perfect as Wednesday, Ricky Whittle is tasked to play the straight man as Shadow Moon but really shines when he gets to show some humor, Emily Browning is great as Laura Moon and I can't get enough of Pablo Schreiber as the down-on-his-luck Mad Sweeney. It's also great to see the resurgence of Gillian Anderson, Crispin Glover and Orlando Jones. But, hoo boy, is there some graphic sexuality and some male frontal nudity. My wife tapped out after the first episode. Grade: B-

Godless: A Netflix limited series set in the old west about a town left mostly full of women after a mining accident and the violence that follows upon the arrival of a mysterious stranger. I love westerns and truly enjoyed this show, but it pretty much dropped the ball for me during the finale and the climatic battle between the women of the town and the gang of dangerous outlaws. The show played it WAY to safe and felt that the ending betrayed the rules for the show beforehand. Grade: Prior to the finale would have been an A, after the finale it drops to a C.

Currently doing a rewatch of Black Mirror Season Two before moving on to Season Three and doing a full series rewatch of Breaking Bad, which I'm halfway through Season Two and the show still holds up. Also started Jordskott on Shudder.

[Sock Monkey]

The Shape of Water: I've been a longtime fan of Guillermo Del Toro ever since Mimic and the The Devil's Backbone and have mostly stayed on top of his work since then. While I haven't loved everything he's done--here's looking at you Pacific Rim--I always appreciate his vision. And in that department, The Shape of Water doesn't disappoint. A beautifully shot and wonderfully acted film--Richard Jenkins is a national treasure!--there is so much to appreciate and enjoy about this film and I can absolutely see why it has been receiving all the acclaim that it has.

Unfortunately, the movie missed the mark in one crucial area. This is Del Toro's love letter to the monster movies he enjoyed so much growing up and all those monster movies--from King Kong to Frankenstein--they had one thing in common: finding the humanity in the inhuman. When Kong dies at the end or Frankenstein's monster is destroyed in the fire, you feel deeply for these flawed tragic characters. At the end of the The Shape of Water, I felt nothing for the amphibious man-monster. I knew he liked eggs, hated Michael Shannon, and was pretty darn horny, and while I wanted to see him free, I never felt anything for him. I only felt for those around him. And maybe that was the point of the movie: to remind us of the humanity in each other, in ourselves. But as a narrative that hinges on me caring about this creature from some lagoon as much as the humans in the story, it didn't work for me. Grade: B

[Martin]

The Shape of Water: I've been a longtime fan of Guillermo Del Toro ever since Mimic and the The Devil's Backbone and have mostly stayed on top of his work since then. While I haven't loved everything he's done--here's looking at you Pacific Rim--I always appreciate his vision. And in that department, The Shape of Water doesn't disappoint. A beautifully shot and wonderfully acted film--Richard Jenkins is a national treasure!--there is so much to appreciate and enjoy about this film and I can absolutely see why it has been receiving all the acclaim that it has.

Unfortunately, the movie missed the mark in one crucial area. This is Del Toro's love letter to the monster movies he enjoyed so much growing up and all those monster movies--from King Kong to Frankenstein--they had one thing in common: finding the humanity in the inhuman. When Kong dies at the end or Frankenstein's monster is destroyed in the fire, you feel deeply for these flawed tragic characters. At the end of the The Shape of Water, I felt nothing for the amphibious man-monster. I knew he liked eggs, hated Michael Shannon, and was pretty darn horny, and while I wanted to see him free, I never felt anything for him. I only felt for those around him. And maybe that was the point of the movie: to remind us of the humanity in each other, in ourselves. But as a narrative that hinges on me caring about this creature from some lagoon as much as the humans in the story, it didn't work for me. Grade: B

Sorry it was a miss for you on that part. This is one I am really looking forward to.

[Sock Monkey]

Sorry it was a miss for you on that part. This is one I am really looking forward to.

I would definitely encourage people to check it out. It’s not a bad movie by any means—I did give it a B—but it just left me a little hollow at the end. It was also very reminiscent of Pan’s Labyrinth, which is my favorite movie of his. While The Shape of Water showcases Del Toro’s direction as a master, Labyrinth just had so much more of an emotional punch. I’d like to hear your thoughts after you see the film.