Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[tyree]

Gang.
Lesse.
I order you to watch 200 Acres of Hell Never had so much fun ( with my pants on ) watching a 70s throwback comedy/horror. A-
The movie Robbery. Outstanding family drama dealing with dementia, guns n shitballs. B

[subie09lega]

Joker, Zombieland Double Tap and The Lighthouse
I'm not good at assigning ratings to movies so I'll just say that all are worthwhile.
Has anyone bought into one of these theater subscriptions? I signed up a couple months ago and see a couple movies a week.

[jeffingoff]

Joker, Zombieland Double Tap and The Lighthouse
I'm not good at assigning ratings to movies so I'll just say that all are worthwhile.
Has anyone bought into one of these theater subscriptions? I signed up a couple months ago and see a couple movies a week.

Back before I had kids I would have jumped all over a subscription. I went all the time. Now, I rarely get out to see a movie in the theater. And I miss it.

[bsaenz24]

Back before I had kids I would have jumped all over a subscription. I went all the time. Now, I rarely get out to see a movie in the theater. And I miss it.

Jeff, don't worry. Frozen 2 will be on DVD soon enough...

[jeffingoff]

Jeff, don't worry. Frozen 2 will be on DVD soon enough...

I believe it was based on the Bentley Little script.

[subie09lega]

Jeff, don't worry. Frozen 2 will be on DVD soon enough...

Ha, that’s one I’ll be skipping. I can see how children would change your movie-going habits. My buddy and I are lacking in that area so it’s usually easy to schedule a couple a week, as long as there’s something worth watching. And if something turns out to be less than expected we don’t feel too bad since it didn’t cost extra to go, aside from the time spent there.
Last night I did a double feature - The Current War and Western Stars. TCW was very interesting. Western Stars is not something I’d usually see but I enjoyed it.

[Brian861]

Jeff, don't worry. Frozen 2 will be on DVD soon enough...

I believe it was based on the Bentley Little script.

LOL!

[Sock Monkey]

Hell House LLC

I initially ignored this low-budget found footage flick when it originally popped up on Netflix thinking it was the standard below-par horror fare that Netflix likes to populate its streaming platform with, but I kept seeing the title pop up here and there as an under-seen gem. Since I (a) am always on the lookout for good horror movies and (b) do enjoy found footage horror movies, I finally decided to give it one a try.

The set up is simple: A group of friends who run a haunted house business named "Hell House LLC" relocate from the city to rural upstate New York to renovate the Abaddon Hotel as their latest attraction. The footage shown is what was shot leading up to the disaster that occurred on opening night.

While there isn't much new on display, the movie does set up semi-likeable characters with effective scare gags and an interesting mystery that's teased throughout the film. While the make-up effects won't win any awards, the low-budget look works because as the viewer you can't tell what's supposed be part of the haunted house attraction and what is part of the supernatural goings-on leading to a mounting paranoia that makes the jump scares work so much better than they ought to. There's also a nice coda to the film that twists the knife just a little bit more adding to the melancholy the viewer feels after watching all the bad things happen to the group of friends. It's by no means perfect, but an enjoyable watch that was more effective than anticipated.

Grade: B-

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel

After wrapping up the fairly enjoyable Hell House LLC, I decided to take the plunge with its sequel, subtitled "The Abaddon Hotel". This time around the movie follows an investigative group who are trying to get to the bottom of whether or not the documentary made out of the footage that comprised the initial Hell House LLC movie is real or not. Layered on top of this is a talk show format to relay some of the exposition. While the group of investigative journalists turned ghost hunters are interesting it is the addition of spiritualist-maybe-charlatan Brock Davies that adds a little more spark to the proceedings. Once all parties are in the house, the movie wastes no time putting the characters through the paces, though it does waste the potential that Brock Davies could have had. There is the slight rehashing of some of the same scares, but they still work and the pace is kept brisk enough that the movie doesn't lag.

Unfortunately, the film is not as successful as the original film due to two big missteps. The first is some very obvious and very painful acting especially near the beginning of the film. Found footage movies rely heavily on naturalistic acting to allow the illusion that what the viewer is watching is not a movie, but rather a collection of footage of real people. That illusion is shattered with at least one notable misstep near the start. The second misstep is the exposition dump in the third act. The first film relied on hints and rumors of bad things happening in the hotel's past to layer atmosphere, but this has been swept away to be replaced with a clear layout of the films' mythology and its very own embodiment of evil. Neither of these work in the film's favor. There is a nice moment or two after this to wrap the film up, but it never truly recovers.

Grade: C-

Hell House LLC: Ring of Fire

Well, I watched the first two so why wouldn't I wrap up the trilogy? This time the film follows the new host of "Morning Mysteries"--the talk show from the second installment--as she and her cameraman are given an all-access pass to film the ramp up to the launch of a new exhibition in the Abaddon Hotel. Named "Insomnia", this exhibition is more of an interactive theater/haunted house as it tells an updated version of Faust. Leading this venture is millionaire Russell Wynn, who was scarred a few years back during in automobile accident. The actors and crew of "Insomnia" are all given cameras to record their behind-the-scenes adventures, which of course instead lead to scary set-pieces.

In addition to this, there are "talking head" segments to help illuminate certain elements or foreshadow events, and the interesting choice to inter-cut footage from the previous two movies into the film to help remind us of the previous scares that took place and supposedly ramp up the tension of the scene. For me at least, this has the opposite effect and only reminded me of the previous scares and how many of these were being recycled. Subtlety is pretty much gone in this installment as the incidents are so overt in the supernatural antics that it makes you wonder why anybody would stay after such an event even if their salary was doubled as in one circumstance.

When all hell literally breaks loose, the movie looses steam. There is the attempt as some final revelatory twists via some flashbacks that link the other two films more tightly into this one and illuminate one character's motivations, but it doesn't do much to offset the lack of an exciting climax. The ending attempts to provide an epilogue to the trilogy and some closure, but it went on for too long and was too vague to have the intended impact.

Grade: D

[tyree]

Holy crap, Socky, that is a lot of writing. Thanks. I will watch the first.


Now here goes. All I'll can say is OOOOOOh Hoooo Way Ta Go Toronto ! I just watched the most amazing chick flick buddy film in ages called Dim The Fluorescents and if I spelled Fluorescents correctly then good on me ! Audrey played by the smokin hot Claire Armstrong and her best friend Lillian played by Naomi Skwarna who both fucking shine ! I kid you not I have never seen a more original well scripted, acted move in ages and I am tired of writing and I am not that clever so I will rip off
some quotes.

Struggling actor Audrey (Claire Armstrong) and aspiring playwright Lillian (Naomi Skwarna) pour all of their creative energy into the only paying work they can find: corporate role-playing demonstrations. When they book the biggest gig of their careers at a hotel conference, work commences on their most ambitious production to date, and the ensuing tensions threaten to derail both the production and their friendship. As wryly funny as it is unexpectedly poignant, “Dim the Fluorescents” — winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival — is a one-of-a-kind portrait of the artistic life in the unlikeliest of settings. “‘Dim the Fluorescents’ is the kind of dynamic, entertaining debut feature that hopefully puts its cast and crew on the map,” says the Film Stage. “Director Daniel Warth and co-writer Miles Barstead have put together a film that crackles with energy…. It’s a film about the struggle of making a living in the creative arts that’s bursting with creativity, zig-zagging from one tone, style, or form to the next at a moment’s notice.”

Daniel Warth’s Dim The Fluorescents may just be the best film you will see at the film festival. On one hand that might sound declarative, on the other dismissive of the other great films of the festival including Black Cop and My Entire High School SInking into the Sea, but it is quite difficult to imagine there being a more affecting and well-crafted work as Warth’s exploration of depression, artistry, and love. The last ten minutes are enough to leave one speechless, a culmination of all the raw emotions that the film has been poking around, suddenly coming up to the surface in a grandstanding and perfectly scathing sequence. Much like the rest of the film, the lifeblood of this sequence is the two perfect actresses at the center of the production.

Dim The Fluorescents is about a playwright, Lillian, and her roommate Audrey, an actress. Together they for the best acting scenario team, going around to companies on HR days and crafting masterful interludes about leadership, sexual harassment, and accidents in the workplace. They both want to be more though, but for some reason seem to be working against themselves, dependent on both each other, but also the comfortable life they live.

It is in these character dynamics that Dim The Fluorescents thrives. The actresses playing the two leads here Claire Armstrong (Audrey) and Naomi Skwarna (Lillian) are so impressive that they rachet you into your seat and force you to experience the consistently engaging and tragically sublime emotions of the piece. Much like Black Cop, the filmmakers seem to understand that while the naturalistic acting that filmmaking uses can be easily used to capture the more subtle emotions that can be found in the mundane way that people act around each other, sometimes the more explicit acting that can be found in the theatre can be useful in the creation of dramatic crescendo and crescendo this film does. As mentioned before, the last ten minutes are a daze, an acting tour de force that leaves you so numbed up in astonishment that there’s hardly any doubt that it won’t be one of the headlining acting moments of the year. If the Oscars even dared consider a film like Dim The Fluorescents it’d be difficult to imagine any other actresses other than Armstrong and Skwarna winning the top prize. They, along with a great script by Miles Barstead and Daniel Warth, pummel you into a sobbing mess. I’ve seen the film twice and both times I have been left utterly amazed.

Dim The Fluorescents is just about as honest, emotionally, of a film as one can find about trying to be an artist, populated by what seem to be some of the best artists working today. It is an utterly wonderful, comedic, crushing, gorgeous experience, one that this critic hopes you don’t miss out on.

There. And yes, the ending with rip your spleen out. I do not recall an ending to a film that had me so emotionally torn apart.

Now, in other films...
Did I mention Harpoon ? SPEAR GUN ! Holy shit this is a funny movie, two guys one redhead, one boat, total
hysteria and gore. And an ending a seasoned vet like me did not see, dammit. B+

Oh, if you feel, well, not lazy, find the German film Knife in the Head First, there IS no knife in the head, the actor was amazing playing the part of someone recovering a severe head wound from some cop fuck up. It's intense. The ending will have you gritting your teeth. A-

[brlesh]

Movies seen in September & October:

IT: Chapter 2 - I thought the first two hours were great; the last 45 minutes, not so much. Overall I liked it better than Chapter 1.

Joker - best movie I've seen so far this year. Half way through I didn't think the film makers were going to be able to pull off the transformation from loser Arthur Fleck to the mastermind Joker, but somehow in the second half of the movie they did it.

Zombieland: Double Tap - it had its moments, but over far inferior to the original

B.

[Ben Staad]

Finally watched Snowpiercer on Netflix. It was 2.5 out of 5 mainly for a few nice ideas of a story. It was disjointed, transparent, and really didn't seem like a fully fleshed out script.

I liked the thought of the movie more than the actual flick.

[tyree]

Thanks fellas.
brelsh: From what I have been hearing you're not the only person who feels this way about IT Chapter 2. Now I am confused.
I dug IT quite a bit...except, as you mention of chapter 2, around the last half hour. I mean what gives ? Up until then I was really digging it--I mean, that first scene ? A little boy ? Might as well have shown someone clubbing baby seals in front of small children.
However, I am going to see it as you said you liked it better than the first---I trust ya, brotha. I am just a tad leary about this "Chapter" buiz.
Also, I am a very picky comic to film viewer. I don'y mean to come across as some high and mighty asshole. I just...well. Like, I loved Kick-Ass, Chloe was terrific as was Cage, T.J.. Never heard of Joker But I will check our piddly
mall, see if it's playing because it looks like my cup of comic book tea.
Again, thanks for the rex and comments on IT.
Now, not sure if I have seen Zombieland, if memory serves ( which is debatable ). It have Was Woody Harrelson in that ? If so, then I saw it. Was in an amusement park...? I do remember digging it whoever starred and I am too lazy to IMBDing the thing.
Thanks for the heads up on Double Tap...
Just a warning, gang, crack a cold soda, or bust off a Beck's top chipping the marble counter top. I have a few films to talks about
Oh and Ben ? I could not make it though half an hour of Snowpiercer. Plus I thought the concept was pretty cool too. But, sigh, I am old. I try not to waste what the speeding bullet known as time is flicking at me with it's middle finger.

I have an odd confession to make. I have adored Carla Gugino since this, imho, fantastic crime caper. I think it's an underrated
gem:
Judas Kiss

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138541/


So I was stoked the hear she was the star in Gerald's Game. However. Odd confession. I do know how it ends...from the novel, not the film. I simply grew too enraged during the eclipse scene I shut er down. That shit makes me ill. Yet you'll see
my hypocrisy still hangs in there. What as asshole...

But do see, if you can find it, Judas Kiss. Even the closing credits has an amazing original acoustic song by Robyn Hitchcock. Not a huge fan except for Demme's Storefront Hitchcock. "Glass Hotel" is brilliant but I digress.

Now I think I told you I viewed Nightingale, new film from the director of The Babadook which made me an instant Essie Davis fan. Really dug that movie.
But...how shall I put this. This new films is so damned brutally misogynistic from the get-go, a film this viewer has been chomping at the bit to see that by going through the whole vile thing, fact is it could serve as a paradigm on how to serve up vomitus, large chunks of rape, rape, rape, child killings, baby head bashing against a wall cuz it bloody wouldn't shut the fook up ! as to , nearly, violently ( my hypocrisy hard at work !) take you out of a film you have been looking forward to viewing for a while, ready to hit "stop". The film looked wonderful, camera work excellent and I confess, the acting was pretty damned good and I apologize: I thought this was a 2019 flick. Came out last year. Just now discovered that fact so maybe some of you have seen this.
IMDB:
"Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past."
I gutted it out and I wish I could say it was well worth it. Well, it was worth it only to see these brutal fucks get what they deserved. Lovely, sad, last frame as Claire and Billy had become so close they developed deep love and respect for one another. C-
Frankly, I am ashamed I watched it. That is very rare for me.
There are only two films I will never view again. Now one film I am not ashamed I watched, it was brilliant, but I will never watch it again as it was so realistic and so depressing it left me in a funk for a few days and one film I watched cuz of the hype and I hope I don't burn in hell for viewing the vile, goofy sucker.
Now there are three.

Know what gang ? I still have a few more but I'll give you guys a rest. Honest, Socky, you are my hero. How you do this shows a rock solid work ethic, dedication to CD and us and who knows how to actually write interesting, MORE than helpful guiding
of new film reviews. Pointing us to what to check out and what to avoid. On your own dime. For that a mere thanks is shyte. We all owe you deep gratitude, which goes far beyond these piddly words I am typing out.

Anyway,
I'll see ya guys in a bit and thanks for listening to my bi-polar ramblings.

[tyree]

Oh. I forgot. I went on a Jess ( Teeth Weixler marathon as I think she is enormously talented. Teeth
IMHO, was really good and Weixler owned that thing plus it sports one of the most memorable scenes in any movie of any genre:
The gynecologist visit ( " First time ? Don't worry, I won't bite" to severed fingers, he, pointing between her legs, holding a gushing blood hand missing fingers shouting VAGINA DENTATA ! VAGINA DENTATA !) yeah, right there, with that film (2006) I became a Jessica Weixler fan.

So I watched three flicks with Jess, first one she plays, smaller role for her, the titular character's wife in The Death Of Dick Long who keeps asking where is Dick ?
Dick's two buddies, Zeke and Earl, after a ton of partying had slung him like a sack of taters in front of an E.R. with unstoppable anal bleeding. Now I kind of knew how he died but I went with the film anyway and found it to be very comical, very emotional with the ladies cast in this shining. When the main friend, Zeke, confesses to his wife how Dick met his maker, her acting was Holy SHIT ! spot on, perfect placements of disgust, anger, unreality all wrapped up. She was amazing.
The film was funny as the cops were morons, the female Chief was a drink-on-the-job kinda gal ( Dick is short for Richard ?!) the two buddy dummies ( turning in to the cops at a mini-mart Dick's wallet as his daughter found it so he had no choice), the two trying, to no avail, to get all of Dick's blood which seeped well into the back seat out. They referred to Pulp Fiction, main guy Zeke goes How did they do that again ? Oh , they called Anthony Kiedis and he came and--Buddy , Earl goes,
NO NO you fucking moron, it was Harvey Keitel, " The Wolf ". Kiedis is the lead singer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers fuckin' dickhead !
Oh...right...
So they dumped it into a pond, ass end sticking up, reported it stolen.
But know what ? For what the film's main subject was and it's repulsive, surreal, disgusting plot, they did a really good job making this film very enjoyable and tragic, getting down a small town perfectly, black humor sprinkled, sadness and drama. Even with the lame, surreal, disgusting death which you're like WTF ? Crazy pervs ! Zeke, with wife n adorable little girl says Just because a man gets married, has a kid doesn't mean the loneliness goes away. It never does...
His buddy Earl had come to terms with what they were doing a long time ago, had an adorable girlfriend but had the smarts to get the fuck outta Dodge when the shit hit the fan. Small town.
I feel really strange giving this film a B+.

Now: Best Man Down Jess and Jason Long who is great in this are getting married in Phoenix when his best man
gets wildy faced, makes an ass out of himself, even though he DID give the groom, Long, thousands for their honeymoon.
Jess's dress cost three grand and oh yeah, she likes her xanax ( "But they're not the BLUE ones, those are for crazy people").
Best man is jumping on the bed in his hotel room, falls, cracks his head, gets up, wanders to elevators, trucks out in the impossibly dark night, dark as only you can get in the desert, then falls face-first on top of a cactus. Deader than a dwarf film star as Tom used to say.
So honeymoon cancelled. They go through his buddies cell phone which has just a few numbers, one an interesting number for someone named Ramsey, lives way the hell, top of MN, the couple lives in The Twin Cities. So they decide to go there and find this Ramsey person, drive way up there to let this person know of the passing.
Then the braked are hit and we are thrust back in time and what follows, I kid you not, is a wonderful, surprising film of friendship which goes well and above the usual film of this nature. What you really learn about his best buddy is mind blowing,
he was so so...
I can't say anything more, it will ruin the surprise but I can recommend the film to all you guys with kids. In fact, it'd be good for them. Kids. I believe it may be a pg-13. Wait, I'll check. Yes, PG-13 and man, lotta hate for this. I cannot figure that out.
It is a simply wonderful underseen gem, imho. B++

Then I watched a Weixler film I had seen before called Free Samples. Smart humor to howlingly funny. These kind of roles is where Jess shines, in here element, caught adrift, dropped out of Stanford Law (!), has a fiance/boyfriend she left up north while she came to LA to, paraphrase, drink way to much and have too much sex with loser surfers and shitty band members.
Yes out little girl is rudderless at the moment then at the worst time get roped in to driving a roach coach only it's painted Mike's Dream, has questionable soft serve, you're only allowed chocolate or vanilla. And NO MIXING OF THE TWO ! her best friend hollers as she takes off, burning rubber, to have an intervention with her drug-addled, hard drinking brother who, to me, seamed to half ass have his shit together sanity-wise and emotionally stable. But we learn he is a lousy, mean drunk...
So here is our adorable, hung-over as fuck Jess, stuck in this sweat box dying for a cup of coffee. Identical twins show up at the serving window. Jess: What.
Twins: you're the first person this morning to not comment we are identical twins.
Jess: Oh no no no, I'm just super hung over and thought I was still seeing double.
Then Jesse Eisenberg shows up where she's parked. She goes yes ? can I help you ? Wanna Sample ?
Jessie goes You're kidding. You literally cannot remember me from last night.
Jess goes, did you have a cowboy had on OH ! Your names is Tex. Did we...
Jessie goes oh no, you slept under the covers...naked, and I slept on top fully clothed.
The day drags, she meets freakoids, assholes, a couple nice humans but for the most part, all batshit crazy. She's rubbing her pits then sniffing, hot as hell, she's smoking inside the vehicle. Just having a great day. But she learns a lot about herself in that one afternoon.
Oh, and she has a date with Jessie E. for mexican that night.
What was wonderful was Jess and Tippi Hedren's talks. Tippi was a delight, she and Weixler meshed well.

A huge rotten turn of fate occurs but I'll let you watch it.
B++

[JasonUK]

Went to see Doctor Sleep yesterday and absolutely loved it! I enjoyed the book more than most people seem to have done but the movie takes it up to a whole other level.

The main story is true to the novel but the filmmakers have skillfully added a load of extra Shining goodness. It hits all the right notes and adds a lot of scares that aren't in King's sequel.

I've seen a few comments that it is too long at 2.5 hours but I would happily have spent even longer in the company of the delectable and devilish Rebecca Ferguson.

[Sock Monkey]

Now I think I told you I viewed Nightingale, new film from the director of The Babadook which made me an instant Essie Davis fan. Really dug that movie.
But...how shall I put this. This new films is so damned brutally misogynistic from the get-go, a film this viewer has been chomping at the bit to see that by going through the whole vile thing, fact is it could serve as a paradigm on how to serve up vomitus, large chunks of rape, rape, rape, child killings, baby head bashing against a wall cuz it bloody wouldn't shut the fook up ! as to , nearly, violently ( my hypocrisy hard at work !) take you out of a film you have been looking forward to viewing for a while, ready to hit "stop". The film looked wonderful, camera work excellent and I confess, the acting was pretty damned good and I apologize: I thought this was a 2019 flick. Came out last year. Just now discovered that fact so maybe some of you have seen this.
IMDB:
"Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past."
I gutted it out and I wish I could say it was well worth it. Well, it was worth it only to see these brutal fucks get what they deserved. Lovely, sad, last frame as Claire and Billy had become so close they developed deep love and respect for one another. C-
Frankly, I am ashamed I watched it. That is very rare for me.
There are only two films I will never view again. Now one film I am not ashamed I watched, it was brilliant, but I will never watch it again as it was so realistic and so depressing it left me in a funk for a few days and one film I watched cuz of the hype and I hope I don't burn in hell for viewing the vile, goofy sucker.
Now there are three.

Thanks for the heads up on Nightingale. I didn't know it was going to be so brutal. You're review is giving me pause as to if I want to wade into those waters. You mentioned to other movies that you regret watching. I'm curious as to what they were, if you don't mind sharing. I might have a couple of guesses...

There have been a handful of movies that I have regretted watching due to content. The first is Martyrs, which is by no means a bad film but is so relentless in its brutality that it was a rather unpleasant viewing experience. The second was Mysterious Skin, which is also a very well-crafted and well-directed film with a fantastic performance by Joseph Gordan-Levitt, but its about two teenagers dealing with being molested when they were eight. One blocks it out and believes he was abducted by aliens, the other almost romanticizes the experience. I just couldn't finish this movie. The third was Happiness, which is a VERY, VERY dark comedy that follows multiple broken people's stories, but one of those is about a pedophile. I wanted to shower after this one.

Anybody else have any of these types of movies?