Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[JJ123]

Decided to rewatch Raiders of the Lost Ark the other day. (And, yes, it will always in my mind be sans the newly added "Indiana Jones and the..." prefix. Just like Star Wars will always just be Star Wars to me and not Episode IV: A New Hope. At least that one I understand a little. It does help clarify what one is talking about.) Anyways, I hadn't seen the film in probably twenty-plus years and I still enjoyed it quite a bit. As a kid I always thought the movie was longer than it actually was and I still got that feeling watching it this time. It's just under two hours yet it feels much longer. I also enjoyed Karen Allen's Marion a lot more than I remembered. For some reason, I never found her appealing when I had watched it in my youth, but now I really enjoyed what her dynamic with Ford's Indy brought to the movie. Yes, the special effects are dated, but, dear lord, I miss practical effects. And the movie is so much more violent than expected for a PG film. Of course this was three years before the creation of the PG-13 rating and it's not like it's something I normally get stuck on, but I was surprised with just how many rather bloody deaths there in the film. Overall, such a fun film.

We plan on going through the rest of the series, which should be fun since I don't think I've ever seen Temple of Doom all the way through. I have seen Last Crusade a bunch of times and remember it fondly. Never caught Crystal Skull and, from what I hear, I'm not missing too much. Nevertheless, we'll plow our way through the rest of them and see where the chips fall.

Have you seen Destiny yet? I have not, and really want to...alas, I am one of those individuals who is still nervous about the SARS virus. And I don't have the cash to rent out an entire theater auditorium, even if the exhibitors are still doing that. Still, I may muster up the courage to see it in August when I assume hardly anyone will be seeing it (of course, it'll move to a smaller auditorium with less screening times, which will maximize the crowd; I may not be able to win this, but I so much wanted to see the last one in the theater).

Raiders truly impacted me when I first saw it as a youth. Definitely more than Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back was about the equal of Raiders, I remember liking that one way more intensely than Wars; it was the Hoth sequence with the probot and the AT-ATs that really powered my imagination). I think the velocity of the film was part of it, but one thing that stands out was the prologue...that was just an incredible short film in itself, back then and today. So many cool moving images...when he gets handed the pieces of the map and then has to bulllwhip the gun out of that villain's hand, brushing the spiders off with casual ease, putting his hand up in the light (that continues to confuse me), having to imitate the weight of the idol (didn't understand what that meant at the time, why he was putting a bag of sand on the platform), the rolling boulder...like you say, practical effects are great.

I think Marion too was probably underrated at the time, but the only scene that might be a bit off for me is the drinking contest...it captures the character perfectly and thus serves as an efficient introduction, but it is a little plot-slowing. It is a great movie, I probably don't feel exactly like I did when I first watched it (for some reason, Crusade holds up slightly better), but I too have to rewatch this, haven't in a while (one scene that always holds up: the opening of the Ark). I agree, by the way, on the nomenclature...never understood it, to be honest. I guess there could be statistical-spreadsheet proof that it improves sales to do that, and if it does, hey, then I get it...but, I don't like it, and find it hard to believe (but I could be wrong, I don't have the data).

Out of curiosity, did you watch it on a service (I think Paramount+ has it right now?) or VHS, DVD, Blu-ray?

[Sock Monkey]

Have you seen Destiny yet? I have not, and really want to...alas, I am one of those individuals who is still nervous about the SARS virus. And I don't have the cash to rent out an entire theater auditorium, even if the exhibitors are still doing that. Still, I may muster up the courage to see it in August when I assume hardly anyone will be seeing it (of course, it'll move to a smaller auditorium with less screening times, which will maximize the crowd; I may not be able to win this, but I so much wanted to see the last one in the theater).

Raiders truly impacted me when I first saw it as a youth. Definitely more than Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back was about the equal of Raiders, I remember liking that one way more intensely than Wars; it was the Hoth sequence with the probot and the AT-ATs that really powered my imagination). I think the velocity of the film was part of it, but one thing that stands out was the prologue...that was just an incredible short film in itself, back then and today. So many cool moving images...when he gets handed the pieces of the map and then has to bulllwhip the gun out of that villain's hand, brushing the spiders off with casual ease, putting his hand up in the light (that continues to confuse me), having to imitate the weight of the idol (didn't understand what that meant at the time, why he was putting a bag of sand on the platform), the rolling boulder...like you say, practical effects are great.

I think Marion too was probably underrated at the time, but the only scene that might be a bit off for me is the drinking contest...it captures the character perfectly and thus serves as an efficient introduction, but it is a little plot-slowing. It is a great movie, I probably don't feel exactly like I did when I first watched it (for some reason, Crusade holds up slightly better), but I too have to rewatch this, haven't in a while (one scene that always holds up: the opening of the Ark). I agree, by the way, on the nomenclature...never understood it, to be honest. I guess there could be statistical-spreadsheet proof that it improves sales to do that, and if it does, hey, then I get it...but, I don't like it, and find it hard to believe (but I could be wrong, I don't have the data).

Out of curiosity, did you watch it on a service (I think Paramount+ has it right now?) or VHS, DVD, Blu-ray?

I have not seen Destiny yet and will probably wait until it comes out Bluray. I'm not a huge fan of movie theaters, mostly because, well, audiences have becoming more and more inconsiderate. In my opinion, if movie theaters want to increase attendance, they need to stop focusing on things like reclining seats and whatnot and focus on eliminating rude and distracting behavior by movie-goers.

As for Raiders, I watched it on Disney+. I'm typically a physical media guy, but it was just a lazy weekend and the wife and I were scrolling.

[Ben Staad]

I thought I saw it commented on here but I can't find the post. Anywho...Watched HellHole on Netflix. I would give this one a solid 4 out of 5. Nothing groundbreaking here but, IMO, this one was well done. I enjoyed every moment of it.

[brlesh]

Saw Oppenheimer a few weeks ago.

Great movie, especially for anyone interested in WW II history.

Christopher Nolan proves again that he is one of the best directors of our time with a three hour dialogue driven historical biop that never was boring.

Need to see it again, as I spent too much time trying to digest a previous scene and not paying full attention to the scene that was currently on screen.

Needless to say, but my WW II history knowledge is on the low side!

B

[brlesh]

Saw The Last Voyage of the Demeter the other night.

I thought The Last Voyage was pretty good.

The Last Voyage expands on the story from the original Dracula novel of the Demeter, a Russian frigate that landed on the shores of Whitby, England, crewless, other than the dead captain, who was found lashed to the wheel.

The effects were good, the acting for the most part was good, though the story line of the female character felt forced.

The Dracula character in LV was portrayed as much more animalistic / creature-like than Dracula is usually portrayed, though I have to say it worked for this movie.

Not a great movie, but not a bad way to spend two hours either, especially for fans of the source material.

B

[Sock Monkey]

In the midst of Day 3 of four at Fantastic Fest and just finished watching Saw X. If you’re a Saw fan then you’ll probably lije this one. I’ll post a more detailed review after the festival and my vacation wraps up.

[Ben Staad]

Very cool. Hope you had a great time.

In the midst of Day 3 of four at Fantastic Fest and just finished watching Saw X. If you’re a Saw fan then you’ll probably lije this one. I’ll post a more detailed review after the festival and my vacation wraps up.

[Ben Staad]

I watched 7500 on some free app this weekend. This was an action/thriller regarding an attempted plane hijacking. Intense, brutal, and done very well. Tied my stomach into knots at several moments and I really reacted to the film. 4 out of 5 stars.

[brlesh]

Saw When Evil Lurks the other night.

Damn, talk about a movie that doesn’t hold back.

Filmed in Argentina (subtitled), it’s about two brothers that find out that a demon (a rotten) is trying to manifest in their small town, and then doing everything possible wrong to prevent that manifestation.

The last time I left a theater with similar feelings about a movie was with Hereditary, though WEL didn’t have the bloated feeling I felt at times with Hereditary.

From the first scene to the last, every scene propels the story line forward.

No bloat in this film, as it’s 100 minute run time flies by!

Highly recommended if you are looking for a horror movie on the disturbing end of the spectrum.

B

[Ben Staad]

Sounds cool. I hadn't heard of that one. My local theater isn't very robust with it's selections.

Saw When Evil Lurks the other night.

Damn, talk about a movie that doesn’t hold back.

Filmed in Argentina (subtitled), it’s about two brothers that find out that a demon (a rotten) is trying to manifest in their small town, and then doing everything possible wrong to prevent that manifestation.

The last time I left a theater with similar feelings about a movie was with Hereditary, though WEL didn’t have the bloated feeling I felt at times with Hereditary.

From the first scene to the last, every scene propels the story line forward.

No bloat in this film, as it’s 100 minute run time flies by!

Highly recommended if you are looking for a horror movie on the disturbing end of the spectrum.

B

[Sock Monkey]

Saw When Evil Lurks the other night.

Damn, talk about a movie that doesn’t hold back.

Filmed in Argentina (subtitled), it’s about two brothers that find out that a demon (a rotten) is trying to manifest in their small town, and then doing everything possible wrong to prevent that manifestation.

The last time I left a theater with similar feelings about a movie was with Hereditary, though WEL didn’t have the bloated feeling I felt at times with Hereditary.

From the first scene to the last, every scene propels the story line forward.

No bloat in this film, as it’s 100 minute run time flies by!

Highly recommended if you are looking for a horror movie on the disturbing end of the spectrum.

B

I caught this one at Fantastic Fest a few weeks back and I agree that no punches are pulled in this flick. There's that scene--I mean, THE scene--that literally sent a jump and a gasp through a theater full of pretty hardened horror fans. Though liked the movie overall, I did have a few small quibbles with the movie, but I'll wait until I post my review when I finally get around to doing all of them from the festival.

I do agree with you in that I would absolutely recommend the film for horror fans. My minor quibbles aside, I was engaged all the way through.

[Sock Monkey]

Sounds cool. I hadn't heard of that one. My local theater isn't very robust with it's selections.

I believe it's going to start streaming on Shudder beginning October 27th. If you haven't checked out the director's previous movie TERRIFIED, I enjoyed that one quite a bit as well.

[brlesh]

I caught this one at Fantastic Fest a few weeks back and I agree that no punches are pulled in this flick. There's that scene--I mean, THE scene--that literally sent a jump and a gasp through a theater full of pretty hardened horror fans. Though liked the movie overall, I did have a few small quibbles with the movie, but I'll wait until I post my review when I finally get around to doing all of them from the festival.

I do agree with you in that I would absolutely recommend the film for horror fans. My minor quibbles aside, I was engaged all the way through.

Yeah, I left the theater thinking ‘damn, I need to see that again’.
 Certainly some things that didn’t line up.
But all in all, it’s been a long time since I’ve left a movie theater with this kind of visceral reaction to a horror movie.
B

[brlesh]

Sounds cool. I hadn't heard of that one. My local theater isn't very robust with it's selections.

Same here.  
I don’t know if it’s due to the Hollywood strikes, but my movie theater rarely runs these indie, foreign horror movies.
When I saw this was playing I jumped on it, as it was in & out in less than a week.
B

 

[Ben Staad]

Fantastic. I will keep an eye out for it. Looking forward to tracking this down and watching it.