Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[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.

[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]

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.

[JJ123]

I believe the horror movie with the barn fire is The Other which is based on the book written by Tom Tyron.

Thank you, I checked out the info on that, and you appear to be correct. Very much appreciate it...

[neconman]

I believe the horror movie with the barn fire is The Other which is based on the book written by Tom Tyron.

[JJ123]

Sounds like the first move you're looking for might be Dead Silence from 1991: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101674/?ref_=tt_urv

That's it!  Thank you very much, trying to find it bugged me from time to time when I would think about it. I suppose the title isn't an informative one (I presume one of the characters may have said at one point something like, there must be dead silence on what we did), and that may have impacted my efforts. Anyway, thanks again... 

[Sock Monkey]

I've recently watched, and enjoyed, two films from the 1970s...always fun to delve into that particular film-stock era. For the first time, I watched Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, with Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, and The Long Good-Bye with Elliot Gould. Enjoyed both of them; the former perhaps a bit more, as Good-Bye, while extremely cool and entertaining (I liked it a lot, and as always, Gould tends to deliver, whether hosting an old Saturday Night episode or what have you - you've got to love that Star Trek sketch), was actually a different, almost weird film in some ways (forgive me, too tired tonight to write a whole essay about that aspect; those who have seen it will perhaps know what I mean; and besides, I have a bit of other writing now to do).

Now, I wanted to see if anyone could help me identify a few films that have popped into my mind recently.

The first I'm thinking of was, I believe, perhaps a television movie, and for some reason I think it was on the Fox Network in the early 1990s. The basic gist is this: it's sort-of like the I Know What You Did Last Summer set-up: a car drives over a homeless person in Las Vegas (I have no idea if that is right; trust none of these details, although they are all I have to go on) and the driver wants to report it, but her friend, who wants to go to law school, begs her not to, and to convince her, says it will ruin her hope to become an on-air broadcast reporter. The driver relents, although is guilty about it throughout. The law-student concocts a scheme to bury the guy and cover everything up. I remember one scene in particular where she needs to get the receipt and paperwork from the body shop that is replacing the windshield, because I guess as a law student she realized that something like that would have to be reported to the police. You know what happens next...the police find the body and things start to close in on the friends in the car. I think the driver eventually did become an on-air reporter and actually had to cover the revelation of the body. At the end, and I have to say, this ending got me so aggravated, because the law student I think did become a lawyer, and when things started really getting tight around them, was able to negotiate an immunity deal with the prosecutor's office...she told her friend something like "they just want the driver," with a pained expression meant to show empathy but just made her look like a conniving jerk. For some reason, I thought an actress from the series Eight is Enough was in this, thought she was the lawyer-jerk, but it does not seem to be on her IMDB page. Anyway...anyone else see this obscure entry?

The next one I only recall as a commercial, I never saw it. All I can recall is, it seemed to be a kids' film, Disney-like, live-action, although probably not from Disney...just the sort-of fast-paced, cartoonish type of movie that probably didn't do much at the box office and most people would see via rented VHS tape in a clamshell from a mom/pop store (remember those days?). Here's all I remember: I think a kid had a large spider in a jar and placed it on another kid's chest while the latter was lying in bed. I assume to freak the kid out. That's it, that's all I recall. I think it was a comedy, not horror or anything like that. If you can say what this one is, assuming this is not a phantom memory on my part, you win some sort of prize, whatever that would be.

The last one is indeed horror, and I never saw it all. It came on one evening many, many years ago, on the local independent UHF broadcast station, and I came in the middle of it. It had something to do with twins, and I am not sure if it was supernatural or not, or if what was happening was all a ruse. All I can say is some older woman in it tells one of the twins that he needs to play the game. Just play the game, for some reason. And I think at the end, there was a barn, and something to do with wine barrels, and maybe a fire. Maybe one of the twins did it but he faked his death or something, and that had something to do with the game. That's about all I recall.

Okay, anyway, those are the clues. Not a big deal if I never get the names, really more curious than anything else. (And I don't think I could watch that first one again anyway...what a jerk that girl was at the end!) (I should also mention that sometimes I get a deja-vu feeling on discussion boards, since I bounce around between a few of them...I hope I have not posted this query before, feels as if I have, and if I have, then my apologies for repeating myself...am getting older, I have to say)

Sounds like the first move you're looking for might be Dead Silence from 1991: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101674/?ref_=tt_urv

[JJ123]

I've recently watched, and enjoyed, two films from the 1970s...always fun to delve into that particular film-stock era. For the first time, I watched Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, with Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, and The Long Good-Bye with Elliot Gould. Enjoyed both of them; the former perhaps a bit more, as Good-Bye, while extremely cool and entertaining (I liked it a lot, and as always, Gould tends to deliver, whether hosting an old Saturday Night episode or what have you - you've got to love that Star Trek sketch), was actually a different, almost weird film in some ways (forgive me, too tired tonight to write a whole essay about that aspect; those who have seen it will perhaps know what I mean; and besides, I have a bit of other writing now to do).

Now, I wanted to see if anyone could help me identify a few films that have popped into my mind recently.

The first I'm thinking of was, I believe, perhaps a television movie, and for some reason I think it was on the Fox Network in the early 1990s. The basic gist is this: it's sort-of like the I Know What You Did Last Summer set-up: a car drives over a homeless person in Las Vegas (I have no idea if that is right; trust none of these details, although they are all I have to go on) and the driver wants to report it, but her friend, who wants to go to law school, begs her not to, and to convince her, says it will ruin her hope to become an on-air broadcast reporter. The driver relents, although is guilty about it throughout. The law-student concocts a scheme to bury the guy and cover everything up. I remember one scene in particular where she needs to get the receipt and paperwork from the body shop that is replacing the windshield, because I guess as a law student she realized that something like that would have to be reported to the police. You know what happens next...the police find the body and things start to close in on the friends in the car. I think the driver eventually did become an on-air reporter and actually had to cover the revelation of the body. At the end, and I have to say, this ending got me so aggravated, because the law student I think did become a lawyer, and when things started really getting tight around them, was able to negotiate an immunity deal with the prosecutor's office...she told her friend something like "they just want the driver," with a pained expression meant to show empathy but just made her look like a conniving jerk. For some reason, I thought an actress from the series Eight is Enough was in this, thought she was the lawyer-jerk, but it does not seem to be on her IMDB page. Anyway...anyone else see this obscure entry?

The next one I only recall as a commercial, I never saw it. All I can recall is, it seemed to be a kids' film, Disney-like, live-action, although probably not from Disney...just the sort-of fast-paced, cartoonish type of movie that probably didn't do much at the box office and most people would see via rented VHS tape in a clamshell from a mom/pop store (remember those days?). Here's all I remember: I think a kid had a large spider in a jar and placed it on another kid's chest while the latter was lying in bed. I assume to freak the kid out. That's it, that's all I recall. I think it was a comedy, not horror or anything like that. If you can say what this one is, assuming this is not a phantom memory on my part, you win some sort of prize, whatever that would be.

The last one is indeed horror, and I never saw it all. It came on one evening many, many years ago, on the local independent UHF broadcast station, and I came in the middle of it. It had something to do with twins, and I am not sure if it was supernatural or not, or if what was happening was all a ruse. All I can say is some older woman in it tells one of the twins that he needs to play the game. Just play the game, for some reason. And I think at the end, there was a barn, and something to do with wine barrels, and maybe a fire. Maybe one of the twins did it but he faked his death or something, and that had something to do with the game. That's about all I recall.

Okay, anyway, those are the clues. Not a big deal if I never get the names, really more curious than anything else. (And I don't think I could watch that first one again anyway...what a jerk that girl was at the end!) (I should also mention that sometimes I get a deja-vu feeling on discussion boards, since I bounce around between a few of them...I hope I have not posted this query before, feels as if I have, and if I have, then my apologies for repeating myself...am getting older, I have to say)

[Ben Staad]

I can agree with that. It would have been better trimmed way done. I liked the weirdness of thing.

I loved it at first, but then it just went on, and on, and on.......They could have trimmed an hour off of it and not lost anything.

[dannyboy121070]

Mandy is divisive, for sure. It wasn't for me, but I can see why people would like it. Just not my bag.

I loved it at first, but then it just went on, and on, and on.......They could have trimmed an hour off of it and not lost anything.

[Sock Monkey]

Mandy is divisive, for sure. It wasn't for me, but I can see why people would like it. Just not my bag.

[dannyboy121070]

I'm trying to work but have become engrossed in this movie called Mandy. It is very trippy and I have no idea what is going on but it sure is distracting in a good way. Can't rate this one now and may not be able to rate this later. LOL!

Oh, God...I hated that movie. Glad you're enjoying it more than I did, lol.

[Ben Staad]

I'm trying to work but have become engrossed in this movie called Mandy. It is very trippy and I have no idea what is going on but it sure is distracting in a good way. Can't rate this one now and may not be able to rate this later. LOL!

[brlesh]

Saw 65 the other night, the Adam Driver dinosaur / sci-fi pic.

It was OK. 90 minutes of mindless entertainment that I won’t remember having seen in a month.

3 / 5

B

[Sock Monkey]

Very good point about the definition of a cult film. I suppose there are times when a film can be both of the cult variety and self-conscious, but I would agree, the vast majority of the time those two states cannot coexist.

Someone mentioned the second and third Omen films. I enjoyed both and find some of the deaths in them truly terrifying. I also like that scene in the classroom where Damien gets his teacher in a loop of question/answer.

I just watched Journey to the Seventh Planet. That used to come on my local Creature Double Feature show on Saturday afternoons. At least, pretty sure it did, not sure if that was on the nighttime version which was only one movie called Creature Feature.ÂÂÂÂÂ

I can't recall literally sitting through it as a kid all the way through, but perhaps I did because I remembered that some of the spider footage from The Spider (or Earth vs. The Spider)ÂÂ would be coming up, and I remember thinking how odd it was that was in it. I also could have sworn that some footage from The Angry Red Planet was in it too, specifically the blob sequence, but I guess it wasn't (Red Planet always scared me as a kid, and even now to some extent...that blob-thing trapping that astronaut...yikes!).

I enjoyed Seventh Planet, it was on Comet TV. I had recorded it from a few days ago. I read up on the movie, and apparently it isn't highly-rated. I get that, but I don't know, this seemed sort-of clever in its presentation of ideas, and heck, it was playing in the same sandbox as Ray Bradbury (some other work I was unfamiliar with, I think called Solaris, was also mentioned as a possible influence). I don't think you can lump this in with typical low-budget B stuff from that time. I loved the nostalgic look of the film (well, nostalgic today, back then, probably not so much), especially the graphics of space...made me think of those great science-fiction paperback covers, you know the ones I mean, I'm sure. But for those who may pass on this one, I would totally understand.

Huh. I've never heard of Journey to the Seventh Planet. I'll keep an eye out for it. Sometimes these low budget films really hit the spot even if they aren't objectively great films.