What was the last movie you saw?

[alexvss]

I Saw the Devil (2010), Old Boy (2003) and The Wailing (2016).

What I call the Korean Horror Triad; three of my favorite movies of all time. They’re on my yearly watchlist, so I decided to watch them all together.

Old Boy, no more a teenager twenty years later, remains a classic that should continue to be studied and rewatched. It’s amazing how it manages to suspend your disbelief with so many absurdities.

The Wailing is a modern classic. It’s one of the saddest thrillers, and one of the most philosophical too. Its ambiguity makes you think about what actually happened, and if you would do the same as the protagonist.

I Saw the Devil is one of those Korean movies that spits on Hollywood conventions. The movie which structure resembles it the most would be Under the Silver Lake (2018). Too bad it’s awful.
The acting of the main actors is breathtaking. If this movie were released after Parasite (2019), I think one of them would have gotten an Oscar. (Actually, Choi Min-Sik has been deserving of one since 2003).
I realized now that the villain doesn’t really have a motive, but it took me five rewatches to realize that so I think it’s not that important. The movie made its point.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I loved The Handmaiden and loathed I'm a Cyborg but that's OK like I haven't loathed a film since I threw things at Takashi Miike's Visitor Q

 

[alexvss]

[REC] (2007): A reporter and her cameraman follow a team of firefighters when they receive a call from an apartment building. Too bad there’s a zombie outbreak going on in it.

Another one from my permanent rewatch list. It sparked the found footage craze from the early 2010s, and it’s the best found footage out there. It’s claustrophobic. And it really feels real. None of those actors were professional (the director specifically wanted that). Being in front of just one camera, instead of a whole movie set, probably kept them more comfortable.

I compare this to Stephen King’s The Mist: the people stuck inside are a parody of society. There are Asian immigrants that are prejudiced against, there’s the Karen, there’s the closeted gay guy living with his mom in his fifties etc.

Never have I watched its scene-by-scene American remake Quarantine (2008), but from what I researched about it, the main difference is that the remake feels scripted, the camera has good quality and gives it more of a cinema look, and there are some known actors like the girl from The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and the protagonist from Hostel (2005). In other words, it’s the opposite of the original. I’ll pass.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) dr. Michael Curtiz; starring William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette

Philo Vance solves the murder of someone everyone had reason to knock off, from other dog owners at the kennel club to the caretaker of his Chinese porcelain collection to his step-daughter and her fiance. It's a locked room mystery and the way the room is locked is old hat now, but probably not in the '30s. While a hit movie at the time, if this is what the Philo Vance novels are like, I will probably continue not reading them. Powell makes this one watchable. Seems like Turner Cable Movies has revived interest in Powell who was, at one time, about as bankable as Gable, Grant or Cooper, and that's a good thing.

Some time ago, I read all the Philo Vance mysteries available on Gutenberg.org or wherever. Very good reads. Also saw the film versions. Liked all.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Invisible Killer (1939)

Poverty Row crime film. Notable only for a gimmicky way of murdering somebody. Plot involves the typical Spunky Girl Reporter in a battle between rival gambling bosses. She's extremely spunky, too. At one point, she slugs her boyfriend (the police detective working on the case) so hard that he falls on the floor after slamming into a wall. Other than that, forgettable.

 

[therapist]

I loved The Handmaiden

I just rewatched this the other day. It's fantastic.

I also watched Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
An adaptation of a book I read earlier this week. I enjoyed the book mainly because I fell in love with the main character 'Kya'. A little girl abandoned by her family, shunned by her town, and grows up alone in the wild marshlands. I had to stop watching the movie halfway through because it was doing a massive disservice to the story. Instead of the hardened, untrusting, wild girl from the book that sleeps outside to be close to nature—her only friend. The movie portrays a fragile, pretty girl wearing clean dresses and beautiful hair, and breezes past her character development which is why the story works in the first place.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Expulsion of the Devil (Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse, "At the rendezvous of joyful death," 1973)

Slow-burning French supernatural film from the son of famed director Luis Buñuel. Family (Mom, Dad, teenage daughter, preteen son) move into an old mansion. Serious poltergeist activity occurs. A friend of the father is severely injured when large kitchen appliances go flying. Family leaves, TV crew arrives to film things. Daughter hitchhikes her way back to the place, Dad goes after her. Out of the blue, a priest and several young orphan girls show up, stating they always come to the formerly deserted place each summer. More poltergeist stuff happens, leading to tragedy and an enigmatic ending.


There are traces of the surrealism you'd expect from the director's father, mostly in the way that weird stuff is depicted in a matter-of-fact way. The daughter's reflection is different from the girl herself. A guy is suddenly covered with a huge amount of mud. Perhaps most tellingly, the daughter wishes the house were covered with ivy at the beginning of the film; by the end, a huge amount of ivy is present.

Don't expect a horror film, and you may find it interesting.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Mr. Washington Goes To Town (1941)

Said to be the first full-length comedy "race film" (movie with an all African American cast, intended for African American audiences.) Two guys in jail come across a newspaper article about a fellow named "Utica Washington" leaving the "Grand Ethiopian Hotel" as part of his estate. One of the guys (gifted comic actor Mantan Moreland, in a zillion old movies, generally as the frightened servant) happens to be named Schenectady Washington, so he dreams about inheriting the hotel and running it with his cellmate. In the dream, a couple of antagonists are after the mortgage on the hotel and some money hidden somewhere in it.

Forget the plot, which is merely an excuse for a huge number of gags, often dealing the hotel's weird guests. These include a magician who makes stuff appear out of nowhere; a "Spanish" knife-thrower, complete with thick accent; a guy with his own gorilla; a man who can make himself invisible; an extremely talkative parrot, who offers sarcastic commentary throughout; and a guy who carries his detachable head in his arms. It's all very wacky, kind of like a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby or Marx Brothers movie with no budget.

One very politically incorrect joke has the guys visit a lawyer named Goldberg (also, of course, African American) who speaks in a stereotypical "Jewish" accent.

 

[Randy M.]

Some time ago, I read all the Philo Vance mysteries available on Gutenberg.org or wherever. Very good reads. Also saw the film versions. Liked all.

I'm pretty sure I have one sitting on a shelf somewhere so there's always a chance I'll change my mind. Maybe especially since I've been going through phases of reading nothing but mysteries.

 

[KGeo777]

@alexvss - it definitely does. However, I thought the cut scene totally undermined that message in my opinion. It was one of two strange thematic contradictions.

I can't tale Gunn (or Disney co. obviously) as sincere about a compassion message because Gunn made SLITHER and one of the central "jokes" of that was a massacre of dogs and dangling their heads in the air as a joke.
It seems to me "I hate vivisection" and "severed dog heads is funny" cancels each other out.

THE DIRTY FIFTEEN 1968 - A gang of horse thieves forms a partnership with another gang of horse thieves and both end up blamed for a homesteader massacre by the local town. They must take refuge in an old fort while they are under siege by the posse.
Slow and kind of bland when you think about it but it held my attention enough. Quite a display of pyrotechnics towards the end as well-looked kind of dangerous with the actors moving through a blazing fire that surrounded them.

 

[alexvss]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (2023): Miles Morales finds out about a society of Spider-men that exists solely for the purpose of keeping all the spider-verses working smoothly (and that means all uncle Bens getting killed and such); but, after messing up a whole universe by preventing a death, the society goes after Miles.

It’s a great movie. Another multiverse done right. The animation manages to be even better than the first one: it’s like a moving comic. The voice acting is good and there are a lot of cameos and references.

The problem is that the movie is incomplete. It’s literally missing its third act. The conclusion is postponed to the next, final movie. As I was sitting in the theater, I was thinking, “This movie is taking too long. Wait, they won’t end this before the final fight, right? I hope not.” And they did. And that’s such a downer.

Oh, and this movie doesn’t feature a mid-credit or post-credit scene. So don’t waste your time and leave the theater as soon as “TO BE CONTINUED” pops up.

You’re welcome.

 

[HareBrain]

JFK (1991). Convincing.

 

[J Riff]

supposed to be post #5000..

Live play-by-play:
Valley of the Dragons 1961 B and W

Two duelists are pacing off ten steps, about to turn and fire at each other, when the sky explodes. Some kind of comet or something, creating high winds and electrical arcing, causing everyone but our two shooters to be blown away. The year is 1881, and our two MCs, after agreeing to postpone their duel, head for the city on foot. It's gone, we have tropical jungle. The stars are all wrong and there's no Moon.
They spot a Pterodactyl, then make camp for the night. Each guy's pistol has one bullet. Sure enough, a few hours later - Neanderthals attack. Our men fight them off but both guns are now useless. They move on and up next is what looks like a giant monster 'possum, which drags a snake down from a tree and chews it up.
Our guys now have a spear and an ax, dropped by the stone age men, but they won't help against the gigantic lizard, and the crocodile with a big fin stuck on it's back, who commence battling in a scene I've seen in another movie, same as the next scene, a giant spider in a cave. It's dispatched using the spear, and we move on.
This movie uses footage from a few other flicks of its era, plus it's in MonstaScope! Next, the Moon rises, but it's the Earth! a full-sized planet. Now our cast of two realize that a comet has snatched them up, just like in the Jules Verne story this movie is based on.
Then we see the obligatory volcano, followed by giant armadillos and Mastodons. A bit of scienterrific explanation of how a comet could hit the Earth and scoop up a chunk of it, every 100,000 years. Up next, the obligatory human tribe, who run off leaving a pot of stew boiling on the fire. Our MCs enter a cave and find some furs, which they make off with when the tribe starts to return to the cave. A Mastodon attacks and it batters a huge tree until our MC falls out of it, over a cliff and into a raging river. He drifts ashore and is found unconscious by ofc an attactive blonde. The tribe want to kill him but no, he belongs to the blonde and she fights off everyone and feeds him soup. He teaches her words; food, stone, bird, water, drink. They kiss as nice music plays. MC2 has been captured by a different tribe and he immediately picks up a girlfriend and beats up her boyfriend using a sling.
There's more; underwater swimming interlude; subterranean humanoid attack; finally a tribal showdown which is interrupted by the volcano going off. Many shots of cardboard boulders, lava, and giant creatures going down, quite a lot more giant lizard action, but MC1 has manufactured some gunpowder in the nick of time, and a landslide does the trick. Each MC now leads his own tribe and all is well. Happy ending.

 

[therapist]

Blackberry (2023)
A film about the creators of the Blackberry phone. We meet the two nerdy engineers trying to pitch their idea for a phone that can access the internet, they are bumbling and out of their depth when it comes to business. They team up with a very aggressive and confident businessman (Dennis Reynolds from Always Sunny) and their company becomes Blackberry. The first half of this film is brilliant, it's funny when it wants to be, and you can't help but cheer for the nerdy engineers. The second half wasn't as satisfying. It felt like, given it was a true story, they were forced down a path that wasn't neccesarily the best choice for storytelling. The bane of many non fiction stories.
It's still a very good film. Similiar in tone as 'The Social Network' but not quite as good. (Although The Social Network sets an extremely high standard)
7/10

 

[Toby Frost]

Legally Blonde (2001)

This is a comedy about a clever but slightly vapid girl who, on being dumped by her boyfriend, goes to law school to win him back. Complexities ensue. It wasn't my choice, funnily enough, but it was well-made and it did make me laugh. The legal stuff is... well, it works for the film, and overall it hasn't dated too badly. I don't know whether gay people would be amused or put out by some of the stereotypes in it, but everyone is basically a pretty affectionate caricature.

What struck me about it was that the objective of the story and the "villain" continually changed: the aim moves from getting the boyfriend back, to becoming a good lawyer, to getting work with a firm, to defeating a rival lawyer, to winning a case. It's surprisingly nuanced and mature about who the "goodies" and "baddies" are: one character, first set up as an arch-rival, becomes friendly later on just because she's not all bad, really.

Once you accept that this is a certain type of film, it's well-made and does what it sets out to do very effectively. Like Predator.

 

[CupofJoe]

Legally Blonde (2001)

This is a comedy about a clever but slightly vapid girl who, on being dumped by her boyfriend, goes to law school to win him back. Complexities ensue. It wasn't my choice, funnily enough, but it was well-made and it did make me laugh. The legal stuff is... well, it works for the film, and overall it hasn't dated too badly. I don't know whether gay people would be amused or put out by some of the stereotypes in it, but everyone is basically a pretty affectionate caricature.

What struck me about it was that the objective of the story and the "villain" continually changed: the aim moves from getting the boyfriend back, to becoming a good lawyer, to getting work with a firm, to defeating a rival lawyer, to winning a case. It's surprisingly nuanced and mature about who the "goodies" and "baddies" are: one character, first set up as an arch-rival, becomes friendly later on just because she's not all bad, really.

Once you accept that this is a certain type of film, it's well-made and does what it sets out to do very effectively. Like Predator.

[And though I hate to admit that've read it] The book is pretty goo too.
And there can't be too many reviews that link Legally Blonde and Predator...

 

[Justin Swanton]

In the SF department Sputnik. Good hard SF movie from Russia.

 

[Jeffbert]

Dial 1119 (1950) NOIR ALLEY, from a few weeks ago. Decades before the 911 became widespread, as Muller noted, this was made-up just for the film.

Gunther Wyckoff (Marshall Thompson) a mentally disturbed and violent escapee from a nut house, holds a small group at a local bar hostage, demanding Dr. John D. Faron (Sam Levene) the psychiatrist who, in saving him from the death penalty, condemned him to the mental institution, be sent in, so he can kill him for the shame of being diagnosed as unbalanced, etc.

2nd time seeing it, tense.

Especially liked the NOIR ALLEY background stuff.

 

[Jeffbert]

ERNIE PYLE'S STORY OF GI JOE (1945) Ben M introduced the film, but just a few minutes examining the wiki page suggests that there was some drama just getting the title actor released from active duty.

Ernie Pyle (Burgess Meredith; better known as the Penguin) was a war correspondent who actually went with the American troops as they were deployed on combat missions. Lt. Bill Walker (Robert Mitchum) eventually Capt., was the action hero-type, etc.

Several times Pyle by chance met the C Company of the 18th Infantry as they went from one mission to another, ending in Italy.

Interesting was their last battle of the film, in which a Religious Site atop a hill was used by the enemy, and was not to be bombed, because of its historic or whatever significance. It took orders from Eisenhower himself to authorize bombing, saying the troops were more important than the site. But, it did take several days to reach that decision.

Actual soldiers who had been deployed to Italy were in the cast, according to the Wiki page. Very unusual story of the film itself.

 

[KGeo777]

DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE - 1975 - Ruined by stupid comedy inserts imposed by the studio but I wonder if the original conception would have worked. George Pal had not done any action hero films from what I recall--the Time Machine had some action but not that much--and despite the excellent casting, Ron Ely has little physical stunts to do--especially when they get to the Latin American setting. Basically they just sit around and talk. It feels antiquated--like a low budget 1950s film script dusted off for filming in the 70s. It needed more of a James Bond action element and I wonder if Pal or the director would have even considered that. Without better stunts and visuals I think it would have done mediocre box office.