Rate the Last Film you Watched

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

Because the film club film is The King of Comedy this month, I've been thinking about all of the Scorsese/DeNiro films.  Here's my personal ranking.

1. The King of Comedy 10/10

2. Raging Bull 10/10

3. Taxi Driver 10/10

4. Goodfellas 10/10

5. Mean Streets 9/10

6. Casino 9/10

7. New York, New York 8/10

8. The Irishman 8/10

9. Cape Fear 7/10

[DavidCore89 7,404]

Goodfellas, best movie there ever will be.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

1 minute ago, DavidCore89 said:

Goodfellas, best movie there ever will be.

It's up there dude, a definite 10 from me.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

1 hour ago, Con said:

Hey @LimeGreenLegend...I was thinking...how do you feel about a Film Club Extra this month featuring Pandemic films? You know so we can feel warm and fuzzy about the Corona Virus?

Hmm good idea.  Can you think of any, I only got 12 Monkeys in mind right now.

[Con 5,727]

1 minute ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

Hmm good idea.  Can you think of any, I only got 12 Monkeys in mind right now.

Outbreak, Quarantine, Infected, Infection,  World War Z, 28 Days Later, Contagion, Patient Zero, and The Andromeda Strain 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

 

18 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

Because the film club film is The King of Comedy this month, I've been thinking about all of the Scorsese/DeNiro films.  Here's my personal ranking.

1. The King of Comedy 10/10

2. Raging Bull 10/10

3. Taxi Driver 10/10

4. Goodfellas 10/10

5. Mean Streets 9/10

6. Casino 9/10

7. New York, New York 8/10

8. The Irishman 8/10

9. Cape Fear 7/10

See, I am not a fan of scorcese... Not even close. His movies are tedious, usually!

And that is a conclusion I just came to, after watching his filmography!

He is, probably, the director that has made me feel like I wasted my time the most!

And I actually watched at least 16 of his 26 movies...

I never watched King of Comedy, so it will make it 17/26, but my hopes are very low for this one... 😛

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

@Con you wanna put 28 Days Later, Outbreak, Contagion, The Andromeda Strain, 12 Monkeys and The Omega Man on the wheel and spin it?  I think six is enough and all of these are good to great films.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

You always break my heart @Spinnaker1981.  First you gave Sacred Deer a 1/10 and now you say you don't like Scorsese. 😞 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

Just now, LimeGreenLegend said:

You always break my heart @Spinnaker1981.  First you gave Sacred Deer a 1/10 and now you say you don't like Scorsese. 😞 

I am just sad I don´t have your gift of writing to explain in detail why I haven´t enjoyed Sacred Deer (and, has time goes by, I am almost at a point of saying that it is one of my least favourite movies of all times), and why I feel like I am wasting my time when watching Scorsese...

But it is the feeling I get from all his movies....  its like he just makes them twice as long as they need to be to tell a story that is not really that good in itself...

The Aviator and Wolf of Wall Street are probably the ones that make me feel that way the most, but it is transversal to all the movies I have seen by him...

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

I'll be writing a lot for my King of Comedy review, so I'll tell you why I think Scorsese is the greatest filmmaker ever there @Spinnaker1981 🙂 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

7 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

@Con you wanna put 28 Days Later, Outbreak, Contagion, The Andromeda Strain, 12 Monkeys and The Omega Man on the wheel and spin it?  I think six is enough and all of these are good to great films.

Put Contagion twice... it is probably one of the best movie of the kind ever made. 12 monkeys and Andromeda strain are a bit far fetched for this corona situation.

[Spinnaker1981 974]

3 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

I'll be writing a lot for my King of Comedy review, so I'll tell you why I think Scorsese is the greatest filmmaker ever there @Spinnaker1981 🙂 

 

I bet you will. But I still feel I wasted my time on the other 16 though....

 

And Taxi driver 10/10??? really? I can´t, for the life of me, see why that movie gets so good reviews... Probably the most overrated movie of all times!

Edited March 5, 2020 by Spinnaker1981

[Spinnaker1981 974]

6 minutes ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

 

I bet you will. But I still feel I wasted my time on the other 16 though....

 

And Taxi driver 10/10??? really? I can´t, for the life of me, see why that movie gets so good reviews... Probably the most overrated movie of all times!

 

Ok, I just realized he is not the one that made lose my time the most. That award easily goes to Tarantino. He is a close second, though...

Edited March 5, 2020 by Spinnaker1981

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

Christine 6/10

Despite suffering from age I enjoyed this more than I expected. Not read the book so I don’t know how it compares but I would guess a lot is lost I translation.

[JustHatched 12,123]

1 hour ago, JuniorChubb said:

Christine 6/10

Despite suffering from age I enjoyed this more than I expected. Not read the book so I don’t know how it compares but I would guess a lot is lost I translation.

Books vs movies

 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

1 hour ago, JuniorChubb said:

Christine 6/10

Despite suffering from age I enjoyed this more than I expected. Not read the book so I don’t know how it compares but I would guess a lot is lost I translation.

Read the book... it is much better... It is so good somebody went to the trouble of making a movie out of it!! Right @JustHatched? 

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

58 minutes ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

Read the book... it is much better... It is so good somebody went to the trouble of making a movie out of it!! Right @JustHatched? 

It felt like there was a lot that was not explained, I was just left thinking 'I bet the book explains that' through most of the film.

[djw180 7,026]

Downton Abbey

Based on what I know about the films most people here like I think the best way to summarize this is, it's not as bad as you think, it's worse! Even if you were interested in this sort of thing, which I want to point I was not, I think you'd be disappointed. My wife, who's choice of film this was, said it never should have been made and just been a Xmas special on TV instead.

The plot is awful. First of all it tries to cram in too many side-storys that there isn't enough time to explore properly. But the main plot line is just pathetic. The whole idea of the film is the King and Queen are visiting Downton Abbey and the servants are going weak at the knees at the prospect of serving royalty, only to be bitterly disappointed when it turns out the King and Queen bring their own butlers, maids, waiters, cooks etc with them. Are we seriously supposed to believe a senior member of the aristocracy and his staff don't know that already? Julian Fellows, who has written some good stuff, ought to be ashamed of this rubbish, as should the likes of Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville for agreeing to appear in it.

 

2/10

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

Well you spoilt that for me @djw180, was really looking forward to it 😉

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

Apostle

dir. Gareth Evans 

Directed by Gareth Evans (The Raid), Apostle is a horror film starring Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, Beauty and the Beast) as a man whose sister has been kidnapped by a cult who live isolated from the world on an island.  This community is led by Prophet Malcolm, played my Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Damned United) who gives the best performance in the film.  He starts out as this imposing figure, preaching wit fire and brimstone in a thick Welsh accent, but he really evolves over the course of the film into a much more complicated figure.  Stevens is also great as the outsider trying to figure out what's going on with this cult, he has this look about him like he's not slept for a month which adds to his ever more frantic performance.  

The direction is also really good, this is a gorgeous looking film set in a gorgeous location, but he always keeps a sense of foreboding and paranoia in the way he obscures things behind curtains or out of focus in the back of the shot.  The one weakness for me is the story.  It starts off really well, very Wicker Man, but more and more supernatural elements get added which I think detracts from the actual horror.  To me this film would be much scarier if they weren't there and the full focus was on the human conflict.  

I still enjoyed watching it though, and it has some real nice gruesome scenes that creeped me out, as well as a captivating performance from Sheen 7/10

 

=====================================

20 Feet from Stardom

dir. Morgan Neville

20 Feet from Stardom is an Oscar winning documentary from Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor?) about the backing singers for legendary artists like James Brown, David Bowie and Stevie Wonder.  I thought this was a great documentary, even though after watching Apollo 11 it does feel a little by-the-numbers.  We really get to know these amazing artists like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Lisa Fischer, feeling their joy and love for singing, and their happiness about the amazing songs they've sung on.  But there's also a bittersweet taste to the film as they also talk about how hard it is to make it to the front of the stage, and they've all had failed solo careers, which seems unfair as they are all incredible singers.

Obviously, the music for this film is fantastic.  I had to keep pausing it because I wanted to listen to the full songs they were featuring, I probably added another hour to the run time doing that 😄 As well as all of the backing singers, we also hear from stars like Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Sting, who all have huge respect for these artists, and after realising how much they added to their songs you'll have the same respect.  8/10

 

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

The VVitch: A New England Folktale

dir. Robert Eggers

The Witch is the debut film from Robert Eggers, director of my favourite film from last year, The Lighthouse.  It is a period horror film, set in 1630, about a family who have been banished from their village and set up a farm next to a wood.  Early on the infant son of the family goes missing, and they parents suspect witchcraft.  What follows is a terrifying descent into religious fervour and desperation as the family starts to fall apart.  The performances of the entire family are brilliant, even the three child actors.  The highlights are the father, played by Ralph Ineson and the daughter, played by Ana Taylor-Joy.

The direction of this film is incredible.  Even though it's his first film, Eggers has an inventive eye and a great sense for world building and tension building.  He imbues the whole film with a dread of what's hiding in the woods, and what that fear does to the family.  Even though this is less gory than Apostle I found this to be scarier, particularly the scene after the boy of the family returns after he goes missing.  The ending is shocking and strangely beautiful, just like The Lighthouse.  In fact, this film and The Lighthouse share a lot of similarities, but in that it's nautical myth as the driving force behind the madness, here it's fear of god.

The script is gorgeously written in period language, like The Lighthouse, and is incredibly poetic.  I like The Lighthouse more, but this is a stunning debut from one of my favourite new filmmakers 9/10

 

 

[Con 5,727]

1 hour ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

The script is gorgeously written in period language, like The Lighthouse, and is incredibly poetic.  I like The Lighthouse more, but this is a stunning debut from one of my favourite new filmmakers 9/10

Fully agree. I thought the payoff at the end was brilliant. Go back and read my review now that you've seen it. Page 13. Sadly the spoiler part didnt transfer but basically it was saying how before that film I never thought to ask, How did women become Witches back then, when they knew death was the penalty if discovered. What would drive a woman to witchcraft? This film answered that most brilliantly.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

The Greasy Strangler

dir. Jim Hosking

The Greasy Strangler is the first film from Jim Hosking and is about Big Ronnie and his big d*ck and his son Big Brayden and his baby d*ck.  Big Ronnie loves grease, he needs it to lubricate the world.  He needs it on his food to lubricate his throat.  There's also a serial killer in town, the Greasy Strangler.  Brayden soon starts to suspect that his dad may be the killer.  There is also a love triangle between Ronnie, Brayden and Janet, a customer from their walking disco tour.  

This is an insane and very divisive film, one that you're either going to love or hate.  The performances are all very stylised, the script is totally idiosyncratic with lines like "ah, of course, potato...potato crisp," and "I'd rather be here with you than in New Orleans with John Travolta."  It has a distinct colour palette and the soundtrack is great, like a deranged kid's show theme.

I don't really want to say much more about this, it's a film you need to see to really judge it.  At face value it seems like a gross, quirky comedy for the sake of being gross and quirky, but there is a great father/son relationship at the heart of the film that actually gets tender near the end.  It's sinister, surreal and beautifully strange.  This would be a great double bill with Swiss Army Man.  I'd love to hear your opinion on both of these films @Con

I give it a greasy 9/10 

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,303]

I Vitelloni (The Layabouts)

dir. Federico Fellini 

I Vitelloni is an Italian drama/comedy by Federico Fellini, who would be celebrating his 100th birthday this year, hence my cinemas Fellini season this month.  It is a film about a group of friends who spend their time shooting pool, joking around and generally doing nothing.  The leader of the group, Fausto (Franco Fabrizi) knocks up his friend, Moraldo's (Franco Interlenghi) sister Sandra (Leonora Ruffo).  Fausto's father forces him to marry her, but he is still chasing the ladies, including the wife of his new boss.  Meanwhile, Alberto (Alberto Sordi) is heartbroken by his sister's affair with a married man, and Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), an aspiring playwrite, is uplifted by the attention of an eccentric old actor.

This is a film about responsibility and the strange years between youth and adulthood.  Fausto's indecision between being a father and a husband, and still playing the games of his youth, is the central thread that holds this film together.  It doesn't feel like it has a plot, rather that we're just observing these people's lives; one event doesn't necessarily lead to another, just like reality.

The direction is fantastic, despite this only being Fellini's second film.  He shoots this quiet, almost run-down town with a loving eye that makes it feel nostalgic.  One of the character's says "we always talk about leaving," but you can hear the hesitation in his voice about leaving the safe familiarity of home and this is reflected in the direction, it looks like a place that would be comfortable and hard to leave.  This is also a very funny film, the group of friends joke and tease each-other in a believable way that feels like they've all been friends since childhood.  This, being the first Fellini I've seen, was a fantastic introduction to one of cinema's most influential director's (Kubrick, at one time, named this as his favourite film) 8/10

 

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

Just finished watching it just now and my first reaction is : "That's it ?" 

The weakest entry in Tarantino's filmography IMO. It is indeed a real love letter to the golden age of Hollywood and it was good at that but there is no scenario in this movie. I just felt that nothing happened except for the last 15 minutes. 

Best part of the whole movie is Brad Pitt. He is excellent and deserves all the prizes he got this winter. Leo is also very good as usual. Loved him when he gets mad, he was a lot of fun. The rest of the cast is mostly forgettable. I still wonder why Margot Robbie was in it. I'm a bit harsh, I know she was here to set up the last 15 minutes but that's very weak IMO. 

For the entire movie I was expecting to see the LaBianca murders. The whole movie was setting this up with Brad ending up at Charles Manson's ranch, Sharon Tate living her life in cielo Drive... But in the end, the Manson's cultist go to Leo's house and they get f*cked in 10 minutes by Brad and his dog and tha's it. 

I get that Quentin wanted the surprise but all I felt was disappointment because that was not the ending I expected and what he gave me wasn't even satisfying. 

Also where's the violence ? I mean apart for the last 10 minutes ? That's what I've come to expect from QT. Over the top violence and that's why I love his movies. Granted there was no violence in Jacky Brown but the rest of the movie is so good that there is no need for it. Top notch scenario and acting and music so I couldn't care less about the gore and the violence. 

But here, there's nothing balancing the lack of blood. The music is cool. And that's about it. Oh the cars were beautiful too ! 

That's it. Disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high before watching it. Maybe it gets better with a second viewing ? 

Right now, it's just a smal 5/10.