RodeoSchro said:

^Your synopsis is so beautifully written that I'm almost ashamed I still consider "Animal House" as the height of cinematic achievement.

thanks!

somehow i've made to 48 (in two weeks, anyway) without ever seeing animal house. seems impossible, but i guess i was just a little too young for it when it came out, and amazingly i never rented it or caught it on tv during my teen or university days.

and, if you ask me on any given day for my top movie, odds are i'll probably say beyond the valley of the dolls, so i don't think i have much leverage over anyone here.

[Edited 10/10/17 20:44pm]

sexton said:

damosuzuki said:

nice. i watched breathless last night for the first time as part of my sight and sound long distance marathon, and i absolutely loved it. i haven't looked into what influenced godard in making that movie, but it felt very much like it might be a beat-influenced film to me with its jazz soundtrack and loose, casually irresponsible hero. and it felt like it might be one of the key touchstone films in influencing the feel of modern movies. an easy 5, i'd say.

le mepris aka contempt is up for tonight, and i can't wait to see more.

[Edited 10/7/17 10:57am]

Watching this movie a few times over the last ten years or so, it has become my all-time #1 film. I'll repeat my praise for it from the last favorite movie thread describing it as smart, concise, irreverent with some seriously madcap editing--it's a very "punk rock" movie. And Paris circa 1960--lovely! 5/5

the whole time i was watching it, i was thinking 'how have i gone this far into my life without ever seeing this?' i didn't know you liked it that much, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that you rate it so highly.

completely understand the brownface issue. it's the way things were back then i suppose, but it can't help but taint the movie. on the other hand, i had no problem with the studio lot/matte painting look. perhaps this is mainly because i just haven't watched many films from this era, but i thought it gave the movie a nice, nostalgiac, quaint feel.

[Edited 10/10/17 20:42pm]

Baby Driver, whata flick. Amazing sound track.

damosuzuki said:

umbrellas of cherbourg 4.5/5 a bit of a middleweight picture if you're looking for thematic gravitas, but it's loaded with continuously sweet songs & great sights & bright scenery & impossibly good looking people, including a 20 yr-old catherine deneuve. you'd have to be a bit of an inhuman monster not to love it at least a little.

I'm trying to resist the urge to comment about every movie you're posting here (I liked Contempt more than you did), but I must say I had the unexpected pleasure of seeing this movie for the first time at the cinema a few years back and was completely won over by all of it. And what prompted my interest was actually a mention on my favorite TV show Mad Men before the 2012 Sight and Sound poll. I don't think I had ever even heard of the movie prior to that.

I would also recommend another Jacques Demy's musical, Young Girls of Rochefort also starring Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac. It's a step below Cherbourg admittedly with the vocals for all the musical performances being dubbed using other singers. But still good enough to tie at #235 on the last Sight and Sound poll (although it was one of 32 tied titles excluded from the bottom of the top 250 ).

Mad Men had great movie references thoughout by the way. It also was what propmpted me to finally watch Rosemary's Baby for the first time--again on the big screen.

Bang Gang 4/5 french "kids"

L'Atalante (1934) - Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.

Like the aforementioned Sunrise, the story is charmingly simple and the way it was filmed was extremely innovative for its time. 4/5

sexton said:

damosuzuki said:

umbrellas of cherbourg 4.5/5 a bit of a middleweight picture if you're looking for thematic gravitas, but it's loaded with continuously sweet songs & great sights & bright scenery & impossibly good looking people, including a 20 yr-old catherine deneuve. you'd have to be a bit of an inhuman monster not to love it at least a little.

I'm trying to resist the urge to comment about every movie you're posting here (I liked Contempt more than you did), but I must say I had the unexpected pleasure of seeing this movie for the first time at the cinema a few years back and was completely won over by all of it. And what prompted my interest was actually a mention on my favorite TV show Mad Men before the 2012 Sight and Sound poll. I don't think I had ever even heard of the movie prior to that.

I would also recommend another Jacques Demy's musical, Young Girls of Rochefort also starring Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac. It's a step below Cherbourg admittedly with the vocals for all the musical performances being dubbed using other singers. But still good enough to tie at #235 on the last Sight and Sound poll (although it was one of 32 tied titles excluded from the bottom of the top 250 ).

Mad Men had great movie references thoughout by the way. It also was what propmpted me to finally watch Rosemary's Baby for the first time--again on the big screen.

don't resist! i really want to hear what you think, & i always want to hear your recommendations. you probably don't want me to wax your ego here, but this probably doesn't get said often enough: i have the greatest respect for your thoughts & opinions, and your movie posts are one of the biggest reasons i've kept coming back to this site over the years.

i watched l'atalante last weekend, but held off on giving it a rating because i found it didn't really register with me. i agree it has some similarities to sunrise, but i found i a great deal less engaging and enjoyable. i'd probably like to give it another try before attaching a final rating to it, but right now i'd probably slot it as a 3.5 or so.

damosuzuki said:

sexton said:

I'm trying to resist the urge to comment about every movie you're posting here (I liked Contempt more than you did), but I must say I had the unexpected pleasure of seeing this movie for the first time at the cinema a few years back and was completely won over by all of it. And what prompted my interest was actually a mention on my favorite TV show Mad Men before the 2012 Sight and Sound poll. I don't think I had ever even heard of the movie prior to that.

I would also recommend another Jacques Demy's musical, Young Girls of Rochefort also starring Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac. It's a step below Cherbourg admittedly with the vocals for all the musical performances being dubbed using other singers. But still good enough to tie at #235 on the last Sight and Sound poll (although it was one of 32 tied titles excluded from the bottom of the top 250 ).

Mad Men had great movie references thoughout by the way. It also was what propmpted me to finally watch Rosemary's Baby for the first time--again on the big screen.

don't resist! i really want to hear what you think, & i always want to hear your recommendations. you probably don't want me to wax your ego here, but this probably doesn't get said often enough: i have the greatest respect for your thoughts & opinions, and your movie posts are one of the biggest reasons i've kept coming back to this site over the years.

i watched l'atalante last weekend, but held off on giving it a rating because i found it didn't really register with me. i agree it has some similarities to sunrise, but i found i a great deal less engaging and enjoyable. i'd probably like to give it another try before attaching a final rating to it, but right now i'd probably slot it as a 3.5 or so.

Sunrise is definitely the better film and I was being a little generous giving L'Atalante a 4/5 rating because it likewise didn't resonate with me as much even though it had many of the same qualities as the former.

And thank you for the compliment! Although you have a much better way with words than I do. That's why my reviews these days tend to be one or two lines at the most.

KIKI love to love --madrid 2017 5/5 stars

blade runner - in its own way i'd say this is a cinematic miracle, and, a bit like mother!, i really just love that this exists & that someone had the temerity to front the money to make this thing. it's absolutely an amazing movie to watch, i loved getting swept up in the visuals & the score, and, while perhaps i've been primed for the languid pace by all the tarkovsky movies i've seen recently, i was never bored or impatient. if you're on the fence over going to see it, i'd say go & make sure you see it on the biggest screen with the best sound system, settle in, don't worry about trying to follow the story & just let it wash over you.

it's a completely appropriate sequel: true to the original's spirit and every bit as daring & uncompromising in its vision. i don't think there's much chance it will have the same impact & longevity, but that's not a criticism, really, more of an inevitability. a lot of the cinematic world we inhabit sprang from that original. but it is the case that some of the things this film hinges upon, consciousness & ai and free will, have been explored by the original's successors (her, ex machina, & arrival [in a certain sense] to name the obvious recent ones), & i think that this is where 2049 falters somewhat, in that they've addressed those things in more interesting and creative ways. even what i'd call the best scene in the 2049, one of the moments i thought was truly great & amazingly presented & transcendent, feels like a bit of a take-off of scenes from her.

while i'd say it's an improvement over the original in its basic narrative, i'm a little fuzzy on a few plot details. i don't really care much about that - i go by feeling & impact, and i usually don't really care if there are loose ends or things that don't quite match up. but there were some things came up in conversation afterward that just didn't quite gel, some plot clutter that perhaps existed just to add a layer of complexity to what is a fairly straightforward story.

blah blah blah short version - it's great, i loved it. 4.5/5

[Edited 10/13/17 17:31pm]

andrei rublev - 5/5 the longest tarkovsky film i've sat through yet at 205 minutes, but in most ways it was the easiest watch. i never felt my patience tested the way it was at times in stalker or solaris. some of that's due to the way the film is broken out into distinct chapters, each one really its own short film, but mainly it's because parts of this film actually move at a fairly quick pace, particularly in the back half of the movie, which includes an epic battle scene that is amazingly staged (& also features some pretty unfortunate animal abuse).

damosuzuki said:

blade runner - in its own way i'd say this is a cinematic miracle, and, a bit like mother!, i really just love that this exists & that someone had the temerity to front the money to make this thing. it's absolutely an amazing movie to watch, i loved getting swept up in the visuals & the score, and, while perhaps i've been primed for the languid pace by all the tarkovsky movies i've seen recently, i was never bored or impatient. if you're on the fence over going to see it, i'd say go & make sure you see it on the biggest screen with the best sound system, settle in, don't worry about trying to follow the story & just let it wash over you.

it's a completely appropriate sequel: true to the original's spirit and every bit as daring & uncompromising in its vision. i don't think there's much chance it will have the same impact & longevity, but that's not a criticism, really, more of an inevitability. a lot of the cinematic world we inhabit sprang from that original. but it is the case that some of the things this film hinges upon, consciousness & ai and free will, have been explored by the original's successors (her, ex machina, & arrival [in a certain sense] to name the obvious recent ones), & i think that this is where 2049 falters somewhat, in that they've addressed those things in more interesting and creative ways. even what i'd call the best scene in the 2049, one of the moments i thought was truly great & amazingly presented & transcendent, feels like a bit of a take-off of scenes from her.

while i'd say it's an improvement over the original in its basic narrative, i'm a little fuzzy on a few plot details. i don't really care much about that - i go by feeling & impact, and i usually don't really care if there are loose ends or things that don't quite match up. but there were some things came up in conversation afterward that just didn't quite gel, some plot clutter that perhaps existed just to add a layer of complexity to what is a fairly straightforward story.

blah blah blah short version - it's great, i loved it. 4.5/5

[Edited 10/13/17 17:31pm]

SPOILERS : With plot clutter, do you mean the replicants in hiding saying to Agent K he needs to kill Deckard, because he would lead Wallace to them? Because I didn't get that.

Phishanga said:

damosuzuki said:

blade runner - in its own way i'd say this is a cinematic miracle, and, a bit like mother!, i really just love that this exists & that someone had the temerity to front the money to make this thing. it's absolutely an amazing movie to watch, i loved getting swept up in the visuals & the score, and, while perhaps i've been primed for the languid pace by all the tarkovsky movies i've seen recently, i was never bored or impatient. if you're on the fence over going to see it, i'd say go & make sure you see it on the biggest screen with the best sound system, settle in, don't worry about trying to follow the story & just let it wash over you.

it's a completely appropriate sequel: true to the original's spirit and every bit as daring & uncompromising in its vision. i don't think there's much chance it will have the same impact & longevity, but that's not a criticism, really, more of an inevitability. a lot of the cinematic world we inhabit sprang from that original. but it is the case that some of the things this film hinges upon, consciousness & ai and free will, have been explored by the original's successors (her, ex machina, & arrival [in a certain sense] to name the obvious recent ones), & i think that this is where 2049 falters somewhat, in that they've addressed those things in more interesting and creative ways. even what i'd call the best scene in the 2049, one of the moments i thought was truly great & amazingly presented & transcendent, feels like a bit of a take-off of scenes from her.

while i'd say it's an improvement over the original in its basic narrative, i'm a little fuzzy on a few plot details. i don't really care much about that - i go by feeling & impact, and i usually don't really care if there are loose ends or things that don't quite match up. but there were some things came up in conversation afterward that just didn't quite gel, some plot clutter that perhaps existed just to add a layer of complexity to what is a fairly straightforward story.

blah blah blah short version - it's great, i loved it. 4.5/5

[Edited 10/13/17 17:31pm]

SPOILERS : With plot clutter, do you mean the replicants in hiding saying to Agent K he needs to kill Deckard, because he would lead Wallace to them? Because I didn't get that.

SPOILERS:

yes, exactly. and really, the entire idea of what everyone wants from deckard. deckard is being taken offworld at the end, but why exactly? if deckard's a robot with magical sperm that can make replicant babies (or at least he can with rachel, but she's long gone), they ought to be able to just harvest his sperm & try to make more, or reverse engineer his semen. it doesn't seem like he knows things, is with-holding, so there's no need to pump the guy for more information, no?

and i should mention that led to one of the few true disappointments for me, in that i thought, after hours of great scenes, it was a bit of a letdown to have the climax be a fight, & not a really imaginative one, just standard kicking & punching.

and this is more of a tangential point, but i could help but think that, instead of being so concerned about making robots that can have children, wallace ought to have been just focusing on getting his off-world robots to build replicant-making factories on other worlds. then those replicants could go off to other worlds, settle there, make more factories to make more robots, and then they'd be running the entire universe. but that's just an aside.

& one thing that i thought was a bit clunky: the way the police chief just accepted that k had eliminated the decard/rachel kid (because replicants can't lie) with no evidence. that seemed like a bit of a shortcut that could have been handled a little more gracefully.

but aside from deckard, the other confusing thing for me was the horse & the tree & the wood:
wood from the horse was traced to las vegas, right? that led k to deckard. but deckard said he left prior to the kid's birth, so how did he get the horse to the kid?
& how would he know the date?
if the same person carved the date on the horse & the tree on the farm, it couldn't have been deckard, because he wasn't there for the birth - yet the horse came from vegas?


some of that might just be world building, things left intentionally ambiguous. that's where the the issue of whether k is a clone of the baby was left, i guess. that's unresolved, right? or the rather sudden presence of the replicant army at the end - that's presumably meant for potential future films.

i think it's fine if everything in a movie doesn't make perfect sense, and i might just not be pulling everything together properly. it's been five days, and i don't always do the best job of retaining things.

even if some of these things are true gaps, i still would stand by it as a great film. i'm going to watch it in the theatres again for sure. i really want to spend more time in that world. honestly, if i'd just been given 2 hrs of cars flying over those cities & giant holograms with that booming score, i probably would have left happy.

[Edited 10/15/17 7:19am]

2045RadicalMattZ said:

I'm not familiar with the moderation here but. ... why did the original RATE THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED thread get discontinued?

threads here automatically close after 2 months.

the passion of joan of arc (1928) 5/5

ordet (1955) 5/5

the passion... is one of the most acclaimed movies of all time, and it really was a joy & a thrill to watch.

i'd never actually heard of ordet, from the same danish director, but i liked its spare, hypnotic tone every bit as much, though the ending did throw me off a bit.

au hasard balthazar (1966) 4.5/5

2045RadicalMattZ said:

Colossal (2016)

A meditation on addiction disguised as a monster movie. Not perfect but novel premise, good CGI, good performances.

American Made (2017)

It's one of the most entertaining movies I've seen all year, efficient and well-paced. It's the best thing I've seen Tom Cruise in since Minority Report.

.25

damosuzuki said:

Atomic Blonde 3.5 / 10

War For The Planet Of The Apes 8 / 10

I saw mother! a little while back and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought the meaning behind the whole film became pretty obvious early on, but to me the final portion was a bit heavy handed in driving the point home. I liked that the first 2/3 of the film could be taken at face value as just a slow-brewing weirdish thriller or for the more metaphorical meaning, but the finale was a bit too intense in comparison to go both ways.

I'd give it 4/5 stars

damosuzuki said:

raw - 4.5/5 vegetarian veterinary student discovers her inner carnivore. not the first movie to equate sexual awakening & yearning for conformity with violence & blood-lust, but it absolutely hit all the right notes for me every step of the way. fantastically atmospheric, viciously brutal at times & containing one of the toughest, most squirm-inducing scenes i've seen in i don't know how long, but also very funny & satirical. reminiscent of body-horror era cronenberg & dario argento, & potentially my movie of the year.

I forgot that this came out this year! (was thinking I saw it last year for some reason) I really enjoyed this one too, and am now kind of itching to see it again. I loved the finger scene... talk about awkward...

thekidsgirl said:

I saw mother! a little while back and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought the meaning behind the whole film became pretty obvious early on, but to me the final portion was a bit heavy handed in driving the point home. I liked that the first 2/3 of the film could be taken at face value as just a slow-brewing weirdish thriller or for the more metaphorical meaning, but the finale was a bit too intense in comparison to go both ways.

I'd give it 4/5 stars

finally someone agrees with me

luvsexy4all said:

thekidsgirl said:

I saw mother! a little while back and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought the meaning behind the whole film became pretty obvious early on, but to me the final portion was a bit heavy handed in driving the point home. I liked that the first 2/3 of the film could be taken at face value as just a slow-brewing weirdish thriller or for the more metaphorical meaning, but the finale was a bit too intense in comparison to go both ways.

I'd give it 4/5 stars

finally someone agrees with me

i liked it quite a bit too. i wrote a little bit about it at the beginning of this thread, & might have sounded a touch negative, but i really enjoyed it.

funnily enough, even though i agree with thekidsgirl that it was a bit on the nose, i actually didn't really put some of the fairly obvious religious stuff together. i had to have that spelled out for me by my pal on the way home - at which point i said 'how stupid of me not to have seen all that.' when i watched it, i took it as mostly a straight-forward environmental message film.

8 1/2 - 5/5 much like my reaction to breathless, i'm really quite peeved with myself for letting 48 years pass without ever having watched this movie. there's nothing remotely difficult about it - it's a non-stop pageant of comic & surreal moments & flights of fantasy, absolutely perfect and endlessly entertaining.

i watched la dolce vita almost immediately afterward, & it was great too of course. however, i can't help but think i would have liked it a bit more if i had watched it first, as 8 1/2 felt to me like in some ways a distillation & improvement on what was being done in la dolce vita.

damosuzuki said:

8 1/2 - 5/5 much like my reaction to breathless, i'm really quite peeved with myself for letting 48 years pass without ever having watched this movie. there's nothing remotely difficult about it - it's a non-stop pageant of comic & surreal moments & flights of fantasy, absolutely perfect and endlessly entertaining.

I said the same things to myself when I first saw it several years ago.

damosuzuki said:

the passion of joan of arc (1928) 5/5

the passion... is one of the most acclaimed movies of all time, and it really was a joy & a thrill to watch.

It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. Watching Renée Falconetti as Joan was like seeing a classic painting or statue come to life.

damosuzuki said:

8 1/2 - 5/5 much like my reaction to breathless, i'm really quite peeved with myself for letting 48 years pass without ever having watched this movie. there's nothing remotely difficult about it - it's a non-stop pageant of comic & surreal moments & flights of fantasy, absolutely perfect and endlessly entertaining.

i watched la dolce vita almost immediately afterward, & it was great too of course. however, i can't help but think i would have liked it a bit more if i had watched it first, as 8 1/2 felt to me like in some ways a distillation & improvement on what was being done in la dolce vita.

I've always preferred La dolce vita over 8 1/2 although I can't at this moment remember exactly why other than finding pre-Velvet Underground Nico absolutely adorable.

There are also similarities to my favorite film of 2013, La grande bellezza.

sexton said:

damosuzuki said:

8 1/2 - 5/5 much like my reaction to breathless, i'm really quite peeved with myself for letting 48 years pass without ever having watched this movie. there's nothing remotely difficult about it - it's a non-stop pageant of comic & surreal moments & flights of fantasy, absolutely perfect and endlessly entertaining.

i watched la dolce vita almost immediately afterward, & it was great too of course. however, i can't help but think i would have liked it a bit more if i had watched it first, as 8 1/2 felt to me like in some ways a distillation & improvement on what was being done in la dolce vita.

I've always preferred La dolce vita over 8 1/2 although I can't at this moment remember exactly why other than finding pre-Velvet Underground Nico absolutely adorable.

There are also similarities to my favorite film of 2013, La grande bellezza.

because i watched both of them in such quick succession, i found they got a bit mashed together in my head, and i actually wound up watching them again the following day in order to clarify my impressions. i give 8 1/2 the edge, partly because there were a few sequences in ldv that didn't quite win me over (the madonna sighting) whereas 8 1/2 was just this perfect, seamless whole to me.

and also because i fancy barbara steele in that movie quite a bit, particlularly in the dance scene.

never heard of la grande bellezza, but it's now on my list.

[Edited 10/19/17 12:34pm]