damosuzuki said:

wild strawberries (1957) 5/5 the bergman film i like to go back to the most. it has some of the same weighty elements that sometimes can make his films feel a bit self-serious, but here those things are nicely offset by a pleasant sentimentality. one of my favourite movies.

the poukeepsie tapes (20070 3/5 i've occasionally seen people bring this up whenever there's a discussion of the best found footage horror. it definitely has some creepy elements, almost plays like a snuff film at times, but it didn't quite add up to much for me. watchable, & worth a viewing for gore-hounds, but not great to me.

There is something so original and powerful about Wild Stawberries. Defintiely a 5 of 5.

My first Bergman film was Scenes from A Marriage. I was in high school and it just blew my naive mind away. I didn't know adults and relationships could be that complicated. It is kind of like losing your virginity, but without the release.

RodeoSchro said:

Tonight we introduce a new-and-sure-to-be-controversial feature - Rate A Movie I Am Never Going To See! This will probably be the first, last, best and worst episode of RAMIANGTS because who else could inspire me to rate a movie I will never see except...

...Ryan Gosling.

Ugh. I think my computer contracted a virus just typing his name. Since when did thumbs with noses become movie stars?

Oh - the movie I am never going to see is "First Man". What a farce.

First of all, this movie was made for absolutely no reason but to capitalize on NASA's 60th anniversary and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the greatest achievement in human history - landing men on the moon. And bringing them back alive!

Therein lies the problem with this upcoming turkey. WE KNOW HOW IT ENDS. IT ENDS GREAT!

But you wouldn't know that from the trailer/commericals. "This might be the last time you ever tell your son 'Good Night'!" wails some hysterical actress. "Daddy, are you coming back?" slobbers some child actor.

OF COURSE HE IS. WE KNOW HOW THIS STORY ENDS. NEIL ARMSTRONG WALKS ON THE MOON, SAYS SOME COOL STUFF, DOES SOME COOL STUFF WITH BUZZ ALDRIN, AND THEN THEY ALL COME BACK SAFELY.

I would have no problem if this pooper was marketed as a celebration of our greatest achievement. That's what is SHOULD be marketed as. But to market it as a suspenseful film?

WHY?

WE KNOW his rocket isn't going to explode. We KNOW he makes it to the moon. We KNOW he returns to Earth as a human and not some alien hybrid. We KNOW he gets to tell his son "Good Night" many many more times.

BOO.

Based on the ridiculous marketing of this flim, I wouldn't go see it even if Arnold played Neil Armstrong. Well, OK - I would go see it if Arnold played Neil Armstrong. But only to support Arnold, not to see a movie that I already know how it ends.

This has been the first, last, best and worst episode of Rate A Movie I Am Never Going To See. I hope the Pulitzer people are reading this.

I stumbled across this while researching this Movie I Am Never Going to See. Specifically, I was reading an article that dealt with the technical issues in the movie. THAT is interesting; I couldn't care less for the drama involving that thumb with a nose.

But I digress.

If you have about 10-15 minutes, here is the most amazing thing you will see this year, or probably any other year:

https://www.firstmenonthemoon.com/

I'm not even going to tell you what it is. Just check it out. I promise you that if you watch the first 30 seconds, you'll watch the whole 10-15 minutes of this.

EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW HOW IT'S GOING TO END.

LOL.

The Big Sick (2017)

Highly enjoyable and well-acted romantic dramedy. Kumail Nanjian and Zoe Kazan had real chemistry, and Holly Hunter did her thing. Special shout outs to Ray Romano, who has done some really good dramatic work in recent years, and Anupam Kher, who as "Kumail's" brother Azmat was hysterical.

.75

gandorb said:

damosuzuki said:

wild strawberries (1957) 5/5 the bergman film i like to go back to the most. it has some of the same weighty elements that sometimes can make his films feel a bit self-serious, but here those things are nicely offset by a pleasant sentimentality. one of my favourite movies.

the poukeepsie tapes (20070 3/5 i've occasionally seen people bring this up whenever there's a discussion of the best found footage horror. it definitely has some creepy elements, almost plays like a snuff film at times, but it didn't quite add up to much for me. watchable, & worth a viewing for gore-hounds, but not great to me.

There is something so original and powerful about Wild Stawberries. Defintiely a 5 of 5.

My first Bergman film was Scenes from A Marriage. I was in high school and it just blew my naive mind away. I didn't know adults and relationships could be that complicated. It is kind of like losing your virginity, but without the release.

i have never seen scenes from a marriage. our local arthouse is showing a smattering of bergman this month in recognition of his 100th birthday, but that's not one of them, unfortunately. the virgin spring is showing today, but i saw that one fairly recently, so i'll probably give that a pass. persona is showing next weekend, and, while i have also seen that fairly recently as well, i think i'll probably go catch it. while i enjoyed it quite a bit when i saw it, i sort of felt that it eluded me a bit as a film, & that i might get a bit more out of it as a theatrical experience.

this movie was the most fun i've seen in a long time:

Monster Trucks

[Edited 10/14/18 5:28am]

I need to do my taxes. Tomorrow is the last day to file. OK, so let's.........

......watch a movie!

I really DO need to do my taxes. I really should NOT have turned on the TV - especially to watch the horrid Houston Texans. Right now, they're losing to the equally horrid Buffalo Bills, who are currently being quarterbacked by Nathan Peterman (no relation to J. Peterman). That, of course, prompted me to check the guide on my DirecTV (the Houston Texans-version of satellite TV). And I saw that "Cowboys and Aliens" had just started.

Cowboys! I love cowboys! I love western movies!

Aliens! I love aliens! I love alien movies!

This should be AWESOME. And it is - until you actually start thinking about the plot.

I've seen this movie before. I am not sure if I've reviewed it or not but just in case I have, this review will be written as if I have, with a few smatterings of stuff written as if I have not.

"Cowboys and Aliens" stars Harrison Ford (Yes! An awesome cowboy!); Daniel Craig (No! He's as bad at acting like a cowboy as he is at acting like James Bond!); and Olivia Wilde (Yes! further proof that there has never been anyone name 'Olivia' who isn't beautiful!).

Aliens invade the sleepy New Mexico town of Something-Or-Other. This movie was actually filmed in Northern New Mexico, and I know a couple guys who worked on it as horse wranglers. They said Ford was awesome. He'd fly in every day from Santa Fe in his helicopter. He was really nice, and bought lunch for everyone on the set many times.

But Ford is NOT nice in the movie. He drags some dude to death, thinking that dude had blown up his cattle and not believing the dude's explanation that it was "lights from the sky". Ford thought the guy meant lightning had struck his cattle, but Ford says "there weren't no lightnin' last night!"

Of course, the dude was telling the truth but that didn't prevent him from getting dragged to death. Even after Ford realized it really WAS "lights from the sky whut killed my cattle", he didn't express any remorse for dragging that poor dude to a grisley death.

FOOTBALL UPDATE - The Houston Texans are driving. It's third and goal from the 4 yard-line. We're down 13-10, so a field goal will at least tie it. Annnnnd - false start. Third and goal now from the 9. Yay us! But all we ultimately get is a field goal, so it's tied 13 - 13.

Lots of stuff happens in the movie. Olivia Wilde is beautiful but is also an alien shapeshifter. She tells everyone that the aliens are here for the gold. It's as valuable to them as it is to us although valuable for what, Wilde doesn't say. Also, she says that the aliens who are here now are only a scout team, and their mission is to kidnap and examine humans so they can find out what our physical weaknesses are.

Wilde says that if the scout team is able to leave Earth, they'll come back with a full fighting force that will kill everyone on Earth.

Why?

We have horses, guns and rifles - none of which are particularly effective against the aliens.

The aliens have fighter-jet spaceships with laser guns and these cables that can lasso you and carry you away. The aliens themselves are giant and almost indestructible.

ANOTHER FOOTBALL UPDATE - Pick six by the Texans! Wow, who would ever think we could pick off Nathan Peterman?!? (Besides everyone in the NFL.) Hey - maybe writing movie reviews during Texans' games is good luck???

OK, back to the problem with this movie. The aliens have all the physical and military advantages, and all they want is something that's really not needed for anything useful on our planet. Why do they have to kill everyone on Earth? Why are we even fighting them? Just let them mine all the gold, take it away, and good luck to them. There's no need at all to fight and kill over this.

But then we wouldn't have a movie, would we?!?

Well, as you probably have figured out, we DO learn how to fight them. Daniel Craig has some kind of wrist weapon borrowed from The Predator, and it works pretty well. Olivia Wilde gets killed but Indians reincarnate her in some kind of bonfire. A big battle ensues, with Wilde sneaking into the aliens' big spaceship in order to blow it (and herself) up. Daniel Craig is sad.

ANOTHER FOOTBALL UPDATE - It's another Nathan Peterman interception! This seals the deal for the Texans. All we have to do is line up in the Celebration Formation and take a knee. Which we do. Game over! We beat the Buffalo Bills, make your Super Bowl reservations now! (Or not. GO ASTROS!)

The spaceship takes off but Wilde blows it up just as it reaches altitude. That scene looked way too much like the Challenger tragedy for me. Not. Cool.

NEXT-TO-LAST FOOTBALL UPDATE - CBS has switched to the final minute of the Steelers-Bengals game. We have one team quarterbacked by a rapist and one team whose defense is led by the dirtiest player I've probably ever seen. I hope aliens show up and lasso all these jabronis and take them away.

"Cowboys and Aliens" is well-shot, but the plot reminds me of that one "The Big Bang Theory" episode where Amy explains to the guys that Harrison Ford's character was completely unnecessary in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Harrison Ford's character was also completely unnecessary in this movie (everyone's was, actually). So this viewing of "Cowboys and Aliens" gets 1 1/2 Amy Farrah Fowler Movie Ruinations out of 5 Amy Farrah Fowler Movie Ruinations.

FINAL FOOTBALL UPDATE - The rapist's team just scored and won. I'm off to cheat on my taxes.

.

[Edited 10/14/18 13:15pm]

Woke up at 4 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep; PBS had a movie on I hadn't seen in at least 15 years--Dr. Zhivago. Although the movie was criticized for not being "political enough" as per the novel when it came out, I found it as beautifully filmed and riveting as when I first saw it as a kid. One of David Lean's best as a director IMO. Great cast, story pacing, and plot. Key quotes about the characters dealing with the Russian Revolution and it's subsequent civil war: "The personal life is dead (an observation by Stelnikov--an evil counter-revolutionary)." Then there is a scene in which the Omar Shariif character Zhivago has been forcibly conscripted into an army and they run into a woman and children fleeing from an army--Omar's commander asks her what army is she fleeing from Red or White--she replies "the army" in a daze, pointing out that the people are so traumatized that they don't know which army is which and it doesn't matter. All armies are the same at this point. My take on this film is that David Lean wanted to explore "the personal life" and the Russian Revolution's effects on that rather than to focus on the politics of the whole thing. Again, my take at watching it at 4 in the morning but I took away things that I hadn't observed the last time I viewed this film. 4.5 out of 5 for me.

[Edited 10/14/18 18:09pm]

Hereditary 4 out 5 stars

It been a minute since a scary movie was actually scary to me... the last being Hallowen (1978)

Premise: Hereditary opens with the text of an obituary appearing on the screen, establishing a tone of ominous dread. The dead woman's daughter Annie (Toni Collette) is struggling with her grief, which becomes clear as she delivers a caustic eulogy for her mother that describes her as a "secretive" and "private" woman. Annie's quiet husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) keeps his distance; her young daughter Charlie (Milly Sharprio) scribbles gruesome portraits in a journal; her teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff) treats his anxiety with copious bong hits. Together they live in a large, creepy house with an upstairs work-space where Annie builds tiny miniatures of her own family life. Think of it as Scary Tiny Furniture.

I like weird, off-beat, not predicable films, but I also like when these types of films are well down. Note the films ending was off-beat but if you have a scant understanding of a particular subject... you'll understand the ending and the movie. This was a WTF kinda movie

purplethunder3121 said:

Just saw Sergio Leone's last flick "Once Upon A Time In America" for the first time on TV (believe it or not!) even though I'm a huge De Niro fan. I thought the TV version I saw seemed uneven and chopped up even though it was long. The cinematography was beautiful, the movie mostly captured the time periods, it had top notch actors... So, what went wrong? I read the history of the movie--Leone wanted to make this two three hour movies (he shot much more hours of film), he filmed 8 to 10 hours worth then it was eventually cut down to 4 hours and 29 minutes. But, even after that, for the Cannes Film Festival, he had to cut it further to 3 hours and 49 minutes. And THAT version was only shown in Europe. To add insult to injury, Leone was forced to cut it down even more for the American market against his wishes--2 hours and 19 minutes. What a travesty IMO. I would love to see Leone's original vision for this flick. It has some great performances by iconic actors... The version I saw for the first time seemed too long in places and too short in others to the detriment of the story line. Now, I know why. Also, some of the music doesn't seem to fit events in the movie. Even with the uneven edits--7 out of 10, for me for this flick.

.

Oh, yeah... One additional complaint. The film makers managed to convincingly age Robert DeNiro and his cronies over 30 years. But when DeNiro's character "Noodles" visits his romantic interest Elizabeth McGovern after 30 years, all they can come up with is her face covered with pancake make-up after a performance...and after she gradually removes it she looks exactly the same way as she did 30 years before?!! If they aged the men convincingly, they should have done that with McGovern! Even so, I liked this movie a lot and would love to see the original Director's cut.

[Edited 9/28/18 16:42pm]

You should be able to find an uncut version of this movie. At one time cable use to play Sergio Leone's orginal cut of the movie. It you see, I think you'll see a true masterpiece... what a way for Mr. Leone to go out on.

TD3 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Just saw Sergio Leone's last flick "Once Upon A Time In America" for the first time on TV (believe it or not!) even though I'm a huge De Niro fan. I thought the TV version I saw seemed uneven and chopped up even though it was long. The cinematography was beautiful, the movie mostly captured the time periods, it had top notch actors... So, what went wrong? I read the history of the movie--Leone wanted to make this two three hour movies (he shot much more hours of film), he filmed 8 to 10 hours worth then it was eventually cut down to 4 hours and 29 minutes. But, even after that, for the Cannes Film Festival, he had to cut it further to 3 hours and 49 minutes. And THAT version was only shown in Europe. To add insult to injury, Leone was forced to cut it down even more for the American market against his wishes--2 hours and 19 minutes. What a travesty IMO. I would love to see Leone's original vision for this flick. It has some great performances by iconic actors... The version I saw for the first time seemed too long in places and too short in others to the detriment of the story line. Now, I know why. Also, some of the music doesn't seem to fit events in the movie. Even with the uneven edits--7 out of 10, for me for this flick.

.

Oh, yeah... One additional complaint. The film makers managed to convincingly age Robert DeNiro and his cronies over 30 years. But when DeNiro's character "Noodles" visits his romantic interest Elizabeth McGovern after 30 years, all they can come up with is her face covered with pancake make-up after a performance...and after she gradually removes it she looks exactly the same way as she did 30 years before?!! If they aged the men convincingly, they should have done that with McGovern! Even so, I liked this movie a lot and would love to see the original Director's cut.

[Edited 9/28/18 16:42pm]

You should be able to find an uncut version of this movie. At one time cable use to play Sergio Leone's orginal cut of the movie. It you see, I think you'll see a true masterpiece... what a way for Mr. Leone to go out on.

Thanks! I would love to see the uncut version of this movie; do you know if it was ever put out on DVD? I might be able to find it at the local wrecka stowe (yeah, we still have it!) Never mind, found it on line. Thanks.

[Edited 10/14/18 23:14pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

TD3 said:

You should be able to find an uncut version of this movie. At one time cable use to play Sergio Leone's orginal cut of the movie. It you see, I think you'll see a true masterpiece... what a way for Mr. Leone to go out on.

Thanks! I would love to see the uncut version of this movie; do you know if it was ever put out on DVD? I might be able to find it at the local wrecka stowe (yeah, we still have it!) Never mind, found it on line. Thanks.

[Edited 10/14/18 23:14pm]

Check at Amazon, it's a two DVD specdial and it see somehere on that page, Directors cut.

Venom (2018)

A good standalone Marvel film well suited for Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed. Worth a matinee.

namepeace said:

attention film buffs and physical media collectors...

the criterion collection is having a 24 hour flash sale. 50% off all in stock dvds and blu rays.

started a couple hours ago as of the time of this posting.

peedub said:

attention film buffs and physical media collectors...

the criterion collection is having a 24 hour flash sale. 50% off all in stock dvds and blu rays.

started a couple hours ago as of the time of this posting.

I got that notification. I can't indulge. I have to save for the giant Bergman box set that comes out next month.

American Animals. 4 out of 5. 4 insecure, bored, greedy, stupid friends steal rare books and go to prison. Yay. True story. But now they get to be famous. And out, and they were in the movie as well as the actors portraying them (Hi, Evan Peters ).

first man 4/5 i can't fully love this, because gosling's portrayal of a deeply introverted, almost robotic man is a bit too effective, & i was a touch bored for a few stretches of this slightly too long movie when it was focused on his life with his extremely understanding wife. but there are many truly exciting, thrilling moments, and its ending is powerful, even stunning & deeply moving, i thought.

in the shadow of the moon (2007) 5/5 even if you've sat through innumerable documentaries on the gemini & apollo programs, even if you've seen the footage a billion times, this one is still worth watching. it's a great mix of talking heads & archival footage, perfectly calibrated & paced. michael collins is very funny & insightful & charismatic in particular. streaming for free on tubi-tv, if you're interested.

Watched Mandy again and that movie gives me some weird He-Man universe vibes.

the greasy strangler (2016) 0.5/5 i love trash. i wallow in it. but this crossed some kind of intangible boundary for me. john waters could pull stuff like this off with panache. this is just ugly & boring & disgusting & endlessly unpleasant.

venom (2018) 3/5 this is definitely not good, i guess. for a movie that's only 110 minutes long (relatively brisk by current cbm standards) it takes forever to really get going, & the action is rote & a bit clunky, & the story is strictly paint by numbers. but once tom hardy & the symbiote meet cute, this thing takes off & becomes quite a bit of fun. if nothing else, the second half of this movie shows that tom hardy is perhaps our most valuable movie star - he takes this really fairly turgid material & turns it into something close to slapstick gold at times. i think it actually needs two ratings: everything in the film except hardy gets a 1, & he gets a 5.

Stoker (2013)

Part thriller, part supernatural thriller, with great cinemaphotography. It got mixed reviews when it was released, but I liked it more than not.

A Star is Born - 4/5*

Loved this movie! It was as good or better than any of the previous versions. I'm not a huge fan of Lady Gaga, but she was fantastic in this role. I loved that she was natural looking for most of the movie too. Bradley Cooper was excellent! I enjoyed his role a little more than hers. He was so good and not a bad singer either. Very sad and emotional ending. I highly recommend this one!!

I got in late last night and switched on TBS, which apparently was in the middle of a Liam Neeson marathon. I caught the last 3/4 of "Unknown".

I did not know about "Unknown". Get it? GET IT? I hope so, because that's the best joke I have for this movie. It's just not a movie that lends itself to humor.

It's a good but by-the-numbers suspense movie. When I joined it, Neeson was insisting to some people he was Dr. Martin Harris but so was some other guy, and the other guy had a passport to prove he was Dr. Martin Harris. So naturally Neeson fainted, was taken to a hospital, and then some creepy dude tried to kill him.

But Liam Neeson doesn't kill easily! He escapes but not before being given the name of a guy who specializes in "finding people". The nurse who gave him this name was, unfortunately, killed by the same guy that tried to kill Neeson.

Lots of stuff happens but the best part was when Neeson goes to the airport, retrieves his briefcase, and finds his passport. Guess what?

It says he really is Dr. Martin Harris! But guess what Dr. Martin Harris's birthday is?!?!?

JUNE 7 (1964).

Pretty cool, eh?

OK, here come the spoilers.

SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT.

It turns out that Liam Neeson is NOT Dr. Martin Harris. But neither is the other guy who says he is Dr. Martin Harris. NO ONE is Dr. Martin Harris. EVERYONE is a hit man, and they're all trying to kill some dude who is about to unleash the world's greatest corn. Seriously. It's going to solve the world hunger problem which, for some reason, the outfit Neeson works for has been contracted to stop.

Maybe Neeson had been hired by Chick-fil-A? Or the powers behind Brenner's Steakhouse? (NOTE: Brenner's Steakhouse is hands-down my favorite restaurant. Come visit me sometime and I'll buy you the best steak you've ever had!)

Now, here is where the movie falls apart.

Apparently Neeson had been a hit man for a long, long time. Like, fifteen years at least. Which is cool, because the name of the outfit he works for is "Section 15". His mentor shows up to kill him and says that although Neeson was such a good hit man, Mr. Mentor is very very sorry he has to kill Neeson on account of Neeson bumping his head and losing his memory.

The unbelievable part though, is that not only did Neeson lose his memory but he regained his morality. Somehow the bump on his head got rid of his compunction to kill people for money.

It did not, however, erase his memory of how to kill people. Which he does - except this time he only kills the bad guys. All the bad guys.

So he saves the day, gets a new passport for him and the Bosnian taxi lady who helped him, and they depart Germany to start new lives.

WHICH IS TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE.

I don't know about you but if I got bonked on the head, lost my memory and then found it, only to learn that I was a hitman, I'd want to know more about what I had done and who I had killed. And also where all my hitman money is, because you know there was a lot of hitman money. In fact, there was hitman money for the other 5 or so assassins in Section 15, and they are now all dead, so I'd be figuring out how to get their hitman money too.

Here's the good news - that movie has actually been made. It's called "The Bourne Supremacy". You could call it the sequel to this movie AND the sequel to "The Bourne Identity", making it the only movie in history to be the sequel to two different movies. All the movies are about hitmen who lost their memories due to bumps on the head.

Therefore, I am rating "Unknown" as 3 Bumps On the head out of 5 Bumps On The Head.

the night comes for us (2018) 4/5 a few of the actors from the raid & the raid 2 are here. while this doesn't quite achieve the raid's propulsive, epic greatness (not really a criticism, because i think the raid is the greatest action movie ever made), it is probably the most brutally violent film i've ever seen. there's barely a sheen of a plot, but if you like action, you will probably find a lot to enjoy here.

Toni Erdmann (2016) - A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.

This is my second viewing and knowing where it's going made it very enjoyable watching the comical evolution of the father-daughter relationship. 4.5/5

sexton said:

Toni Erdmann (2016) - A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.

This is my second viewing and knowing where it's going made it very enjoyable watching the comical evolution of the father-daughter relationship. 4.5/5

the birthday party in toni erdmann is one of the more unforgettable moments in a film i've ever seen.

foxtrot (2017) 4.5/5 israeli couple are informed that their soldier son has been killed in action. if i'd seen this when it was released last year, it definitely would have been at or near the top of my 2017 favourites. very simple yet disorienting, very restrained but very powerful.

[Edited 10/23/18 19:17pm]