Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Moana (John Clements & Ron Musker, 2016) 7/10

Disney digs into Polynesian mythology and comes up with the usual mix - plucky little princess who defies her father and ventures into a land unknown (here it's the high seas beyond the reefs of their little island kingdom) in search of an object that will bring them salvation. By-the-numbers plot with a couple of power ballads thrown in, cute and frightening creatures that help and hinder the pretty little heroine and a gigantic doofus male who aids her on her mission. The film goes on too long but has beautiful imagery especially the turqoise ocean which plays an important part during the child's journey.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Under Sandet / Land of Mine (Martin Zandvliet, 2015) 8/10

When the Allied Powers freed Denmark after five long years of Nazi occupation the Danes, full of anger and hate, forced young teenage german POWs to dig up over 2 million land mines across the country. Horrifying historical incident has been universally condemned as the worst form of war crimes ever conducted by the Danes in using german children for post WWII mine sweeping. On a remote Danish coastline a sergeant is given command of a group of german teenagers to sweep the beach inch by inch for 45,000 buried mines. The young boys were part of a German national militia that was created near the war’s end when able-bodied older men were no longer available. Most of the boys were clueless in the ways of war and were used as chattel. Nerve wracking drama has the feel of a ticking bomb as the kids flat on their stomach poke into the sand, discover mines a few inches below the sand and carefully dismantle them. The sergeant who starts off without any sympathy gradually softens his approach towards the scared and lonely boys. The film's spectacular location - miles of white sand dunes, the beach and the vast expanse of water beyond adds to the sense of isolation and horror.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Teenage Kicks (2017) Craig Boreham 1/10
Rupture (2016) Steven Boreham 4/10
Doctor Strange (2016) Scott Derrickson 2/10
Pushing Dead (2017) Tom E. Brown 6/10
Miss Sloane (2016) John Madden 3/10
The Darkness (2016) Craig McLean 4/10
Seasons (2016) Jacques Perrin & Jacques Cluzaud 7/10
We Are the Flesh (2016) Emiliano Rocha Minter 7/10

Repeat viewings

The Cat Returns (2002) Hiroyuki Morita 8/10
Maniac (1980) William Lustig 4/10
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Luis Bunuel
Metropolitan (1990) Whit Stillman 9/10
Our Idiot Brother (2011) Jesse Peretz 7/10
The Boy Friend (1971) Ken Russell 9/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Precious Doll
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Precious Doll »

Regretfully not. It played at the Melbourne Film Festival last year but we weren't able to fit it in.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by dws1982 »

Precious, have you seen a Japanese movie called Happy Hour from 2015?

It's from a director named Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; it's a 317 minute movie that (from what I've read) deals with four women in their thirties and the way their friendships are affected by one's divorce.

It seems to be very obscure in the States; I think it's U.S. release consisted of a few week-long engagements and one-off screenings. It's coming to Nashville on April 2 for a single screening. Not sure if it's feasible for me to drive up for this screening, but if it's a must-see, I'll try to find a way.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The Great Wall (2016) Zhang Yimou 1/10
Dog Eats Dog (2016) Paul Schrader 4/10
The Rehearsal (2016) Alison Maclean 4/10
Akron (2016) Sasha King & Brian O'Donnell 4/10
King Cobra (2016) Justin Kelly 8/10
T2 Trainspotting (2016) Danny Boyle 1/10
Something Like Summer (2017) David Berry 1/10
Centre of My World (2016) Jakob M. Erwa 5/10

Repeat viewings

The Last Days of Disco (1998) Whit Stillman 9/10
The Little Mermaid (1989) Ron Clements & John Musker 9/10
I Confess (1953) Alfred Hitchcock 8/10
10 Rillington Place (1971) Richard Fleischer 7/10
Paprika (2006) Satishi Kon 7/10
Interiors (1978) Woody Allen 10/10
I Wish (2011) Hirokazu Korreda 8/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by mlrg »

2016 nominated films I've seen:

Moonlight: 10/10
Arrival: 9/10
Jackie: 9/10
Hell or High Water: 8/10
La La Land: 8/10
Hacksaw Ridge: 6/10
Nocturnal Animals: 6/10
The Lobster: 6/10
Fences: 6/10
Captain Fantastic: 5/10
Hidden Figures: 5/10
Elle: 5/10
Loving: 4/10
Florence Foster Jenkins: 4/10
Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

Uri wrote:I've just read the Anonymous/Italiano exchange on the 2016 forum, and now this Reza/Precious one which perfectly mirror it. Fascinating they came up simultaneously.
Actually I laughed at the rating Precious gave both Fences and Silence because Denzel and Scorsese are considered gods by most Americans. They can do no wrong for many. So the rating was amusing and a very fresh take. I agree Silence was a deathly bore. I gave up 20 minutes into it.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Uri »

I've just read the Anonymous/Italiano exchange on the 2016 forum, and now this Reza/Precious one which perfectly mirror it. Fascinating they came up simultaneously.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Reza wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:Fences (2016) Denzel Washington 2/10
Silence (2016) Martin Scorsese 2/10
Lol
Why LOL?

I found Fences insufferable which I did sort of expect having seen the trailer the week prior. The film was exactly what I feared it would be and it never could get beyond it's stage origins. I understand that it is a faithful adaptation of the play which is not always a good idea given that theatre and cinema are different mediums. Washington is one of the most dreary actors of the last 30 years and it wasn't surprising that his direction matched his scene presence. I generally like Viola Davis but she was stranded in a terrible film. Her big snotty nose emotional outbreak was an embarrassment.

Silence though beautifully presented was deadly dull. The subject matter never really came to life and only in the closing moments with the extended voice over did the film ever really come to life.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Precious Doll wrote:Fences (2016) Denzel Washington 2/10
Silence (2016) Martin Scorsese 2/10
Lol
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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After Love (2016) Joachim Lafosse 6/10
Fences (2016) Denzel Washington 2/10
The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016) Alexandre Aja 4/10
Made in France (2016) Nicolas Boukhrief 4/10
Hidden Figures (2016) Theodore Melfi 6/10
Waiting in the Wings: The Musical (2014) Jenn Page 5/10
Loving (2016) Jeff Nichols 8/10
Silence (2016) Martin Scorsese 2/10

Repeat viewings

Agora (2009) Alejandro Armenabar 8/10
The Lair of the White Worm (1988) Ken Russell 9/10
Trick (1999) Jim Fall 7/10
Raising Cain (1992) Brian De Palma 7/10 (Director's cut)
Cross of Iron (1977) Sam Peckinpah 7/10
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Mike Figgis 10/10
His Girl Friday (1940) Howard Hawks 6/10
Obsession (1976) Brian De Palma 8/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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L'Assassino / The Assassin (Elio Petrie, 1961) 9/10

The remarkable Mastroianni was in the midst of a spectacular career streak - Visconti, Monicelli, Dassin, Fellini, Pietrangeli, Bolognini, Antonioni, Germi, Zurlini - when he fit in an appearance for the great Elio Petrie in this very Kafka-like tale. A playboy (Marcello Mastroianni) art dealer is picked up by the cops and interrogated relentlessly. He is accused of the murder of his rich ex-lover (Micheline Presle) which he fervently denies. What starts off as a police procedural thriller turns out to be the unmasking of the accused's life via numerous flashbacks which gradually reveal the man's various follies. The slick, accomplished man-about-town is exposed as a conniving cheat, liar, two-timing crook who used every trick in the book to climb up the ladder of success. He may not be a murderer but his life has been anything but straight. The film is beautifully shot by Carlo de Palma in crisp black and white with many scenes shot on outdoor locations with a large cast of extras acting as a chorus on the character's life. Mastroianni is in full movie star mode, impecably dressed, with an aura about him creating sexual sparks with the superb Presle who matches him in intensity as the older woman very much in control of her life. This is one of Petrie's best films. It's a pity he died young and his short career did not allow him to be included in the pantheon of great Italian directors. He should be included and his films should widely get the attention they deserve.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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20th Century Women (Mike Mills, 2016) 8/10

At the heart of this coming of age comedy drama is an amazing performance by Annette Bening as a chain-smoking matriarch presiding over a towering and shabby mansion (in a perpetual state of renovation) in Southern California circa 1979. The film is a series of vignettes exploring motherhood, sexual freedom, punk music and a counterculture in the midst of self-discovery. The plot revolves around a teenage boy and his interaction with three women who influence his life - his loving, over-bearing, free spirit mother (Annette Bening), their purple tinted punk photographer lodger (Greta Gerwig) and the fragile young girl (Elle Fanning) from the neighborhood who frequently climbs into the boy's bed to get platonic sympathy. Each woman individually teaches him about life but in wildly differing and hysterical ways. The only other male influence in the house is the worker (Billy Crudup) helping in the renovation work and bedmate to two of the women on the side. The heartwarming and often hilarious screenplay (nominated for an Oscar) creates wonderfully real characters and situations but unfortunately the director's fanboy choice of the period's music - Devo, the Clash, Talking Heads, Black Flag - is so shrill and loud on the soundtrack that it grates on the nerves and often drowns out the dialogue. But this is a small complaint in what is a marvelously nostalgic film. Bening, Gerwig and Fanning are all amazing with one scene involving Fanning, discussing her sex life, side splittingly funny.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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In a Valley of Violence (Ti West, 2016) 7/10

West pays homage to Sergio Leone during the credits using the same style letters zig-zagging across the screen with a jaunty score signalling Ennio Morricone in this tale of a mysterious stranger (Ethan Hawke superbly underplaying) riding into town and getting mired in revenge after a mindless act of violence which seems straight out of the Keeanu Reeves actioner "John Wicks". I suppose with westerns in such short supply nowadays screenwriters need to put in familiar bits and pieces to attract an older audience. The stranger, harboring scars from the past, gets needled by a vicious and cocky deputy marshall (James Ransone) resulting in a grusome bloodbath of epic proportions. John Travolta, in his first western, steals every scene as the Marshall who is quite fed up with the excesses of his son. This is a western which is heart wrenching, funny and horrific all at the same time.
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