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

[Reza]

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.

[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.

[Precious Doll]

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.

[Reza]

Fences (2016) Denzel Washington 2/10
Silence (2016) Martin Scorsese 2/10

Lol

[Precious Doll]

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

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

Conduct Unbecoming (Michael Anderson, 1975) 8/10

"Conduct Unbecoming" was a phrase used as a charge in courts martial of the British Armed Forces in the 18th and early 19th centuries "for behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, such as is unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman". A courtroom drama presented as a whodunnit and set in a British officer's outpost mess in the North West Frontier Province of India during the Victorian era. The plot revolves around a scandalous mystery which is exposed in a kangaroo court presided over by the senior officers in order to preserve the honour of the regiment. A newly arrived junior officer (James Faulkner) is accused of assaulting the pretty, flirtatious widow (Susannah York) of the regiment's revered hero. A court is quickly set up by the senior officers and they select another junior officer (Michael York) to ‘'defend'' the accused. When the investigation reveals certain nasty truths there is strong pressure to quickly cover up and convict the accused in order to uphold the honour of the regiment at all costs even if it means condemning the wrong person. The riveting plot is a harsh indictment of the British army, circa the 1890s. The film is mostly set bound with a few outdoor shots filmed on location in Pakistan (Islamabad and Kohat in the NWFP). However, due to sharp editing the story moves at a quick pace and belies it's stage origins. An extraordinary cast was selected to play the various characters and each is given a memorably dramatic scene to perform in the confines of the melodramatic and very suspenseful plot. The film is exquisitely designed with superb sets and costumes.

[Reza]

The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016) 5/10

An emotional journey of a typical teen (Hailee Steinfeld) - only this one never stops overreacting. Smart-mouthed, perpetually in a bad mood and overly theatrical she loses the plot when her childhood best friend starts dating her much hated older brother. Taking that as a betrayal of epic proportion she goes on a verbal rampage with no letting up. Steinfeld is very good but she gets to play such an annoying character that one wants to slap her face and force her to shut up. We are back in John Hughes territory with all the clichés intact of the misunderstood American high-school junior. The best scenes are between Steinfeld and a teacher (hilariously underplayed by Woody Harrelson) who tries to help her. The rest of the film is a one long messy shrill rant.

[Reza]

A Monster Calls (J.A. Bayona, 2016) 7/10

This invokes Roald Dahl's "The BFG" which Spielberg adapted for the big screen earlier the same year and Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". The film hauntingly captures the scared and confused mind of a lonely young child (the superb Lewis MacDougall) who lives with his cancer ridden mother (Felicity Jones) and grim and overbearing grandmother (a miscast Sigourney Weaver). Dealing with such a traumatic moment in his life he conjures up a terrifying writhing 40 foot tree-monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) to distract himself. The tree forces the child to listen to three fables, which appear in a series of lovely animations that blend watercolor and stop-motion effects to heighten the film’s otherworldly quality, after which he demands the child relate the dream that daily scares him into waking up. Strange and memorable film with a lovely stung in the tail at the end that brings closure to the child after his mother passes away. The monster may or may not be a metaphor; either way, it leaves a strong impression created by the supern special effects team on the film.

[Reza]

In This House of Brede (George Schaefer, 1975) 6/10

A successful businesswoman (Diana Rigg), weighed down by life's issues, gives it all up and enters the convent to become a Benedictine nun. There she clashes with a senior nun (Pamela Brown), finds a friend in the Mother Superior (Gwen Watford) and grows fond of a young postulant (Judi Bowker) who reminds her of the past she left behind. Based on Rumer Godden's novel with it's central theme about spirituality, grief, envy, loneliness, jealousy, discipline and the universal feeling of love. Rigg gives a radiant performance hiding her pain and resolving to start life again.

[Reza]

The Shooting Party (Alan Bridges, 1985) 8/10

Exquisite, leisurely paced mood piece which resembles Jean Renoir's La Règle du jeu (1939) only here it's the British upper class showing their moral callousness on the eve of impending destruction just before WWI. A group of guests arrive at a country estate for a weekend shoot. For them the world is a prosperous unchanging world. It would take just that weekend for them to realise that their world is about to crash around them. The story deals with two different specimens of aristocracy. The host (James Mason) and his wife (Dorothy Tutin) are gracious not only to their friends, relatives and house servants but also to their rural residents. In contrast is their callous, competitive and supercilious guest (Edward Fox) whose wife (Cheryl Campbell) is having a fling with another of the guests. The film is a series of vignettes - a masked party, children playing backstairs, a poacher (Gordon Jackson) going about his business, young lovers whispering in corners, an eccentric anti-hunting advocate (John Gielgud) giving lectures about the evils of killing. It all comes to a head on the shooting field as two rivals head off into a competition resulting in tragedy which is a metaphor for the upcoming war and it's devastation leading to the breaking of class barriers. Atmospheric and bittersweet adaptation of Isabel Colgate's novel deals with themes of pacifism, animal rights and adultery. All the actors are wonderful with James Mason especially poignant in his last film performance.

[Reza]

The Ice House (Tim Fywell, 1997) 8/10

A decomposed body is discovered in the ice house on the grounds of a country estate which is the reclusive home to three lonely and supposedly lesbian women (Frances Barber, Kitty Aldridge, Penny Downie). The police investigation - headed by a nasty inspector (Corin Redgrave) and his homophobic lieutenant (Daniel Craig) - once again raises suspicion and anger amongst the villagers for the three women just as it did ten years earlier when the husband of one of the women mysteriously disappeared and she was accused of his murder. Superbly paced suspense mystery-thriller which delves into homophobia, spousal abuse, incest and murder with a final twist in the plot.

[Reza]

The Echo (Diarmuid Lawrence, 1998) 7/10

A tough reporter (Clive Owen) uses the help of an elderly lawyer (Richard Johnson), a streetwise teenager and a naive photographer to solve the death of a tramp found in the garage of a beautiful rich woman (Joely Richardson). A Minette Walters mystery is full of red herrings and things are not how they appear to be. Well acted.