The Last Movie You Saw?

[Slava]

Goodfellas

 

 

 

A story about stupid assholes. Just a bunch of pathetic worms. Loved every second. Martin Scorsese's talent is the ability to make movies about the worst people the most enthralling thing. Can't believe I haven't seen it until today.

 

If you're familiar with Scorsese's filmography up to this point, you know why these characters attracted him and how the story is bound to end. It starts off with the main character romanticising gangsters. Then we get a deep dive into the mob culture. But it doesn't take long for the movie to start exposing the worst side of every character. Short temper and anger issues, greed, egoism, succumbing to all known vices, turning against each other over nothing, cheating on partners, the list goes on. Friendship and trust mean a lot until they vanish in minutes. 

 

Spoiler

I like how Henry's mafia career starts with him not ratting out anyone and ends with him ratting out everyone.

 

The cast is perfect. Feels like Liotta, De Niro, and Pesci were born to portray these figures. Every "What's the matter with you", "I cannot believe this guy", and "Stop busting my balls" is a treasure. Joe Pesci was my favourite. His face always reflects when something gets under his character's skin. 

 

The camera work. The lighting. The editing. The long tracking shots. The freeze-frames. Mind-blowingly good. The film feels perfectly put together. I don't know how to explain, but every choice feels right. I also like the choice to do voice-over monologues and how it plays with what's being shown. A great exception to the "show, don't tell" rule. 

 

Is Goodfellas my favourite Scorsese film? This is a question I'll think about for a while. But if I had to answer now, I'd say it's topped by Raging Bull and The King of Comedy. They aren't as well put together as Goodfellas, but the idea behind each of them was more interesting to me. In the end, it doesn't matter much, as they're all great. Talanted filmmaker, that Scorsese guy.

[Dry]

The Frighteners (1996)

 

[Thephoenixshow]

watched if last night was pretty good 

[ozymandias1994]

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Inept Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds rip-off. Pretty bad.

[Redgrave]

 

It's from 2006 but it feels kind of rare to see big WWII movies that show more on the Pacific side lately. At least ones that are actually good and don't come off as trying to be over the top. But yeah, it was a nice somber movie that takes place from the Japanese side and did well depicting how harsh the conditions were as well as the extreme loyalty the soldiers had. Even at the beginning it feels like you're getting clued in with how bad things will get with there being mention of dysentery going among the soldiers until the part where they start using grenades on themselves when they feel like they are in a hopeless situation.

 

But they do let some humanity come through with the Officer played by Ken Watanabe during the moment where they capture the American soldier named Sam and instead of interrogating him they learn about him. It was a nice moment even if it was short lived. Overall the movie was good and I like that they went through the effort of having it be subtitled except when the English characters like the American soldiers speak.

 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie I had on DVD but I never watched it for some reason which is weird because I remember the back of the cover describing it as it being similar to The Matrix. I had hoped watching it now would have meant I could appreciate it but unfortunately it didn't grab me like I hoped it would. That's not to say it was bad but I just can't say it pulled me in and I can't really figure out why. The fights were at least cool though and I liked how they felt like they all knew how to perfectly react to everything like if they were going to get pushed into a wall they would wall run and such. I also can't help but wonder that if I did watch this back in the day maybe I would have been enticed to play Jade Empire.

 

 

When this came out I heard it was really good and so I wanted to watch it whenever it could become available. I know practically nothing about wrestling except Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker, Vince McMahon, Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the IT'S ME AUSTIN moment so I didn't really know anything about the Von Erich family or the whole thing about the "family curse" until I saw that was what this movie was about. I imagine if you know nothing about that at all and your only impression of this is the poster I feel like you would expect some kind of triumphant wrestling story where three brothers overcome the odds and win a major championship or something, so I wish I could see someone's reaction expecting that and seeing what they really wind up getting.

 

But yeah, it's a very heartbreaking story that is based on true events and the back to back tragedies that affected the Von Erich family. I knew what it was about but I didn't know the details so seeing everything that happened was sad and I'm glad that Kevin at least got something of a good ending after all of what happened.

 

I'm sure there were some things that were changed or had to cut for time purposes since I felt like some of the time skips felt sudden. I also read that apparently the portrayal of their father was "going easy" on him. But there is one scene that obviously was added in.

 

Spoiler

The scene where it shows the deceased brothers reuniting in the afterlife after Kerry shoots himself. I get the idea behind this was to give something of a hopeful message after all the other depressing scenes especially since these are all real people but it kind of does the thing where I feel like will give people the wrong message where it basically says "Depressed and feel like your life is falling apart? Try killing yourself so you can meet your loved ones again. There are no downsides to this."

 

So on one hand I'm not opposed to the scene because like I said it was probably included to give something of a hopeful feeling after all the other tragedies but on the other I think it's just because suicide is a very difficult topic to cover and portraying it like that feels like it's approaching a muddy territory.

 

That said, the scene still hit hard but the scene that hit the hardest was the ending. I'll put it in the spoiler since I think it's best experienced without knowing about it.

 

Spoiler

The ending scene where Kevin is crying watching his two sons play and when they ask him why he might think he's sad and he says "Well I guess it's because I used to be a brother, and now I'm not a brother anymore." just hit really hard and I think on top of knowing it's a true story but I guess in some way I can relate to it too. There are very few movies that I can say really hit like that and this one is easily in the top 10 for me.

 

So yeah, I really liked this as tragic as it was and highly recommend it.

[ChilledBrandon]

The Black Phone (2021)

Rewatch with it being on Netflix. One of my favourite horror films in recent memory. I loved Ethan Hawke's performance in this, he's usually an actor that plays mild-mannered, good guys in films, so I loved him getting out of his comfort zone and playing the villain, especially in a horror. This film does an excellent job gettng under your skin.

Edited May 20 by ChilledBrandon

[wolvieware]

Watched Unfrosted last week on Netflix. A movie about the creation of pop tarts but it goes down the stupid spoof route so unsure how much of this is historically accurate. It’s a shame as it could have been funny and still provided a more realistic story, like the recent Flamin Hot Cheetos movie. Instead, it was moderately funny and instantly forgettable. 

[ChilledBrandon]

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

The dialogue in this movie is just incredible. Laughed out loud so many times watching this again tonight. What a ride.

[Slava]

Speed Racer (2008)

 

 

The movie aged wonderfully. It's crazy and very cartoony, and it's exactly what this film needs. The Wachowskis understand fun. The intro scene with Speed as a kid shows him entering the world of his own imagination where his drawings come to life. This is what the whole film feels like.

 

The cartoony feel extends to every aspect, from obvious green screen and unnatural colours that feel like they can only be achieved through nuclear fusion, to Mario Kart-like elements that include pilots throwing beehives at opponents. But genuinely, some parts still look dazzling and breathtaking, or at least interesting. The visual flair of colourful explosions or reflections in the ice caves, the insane-looking tracks and cars themselves, all the little touches like weirdly-shaped TV's, sped-up comedy bits, and even the reference to The Horse In Motion. The Wachowskis have always been rich with ideas. 

 

I absolutely loved how they did the transitions in particular. The wipe transitions in this film use a moving close-up of a face to split the pictures, and they evolve from there, appearing throughout the movie with new variations (using the monkey and penguins, doing multiple faces at the same time, and so on). Not only that, they also play into the non-linear story-telling techniques that smartly edit the past and the present together.

 

The story reflects the same qualities as the visuals: it's cartoony, and it aged well at the same time. The young racing prodigy Speed Racer gets a sponsor offer from a ridiculously big corporation, which is revealed to be a part of a business scheme. On the other side, our character's family and girlfriend remind him what racing is really about. Somehow, the film's theme turns into a more broad one - "business vs art". As you can guess, the film goes full anti-corpo, painting them as villainous corrupt snakes.

 

Speaking of the family, I was charmed by pretty much everyone on this re-watch. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman play great parents. Goodman's charsima is unparalleled. Christina Ricci's Trixie was equal parts cute and cool. I even liked Spritle and Chim Chim. Hell, even the brief scene between Speed and Sparky managed to become a touching moment for me. Matthew Fox was a little ridiculous, though. But it's probably mostly caused by his goofy outfit. Oh, and Hiroyuki Sanada is here for some reason too, can't complain.

 

I lnow this film wasn't well-received when it released. However, I remember loving it when I watched it 15 years ago and rating it highly. Then, for some reason, I reduced the score to 7, and now I see that I was weak. Speed Racer deserves more.

Edited May 24 by Slava

[Thephoenixshow]

saw furiosa was  a very  good film 

Edited May 24 by Thephoenixshow

[ozymandias1994]

Good movie. Not exactly what I expected, but cool.

[Crzy Minus]

[ChilledBrandon]

The Menu (2022)

Great watch, I loved the concept of this movie. Ralph Fiennes gives such a commanding, excellent performance.

[Redgrave]

 

I haven't read the comic this is based on so I don't know how it compares but this felt like it had some pacing issues which is probably the best way to describe it. It's also ironic it would since The Flash is the main character. But yeah I don't really have much else to say about it. I'll watch Part 2 whenever it comes out but I feel like I will forget most of what happened in this unless there's a recap.

 

 

I was excited to see this after how much I liked the first one but I felt kind of underwhelmed by it. I don't think it was bad but it didn't pull me in as much as the first did and I can't really say why. It has a lot of cool scenes like the arena fight but I also felt like there were a lot of timeskips which I know is inevitable because the source material is very long but the last 40 minutes felt like they were trying to wrap it up as best they could. I'll still be down to watch Part 3 though.

 

It was also cool seeing Christopher Walken be the Emperor. The whole conflict could have been resolved if he said "Spice? We don't need that stuff no more. What we need is more cowbell!" followed by a montage with Don't Fear the Reaper playing.

[Night-Shades13]

Furiosa

This one takes over number 1 spot movie of the year for me, beating Dune 2. Beautiful movie 🙏

Edited May 27 by Night-Shades13

[ChilledBrandon]

Beetlejuice (1988)

Thinking of seeing the new Beetlejuice sequel when it comes out. I thought I'd give this another watch to refresh my memory. What a classic!

[wolvieware]

Watched Beverly Hills Cop last week. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this so it felt pretty fresh but it was surprising how much of it came back to me as we watched. The plot is simple, but the film succeeded due to its characters and the wise cracking dialogue from Eddie Murphy. Unlike subsequent movies, it really worked here as he tried to talk himself into or out of situations and was quite funny. Might move onto the other movies soon. 

[Subline72]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, solid but a step below any of the trilogy imo.

[ChilledBrandon]

Shutter Island (2010)

 

Excellent movie. I always appreciated how much Martin Scorsese got out of his comfort zone with this. Seeing him direct something that had a lot of horror elements was really enjoyable and a breath of fresh air. I think Leonardo DiCaprio gives one of his best performances here.

[ShinigamiSensei-]

 

Entertaining, especially due to Jennifer Lopez's committed performance cause she does enough to keep me interested for parts but nothing you've never seen before...but, we're talking about netflix, it could be worse right?

Edited May 29 by ShinigamiSensei-

[Thephoenixshow]

finally got round to watching this was a very sweet film 

[Caquis_1]

 

Rewatched all the Planet of the Apes trilogy before seeing the new one on cinemas (which I haven't see yet and most probably will see today). Good movies this time around, had a lot of fun with these ones.

[Thephoenixshow]

just watched this it was alright not the best 

[Thephoenixshow]

just watched this was a bit better than the first

[Shaowsintzu]

The Last Stop in Yuma County (2024)

The Fall Guy (2024)

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)