rate the last movie you saw

[Paul MacLean]

The Incredibles 2 (7/10)

Very good picture, but not as good as the original. Familiar plot ideas from the first film resurface (family tries to live normal lives while coping with superpowers, while a hidden, unknown evil villain causes havoc).

Overall though, the movie is enjoyable, with some fabulous action sequences, and no shortage of touching moments. Michael Giacchino's score is highly effective, its jazzy strains pumping life into an already exciting movie. His music also makes for a refreshing change from the flavorless sonic gruel served-up by Remote Control Productions (and I have to admire Giacchino for letting the musicians have a go at some genuine jazz improvisation in the end titles).

While The Incredibles 2 doesn't match the freshness and originality of its predecessor, I have to say it is still better than almost any live action superhero movie made in the past ten years.

[Monterey Jack]

-Out Of Sight (1998): 10/10



Twenty years later, and Steven Soderbergh's jazzy, ebullient crime caper remains one of the most sheerly pleasurable films he's ever made. Adapting a novel by Elmore Leonard (Scott Frank supplies the whip-crack screenplay), boasting career-best turns from a rakish George Clooney and a ravishing Jennifer Lopez, featuring an insanely great supporting cast (Ving Rhames, a riotous Steve Zahn, Don Cheadle, Albert Brooks, and brief appearances by everyone from Nancy Allen to Viola Davis to a terrific, uncredited Michael Keaton, reprising his turn as Ray Nicolette from Quentin Tarantino's equally great Leonard adaptation Jackie Brown), and featuring one of the most genuinely romantic scenes ever filmed (Clooney and Lopez's frisky, erotically-charged flirting in a hotel bar), this is a film that's weathered the last pair of decades incredibly well, and stands as some of the best work from pretty much everyone involved.

[Monterey Jack]

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado (2018): 8/10



Who would have ever figured a movie like Sicario as potential franchise material? And yet Day Of The Soldado (engrossingly penned by returning screenwriter Taylor Sheridan and expertly-helmed by new director Stefano Sollima) turns out to be every bit as terse and wryly humorous as its predecessor. And Benicio Del Toro finally has a John Wick-style character to call his very own (including one of the best moments of casual badassery I've seen in a movie this year). In a sea of superhero flicks, CGI kiddie cartoons and dumb comedies, how nice to see something aimed at adults given the chance to flower with a sequel. Hell, sign me up for a third one right now!

[Paul MacLean]

No Country For Old Men (6/10)

An effective and suspenseful thriller for most of its running time -- until the last half hour, when the whole thing goes down the toilet, and it suddenly becomes "ambiguous" and "existential" (and pretentious). The final act is also very confusing -- I wasn't sure if Josh Brolin actually died (we never see his murder -- and his wife attends her mother's funeral but not his). By the end I assumed he must be dead because he didn't show up in any more scenes. Did Brolin walk off the film, forcing the Cohen's to abruptly write him out of the script? That's how it comes across.

And who is Xavier Bardem's character? Or Woody Harrelson's? The film never explains. I suppose the filmmakers were trying to be "artistically ambiguous", but too much was left up in the air. The vague, talky resolution was totally out of character with the rest of the narrative -- which was a thriller (and at times, almost like a remake of The Terminator).

Roger Deakins' photography is gorgeous though, I'll give it that.

[Johnmgm]

I had the same reaction the first time I saw “No Country.” I then read the book and all the same problems you explained appeared there as well. All I can say is the film is a very close adaptation of the book—for better or worse. It’s not one of my favorite Coen Brothers (the most consistently impressive filmmakers working today IMHO, they have *rarely* made a BAD film) and it’s not a patch on their masterpiece, Fargo.

[AndyDursin]

I certainly agree its not up to FARGO standards. McCarthy's prose/worldview is mostly unappealing to me in general, yet I did feel the Coens fashioned a very strong and tense film with excellent performances. The ending is what it is, but as a viewing experience it worked for me (though it's not a film I own or would revisit).

I think Paul would enjoy A QUIET PLACE more!

[Paul MacLean]

I certainly agree its not up to FARGO standards. McCarthy's prose/worldview is mostly unappealing to me in general, yet I did feel the Coens fashioned a very strong and tense film with excellent performances. The ending is what it is, but as a viewing experience it worked for me (though it's not a film I own or would revisit).

If the whole film had been crummy I could dismiss it, but the first hour and 45 minutes were excellent -- superbly well-acted (particularly Bardem), emotionally-charged (yet understated) and highly suspenseful. The resolution however was totally unstatisfactory to me. Brolin is one of the main characters, yet we are not shown his ultimate fate (nor, as I mentioned, is it even clear what happens to him). The story is "obviously" leading to a confrontation between Brolin and Bardem -- but never delivers one. Not that I had to have some kind of "Walter Hill" shoot-em-up -- if the story had offered some clever, unexpected twist on the presumed outcome, that would have been great.

But instead it just offers nothing, and goes off on a tangent and I just don't see what some old codger in a wheelchair reminiscing about his Uncle Chumley being shot on his front porch has to with the story at large.

And who does Bardem work for? What is Harrelson's role in this whole business? Again I wasn't expecting a Rambo-esque climax -- but some answers would have been nice.

[Eric Paddon]

A couple of the films I got in the Kino Lorber sale.

Ruby Gentry (1952) 5 of 10
-Blind buy because it was an early Heston film I'd never heard of. Now I know why. Heston is #2 in a vehicle for Jennifer Jones playing the kind of role his career would show he was mostly unsuited for as we're basically getting him in a Tennessee Williams type story. And Jones, I have to say I have only seen in "Song of Bernadette" and "Towering Inferno" so as a result seeing her as this "wrong side of the tracks" girl who tries to fit into the higher classes of her North Carolina community etc. with her wildcat attitude and subsequent ruthlessness in striking back against those who have wronged her, doesn't impress me too much. I kept thinking that this is a part that screamed for Ava Gardner who, being from North Carolina herself would have nailed this role perfectly and made it more compelling. In the end, the film really doesn't go anywhere and gives us a tragic ending in which James Anderson as her brother (showing why he was being typecast a decade later in "To Kill A Mockingbird") suddenly becomes the catalyst from out of left-field (and showing one of the worst cliched type characters Hollywood ever served up and still unfortunately serves up today in terms of the wild-eyed off-kilter Bible quoting fanatic). In the end, I'm amazed that so many better early Heston films like "Greatest Show On Earth" are MIA on Blu-Ray while a weak tea effort like this one has made it.

Five Miles to Midnight (1963) 6 of 10
-Marginally better, but ultimately IMO a waste. I had never heard of this film before but seeing the cast listing with Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins and a synopsis that called it reminiscent of Double Indemnity made me grab it. Loren and Perkins are an unlikely married couple living in Paris (Perkins had apparently been in the Air Force in Europe when they had a whirlwind marriage. Now he's a down-on-his luck expatriate) with a marriage on the skids. Perkins is already showing how the ghost of Norman Bates would impact the rest of his career as he is off-kilter and on the verge of fury at every turn. But the implausible narrative is that Perkins plane from Paris to Casablanca crashes, but he alone manages to be the sole survivor thrown out of the wreck (all of this is conveniently off-camera) and manages to make his way back to Paris unseen (another absurdity) and he persuades Loren to let everyone think he's dead so he can collect the airport flight insurance he took out. It's RIDICULOUS to think this kind of scheme could be constructed on the fly but it''s only because of the presence of the performers that you're willing to overlook things for awhile and see where things will take you. Anatole Litvack, who directed "Sorry Wrong Number" tries to outdo Hitchcock in the "suspense" category but ultimately this film cheats by grinding to a halt at the climax with a turn of events 15 minutes before the end that is shocking but keep you expecting for one final turn in the last minute that never comes.

[Paul MacLean]

-Blind buy because it was an early Heston film I'd never heard of.

You need to follow it up with a screening of The Private War of Major Benson!

[Eric Paddon]

LOL. *That* one I've heard of because Heston always wrote fondly about that film as a comedy he enjoyed doing though I've never seen it.

[AndyDursin]

Brolin is one of the main characters, yet we are not shown his ultimate fate (nor, as I mentioned, is it even clear what happens to him).

It's been a few years since I've seen it but I remember pretty clearly he's killed and it's shown. This is from the wikipedia wrap:

Moss (Brolin) retrieves the case from the bank of the Rio Grande and arranges to meet Carla Jean at a motel in El Paso, where he plans to give her the money and hide her from danger. Carla Jean is approached by Sheriff Bell, who promises to protect Moss. Carla Jean's mother unwittingly reveals Moss's location to a group of Mexicans who had been tailing them. Bell reaches the motel rendezvous at El Paso, only to hear gunshots and spot a pickup truck speeding from the motel. As Bell enters the parking lot, he sees Moss lying dead. When Carla Jean arrives, she chokes up upon seeing her husband's dead body.

The wikipedia page explains the plot...if you dosed off at all, it's easy to miss this, because it's pretty dense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Countr ... Men_(film)

But instead it just offers nothing, and goes off on a tangent and I just don't see what some old codger in a wheelchair reminiscing about his Uncle Chumley being shot on his front porch has to with the story at large.

That's the McCarthy POV, basically stressing that life and death are arbitrary and despite "law and order" (in the guise of Jones' character), there's nothing you can do to prevent it -- or someone like the Bardem character basically choosing the fate of Brolin's wife with a coin toss.

Kind of pretentious and offbeat, but thats the Coens for you.

And who does Bardem work for? What is Harrelson's role in this whole business? Again I wasn't expecting a Rambo-esque climax -- but some answers would have been nice.

Bardem works for whoever had the money Brolin stole (who I believe Bardem kills early in the film). Harrelson is (according to a site I looked up) "a bounty hunter hired by a bunch of high-rolling American drug dealers to kill" Bardem. I actually forgot Harrelson was in the film, I didn't remember his character at all until I re-read the plot summary.

[AndyDursin]

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES
5/10

Science fiction of an older kind is on-tap in THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES (293 mins., 1980), a Charles Fries-produced mini-series that starred Rock Hudson in a sprawling attempt to parlay off the success of “Star Wars” and the ensuing sci-fi craze of the late 70s. Regrettably, this lengthy NBC broadcast is just one in a long line of disappointing attempts to cinematically capture the prose of Ray Bradbury, with writer Richard Matheson struggling to mix adventure and ecological preachifying, all under Michael Anderson’s indifferent direction.

It’s a nice try, at least, with Hudson leading one of several expeditions to Mars, nearly all of which meet with some kind of terrible fate, mostly related to mankind’s inherent shortcomings. The message is clear, but it’s interesting watching Matheson balance some “Twilight Zone”-esque twists with action that occasionally comes straight out of a “Star Trek” playbook – down to a score by Stanley Myers (and Richard Harvey) that’s alternatively terrific and terrible in equal measure. The cast, meanwhile, includes Bernie Casey, Darren McGavin, Roddy McDowall and Fritz Weaver, along with Bernadette Peters, Gayle Hunnicutt and the original TV “Spider-Man,” Nicholas Hammond (Fries produced that series as well). It’s mildly diverting in sections but much too long overall, and dramatically relies on the ridiculous conceit that the human arrivals on Mars would so quickly, and with such little hesitation, accept the fact that their dead/missing relatives are alive and well on the Red Planet, with neighborhoods that match their old hometowns to boot!

Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray includes MGM-licensed 1080p (1.33) AVC encoded transfers that are all in decent shape – no question this Malta/Canary Islands-lensed production looks far better here than it ever did on TV. The DTS MA mono sound is passable, with an interview with actor James Faulkner provided on the supplemental side.

[Paul MacLean]

As Bell enters the parking lot, he sees Moss lying dead. When Carla Jean arrives, she chokes up upon seeing her husband's dead body.

Actually I don't believe there was a shot of Carla Jean seeing the body. The sheriff greets her and removes his hat and she breaks-down in tears -- but since there was no close-up of James Brolin's corpse (presumably that was him in the pool?) there is nothing to communicate to the viewer that it was actually his body. And since the next scene depicts Carla Jean at her mother's funeral -- with still no mention of Brolin's demise -- I assumed only her mother had been killed. Moreover, the script was -- intentionally or not -- leading one to expect a confrontation between Brolin and Bardem, which further suggested he was still alive.

Kind of pretentious and offbeat, but thats the Coens for you.

I reckon so. I'm aware of the Coen's reputation, but between this and Oh Brother Where Art Thou, I'm thus far not impressed!

[Paul MacLean]

The message is clear, but it’s interesting watching Matheson balance some “Twilight Zone”-esque twists with action that occasionally comes straight out of a “Star Trek” playbook – down to a score by Stanley Myers (and Richard Harvey) that’s alternatively terrific and terrible in equal measure.

I've only ever seen bits of this series. I'm a fan of Stanley Myers and agree this score has its moments...but that action cue with the hard rock and roll drums and electric guitar was definitely out of left field!

I remember thinking "What is this? Starsky & Hutch?"

[AndyDursin]

I guess Richard Harvey wrote the electronic music -- but none of THAT is on the soundtrack album, so why bother?!?!

Actually I don't believe there was a shot of Carla Jean seeing the body. The sheriff greets her and removes his hat and she breaks-down in tears -- but since there was no close-up of James Brolin's corpse (presumably that was him in the pool?) there is nothing to communicate to the viewer that it was actually his body. And since the next scene depicts Carla Jean at her mother's funeral -- with still no mention of Brolin's demise -- I assumed only her mother had been killed. Moreover, the script was -- intentionally or not -- leading one to expect a confrontation between Brolin and Bardem, which further suggested he was still alive.

Like I said, I only saw the movie once, over a decade ago now, so I was just posting what was on Wikipedia. I don't remember having any confusion over whether he was dead or not, though.

This website talks about it a little bit, basically summing up that his off-camera death, and the lack of a "final confrontation," sums up the overriding point of the film:

First, the movie says Moss is killed. We have to accept that as the truth unless the movie also gives us a compelling reason to suspect otherwise. Some viewers find such a reason in the fact that we don’t actually see his murder. It does seem odd, I grant you. We’ve been following his every move for so long, and then his death occurs offstage. Why?

I think that’s easy to answer. Because so much of the action has focused on him, we’ve been tricked into thinking he’s the protagonist of the story and forgetting who the real protagonist is: Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). After Moss’ death, the focus shifts back to Bell again, and it’s through his eyes that we learn Moss has been killed. Bell comes upon the scene at the motel, sees the body, informs Moss’ wife, and so forth.

One of the overarching themes of the movie is the unfairness and capriciousness of fate. You don’t get to choose what happens to you, at least not in the film’s worldview. “You can’t stop what’s comin’,” Bell’s uncle tells him. “it ain’t all waitin’ on you. That’s vanity.” By not giving us the satisfaction and closure of seeing Moss’ last stand, the film is emphasizing this theme of frustration and helplessness. We’re deprived of our expectations, just like the characters are.

https://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/no-cou ... s-of-moss/