rate the last movie you saw

[Paul MacLean]

I'm watching the Blu-Ray now -- saw it years ago on DVD -- but the behind-the-scenes story of this movie is positively BONKERS:

How is the transfer? The version I watched on Amazon was clearly a VHS-era transfer -- standard definition, washed-out colors, etc. Almost unwatchable!

[mkaroly]

THE 13TH WARRIOR is far superior, musically and in terms of energy. So is TIMELINE for that matter. Jerry's last gasp, those two.

Completely agree on THE 13TH WARRIOR. Have not heard TIMELINE in a long time though - may have to revisit that. Also really like LIONHEART.

[AndyDursin]

THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER
7/10

Unbelievable aerial sequences are easily the highpoint of George Roy Hill's 1975 film about barnstorming pilots and one particular one (played by Robert Redford) whose obsession and love for flying compensate for his lack of involvement in WWI.

Though the cast is terrific (Edward Herrmann and a young Susan Sarandon and Margot Kidder among them), the movie is primarily worth seeing just to take in the amazing stunts and actual flying sequences -- something nobody would ever shoot today. On the ground, though, the drama is tonally inconsistent (comedy to tragedy at a moment's notice) and ends on an elegiac, downbeat note in keeping with its era.

Some effective Henry Mancini dramatic scoring -- including one moment when Pepper leaves his cockpit during flight and literally climbs to the top of his plane -- is a definite plus. Check it out on Blu-Ray, just for the authentic aerial sequences (and, fortunately, there are a lot of them).

[Monterey Jack]

-The Fanatic (2019) 0/10







This is Battlefield Earth-level atrocious (and hilarious). It's free on Amazon Prime, and must be seen to be disbelieved.







This should be the new The Room.

[jkholm]

KNIVES OUT
6/10

Rian Johnson irritated Star Wars fans with The Last Jedi. Will he irritate mystery fans with Knives Out? This modern day update of a classic Agatha Christie type country house mystery is well shot and edited and features some good performances from Ana de Armas, Toni Collette, and Christopher Plummer among others. Daniel Craig's flamboyant detective character has a bizarre Louisiana accent which I found off-putting at first but I gradually warmed up to it and he ends up being one of the more likable characters. That's not too hard as almost everyone else in the cast is deliberately unlikable, thus making them all potential suspects in the demise of patriarch Plummer whose death may or may not be a suicide.

The plot is quite clever for the first two thirds of the movie but I found the ending a bit lacking. The movie doesn't crash and burn and the final explanation makes sense but it's just not as twisty as I was hoping. Finally, if you were annoyed by the politics of TLJ, you won't like this one either. No spoilers but the final shot makes it clear what's really going on with the underlying theme.

[AndyDursin]

Finally, if you were annoyed by the politics of TLJ, you won't like this one either. No spoilers but the final shot makes it clear what's really going on with the underlying theme.

Just a guess:

1. Girl power
and/or
2. Minority cast member "wins" (seeing as there are "too many white people" in it)

[AndyDursin]

AD ASTRA
5/10

Incredibly slow-going “outer space/inner space” drama houses a convincing performance from Brad Pitt but otherwise is distressingly Earth-bound when it comes to its slow-going, unappealing story.

Pitt plays an emotionally detached astronaut pressed into duty in order to find his long-lost father (Tommy Lee Jones), who went looking for extraterrestrial life decades before, and whose mission may be connected to “Cosmic Rays” that are now threatening the galaxy. Pitt’s Roy McBride’s journey includes a trip to the moon and other assorted run-ins with a variety of folks, including one of his father’s former colleagues (Donald Sutherland, making for a quasi-follow-up to his appearance with Jones in Clint Eastwood’s “Space Cowboys”)…but director James Gray seems more interested in McBride’s internal quest to become more emotionally invested in his life, as well as his estranged wife (a barely in-focus Liv Tyler).

“Ad Astra” offers detailed special effects and a moody Max Richter score (albeit with “Additional Music” contributions from the ubiquitous Lorne Balfe), but this is more along the lines of the ill-fated “Solaris” remake than “2001.” Gray’s sluggish pacing and Pitt’s monologues are so grating and dull that no amount of outer-space realism can compensate, with Gray offering the occasional “action sequence” seemingly as an obligation to his predictable messaging that the real journey into the human experience is inside us all – something we’ve seen in countless other movies offering a variation on this same theme.

[Eric Paddon]

Leave Her To Heaven (1945) 6 of 10

-Took a break from Christmas themed stuff to dig out my old DVD of this after I read that Criterion is coming out with a Blu-Ray in March (I did not get TT's Blu-Ray). I think I watched it once before a decade ago. Gene Tierney's performance of a twisted, disturbed woman who will kill out of her possessive need for love (and who likely has an underlying Oedipal obsession with her late father) is compelling but the film suffers from a bland leading man in Cornel Wilde and also a ridiculous and overly rushed "trial sequence" final act with a tacked on happy ending that doesn't have time to breathe. The thing that's ludicrous about the whole trial sequence is that Vincent Price, whom Tierney had jilted for Wilde, is being allowed to prosecute this particular case despite his personal involvement!

-As a 1945 movie in color the film has an additional point for that but by and large I really don't come away getting why this film is such a big classic.

[AndyDursin]

STICK (1985)
6/10

Burt Reynolds directed and starred in this Elmore Leonard adaptation as an ex-con, just out of prison, whose cell mate is murdered during a payoff – leading to him infiltrating the social circle of one of the thugs (Charles Durning) involved in his killing. That includes a goofy Florida millionaire (a bombastic George Segal) and his financial advisor (Candice Bergen), while stunt man Dar Robinson plays an albino hitman hot on “Stick”’s trail (and performs one memorable stunt).

Repeating his duties on “Sharkey’s Machine,” Reynolds gives a sympathetic performance in a movie that’s wildly uneven due to Universal’s insistence that the film be recut. After disliking Reynolds’ reportedly grittier take on the material in test screenings, Universal executives demanded the second half of the picture be reworked – this included the addition of Stick’s teen daughter among other new material. The result was a crushing disappointment for Reynolds, who said only the first half of the film was indicative of his original intentions.

While we will never know what “Stick” was supposed to be, what ended up on-screen is at least a good deal more entertaining than most of Burt’s vehicles from this period. The Miami locations and appealing cast make it thoroughly watchable, even if the stitches from reshoots can be plainly seen – the movie seems to go “soft” and never recovers, though Reynolds’ performance retains the audience’s support through it all.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray (1.85) looks perfectly acceptable for a Universal catalog master with extras including a commentary by critic Nick Pinkerton that addresses the film’s problems, plus the trailer and an image gallery. The 2.0 DTS MA stereo sound is nicely conveyed with an effective, Faltermeyer-esque score provided by Barry DeVorzon and Joseph Conlan (who were booted from the final two episodes of “V: The Final Battle”) that was supposedly the third score written for the film!

[Eric Paddon]

The Laughing Policeman (1974) 4 of 10

-Ugh. I got this in my Kino end of year sale deciding I could take a chance on it. The end result is a not very good attempt to ape the style of "French Connection" in a San Francisco setting. Problem #1-CHANGE THE TITLE! It makes no sense (yes, I know it's based on a book) but how many people I wonder went to this expecting a comedy? Problem #2-The plot is overly muddled beyond belief and makes no sense ultimately. Matthau and other SF detectives investigate a mass murder on a bus where among the victims is Matthau's partner who was doing something on his own. Ultimately, Matthau ends up suspecting a link to an unsolved case from two years ago he took part in but what makes no sense is that this means discovering late in the film that the key victim on the bus that they had no ID on was the fake alibi to the unsolved case from two years ago. Matthau should have already known that! It's just not a well-plotted thing, and as a result the red herrings it serves up along the way come off as a cheat. The cast is fine and Anthony Zerbe as Matthau's boss is tuning up for his K.C. Trench role from the "Harry O" TV series, but overall this is just not a good movie.

[BobaMike]

Eric, I bought the Laughing Policeman from kino on a whim a while ago too! I love me some Walter Matthau, and figured I could take a chance on it. But ugh, it was boring, confusing, and depressing. Matthau was good in it, but I'll just watch the Taking of Pelham 123 if I want to see him in a good 70's crime flick.

[AndyDursin]

Didn't care for Laughing Policeman either. Charley Varrick is a little overrated but it's a LOT better.

[Eric Paddon]

They Might Be Giants (1971) 4.5 of 10
-Strike two with my end of year Kino discount blind buys. Charming performances by George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward are utterly wasted in a film that just meanders maddeningly in which speeches and philosophizing take front and center to letting a story make a point with a little more understatement. The problem is there is no story. We get ill-defined McGuffins and insipid one-dimensional supporting characters and for the climax we get a bizarre slapstick scene in a supermarket followed by an ambiguous artsy/fartsy ending that in the tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey is something I *hate* seeing in a movie. I don't like being told by a director that I should invent my own interpretation of what this means. I want something I can chew on and *then* form my own conclusions of what is this telling us etc. When you don't deliver on something like that, then I think you've wasted my time and ultimately that's how I feel after seeing this. I'll listen to the commentary track another time but this is not a film I want to have to study multiple times in order to "Get" what's going on.

[Paul MacLean]

Charming performances by George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward are utterly wasted in a film that just meanders maddeningly in which speeches and philosophizing take front and center to letting a story make a point with a little more understatement.

I was considering paying to watch this on Amazon (the premise looked very interesting, plus it had a John Barry score), but glad I didn't. Thanks for the warning!

Any thoughts on Barry's score?

[AndyDursin]

It's very soft...nothing special really.

The movie starts off well but grows increasingly pretentious and the last half hour is a struggle to get through. A disappointment from the creative team of THE LION IN WINTER.