Rate the last movie you've seen

[beat_truck]

The Night Eats The World 5/10 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4266076/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 Meh. Not bad, but rather dull.

[Neil]

The Nun (2018) - Don't bother. Shallow and lazy. 3/10

[Mike70]

Creepshow 2. 2/10. I know most of us have seen this. I recently re-watched it and WOW! This movie is feckin' terrible. Go no further than the first story. Could have been great but when a guy walks into his garage, hears a noise, and gets caulked in 5 seconds, not much room is left for tension or suspense. Rinse and repeat on the other bad guys. The Raft is mildly entertaining but again suffers from a lack of any sort of tension. The Hitchhiker tries to be redeeming but by that point in this film I was pretty done and just wanted it over.

[EvilNed]

Might as well pick up where I left off... This is around April. Killer Crocodile Crappy italian 80's croc film. Good looking croc. Dr. No Never seen it before, loved it. From Russia with Love Ditto! Contagion Yeah, like everyone else this year I watched this... Still a favorite. Killer Crocodile II The croc still looks good. Edge of the Axe Not a very exciting slasher from José Ramon Larraz. Dressed to Kill A very exciting thriller from Brian de Palma! Missed out on much of his work until this year - and wow! He's amazing. Doctor Zhivago I should have left it untouched. It's a great film but was better in my memory. The epic feel of it and setting are unbeatable, though. Orca: The Killer Whale Good film with a twisted killer whale out for revenge. It could have been better, but it's pretty damn dark and morally ambiguous- which I like. Uncut Gems Second viewing. For those of you who haven't seen this - do it now. A Quiet Place Hyped, not for me. It was Ok I guess but overrated. The House by the Cemetary Keeps getting better with each viewing. Ending scene in the cellar is amazing. Body Double Loved it. Brian de palma, where have you been? Killer Nun Not great. But a fun ride. Still... Not great. Torso First ever slasher? Well, unless A Bay of Blood counts. Still one of the best, tho. Prefer it over all of the Friday the 13th films. Plot of Fear A solid giallo - if a bit technical and grey! But still, above par! Oasis of Fear Umberto Lenzi knows how to craft an entertaining and fast paced yarn. So why didn't he with this one? So Sweet, so Perverse Revisited this - and will watch it again further down the line. I'll write more on it later. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire The giallo set in Dublin. Pretty damn stupid and over the top, but never boring I guess. Confusing though. Btw, the fact that Ireland is divided is fucked up. UK - you really need to come off your high horses about "European influence". New York Ripper This film hurts. The knife hurts. So much. Destruction Force / La banda del trucido Decent eurocrime with Luc Merenda and Tomas Milian. Lots of action. The Worlds End: The Making of Day of the Dead Good, but mostly talking-heads, documentary about the Making of Day of the Dead. Wanted more, but - typical interview fashion - it mostly covers the basics. It could have been a podcast, if you know what I mean. Goldfinger At this point I think I was still holding out for a Bond 25-cinema release this year. Anyway... First time for me watching all of these. Goldfinger was great too! Loved it. Byleth - The demon of incest Best thing about it is the title. But it's the kind of film you can have on running in the background. Kickboxer JCVD kickboxer film set in Thailand to martial-arts-dramatic-beats-101. Easy to watch, very entertaining. Thunderball First time watching it I thought it was the lesser of the first few films. But now, a couple of months later, I may have re-evaluated it. If there's one film among the first batch of Connery's I'd like to rewatch it's this one. Blofeld, Largo, the harpoons, west indies... Great stuff. You Only live Twice Here it starts going downhill. First few steps into what would later become silly Roger Moore-territory. It gets outlandish, hidden volcano bases, ninjas en-masse, capturing spaceships. I think my general rule of thumb for these films are - if the villains research and development-department has managed to outperform that of what I percieve far beyond the realm of possibilities for superpowers, then I'm not buying it... And there's loads of that up ahead. On her Majestys sercret service Wow. Back to form. George Lazenby isn't great, but he's not bad. And the film itself is just right. Feels like the most emotional Bond-film by far - even counting the latter ones. The ending lends it the same kind of gravitas that The Great Silence gets from it's, an emotional suckerpunch when you're not expecting it. Also, I love Telly Salavas as Blofeld - but the film should have been reversed. This should have come before You Only live Twice, because for whatever reason Blofeld and Bond act as if they've never met and it irks me. Sisters Brian de Palmas early thriller. 1973 I think. I recently read the book written by the editor Paul Hirsh - and I think the film is really, really good, up until the third act which just throws such a curveball that it never recovers from. Still - a good film. Should be shown in film school as an excercise in tension. Squadra Antiscippo More Tomas Milian shenanigans. I remember a fisticuff scene in a construction site, but that's about it. Diamonds are forever I think this may be my least favorite Bond-film ever. It's the first time the series goes into fullblown silly territory and Sean Connery can't pull it off like Roger Moore can. Not saying I like Moore, but he's very good at not playing it straight and it just works better with him. Right about here I should also mention that I just recently finished a book with hundreds of interviews from all across the making of the Bond-films, including the non-official ones. I love listening to the anecdotes and stories of how people got casted, rejected, had fun, and how the series was constantly trying to renew itself. I really respect that. Spenser Confidential Netflix film - Mark Wahlberg playing himself. I'm not saying it's great, but this has been a really poor film year and I actually think this may have been the best film out of 2020. At least Mark Wahlberg is entertaining. The Criminals attack, the Police respond Sub-par Eurocrime. Trash. So Sweet, so Dead Bland giallo Extraction I think this is the film with Chris Hemsworth on Netflix. Lauded for it's action. Sure, but it's not very exciting. Åke från Åstol Stinsen brinner - filmen alltså Two swedish films by a comedic troupe that nobody here probably has any interest in.. But I love them. Live and Let Die Roger Moore's first outing. I rank it among the weakest Bond-films. Just not exciting and pretty tame. I don't think the 70's were a very good era for Bond, only really like one film. Yaphet Kotto is a great actor, however. Light the fuse, Sartana is coming I guess this is the last Sartana film? The titles don't really mean anything to me. The Man with the Golden Gun This one gets a lot of hate, but I like it. I like the smaller scale and the focus on a duel as it's climax. Interesting premise and overall I'm not a fan of the big action spectacles without the drama to support it. On a curious note, I think this is the last Bond-film to visit the Far East until 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. The Spy who Loved Me Features the exact same plot as You Only Live Twice, and both are directed by Lewis Gilbert. The film is decent though but it is perhaps the epitome of Roger Moore-Bond in all the wrong reasons. Moonraker Likewise - directed by Lewis Gilbert... And again - it's just a rehash of You Only Live Twice. Worthless and stupid. The villain's RnD-department really must have been working overtime to develop all those spacecrafts and lasers. The Night of the Hunter A bit dissapointed. Didn't really engage with it. For Your Eyes Only Best Bond-film of the Moore era and touched base with me. Much smaller scale, but more interesting spy-thriller. A cold war touch to it and the final setpiece set in the Greek mountains is excellent. First of five to be directed by John Glen. Octopussy Average. A pretty good villain tho. But overall, average. The Meg Over the top. Clearly very catered to an asian market, which means it's not very subtle in all the wrong reasons. The Karate Kid Would you believe me if I told you I'd never seen this one before? And now that I have, I can barely remember it? Allonsanfan Italian 70's drama set in the late 1800's about a revolutionary group why try to bring Napoleonic ideals to Southern Italy. A cynic take on the leftwing revolutionary fever of the time - the film depicts a reluctant revolutionary who sells out his brethren to the authorities. The Living Daylights Timothy Dalton is a much better Bond than Moore ever was. He's physical, determined, angry. Very violent. I thought the film was pretty decent and it marks the last time the Cold war played a backdrop for a Bond-film. Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye Average giallo set in a scottish castle. The suspects include a gorilla and a cat. Turns out it's neither... or? Hajen som visste för mycket Swedish film bla bla bla License to Kill First time Bond goes rogue, which - looking at the spy genre as a whole - seems to be the number one most used story cliché once the Iron curtain fell. After this Bond would do it again in Die Another Day, Quantum of Solance, Skyfall and Spectre. Only two Mission Impossible films, out of 6, actually feature Ethan Hunt doing proper work. Anyway... I liked this film a lot. It seems to be derided overall, but I think it holds up! Early henchman role for Benicio del Toro. Goldeneye Should be required viewing in a master class on action. Seriously, the action in this film is amazing. I love it. Having said that the music is really poor. Something which everyone seems to agree on. The Conformist Bertolucci's old yarn. Good film. Might have to revisit some time down the line.

[Mike70]

It. Miniseries. 1988 (I think. too lazy to look) 5/10. The problem with this is certainly not the cast. Really good TV miniseries cast. The problem is not the effects. The problem is the episodic nature of the story. This miniseries never really seems to have a flow to it because they are shifting back and forth between too many characters and too many stories. Take the introduction of the main characters. By the time Mike Hanlon is introduced as child, nearly an hour has gone by and his adult character has already been shown several times. I think the way to do this as a miniseries is to get rid of the character of Stan Uris entirely. He's not there at the end, don't waste time on him. This isn't a book. Time is precious in TV and movies. Collapse the introductions down to where we are getting several characters at once. After that, switching back and forth won't seem so episodic. My other main gripe? The way the kids interact is nonsense. 11 and 12 year olds don't talk like that. They can't really be that abstract and forward thinking because of the way the brain matures. The nearly philosophical discussions they get into are just drivel out of adult writers who clearly have forgotten what 12 years old is like.

[Neil]

It. Miniseries. 1988 (I think. too lazy to look) 5/10. The problem with this is certainly not the cast. Really good TV miniseries cast. The problem is not the effects. The problem is the episodic nature of the story. This miniseries never really seems to have a flow to it because they are shifting back and forth between too many characters and too many stories. Take the introduction of the main characters. By the time Mike Hanlon is introduced as child, nearly an hour has gone by and his adult character has already been shown several times. I think the way to do this as a miniseries is to get rid of the character of Stan Uris entirely. He's not there at the end, don't waste time on him. This isn't a book. Time is precious in TV and movies. Collapse the introductions down to where we are getting several characters at once. After that, switching back and forth won't seem so episodic. My other main gripe? The way the kids interact is nonsense. 11 and 12 year olds don't talk like that. They can't really be that abstract and forward thinking because of the way the brain matures. The nearly philosophical discussions they get into are just drivel out of adult writers who clearly have forgotten what 12 years old is like. I seem to remember the first episode (half) being good, and the second half, and in true King fashion, the ending being really bad.

[Mike70]

I seem to remember the first episode (half) being good, and the second half, and in true King fashion, the ending being really bad. The ending with the creature sucks monkey nuts. I've never liked that. It's depiction as a clown is plenty creepy enough. His true form should've been left kinda mysterious. Clown or a stop motion spider/scorpion/whatever creature? Easy choice every time. Clowns freak me out. - - - Updated - - - The Vampire (1956) 6/10. I watched this mostly because Kenneth Tobey from The Thing is in it. I was pleasantly surprised. The 6 is mostly for the cardboard sets and tacky production. The acting is solid for a matinee movie made for $115,000. The story is actually rather original for the time. A doctor is accidentally exposed to pills that turn him into an addict and a blood thirsty lunatic. The Vampire came out a time when horror films in the US were rather passe and Sci-fi was dominating the matinee screens. Because of this, the film is way more science fiction than horror. Even the "monster" isn't your usual vampire stereotype. Interesting little film.

[MinionZombie]

Mayhem Starring Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving. There's a virus on-the-loose, which disinhibits those who are infected and leaves them as 'raging id' for several hours, and it manages to infect those in a law office. Yeun's character has just been fired and Weaving's character is trying to get her family home back, so they seize the opportunity to do battle up the building towards the penthouse where "the nine" (the company board) are holed up. It moves fairly briskly and is a fun watch, but I don't think I'll be in any hurry to re-watch it. Considering the extensive content warning attached to it, I was surprised there wasn't much more violence and sex in the movie. Sure, there's plenty of violence, but it rarely stepped into "holy shit!" territory, and the 'strong sexual content' was anything but. One pair of boobs and then a bit of arse as mostly-clothed office workers rut clumsily? Ooooooh, so daring. Anyway, it was a good watch for the duration with a sparky sense of humour, and the lead duo worked well together but, considering the title, the movie often felt like it was kinda holding back and taming its own id - afraid to actually go anywhere near 'too far'. - - - Updated - - - Elvira's Haunted Hills The belated (13 years belated, in fact) sequel to 1988's Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The original movie was quite good fun and had a fair bit of scale to it, but this sequel (which doesn't have anything to do with the first movie) is obviously shot on a much more limited budget (apparently $1.5m, which is six million dollars less than the original). The plot isn't all that interesting and just kinda meanders along with not a lot of energy and the few gags that there are along the way usually fall flat or kinda turn up half-inflated. It's a real shame as the original movie had quite a lot of spark to it and was very entertaining.

[Neil]

Blended (2014) - A typical Adam Sandler romantic comedy, but a perfectly enjoyable family flick 7/10

[Tricky]

I seem to remember the first episode (half) being good, and the second half, and in true King fashion, the ending being really bad. The more recent films went the same way, pretty strong part one but in part two they went down the wisecracking and way, waaaaaaaaay too much CGI route and it just wasn't scary in the slightest. Everything was about big CGI sequences and in your face "shocks" rather than subtle and extremely creepy like the book. Shame as Bill Skarsgard made a good Pennywise and they got quite a lot right in part one with the leper scene etc

[shootemindehead]

'Spider-man: Homecoming' As someone who doesn't qualify as a Marvel fan, of either the movies of the comics they came from, I have always been aware of Spider-Man, largely due to the animated TV show that did the rounds continuously for years since they were first made in the 60's. So, who he is and what he does has been known to me for decades. But I don't think he's ever transferred to live action terribly well. The 80's TV was hilarious for all the wrong reasons and the Sam Raimi films left me very cold indeed, helmed by an unbearably insipid lead and a wishy-washy love interest. The recent reboot efforts were ok, and Andrew Garfield was a charming enough Peter Parker, but they were still just ok with nothing about them being particularly memorable. In addition, the sheer rebooty mess that the screen efforts have left in their wake just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (a weird title) is probably the best effort to bring the friendly neighbourhood webbed wonder to life that's been done yet. That may be because Tom Holland makes for an agreeable central figure or that it makes efforts to tie into a greater story, al la 'The Avengers' timeline (not that I am an expert on that mind you). But it adds up to a more satisfying whole than anything that's come before and to it's benefit eschews, completely, the origin aspect that everyone and their mother already knows about at this point. Other bonus points are the inclusion of B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶ Michael Keaton as the lead antagonist - The Vulture - a guy who's not an alien or a god or someone with a blue box or a shaft of light that wants to take over the world/galaxy somehow. He makes for a refreshing, if somewhat low key bad guy, who enters into his role due to the spiky nature of a run in with faceless government types in the movie's opening. Keaton's character certainly isn't a good guy that's been simply undone by bureaucracy however, as evidenced by his willingness to murder in an attempt to pursue his goals. There's also pleasing "comic relief" in the form of Peter's classmate, Ned (Jacob Balaton), who provides the film with some humour and, an even better looking 56 than she was at 36, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May (as unlikely as that seems at first) who almost ends the film with its best line. It's helped too, by yet another scene stealing display by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Ironman, who remains, without a single doubt, the best Marvel character to see the light of day. Where the film falls down a bit is with it's meh side story, involving Peter's crush and a "twist" that everyone must have seen coming from a mile off. Another issue is in the fact that it's probably essential to have seen other Marvel movies, before you can sit down to this one, which is never a good thing. In any case, 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' is probably one of the more enjoyable Marvel efforts that I've seen and I'll probably check out 'Spiderman-Far From Home' on the back of it...after I've put myself through 'Avengers - whatever" first. 7/10

[Mike70]

I 've probably ruined my eldest step-kid on phantasm shit. Ghosts leave him laughing. Funny because like my other hellions ,he loves SCooby-D00. He's ready to defend Scooby no matter what. My 17 year-old, "Dad, You are a fuckin' facist. Me: Guess that means into not. "Crazy how a little bit of foam has everyone running for cover." The sea is FUCKIN' HUGE tonight. I'll sleep well tonight. I love storms. That's why I used my book royalties to move out here.

[Neil]

'Spider-man: Homecoming' As someone who doesn't qualify as a Marvel fan, of either the movies of the comics they came from, I have always been aware of Spider-Man, largely due to the animated TV show that did the rounds continuously for years since they were first made in the 60's. So, who he is and what he does has been known to me for decades. But I don't think he's ever transferred to live action terribly well. The 80's TV was hilarious for all the wrong reasons and the Sam Raimi films left me very cold indeed, helmed by an unbearably insipid lead and a wishy-washy love interest. The recent reboot efforts were ok, and Andrew Garfield was a charming enough Peter Parker, but they were still just ok with nothing about them being particularly memorable. In addition, the sheer rebooty mess that the screen efforts have left in their wake just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (a weird title) is probably the best effort to bring the friendly neighbourhood webbed wonder to life that's been done yet. That may be because Tom Holland makes for an agreeable central figure or that it makes efforts to tie into a greater story, al la 'The Avengers' timeline (not that I am an expert on that mind you). But it adds up to a more satisfying whole than anything that's come before and to it's benefit eschews, completely, the origin aspect that everyone and their mother already knows about at this point. Other bonus points are the inclusion of B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶ Michael Keaton as the lead antagonist - The Vulture - a guy who's not an alien or a god or someone with a blue box or a shaft of light that wants to take over the world/galaxy somehow. He makes for a refreshing, if somewhat low key bad guy, who enters into his role due to the spiky nature of a run in with faceless government types in the movie's opening. Keaton's character certainly isn't a good guy that's been simply undone by bureaucracy however, as evidenced by his willingness to murder in an attempt to pursue his goals. There's also pleasing "comic relief" in the form of Peter's classmate, Ned (Jacob Balaton), who provides the film with some humour and, an even better looking 56 than she was at 36, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May (as unlikely as that seems at first) who almost ends the film with its best line. It's helped too, by yet another scene stealing display by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Ironman, who remains, without a single doubt, the best Marvel character to see the light of day. Where the film falls down a bit is with it's meh side story, involving Peter's crush and a "twist" that everyone must have seen coming from a mile off. Another issue is in the fact that it's probably essential to have seen other Marvel movies, before you can sit down to this one, which is never a good thing. In any case, 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' is probably one of the more enjoyable Marvel efforts that I've seen and I'll probably check out 'Spiderman-Far From Home' on the back of it...after I've put myself through 'Avengers - whatever" first. 7/10 I still love the Toby Maguire ones, well the first two in particular.

[MinionZombie]

Summer of 84 It's so rare for me to sit down and watch a movie that I know barely anything about. Normally, I will have seen a trailer, or I'll know who wrote/directed it, or I'll know who's in it, or will have seen some clips or read a review etc etc ... however, with this one, all I knew was the title, the poster, and the mini-blurb on the Shudder channel. That was it. As such, I came away very impressed by this movie and really enjoyed it. I got swept up in the characters (who have good banter and chemistry), it's beautifully shot, and while it could have used a little work in the red herring department to smooth over one or two cracks, it kept me watching and totally sucked me in. It was also ballsy enough to wrap things up in a way that Hollywood would never have done (this movie is a Canadian indie flick)... SERIOUSLY, THE FOLLOWING SPOILS THE WHOLE THIRD ACT OF THE MOVIE - AND, INDEED, THE ENTIRE MOVIE (so please, see the movie first if you do intend to watch it - don't say I didn't warn you):   So - Hollywood would have never done the following: 1) Having spent 90 minutes getting to know and love the central four friends, in a Stranger Things/Stand By Me kinda vibe, one of them gets murdered. No getting stabbed in the shoulder and surviving and everything's happy-ever-after, no, the poor lad is absolutely terrified, fleeing from the killer, gets caught, and has his throat slashed open and is left to bleed out in the dirt like a discarded animal. 2) The killer gets away. 3) The protagonist is left with the life-long dread that the killer will come back for him some day. It was a genuinely chilling scene when he explained why he wasn't going to kill the kid and was far more effective than the more traditional 'show down with the killer' type of ending you'd find in other films. 4) The single mother of the boy who was killed, ALSO ends up losing her house because she hasn't been able to keep up her mortgage payments. 5) The other two friends of the protagonist ignore him while they demolish the tree house where the four of them would spend their time hanging out. 6) The love interest for the protagonist flat-out moves away, leaving him basically friendless. Coming on the heels of a charming 'coming of age summer' movie, it's a super dark ending - and it really stuck with me. So yeah, I really enjoyed this flick. It generally gets labelled "horror", but if you go in expecting a horror movie, you're not going to get it. It's much more a coming-of-age summer comedy/drama with a darkness bubbling under the surface. ... I still love the Toby Maguire ones, well the first two in particular. Yeah, those flicks still hold up. The third one ... yeah ... it has some good bits, but it just got too big and out-of-control, and some parts just didn't work at all. It felt too cheesy with how it was making Peter 'dark', most of all. But yeah, the first two were awesome. As for the "Homecoming" title - it's purely a none-too-subtle wink at the deal that was struck in order to get Spider-Man away from Sony and back under the Marvel movie banner (the previous five Spider-Man movies had been made by Sony).

[Mike70]

From the Dark (2015) 9/10. A little Irish chamber movie with a main cast of three that packs an incredible punch. I won't say anything about this film because it's that good. The -1 on the score is for the usual contrivances necessary to cut people off from the outside world in the days of the cell phone.