What is The Last Movie You Watched?

Planet of the Apes (Franklin J Schaffner, 1968 )

This aired on BBC Four the other night, or early morning and I wasn't going to watch it , but did. I saw this when it first came out and it remains a watchable film. The early scenes are however poor -after deep hibernation and in what looks like a hot dry environment, the three surviving astronauts decline a drink of water, and don't seem hungry either. Also, what looks like Utah or the West, doesn't quite match up with the astonishing final scene. That said, it has a tight script, and is filmed in the old, 1930s-40s style. And still better than any of the sequels. And Charlton Heston perpetually arrogant.

Rolling Stone has this review of the latest film by Ridley Scott, Napoleon.

I have not seen it yet, but from the trailers it seems the Corsican spends most of the time with his hat on, though I think he takes it off when he is in the bedroom. This is what made me laugh out loud, regarding the first sexual encounter between the First Consul of France, and, presumably, a woman called Josephine, as the script has her say this

"Having established Bonaparte’s lust for glory, and introducing the widowed Josephine as both an obscure object of desire and an equally committed striver, the movie begins to turn a punch-drunk eye to their overall lust for each other. She first seduces him by lifting her skirt and telling him that “if you look down, you will see a surprise” ".
‘Napoleon’: Ridley Scott’s Portrait of an Emperor as a Total Douchebag (rollingstone.com)

If only, unless history has deceived us, and she was Joe when born...(not to be taken seriously, like the film?)

Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail, 2023).

Get away from the city and its annoying people for a quiet weekend in the country with no email or social media to bother you, then find you need all the gadgets and comms- and people without whom life is barely possible. Right now a lot of my world is on my mobile phone, from my instant contact with relatives to my bookings for hotels, operas, the 49 Euro Deutschland Ticket to my flight home- lose it and I am lost, and though I have some print outs, I have become dependent on my phone to a scary extent, but if the world is going to end anyway I might as well sit back and watch the last episode of Friends, only I have never watched an episode of this bourgeois drivel, so it would be something else.

As for the film, it starts as it means to go on, and doesn’t explore the topics it raises, and has mostly obnoxious people. We need each other to live. Do we need each other to survive? Is it now down to satellites beyond our control?

'Robin Redbreast' from 1970 on DVD. Excellent, early folk horror movie.

The Killer (David Finchet, 2033).

Michael Fassbender stares out of a window in Paris, a workaday Schopenhauer in search of a purpose that passes him by like his ability to shoot a target, but the killer is the script, with muzak scored by The Smiths, a lethal mixture that has no antidote other than the ‘off’ button on your remote. This tired genre on this evidence does not have one foot in the grave, it is dead and buried. I am sure Fassbender was well paid, at least he got something worthwhile, and at least I didn’t have to contribute to my host’s Netflix sub.

A Fistful of Dynamite 1971

Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the film tells the story of Juan Miranda, an amoral Mexican outlaw, and John Mallory, a former member of the Irish Volunteer Army. After they accidentally meet under less-than-friendly circumstances, Juan and John involuntarily become heroes of the Revolution, despite being forced to make heavy sacrifices.

Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire (Zack Snyder, 2023).

Seven Samurai fused with Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Dune and much else makes this pastiche an inedible concoction that cannot be saved by its visuals. And to think there is even more to come. That said, it might appeal to the average 13 year old who has never read a book.

It's a Wonderful Life.
I'd never seen if before. It's okay, watchable.

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The Creator (Gareth Edwards, 2023)

2065 and the world is convulsed in a war between Humans and AI Robots. Guess who wins. I had never heard of this film, I guess it was straight to DVD that should have been straight to the bin. I bought it on a whim, but no amount of prayers can save it.

Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell commentary track.

I saw this movie when it was initially release. I think I saw it opening weekend. Anyway, I enjoyed it then, didn't realize it was a flop, and liked it way before it became a cult hit.

I saw it on the big screen again a few years back, I think for the 30th anniversary. I've had the two-disc DVD set for a few years, but this was the first time I listened to the commentary. Carpenter and Russell commentaries are always a lot of fun. They're great buddies and have a lot of laughs. The commentary is from around 2000, though, so it's amusing to hear them talking when they're both younger than I am now.

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Originally Posted by Ben

It's a Wonderful Life.
I'd never seen if before. It's okay, watchable.

Attachment 1440914

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Quite the terse review for an acknowledged classic.

Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)

This aired on the BBC in the early hours. A bog standard Russian Mafia film with all the usual stuff: the calm but ruthless Daddy, his out-of-control son (ie, Don Corleone and Sonny); the equally calm but devious chauffeur who slowly climbs the ladder (ie, Michael) and the innocent amongst thieves, the astonishingly beautiful, and wasted Naomi Watts. A waste of time and money with a plot that never holds the interest and has credibility issues, but what can one expect from Cronenberg?

Thoroughbreds (Cory Finley, 2017)

Saw this on tv. The idea might not be original, but I found this a fascinating exercise in personality swapping, though without the profundity of Bergman's Persona. Anya Taylor-Joy is outstanding as someone who morphs from pampered college girl to demon under the influence of a stunning psychopath. I think there is something here about gender roles. Rather like to see this again.

Dune, Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024)

It was a time of destiny, it was a time of war. It was a time of saviours, it was a time of spies. It was a time of storms, it was a time of...whatever, it just goes on and on and on.

Visually fantastic, but the story? I just don't care. Saw it in the cinema for the big screen experience. Note: if travelling from North to South, take the Worm Express, as there ain't no Kamils on Arrakis.

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023)

This is the kind of film that appeals to those who have read their Barthes, Foucault, Lacan and that generation of philosophes, as over two and half hours it presents an event which has at least three different points de vue, with the added delight that a German woman who lived in London with a French man has removed with him to an alpine chalet outside Grenoble where they converse, most of the time in English before and after his mysterious death. Half or more of the film is set in Court, and the conclusion of the Court is not necessarily a conclusion of anyone watching the film. For some reason, the Border Collie in the film is called Messi.

It could have been a pretentious disaster, but the editing, camerawork, and the script that has won most of its awards, make this a fascinating film, the only let down for me was the Prosecutor who I thought was too young, and too aggressive. I give this 8/10.

The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)

Another spiteful, nasty film from Campion. The film is bleak, with no redeeming features, while the basic premise of the film claims one needless death can be paid for by another, both by the hands of men. Horrible.

Air Force One (Wolfgang Petersen, 1997).

This aired on Film4 the other night, and though I have watched parts of it before this was the first time I watched it all the way through. It is rubbish, or course, but entertaining in its own by-the-numbers way. The bad guys lose, the good guys win, but what struck me most about the film is probably an in-joke -the alpha heroic President of the United States of America, who refuses to escape in his pod, remains on the plane and rescues the situation and defeats the terrorists -without removing his jacket. It is half off in one scene, but no matter whether he is hiding or fighting that piece of cloth remains in situ on his broad shoulders. Hilarious.

Rotten Tomatoes’ 300 Best Movies of All Time | Rotten Tomatoes

This list is compiled from reader's reviews, which is why it has little or nothing to do with Film as either art or entertainment, but merely the limited bank of opinion on a website. This explains why Spotlight is No 20 but Lawrence of Arabia is at 173 and another Lean classic, Dr Zhivago doesn't make it all. Neither does Ghost, which has in Whoopi Goldberg one of the finest comedy acts in movie history. Dirty Harry? Nah. Help me out with that one, one of the most penetrating cop films ever. But The French Connection does come in at 248 (!).

Just sad really.

Coming soon (but probably not to a cinema near you) -documentary about Tara Emory

The End of Wonderland review – trans porn star deals with eviction and a hoarding crisis | Film | The Guardian

No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky, 2023)

I don't know about hard feelings, but you have to be a hard core Jennifer Lawrence fan to want to sit through this. I hope she was well-paid. The film is set in Montauk, New York, which is only familiar to me before from Leaves of Grass. At least there is something there to enjoy. Shame about the film.

Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)

This aired on tv the other night, and it was the first time I have seen it. In general it is quite a good film, but in some specifics it begs a lot of questions, not the least of which is, do people who are used to being gregarious, go mad if they are isolated and on their own for as long as 4 years? Did Tom Hanks really have enough water for the journey once off the island, and what did he eat? Also, leaping from a week or so after the crash to 4 years was a jolt. That said, it was a watchable film, and it was a big hit at the box office.

Once Upon a time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

I understand that the definitive version of this film either does not exist, or is being hoarded by someone. What I have is the 2-disk version, and though I have seen it and the cinema release version a few times before, this time around, on its 40th anniversary, I have to say I dislike it. I know it is compared to Coppola's The Godfather, but that only makes it worse. Coppola's two films have everything going for them -the visuals, the music, the scripts and of course, the acting. All Leone has is a good eye, because the script is poor, and the acting wooden, even De Niro can't breathe life into his character; the best comes from Jennifer Connolly who was 13 or 14 when the film was made. The actual story is not substantial, being a re-hash of most group themes in films: either they are strong but then fall apart through greed and betrayal, or they are weak but become strong through an act that cements their solidarity -Godfather has both. The more obvious problem is that at times the jump from the 1930s to the 1960s looks so sudden you think there is a scene missing, and there probably is. All in all, Leone will be remembered for his other films. He spent too much time on this film, and it shows.

The French Despatch (Wes Anderson, 2021)

If you don't like Anderson's films, you definitely won't like this one. I do, and I did. This aired on Film4 last night. It is a very clever film with a deadpan narrative that uses a fictional version of the New Yorker based in Ennui -or Paris, if you like- and not only pays homage to language through its writers, for example James Thurber and James Baldwin, but the editor, but also either pays homage or mocks the language of film too. In particular the scene with student revolutionaries could be an homage to Godard but as that is not possible, as Godard was and remains an insult to cinema and human intelligence, it stands as a delightful mockery; while car chases suggest the Bourne Identity. Well I loved it. And his ensemble cast fizzes through their lines.

Madame Web (SJ Clarkson, 2024)

Oh dear, what a tangled web she weaves, when at first she seeks to relieve, us of the misery of franchise films.

High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)

Low on talent, interest and anything else, another milestone in the decline of a once promising career in films for John Cusack. I am only glad I didn't have to pay to watch this.

Old (M Night Shyamalan, 2021)

Aired on Film 4 last night. Lacking in credibility, the screenplay is as bad as the acting. Dire. One of Shyamalan's worst films.

I agree. What makes some of his films so aggravating, is that - sometimes, there’s a better movie hiding in his script, but he’s unable to see it, because he is far too busy adding in layers of increased absurdity just to make his thin premise and attempt of a ‘gotcha’ ending possible. Many of his film would probably have worked in half hour TV shows of old, such as Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, but don’t work as long winded films. I’m surprised he still draws in enough cash for a production quality and star power his movies simply don’t deserve. Many of them would be far better as low budget pulp.

Deadpool and Wolverine - It is a funny take on the MCU superhero genre, but not
enough there to want to see it again.

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Originally Posted by fred41

I agree. What makes some of his films so aggravating, is that - sometimes, there’s a better movie hiding in his script, but he’s unable to see it, because he is far too busy adding in layers of increased absurdity just to make his thin premise and attempt of a ‘gotcha’ ending possible. Many of his film would probably have worked in half hour TV shows of old, such as Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, but don’t work as long winded films. I’m surprised he still draws in enough cash for a production quality and star power his movies simply don’t deserve. Many of them would be far better as low budget pulp.

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Good points with which I agree. Shyamalan can create a narrative which flips at the end, a trick that cinema has pulled for a long time, and is terrific when it works, but lame when it does not. It just doesn't work in Old.

Civil War (Alex Garland, 2024)

I actually purchased the DVD for this. There are no special features on the disk, probably because this is not a special film. I am not sure if it is about a civil war in the US or the Voyeurs who don't want to fight but photograph the people who do, albeit at some risk to themselves. But that also means us, watching people watching other people kill each other. If that is supposed to reflect the time we live in then Vietnam got there before this film, and dare I say the impact it had on what Lefebvre might call the mentalité of Americans was profound in ways this film is not. And while some might say this is what Steve Bannon's 'Stalingrad every day' might look like were Trump to transform the US, were the context to this film 9/11 and the prurient observation of other people's grief, I doubt the film would even have been made.

Men (Alex Garland, 2022)

A tree, an apple. Woman takes the forbidden fruit, bites it, all hell is let loose. Garland garlands his film with images from mythology that relate to male and female fertility, in a narrative of distress, danger and the idea that the woman seems to accept, that 'all men are the same', not least because they are Rory Kinnear, but not a judgment of the man in real life. Either this film is a confrontation with misogyny, or pretentious art house crap, with a climax derived from Hieronymous Bosch and other images of hell. It was hell to sit through and I hope I never see it again.

Barbarian (Zach Cregger, 2022)

An entertaining film loaded with cliches -eg nice house, shame about the basement-, with I suspect a coincidental nudge to Parasite, and a climax that suggests The Ronnettes Be my Baby is actually rather a creepy song. But a dread-full ad for Detroit.

Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola, 2024)

I travelled to Birmingham to see this film, along with 10 others, 3 of whom walked out before the end. I paid £5.99 for the ticket, so I guess the cinema made at least £69.89 or c$88.13.

The decline and fall of the Roman Empire, or, the decline and fall of New Roma, aka Manhattan/New York/USA. All of the main female characters are under 30, all of the men over it. Most of the women are semi-dressed most of the time, only the two mothers in the film fully clothed and over 30. In one scene, Shi'a la Beef goes down on someone called Aubrey Plaza, whoever she is. I don't think she washed before the scene, but who knows? Adam Driver does what Adam Driver in all his films, stare into space with a blank expression in the vain hope nobody will notice, and I don't think many do. Jon Voight is a mega-rich Banker, or should that be a mega-rich W....his one time partner in a film still worth seeing, Dustin Hoffman has lines that include the words Fuck! and Shit! but I couldn't understand much else of what he had to say, which luckily is not much. Imagine, this crap goes on for over 2 hours.

The film is an embarrassment, with 85% of the dialogue unintelligible without sub-titles, the rest adolescent garbage.

The film cost Coppola at least $120 million, I suggest you save your dollars, pounds or Krone, as I guess this rubbish will turn up at 2am on a channel in California sometime in the future, right after re-runs of the Johnny Carson Show, so you can see it for free.

'Abigail'.....

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Originally Posted by MrFanti

'Abigail'.....

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And yet you don't have an opinion to share? Is it worth seeing? What's it about? I have not heard of it, so this is what I found

Abigail (2024) - IMDb

Soft and Quiet , it’s a bit disturbing but it’s really well made

Last Exit to Brooklyn. It has some scenes of depravity, of trans type people. Mostly it's a violent film with a pretty blonde sort of con artist, who reminds me of myself. Also has a union strike for you commies out there. (joke)

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Originally Posted by Yvonne183

Last Exit to Brooklyn. It has some scenes of depravity, of trans type people. Mostly it's a violent film with a pretty blonde sort of con artist, who reminds me of myself. Also has a union strike for you commies out there. (joke)

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Cannot stress too much what an amazing book Hubert Selby Jr wrote, I urge you to read it if you haven't, but it is significantly more explicit that the film could be. It helped convince me I was right to judge my desires to be natural, not some weird fetish.

The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)

A new twist on an old theme -how does someone in their 60s revive their lost youth? Does it end well? what do you think? From Faust through Frankenheimer's Seconds, the message stays the same. Demi Moore not in bad shape for a 62 year old, and you see most of her as this is a very body, and often ass-conscious film. It is very well made and one of the best new films I have seen this year, along with Anatomy of a Fall. I rate this 8/10 even with its predictable conclusion. Also I don't think of this as part of the 'horror' genre, as it has a biting satire to it and is never really shocking.

The Empty Man (David Prior, 2020)

Buddhism meets Friday the 13th, which sounds like a contradiction in terms, and is, though the explanation might leave you feeling empty.

Filmed in South Africa, set in Bhutan and the US, October encourages cinema and tv (this was shown on Channel 4's Film 4 channel) to show 'horror' films, one of the least interesting genres along with superheroes, musicals and anything to do with vampires, zombies and Melissa McCarthy.

A