Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[dreaMaker]

Orphan

8/10

I loved it! Vera Farmiga was fantastic, as always... And the whole atmosphere was just great.

[Heksagon]

Marley & Me (David Frankel, 2008) 4.5/10

Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) 6/10

What's New, Pussycat? (Clive Donner, 1965) between 6.5 and 7/10

Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932) 9/10

s1m0ne (Andrew Niccol, 2002) 2.5/10

The Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz, 1933) between 5.5 and 6/10

Each for Himself and God Against All (Werner Herzog, 1974) between 4.5 and 5/10

Jagged Edge (Richard Marquand, 1985) between 4 and 4.5/10
--Good premise, mediocre screenplay, terrible direction

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollett, 2008) 4/10

Gwoemul/The Host (Bong Joon-Ho, 2006) around 6.5/10
--Not bad, but not worth the hype either.

Maverick (Richard Donner, 1994) 1.5/10
--I avoided this film for a long time because I presumed it to be terrible. I finally decided to give it a chance, and it was even worse than I had imagined.

[Precious Doll]

Together Again (1944) Charles Vidor 4/10

The Housemaid (1960) Ki-Young Kim 8/10

Sparkle (2007) Neil Hunter & Tom Hunsinger 5/10

Disengagement (2007) Amos Gitai 4/10

Animalada (2001) Sergio Bizzio 6/10

[Sabin]

Thirteen Days (Donaldson) - 7.5/10
History lesson-filmmaking has become a page ripped out of the current playbook. Movies like Thirteen Days quenched the audience's desire for entertainment by way of tense narrative structure and iconic movie star plug-ins. Thirteen Days is an incredibly efficient piece of storytelling with one of the worst performances of modern era stuck in the middle. Kevin Costner is such an exceptional comedic film presence and such a milquetoast and vainglorious dramatic one (with some exceptions), but he's never done anything as batshit funny as his BAHSTAAAAAAHN accent in this film. Beyond the fact that his Kenny O'Donnell just feels like an exagerration of impact (very Costner), the affectations are still-born and yet made to dance and detract from everything else. He sucks. As a producer, he raises the dead. Films about American politics either relish in nihilism and hopelessness (Traffic) or simplify painfully (The Contender, to pick two from that year). Thirteen Days is both an old-fashioned time capsule without fuss or muss and yet serves as something insanely hopeful. Deliberation wrongly perceived as weakness. Like Apollo 13, it's workerman that works. Its stylized visual affectations stick out like a sore thumb, but really this is something that we need more of. Not to be overrated, but in rare stock.

[Precious Doll]

Precious, have you ever given an 8, 9 or 10 to a movie here?

A few times. Still Walking, Mother, The Queen and I, Wild Boys of the Road.



Edited By Precious Doll on 1252657941

[dreaMaker]

Precious, have you ever given an 8, 9 or 10 to a movie here?

[Precious Doll]

Clandestinos (2008) Antonio Hens 4/10

Other Men's Women (1931) William A. Wellman 5/10

Killshot (2008) John Madden 1/10

Cadillac Records (2008) Darnell Martin 4/10

Push (2009) Paul McGuigan 2/10

[Zahveed]

Ponyo - 7/10

With the exception of the fish-to-girl transformation and the grumpy dad, I don't understand the complaints about it being too "Little Mermaid". It's fun to watch, though.



Edited By Zahveed on 1252534778

[flipp525]

A Patch of Blue; dir Guy Green (1965) 9/10

Rewatched this having recently DVRed a Sidney Poitier marathon on TCM. Boy, does this age well. It has the timeless quality of "outsider-dom" that makes Selina's struggle to find her place in a dark, miserable world inspiring and relatable. Shelley Winters (Best Supporting Actress Winner) is ferocious, frightening and fantastic as the roaring bitch Rose-Ann D'Arcey.

But the real revelation is the then-unknown Elizabeth Hartman as Selina. She doesn't fall into any of the traps of playing a blind person. Her sheer terror on display during the scene where Selina is caught in a rainstorm is just magnificently portrayed. Most disturbing scene: Selina describes her rape in a matter-of-fact way, not seeing the horror on Poitier's face as he takes it in.

I think Hartmann gives the best performance that year out of the five nominated women in Best Actress and I will proudly be voting for her in jowa jilly's poll.

The simple, quiet and beautiful Jerry Goldsmith score was a new discovery this time around. I'm glad it was recognized by the Academy with a nomination.



Edited By flipp525 on 1252527909

[Zahveed]

Lolita (Kubrick) - (6/10)

It drags quite a bit and there isn't any forbidden kind of chemistry between the two leads, more of just an obsession from the stepfather - which I guess is kind of the point, but there is still no tension in the air. Peter Sellers is great though, but the premise promised more than delivered. The first scene is the best in the entire film.

[Big Magilla]

As for Phyllis Calvert, she's only in two scenes and nowhere near as impressive as Eileen Herlie in 1972's The Woman I Love with Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway or Peggy Ashcroft in 1978's Edward & Mrs. Simpson with Edward Fox and Cynthia Harris.

Another impressive Queen Mary I recall is Greer Garson in Crown Matrimonial, a 1974 Hallmark Hall of Fame production covering the same material. She was a central figure in all these productions except the 1988 version.

Are The Woman I Love and Crown Matrimonial available on dvd?

No.

None of the old Hallmark Hall of Fame productions are available on DVD so I doubt Crown Matrimonial will ever be released but Universal produced The Woman I love so it's possible that they will see fit to releasing it some time in the future.

[anonymous1980]

Netflix shows that Lino Brocka has some films available for rental. I don't have any idea what the audio/video quality is though.

It's not a Criterion-quality print but it's quite watchable considering the fact that we're kind of a poor country our government unfortunately isn't doing a good-enough job in trying to preserve classic Filipino films. A lot of them have been lost (our silent films and the Juan Tamad films of Manuel Conde, considered to be one of the finest films of Filipino, just to name a few).

I'm just grateful these films are now being released on DVD and can be viewed by a younger, wider audience.

[Reza]

As for Phyllis Calvert, she's only in two scenes and nowhere near as impressive as Eileen Herlie in 1972's The Woman I Love with Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway or Peggy Ashcroft in 1978's Edward & Mrs. Simpson with Edward Fox and Cynthia Harris.

Another impressive Queen Mary I recall is Greer Garson in Crown Matrimonial, a 1974 Hallmark Hall of Fame production covering the same material. She was a central figure in all these productions except the 1988 version.

Are The Woman I Love and Crown Matrimonial available on dvd?

[dws1982]

Netflix shows that Lino Brocka has some films available for rental. I don't have any idea what the audio/video quality is though. Unless it's a Criterion release, you never know what kind of a/v quality you're going to get with international films on DVD. They can look and sound great (Violent Summer), or they can be unwatchable (The Gospel According to St. Matthew).



Edited By dws1982 on 1252336568

[Damien]

Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang ("Weighed But Found Wanting) (Lino Brocka) - 9.5/10

Another highly recommended classic Filipino film.

Great film. It's a shame that Brocka isn't a (art) household name. He was one of the truly great -- and original -- filmmakers. (If he had lived into the Internet age, then his virtues would probably have been propegated throughout the world, much as Hou and Wong-Kar Wei have been.