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The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

Just watched Kiki's Delivery Service. I liked it. You remember how I said My Neighbor Totoro was all vibe and no plot? Well I think this one does a similar thing leaning more on vibe but this time I think it actually succeeds, though admittedly that's entirely due to my issue with Totoro's ending or rather lack thereof. Kiki's Delivery Service has a slow pace and fairly episodic structure that made it feel more like binging a series or better yet reading a novel. It didn't culminate in the most satisfying conclusion (Kiki miraculously regaining her powers for reasons seemingly unrelated to the whole passion metaphor they'd just spent the past five or minutes setting up was weird and abrupt) but at least I got some closure so I'm happy. That said the actual ending was Karate Kid level abrupt. The second they touch down you can feel the speedrun timer stopping as they cut straight to credits, but frankly at this point it was merciful. I may have enjoyed the movie but its slow and meandering pacing meant I don't think I could've stomached much more of it without my opinion starting to go sour. So yeah, overall I enjoyed it, but it felt like less than the sum of its parts. I will say it started really strong and gradually lost steam as it trailed off to nowhere, but they knew when to stop so it's okay.

As an aside, NES Princess Zelda is one of the customers when Kiki first enters the bakery. Kiki's mom is also named Kokiri. Between that and the entirety of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki films seem to have a strange spiritual connection to The Legend of Zelda, which is strange because Miyazaki definitely never played Zelda and in most of these cases the Zelda thing came first. Also Kiki's dad is clearly Muska from Castle in the Sky with his hair dyed. Trying to make sense of what culture the city was supposed to be was interesting. I'm 90% sure the place names on Kiki's map are Hawaiian, but the otherwise the city is definitely meant to be generically European, which makes the blatantly Japanese name Osono feel oddly out of place.

Eyepainter said:
This is why fanediting exists, and why saying that every version is the same movie is a fallacy.
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If this is aimed at my earlier statement, I'd like to clarify that what I meant was just that it's ultimately the same script and the same director. The vision is largely the same in the case of Legend. Not to say they're literally the same experience, I was just simplifying.
 
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Saw Aquaman 2, it was great it was actually like really really good but I want the cut Batman scenes
 
Lonesome (1928)

I have respect for a lot of films in the silent era (Whether it be directed by Charlie Chaplin or titled The Passion of Joan of Arc), and I was excited to see a silent film that addressed the topic of loneliness, but... I don't know. Maybe this one didn't age well. It was hard for me to watch this without thinking of so many romantic tropes and cliches (complete with "let's marry after knowing each other for only a few hours!"). A lot of people have said that the three dialogue scenes are bad (this was one of the first movies to have spoken dialogue, btw), and I agree with that criticism too. I suppose the Coney Island photography was nice, and it's comforting to realize that people were grappling with loneliness even back then. But overall, this is a mixed bag, and I hoped for so much more than what I got.
 
Kal-El said:
Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire (2023):
More proof that Netflix (or any other studio) seriously needs to stop giving Zack creative control over story and direction.
His best films were other people's stories (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Man of Steel, ...). He gets too crazy with no one to reign him in. This is just decent, while
there's a more than just decent film buried in between the abundance of slow motion and PG13 antics. Let's hope the extended R-Rated cut is its saviour.
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Ok
 
Krampus. watched it for the first time last week. It has good entertainment value, the story is ok though very linear and predictable, and the actors are good. The humor is very sticom-like, but it comes to no surprise with such a cast! Don't get me wrong, I like sitcoms, and here it was just enough to match the Christmas/Horror theme with a good balance. The movie will not go down in history, but will find a place on my Christmas shelf next to Die Hard. I guess I prefer non-traditional xmas movies...
 
daedal said:
I guess I prefer non-traditional xmas movies...
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On my annual/semi-annual Christmas watchlist:
Die Hard
Lethal Weapon
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Christmas Evil
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Scrooged
Gremlins
Better Off Dead
American Psycho
The Ref
and
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
 
mnkykungfu said:
On my annual/semi-annual Christmas watchlist:
Die Hard
Lethal Weapon
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Christmas Evil
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Scrooged
Gremlins
Better Off Dead
American Psycho
The Ref
and
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
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Haha! I dont know everyone of those titles, but Gremlins would be perfect for my xmas shelf. There is always next year!
 
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mnkykungfu said:
On my annual/semi-annual Christmas watchlist:
Die Hard
Lethal Weapon
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Christmas Evil
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Scrooged
Gremlins
Better Off Dead
American Psycho
The Ref
and
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
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Is Gremlins a XMAS movie? Or Halloween?
 
daedal said:
Krampus. watched it for the first time last week. It has good entertainment value, the story is ok though very linear and predictable, and the actors are good. The humor is very sticom-like, but it comes to no surprise with such a cast! Don't get me wrong, I like sitcoms, and here it was just enough to match the Christmas/Horror theme with a good balance. The movie will not go down in history, but will find a place on my Christmas shelf next to Die Hard. I guess I prefer non-traditional xmas movies...
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Is it a true horror or is it tone with Gremlins? Like a horror comedy?
 
Prism_Skywalker said:
Is Gremlins a XMAS movie? Or Halloween?
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The Nightmare Before Christmas is both, so why not this one too?

Major League (1989)

This one is a product of its time. Maybe in 1989, this was a laugh riot, but I feel like the first third, and the scenes between the Christian and the voodoo priest, were the film's peak moments. I found it odd that the villainess is barely in this film even though she is the centerpiece of the plot. And despite Charlie Sheen being billed as the main character, there isn't anyone to give this movie a clear focus. I could've done without the Rene Russo cheating subplot, too. Also didn't like the abrupt Karate Kid-style ending, either. My condolences to Cleveland.
 
Eyepainter said:
The Nightmare Before Christmas is both, so why not this one too?
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Nightmare Before Christmas deals with both holidays. Gremlins doesn't have anything to do with Halloween.

I know for most people "Halloween movie" just means "it's horror related", but as someone who actually adores the holiday, my Halloween films have to meet a different criteria.
But, If you wanna watch Gremlins at Halloween, that's fine. Never a bad time to watch Gremlins!
 
Ray Danger said:
Nightmare Before Christmas deals with both holidays. Gremlins doesn't have anything to do with Halloween.

I know for most people "Halloween movie" just means "it's horror related", but as someone who actually adores the holiday, my Halloween films have to meet a different criteria.
But, If you wanna watch Gremlins at Halloween, that's fine. Never a bad time to watch Gremlins!
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Well, at least you're self aware. I agree with most people that "Halloween movie" equals "it's horror related." The idea that the movie has to be related to the literal season to qualify is too limiting for me. If we did that, "Halloween" and "Trick 'r Treat" would be the only true Halloween movies in my collection. Similarly, "It's A Wonderful Life" may as well not be a Christmas movie, because it doesn't take place on Christmas until the last third of the film. That still doesn't stop people from watching it every holiday season.
 
Eyepainter said:
"It's A Wonderful Life" may as well not be a Christmas movie, because it doesn't take place on Christmas until the last third of the film.
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Most Christmas movies only take place on Christmas at the very end. (or maybe that's just coincidental to the one's I watch?)

I think holiday movies should be related to the holiday. But I'm not on a crusade about it or anything.
 
Watched a few good ones for the first time over break, happy new years everyone!

Colors (1988)
It was nice seeing Sean Penn and another favorite of mine Robert Duvall (seems like all my favorite actors are Robert’s) tackle a crime film together. Enjoyed it the whole way through especially knowing Dennis Hopper was the director!

Ordinary People (1980)
First time seeing a younger Donald Sutherland from what I can remember. I grew up watching him portray Snow in Hunger Games. I believe this is also the first time I’ve seen Mary Tyler Moore in anything. This became more impactful the longer it went as I feel like it resonated with me in a sense when I was a teenager. Made me pretty emotional at times.

Heartburn (1986)
This is only the second film I’ve seen starring Meryl Streep (first being The Deer Hunter). She did an excellent job with Jack Nicholson, definitely a dynamic duo!
 
Prism_Skywalker said:
Is Gremlins a XMAS movie? Or Halloween?
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Christmas all the way! I'm with the discussion point above that movies for the holidays should match them in theme. (This is why Die Hard is a Christmas movie, not because of the timing or music, but because it's about family coming back together at the holidays and learning why they love each other.)

In Gremlins, not only is the film's central plot point about "the search for the perfect Christmas present", but Kate's whole origin story about why she hates Christmas is one of the all-time great movie monologues. On top of that, director Joe Dante has a wicked, anti-capitalist sense of humor, and he uses that in the film to comment on the runaway capitalism of Christmas (this is made fully overt in the sequel, but it's still here in a covert way)...

Gizmo is the original, "natural" ancient Chinese version of the Christmas gift. But when the white aspiring entrepreneur steals him, he doesn't respect treating him as an individual. All the knock-off Gizmos are stand-ins for the corporate cash-ins on great ideas. They soon become literal action figures, with different versions like the smoking Gremlin, Dirty Harry Gremlin, pimp Gremlin, etc. And the dad inventor's efforts at corporate cash-ins are lame and never work. But they do become useful for defeating the Gremlins...the various housewares and tools that haven't made him rich do help his wife and kid to defend their home (and make a domestic goods bloodbath!)

The subtle messaging in the movie is to stop trying to cash in and stop focusing on money. Focus on family, your home, on individuals. These are the things that are meaningful, not all the stuff you have. Perfect Christmas movie.
 
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

A dialogue-heavy film, but a great dialogue-heavy film. This movie, along with The Night of the Hunter, prove that Robert Mitchum truly was an underrated actor in his day. Excellent writing all around, and highly recommended.
 
Fanny & Alexander (Theatrical Cut - 1982)
The beginning of this is fairly Christmasy, though it has little to do with the eventual story that unfolds regarding the young son of the family (Alexander) and his conflict with the town bishop. There's a 5.5 hour mini-series version that really just elaborates on everything going on with this whole family and all their maids and kids, and I think actually too many elements from that are still in this shorter version. As I wrote on my fanedit ideas page, the real 5* version of this film is probably yet to be found in a fanedit.

Maestro (2023)
Like a lot of these sort of dramatic Oscar-bait films, I more "appreciated" this film than "loved" it. I will say that I finally connected with it on an emotional level in the end, but for most of the film, I was just blown away by all the technique and performance on display, which are plentiful. This deserves all the awards talk.

The Big Sleep (1946 - "The Extended Cut" by ParanoidAndroid)
I had, embarrassingly, never actually sat down and watched this in full, and I regret that because I can tell you I will be rewatching it often from here on out. One of Humphrey Bogart's all-time great performances in one of the most iconic film roles ever: detective Sam Spade. This hybrid cut of the two releases of the film gives you maximum Bogey, which is very much a good thing. This is the definitive way to watch the film now for me.
 
The Good the Bad and the Ugly, 1966
This one was missing from my repertoire. Now I realize how important it is in cinema history, and I think I must have missed numerous references and nods to this movie while watching other films. I knew of the Morricone score, but when contextualized in the movie, it becomes even greater! Did I mention the story? I won't, I hated it. But I believe I can tell a Good movie from an Ugly one, even when I think the story is Bad.
 
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