movies What's the last film you watched? And rate it!

Finding Nemo directed by Lee Unkrich and Andrew Stanton - 10/10
A very great movie by Pixar, I love how every scene just connects with the other seamlessly in a way, it just feels like a great adventure. There are other ways to make movies, but I feel like this is a good example of the ideal way to make children's films IMO. I loved this movie a ton when I was a child and the film still holds up.
 
The Idle Class directed by Charlie Chaplin - 8/10
This is a very entertaining comedy short by Chaplin, I kind of didn't enjoy the beginning much and didn't get it. But once the plot gets going it becomes extremely hilarious and enjoyable to watch. I'll consider watching this one again sometime as I feel I wasn't paying too much attention at the early scenes so I didn't enjoy them that much.

The Gold Rush (1925 version) directed by Charlie Chaplin - 10/10
This is pure unbelievably incredible filmmaking. I think that the first 25 minutes or so show cinematic comedy/drama at its finest, it is just a great survival story. The rest of the film is a lot different from what these scenes show but it is still just as great. I like the love story, the comedy, the elements of survival, and the rags to riches story. What makes this film stand out though is just that scene for scene it is just brilliant, I really can't find one scene that I did not enjoy. I think this is the first time I really REALLY 'got' Chaplin because before I always thought he was good but not as good as Buster Keaton. This film proved me wrong, he is as good as Keaton, it's just a matter of preference (I still enjoy Keaton more but I wouldn't say he's better). I think my increased understanding/appreciation of cinematic staging helped, because Chaplin is a master at staging much more than using strong compositions in his cinematography. When watching this film you can notice just how much can be communicated purely by staging, and I feel like this needs to be done more in contemporary mainstream films. Staging is of course used effectively in art films but if you take a look at Chaplin's work or even someone more recent yet still old like Hong Kong's Tsui Hark, you can notice how effective staging is at creating entertaining scenes for larger audiences. I honestly feel that this way of telling stories can be more effective than the hyper-continuity editing that is being employed today. Ah well, I kind of mixed in some of my thoughts about cinema in general while watching this film but that's only because I loved it so much that it made me think about life, love, and cinema. Thank you Mr. Chaplin, I hope I get to see more of your masterpieces soon!
 
Drunken Master directed by Yuen Woo-ping; starring Jackie Chan - 8/10
This was a good martial arts film that is a great example of Jackie Chan's blend of comedy and action. I was kind of disappointed by the film as I thought it would be a masterpiece, but I only found it to be just a bit superior to something like The Fearless Hyena. The film is very enjoyable but it obviously has its flaws. It is always awesome to see Jackie fight though and this film has plenty of fighting with lots of humor thrown in. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, but for the most part this is a solid effort.
 
The Lucky Texan directed by Robert N. Bradbury; starring John Wayne - 2/10
Simply one of the most mediocre and charmless films I've ever seen. The only reason I don't give it a 1 is that it's not atrocious like The Flower Girl or Santa Claus And The Ice Cream Bunny, but even the latter was more entertaining. Also with a 55 minute running time its less harm than a 2 hour film of its quality. Still I can't recommend this film to anyone except for the most obsessed John Wayne fans, stick to his better stuff.
 
I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past last night. 4.5/10. I just wasn't impressed. Anything it did well, many other movies have done better. Although, it did have some nice humor at times.
 
The Living Magoroku directed by Keisuke Kinoshita - 6/10
Once again Kinoshita unfortunately disappoints me with one of his early films. The film is mostly well made but it has a lot of problems. First of all, the beginning of the film is kind of confusing and doesn't make much sense in the context of the first twenty minutes or so of the film (although later it becomes more clear). That scene was good on its own but it did hurt the film by disorienting the viewer. Also there are many characters and many sub-plots that could be potentially interesting but don't get fleshed out too much. They also connect these sub-plots in a kind of mediocre way in the ending, it just felt too good to be true. Finally, the propagandistic nature of the film gets annoying at times, but I do like the ideas it explores through the lens of propaganda (superstition vs. reality, tradition vs. progress, etc.). That being said I did like a lot of the plot elements of the film, unlike Kinoshita's Phoenix the story isn't a typical cliched story, it is actually very different from most stories I've experienced. Also, I do like how there are a lot of interesting characters, their stories could be developed more but the characters themselves are done fairly well. Finally the visual compositions are very good, but I wouldn't say they are on par with the best of Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, or Naruse but then again I don't think many directors anywhere are as good as them in terms of visual composition. Still what harms the film most which keeps it from getting a 7 or 8 score from me is the lack of interesting/memorable scenes. I feel like the talent is there, and it is ready to make something great but it is never given moments that help manifest greatness on the screen and into my heart. The ending scenes come close, but they only touch the heart and one needs to turn one's mind off to enjoy them, so they don't achieve greatness for me. This is a very well-made film by a talented director, but I feel like it restrains its greatness (probably due to the fact that it was made in a government-controlled industry that specialized in making propaganda).
 
In Our Time directed by Edward Yang, Chang Yi, Ko I-Chen, and Tao Te-chen - 9/10
This is the groundbreaking film that changed the landscape of Taiwanese cinema. It is a portmanteau film (basically an anthology film) with four short films by four directors. Each film is set in a different decade (50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's) and also features main characters of different ages (children, teenagers, young adults, and married adults). The first short film is one of my favorite short films ever. It's simply a child's love story but its done so well and it has a great musical quality to it. Its essentially a very good family drama that includes a nice love story to it, I really like the children actors and how well the children characters are written. The second film, by master director Edward Yang is the best though. It is about a girl going through puberty, I felt a lot of emotional pain watching the film as I related very much with the character. It is a very sad story of disillusionment and the pains of growing up. I already see signs of mastery there in the way that Yang uses classical music (and rock music) instead of dialogue to communicate a lot of the emotions. The third film is by far the weakest (and pretty much is what brings the score down to a 9 for me), it is an energetic story set during a young man's college days. I didn't get the story very much, nor was I very interested in the characters (unlike in the other stories) but I did enjoy the ending scene very much for its energy. It was horrible having this short follow Yang's masterpiece, but I think anyone would have a difficult time following a Yang film under any circumstance. The final short film is very good (although not quite as good as the first two), it is a comedy starring the wonderful Sylvia Chang. I love the beginning of the film, it reminds me of the marriage movies I've been studying, but then it just goes into absurd comedy mode which is also awesome. The film feels a lot like the silent comedies I love to watch, and it's very fun. I felt like it could've done a bit more but it was a very fun film. Overall, the film is a masterpiece, but just as most anthology films, it is a bit uneven with the third short not matching up. Also, the order is kind of thematically out of order in a way. Then again, I don't even know what's the best order since the films do go chronologically. I just feel like Yang's film would have made for the most powerful ending. Any fan of Taiwanese cinema should watch this, and hell any fan of good cinema should watch this as it is the birth of one of the greatest movements in contemporary (80's - present) cinema. I wish that my country (the Dominican Republic) and all nations without a powerful cinema take note of how the Taiwanese consciously revolutionized their cinema.

Flunky, Work Hard! directed by Mikio Naruse - 8/10
Naruse's earliest surviving film is an interesting work as it mixes light comedy with heavy drama. It also adds some experimental editing and visual techniques that are not seen very often in Naruse's 30's films (at least from the 10 I've seen so far). The film is very good but I wouldn't place it as a masterpiece or as a near-masterpiece as it isn't something I'd be willing to watch again many times, although I will definitely give it another watch much later on.

Charade directed by Stanley Donen - 9/10
Okay, it took me forever to finally watch this film but I'm glad I finally did! I love this movie so much, it is just so full of suspense and twists that make it such an enjoyable watch. I'll admit that for the first hour or so I was a little disappointed and I was going to give it a weaker 8/10, but then as the plot unfolds and the story gets crazier I fell in love with the movie more and more. The film was engaging from beginning to end, and even though it isn't one of the greatest masterpieces, it is just extremely entertaining and it demonstrates great directing. This is one of those films like The Heroic Trio where I can see that it is not perfect, but I do not even care since it just made me feel so good. That being said, it is a very well-made film and it is definitely no guilty pleasure, and yes it is even better than some of Hitchcock's films (give me this over To Catch A Thief any day, although that film has better visuals).
 
The Power Of Kangwon Province directed by Hong Sang-soo - a weak 7/10
Unfortunately, I find this film to be one of the lesser "slow" films I have seen. After I was completely enamored with Hong's The Day The Pig Fell Into The Well, I was looking forward to watching this film, and I thought this film would be even better. Unfortunately, I just find this film not to have interesting ideas or characters. The film is a step in the right direction in terms of developing Hong's unique style, but everything else just doesn't really do much for me. I loved how pretty much every scene was done in just one shot and the minimal use of music, but I find that Hong did this better in his debut and Tsai Ming-liang applied these techniques to a real masterpiece (What Time Is It There?). I also like how there are two stories that interconnect at the end, but I like the concept more than the execution (as I found both stories not to be very good, they were alright but they weren't amazing). For now my opinion is that this is an interesting artistic film, but that its stylistic concerns overshadow any sense of interesting ideas, characters, scenes, or stories. Hopefully I'm wrong and maybe I just wasn't paying attention to much and will change my opinion with a re-watch, but I honestly doubt it as I did try to love this film (I've been hyped to see this film for months!). Either way, I'm going to continue watching Hong's films as he always seem to make films that make me think A LOT!
 
Godzilla 2014 - 6.5/10
The creature CGI animation design was nice. I like the muscle & fat movement.
Could have used some better monster fight choreography. Doesn't hold a candle to PJackson's King Kong vs TRex trio.
Too much people drama.
A whole lotta GEdwards signature effects.
If you're on the fence about watching it might wanna wait for DVD/BR.
 
I tend to over analyze the ever loving bejezus out of films, so my perspective is always suspect.
I like the idea of daikaiju and like a good fight between them.
A kung fu approach would obviously be ridiculous, but something close to how real animals fight would've been great in this film.
As referenced, Edwards style is to do a WHOLE LOTTA suggesting and implying; too much of that "less is more" BS.

"No, mutherfucker! I paid to go see a monster movie - so SHOW ME SOME DING-DANG MONSTERS!"

Instead we've got a tiny-voice lead running a goffy gauntlet of action flick checklist tasks, Ken Watanabe looking confused all the d@men time (waste), Cranston playing an unremarkable madman (waste), Olsen acting in an unremarkable role way below her weight class (waste), and a bunch of other dingaling wastes.

And the score sucked.

So just turn off your brain and watch the story!

Yay.

Compared G1998... eh... that one catches a lot of grief that eludes me.
I was surprised this one also went anywhere near a reproduction scenario.
They're about equally silly.
Surprised the other monster had hooked feet and pedi-arms like the Cloverfield monster.

Mostly I was impressed with the fat and muscle movement.
Was impressed by the visuals of the final fire breath scene, but insufficient lead-up to it made it poor.

If you want to watch monsters fight go with Jackson's KK.
(Reluctantly) MBay does a better action flick.
If you wanna watch people drama with some daikaiju in there this is good.

I believe this one maintains the franchise standard.
I don't think it will bring anyone new into the fold that wasn't predisposed to joining it anyway.
It doesn't raise the standard like the Star Trek or Batman reboots have.

Edwards has a sequel to Monsters coming out. I think I'lll wait for the DVD on that.
I wanted Gladiator or Troy with daikaiju, not a natural disaster with monsters survival drama movie.
A Ridley Scott Godzilla would be good, but he futzed up a spoon fed Prometheus so bad I'm even scared to watch its sequel.
 
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Thanks for sharing your opinion!

It sucks that they focus so much on the human aspect of the story, most of the time those parts are not even done well and they are not the reason why I want to watch a Godzilla film! If the drama is good then it's all right for me, but I just find it hard to take dramatic elements seriously when there's a giant monster in the film (this same thing applies to me for superhero movies, some sci-fi, and some fantasy).

I may like the "less is more" elements, I like that in some films, but I don't see how that would work in a Godzilla film lol. One of the reasons I think that Americans suck at making these monster films is because they are afraid to go all out over the top like the Japanese do. When I watch a giant monster movie, I want to see something absolutely crazy that I wonder what the hell the filmmakers were thinking lol. The American giant monster films almost always have very mediocre monsters that are not creative in their design or powers.

I actually haven't seen the Peter Jackson version of King Kong mostly because it is super long and I love the original so much that I'll inevitably be disappointed. I'll give it a watch sometime soon though, whenever I have time to watch a very long movie.

IMO the first Godzilla movie in Japan is a real masterpiece, the others are just entertaining films of varying quality. I don't expect a masterpiece with this movie, but if it doesn't deliver some fun then it'll be disappointing. My brother is dying to watch this film, so I'm probably going to watch it next weekend.
 
The Sandwich Man directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wan Jen, and Tseng Chuang-Hsiang - 8/10
Similar to In Our Time, this is an anthology film by Taiwanese New Wave filmmakers. While this is a very good film and it is more consistent than In Our Time, it is more thematically connected, and more socially conscious. However, I didn't find the film to reach the heights of the first two short films in In Our Time. The film is very good, and there are many moments that are powerful but something feels like its missing as it doesn't quite reach the level of the best work of the Taiwanese New Wave. Still I like how this film doesn't seem to have any weak link, all of the shorts are good. So yeah I love this film, I just prefer In Our Time (aside from the third short in that film).
 
Gone With The Wind directed by Victor Fleming (also George Cukor and Sam Wood); produced by David O. Selznick - 9/10
Surprisingly, I liked this film a lot! As a child I grew up dreaming about what this film would be like as I saw posters and images from the film but I never had the chance to see the film (as with many Old Hollywood films). Then as I became more and more as a cinephile I discovered that this film's reputation outside the populist sphere isn't too good so I've kept pushing back the day I'd watch this film. Fortunately my lowered expectations allowed for such a pleasant surprise, much of it did reach my childhood dreams. Is the film one of the greatest of all-time? No, it's probably not even in the top 5 of greatest American films of 1939. But it is an incredibly entertaining and well-made film. Gone With The Wind is one of those kind of films that I tend not to like very much, the ones that ONLY "tell a good story, and tell it well." Fortunately, this film's story is THAT good and its told THAT well that it even managed to capture my heart (as I usually prefer more artistry or at least more subtle mastery that Old Hollywood offers). This is one of those films that I debated with myself how I'd rate it. At first it was between 7 and 8 to be honest, but the film hit all the right emotional notes in the incredibly underrated third act that I had to raise my score to a 9. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh are simply perfect, the film does a good job at being engaging even with its length, when the scenes are great they are really brilliant, and the overall look of the costumes and sets was just marvelous. I love many elements of this film, but even though I give it a 9 here, I think more objectively in terms of quality it deserves an 8. It is a 9 if you really fall in love with the stories and scenes, but the filmmaking does not reach the level of the greatest Old Hollywood films, not even ones made in similar situations (such as Casablanca).
 
Chinatown

Probably Jack Nicholson's (and Roman Polanski's) best film. Maybe the best of the 70s (competing with The Godfather and Star Wars for the title).

Rating: 9.6/10

The Empire Strikes Back

To this day, the best Star Wars film ever made. In my opinion, the best Science Fiction film ever made. The darkness of the film reminds me of the grim films of the 70s (such as Chinatown). The characters are so lovable yet so flawed that I truly relate to them and understand them. While I feel that Chinatown may be the best film of the 70s, I feel this film is perhaps the best of the 80s.

Rating: 9.7/10

The Conjuring

James Wan's best film, by far. He's really come a long way since Saw. The visuals and sound effects in this movie are chilling, and I think the performances are all solid. Also, I love Vera Farmiga in any film (perhaps it's due to my love of Bates Motel). The Conjuring is perhaps the best horror film to come out in a long, long time.

Rating: 8.7/10
 
I can't write much about the films as I've been busy.

Audition directed by Takashi Miike - 8/10
Brilliant in many ways, extremely well directed but I feel like it lacks real thought provoking ideas or interesting themes.

No Blood Relation directed by Mikio Naruse - 7/10
A brilliant beginning turns out to be a mostly uneventful story, what happened to Naruse's pessimism here? I love the visuals and there is even some unexpected experimentation here, seeing a silent Naruse film one can appreciate his visual style more. That being said, Naruse is much better at sound films because his dialogue at its best is amazing and he does a good job at getting actors to express emotions through sound. I think this film could've been a little better with sound, but even then it's just that the story starts very interesting and then goes in a pretty pedestrian direction. This is what I'd call a well-made mediocre film, it is very well made but the talent didn't go to serve a good story or idea.

Detour directed by Edgar G. Ulmer - 8/10
A flawed film, but a very interesting one. I love the use of flashbacks and how personal the protagonist sounds in the voiceover. This is great low budget filmmaking as it hits most of the right notes.
 
Lumière and Company directed by various directors (41 directors to be exact) - 5/10
Eh, this anthology film is one of those films that has an amazing concept that I love, but the execution was very disappointing. It is essentially short films by 41 internationally renowned directors made with the original Lumière brothers camera. Most of the shorts are just pleasant mediocrities with little imagination. Some of the shorts, like the ones made by David Lynch, Jacques Rivette, Peter Greenaway, and Theodoros Angelopoulos are pretty interesting, but even they don't compare with the best short films I've seen. This is more of an interesting project for cineastes and cinephiles, but I don't think it resulted in quality filmmaking (even compared to the original Lumière films, somehow I feel those original films are superior as they have good historical documentary value).
 
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