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Film What's the Last Film You Saw? v. Tell Us What You Thought!

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Operation Odessa (2018 ) <Netflix>

Quick summary from imdb is "In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime." We start with a Russian by the name of Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg giving an interview on a shitty set. He is telling us of his coming to America, getting started with NY mafia, and ending up running his own club in Miami. From there, it expands into a tale of international (illegal) business leading up to him and two friends attempting to buy a submarine from the crumbling soviet union on behalf of the Cali Cartel. For me, I thought it was a fictional documentary, or at least based on real events and filmed with actors...until they kept using photos and videos from the era, so I checked credits and everyone in the film IS the person telling events from their perspective. It's told pretty well, as they bring in characters and have them speak on certain events, it does well unfolding somewhat slowly with old stories to get to the main selling point of 'submarine bought for Cali cartel'. I tend to refer to films or situations as 'delicious' as they seem just so uhhhnnn and you want to savor it. This one, I'd prefer to call tasty, in that it was light, fluffy, flavorful, and no bad aftertaste. Good film, would recommend. 8/10
 
RV (2006) <Netflix>

I'm pretty sure I've seen this before, but watched it again anyways. It's a family feel good film, starring Robin Williams (I'd forgotten, so a bit of a shock considering he died recently) as a business guy doing marketing for big bad soda corp. Company wants to acquire mom'n'pop sodas in Colorado so the boss says cancel your family vacay in Hawaii and be there. Williams lies to his wife and kids, and says it's a bonding trip to drive in an RV for the week - as he tries to sneak time on his laptop, search for cell reception to send it as preview to the boss, has consistent run ins with the too sweet family headed by Jeff Daniels and Kristen Chenoweth. It's a family film, full of situational, slapstick, gross, and other family acceptable humor. The two wives are faces you'll know, but neither have major roles in their past....though Chenoweth spends a few minutes bouncing cleavage at us near the end, so there's that for the adult males in the audience. Williams goes endures hell throughout the film, then we wrap up with a mea cupla to the family and a teaching moment for his kids (not yours, his), and a happy ending. Good film if you're with the family and kids. A few minutes of bouncing cleavage if you're on your own. For a family movie 7.5/10, for a guy flick 2/10.
 
The Midnight Sky (2020 ) <Netflix>


Latest Clooney film, getting a lot of push on Netflix recently. I'll start by saying I was bought in a bit more because Clooney looks a LOT like my stepfather with the facial hair....but my stepfather is bald, and very annoying (not quiet at all). Ok, film opens with a Clooney in his 60's at an outpost in the Artic Circle that is being evacuated. Passing comments is that he has to do daily transfusions for some unknown ailment or he'll die in days. Flashback to his 20's when he met a woman, she got pregnant and didn't tell him, he proclaims there are livable planets and many exploration missions are launched. Back to reality, he's doddering around alone for days when he discovers a small child left behind who won't talk. He takes care of her, trying to contact any returning space missions, as the global catastrophe (undefined) is spreading an making the world uninhabitable. It reaches his post, he grabs the girl and heads for Lake Hazen, a weather station further north. Aether is the lone returning space ship, which runs into it's own issues along the way. He makes contact, explains the situation, half the crew jettison to earth to be with their family while half remain on the ship to slingshot to a different space station in hopes of ... we don't know, it isn't really explained.

I never saw Gravity (2013) with Bullock that so many people said dragged forever, so I can't compare. However, this one drags, a lot. There's a bit of drama as he races with the child to Lake Hazen, and a bit of excitement and drama as Aether deals with it's space issues. But overall, there's a slow pace and dreary soundtrack to just bring you down overall. There are a few wrinkles to what I've laid out, mostly you kinda feel them coming and they aren't that poignant but I'm sure they were expected to be THE point of the film since it left you with a bit of a lame and depressing ending. The only real positive I'll give it is some special effects with the space ship's issues, and an effectively depressing end of the world as we know it (not exactly what I was looking for, just bought into the hype of something more significant and was left wanting). 4/10.


EDIT: Directed by Clooney. I should have known.
 
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

For those not familiar, this was the sequel to the OG Family Vacation, but garnered a bit more of a cult following, especially during the holidays. So, I figured I'd give it another spin. For those that have never seen it, there's some pretty funny parts even today. However, it very much shows it's age (think "Trading Places" era). Chevy Chase plays the central role of father attempting to have a nice family Christmas like he had growing up. He's crapped on by the boss at work, has no support from his apathetic kids, the wife tries her best for "Aw, Clark..." support. His parents are there, encouraging and saying they are sure he meant well, while his in-laws are also present pointing out at every turn what a loser he is. Then, there is Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid, perfect choice) and his trailerpark trash family that show up unexpectedly as well. Throw together some Christmas mishaps, tremendous effort on Clark's part, and you've got a good family comedy that anyone born after 1990 has no interest in watching. At all. There's nostalgia for us old farts. If you're ok with old films, you could do worse. Otherwise, skip it (maybe try the original?). Nostalgia for me bumps this from a 5 to a 5.5/10.
 
Ava (2020 ) <Netflix>

Starring Jessica Chastain with John Malkovich and Colin Ferrell. The trailer for this advertised it as an Atomic Blonde type spy thriller. So there was some hope for seeing the lovely Jessica Chastain in hot outfits but that was not to be. The plot focuses a bit more on Chastain's back story. Malkovich does not get enough screen time nor does Colin Ferrell. The plots a little slow, the fight scenes are okay but limited. It had some stars (Malkovich and Ferrell) and failed to use them effectively. It had (an aged) Geena Davis and used her too much, but not for a point. Some decent fight scenes, scattered about with a lot of her family drama. 'Skip'. 5/10.
 
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I've watched quite a few films recently and done no write ups, but the most recent two (and ones I can remember, fell asleep near the end of Dead Poet's Society lol) were both Westerns, one Spaghetti and the other... whatever the fuck that was.


Once Upon a Time in the West ( 1968 )

This film was almost three hours long, yet little of that time was spent on scenery (the main draw to a long Western imo is the 'journey') and the dubbing was as bad as any other Sergio Leone film lol. This time they had two American stars instead of just Eastwood, they had Henry Fonda as the villain and Charles Bronson playing the 'wandering man' stereotype that turned out to be an odd revenge plot.

You could see how his earlier films helped form the mishmash plot for this one. Hints of The Good the Bad the Ugly, A Few More Dollars, etc. But the plot WAS a mishmash, it was nonsensical and ended up almost putting me to sleep from boredom. The film had been restored as apparently it's a 'classic' (I weep for the better films left to rot in the 20th century with no restoration or re-release) but I don't see how. Charles Bronson had more dialogue in Death Wish and that's saying something lol. The harmonica riff that echoes throughout the film is catchy and has been sampled by many an artist, but Ennio Morricone couldn't save the film with his excellent composing. It felt a little bit like he had given up on the film too, with very little variety to the music and misplaced musical ques.

Overall it wasn't a horrible film, but if I was picking a Spaghetti Western to watch on a lazy afternoon, I'd go for literally any of Leone's earlier films starring Clint Eastwood.

5.5/10 (since some shots were actually beautiful scenes of the West and not Sicily lol. otherwise only a 5/10)



Legends of the Fall (1994)

I'd seen many a review saying "this film is in my top 20 must see flicks" and with an average imdb rating of 7.5/10, I decided it was worth a shot.

Boyyyy was I wrong. This film's plot was just... stupid. One of three brothers shows up with a hot young bride to be, the other two brothers swoon over her, the brother who was supposed to be married is an idiot and insists on crossing into Canada so that him and his brothers can go fight in The Great War. The film takes place early 20th century but Anthony Hopkins as the father figure has a ranch in Montana because he's sick of the world and war and such. The stupid kid who wanted to go fight in the war before the U.S. was even involved does so, against his father's pleading (you have a bride, you haven't seen war like I have, etc.) and of course manages to die gruesomely right as Brad Pitt is about to save him. So uh oh, now the two surviving brothers went home and the bride to be is still there. Fights ensue, the girl picks Brad Pitt because well, he looks like Brad Pitt, but his character is just a narcissistic turd of a human. He deflowers her and hangs around for like a week then has to run off because... PTSD from the war? Idk, they kinda made it out like his PTSD was the reason he was allowed to be a terrible human being and I really don't see how that was supposed to work. Eventually the girl marries the oldest, ugliest brother because he becomes wealthy and well, Brad Pitt ran off and didn't write back for like 10 years.

Thennnnnn further tragedy strikes and Pitt marries the native girl who works at his father's house, only for her to get shot randomly because Pitt picks up bootlegging (it's the late 20s/early 30s by now, full prohibition era) and the cops somehow kill her but no one else? So she dies, the pretty woman who had three brothers to pick from seemed unhappy at the end (I think she ended up barren and unable to have children?), Pitt lost everyone, Hopkins character has a stroke and can't talk... like wtf was this movie? A Brad Pitt pity fest for half and a Greek tragedy for the other half?

Give this one a pass. I realize I just spoiled the plot for this one but that really sums it up... give it a skip. This film was straight Oscar bait, I felt just as pissed about having lost time watching shitty Oscar bait as I did after The English Patient, which was still somehow better. 90s Oscar bait films are almost always garbage, I need to stop subjecting myself to this.

3.5/10 (would be lower but Anthony Hopkins does a great performance and the soundtrack and scenery were half decent)
 
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Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

This movie was a heck of a lot better than I expected it to be for some reason. I guess I thought it sounded trite from the synopsis on imdb and some of the reviews people had given it. This film came out well before the other more famous opioid addiction related films we're all fans of ever came to fruition. Having seen this film now, I'm shocked and upset I waited so long!

The plot follows a guy and his 4 person gang of addicts who basically go in and out of trouble with the law (the cops were played very quirky and well by the way) as they constantly chase their next pharmaceutical fix via robbing pharmacies. Heather Graham plays one of her earlier roles and does so fantastically as the naive girl who can't handle her shit. The overall tone of the film has been described as down, blue, depressing... I don't know why. I felt it was quirky and fun throughout, even during the bad times the main character seems to find a way to make a joke of it. He handles the group and the law well and seems one step ahead always until his superstitions undo him. As anyone could guess, the film ends in tragedy, but it doesn't leave you feeling depressed or off.

William S. Burroughs makes a fantastic cameo as 'the Priest' lol. Very apt. He gives our lead character some insights about addiction and life, and the two strike up a friendship at the end that's endearing and heartwarming.

All in all, this film was fantastic. I really enjoyed it, especially in comparison to later drug-centered films. Its depiction of addiction, overdoses, drug use, etc. is very accurate imo and in that way it makes later films like Requiem for a Dream seem like absolute garbage. I definitely plan to buy a hardcopy of this one at some point.

If you like drug-related (opioids especially) films, you'll love this one.
8/10
 
Check out MIDNIGHT COWBOY...... its and old film but very good.
Cream Gravy? said:
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

This movie was a heck of a lot better than I expected it to be for some reason. I guess I thought it sounded trite from the synopsis on imdb and some of the reviews people had given it. This film came out well before the other more famous opioid addiction related films we're all fans of ever came to fruition. Having seen this film now, I'm shocked and upset I waited so long!

The plot follows a guy and his 4 person gang of addicts who basically go in and out of trouble with the law (the cops were played very quirky and well by the way) as they constantly chase their next pharmaceutical fix via robbing pharmacies. Heather Graham plays one of her earlier roles and does so fantastically as the naive girl who can't handle her shit. The overall tone of the film has been described as down, blue, depressing... I don't know why. I felt it was quirky and fun throughout, even during the bad times the main character seems to find a way to make a joke of it. He handles the group and the law well and seems one step ahead always until his superstitions undo him. As anyone could guess, the film ends in tragedy, but it doesn't leave you feeling depressed or off.

William S. Burroughs makes a fantastic cameo as 'the Priest' lol. Very apt. He gives our lead character some insights about addiction and life, and the two strike up a friendship at the end that's endearing and heartwarming.

All in all, this film was fantastic. I really enjoyed it, especially in comparison to later drug-centered films. Its depiction of addiction, overdoses, drug use, etc. is very accurate imo and in that way it makes later films like Requiem for a Dream seem like absolute garbage. I definitely plan to buy a hardcopy of this one at some point.

If you like drug-related (opioids especially) films, you'll love this one.
8/10
Click to expand...
 
PaintTheTown said:
Check out MIDNIGHT COWBOY...... its and old film but very good.
Click to expand...
Saw it a year or two back. I don't think that was a drug film was it? Dustin Hoffman sets himself up as his friend's pimp essentially, I recall they go to that cool 60s acid party. I don't recall any drug use though unless maybe Hoffman was using morphine for his ailments.
 
Cream Gravy? said:
Saw it a year or two back. I don't think that was a drug film was it? Dustin Hoffman sets himself up as his friend's pimp essentially, I recall they go to that cool 60s acid party. I don't recall any drug use though unless maybe Hoffman was using morphine for his ailments.
Click to expand...
I don't recall any drug use but what do you think the end was about? Drugs, HIV? The ailment?
 
PaintTheTown said:
I don't recall any drug use but what do you think the end was about? Drugs, HIV? The ailment?
Click to expand...
No idea lol, it was a bit of an enigmatic film if I recall.

F.U.B.A.R. said:
The last film I watched was '12 monkeys'.

In the light of the current situation, it seems quite prophetic...
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Yeah I watched that in like March of 2020 and I was like... damn, too soon lol
 
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