Rate the Last Film You Watched

For what it's worth I do not regret buying the criterion set at all. I'll certainly revisit a number of those films (just some more than others). Destroy all Monster would have made for an awesome finale thinking on it really. Godzilla 1954 genuinely holds up and is my favorite behind Shin-Godzilla.

I want to try and find the Heisei era sometime. I think I would enjoy it a lot based on what I hear.
If you have the means to watch zone A blu-rays, it's pretty straightforward to collect the heisei and millennium Godzilla movies, since they all have US releases in fairly cheap two-packs. It used to be a massive pain to collect Godzilla in the 00s, when I had to get releases from the US, Australia, and Hong Kong to have a full DVD collection. Fortunately a lot of old rights issues have been ironed out in the years since.

Most of the movies from 1984-2004 range from good to great, IMO. The only real dud in the heisei series is Spacegodzilla. In the millennium series, Megaguirus is mediocre and Final Wars is... divisive (people either love or hate it).

Random millennium-era Godzilla trivia: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) and Tokyo SOS have excellent scores by Michiru Oshima, the composer for numerous anime including Fullmetal Alchemist and Le Chevalier D'Eon.
 
I rented Doctor Strange at the multiverse of madness, I am pretty much done with the MCU and want to stick to my comics but I was feeling bored today and wanted something on that level. I am now very glad I did, it was such a Sam Raimi movie that Bruce Campbell was in it. 10/10
 
The Iceman Cometh (1989)

Two ancient Chinese warriors are inadvertently revived in modern-day Hong Kong, 300 years after they fought each other to an apparent icy-death, only for the good royal guard (Yuen Bao) to end up as manservant to a brash call girl (Maggie Cheung) while the killer he was chasing (Yuen Wah) goes on the rampage.

Broadly comedic in tone, the film works fairly well when it's trying to be funny, with an outstanding performance from Cheung, who basically carries the entire thing herself, imbuing her bratty grifter of a character with charisma and nuance. Unfortunately, she's so far ahead of everything else that the film really suffers when she's not onscreen. Bao does okay, but struggles to sell his character's development and it's hard not to think his struggling underdog would have been better played by Jackie Chan, while Wah is given little to do except prove how evil he is through a range of often nasty set-pieces that don't really seem to belong here.

Watchable enough, but not something I'd really recommend. Maggie Cheung deserved a better movie.
 
Session 9 - the majority of my horror film are gory to say the least but I enjoyed this atmospheric horror not showing graphic killings although a bit violent towards the end but not over the top
In previous message about Story Of Ricky I should of said manga not anime
As regards to the Bond film No Time To Die I have to say it has one of the worst songs and Billie Eilish mumbles her way through it
 
Session 9 - the majority of my horror film are gory to say the least but I enjoyed this atmospheric horror not showing graphic killings although a bit violent towards the end but not over the top
In previous message about Story Of Ricky I should of said manga not anime
As regards to the Bond film No Time To Die I have to say it has one of the worst songs and Billie Eilish mumbles her way through it
I must have watched this 13-14 years ago and that "**** youuuuuu!" still lives in my head

I watched Princess Mononoke at the insistence of a friend. By chance I had been wanting to re-watch it anyway because I didn't remember it.

Taking it a little weirder than before, a bit more adult, very high quality animation. A bridge between the slightly more traditional fantasy stories they were telling before and the surrealism of Spirired Away.

Very strong themes and not a moment wasted throughout. I can sense the spirit of Nausicaa and wonder if it was written because Miyazaki wanted to tell a story about the environment that was purely made for the screen rather than an adaptation.
 
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

While the morbid myriad of horror stories surrounding its production and the enduring controversy over its release surely give it a mystique far in excess of its worth as a film, Ruggero Deodato’s legendarily foul misadventure does still have an undeniable strength to it. It’s largely guilty of exactly the same arrogance towards and exploitation of indigenous culture that it ostensibly claims to critique, but it coins the concept of the ‘found footage‘ film as we would know it today, and its framing device, with well-meaning professor Robert Kerman setting out to look for a missing film crew, only to get caught up in the subsequent media circus, is still very effective in its simplicity.

Not an experience I would casually recommend (I’d freely admit that I‘ve skipped the worst parts both times I’ve seen it) but certainly one that demands to be taken seriously.
 
Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan's sci-fi infused spy-thriller, about the hunt for a secret chemical formula with the power to reverse the flow of time, is a finely acted and engaging film, but I couldn't help feeling that I really did not enjoy this on a smaller screen as much as I would have done at the cinema. While there was a lot going on in the set pieces, I just didn't find them particularly interesting to look at - the idea of having time running forwards and backwards simultaenously is interesting, but it never quite felt to me like the film was able to put that on screen in a way that did it justice. Maybe on the big screen or in an imax cinema, it would work better?

On the whole, it was a film where I often found myself thinking 'oh, that's clever', but never 'oh, that's impressive'.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

A bittersweet ode to the tinsletown film industry at the close of the 1960s, this is, I think, Tarantino at his most whimsical and charming, offering a glimpse into the long, symbiotic friendship between a fading western star and his disreputable stuntman (Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt), running in parallel to the rise of tragic real-life starlet Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Like so many of Tarantino's films, it runs rather long, and initially I found the parts focusing on Tate's dreamlike exploration of her own success a little ponderous in comparison to DiCaprio's frequently very funny railing against his own decline. As the film moves into its second half and the two plots converge, however, it all comes together brilliantly - the film is now a infamous for its violent climax, but in practice, it's hard to imagine any other ending working so well as it does.

If I'm trying to be objective, I think Hateful 8 is a slightly better film, as it feels more focused, but personally I feel this is my favourite thing Tarantino has done since Jackie Brown.
 
I saw some of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood on tv the cot her night and found it very boring I couldn’t watch all of it.
Saw the uncut Mountain Of The Cannibal God which was good but not the best cannibal film.
Doghouse is a funny and quite gory zomcom from Jake West whose previous films Razor Blade Smile and Evil Aliens I’ve already got and Doghouse is another entertaining film from him
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day I: I know What You Did Last Summer Trilogy: I know What You Did Last Summer (1997, Jim Gillespie), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1999, Danny Cannon), I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006, Sylvian White)


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A horror trilogy that emerged during the post Scream resurgence of slasher films in the late 90’s (and penned by the same writer no less). The first film is a solid watch and the sequel was decent until the twist towards the end, but the third was largely unrelated to the first two with no returning cast members and was pretty dire. 3.5/5, 3/5, 1/5
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day I: I know What You Did Last Summer Trilogy: I know What You Did Last Summer (1997, Jim Gillespie), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1999, Danny Cannon), I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006, Sylvian White)


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A horror trilogy that emerged during the post Scream resurgence of slasher films in the late 90’s (and penned by the same writer no less). The first film is a solid watch and the sequel was decent until the twist towards the end, but the third was largely unrelated to the first two with no returning cast members and was pretty dire. 3.5/5, 3/5, 1/5
The best thing about the first two films is Jennifer Love Hewitt 😄😃
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day II: Urban Legend Trilogy: Urban Legend (1998, Jamie Blanks), Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000, John Ottman), Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005, Mary Lambert)


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Another slasher horror trilogy, this time focusing on urban legends and folklore. The first film is a mixed bag with an unsatisfying reveal of the killer towards the end, whilst the second is also lacking outside of one or two creative decisions like the opening and the cast being film students making their own movies. The third was a DTV feature and a slog to get through. 3/5, 2.5/5, 1/5
 
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That’s the trouble with both IKWYDLS & UL sequels they don’t carry on with the same actors & storylines with the original stories unlike the Scream films which are excellent
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day III: Them! (1954, Gordon Douglas)

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A fun sci-fi monster film from the 50s and one of the notable firsts for the giant insect sub-genre. The Oscar-nominated special effects here still hold up well considering their age too. 3.5/5
 
I watched Crimes of the Future, the latest film by David Cronenberg. I then watched Body Double, by Brian de Palma (spiritual sequel to Blow Out)

I watched them unrelated, but I noticed they were very similar. A commentary on sex & society, through a horror lens. Both were very shocking, ambitious, and at times, missed the mark entirely. Overall, both were very entertaining to watch and a triumph from each director, as well as the actors involved. Both bleeding aesthetic, from two different generations and styles of cinema. I'm glad I watched!
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day IV: House of Wax (1953, André de Toth)

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It wouldn’t be Halloween without a bit of Vincent Price. This mystery horror was an entertaining watch and Price is on good form. A shame I don’t have a 3D TV anymore though for the 3D effects. 3.5/5
 
31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day V: Night of the Demon (1980, James C. Wasson)

C4D45789-F695-4208-928A-D12BC93E7B03.jpegNot to be confused with the late 80s cult classic, this low-budget slasher outing focuses on what happens when you miss with Bigfoot. Sadly the film is a mixed bag as outside of the gory effects and dark plot developments it’s a bit dull. The Severin/88Films release is loaded with extras though, including a 90 minute documentary on video nasties which is worth picking up. 2.5/5
 
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31 Days of Halloween 2022!

Day VII: The Haunting (1963, Robert Wise) & The Haunting (1999, Jan de Bont)

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A suitably spooky 60’s horror that’s held up well and is still acclaimed today, and its remake that has some great production design holding together the lacklustre elements of the film like the terrible CGI and some bored performances. 4/5, 2/5
 
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