Stalker (1979) Russian with English subs - 2/10
Three futuristic travelers pass through a forbidden zone to a place where fantasies are fulfilled.

An exercise in enduring tedium.

The Execution (aka, Kazn) (2021) Russian with English subs - 3/10
The thriller is inspired by the case of an infamous Soviet-era serial killer who eluded police for a decade.

Non-linear and very confusing.

Deliverance (1972) - 10/10
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

It's fun to watch this every 25 years or so.
LOL @ "the dangerous American back-country".

Fire In The Sky (1993) - 7.5/10
An Arizona logger mysteriously disappears for five days in an alleged encounter with a flying saucer in 1975. His co-workers endure ridicule and contempt as they are wrongly accused of murder.

Based on the true story of a supposed alien abduction. Decent movie, and certainly better than that silly Communion. I probably read about this in the Enquirer, which my father used to buy, back in the day.

Basket Case (1982) - 4/10
A young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed, formerly conjoined twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.

Just another day in NYC.

Hereditary (2018) - 5/10
A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.

Seven Days In May (1964) - 10/10
United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.

THX 1138 (1971) - 4/10
In the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly-controlled society.

The Chekist (1992) Russian with English subs - 6/10
Srubov is a part of CHEKA, the secret police Lenin established after the Bolshevik Revolution. They arrest, interview for a minute, try in ten seconds, and execute intellectuals, aristocrats, Christians, anti-Comunists, and their families. In the building basement, five people at a time are shot as they stand naked facing wooden doors. No one to remember their last words; no martyrs, just anonymous bodies. Daily, the kangaroo court, the executions, the loading of bodies onto wagons. Srubov is cold, distant, sexually dysfunctional, and a deep thinker, hated by former friends and his family. As he tries to reason the nature of revolution and the purpose of CHEKA, he slowly goes mad.

Mr. Nobody (2009) - 7/10
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) - 5/10
Down-on-their-luck racers Larry and Deke steal from a supermarket manager to buy a car that will help them advance their racing chances. Their escape does not go as planned when Larry's one-night stand, Mary, tags along for the ride.

Cliched cop behavior and car chases that could only excite a ten-year-old - yawn.
People have pointed out that even though "Deke" is there until the end, his name is not in the title, which should perhaps be 'Mary, Larry & Deke'. No wonder this character has a surly attitude throughout the movie.
And who ever thought snaggle-toothed Susan George was good-looking? At least in this movie, she looks borderline ghastly.

Race With The Devil (1975) - 3/10
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.

Just Peter Fonda cashing in on the success of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry from the previous year - yawn, yawn.

The Hidden (1987) - 5/10
A cop and an FBI agent race for answers after law abiding people suddenly become violent criminals.

Somewhat interesting, somewhat stupid.

Don't Look Now (1973) - 3/10
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.

Forgettable, and pretty much noted only for it's lengthy sex scene between Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, which has jack squat to do with the furtherance of the story. Well, it was the 70s, and there were requirements that every movie had to have nudity and a sex scene, apparently.

The Machinist (2004) - 5/10
An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.

The premise of someone not sleeping for a year is absurd, no one can do that, voluntarily or involuntarily. This movie is borderline OK, but could have been a lot better if it would have stayed within the realm of reality, instead of going into insomnia fantasyland.

The Road Warrior (1981) - 10/10
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.

I remember going to a late 10 o'clock show at a theater to see this, back in '82, in Middle Village, Queens, NY. I think it was the Arion Theater, on Metropolitan Avenue. I didn't expect much, and wasn't looking forward to having to ride the bus home at midnight, but was very pleasantly surprised.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) - 4/10
An American barroom pianist and his prostitute girlfriend go on a trip through the Mexican underworld to collect the bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

Someone's decapitated head is literally transported half-way across Mexico, surreptitiously, including on an airline flight, although it is not shown exactly how that was supposedly accomplished.
IMDb lists this as an "Action, Crime, Drama", but surely they forgot "Comedy". I guess this is what happens when the director is a drunkard. It's nicely filmed, but the plot is just dumb.

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) - 0/10
A Soviet scientist named Joseph Jaworsky (Tor Johnson), who defects and flees to a Nevada Test Site called Yucca Flats, only to be turned into a mindless monster by atomic radiation, stalking the desert. The film has very little dialogue and most of the speech is done by omniscient narration.

Basically a silent film with sound effects, narration, and very bad lighting. I watched this only because it was said to be one of the worst movies ever made. Thankfully it's only 52 minutes.

The Ascent (1977) Russian with English subs - 6/10
Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.

It's Alive (1974) - 3/10
The Davies' expect a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing when it's scared. And it's easily scared.

Oddly stoic acting, considering the laughable subject matter of this horror B-movie.

The Eye (2008) - 3/10
Violinist Sydney Wells was accidentally blinded by her sister Helen when she was five years old. She submits to a cornea transplantation, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she is seeing dead people.

Just awful. Nothing but jump scares from beginning to end, which are very irritating because their sounds are about 5 times louder than the rest of the movie, so I was always turning the volume up and down.

A Short Film About Killing (1988) Polish with English subs - 6/10
A soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.

Interesting footage showing the inside of a Polish prison toward the end of the Communist era, among other things.

Abwärts, aka Out Of Order (1984) German with English subs - 6.5/10
It's Friday evening. The lift repairman leaves the building and wants to finish his work on Monday. But he doesn't know there are four people in the building. They use the lift but it gets stuck about 100 meters from the floor. Fear and paranoia start to set in.

The Changeling (1980) - 7/10
After the death of his wife and daughter in a car crash, a music professor staying at a long-vacant Seattle mansion is dragged into a decades-old mystery by an inexplicable presence in the mansion's attic.

Bumblebee (2018)

Didn't really care about the characters, they felt kinda bland. Ending was weird as well. Also, not a big fan of John Cena but he nailed the acting!

That Cold Day in the Park (1969) - 5/10
A rich but lonely woman, Frances Austen, one day invites a homeless young man from a nearby park to her apartment and offers to let him live there. However, she has no intention of ever letting him leave again.

Awake 2021 (Polish: Gdy sen nie nadchodzi) 6/10. Not bad, but there are many things left unexplained and it feels like the film could be longer, because the ending is a little dissapointing.

IMDb rating of only 4.9.
Even though I often disagree with comments/reviews on IMDb and have occasionally liked movies that were not highly rated there, I've found that a rating lower than 6.0 does probably indicate that it's not too good of a movie. I tend to avoid anything less than 6.0, unless I have an ulterior motive.

Les Affames, aka Ravenous (2017) French with English subs - 5/10
In a small, remote village in northern Quebec, things have changed. Locals are not the same anymore - their bodies are breaking down and they have turned against their loved ones. A handful of survivors goes hiding in the woods, looking for others like them.

Another zombie movie, and a little bit weird.

The Crazies (2010) - 4/10
After a strange and insecure plane crash, an unusual toxic virus enters a quaint farming town. A young couple are quarantined, but they fight for survival along with help from a couple of people.

Paris, Texas (1984) - 4/10
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.

Typically depraved view of America by a German director. Complete with supposed Texas lawlessness, parental neglect, child abuse and child abandonment, alcohol abuse, mental illness, a caring but irresponsible drifter father/husband, a caring but equally irresponsible and promiscuous mother/wife, poverty, selfishness, and a peep show.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) - 3/10
Laura Palmer's harrowing final days are chronicled one year after the murder of Teresa Banks, a resident of Twin Peaks' neighboring town.

Gave it one hour, so almost half the movie, but it's garbage. And that's coming from a David Lynch fan. (I've never watched the Twin Peaks series, one of two or three Lynch productions I haven't seen, so maybe I'm missing something in that regard. At this point, I don't see the point in watching it.)

Death Race 2000 (1975) - 1/10
In a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.

Scanners (1981) - 2/10
A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning", to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.

Mind-numbingly (no pun intended) dumb and boring.

Disney's Sleeping Beauty

(87/100)
A flop when it debuted in 1959, it made up for it in re-release editions in both theaters and home media releases.

Based on two adaptations of the story, one of Tchaikovsky's ballet and Perrault's fairy tale, as usual, the Disney team took liberties to appeal to a wide audience.

The story goes King Stefan and Queen Leah tried for children and eventually, their daughter Aurora was born. The entire kingdom turned out to pay homage, including the uninvited Maleficent (it was bad form in the Dark Ages to not invite anyone of her high status, hence the deadly curse). Although blessed with beauty and song by Flora and Fauna respectively, Merriweather tampered with the curse to put Aurora in a sleep state to be awakened by true love's kiss.

Memento (2000) - 5/10
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.

Kind of weird, non-linear. I still don't follow the details of the story, even after reading the plot synopsis on Wikipedia.

I have no idea how you could begin to understand that film without watching Twin peaks first! The series and movie (and all the other related bits) are favourites of mine.

I do believe I read somewhere that the movie is supposed to be a stand-along product, without a person having to have watched the series.
Besides, is there more to understand about the series other than a young woman being found dead and the whodunnit that follows? As much as I like David Lynch productions, I simply don't have any desire to watch this series.
Besides, the stereotyped characters in the movie really irked me as well.
My rating stands; it's one person's opinion.
If it's any consolation, I absolutely love the music and have both of the Julie Cruise CD's.

I would disagree with this I think.

Yes.

You said you only watched half of the film anyway, so I thought the rating was unfair in this respect. It's part of the Twin Peaks story, the most important part perhaps- it's like reading one page of Shakespeare and declaring the whole thing 'garbage'. Most of your ratings seem to be below a 5 out of 10- have you ever considered that perhaps you should consume them differently?

Yes, Julee Cruise is mesmerising, her music was very central to the first series especially.

I don't know why I seem to have hit such a nerve with this film. I've already stated that I'm a David Lynch fan, more than once I think, although I don't care for all of his stuff.
I don't know what you mean by "consume them differently".
As far as most of my ratings being below 5, I just call them as I see them. Not everyone has the same tastes. In that regard, I'm going to go back through several pages of this thread to where I first started my ratings and see what my average is. I will edit this post afterwards with the results.

Okay, so instead of editing my previous post, here's a new one, because my list of ratings turned out to be quite lengthy. It was interesting, though, and I think I'll maintain the text file I created in the process for adding future ratings. I love keeping lists.

My first movie rating appears on page 21 of this thread, and is dated September, 2015. My really prolific posts don't start until a couple of pages later.
To date, I've rated 191 movies in this thread. That's quite a lot, considering that on an early page I made the statement that I'm not much of a movie buff. I'm really not, and the main reason why I've watched so many, mainly during the past couple of years, is because I now live alone, found a website where I can watch them for free, and usually watch in late evening before going to bed and to just help me to wind down. I don't watch them for the typical reason that someone might be called a movie "buff". For example, the movie The Lighthouse, from 2019, is actually the last movie I saw in a theater.

Here then, is my list of ratings (in blocks of 10), in chronological order as they appear starting on page 21 of this thread:

RV (2006) - 3.5
The Omega Man (1971) - 8
Dr. Zhivago (1965) - 5
The Matrix (1999) - 3
The Hunt for Red October (1998) - 2.5
The Big Lebowski (1998) - 2.5
Quest for Fire (1981) - 9
Interstellar (2014) - 0
The Conjuring (2013) - 8
The Lighthouse (2019) - 1

They Live (1988) - 8
The Baader Meinhof Complex - 8
Charly (1968) - 8
Identity (2003) - 8
The Omega Man (1971) - 8
Dawn of the Dead (1978) - 7.5
Day of the Dead (1985) - 6.5
Strongroom (1962) - 6.5
Brainstorm (1983) - 6
Day of Resurrection (aka Virus) (1980) - 6

Tales from the Crypt (1972) - 6
The Andromeda Strain (1971) - 5
Beginning of the End (1957) - 5
Trilogy of Terror (1975) - 4
Panic In Year Zero (1962) - 6
The Mind Snatchers (1972) - 5
The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - 3
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) - 8
Lost Highway (1997) - 7
Wild at Heart (1990) - 7

Town Without Pity (1961) - 4
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) - 4
The Outer Space Connection (1975) - 8
Somewhere in Time (1980) - 2
The Disappearance (1977) - 8
The Odessa File (1974) - 4
Jacob's Ladder (1990) - 9
The Day Time Ended (1979) - 1
Communion (1989) - 5
My Dinner With Andre (1981) - 1

Idiocracy (2006) - 2
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) - 3.5
The Lost Continent (1968) - 4
Quest for Fire (1981) - 10
Dead & Buried (1981) - 5
Bullitt (1968) - 5
Cell (2016) - 5
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - 4
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) - 5
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) - 4

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) - 5
Southern Comfort (1981) - 3
City of Fear (1959) - 4
Brainstorm (1965) - 3
Deadline (1980) - 2
Gattaca (1997) - 2
A Haunting in Connecticut (2002) - 5
The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) - 5
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) - 1
The Time Machine (2002) - 3

The Man Who Used To Be Me (2000) - 3
Wayne's World (1992) - 2
The Thirteenth Floor (1999) - 4
A Bucket Of Blood (1959) - 5
Don't Tell A Soul (2020) - 4
Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 4
Blow (2001) - 7
Across The Bridge (1957) - 6
Funeral Home, aka Cries in the Night (1980) - 4
Eraserhead (1977) - 10

Seven in Heaven (2018) - 1
The Road (2009) - 7
The Name of the Rose (1986) - 10
Coma (1978) - 7
The Truman Show (1998) - 2
The Parallax View (1974) - 6
Funeral in Berlin (1966) - 8
The Sixth Sense (1999) - 7
Alligator (1980) - 1
Germany Year Zero (1948) - 7

Buffet Froid (1979) - 1
Ghost Town (1988) - 1
Danton (1983) - 7
The Entity (1982) - 6
The Divide (2011) - 0
Billion Dollar Brain (1967) - 4
Frankenstein (1931) - 4
The IPCRESS File (1965) - 7
House of Games (1987) - 7
La Menace (1961) French with English subs - 7

Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) - 5
Un Homme et une Femme (1966) French with English subs - 8
Bringing Out The Dead (1999) - 0
Blue Sunshine (1977) - 1
The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle (1967) - 10
Dirty Harry (1971) - 8
Goodnight Mommy (2014) German language with English subs - 8
The Blockhouse (1973) - 2
Flightplan (2005) - 1
Zuckerbaby, aka Sugar Baby (1985) German with English subs - 2

Jennifer 8 (1992) - 7
Taste of Fear, aka, Scream of Fear (1961) - 7
Side Effects (2013) - 7
Memoir of a Murderer (director's cut) (2017) Korean with English subs - 5
Citizen X (TV movie, 1995) - 10
More (1969) - 8
Naked Lunch (1991) - 2
The Number 23 (2007) - 4
Tread (2020) - 10
Audrey Rose (1977) - 2

Malevil (1981) French with English subs - 6
The Omen (1976) - 9
Damien: Omen II (1978) - 7
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) - 5
What Happened Was... (1994) - 5
Sling Blade, directors cut (1996) - 10
Holy Motors (2012) French with English subs - 3
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) - 5
Three Days of the Condor (1975) - 5
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) - 3

Castaway on the Moon (2009) Korean with English subs - 6
The Osterman Weekend (1983) - 3
Unsane (2018) - 8
Inland Empire (2006) - 4
Grown Ups (2010) - 5
Grown Ups 2 (2013) - 3
The Banishment, aka Izgnanie (2007) Russian with English subs - 11
No Country for Old Men (2007) - 8
The Return, aka Vozvrashchenie (2003) Russian with English subs - 10

Elena (2011) Russian with English subs - 5
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 0
House of Cards (1968) - 4
Leviathan (2014) Russian with English subs - 8
Wind Chill (2007) - 3
Joy Ride (2001) - 3
Happy Gilmore (1996) - 5
The Night Eats The World (2018) - 6
The Ninth Gate (1999) - 4
Falling Down (1993) - 0

The House That Jack Built (2018) - 0
Kalifornia (1993) - 0
Sinkhole (2004) - 6
The Lodge (2019) - 3
Wrong Turn (2003) - 3
Johnny Got His Gun (1971) - 5
Memories of Murder, aka Salinui Chueok (2003) Korean with English subs - 8
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - 5
Leere Welt, aka Empty World (TV 1987) German with English subs - 3
Radius (2017) - 5

Capricorn One (1977) - 3
LE FANTÔME DE LA LIBERTÉ, aka The Phantom Of Liberty (1974) French with English subs - 5
Network (1976) - 4
LE CHARME DISCRET DE LA BOURGEOISIE, aka The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) French with English subs - 4
Bad Ronald (TV 1974) - 2
Christiane F. (1981) German with English subs - 7
Flashpoint (1984) - 7
Lord Of The Flies (1963) - 0
Beyond Reason (1970) - 1
Stalker (1979) Russian with English subs - 2

The Execution, aka Kazn (2021) Russian with English subs - 3
Deliverance (1972) - 10
Fire In The Sky (1993) - 7.5
Basket Case (1982) - 4
Hereditary (2018) - 5
Seven Days In May (1964) - 10
THX 1138 (1971) - 4
The Chekist (1992) Russian with English subs - 6
Mr. Nobody (2009) - 7
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) - 5

Race With The Devil (1975) - 3
The Hidden (1987) - 5
Don't Look Now (1973) - 3
The Machinist (2004) - 5
The Road Warrior (1981) - 10
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) - 4
The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) - 0
The Ascent (1977) Russian with English subs - 6
It's Alive (1974) - 3
The Eye (2008) - 3

A Short Film About Killing (1988) Polish with English subs - 6
Abwärts, aka Out Of Order (1984) German with English subs - 6.5
The Changeling (1980) - 7
That Cold Day in the Park (1969) - 5
Les Affames, aka Ravenous (2017) French with English subs - 5
The Crazies (2010) - 4
Paris, Texas (1984) - 4
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) - 3
Death Race 2000 (1975) - 1
Scanners (1981) - 2

Memento (2000) - 5

The total ratings number 933.5, divided by 191 movies, equals an average rating of 4.88.
This is not surprising, because movies, like any other art form, produces more not-so-good items than good ones. The same is true for other art forms, like music, painting, literature, etc. The really good ones, say a rating of 8 or above, are few and far between, again as might be expected.

Note that a couple of movies are listed more than once, simply because I watched them more than once (Quest for Fire, The Omega Man).
Also, at least two movies (Falling Down, The House That Jack Built) I rated zero purely because of the blatant political message they promote that has nothing or very little to do with the subject matter of the movie. If it weren't for that, I would probably rate the former a 5 and the latter a 10. There have also been a couple of other movies I've watched during the past couple of years that I have not listed at all, mostly for the same reason.

So what am I supposed to do, not list or rate the ones I think are below 5? Not gonna do that. That would negate the whole point of this thread.
Finally, and again as is true with any other review of art, anyone who feels inclined to disagree with my ratings needs to look at this history of ratings from me in order to get an idea of what I like and what I don't like.

Yes, that was what I thought too.



This is what I was getting at- there are a few where you have either stopped watching, or else described as confusing so I was just suggesting that you watch them in a different way or at a different time, so that you may enjoy the experience more. Seldom do you indicate that you liked the experience! But if you are just watching them to help you sleep, then it's moot.


You may do as you please, I was just noticing that you didn't seem, from your reviews, to enjoy many of the films that you spend time watching. I can only judge from my own perspective, which is- if I'm going to spend a couple of hours putting something in my brain, I'm going to give it a fair chance. But that's because I don't watch TV or films often (I read mostly). I watched the whole Twin Peaks saga again recently when I was ill, so it was fresh on my mind when I came upon this thread, which I seldom visit. I noticed that you spend a lot of time reviewing films, and it seemed odd to me that someone would put such a lot of effort into something they don't particularly like doing! But perhaps you do enjoy them and just aren't too demonstrative with that side of things.
Anyway, I wasn't intending to put you on the defensive, as with all art it is entirely up to the beholder to consume as they wish. I was putting my own slant on it, since you mentioned a film which (and this is rare) I knew well. It's just that, when describing a film or book or series, I would normally use emotive words- describing how it made me feel- whereas this thread seems entirely devoid of that! This is probably why I would not make a good film critic.

I never claimed different. In fact, I've noticed it myself, without anyone pointing it out to me.
But like I said, it's to be expected that, as with any art form, most of what is produced isn't particularly good, much of it is simply garbage, and only a relatively few products are good. My ratings are merely a reflection of that, tempered, of course, by my own tastes. Just because other folks tend to only post ratings for movies they are exuberant about, and don't bother posting the bad ones, doesn't concern me; to each their own.


You're reading a little too much into that. I've simply devoted some evenings to watching movies, and there is no other time or setting that would be better for me. If I get tired, I will watch it in two or more sittings, which I've done a number of times.
There have been many, many movies that I have decided not to watch at all, simply because I'm pretty sure the subject matter would not interest me. For example, there's not a single cartoon movie on my list, such as a Disney movie or a movie about comic book super heroes. Don't care for musicals or romantic comedies either, for what it's worth.

If I find a movie to be so bad that I can't bear to finish watching it, then why shouldn't I give it a low rating?

As far as a movie being confusing, can I help it if it is to me? At least I make an effort to read the plot synopsis at Wikipedia, as well as reviews on IMDb, but often even that doesn't help.


I don't spend a lot of time reviewing films. As you point out, I often just post a rating, and sometimes a short comment. Takes all of a few moments.

One reason why I sometimes, or often, watch a movie to the end, even if I may not particularly like it, is because there might be a certain aspect of the movie that I'm just curious to see how they ended it. And before you say that this in itself would be a good aspect of a movie, it's not necessarily so. If I watch garbage to the end, just to see how it ends, it doesn't mean it's overall any less garbagey. I'm often curious to see just how far down the stupidity hole movie makers are willing to go to put something on the screen and/or dumb-down the public.
And frankly, if it weren't for the fact that I'm watching in the evening in the privacy of my own home without any distractions, I might not be willing to watch a bad movie to the end.
The Sixth Sense is a rare example of an otherwise bland movie that is redeemed by a good ending. Without the substantial plot twist toward the end, this would be a very forgettable movie. But again, these types of things are few and far between.

I'm not inclined to discuss this until the cows come home. If you like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, or any other film, give your own ratings and comments.

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss this conversation, because it is an interesting thing to talk about.

The title of this thread is "Rate Your Most Recently Watched Movie."
The thing is, I'm in my early 60's, so there are many movies I saw in years past, dating all the way back to the 1960's, that are not included in my list of movies and ratings in this thread. And since in the decades of my life before the internet one had to actually pay for seeing movies, one was much more discriminating in what one spent one's money on. So I think that if I were to list all the movies I saw throughout out my life, at least the ones I remember, my list would probably be much more positive than my ratings in this thread, especially since a person tends to remember the good ones and forget the bad ones.

As an aside, and substantially off-topic from the current conversation, the scariest film was one I saw when I was just a kid, about age 5. So this was in the mid-1960's.
It was a Spanish film, entitled The Miracle of Marcelino, aka Marcelino pan y vino (1955). At that age, I doubt I had the patience to watch it in its entirety, but I sure as hell remembered the scary parts for many years afterward. It's not actually a horror film at all, but a drama with strong religious overtones.
Without giving any spoilers, and long story short, it's about an orphan boy in 19th century Spain who is raised in a monastery. The monks tell him never to go in the attic, which of course he eventually does, as little kids are wont to do things they are told not to do. What he finds in the attic is what creeped me out, and for many years afterwards I looked askew at the object in question whenever I was in a church.
There are clips of these scenes on YT, for anyone interested, but watching them will definitely spoil the movie for you. Even just reading the short synopsis on IMDb will spoil it, in my opinion. Actually, even some of the advertising posters for it are spoilers.
The IMDb rating for it is 7.1, so not bad. I too would rate it a 7.

The Curse (1987) - 4/10
When a meteorite lands near his family farm during a storm in Tennessee, the son of a struggling farmer believes it's connected to strange plague-like events afflicting the crops, the farm animals and even the family themselves.

Yes, but you didn't watch the film I'm commenting on, which is why I commented. I thought that others who might read this thread would miss out on a good series and movie if they read your rating! So my comment was in effect, my review.

I watched an hour, or about half of it, and I thought it was so bad that I couldn't stomach watching the rest. That's a valid reason for giving it a low rating.
You happened to like it, which is fine. So lets agree to move on.

The Deer Hunter (1978) - 4/10
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.

Three hours of mostly boredom, with nothing to recommend it besides a couple of Russian Roulette scenes.
Besides the scenery, which is quite obviously not Pennsylvania, the deer hunting scenes are absurd, with the group of friends constantly shouting at one another at the top of their voices, physically chasing deer through the woods and hills, and taking multiple shots - all of which would only have the effect in real life of instantly causing deer to flee at top speed and not stop until they were at least five miles away from such idiots.
The Robert De Niro character being in the army and in uniform, sporting a full beard. Beards have not been allowed in the US military probably for the past 100 years. On top of that blatant inaccuracy, there are the usual Hollywood gaffes regarding military dress codes, including De Niro wearing his beret indoors and walking around with his raincoat unbuttoned. But I'm sure the US military gave its blessings though, since the De Niro character comes back from Vietnam somewhat matured, garnering respect from the townsfolk while he struts around town in uniform, girl in arm.

I like that film as well - it was very well done as a prequel to Twin Peaks.

4 films I saw recently - 1) Men(7) - the actors are very good and the film is very creepy - about a woman whose husband committed suicide and she goes to stay at a beautiful property in a small village to get away from it all
2) Lost Illusions (8) - excellent actors in this film version of the Balzac novel about a young man's rise and fall in early 19th century Paris
3) Crimes of the Future - (7) - (lately I sometimes have trouble hearing what characters are saying when I see a film in a theater - this one was especially difficult for me to hear) It takes place in a fairly bad future where people modify their bodies in extreme ways for something to do and to get attention. In the meantime, other people are being born with genetic mutations. It ended and I was like 'wait - is that the end?' bcs it was abrupt.
4) News from Home - a film by Chantal Akerman - time travel to the late 70s in NYC - (8)

Suicide Room: Hater
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvjlYUzhijQ
6/10
Good presentation of how a sociopath/narcissist acts, although there were some inconsistencies. Shows how delusional politicians are and how easily people can be manipulated by them via social media etc. I realised that social media makes people jittery and unsure about whether what they see or hear is true. Deleting all our social media gives us a chance to experience the world free of constant manipulation and gives us a chance to discover our new, happier selves.

Yeah that was on tv a few weeks back and I like nearly died. I'd forgotten that older movies were slow and it's been a while since I've sat to actually watch a movie so it felt even longer than it should have.

Rewatched Scarface last night. I don't remember it being like that but I still enjoyed it 7/10 I guess

Death becomes her 1992
8/10

just watched The Addams Family (the 1991 version) for the first time and I love it. 10/10 for spooky cheesiness factor.

Znachor (1982) 9/10
Masterpiece is the only word which can describe this film + a funny clip from the movie

What happened to ScaryRob? Banned?

MFKZ (10/10)
Just watched this today and not only is the animation style unique but I really enjoyed the esoteric storyline. The setting is interesting too and the parody about some things like GTA. Anyway, maybe someday a sequel could happen because I'd be interested in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Qor3xMfW0

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

99/100

A collection of the three featurettes from 1966 to 1973 featuring Winnie the Pooh and the other animal friends of the Hundred Acre Wood.

Each featurette contain two short stories, interconnected with an animation that gave the movie a storybook feel and for the last chapter, it will have a heart to heart between Christopher Robin and Pooh that has the sort of intimacy a child and beloved bear have where Christopher Robin makes Pooh remember not to forget him, even if CR is 100 and Pooh is 99 (according to trivia, Winnie the Pooh was Christopher Robin Milne's first birthday present.)

And the line, which sometimes leaves me in tears "Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them along the way...in that Enchanted Place on top of the forest, a little bear will always be waiting..."

10/10

Együtt kezdtük a Hungarian comedy. A coming of age story, in flashback, of a group of high school students graduating in 2011. Each will take a different path from here on. Someone wrote a comment at IMDB and it feels as if they had read my mind and one of the characters was so relatable.

Honestly it's such a vibe. Presents the typical Hungarian holiday perfectly, summer feeling, nostalgia. I loved it a lot. Really Hungarian, but in the good way, surprisingly. The jokes, the characters, all of it is just so comforting and so relatable as a Hungarian (but I think for every Eastern/Central European person). The videography is so beautiful too. Mucsi and Kanyó Kata owned the show. I haven't laughed this much in a Hungarian movie since Buék (2018). It definitely deserves more attention. It's really cool it's on Netflix now, maybe that will get it some more hype. I think you should give it a try!

Teaser (turn on the subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmpJoVk8yz8

Marauders (2016) 7/10

It was weird seeing Bruce Willis with so little screen time. Also I thought one of the characters was probably dodgy but was hoping I was wrong but I wasn't and I dunno how I feel about that.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) - 9/10

A kaleidoscope of colour and music from start to finish

Black Adam. Got to say I really enjoyed it I just dont understand why it was slated.

Falling Down (1993) 8/10

They definitely don't make movies like this anymore! I can't think of any recent action movie that I've seen that has interesting themes or was properly enjoyable cos of how the story is put together. Also, it kind of has game energy you know? Like each dramatic scene is the next level where he's gotta defeat the enemy and so on until he gets to the big boss. Fun times.

Barbie (2023) 8/10

I don't know what I was expecting but I liked the movie and how it was put together

Yup, for a year. Here's the relevant thread, if you're curious. Make of it what you will.

Anyone want to know what I've watched during my time away? There's quite a few, but I can summarize in one post.

Well, I'm glad that you are back.

You probably watched a lot of movies, lol. I do miss watching movies on a regular basis. Lately though, I've been really into zombie or survival type series. I don't think I will ever bore of the zombie or whatever monstrosity outbreaks. I'm absolutely falling in love with Korean shows. Hopefully there will be more from other foreign countries too.

The last movie I half watched, I think, was Avatar: Way of Water. I watched mostly the ending on tv and got captivated by that even though I didn't watch from the beginning and barely knew what was even going on. Even though I didn't get much time to get to know who the new characters were it was still incredibly sad and made me pensive for the like the next week, lol. Great storytelling always makes me happy and/or thoughtful. But yeah, Avatar, the technology behind it is so impressive and so beautiful.

@ScaryRob Welcome back!

Thanks for the welcome back.
Yes, for a while I continued to watch a good number of films, all free online, of course. I've tapered off during the past few months though, mainly because I seem to be running out of films that still interest me. I've been watching exclusively at the tubitv.com site, and specifically their Art-House category which has many of the foreign films.


My weakness are post-apocalyptic films, but that theme as also been done to death and the most recent two I watched were horrible.
I think easily the best films I've seen in recent years were Korean and Japanese, so I'm curious which Korean shows you like and where to watch them.


Thanks.

Okay, so I take it that at least the above two folks might have some interst in what I've been watching over the past year.
I'll need to break up my list into two or three posts, since the list is somewhat long. Mostly, I'll just post a rating for a film, with only a few short comments in some cases.

I have decided to somewhat modify the 1-10 rating system because opinions are very subjective. From now on, I will rate the films I've watched as Bad, Mediocre, Good, and Very Good, with the corresponding numeric ratings as follows:

Bad = 1-4
Mediocre = 4-6
Good = 6-8
Very Good = 8-10

The overlaps are deliberate, again, since everything is very subjective. So, for example, if I rate a film as "Good" it would be equivalent to a rating of 6 through 8, on the usual scale of 1 through 10.

Here's the first installment of what I've watched over the past year:

Audition (1999, Japan, subtitled): A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Very Good (8-10)

Borgman (2013, Netherlands, subtitled): A vagrant enters the lives of an arrogant upper-class family, turning their lives into a psychological nightmare in the process.
My comment: Although nominally amusing, I'm not sure what message this film tries to convey. I'm not a fan of these European artsy-fartsy films that supposedly contain some profound hidden meanings or "social commentary".
Mediocre (4-6)

Mother (2009, Korea, subtitled): A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Very Good (8-10)

I Think We're Alone Now (2018): The apocalypse proves to be a blessing in disguise for one lucky recluse - until a second survivor arrives with the threat of companionship.
Bad (1-4)

E.M.P. 333 Days (2018): After an E.M.P. (Electro Magnetic Pulse) weapon is deployed, North America is forced to live in pre-industrial conditions. Anything electrical is useless, sending North American nations into anarchy. An introverted 11 year old girl must fend and fight for herself while trying to find her father.
Bad (1-4)

The Hunt (2012, Denmark/Sweden, subtitled): A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Very Good (8-10)

Tokyo Sonata (2008, Japan, subtitled): An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
Very Good (8-10)

Strozsek (1977, Germany, subtitled): In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.
My comment: Another German-directed film that apparently tries to show that no matter how miserable one's life might be in Germany, it's still better than life in the USA. As a person who was born and lived the first ten years of my life in Germany, all I can says is...Yeah, as if... This film reminds me strongly of the film 'Paris, Texas', which I mentioned uptopic, and which is another German-directed film that tries to depict the USA as a hopelessly degenerate shithole inhabited only by imbeciles.
Mediocre (4-6)

Robinson Crusoe (1954): The classic story of Robinson Crusoe, a man who is dragged to a desert island after a shipwreck.
My comment: As a child, I once had a comic book that depicted a modern-day version of this classic, wherein the stranding happened as a result of a pilot's fighter plane ditching in the ocean near a desert island. Cool island adventures ensued. I wish I still had that comic.
Good (6-8)

Stockholm (2018): Based on the absurd but true 1973 bank heist and hostage crisis in Stockholm that was documented in the New Yorker as the origins of the 'Stockholm Syndrome'.
Mediocre (4-6)

Blue Ruin (2013): A mysterious outsider's quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
My comment: Like so many Hollywood-styled "Independent" films that are labeled Drama/Crime/Thriller, it is ruined by eventually becoming an Action movie.
Mediocre (4-6)

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011): Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
My comment: This belongs on the low end of my Mediocre rating. It's almost Bad, but I suppose some people might like it.
Mediocre (4-6)

At Eternity's Gate (2018): A look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Mediocre (4-6)

Beast (2018): A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.
Good (6-8)

Hard Candy (2005): Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff's a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff's place. Jeff thinks it's his lucky night. He's in for a surprise.
Good (6-8)

Continued...

Strangled (2016, Hungary, subtitled): True story of a serial killer in 1950-60s Hungary.
My comment: Similar to the excellent 'Citizen-X' (but dealing with a different killer in a different country).
Very Good (8-10)

Burning (2018, Korea, subtitled): Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
My comment: I could've done without the gratuitous male masturbation scenes which, as usual, add nothing to the story. I put this at the lower range of Very Good.
Very Good (8-10)

The Complex (2014, Japan, subtitled): A nursing student moves into an apartment complex with her family and learns a dark and terrifying secret that is trying to claw its way right to her.
Mediocre (4-6)

Boyhood (2014): The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
Mediocre (4-6)

The Connection (2014, France, subtitled): Magistrate Pierre Michel goes on a relentless crusade to dismantle the most notorious drug smuggling operation in history: the French Connection.
My comment: The French half of the famous French Connection crime story, based on real events, and just as good as the excellent old French Connection movies from the 1970s.
Very Good (8-10)

Wendy and Lucy (2008): For Wendy, the drive to Ketchikan, Alaska, was meant to be the start of a new life. But when her car breaks down in Oregon, everything unravels.
Very Good (8-10)

Gerry (2002): A friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.
Bad (1-4)

The Lazarus Effect (2015): A group of medical researchers discover a way to bring dead patients back to life.
My comment: Similar to the old 'Flatliners' movie, although I don't remember whether that one was as dumb as this one.
Bad (1-4)

The Sicilian Girl (2008, Italy, subtitled): The true story of 17-year-old Sicilian Rita Atria, who broke the Sicilian Mafia's code of silence and testified against the "family business" after both her father and then her brother are both murdered, is brought to vivid life in Marco Amenta's hard-hitting and wonderfully acted drama.
Very Good (8-10)

Meadowland (2015): A year after their son goes missing, a couple handle the loss in varying ways, growing apart from one another and their reality.
Mediocre (4-6)

The Proposition (2004): A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
My comment: I'm not a fan of Westerns, and the fact that this one takes place in the Australian Outback hardly makes it any better.
Medicocre (4-6)

Louder Than Bombs (2016): The fractious family of a father and his two sons confront their different feelings and memories of their deceased wife and mother, a famed war photographer.
My comment: I don't remember much at all about this one, which probably means it borderline sucked, or actually did suck.
Mediocre (4-6)

What Maisie Knew (2012): In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.
Very Good (8-10)

Gabriel (2015): A troubled young man searches obsessively for his first love, risking everything in an increasingly desperate pursuit.
My comment: Another one that I don't remember much about. Probably low Mediocre, at best.
Mediocre (4-6)

Joint Security Area (2000, Korea, subtitled): After a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.
My comment: The highly improbable plot makes this just stupid.
Bad (1-4)

This is turning out to be several posts, haha.
Continued...

Avenues (2017): On his birthday following the suicide of his brother, Max and his friend Peter wander the wintry streets of Manhattan contemplating life, livelihood, and what it means to be an adult.
My comment: Barely Mediocre.
Mediocre (4-6)

Rabbit Hole (2010): Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
My comment: Another Hollywood emotional saga. Low Mediocre, at best.
Mediocre (4-6)

God's Pocket (2014): A blue collar worker tries to cover things up when his stepson is killed in a suspicious accident, but a local reporter senses that something's amiss.
My comment: It occurred to me that every character in this film is depicted as being an imbecile. Of course, it's Hollywood's depiction of the White working class, so it's to be expected, but it's nevertheless always amazing to see how low actors will stoop to make a buck.
Mediocre (4-6)

Wildlife (2018): A teenage boy must deal with his mother's complicated response after his father temporarily abandons them to take a menial and dangerous job.
Mediocre (4-6)

A Single Shot (2013): The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.
My comment: Don't remember much about this. Something about a hunter, money, drugs, d-i-v-o-r-c-e, pickup trucks and the like, all in hillbilly country. Low Mediocre at best.
Mediocre (4-6)

Hick (2011): A Nebraska teen gets more than she bargained for when she sets out for the bright lights of Las Vegas.
Bad (1-4)

Cold in July (2014): When a protective father meets a murderous ex-con, both need to deviate from the path they are on as they soon find themselves entangled in a downwards spiral of lies and violence while having to confront their own inner psyche.
My comment: As I remember, this story is as convoluted as it sounds. Another "independent" film that tries too hard. Barely Mediocre.
Mediocre (4-6)

The Cobbler (2014): A cobbler, bored of his everyday life, stumbles upon a magical heirloom that allows him to become other people and see the world in a different way.
Bad (1-4)

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016): A father and son, both coroners, are pulled into a complex mystery while attempting to identify the body of a young woman, who was apparently harboring dark secrets.
Bad (1-4)

The Killer Inside Me (2010): A charming small town sheriff is slowly unmasked as a dangerous serial killer when his murder victims start showing up in his jurisdiction.
Mediocre (4-6)

The Housemaid (2010, Korea, subtitled): A man's affair with his family's housemaid leads to dark consequences.
Mediocre (4-6)

Minari (2020, USA, subtitled): A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
My comment: I knew this was going to be good right from the music during the opening scenes.
Very Good (8-10)

Marjorie Prime (2017); A service that provides holographic recreations of deceased loved ones allows a woman to come face-to-face with the younger version of her late husband.
Bad (1-4)

Transsiberian (2008): A Transsiberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.
Good (6-8)

Personal Shopper (2016): A personal shopper in Paris refuses to leave the city until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.
Mediocre (4-6)

Continued...


4:44 Last Day On Earth (2011): A look at how a painter and a successful actor spend their last day together before the world comes to an end.
Bad (1-4)

State Like Sleep (2019): A woman grapples with the consequences of her celebrity husband's double life after he commits suicide.
My comment: I cannot remember a single thing about this film, which by definition means it is entirely forgettable.
Bad (1-4)

Dumplings (2004, China, subtitled): Aunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the secret ingredient is.
Mediocre (4-6)

Helpless (2012, Korea, subtitled): A man searches for his fiancée who vanished without a trace just before their wedding ceremony, only to discover the shocking identity of her.
Good (6-8)

Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017): A Los Angeles detective seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.
Mediocre (4-6)

Into the Abyss (2011): Conversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
My comment: Yet still another German film depicting the worst that America has to offer.
Mediocre (4-6)

Detour (1945): The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
My comment: Starts off good, but then turns into a Fast Talking, High Trousers film.
Mediocre (4-6)

Perfect Number (2012, Korea, subtitled): Brilliant math teacher formulates the perfect cover-up, after his neighbor murders her abusive ex-husband.
Mediocre (4-6)

Chronicles of Evil (2015, Korea, subtitled): A decorated detective involved in a taxi driver's death realizes he is caught in a trap and must untangle past mistakes to figure out why he was targeted in the first place.
Mediocre (4-6)

Like Father, Like Son (2013, Japan, subtitled): Ryota is a successful workaholic businessman. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another boy after birth, he faces the difficult decision to choose his true son or the boy he and his wife have raised as their own.
Very Good (8-10)

Still Walking (2008, Japan, subtitled): A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
My comment: Lots of dialogue, especially early on, and therefore lots of subtitles to read. Too many in fact, so this distracts considerably.
Mediocre (4-6)

Nobody Knows (2004, Japan, subtitled): In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Good (6-8)

Secret Sunshine (2007, Korea, subtitled): A woman moves to the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to fit in, another tragic event overturns her life.
Good (6-8)

The Night of the Hunter (1955): A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Bad (1-4)

Night Train to Lisbon (2013): Swiss Professor Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) abandons his lectures and buttoned-down life to embark on a thrilling adventure that will take him on a journey to the very heart of himself.
My comment: Good, for a Commie love story.
Good (6-8)

Continued...

Koyaanisqatsi (1982): A collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on nature, humanity, and the relationship between them.
Mediocre (4-6)

Code 46 (2003): A futuristic Brief Encounter, this is a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility.
My comment: Sci-fi drivel, although probably a wet dream for the likes of Klaus Schwab and Yuval Noah Harari.
Bad (1-4)

Kill List (2011): Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.
Bad (1-4)

The Unknown Girl (2016): A doctor gets obsessed with the case of a dead woman after learning that the woman had died shortly after having rung her door for help.
Mediocre (4-6)

I Wish (2011, Japan, subtitled): Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
Mediocre (4-6)

A Most Wanted Man (2014): A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.
Good (6-8)

Sightseers (2012): Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.
Mediocre (4-6)

Black Coal, Thin Ice (2015, China, subtitled): An ex cop and his ex partner decide to follow up on investigation of a series of murders that ended their careers and shamed them, when identical murders begin again.
Mediocre (4-6)

Confession (2022, Korea, subtitled): A story about a man who has been pointed out as the culprit of a locked-room murder and his lawyer approaching the truth.
Mediocre (4-6)

Recalled (2021, Korea, subtitled): Disturbing visions about chilling accidents, post-traumatic memory loss and a woman's desperate fight to uncover the truth about her past.
Mediocre (4-6)

Tokyo! (2008, Japan, subtitled): A cinematic triptych of three Tokyo-set stories.
Mediocre (4-6)

First Man Into space (1959): The first pilot to leave Earth's atmosphere lands, then vanishes; but something with a craving for blood prowls the countryside...
My comment: Typical 1950's sci-fi. Low end of mediocre.
Mediocre (4-6)

Coming Home Again (2019): In San Francisco, a Korean-American man takes care of his dying mother and reflects upon their life, while she teaches him her traditional recipes.
Mediocre (4-6)

Everything Must Go (2010): When an alcoholic relapses, causing him to lose his wife and his job, he holds a yard sale on his front lawn in an attempt to start over. A new neighbor might be the key to his return to form.
Mediocre (4-6)

Okay, that's it, that's I've watched during the past year - 74 films. Equals about 1.5 per week. I might have missed a small handful, which I'll add if/when I remember.
Again, many of these can currently be watched for free on tubitv.com, Art House section.

Sure, no problem.

Ah, I'll have to check out tubitv site as I do enjoy foreign series and movies because it's so fascinatingly different than American culture. Thanks! And I know some foreigners are really big into American series/movies perhaps for a similar reason. Like it's sometimes evident in Japanese video games like Resident Evil 5 which was heavily inspired by Black Hawk Down and the original Resident Evil 4 was influenced by American movie culture though it is in the remake but a lot more subtle in my opinion.

I have Netflix; I'll be watching Zombieverse soon which is new.

Here are some of the shows I thoroughly enjoyed which may or may not be post apocalyptic. I also enjoy animation so some may be.
-Squid Game
-All of Us Are Dead
-Gantz: O
-Sweet Home
-Parasyte
-Aggretsuko
-Train to Busan (That made me cry, lol. The acting, art direction, everything is phenomenal.)
-Carole & Tuesday
-Stranger Things

Not long ago Netflix added a category for K-Drama's so that's exciting or at least I've recently noticed it, lol as I don't watch Netflix as often as I used to despite the monthly updates in shows and movies. Here are a few on my to watch list which may or not be K-drama:
-Over the Moon
-Extraordinary Attorney Woo
-Inspector Koo
-#Alive (Actually since this is a movie, I'll watch this first then Zombieverse.

=======

Okay, last movie I watched today came on tv and I watched it before but that was a long time ago so I didn't remember the plot well.

The Stepford Wives. (9/10)
I don't remember what I thought before but I find it interesting how it brings up how men, generally speaking, connect their career/financial success to their masculinity and find it demeaning to be "inferior" to a woman or their partner when she is more successful and makes more money.

Then on the flipside there's the woman's version which I keep seeing that same topic pop up on stuff like YouTube shorts from Tiktok or stuff. So now women lives are a lot different than it was back in the 1950's where traditionally the husband works and the wife is a stay-at-home wife and/or mother. Now that women are just as much in the workforce as men are, some can become so ambitious that they forget to balance out different aspects of their lives such as work, family, friends, personal time, etc. Like in The Sims 3 it gets really challenging depending on where my focus is lying and that video game encapsulates that potential issue I notice effortlessly capturing the reality of it all.

Anyway some women complain they are tired of working to exhaustion feeling like they have no choice because in some cultures or maybe it's a universal thing, girls are taught to be independent and self-sufficient. And while that is good, some might take that too far and end up missing out on some things in life. I have heard or read of horror stories of men just up and leaving or kick her out or her and the kids and now she's fighting to survive not only for herself but the kids too if that's the case. So I understand the notion of instilling into girls not to be solely independent on a man, or anyone for that matter, because sometimes people change for the worse.

So yeah, I found the movie interesting and thought-provoking as I do tend to appreciate mentally stimulating subject matter. I also like to correlate psychological observations in series/film to the real world as there's real world inspiration since all fiction is based on some kind of reality. So there isn't anything that I don't watch that I usually cannot pinpoint something connecting it to the real world. Oh, and video games too.

Of all the titles you listed, the only one I was able to find on tubi was Train to Busan. I had it on my watch list once, but decided it was too wild and crazy. I put it back on my list and will give it ago when I'm in the mood. I have a feeling I'm not going to sit through it though.
I shouldn't have mentioned post-apocalyptic, since most of them are terrible gore fests, which I don't care for.

I don't have Netflix. If something isn't available for free somewhere, there's really no chance I'll watch it. Despite my long list uptopic, movies simply aren't important enough to me to spend money on.

I'm sure I saw The Stepford Wives, back in the day, probably on TV. Don't remember anything about it.

Yeah, true about the gore fest but I guess that doesn't bother me much as I know it's just fiction. There are some movie scenes or game scenes that make me nauseated like the Saw series or the Mortal Kombat fatalities. But I guess I took after my mother with most of the desensitization of horror movies since she loved to watch them. Also it probably helped that I used to watch Tales from the Crypt with my grandmother and I liked reading Goosebumps books and watching Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Train to Busan in my opinion, while gory, has a really solid storyline that got me invested in the characters and their survival. For me as long as the movie/series/game has a good plot then I'm in. That's how I got into the Resident Evil games. But no worries, we all have our own preferences.

Touché, it doesn't make sense to spend money on anything you don't really have a passion for.

It doesn't bother me in that sense. I just think it's stupid.
Some gore can have its place, like in The House That Jack Built, when it is paired with good suspense, but gore just for the sake of it is just dumb, in my opinion. As an aside, the reason I gave it only a "1" rating uptopic is solely because it contained a couple of minutes of totally irrelevant World War 2 footage, which means the director and others were pushing a political agenda. If it weren't for that, I'd give it a "10".


I've seen some of the Saw movies (1 through 4, I think) and liked them, but again, they were also suspenseful and clever.

A couple more I watched this past year:

The Babadook (2014): A mother struggles to protect her son from an evil supernatural entity that has escaped the pages of a children's book and is lurking in their home.
Bad (1-4)

The Third Murder (2017, Japan, subtitled): A courtroom drama centered around the murder of a factory president.
Good (6-8)

The Emerald Forest (1985): Ten years after his son disappeared in the Brazilian rainforest, an engineer attempts a rescue only to be disabused of his notions of “civilization.”
My Comments: I first saw this back in the 80's. It hasn't aged well.
Good (6-8)

True. I have the same mentality with nudity and spicy scenes; I find it obnoxious when it's just there just for the sake of it and plays no purpose to the plot or characterization. I mean I guess it's a trope in horror movies that's when the couple gets killed and to me became more like comedy but still. That's a part of the reason I really enjoyed playing The Quarry because despite the take on older cheesy horror tropes, the game doesn't go that far into unnecessary romance scenes...unlike Heavy Rain even though that game is still one of my favorites but come on. Most, if not all, agree how awkward it is forcing the player to act all that out when no one was expecting all that to transpire. Otherwise the brief nudity in The Order: 1886 makes sense because they went the realistic route with the werewolves transformation of completely destroying their clothes.

And yeah there's propaganda everywhere. Movies, commercials, Tell-U-A-Vision, video games, social media, news, books, the list goes on.

I really enjoy the Saw movies especially the earlier ones. The last one, the final chapter Jigsaw I think it's called, really annoyed me and makes no sense at all. Like what happened? Did the writer just give up and stop trying to make sense? I was curious what others thought who watched the movie so looked up movie reviews and some felt the same way I did and making jokes about it which made me laugh because it was true. Like seriously, what happened?

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#Alive (8/10)
It started off slow in my opinion and wasn't a lot of action compared to some other zombie outbreak movies I've watched previously. However, I suppose it was a nice change in pace and direction. It's one of those movie titles that tells the audience the outcome before even having watched the movie. I know some don't like when writers do that but I can understand why as clearly the point may not be the plot but rather a message to convey. Overall, it was a good movie and the ending reminded of the good old classic Resident Evil tradition, lol.

I think I only saw the first four, and that was some years ago. Of those, I remember I thought II was the best one.

I think my favorite is the first movie in the Saw series. It was a while ago but I had a marathon and watched the whole Saw series in order of release, except for the spin-off called Spiral but maybe eventually. Besides the spin-off Jigsaw was the only one I hadn't seen but did during the marathon.

There is a new upcoming movie called Saw X which will be the tenth in the franchise; I wonder how many more? I'm kind of not sure about it though after Jigsaw to be honest, but I'll likely give a watch eventually.

Do you watch YouTube? There's some free movies there with ads. The Faculty is one of my favorite movies, Wild Wild West I watched in movie theaters and another movie I enjoy, Little Shop of Horrors (1986) but it's a musical but a good one in my opinion.

I haven't seen Dr. Giggles in many years but I remember that movie and it's on tubi so I'll give it a watch.

Yes, but typically just short clips dealing with humor, gaming, or animals.

I did watch Damnation Alley on YT a couple of years ago, and it's still available, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eIKx2LEPU
This is what I meant the other day when I referenced post-apocalyptic, not so much zombie stuff. Yeah, it's campy, but it's got giant scorpions, flesh-eating cockroaches, one of the coolest custom vehicles ever made for a movie, and no cheesy/chringey gratuitous sex, so what's not to like? I've read that vehicle still exists, btw.

The Banishment is also still on YT for free, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDD7EaSKc6M
Turn on the subtitles.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll put it on my to watch list.

I just noticed Damnation Alley has an interesting writeup about its production on Wikipedia, because 20th Century Fox was making Star Wars at the same time. I'd watch Damnation Alley long before Star Wars, which I think is puerile and grossly overrated.

The Lilo and Stitch Saga from Disney:

The 4 movies and television series were released out of order between the original film and the 4th and final film.

The chronological order of the animations.
1.) Lilo and Stitch
2.) Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch
3.) Stitch! The Movie
4.) Lilo and Stitch the Series (65 half hour show, some involved crossovers with Disney TV Animation series on Disney Channel at the time like Kim Possible, The Proud Family (2001), American Dragon: Jake Long and the oddball Recess, which was part of the One Saturday Morning block on ABC, owned by Disney which also aired Lilo and Stitch the Series a few weeks after the initial Disney Channel airing)
5.) Leroy and Stitch (only saw the trailer on L&S 2. Please don't spoil it for me.)

The TV series was released to its entirety on DVD in Japan because they have a home entertainment culture as going to movies is expensive and, like us, love binge watching TV shows. However, that dates back to VHS and Laserdisc.

I knew a guy who hooked me up with the entire series. And it has subtitles and audio BOTH in original English and Japanese dubbed and subbed for hard of hearing.

But you need to have a basic grasp on the kanji for the set up options. Good thing I can read the basics of kanji.

P.S. You would need a region compatible player for the Japanese Region 2 DVD.

Ocean's 12 (8/10)

I don't remember a lot of that happening??? Fun to watch as always but Ocean's 11 will always be my #1

I was just watching the original Rat Pack version of Ocean's 11 earlier!

I just watched a film I saw years ago but could never remember the title of it. But I recognised it from the description in the TV guide. It was called "Gamma People" (1956) and concerned two journalists who, travelling by train through central Europe, unexpectedly find themselves re-routed to a tiny mountain kingdom they'd never heard of, where they are immediately arrested as spies. Outwardly everything seems very quaint and olde worlde, but sinister things are going on up at the Castle. It appears that a mad scientist has taken over the country (the late king having had an 'unfortunate accident') and he's experimenting on people's brains, supposedly to try and improve the race. Yeah, well we've heard that one before. The results being some children who are perfect little geniuses (and in some cases perfect little stinkers) and a posse of mindless morons who, at the peep of a whistle, the evil prof can set on anybody who opposes him. But, of course, our heroes eventually foil the plot and win the day. So everybody can go back to drinking beer, performing colourful folk dances to the strains of an oompah band, and being ever so jolly.

It happens I'm particularly engaged with a certain little mountain kingdom of my own at present, so I watched it out of interest (more ideas I can't use, drat it!). But it was an enjoyable little romp, sort of a cross between a zombie flick and The Prisoner of Zenda, and featuring loveable English lothario Leslie Philips (Ding-dong!) as comic relief. I rate it 8/10,

Dziewczyna i kosmonauta (A girl and an astronaut) year 2023 (7/10)
the imdb plot summary.
"An astronaut's return after a 30-year disappearance rekindles a lost love and sparks interest from a corporation determined to learn why he hasn't aged."

The imdb description is misleading, because the main focus is not on the experiment itself, but the complicated relationship between a young woman Marta and two pilots who fall in love with her and compete with each other. It all takes place in 2022. Things change after one of them is chosen by the Russians for a risky hibernation experiment in space. Accidentally, the hibernation doesn't last 24 hours as planned but 30 years. In 2052 he returns to Earth in a coma and is kept in a secret facility in Russia (the one which sent him into space). Now Marta is a married middle-aged woman but after she finds out her crush is alive, wants him back, but the Russians are unwilling to let her take him back to Poland.

It was difficult to write what the series is about because there are so many plots, most of whom are kind of hardly related and difficult to follow. IMDb says it's a sci-fi movie, but it isn't. It's a romanctic story set in 2022 and 2052. The semi-futuristic aspect is only the background for the part of the story which takes place in 2052. I enjoyed it because I simply wanted to watch something which is enjoyable but not too ambitious.

Trailer:

I remember watching one of the Star Wars movie as a kid and I don't remember which movie it was but I remember the movie was long...so long that I eventually got bored and just turned it off. Ironically, I think the first Star Wars movie came back into the movie theaters for some special event or something and I watched that which I think was in 3D or maybe it wasn't, I don't remember but I know I was obsessed with 3D movies and can't think of any other reason why I would watch it otherwise. It was okay but still not something I'm interested in. The only Star Wars I'm actually interested in is the animated series and that was excellent. I think it was the Clone Wars or something.

Star Trek might be something I'm more interested in but I didn't get a chance to finish watching the older version as it was leaving Netflix but from what I did watch it was intriguing.

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I tried watching Zombieverse but I'm barely able to get pass the first episode.

I've only ever been to one 3D movie, and that was Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, at an IMAX theater, many years ago. That was absolutely stunning.
My only other 3D experience has been with a computer game using a pair of electronic 3D glasses, also many years ago. I still have both the game and the glasses, but haven't played in a long time. It was pretty good too, although the glasses were not needed to play.

Some of the 3D movies I watched some are top notch in utilizing everything for the best effect and some other 3D movies weren't so great. One of the most impressive 3D movies I watched is Avatar.

I remember one of the Naruto video games I played there was an option to play in 3D, but it wasn't impressive. I think one of the Mortal Kombat games had that too but it was nothing like the best I've seen, especially in some of the 3D horror movies. I don't know of any games now that does anything with 3D except with VR which I must say is a whole other experience to immersion. I chose my first VR experience to be....

Kitchen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcLl-DZGLZ8

It looks odd when watching someone play but it's a completely different world when you are in VR and I'm surprised movie theaters don't have more levels of immersion. Or even the experiences where the audience participates in the movie by voting on what happens next like those interactive Netflix movies/series which was quite fascinating to engage.

Bandersnatch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wnRi3Sclm8

Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not To Steal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07jnFUoVzFg

Heaven Knows Mr Allison (1957)

You can't go wrong with a pair of movie legends like Robert Mitchum and Debora Kerr. A classic, and rightly so. Reminded me what great movie acting should be and seldom is these days. (10/10)

Last Night In Soho (2021) - Psychological horror

Not the strongest denouement, but imo a gem overall. Visually captivating and brilliantly unsettling, particularly before there's any good reason to feel unsettled. 9/10

Tokyo Twilight (1957, Japan, subtitled): Two adult sisters wrestle with feelings of abandonment when they are reunited with their estranged mother who ran off with another man long ago.
My comment: Takes about an hour for it to get into gear, but that's typical. Another good look at Japanese culture of the 1950's. Nostalgic score.
Very Good (8-10)

Tokyo Story (1953, Japan, subtitled): An aging couple travels from their seaside village to Tokyo to visit their children in Ozu's stirring story of generational conflict and heartbreak.
My comment: Not nearly the level of tension as Tokyo Twilight, I would rate this on the lower end of Good, maybe even just Mediocre. It seems the same interior sets were used for both films.
Good (6-8)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Japan, subtitled): An aging widower reckons with feelings of loneliness and nostalgia as he prepares for his only daughter to get married and leave the home.
Mediocre (4-6)

It part 1 (20-idc). The vibes were wrong and the cringe was real. Didn't finish it because it was just wrong and what I did see I didn't like. The OG version with Tim Curry from way back was much better.