Last movie you watched

[Zunu]

I've gone to "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" twice in as many weeks. If you haven't seen this yet in the theater, you will regret it. In terms of the animation quality, it's like the first film, squared. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that it's possibly the most spectacular visual feast that has ever existed. It makes Avatar, Spirited Away, and Mad Max:Fury Road look absolutely tame. The story is pretty danged good too, with dramatic moments that feel honestly earned, moment of exhilarating joy, a sharp sense of humor, and excellent voice acting, particularly by Luna Lauren Velez from the classic syndicated cop show NY Undercover, and Oscar Isaac, who I'm not all that familiar with but is apparently best known for his role as Detective Fartman from the rollicking 2005 comedy, Lenny the Wonder Dog.

If anyone hasn't been keeping up with the buzz on this picture, I'm going to include a big spoiler here, but I highly recommend you do read it. It will save you some level of frustration later on.

Spoiler: show

The movie ends on a fairly sudden cliffhanger. So don't expect the story to wrap up.

[erilaz]

Here to Be Heard: The Story of the Slits (2017) — Excellent documentary about the seminal female U.K. punk band. How did I not know this existed?! I just happened to see it on the shelf while browsing through the music docs at Berkeley Public Library.

I love this band. Their first LP, Cut, is one of the greatest albums ever. I was fortunate enough to see Ari and Tessa when the Slits reformed and came to San Francisco in 2006; Ari died of breast cancer in 2010 at the age of 48. I got to meet Viv and got both of her books signed when she was at the Bay Area Book Festival in 2018.

[erilaz]

Hanna (2011) — I saw this during its initial theatrical run, but I wanted to see it again for Saoirse Ronan's brilliant performance. I haven't watched the series, by the way.

I went on Netflix's DVD website to see how I rated it back in 2011 (4 out of 5 stars) and made the mistake of reading other subscribers' reviews. Some of the one-star reviews are just ridiculous:

I agree with a previous reviewer; this movie was disgusting and I also put it back in the envelope and mailed it back after the first scene where that beautiful animal was ruthlessly slaughtered for the sake of making a movie. Gratuitous violence cheapens any movie.

LOL! This is a movie about a teenage girl who is trained to be a killing machine, and you get bent out of shape because she shoots a reindeer with a (CGI) arrow in the opening scene? Did you not read any description of the film before renting it? Did you think it was Miracle on 34th Street? Or do you just want all assassins in the movies to be vegans?

this is not a well made film really choppy to start thought my step daughter would be interested glad I decided to watch it first just garbage then there's a being with both "male and female genital" screw hollywood keep that to themselves.

I'll just let that review speak for itself. I should note, however, that the "being" that so offended the reviewer was only described as having male and female genitalia; no genitalia were shown onscreen.

[erilaz]

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that it's possibly the most spectacular visual feast that has ever existed.

Man, you ain't kiddin'! Absolutely mind-blowing. Very funny, too. I agree 100% with Pavitr Prabhakar about "chai tea".

[erilaz]

Lambert and Stamp (2014) — An excellent documentary with some extraordinary footage from back in the day. Kit Lambert was the multilingual, Oxford-educated, upper-class son of a classical composer. Chris Stamp was the working-class son of a tugboat captain. The duo wanted to become film directors, so they came up with a plan to find an unknown band, make a film about its rise and fall, and thus gain entry into the world of cinema. They found an awkward mod quartet called the High Numbers, became their managers, and changed the band's name to The Who. And the rest is history.

[erilaz]

Joy Ride (2023) — Adele Lim, one of the writers of Crazy Rich Asians, makes her directorial debut with a VERY raunchy road-trip comedy — featuring Asian-American women. I thought it was hilarious, but anyone who is easily offended should probably avoid it.

[erilaz]

Cyborg She (僕の彼女はサイボーグ) (2008) — Ayase Haruka stars as a cyborg from the future in this sci-fi romantic comedy from Kwak Jae-yong, the writer/director of My Sassy Girl.

[erilaz]

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (ガメラ 大怪獣空中決戦) (1995) — One of the best kaijū films ever made. I hadn't seen it since 2005, but still: How did I manage to forget that the researchers in this movie discovered the names of Gamera and Gyaos in a runic inscription?!

Fun fact: Fujitani Ayako, who plays the schoolgirl who forms a spiritual bond with Gamera, is Steven Seagal's daughter.

[erilaz]

A Night at the Opera (1935) — Classic Marx Brothers silliness. It has its moments, like the crowded stateroom scene, but in general it's not quite up to the level of Duck Soup or Horse Feathers.

You may have heard a few months ago that Netflix will be sending out their last DVD rentals on September 29th. You may have thought, "What?! Netflix still does DVDs?!" Although I've also had a streaming account for a number of years, I've continued to get DVDs from Netflix since March 2005. (My first was Moon Child, starring Gackt and Hyde. Unlike Netflix's streaming service, their DVD service allows you to see your entire history.)

In any event, since the announcement I've been trying to plow through as much of my queue as possible, concentrating on movies that are not available at my local public library and not streaming on a service where I have a subscription or can watch them for free. But I was also eager to hit a particular milestone before the end, and with this movie I've done it: A Night at the Opera is my 1000th Netflix DVD.

[erilaz]

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), currently free with (hardly any) ads on YouTube. In addition to featuring remakes of three episodes of the original series, it has some fun references to other episodes, as well as some of the original actors, including Burgess Meredith and Bill Mumy. I was surprised to see Nancy Cartwright (four years before she became the voice of Bart Simpson) and Cherie Currie, lead singer of The Runaways, who is watching the wonderfully bizarre Fleischer Brothers cartoon, "Bimbo's Initiation"!