Last movie you watched

[erilaz]

I mentioned seeing Joy Ride last month, and two of its lead actresses (Sherry Cola and Stephanie Hsu) showed up in the movie I saw this evening: Shortcomings (2023), a comedy directed by Randall Park. It's about a Japanese-American twenty-something named Ben Tagawa (Justin H. Min), whose world is falling apart. He's kind of a dick, but he has a House (Hausu) poster on his living room wall, so props to him.

Ben is the manager of a (fictional) repertory theater called the Berkeley Arts Cinema, which made me nostalgic for the good old days of the U.C. Theatre before it closed in 2001. Though the theater was fictional, they did film a number of scenes in Berkeley and Oakland, so it was fun seeing so many shots of my usual stomping-grounds on the big screen. But it's a movie, so even though we see the exterior of Pegasus Books in Downtown Berkeley, the interior is of some bookstore I don't know at all, probably in L.A.

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

[erilaz]

My $4 movies for National Cinema Day:

Theater Camp (2023) — A hilarious mockumentary about Adirond Acts, a financially troubled theater camp for kids in Upstate New York.

Fremont (2023) — A black and white dramedy about a young woman named Donya, who formerly worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Now she lives in an apartment building in Fremont, California, with other Afghani immigrants and works in a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco's Chinatown. When the old woman who writes the fortunes drop dead, Donya becomes her replacement.

[erilaz]

Bottoms (2023) — Two lesbians at the bottom of their high school's social ladder (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) start a women's self-defense club in the hope that it will allow them to hook up with the school's hot cheerleaders. I thought it was hilarious. If you liked Booksmart, you should check it out.

[Moh]

Blood Quantum (2019): Weird ass movie imo. I liked the general concept, but the execution fell a little flat for me. It did have some interesting parts, though.

Prey (2022): The 5th movie in the Predator series, it's set as a prequel to the first 4 movies. Full disclosure: I've never seen the first 4 movies, but I had a general idea of what to expect thanks to my parents, lol. Lots of action in this movie! Definitely one I'll watch again.

Bottoms (2023) — [...] If you liked Booksmart, you should check it out.

Well now I'm sold! I thought Booksmart was hilarious.

[Zunu]

I think I only saw one of the previous films, Alien vs Predator, and it was fairly ridiculous so I was pleasantly surprised by Prey as well. Definitely rewatchable.

[Moh]

The Menu (2022): Wild movie! I was thoroughly entertained, though. Ralph Fiennes was great.

[erilaz]

Lured — 1947 film noir about a serial killer in London, directed by Douglas Sirk. The screenplay by Leo Rosten, author of The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and The Joys of Yiddish, is an excellent vehicle for banter between George Sanders (four years before he won the Oscar for his role in All About Eve) and Lucille Ball (four years before she revolutionized the TV sitcom). Also in the cast are Alan Napier (Alfred from the 1960s Batman series), Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and the great Boris Karloff.

[erilaz]

Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラ -1.0) (2023) — Toho Studios celebrates 70 years of the Big G by bringing us what could very well be the best Godzilla film ever. Yes, we get to see the world's most famous kaijū smashing up Tokyo landmarks, and the special effects are first-rate, but it's really a story of people trying to put their broken lives back together in the years immediately following World War II. (The title refers to the fact that the movie is set before the events of the original 1954 Gojira.) At its heart, it's a drama about three people — a man, a woman, and a little girl — who have lost everything in the war and come together as a family.

See it in a theater while you still have the opportunity. (I saw it at Oakland's historic Grand Lake Theater.)

I'll just add that the last line spoken in the movie actually packs more punch if you can understand the Japanese rather than relying entirely on the English subtitles.

[Zunu]

what could very well be the best Godzilla film ever.

I was pretty unenthused about seeing this but I may have to reconsider...!

Anyway my last movie is RanchoNotorious (1952). I saw this last night on Criterion. A man out for revenge against the killer of his sweetheart intersects with Marlene Deitrich as a saloon girl turned hard-nosed but warm hearted ranch patrona. There's sing-along narration but somehow it works. George Reeves, future Superman, plays a supporting role.

[Zunu]

Finally got around to catching Godzilla Minus One. I was not prepared for that middle climax, it had me pretty shaken! Overall, one of the better films I've seen in the theater this year.