Rate The Last Movie You Saw [Archive] - Page 262

WHITBISSELL!

07-19-21, 06:43 PM

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Cosmic Monsters (The Strange World of Planet X) - There's not all that much to recommend this 1958 British mutated creature feature. Originally released as The Strange World of Planet X in it's country it was retitled for it's American release. Forrest Tucker stars as scientist/stalwart hero Gil Graham with Gaby André as his requisite love interest Michele Dupont. They work in the laboratory of physicist Dr. Laird (Alec Mango) where he's conducting increasingly hazardous experiments involving magnetic fields. After inadvertently changing the molecular composition of various metals he attracts attention from the Ministry of Defence. But the repercussions also extend to the surrounding countryside as creatures with short gestation periods such as insects are irreparably transmuted into ... cosmic monsters! Actually they're just normal crickets, ants, spiders and frogs filmed in closeup and shoddily superimposed into the wooded surroundings. These sort of feeble FX have a built in campiness factor to them which usually make them tolerable but the first half of the movie is so talky and slow moving that there's nowhere near enough good will built up. Martin Benson does do a pretty good as Mr. Smith, a celestial visitor who shows up when the out of control experimentation attracts the attention of his older and more advanced civilization. There are definite echoes of Michael Rennie's Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still. But if you must get your Forrest Tucker on I suggest you watch The Crawling Eye instead.

rating_2_5

BooBooKittyFock

07-19-21, 06:51 PM

https://wallpapercave.com/wp/wp5860326.jpg

5

Finally finished P.T. Anderson’s Full Feature Films.

GulfportDoc

07-19-21, 08:26 PM

I watched The Swimmer (1968) for the first time. Burt Lancaster is fantastic as a man who decides to swim in his neighbor's pools on his way home. But all is not as it seems and there is more to his story than originally appears. A must see film. rating_4_5
Good picture. Very unusual for its time. Lancaster was the perfect casting. I recall seeing it in the theater, and was drawn in, only to be shocked and frustrated by the ending. Still, a memorable film.

Insane

07-19-21, 08:58 PM

Fabulous

07-19-21, 09:55 PM

Dick (1999)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/iEAPv0Lchp9hc3pIMtqXku2YOS6.jpg

WHITBISSELL!

07-20-21, 12:13 AM

https://www.allhorror.com/public/uploads/2020/02/the%20black%20scorpion-1957-1.jpg

The Black Scorpion - This is a passable 1957 creature feature that takes place entirely in Mexico. Unlike so many other giant bug movies of the era there are no inferences that the giant scorpions are the result of fallout from atomic blasts. These were supposedly released from their underground lairs by a sizable earthquake which created a new volcano. Richard Denning and Carlos Rivas play geologists who have been dispatched to study the new phenomena. They eventually run across conventional hottie and female ranch boss Teresa Alvarez (Mara Corday) who the Anglo half of the intrepid geologist duo quickly calls dibs on.

Anything not having to do with the giant arachnids is handled perfunctorily and predictably but the stop motion animation by Willis O'Brien and Pete Peterson is pretty decent. Actually it's the best part of the movie. Try not to fixate on the cheesy looking matte shots of the actual Black Scorpion rampaging through Mexico City. There's only the one really big one that makes quick work of his smaller brethren so it can set up the big showdown in a stadium versus the army and our two heroes and an electrified harpoon of sorts. There's also one too many cutaway closeups of the perpetually drooling and bulgy eyed monster.

But there is an extended segment inside the volcano where the geologists are lowered in a basket which gives O'Brien and Peterson an opportunity to trot out a couple of other creatures like a millipede, a spider and what looks like an oversized dust mite. Worth watching as long as you're not expecting them to reinvent the giant mutated wheel.

rating_3

Fabulous

07-20-21, 01:05 AM

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/hRfGRa2Z1bBGDwawyCbNf1NuQAm.jpg

BooBooKittyFock

07-20-21, 01:08 AM

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/hRfGRa2Z1bBGDwawyCbNf1NuQAm.jpg

Great film! My favorite Angelina Jolie

wositelec

07-20-21, 01:40 AM

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee (1994) - 8 / 10

https://e.snmc.io/i/300/s/b8cd8dd858764bd0e069af866c52258d/3759869

PHOENIX74

07-20-21, 01:41 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/R0cbVJhH/Pat-Garrett-and-Billy-the-Kid-film-poster.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/BnFmMPxV/patdvd.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7481639

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - (1973) - DVD

I'm certainly glad that this was my introduction to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, a tortured production of what was to be Sam Peckinpah's last old time western. MGM, and in particular it's president James Aubrey, put Peckinpah under pressure to complete the film fast and to his specifications - leading to a troubled production. On the other side, Peckinpah himself was drinking heavily, leading some people to note that he was only coherent 4 hours out of every day. A problem with a camera lens meant there had to be much reshooting, and the editing was rushed. The final cut was taken out of Peckinpah's hands, and ended up being a rough one - the film was released before it was ready, was mauled by the critics and failed to make any impact.

A much improved version, Peckinpah's original preview version before it was taken out of his hands, was put together and released in 1988. It was worked over once again for it's 2005 DVD release - and this effort was really worth it in my opinion. Both the 1988 and 2005 versions are on the Special Edition DVD and the 2005 is far superior - though Peckinpah himself passed away in 1984 and therefore can't give his blessing to either. The 2005 version retains Bob Dylan's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' during Slim Picken's death scene, shifts the great raft scene back to where it really belongs and has the best ending of any of the versions. It brings back an early scene between Pat Garrett and his wife, which really gives the scene where Garrett cavorts with half a dozen prostitutes added meaning.

Both versions of the film start both in 1909 and 1881, melding vision of Garrett's assassination by those who had overseen his pursuit of Billy the Kid with Garrett and Billy meeting one final time under good terms, despite Garrett having become sheriff. I thought it was a bit confusing and awkward, this double beginning, but doesn't impact the film all that much. The rest of the film deals with how Garrett is torn asunder and how Billy can't bring himself to run in any meaningful way. Garrett wants Billy to get away. He doesn't want to be the one who kills him. After bringing him in once Billy kills two deputies and escapes the hangman's noose - forcing Garrett to choose which life he really wants to live.

I thought James Coburn was great in this, and Bob Dylan is a real surprise package as 'Alias'. There are many other actors from old time westerns in this and the film is aided a great deal by Dylan's soundtrack. It would have been fitting if, in a perfect world, Peckinpah had of been allowed to make the film he wanted to make - sober - with no egos from the studio or himself to get in the way. It really feels like it was meant to be his final word on the genre and the history it represents. I think it's a great film.

Special Features - There is a commentary track for both the 1988 and 2005 versions. Both from biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle. A featurette : One Foot in the Groove : Remembering Sam Peckinpah with Kris Kristofferson and Donnie Fritts. A featurette : Deconstructing Pat and Billy. 2 songs performed by Kris Kristofferson and Donnie Fritts.

9/10

They don't, actually ;)

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career writing about movies. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let The Commuter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

Apologies to the makers of Taken and Dr. Badvibes

John-Connor

07-20-21, 05:50 AM

Riders of Justice 2020 ‘Retfærdighedens ryttere’ Anders Thomas Jensen
79519
4-

Wrath of Man 2021 Guy Ritchie
79520
^ Eastwood... Scott Eastwood..

Great first and second act, the third/final act almost ruined the entire thing.
3.5

ScarletLion

07-20-21, 06:35 AM

'The Man Who Sold His Skin' (2020)

Directed by
Kaouther Ben Hania

https://s6.gifyu.com/images/the-man-who-sold-his-skin.gif

I'd heard good things about this film so was eager to watch. It's themes include the refugee crisis, treating humans as a commodity, the lack of free movement some humans have. This is all wrapped up in a central plot that sees a refugee become the star attraction in an exhibit of a world renowned artist. It's a very interesting premise, and some of the film reminded me of Ruben Ostlund's brilliant 'The Square'. The trouble is, it's not as intelligent as The Square and the script doesn't match.

The first half of the film is very promising and shapes up to be a neat relationship drama with a socio-political background. The set design and photography is also very easy on the eye. Then as we move on, the director seems to weave in a very unsubtle plot that borders on silly. There's even a rather needless twist right at the end that just devalues the film a little. I'd have preferred a more ambiguous, mysterious ending, but maybe that's personal taste.

Worth seeing. But can't help feel it's a missed opportunity.

3

LChimp

07-20-21, 10:32 AM

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:cool:

Wooley

07-20-21, 10:41 AM

Just watched Serenity (2005) on dvd. I didn't enjoy this. I couldn't care about the characters and the story wasn't very interesting. There was some decent action, but overall the film dragged on far too long. I thought this was pretty generic and I'm a little surprised it is rated so high on various sites and made the top 100 sci fi list here. My rating is a 2.5

Wow. One of my favorite Sci Fi movies. I care more about those characters than any one Lucas (for example) has produced since the OT. So much heart. And generic? I thought it was the opposite of generic, totally different and interesting approach. River alone is worth the price of admission to me but honestly, every character in the crew is someone I care about except maybe Zoe.

Wooley

07-20-21, 10:49 AM

7/10

The Fog (1980)

The most notable thing about this masterpiece by John Carpenter is the tension it maintains, from the beginning to the end, there's always something bad that you know will happen. There might have been maybe two jump scenes that were unexpected, but the majority of the scares are something you know is going to happen - just not exactly when.

The second thing that I missed the first time watching it decades ago is that men were men, and the women were completely useless. The men drink beer or whiskey, they have pickup trucks and boats, and they're always treating the women exactly as they deserve to be treated. Jamie Lee Curtis hitchhikes and the first thing she wants to know is if the guy who picked her up is weird. When he says "yes", she relaxes and they pretty much head to his place to shag. Adriane Barbeau (has she ever had a role that wasn't a single mother?) is a radio DJ whose entire reason for being is to give the guy listeners a stiffy. One of the better lines in the movie is when two guys are talking about how they'd like to do her, one guy says "I thought you were a happily married man?" and the other guy says "Not THAT happily!".

The last part of the movie perfectly encapsulates the uselessness of every woman in the movie when Adrian is trying and failing to scramble up a steep metal lighthouse roof wearing high heels.

I mostly agree with you but not about the women. For the end of the 70s both of these women were very progressive, strong, independent women. The fact that it is Barbeau who is the adult in the room throughout the movie, who figures everything out, and is the one who tries to warn everybody is significant but also the fact that none of the men in the town actually solve or defeat anything either balances this film pretty well for a film shot in 1979. The line you point out actually accentuates how she is the strong one while the men are weak. They find her sexy because they are just typical men sitting on a barstool struck by a strong woman while she has no interest because she's above weak men. Her relationship with the Weather Guy makes this even clearer. Janet Leigh is the head of the Centennial Committee and every man in the town does what she says while her husband was out getting drunk on a boat. It's pretty clear Carpenter actually thought pretty highly of his female characters. I think you've misread Carpenter's representation of women here, but I think the rest of your points about the film are spot-on.

Captain Terror

07-20-21, 11:17 AM

Just watched Serenity (2005) on dvd. I didn't enjoy this. I couldn't care about the characters and the story wasn't very interesting. There was some decent action, but overall the film dragged on far too long. I thought this was pretty generic and I'm a little surprised it is rated so high on various sites and made the top 100 sci fi list here. My rating is a 2.5

You didn't mention it in your review, so I have to ask if you were aware that this film was a culmination of the TV series Firefly?
Watching the series first would at least have an effect on the "couldn't care about the characters" part, I'd think.

Wooley

07-20-21, 11:36 AM

You didn't mention it in your review, so I have to ask if you were aware that this film was a culmination of the TV series Firefly?
Watching the series first would at least have an effect on the "couldn't care about the characters" part, I'd think.

Ya know, I saw Serenity first, had no idea anything came before it, and I absolutely loved it.

PS - I have since watched the series 2 or 3 times. Because I love the characters.

Rockatansky

07-20-21, 11:41 AM

You didn't mention it in your review, so I have to ask if you were aware that this film was a culmination of the TV series Firefly?
Watching the series first would at least have an effect on the "couldn't care about the characters" part, I'd think.
It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember the writing for the Summer Glau character being a lot worse than in the series.*Don't remember too well if I had other issues, but that sticks out in my memory.*

Captain Terror

07-20-21, 11:58 AM

Ya know, I saw Serenity first, had no idea anything came before it, and I absolutely loved it.

PS - I have since watched the series 2 or 3 times. Because I love the characters.

I've watched both the series and the film exactly once, so I don't really remember how I felt about one vs the other. (Vague recollection of enjoying the series more). I do consider myself a fan, just to be clear.

Interesting that you watched the movie first though. It would never occur to me to suggest that to a newcomer. You're outta control! 🙂

Allaby

07-20-21, 01:45 PM

You didn't mention it in your review, so I have to ask if you were aware that this film was a culmination of the TV series Firefly?
Watching the series first would at least have an effect on the "couldn't care about the characters" part, I'd think.

I’m aware that there was a tv series that came before, which I never watched. If I had seen the series first, it is possible that I might have enjoyed the film more. I do feel that a good movie should be able to stand on its own though. I enjoyed the Dora the Explorer movie even though I never watched the cartoon. I have never watched Twin Peaks tv show but loved the Twin Peaks movie. I liked the Pokémon movie even though I never played or watched Pokémon.

Captain Terror

07-20-21, 02:04 PM

I do feel that a good movie should be able to stand on its own though.

Yeah, fair enough. Just wondering if you were aware of it. :up:

SpelingError

07-20-21, 05:56 PM

My Night at Maud's (1969) - 4

My Night at Maud's explores how Christianity, religion, and faithfulness conflicted with the sexual revolution. This story is framed around a devout Catholic who initially takes the church's teachings on marriage very seriously, shown with his interest in Pascal's wager. The time he spends with Maud, Françoise, and Vidal though challenge him on whether he can remain loyal to Christianity since the three of them (both intentionally and unintentionally) slowly pull him into this revolution throughout the film. Coupled with solid performances from the four main actors and a great deal of sexual tension which runs throughout a few sequences (with the highlight being Jean-Louis's first encounter with Maud), it contains plenty to enjoy. I've seen some people criticize the church scenes for their length, but watching the film with all these aforementioned themes in mind gives those scenes a biting layer of irony. They're an essential ingredient and I couldn't imagine this film without them. Overall, highly recommended.

Fabulous

07-20-21, 06:55 PM

Go (1999)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/xnhAMSVodyzpkYxHHgNwVwjdaLo.jpg

Insane

07-20-21, 07:33 PM

I mostly agree with you but not about the women. For the end of the 70s both of these women were very progressive, strong, independent women. The fact that it is Barbeau who is the adult in the room throughout the movie, who figures everything out, and is the one who tries to warn everybody is significant but also the fact that none of the men in the town actually solve or defeat anything either balances this film pretty well for a film shot in 1979. The line you point out actually accentuates how she is the strong one while the men are weak. They find her sexy because they are just typical men sitting on a barstool struck by a strong woman while she has no interest because she's above weak men. Her relationship with the Weather Guy makes this even clearer. Janet Leigh is the head of the Centennial Committee and every man in the town does what she says while her husband was out getting drunk on a boat. It's pretty clear Carpenter actually thought pretty highly of his female characters. I think you've misread Carpenter's representation of women here, but I think the rest of your points about the film are spot-on.

It's interesting how two people can watch the same movie, and come away with opposite observations. Probably another reason why John Carpenter is a multi-millionaire with a mansion and a yacht, and I am not.

I think you're wrong about Barbeau figuring things out first. I believe it was the priest after almost being hit over the head with that diary. Then again, Barbeau's character did figure out that something wasn't quite right about that particular fog bank.

GulfportDoc

07-20-21, 07:50 PM

79530
McCartney 3, 2, 1 (2021)

Fascinating 6 part docu-series about Paul McCartney, the Beatles, his work with Wings, and solo career. Fans of the Beatles will love the revelations of how some of their famous songs were composed and recorded.

The interviews took place along side a recording console on a sound stage (probably Rubin's Shangri-La studio in Malibu) where famous producer Nick Rubin draws McCartney into explaining the easy to understand process of McCartney's song writing methods, and his surprising inability to read or write musical notation. McCartney uses the guitar and piano to illustrate examples and interesting points that he makes.

The engaging part is McCartney's obvious infectious love for the music he has done, both from years ago and also in the present day. We get a good look at his mammoth gift and talent as a pop composer and musician. Fans as well as experienced pros will enjoy this mesmerizing and insightful series.

Available on Hulu, Apple TV, and various streaming sources.

Doc's rating: 9/10

Insane

07-20-21, 08:22 PM

7/10

Paper Chase (1973)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Poster_of_The_Paper_Chase.jpg/220px-Poster_of_The_Paper_Chase.jpg

A group of freshmen law students at Harvard law spend an academic year chasing the top grades that will hopefully make them rich and possibly even famous. The only thing keeping them from their dreams is an old professor who is always three steps ahead of them.

I love the vibe of this movie, and of course, John Houseman absolutely owns his classroom, his students, and the movie.

ThatDarnMKS

07-20-21, 11:14 PM

SHINE A LIGHT

I’ve yet to have the opportunity to see the Stones live so I figured a Scorsese rock documentary would be the next best thing.

It begins with an amusing opening that may or may not be a fabrication of Scorsese struggling to get the necessary information to film this concert effectively. “We don’t want to catch Mick Jagger on fire… but we do want the effect,” he says sardonically. It’s a fun and dynamic start but in hindsight, also feels like something of an apologia for what is to follow and an explanation as to why it isn’t on the level of The Last Waltz.

It is good, mind you. But the coverage doesn’t seem as precise nor inventive as I’d expect from Scorsese. Similarly, the performance is good. Both the Stones and Scorsese can deliver something quality on autopilot.

It just kind of feels like that’s what happened here. A series of seasoned pros not quite winging it but also not quite hammering out the final details to deliver a transcendent concert experience.

Maybe it’s just because my expectations were too high, as I’m a much bigger fan of the Stones than I was of The Band, so the combination of them and Scorsese seemed most tantalizing.

That said, it’s quality and I miss live shows so this helped a good deal. My score will probably seem disproportionately positive to the write up but sometimes a high quality movie can still be disappointing for not having been at the level it could’ve been.

4

PHOENIX74

07-21-21, 12:55 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Equals_Movie.jpeg
By A24 Films - Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49388086

Equals - (2015)

This science fiction film made it easy for me to write about because THX 1138 pretty much covers most of it - you could almost call it a remake. Here we have another dystopian society where everyone wears white - and there's little vibrant colour, although the whites are bright. Similarly, emotions have been done away with - but there is a new 'disease' that those in authority worry about. SOS - 'Switched on Syndrome' - sufferers find themselves regaining emotions. Silas (Nicholas Hoult) and Nia (Kristen Stewart) both seem to be suffering from it, which allows them to fall in love and partake in activities which are strictly banned. They plan to flee this society before a cure is administered to them.

Hoult and Stewart at least seem to have chemistry, making their love scenes much more involving - I can't underestimate how many times I complain about actors not having that. I don't know if the film as a whole offers anything different though. Guy Pearce and Jacki Weaver appear briefly as insiders who are against the emotionlessness (spellcheck is allowing that so I guess it's a word) of the society they find themselves in.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Rams_2020_Movie_Poster.jpg
By Roadshow Films - Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64369806

Rams - (2020)

Remake of one of my favourite films, the 2015 Icelandic production Rams. It sticks to the original very closely - until...

...the end. This Australian version has a happy ending tacked to what was a fantastic final scene originally. That dilutes the power of the whole thing. If they hadn't of done that I would have been fairly impressed with this recreation.

Chances are you'll enjoy the 2020 Australian version of Rams a lot - but it won't be remembered as long as the original. If you've seen the original though, I'd advise you to skip this.

5/10

https://i.postimg.cc/tgkSnt2W/shilo.png

Shilo - (2016)

Woops. When I started watching Shilo I was confused as to why I'd borrowed it in the first place. A glance on the IMDb at it's rating - 8.4/10, might have done it. The problem? Shilo had garnered for itself a score from 11 votes. That's probably an unbreakable record for as long as I watch movies. 11 votes. 9 of them were probably from the cast and crew, because they were all 10/10. A couple of people were not though, giving the film a more realistic 1/10. I added my 1/10 to that, so it now has a score of 7.8/10.

Shilo is an amateurish production, written, co-directed and starring Edwin Nichols. The editor couldn't do his job right - scenes start a moment too soon as actors pause and then start - and end a moment too late. Actors miss their marks. There are far too many 'montage' scenes with terrible country music - some start moments after the last montage finishes. The acting and script in general are deplorable. I don't know how Shilo managed to make it to a DVD release which was picked up by my usually faultless public library.

I didn't mind watching it at all, because some of it was delightfully funny.

1/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/All_Is_True.jpg
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59359784

All is True - (2018)

The perfect antidote to Shilo, this intriguing film gives us an inside glance at the life of William Shakespeare after the fire which destroyed his Globe Theatre. Shakespeare (Kenneth Branagh) returns home to his wife and two daughters, and only now starts to grieve the loss of his son Hamnet, who had died some time before. He can't bear the fact that he has no male heir - which upsets all three women in the Shakespeare household.

Shakespeare comes out of this all a somewhat diminished man, although the script allows him to make some withering observations of those who criticize him. Especially the Earl of Southampton (Ian McKellen.) It's a fairly accessible film, unlike some of his plays which I always need Cliffs Notes for.

6/10

kgaard

07-21-21, 01:08 AM

ThatDarnMKS

07-21-21, 01:12 AM

Yeah, that was my feeling about this. Technically good but lacking the rawness of a really great show.

The first concert I ever went to was The Rolling Stones Steel Wheels tour. It’s a shame they didn’t get the Scorsese treatment back then because I think it would have been a lot closer to what you’re looking for.
Definitely a shame that he didn’t get the Stones at the top of their game. Would’ve been one to look out for. I knew something was amiss when they never played Gimme Shelter. How do you do that when Scorsese is directing?

It reminds me of when I saw Bob Dylan live. It was a good show and well worth seeing, but it wasn’t the Bob Dylan of No Direction Home.

Wooley

07-21-21, 02:59 AM

I've watched both the series and the film exactly once, so I don't really remember how I felt about one vs the other. (Vague recollection of enjoying the series more). I do consider myself a fan, just to be clear.

Interesting that you watched the movie first though. It would never occur to me to suggest that to a newcomer. You're outta control! 🙂

I didn't know there was a Firefly. I just went to the movie theater and there was this movie called Serenity and I saw it.

Wooley

07-21-21, 03:09 AM

It's interesting how two people can watch the same movie, and come away with opposite observations. Probably another reason why John Carpenter is a multi-millionaire with a mansion and a yacht, and I am not.

I think you're wrong about Barbeau figuring things out first. I believe it was the priest after almost being hit over the head with that diary. Then again, Barbeau's character did figure out that something wasn't quite right about that particular fog bank.

I dunno, I've seen it a dozen times probably but is it possible Hal Holbrook puts the killings together with the fog before Barbeau? Sure, possibly by a few minutes or something. Holbrook finds out about the history of the town fairly early on but he has no idea there even is a Fog at that point. Regardless, I find the point irrelevant. Stevie Wayne is the one who realizes it's the fog that's the danger and warns the whole town via the radio. And even that is irrelevant because the point is that she is a very strong female character in this context. Aside from Mustache (without a mustache) almost every male character in the film is ineffective or an idiot while the female characters are all strong. It's practically a feminist film.

tomdela007

07-21-21, 04:20 AM

The fourth Kind.
I love having my senses scared ****less.
Not gonna go too indepth as its an oldie now.

But its one of my fav high suspence, fake/real story horror films.

Torgo

07-21-21, 08:33 AM

Obsession - 3

I liked but didn't love this early De Palma thriller. It is one of the director's most beautiful movies, if anything. Having the great Vilmos Zsigmond as the cinematographer, Bernard Herrmann as the composer and using New Orleans and Florence as the locations certainly doesn't hurt. I also really liked the performances by John Lithgow, who plays Michael's (Cliff Robertson) partner - his New Orleans accent is a tad cheesy, but I wouldn't have it any other way - and Genevieve Bujold as Michael's wife, Elizabeth. Most importantly, I was invested in the mystery the entire time. With all that said, this is De Palma's least interesting take on Vertigo. As for the mystery, despite the movie maintaining my interest, the conclusion was not only unsatisfying, but also raised more questions than it answered and not in a good way. As for Cliff Robertson, his performance could be best described as low effort. Again, I enjoyed it overall, but my appreciation of the aesthetics and technique far exceed my appreciation of pretty much everything else. If you haven't seen any of De Palma's other Vertigo riffs, start with this one because they all go up from here.

LChimp

07-21-21, 09:28 AM

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I enjoyed looking for the easter eggs and references more than I enjoyed the movie itself.

CringeFest

07-21-21, 11:13 AM

10/10

Messiah of Evil

Quite the zombie movie...nice choice of a set, good plot, and good dialogue.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWY3MDc1NDAtMWY0Yy00NDNlLTljZjItOWNmZDRmMGVhZmY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzU4ODM5Nw@@._V1_.jpg

WHITBISSELL!

07-21-21, 02:02 PM

I like how they include that small tagline, From the makers of "American Graffiti" ...

Which of course undercuts what they were going for with, "Terror you won't want to remember - In a film you won't be able to forget."

I do have to watch that though.

WHITBISSELL!

07-21-21, 02:21 PM

Found it on Prime. Added to my queue. :up:

Stirchley

07-21-21, 02:23 PM

SHINE A LIGHT

Loved this documentary. Charlie Watts was hilariously grumpy. “Never gonna watch this”, he said.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Equals_Movie.jpeg

Loved this movie.

BooBooKittyFock

07-21-21, 07:38 PM

The Lobster

https://c7.alamy.com/comp/RY4PJR/bardenfarrell-the-lobster-2015-RY4PJR.jpg

A film that conveys the true bull**** of human relations in a sadistic, yet humorous way, while using our need for a partner, as a society, to create an alternate semi-modern dystopian universe.

4

Gideon58

07-21-21, 08:49 PM

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/The_Big_Picture-385538663-large.jpg

3.5

Gideon58

07-21-21, 08:49 PM

https://c7.alamy.com/comp/RY4PJR/bardenfarrell-the-lobster-2015-RY4PJR.jpg

A film that conveys the true bull**** of human relations in a sadistic, yet humorous way, while using our need for a partner, as a society, to create an alternate semi-modern dystopian universe.

4

What' the title of this movie?

mark f

07-21-21, 09:05 PM

The Lobster

CringeFest

07-22-21, 01:01 AM

Juno

8/10

a decent romantic movie, i coulda done without the selection of music though.

mark f

07-22-21, 01:10 AM

The Turn Out (Pearl Gluck, 2018) 2+ 5/10
Our Relations (Harry Lachman, 1936) 2.5 6/10
Wolf Call (George Waggner, 1939) 2 5/10
A Classic Horror Story (Roberto De Feo & Paolo Strippoli, 2021) 2.5 6-/10
https://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/2021/07/13/a-classic-horror-story-header.jpg
Unlikable characters caught up in a "fairy tale" which turns horrific. Hint - not a spoiler.
Fire in My Belly (Ayo Akingbade, 2021) 2 5/10
City That Never Sleeps (John H. Auer, 1956) 2.5 6/10
Mamma + Mamma (Karole Di Tommaso, 2018) 2+ 5/10
White Vertigo (Giorgio Ferron, 1956) 3 6.5/10
https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/whitevertigo1956.2152209.jpg?w=900
Colorful, poetically-photographed-and-edited saga of the 1956 Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
The Prostitutes of Lyon Speak (Carole Roussopoulos, 1975) 2.5 6/10
Lethal Love (Avi Federgreen, 2021) 2 5/10
XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport (Castleton Knight, 1948) 2.5+ 6/10
Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2002) 3.5 7+/10
https://pa1.narvii.com/6781/2a5265f47f068eccd9428ed6d30d74af545f2c08_hq.gif
NYC high school nerd Tobey Maguire is bitten by a spider and becomes a super hero.
Lorelei (Sabrina Doyle, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
Air Conditioner (Fradique, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Forever Purge (Everardo Gout, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nicolas-Cage-in-Pig-Review.jpeg?resize=768%2C432
When she's stolen, Nic Cage searches for his truffle-hunting pig all over Oregon in a low-key, surprising mystery-thriller/character study.
Midnight in the Switchgrass (Randall Emmett, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Deep (5 Directors, 2021) 2+ 5/10
The Guide to the Perfect Family (Ricardo Trogi, 2021) 2.5+ 6/10
How It Ends (Daryl Wein & Zoe Lister-Jones, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
https://i0.wp.com/www.saudi24news.com/sa/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/EtB5qwMW4AMijuz.jpg?fit=685%2C386&ssl=1
On the last day of the Earth, Zoe Lister-Jones and her younger self (Cailee Spaeny) plan out their last day.

Mr Minio

07-22-21, 02:38 AM

The Pig hype is real

StuSmallz

07-22-21, 02:47 AM

Total Recall (Verhoeven, '90)

https://i.ibb.co/TrX0bPv/total-recall.jpg (https://ibb.co/jHKwW36)

Get ready for the ride of your life.

Whether fairly or not, Action movies are often stereotypically thought of as one of the least-thought provoking film genres out there, which is a stark contrast to the way Science-Fiction is typically perceived, with its speculative tales about what science, technology, and the future in general may hold in store for the human species and experience, serving as a sort of "escapism" that is nonetheless still rooted solidly in our day-to-day reality. However, in 1990, Paul Verhoeven built on his previous moviemaking experience to make the two seemingly polar opposites meet in fairly spectacular fashion with Total Recall, having his cake and eating it too by getting to indulge in tons of gratuitous, non-stop bloody action, while still also finding time to intellectually stimulate us with its intriguing "real or false?" reality narrative, with the film, to paraphrase Tom Breihan, (https://www.avclub.com/with-total-recall-schwarzenegger-got-to-blow-things-up-1798254972
) getting to blow up characters' heads AND viewers' minds at the same time.

Set in the year 2084, it tells the story of Douglas Quaid, an Earthbound construction worker who has recurring dreams/nightmares of visiting Mars, which inspires him to make that dream a reality (sort of) by visiting Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting memories in people's minds, in order to get the escape from his mundane daily life he so desperately pines for. However, the procedure goes unexpectedly haywire, causing Quaid to seemingly uncover an interplanetary espionage conspiracy in the process, and forcing him to get his "ass to Mars" for real, all the while dodging bullets, traitorous wives, and the tantalizing possiblity that none of it is even happening for real, as if everything else wasn't enough to deal with as it is.

Of course, even without that final detail, Recall would still be memorable for a number of other aspects, such as its unique, endlessly imaginative vision of the future, with a new detail coming pretty much every moment to help further build its futuristic world, whether it be the robotic taxicab drivers, holographic decoy emitters, or massive X-Ray walls, with the latter rendered with then-groundbreaking CGI effects, which is balanced out by the film's non-stop showcasing of practical models, prosthetics, and animatronics otherwise, which give Rob Bottin's various creations a much-needed tactility, and help to render a surprisingly vivid sense of body horror here in the process as well (which is also partly due to David Cronenberg(!) and Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon's contributions to the screenplay), to the point that people apparently approached Marshall Bell for years afterward, and non-jokingly asked him to lift his shirt so they could see "Kuato" for themselves.

But of course, the most fascinating aspect of Recall is due to the involvement of the ultimate mind-*ucking Sci-Fi scribe himself, Phillip K. Dick, whose 1966 story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" provides the basic skeleton onto which the meaty, Arnie-signature thrills are laid on top of here, nicely balancing all the mindless action out with a relentless, conspiracy-laden plot and a rich abundance of ideas, with the many narrative rug pulls never feeling unnecessarily convoluted, even as the bursts of exposition come at us as rapid-fire as the automatic weapons do at Quaid. It's the kind of movie where it's possible to read pretty much every detail one way or the other, making for endless possibilities, which results in a nice meta-commentary on the very nature of film itself, since, why does it matter if everything is really happening here or not, since we don't care if every other movie ever made is technically a false reality of its own?

Add onto that a profane, nastily fun sense of humor (can you say, midget prostitutes with knives?), and a strong influence on similar films since, with its reality-warping narrative and surprisingly progressive, egalitarian gender dynamics between Schwarzenegger and the female lead setting the stage for multiple genre-redefining actioners, whether they be the "what is real?" Sci-Fi plot of The Matrix, or the now iconic post-apocalyptic partnership between Max & Furiosa in Fury Road, and Total Recall will definitely give you the "ride of your life", and then some.

Final Score: 8

Wooley

07-22-21, 02:59 AM

WHITBISSELL!

07-22-21, 03:49 AM

Honestly, it's just one of those movies that's better than it should be.I'm gonna make time for it.

https://i.imgur.com/FC6sHmC.gif

Iroquois

07-22-21, 04:15 AM

Old - 3

he don't miss

Iroquois

07-22-21, 04:15 AM

Old - 3

he don't miss

xSookieStackhouse

07-22-21, 04:31 AM

4.5
https://cdn.eventcinemas.com.au/cdn/resources/movies/15070/images/largeposter.jpg

xSookieStackhouse

07-22-21, 04:32 AM

I'm gonna make time for it.

https://i.imgur.com/FC6sHmC.gif

i want that bear hoodie lol

John-Connor

07-22-21, 05:30 AM

The Dry 2020 Robert Connolly
79576

G´day Mates!
Small town murder mystery movie set in Australia.
Multiple timelines and mysteries intertwined make this a solid and engaging thriller.

3.5

Another Round 2020 ‘Druk’ Thomas Vinterberg
79577

The anomaly Nic Cage still holds the best performance in a drunk role imo but Mads Mikkelsen is not far behind.
Great film about men in a midlife crisis and their poor attempt to solve their issues through alcohol. Winner of the arthouse cinema award 2020.

4-

PHOENIX74

07-22-21, 06:08 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Mia_Madre_poster.jpg
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47796219

Mia Madre - (2015) - (aka : My Mother)

Margherita is having a difficult time digesting her mother's illness, and the fact that her death is imminent. Complicating things is her job - directing a film with a big name actor from the United States causing a headache for all involved. A touching tribute to the heartache and psychological damage of losing a precious loved one. John Turturro kind of threatens to steal the movie at certain points, but it remains centered and grounded.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c5/Plunkett_%26_Macleane.JPG
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15642629

Plunkett & Macleane - (1999)

A very 1990s film set in the 18th Century, with Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller as Plunkett and Macleane respectively. Based on real-life highway robbers, but in no way resembling real life. I disliked it the first time I watched it, but felt it deserved a second chance and I did enjoy it much more the second time. I get the feeling that the producers expected sequels - but the film was a box office bomb, only going on later to accrue a cult following. Really interesting and enjoyable Tiger Lillies songs force themselves to the fore giving it an unusual touch.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Goon_Last_of_the_Enforcers.png
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52361700

Goon : The Last of the Enforcers - (2017)

I did not realise that this was actually the sequel to Goon - mostly because this film is also titled Goon. Numbering sequels is very outdated these days. I thought the humour, while pretty lowbrow, wasn't too bad. Maybe I would have liked this less if I'd seen the original. Maybe I would have like it less if I was expecting a better movie. As it was my last selection, I expected nothing, and got at least something.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Equals_Movie.jpeg

Loved this movie.

It wasn't too bad. It's gone up a point or two in my estimation, just hearing that.

EsmagaSapos

07-22-21, 06:26 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/sf6x8WJd/pig-legendado-download-torrent-2021-dublado-dual-audio-bluray-1080p-720p-4k-hd.jpg

Have you seen the movie Burnt? I hated Burnt, and the reason I hated Burnt is the reason I loved Pig. Pig is a tale of a sensitive man who had enough. Many individuals want to be artists, and they do things, like, caring about what others think, and they shouldn't. Then, there are those that don't have any other choice, they have to create and they put everything they have into what they do, it doesn't matter if is painting, writing, cooking. The problem with this art form is a cultural problem. Meals were thought to be shared and the one who cooks them expects a feedback, just like your mother: Do you like it? Isn't the turkey a little bit dry? This man eventually noticed how people have this mentality embedded into their being, how they think just because they paid a meal they can tell the chef what they thought about it, but they didn't knew how much of himself he putted into each dish. The way this sensitive man looks after the truffle pig is also very meaningful, it's a metaphor. Truffle pigs look for truffle they won't eat. The people eating the truffles don't care about the pig. The people cooking the truffles don't care about the pig, this sensitive man cared about the tree that gives him the fruit he cooks, cares about the ground the holds the truffle he takes, a very sensitive man. This is a tale of how out of touch people are, how everything is cheap and disposable and no one takes the time to notice, because money bought, and money buys. I've always said: if you had made the chair you're sitting in, you'd give it value every time you looked at it before you sit down.

Siddon

07-22-21, 07:19 AM

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4e9d682/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2430x1361+0+0/resize/840x470!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F57%2F49%2Fb63b576a43bc9230b979a2b9d347%2Fnsm-cb-103020-selects-2258.jpg

No Sudden Move (2021)

Steven Soderbergh is a great director, a man that has always loved the film noir No Sudden Move is a peak neo-noir. Telling the story of a crime gone wrong this winding tale. If I could best describe this film is it's a movie with eight endings..some perfect some not so perfect but the exercise is what makes this a special film. You have an ambiguous aspect to the film but it never feels cheap.

What I love about Soderbergh is he never hits you over the head with issues of race, class and gender. Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro are both revelations in this, two great actors who have been phoning it in for years but now has inspiration. The rest of the cast is filled with inspired stunt and returnee casts.

rating_4

Siddon

07-22-21, 07:30 AM

https://www.monstersandcritics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/American-Horror-Stories-Episode-3-Drive-In-screen-capture.jpg

American Horror Stories:Drive In

Episode 3 of AMS:Drive In was a step ahead of the RubberWoman double feature. The idea behind the story is that in the 1980's a film came out that was so horrifying that it caused the audience to kill each other. Years later the print gets a re-release.

My feelings about Ryan Murphy's work is always complicated. The major subplot of the story is about teenage sexuality a boy is trying to lose his virginity to a girl. But the story can't just be about a Drive-In massacre you then needed a very queer best friend which was tacked on. And then we get a climax that, is a genre flop in my eyes. Taking character to a second location which felt really out of place.

But even though it's not a great episode it's still a very good one. Adrienne Barbeau has a nice small meaty part that really should have played throughout the episode. John Carroll Lynch is also in this and he sells the hell out of Murphy's flawed character. Still I didn't find the kids annoying and I liked the middle part of the episode.

rating_3_5

BooBooKittyFock

07-22-21, 08:02 AM

What' the title of this movie?

So sorry, The Lobster

Torgo

07-22-21, 02:16 PM

The Loveless - 4

I went in to this movie thinking it would be a slice of life in southern small-town America and what happens when a biker gang visits. The description fits, but I also didn't think it would be such a masterclass of suspense. From observing the grip that the constantly sweaty and flustered gas man Tarver has on the place to the bikers' knife-throwing game to of course the centerpiece drama of Vance's (Willem Dafoe) dalliance with local heartbreaker Telena (Marin Kanter), you just know the gang's little stop won't end well. The artful editing has a lot to do with this for how pretty much every cut builds tension. There's also the several moments where what we see says more than words ever could, whether it's Davis stabbing the diner seat to the footage of real or staged violence on the television. What anchors everything, though, is Dafoe's performance, whose facial expressions pretty much tell the entire story. Story, however, does not seem to be what directors Kathryn Bigelow (in her debut) and Monty Montgomery are wholly interested in. This is hardly a fault, though, because in addition to all the suspense, it works very well as a mood piece, namely of the ennui, idleness and the resentment of neglected youth found in small town America, which they apparently have much more of than charm. All in all, it's an impressive debut for Bigelow to a career that has had very few missteps.

matt72582

07-22-21, 02:21 PM

Suzanne's Career - 7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Suzanne_career_344_DVD.jpg

LChimp

07-22-21, 02:35 PM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1NJvTUXMAIihaY.jpg

Chris Rock's "serious" face is more frightining than anything this movie had to offer.

Thief

07-22-21, 03:22 PM

AMERICAN ME
(1992, Olmos)
A film with the word "America" in its title

https://thecinemaholic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/American-Me.mp4_20210423_161847.743.jpg

"Coming to terms with the lessons one learns through the choices one makes is not easy."

American Me follows Montoya Santana (Edward James Olmos) as he goes from troublesome teenager to head of the Mexican Mafia within the American prison system. When we meet Santana, he's a middle age man in prison, reminiscing of the past as the film flashes back to how he grew up and ended up in prison in the first place.

The above quote is said pretty early in the film by Montoya himself, and seems to be a kind of mantra for the character as he learns to accept whatever comes his way, whether through fate or personal choice. Montoya is not a good guy, but it's certainly a man that's trying to figure out the world and how to survive in it, and Olmos manages to create a complex, layered character, instilling him with the necessary mixture of poise and menace in order to make you feel some empathy for him while still acknowledging the errors in his ways.

Grade: 3.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2222793#post2222793)

Gideon58

07-22-21, 04:34 PM

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xaOtrBnn_j1CzI7MIC3P-TZQBGQ6Nx2_brjyCUQhAbPdqTuFPAzoQghTXtlfl5pd0zYPl9HdxkJZIhqLV9WBDC18uAh4LQTxswfJOLKU_0c5-NobXFyiWzKH

3.5

Jinnistan

07-22-21, 04:46 PM

Definitely a shame that he didn’t get the Stones at the top of their game. Would’ve been one to look out for. I knew something was amiss when they never played Gimme Shelter. How do you do that when Scorsese is directing?

It reminds me of when I saw Bob Dylan live. It was a good show and well worth seeing, but it wasn’t the Bob Dylan of No Direction Home.
That Bob died in 1966.

I wish they had just given Scorsese all of the 1972 tour footage and let him spin gold from that. After all, Crossfire Hurricane (heavily dependant on that '72 footage) is still the most Scorsese-esque Stones doc. But really, they should just go ahead and properly release ****sucker's Blues already.

Thief

07-22-21, 05:48 PM

BUTTERFLY KISSES
(2018, Myers)
A film with the word "Kiss" in its title

https://nevermore-horror.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-02-20-at-6.15.39-PM-644x403.jpg

"When you make a film that is presenting itself as roughly cut together found footage, you are building in your excuse for anything that's wrong with it."

Butterfly Kisses is, perhaps, one of the lesser known films within this wave. But if I open this write-up by mentioning The Blair Witch Project, it's not only because they're both "found footage" films, but rather because the film itself does so, in more ways than one. Butterfly Kisses is an odd duck in that it presents itself as a documentary-within-documentary-within-documentary. There are three "filmmakers" involved in the process which, at the very least, sets it apart.

The film follows Gavin York (Seth Adam Kallick), a struggling filmmaker that stumbles upon some tapes recorded some 15 years before by Sophia Crane (Rachel Armiger), a film student that, along with her partner, wanted to document the alleged appearances of a local entity called "Peeping Tom". York intends to clean and spruce up the footage to present it as a feature film, and in order to validate the process, he hires Erik Kristopher Myers (Erik Kristopher Myers) to document it. As we follow the process, the intentions and motivations of everybody involved, from Sophia to York to Myers himself, come into question, as well as the real nature behind "Peeping Tom".

Grade: 2

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2222822#post2222822)

loveolnly

07-22-21, 09:03 PM

IT - 8/10

loveolnly

07-22-21, 09:04 PM

Now You see me - 7/10

loveolnly

07-22-21, 09:14 PM

Luca 10/10
Definitely one of my favourite animated movies.

here is the movie trailer for anyone interested in watching:
https://shrinke.me/1mPMjqn

Gideon58

07-22-21, 09:45 PM

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/9140ATqi2IL._RI_.jpg

4

Fabulous

07-23-21, 01:07 AM

Withnail & I (1987)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/ioY6kNwh1h1syTYu3ppbbYCYmwG.jpg

Thief

07-23-21, 01:30 AM

RODRIGO D: NO FUTURO
(1990, Gaviria)
A film from Colombia

https://www.idartes.gov.co/sites/default/files/styles/crop_imgpricipalnoticias/public/noticiasimg2/2020-08/gal-rodrigod-7.jpg?h=74652d5b&itok=8Os0RkO6

"♪ Cómo me calmo yo; todo rechazo,
ya no, consigo más, satisfacción; ♫
♫ ya ni con drogas; ni con alcohol;
ya no consigo ninguna reacción ♪"

Rodrigo D: No Futuro follows the titular character (Ramiro Meneses), a young man growing up amidst the poverty and crime of Medellín, while dreaming to be a drummer. Rodrigo is still reeling from the death of his mother and just can't get his act together. He doesn't work or go to school, he fights constantly with his sister, his relationship with his father is distant (despite the latter's attempts to connect), and he just wanders around the city, hanging out with friends and listening to music.

Of course, Rodrigo's dreams and aspirations are complicated and suffocated by the environment around him. Meneses does a pretty good job conveying that mixture of unhappiness and bottled up restlessness inside him. As it is, the film gave me vibes of Truffaut's The 400 Blows or Meirelles City of God, in how they present kids/teenagers trying to escape the circumstances around them.

Grade: 3

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2222897#post2222897)

WHITBISSELL!

07-23-21, 02:37 AM

https://fgmxi4acxur9qbg31y9s3a15-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/MBDCROS_EC010_H_1200.jpg

Crossfire - 1947 noir from Edward Dmytryk and starring Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Robert Young. It's a message movie that takes on anti-Semitism in an unequivocal, no nonsense way. It's set in Washington D.C immediately following WWII and Mitchum and Ryan play two of many soldiers who have been "demobilized", most of whom are grappling with uncertain futures as civilians.

George Cooper plays Mitchell, who has been accused of beating to death a man that he had met at a bar. Young plays police Captain Finlay and is tasked with determining who killed the dead man Samuels. He eventually figures out that the crime was rooted in anti-Semitism and follows the trail to the likeliest suspect who at first glance appears to be Mitchell. But there are enough inconsistencies that Finlay's cop radar is triggered. The main witness who inadvertently provides the most damning evidence is Montgomery played by Ryan. He's a loudmouth, a bigot and a bully. Mitchum plays Sgt. Keeley, the NCO in charge of this particular squad and he immediately takes it upon himself to extricate Mitchell from the charges.

Out of the three Roberts it's Mitchum who has the more nondescript role, playing a father figure/protector riding herd over his men. But Young and Ryan make the most of their roles with Young as the weary but still razor sharp detective and Ryan in a tour de force of sorts that earned him his only Academy Award nomination. He manages to convey all of Montgomery's weakness and arrogance and fear in just a handful of charged scenes. Gloria Grahame also has a small but pivotal role.

There's also a scene featuring a lengthy monologue by Young which ultimately rings true and is absolutely crucial to the story. Any other time it might have comes off as just more Hollywood proselytizing but Dmytryk and Young and writers John Paxton and Richard Brooks make it work. Worth checking out.

rating_4

LChimp

07-23-21, 08:07 AM

https://uploads.jovemnerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Overlord-3.jpg

2nd viewning. It could be called Castle Wolfstein - The Movie. Even the font is similar

SpelingError

07-23-21, 01:08 PM

cricket

07-23-21, 08:09 PM

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQG4W2-DnlZOCvJ6TmJPj31a1mfljlD7ynSxA&usqp=CAU

Welcome Home (2020) - 7/10. This was good stuff. Violent, gritty and dark. Loved it. Quite unexpected. Indian movies are mostly fluff, but this was quite different. Recommended!

Where is this available?

GulfportDoc

07-23-21, 08:11 PM

Crossfire - 1947 noir from Edward Dmytryk and starring
Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Robert Young. It's a message movie that takes on anti-Semitism in an unequivocal, no nonsense way. It's set in Washington D.C immediately following WWII and Mitchum and Ryan play two of many soldiers who have been "demobilized", most of whom are grappling with uncertain futures as civilians.

George Cooper plays Mitchell, who has been accused of beating to death a man that he had met at a bar. Young plays police Captain Finlay and is tasked with determining who killed the dead man Samuels. He eventually figures out that the crime was rooted in anti-Semitism and follows the trail to the likeliest suspect who at first glance appears to be Mitchell. But there are enough inconsistencies that Finlay's cop radar is triggered. The main witness who inadvertently provides the most damning evidence is Montgomery played by Ryan. He's a loudmouth, a bigot and a bully. Mitchum plays Sgt. Keeley, the NCO in charge of this particular squad and he immediately takes it upon himself to extricate Mitchell from the charges.

Out of the three Roberts it's Mitchum who has the more nondescript role, playing a father figure/protector riding herd over his men. But Young and Ryan make the most of their roles with Young as the weary but still razor sharp detective and Ryan in a tour de force of sorts that earned him his only Academy Award nomination. He manages to convey all of Montgomery's weakness and arrogance and fear in just a handful of charged scenes. Gloria Grahame also has a small but pivotal role.

There's also a scene featuring a lengthy monologue by Young which ultimately rings true and is absolutely crucial to the story. Any other time it might have comes off as just more Hollywood proselytizing but Dmytryk and Young and writers John Paxton and Richard Brooks make it work. Worth checking out.
rating_4
Nice review. Here is my commentary:

Crossfire (1947)

Directed by the inestimable Edward Dmytryk, and starring the 3 Roberts (Young, Mitchum, Ryan) along with the always fascinating Gloria Grahame, the film is a complex whodunit with noir treatment by cinematographer J. Roy Hunt.

John Paxton wrote the screenplay based upon the novel The Brick Foxhole written by Richard Brooks. In the book the object of murder was a homosexual. But since homosexuality could not be mentioned in 1947, the unfortunate character was switched to Jewish. In that way the premise was somewhat weakened, since Jews were not heavily ostracized to the degree that homosexuals were. The comparatively gentler prejudice that Jews received at the time was showcased in Gentleman’s Agreement, released later that year.

Nonetheless, starting with a somewhat shaky premise did not hurt the film’s power, which was predominantly provided by its actors, direction and photography. Robert Young was especially effective somewhat against type, playing a semi-hardboiled police investigator. His continual pipe smoking actually served to soften his character, giving him more of a fatherly or professorial image.

Robert Ryan on the other hand registered a powerful performance of a near sadistic, dominant bully type-- a role which would more or less pigeonhole him for the rest of his career. Mitchum was his silky self in a portrayal of an honest concerned everyman soldier who simply wants to get to the truth. And Gloria Grahame played a tramp who is finally convinced to tell what she knows.

Crossfire is not in the highest ranking on my list of personal favorite noir pictures, nor in general are films which prominently feature aggressive bully types. Still this is a well done memorable picture with notable themes and performances, and is an essential example of top mystery film making from Hollywood’s golden era.

John W Constantine

07-24-21, 12:29 AM

Destry Rides Again

4

Jinnistan

07-24-21, 12:37 AM

https://www.sho.com/site/image-bin/images/0_0_3503692/0_0_3503692_00h_1280x640.jpg

Adequate and involving doc about the pioneering comedian and his evolving and unorthodox approach to politics and nutrition. Covering both his influences and his substantial influence on comedy, it illustates an important touchstone between Lenny Bruce and the later work of Pryor and Carlin in the lineage of provocative and conscious comedy.

The film also delicately broaches Gregory's later decline - from Alzheimer's - which saw him in his later years struggling cognitively with increasingly wild conspiracies - chemtrails, Cosby was set up by NBC, Prince was murdered by Warren Buffet, etc. This tragedy is handled gracefully, and the heart of the man and his nobler intentions are shown in balance with integrity. Definitely recommended for anyone underfamiliar with his legacy or this particular era of comedy.

7.5/10

Fabulous

07-24-21, 02:12 AM

My Girl (1991)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/jrEjoSZ5fauJvfsKnHfma4pIRP2.jpg

Thief

07-24-21, 11:17 AM

MUSTANG
(2015, Ergüven)
A film with a title that starts with the letters M or N

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/11/20/arts/mustang-image/mustang-image-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp

"The house became a wife factory that we never came out of."

Mustang is a Turkish film that follows the lives of five orphaned sisters as they struggle with the conservative beliefs and upbringing of their grandmother and uncle who are raising them. The above exchange comes at a point when the grandmother has had enough of the girls behavior and decides to isolate them at their home as she marries them off.

The film is co-written and directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, and apparently the catalyst event is inspired in her own experience as a Turkish girl. The "catalyst event" is nothing but an innocent game of "chicken fight" with some male friends at the beach; something that their grandmother (Nihal Koldaş) classifies as her "granddaughters, pleasuring themselves on boys' necks". That gives you an idea of the kind of "conservative" mindset they're trapped in.

Grade: 4

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2223303#post2223303) and the PR HOF4 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2223304#post2223304)

CharlesAoup

07-24-21, 03:39 PM

Fabulous

07-24-21, 04:45 PM

Postcards from the Edge (1990)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/5px1lB5JJyx0EPicyXCcH9Q3lJj.jpg

Allaby

07-24-21, 05:10 PM

I went and saw Old today at the cinema. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, this mystery/thriller is about a family at a secluded beach who start aging rapidly. Overall, I liked the film. It's an interesting concept and I was invested in the story and seeing what would happen. Performances were hit and miss for me. Thomasin McKenzie gives the best performance in the film and her character was easily my favourite. Other performances range from decent to being over the top and not always believable. The camera angles were kind of strange and at times came across as almost random. I felt that the odd camera work detracted a little from the film. Even with those quibbles, I was still entertained by the film. It's not Shyamalan's best film, but it is also not his worst. My rating is a 3.5

Gideon58

07-24-21, 07:46 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTQxMWQ5NTktNWRkMS00ZTU0LTgyZjYtZDZjY2Q5NmRiYTQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg

2

GulfportDoc

07-24-21, 08:02 PM

The Mandela Effect, 2019 (D)

Two parents go to the beach with their daughter, who dies there. The father then starts unraveling a whole thing about the Mande effect, where millions of people misremember a bunch of things in the same way.

At around 80 minutes and using exposition and a copious serving of montages of real-life tv and youtube clips, plus narration, this movie still manages to feel long and uneventful. The events are a minor component of the movie. It feels like a spitballing session that was not followed up with a scriptwriting session or a clean up of the mess. The guy talks too much about programming, you get those viral clips of people talking about simulation theory, etc, and then it ends pretty stupidly. It talks a lot, but says nothing. Bad movie.
You make some very good points. However I was impressed what they did with a tiny budget. Here are my comments:

The Mandela Effect (2019)

Despite its low budget and use of comparatively unknown actors, this is an absorbing and clever sci-fi film that probes the parallel universe theory.

A computer game designer (Charlie) and his wife tragically lose their young daughter in a freak accident. Later the man starts noticing a series of false memories (the Mandela effect). He, his wife, and brother-in-law experience an additional series of false memories which bring up a dichotomy between their memories and facts which they know to be true.

Charlie eventually seeks out the advice of a famous scientist who has been ostracized by many of his colleagues from suggesting that life is simply a computerized simulation. This concept leads Charlie to believe that his daughter may not have died, but it simply living in a parallel universe.

After Charlie probes the potential operation of such simulation clandestinely via a university's quantum computer, he attempts to interrupt the simulation so as to bring about the reality of their lives prior to the daughter's death.

I was surprised at the quality of the production, given its micro budget. Director/writer David Guy Levy deftly pulls together all elements to fashion an interesting and suspenseful sci-fi movie. One can imagine this film as a major release if it had a bigger budget.

Doc's rating: 6/10

Nausicaä

07-24-21, 08:17 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3d/CrawlMoviePoster.jpg/220px-CrawlMoviePoster.jpg

3

SF = Z

[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

Fabulous

07-24-21, 10:42 PM

Selena (1997)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/nSKwQ9wUpLjh3OUqKxrOZxOWkSC.jpg

skizzerflake

07-24-21, 11:28 PM

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

Tonight, it’s out to a real movie and it’s Old, the latest from M. Night Shyamalan. A family goes on a tropical vacation, and gets away from the resort scene by taking a side trip to a remote beach. They’re dropped off there. There’s nothing there but sand, rocks and water. That would kill it for me right there since I like busy beach resorts, junk food, boardwalks and tacky seaside restaurants. You will NOT see me on this island. Sadly, this family should have stayed on the boardwalk too, because, once you’re there, you start to age at a horrendous rate, something like a year per hour. Even with sunblock you will be prune-faced by the end of the day.

In addition, something doesn’t want you to leave and the boat that was to pick you up later in the day doesn’t show. The kids grow up and Mom and Dad are getting old. Others have been there before, leaving behind their stuff. If that isn’t bad enough, they are being watched from a distance by persons unknown.

As we know, M Night sometimes likes trick endings. This is one of them. Look it up on Wikipedia if you really want to know before you go, because it's kind of a stretch. Everything about the movie is meticulously crafted, the acting is excellent, as is the setting and cinematography, but I could not escape the feeling that, as well done as it is, the plot line was more like a Twilight Zone episode, not a full length movie. I will probably continue to see Night’s movies as long as he makes them, but I have to temper my expectations. It’s good, worth a ticket but I was hoping for a more transcendent conclusion to all that build-up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4U2pMRV9_k

BooBooKittyFock

07-25-21, 01:39 AM

Les Samurai
https://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/scanners/opening-shots-le-samourai/ls2.jpg
4.5

Let the Right One In
https://c7.alamy.com/comp/RWDKK7/lina-leandersson-let-the-right-one-in-2008-RWDKK7.jpg
3.5

Hero
https://c7.alamy.com/comp/RYYF50/jet-li-hero-2002-RYYF50.jpg
3.5

Get a Job
3

Antwone Fisher
https://c7.alamy.com/comp/RY45JN/derek-luke-antwone-fisher-2002-RY45JN.jpg
4.5

Space Jam:A New Legacy
1.5

Fabulous

07-25-21, 01:47 AM

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/4tmLRGcG8g5crFZxX83uqQJHrHS.jpg

WHITBISSELL!

07-25-21, 02:32 AM

https://christinawehner.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/suspicion-1941-classic-movies-16283122-800-600.jpg

Suspicion - This is a perfectly solid Alfred Hitchcock entry up until the closing minutes. From what I've read RKO studios forced the Hollywood happy ending on the director and basically ended up negating the entirety of the film. I'm not sure of their exact motivation but up until that point Cary Grant's Johnnie Aysgarth is an unsympathetic creep and a borderline sociopath IMO. An inveterate liar and conman who thinks nothing of embezzling or stealing outright to bankroll a lifestyle that he has neither earned nor deserves. Into this life comes shy and reserved Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine in an Oscar winning performance). She is immediately smitten with the brash and handsome Johnnie and it isn't long before they're married. It doesn't take much longer for her to realize that her new husband is a ne'er do well, financing his extravagant spending by borrowing heavily from friends and acquaintances. Lina however, in a destructive cycle of denial, forgives his character flaws whenever he shows signs of changing or trots out another convenient lie. The arrival of Johnnie's old friend Beaky Thwaite (Nigel Bruce) serves to reveal more of Johnnie's darker side. Hitchcock does his usual masterful job of not only keeping the story moving but of keeping the audience in the dark and on their heels. We can see the guy is no good but to what degree? Is he capable of murder? The red herrings and supposedly plausible explanations don't do enough to convince the audience otherwise nor were they apparently meant to. And that's why the incongruous 180 degree ending came off as so jarring. There have been suggestions that the ending is yet another of Hitchcock's red herrings and that Johnnie will simply kill Lina at another time but the final shot of the couple driving away and back to their home is pretty much straightforward and includes no foreshadowing. So I'm more apt to buy into the idea of studio interference than I am any calculated head games.
rating_3_5

xSookieStackhouse

07-25-21, 05:23 AM

4.5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODMxZjgyNTgtZGQ1ZS00NmQ1LTg0OWEtODVmMDBjZjZkY2ZlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg

Thief

07-25-21, 10:24 AM

mark f

07-25-21, 03:01 PM

The Boss Baby: Family Business (Tom McGrath, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Ainbo (Richard Claus & Jose Zelada, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Finding You (Brian Baugh, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (Will Gluck, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://media3.giphy.com/media/KczMjn7CqjLcJZJtBg/giphy.gif
Peter Rabbit and the gang understand us better than we do.
Claudette's Star (Ayo Akingbade, 2019) 2 5/10
Tig Notaro: Drawn (Greg Franklin, 2021) 3 6.5/10
The Hawk (David Hayman, 1993) 2+ 5/10
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (Patrick Hughes, 2021) 2.5 6/10 116m version
https://64.media.tumblr.com/38a00fb4868514f1c26de9e8951931eb/9e99a7fece2527d0-64/s500x750/e22d33c3206e30f189bb686342841526dc5da682.gifv
The Hitman's Wife (Salma Hayek) has one of her quieter moments.
Jolt (Tanya Wexler, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Jungle Run (Noah Luke, 2021) 1.5 4/10
Sweat (Magnus von Horn, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Stuntman (Kurt Mattila, 2018) 3 6.5/10
https://directory.stuntsunlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/Eddie-1-720x406.jpg
Stuntman Eddie Braun attempts to fly a rocket across the Snake River, like his inspiration, Evel Knievel, attempted.
Blood Red Sky (Peter Thorwarth, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Milkwater (Morgan Ingari, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
Here Today (Billy Crystal, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Zola (Janicza Bravo, 2020) 2.5 6/10
https://img.particlenews.com/img/id/3ZvqlT_0ajtCu7h00?type=thumbnail_512x288
Stefani (Riley Keough) and Zola (Taylour Paige) have an eventful, sex-filled trip to Florida, even if much of it seems like a cartoon.
Cause for Alarm! (Tay Garnett, 1951) 2 5/10
Dreambuilders (Kim Hagen Jensen & Tonni Zinck, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Renegade Girl (William Berke, 1946) 2 5/10
Mama Weed (Jean-Paul Salomé, 2020) 2.5 6/10
https://m.wsj.net/video/20210722/072221mamaweed/072221mamaweed_512x288.jpg
Isabelle Huppert is a translator working for the police who finds a way to make some big bucks from a drug case she's involved with..

WHITBISSELL!

07-25-21, 03:20 PM

This is more or less my take on it, although I think I shaved that 0.5 off my rating. It is indeed a very solid film until that moment. This is what I wrote back in 2010.

Alfred Hitchcock succeeded in drawing me into the main character's (Lina, played marvelously by Joan Fontaine) suspicions. [spoilers] As the plot progresses, I was sure something was up with her irresponsible husband Johnny (Cary Grant). But when the ending came, I even felt cheated. I really wanted to punch Johnny in the face through most of the film; and Lina too, for always tolerating him. All in all, an absorbing film, but the ending left me kinda "meh". I really was expecting more out of everything. Still, the performances from Fontaine and Grant were pretty darn good.

I haven't seen it since, though.I don't think a rewatch should radically alter your take or your rating. I may have been a bit generous with mine but Hitchcock does do a fine job of it. And as far as I know the ending was out of his hands. But I have read that he had toyed with different ways of wrapping it up. Johnnie commits suicide or he enlists in the Air Corps and flies away heroically etc. RKO was however a looming presence throughout the films production and were obsessed with keeping Grant's image and marketability pristine.

John W Constantine

07-25-21, 03:32 PM

The Man in the Iron Mask - 1939

3.5

ThatDarnMKS

07-25-21, 04:32 PM

Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar

I didn’t love it but it was enjoyable and diverting enough. What I liked most about it was that the level of general silliness. I read someone say something along the lines that the flick is essentially a muppet movie without muppets. It’s apt.

3.5

Marco

07-25-21, 06:48 PM

Rockatansky

07-25-21, 07:05 PM

The Foreigner (2017)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/The_Foreigner_%282017_film%29.jpg
This was pretty good, plotting was strong and steady and both leads kept the momentum going well. Jackie Chan equips himself well as the taciturn man on a cause. Brosnan (whom I never rated) seems to be ageing well into more substantial roles.

rating_3
I feel like this is the rare western Jackie Chan movie that actually uses his talents without having him do a watered down version of his Hong Kong stuff.

sawduck

07-25-21, 07:19 PM

Blackboard Jungle 8/10
A great old school drama staring Glenn Ford and a young Sidney Poitier. This film also helped to propel the rock and roll revolution by including the classic rock song Rock Around the Clock.

Nobody 7/10
An enjoyable revenge flick starring Bob Odenkirk and the legendary Christopher Lloyd. A fun movie

Marco

07-25-21, 07:38 PM

Robin Hood (2010)

I wanted to like this, it's awful. With the actors on show, (von Sydow, Crowe, Blanchett) it's bereft. The dialogue is stilted and pretty embarrassing. The battle scenes are swift but considering this is Ridley Scott, utterly lightweight. A chore of a film. Soundtrack is also too intrusive.
Can't be bothered to do popcorns.
1 out of 5.

GulfportDoc

07-25-21, 08:02 PM

Suspicion ......And that's why the ... ending came off as so jarring. There have been suggestions that the ending is yet another of Hitchcock's red herrings and that Johnnie will simply ... So I'm more apt to buy into the idea of studio interference than I am any calculated head games.
rating_3_5
Hitchcock said in the interview by Francois Truffaut that the ending had to be changed because in 1941 the public simply would not have accepted Cary Grant as a truly bad guy. Saying that the studio changed the ending was a ruse. But I agree that because of the drawing-back-from-the-precipice ending, so to speak, the film was somewhat weakened, and a little perplexing.

BTW it was enjoyable seeing Nigel Bruce in a slightly different role from what he famously played in all those Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone.

Allaby

07-25-21, 08:08 PM

Guilty Parents (1934) on blu ray. Directed by Jack Townley and starring Jean Lacy, John St. Polis, and Robert Frazer. This obscure exploitation film is about a young woman arrested for murder and her lawyer's defense is that her mother didn't teach about her sex, causing her to turn to a life of crime and prostitution. It's not a great film and should have been sleazier/trashier and funnier. The acting is half way decent and there are some amusing moments. It's short and fairly fast paced. Not a terrible film, but I have seen better exploitation films. 2.5

WHITBISSELL!

07-25-21, 08:30 PM

Hitchcock said in the interview by Francois Truffaut that the ending had to be changed because in 1941 the public simply would not have accepted Cary Grant as a truly bad guy. Saying that the studio changed the ending was a ruse. But I agree that because of the drawing-back-from-the-precipice ending, so to speak, the film was somewhat weakened, and a little perplexing.

BTW it was enjoyable seeing Nigel Bruce in a slightly different role from what he famously played in all those Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone.I can see that. You don't mess with the ticket buying public's expectations. And I really liked Bruce in this as well. The story needed a respite from all the drama and TBH it needed a truly sympathetic character.

Takoma11

07-25-21, 09:35 PM

I can see that. You don't mess with the ticket buying public's expectations. And I really liked Bruce in this as well. The story needed a respite from all the drama and TBH it needed a truly sympathetic character.

I thought that the ending to Suspicion was so bad. SO BAD. It's like an original bad twist ending.

I also thought that the ending really cemented Fontaine's character as the epitome of a doormat.

ThatDarnMKS

07-26-21, 12:36 AM

I’ll echo Suspicion being lackluster as it’s my least favorite Hitchcock. I still find things to like about it but it amounts to very little.

BooBooKittyFock

07-26-21, 01:05 AM

StuSmallz

07-26-21, 03:33 AM

Fabulous

07-26-21, 03:43 AM

Mother and Child (2009)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/iGocch63PN75hc7RIAFCCGfDUFv.jpg

xSookieStackhouse

07-26-21, 04:34 AM

1.5 horrible movie , original space jam from the 90s with michael jordan is better to be honest
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Space_Jam_A_New_Legacy_Theatrical_Poster.jpg/220px-Space_Jam_A_New_Legacy_Theatrical_Poster.jpg

PHOENIX74

07-26-21, 05:51 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Balibo_%282009_film%29.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/1tkGPcSV/balibo.jpg
By http://blogs.crikey.com.au/cinetology/2009/08/24/interview-with-jeremy-saunders-key-art-designer/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25219645

Balibo - (2009) - DVD

I've been meaning to get around to giving Balibo another watch for years. I've noticed a good reaction here to The Dry, which was written, produced and directed by Robert Connolly. Balibo is one of his earlier films - and probably his first really big film as director. It also features a 'before-he-was-really-famous' Oscar Isaac, playing a young José Ramos-Horta.

In 1975 the small Portuguese colony of East Timor declared independence after 400 years of colonial rule. 9 days later, Indonesia, under the brutal dictator Suharto, invaded East Timor. The film Balibo tells the story of journalist Roger East. Invited by José Ramos-Horta to tell the world what was happening in his country, East instead becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to five other journalists who disappeared around the town of Balibo as the Indonesians attacked. Roger East then becomes part of the story he's covering.

The film has a nice 'bookends' segment which introduces us to the intimate story of the East Timorese, and the pain most of them have been through. The country was completely destroyed by the Indonesians as they left - and the scars are still evident. The film was shot on location for the most part - the first ever on East Timorese soil. Anthony Lapaglia is very good as Roger East - in a role he describes as the best he's ever had. He's kind of dwarfed by the talents of Oscar Isaac - and the dream role of the charismatic José Ramos-Horta. Horta's story is told in the 1999 documentary The Diplomat if anyone is interested. The story itself unfolds in two narratives that shows us what happened to the five journalists and what happened to Horta and Roger East in the days leading up to the Indonesian capture of the capital Dili.

It's a really solid, if not great, film. Excellent reviews for it abound, which is ironic, as I want to really promote it yet I'm unsure as to it's merits as 'entertainment'. It's an important film however - without films like this, the story of East Timor would be a cry that nobody can hear. The recreation of the Invasion, not to mention the fashion and journalism of the 1970s, is wonderfully rendered. It still gets a recommendation from me.

Special Features - Six documentaries? I hate when DVDs do that. It's one documentary in two parts. One of those two parts is a documentary in 5 parts. It's one documentary - stop trying to beef up your special features to make them seem more plentiful. It's a good behind-the-scenes doco though, introducing us to many of the real figures involved. All of the news footage the journalists recorded shows us just how uncanny the filmmakers were in accurately depicting what happened visually. That's appreciated. There's a CD-ROM study guide. Trailers. A really decent commentary by director Connolly and half a dozen or so deleted scenes.

7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMw9gjiBU1o

Marco

07-26-21, 06:06 AM

The Vanishing (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/The_Vanishing_2019_poster.jpg
Drama based around 3 lighthouse-keepers, one an old warhorse looking to retire soon, one younger and relied of for his strength of mind and body and a new lad who has never been on the island before. An intriguing little tale about fools gold and what each of them are willing to do to attain it, with dire consequences of course.
p.s after watching this, The Lighthouse (2019) and the Welsh the Lighthouse (2016) I am in no hurry to change my career to lighthouse keeper!!!:D
3.5

ScarletLion

07-26-21, 08:05 AM

'Pig' (2021)

https://i.imgur.com/qdADllm.gif

Lovely piece focusing on the grieving process. Some rather clumsy scenes early on but Cage is great and it is an extremely well written film. Tender and poignant.

7.5/10

3.5

Torgo

07-26-21, 09:29 AM

Blow Out - 4 CONTAINS SPOILERS

When I first saw this movie, it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Whether it's because I simply picked up on something I didn't before or the last 4 years changed me that much, I got a lot more out of it this time. I now see it as a powerful story about feeling powerless in the face of evil and corruption. Firstly, how good is John Travolta in this? He's totally convincing as a working-class guy who goes from just wanting to do his job to putting it aside to right a wrong. I also like the always-good Nancy Allen, who on the other hand is more willing or has no choice but to accept that it's just the way things are. The supporting cast are no slouches either, especially John Lithgow, who plays one of most devilish villains. Regardless, it's the look and feel of De Palma's movies that make me want to watch them all. From the repeated use of red and blue to serving as a Philadelphia travelogue to of course that star-spangled finale, there's no mistaking this as a truly American story. As for that finale, aside from being such a nail-biter, what could possibly drive the point home better than a crowd staring in awe at fireworks while a heinous crime is taking place?

I realize that coincidences are a tool of the trade for storytelling, but the ones in this movie made me raise an eyebrow a few times. For instance, was Nancy Allen's hairstyle just that popular at the time or was Burke just that lucky at spotting lookalikes? I still consider it one of De Palma's best now. If anything, it provides comfort - albeit cold - that reckoning with evildoers was just as much of a dilemma 40 years ago as it is now.

Rockatansky

07-26-21, 10:25 AM

Blow Out - 4 CONTAINS SPOILERS

When I first saw this movie, it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Whether it's because I simply picked up on something I didn't before or the last 4 years changed me that much, I got a lot more out of it this time. I now see it as a powerful story about feeling powerless in the face of evil and corruption. Firstly, how good is John Travolta in this? He's totally convincing as a working-class guy who goes from just wanting to do his job to putting it aside to right a wrong. I also like the always-good Nancy Allen, who on the other hand is more willing or has no choice but to accept that it's just the way things are. The supporting cast are no slouches either, especially John Lithgow, who plays one of most devilish villains. Regardless, it's the look and feel of De Palma's movies that make me want to watch them all. From the repeated use of red and blue to serving as a Philadelphia travelogue to of course that star-spangled finale, there's no mistaking this as a truly American story. As for that finale, aside from being such a nail-biter, what could possibly drive the point home better than a crowd staring at awe at fireworks while a heinous crime is taking place? I realize that coincidences are a tool of the trade for storytelling, but the ones in this movie made me raise an eyebrow a few times. For instance, was Nancy Allen's hairstyle just that popular at the time or was Burke just that lucky at spotting lookalikes? I still consider it one of De Palma's best now, and if anything, it provides comfort - albeit cold - that reckoning with evildoers was just as much of a dilemma 40 years ago as it is now.
Been a while since I've seen it, but I assume he was looking for similar-enough looking women? Enough to make Nancy look part of a pattern.*I don't remember the exact hairstyle being that important. It's worth noting that Lithgow is a dirty tricks operator, so it's fair to assume he's good at this kind of thing regardless.*

GulfportDoc

07-26-21, 10:31 AM

79671
Stuntman (2018)

I've always been fascinated by the stunt profession. It amazed me to learn that when a car careens up into the air or off a cliff, and tumbles end over end, there was someone actually in that car and driving it! Anyone who is interested in the stunt profession would enjoy this documentary about the legendary stuntman Eddie Braun. His ambition was to perfect and successfully complete his boyhood idol Evel Knievel's failed 1974 Snake River Canyon jump.

During the film's 90 minute runtime, Braun's stunt history is highlighted, as is the 2016 jump at the same site as Knievel's. There is also interesting commentary about the stunt profession in general. I came away marveling at Braun's talent, courage, and determination.

Doc's rating: 8/10

Torgo

07-26-21, 10:52 AM

Been a while since I've seen it, but I assume he was looking for similar-enough looking women? Enough to make Nancy look part of a pattern.*I don't remember the exact hairstyle being that important. It's worth noting that Lithgow is a dirty tricks operator, so it's fair to assume he's good at this kind of thing regardless.*Right, Burke was looking for similar-looking women and carving Liberty Bell figures into their skin to make it look like a serial killer was doing it. The editing could make one assume that he was just lucky at coming across these lookalikes, but he was probably spending all day scanning high-traffic areas for them. But anyway, I'm glad I rewatched it. It's not my favorite Blow Up-like movie - that would be The Conversation - but it's now up there. One Hour Photo and The Final Cut aren't bad, either.

Iroquois

07-26-21, 12:50 PM

Belly - 3.5

Sorry TheUsualSuspect but this sh*t bangs

Wooley

07-26-21, 12:54 PM

Wooley

07-26-21, 12:57 PM

Blow Out - 4 CONTAINS SPOILERS

When I first saw this movie, it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Whether it's because I simply picked up on something I didn't before or the last 4 years changed me that much, I got a lot more out of it this time. I now see it as a powerful story about feeling powerless in the face of evil and corruption. Firstly, how good is John Travolta in this? He's totally convincing as a working-class guy who goes from just wanting to do his job to putting it aside to right a wrong. I also like the always-good Nancy Allen, who on the other hand is more willing or has no choice but to accept that it's just the way things are. The supporting cast are no slouches either, especially John Lithgow, who plays one of most devilish villains. Regardless, it's the look and feel of De Palma's movies that make me want to watch them all. From the repeated use of red and blue to serving as a Philadelphia travelogue to of course that star-spangled finale, there's no mistaking this as a truly American story. As for that finale, aside from being such a nail-biter, what could possibly drive the point home better than a crowd staring at awe at fireworks while a heinous crime is taking place? I realize that coincidences are a tool of the trade for storytelling, but the ones in this movie made me raise an eyebrow a few times. For instance, was Nancy Allen's hairstyle just that popular at the time or was Burke just that lucky at spotting lookalikes? I still consider it one of De Palma's best now, and if anything, it provides comfort - albeit cold - that reckoning with evildoers was just as much of a dilemma 40 years ago as it is now.

I agree with you completely. It's my favorite DePalma and is also, clearly, Travolta's best performance. What happened to that guy?

Torgo

07-26-21, 01:22 PM

I agree with you completely. It's my favorite DePalma and is also, clearly, Travolta's best performance. What happened to that guy?I know, right? Saying yes to everything after Pulp Fiction resurrected his career? Battlefield Earth damaging his reputation? Scientology? I'm not sure, but I can count on one hand the things he's done lately that I've liked. The People Vs. O.J. Simpson series that was on FX a few years is pretty good, but he's far from the best thing about it.

Stirchley

07-26-21, 02:02 PM

79678

Very tricky subject so not gonna go there.

More like a TV movie, but the lead actress was very good.

Wooley

07-26-21, 02:03 PM

I know, right? Saying yes to everything after Pulp Fiction resurrected his career? Battlefield Earth damaging his reputation? Scientology? I'm not sure, but I can count on one hand the things he's done lately that I've liked. The People Vs. O.J. Simpson series that was on FX a few years is pretty good, but he's far from the best thing about it.

Yeah, but his actual performances, his acting itself, seemed to actually become bad. Like, really not good. How does that happen?

Rockatansky

07-26-21, 02:10 PM

Yeah, but his actual performances, his acting itself, seemed to actually become bad. Like, really not good. How does that happen?

I will say that his work in The Fanatic is the kind of bad performance that only a very talented person could give. Lots of amazingly wrongheaded, deeply committed choices.

Iroquois

07-26-21, 02:13 PM

79678

Very tricky subject so not gonna go there.

More like a TV movie, but the lead actress was very good.

Of all the movies to actually watch from start to finish...

Gideon58

07-26-21, 04:16 PM

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/dYUxqR5Tj-77YAZXfwlhwXzE4ZoABZLBYY-H_yGDGeKTOf9Li_QB-npFP8NcvhXd26LYGVgfSVuoLAHkxMc7mueyc0FH_S-2mCfg6eU

2

Takoma11

07-26-21, 04:52 PM

•Annihilation

https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/annihilation045.jpg?bwg=1551281185
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/annihilation046.jpg?bwg=1551281185
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/annihilation047.jpg?bwg=1551281185

4.5

I love this film so much. Emotionally-driven sci-fi is my favorite kind of sci-fi. I also think it's gorgeous.

Yeah, but his actual performances, his acting itself, seemed to actually become bad. Like, really not good. How does that happen?

I enjoyed his performance in the Hairspray remake, but it's the only thing I've seen from him in the last 20 years I've enjoyed.

JennyferMc

07-26-21, 05:01 PM

Fatherhood (2021) 6/10, I expected much more from this movie

Mr Minio

07-26-21, 05:20 PM

79678
A terrible Body Horror. Just one, short scene with the baby, really?

Wooley

07-26-21, 07:18 PM

I will say that his work in The Fanatic is the kind of bad performance that only a very talented person could give. Lots of amazingly wrongheaded, deeply committed choices.

That's an interesting perspective that almost makes me want to watch it. But probably not.

BooBooKittyFock

07-26-21, 07:26 PM

I still need to see this.

It was a gorgeous film, not really sure how this movie was filmed, a lot of the shots seemed to be natural lighting but I can’t be sure because of all the special effects. Either way, it was a beautiful film and I would highly recommend, I would like to read into how the movie was filmed, it had pretty cool special effects and stunning lighting.

I’m really excited to see what else Alex Garland puts out!

Torgo

07-26-21, 07:39 PM

That's an interesting perspective that almost makes me want to watch it. But probably not.Does the fact that he has a bowl cut and his first line is "I can't talk too long, I gotta poo" change your mind?

GulfportDoc

07-26-21, 08:17 PM

I can see that. You don't mess with the ticket buying public's expectations. And I really liked Bruce in this as well. The story needed a respite from all the drama and TBH it needed a truly sympathetic character.
Whoops! We've gotten the wokesters upset. We'll have to be more careful...:)

GulfportDoc

07-26-21, 08:29 PM

Blow Out - rating_4 CONTAINS SPOILERS

When I first saw this movie, it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Whether it's because I simply picked up on something I didn't before or the last 4 years changed me that much, I got a lot more out of it this time. I now see it as a powerful story about feeling powerless in the face of evil and corruption. Firstly, how good is John Travolta in this? He's totally convincing as a working-class guy who goes from just wanting to do his job to putting it aside to right a wrong. I also like the always-good Nancy Allen, who on the other hand is more willing or has no choice but to accept that it's just the way things are. The supporting cast are no slouches either, especially John Lithgow, who plays one of most devilish villains. Regardless, it's the look and feel of De Palma's movies that make me want to watch them all. From the repeated use of red and blue to serving as a Philadelphia travelogue to of course that star-spangled finale, there's no mistaking this as a truly American story. As for that finale, aside from being such a nail-biter, what could possibly drive the point home better than a crowd staring in awe at fireworks while a heinous crime is taking place? I realize that coincidences are a tool of the trade for storytelling, but the ones in this movie made me raise an eyebrow a few times. For instance, was Nancy Allen's hairstyle just that popular at the time or was Burke just that lucky at spotting lookalikes? I still consider it one of De Palma's best now, and if anything, it provides comfort - albeit cold - that reckoning with evildoers was just as much of a dilemma 40 years ago as it is now.
Nice commentary. I agree that Travolta gave a strong performance. The story held one's interest, although it took a little long to get to the meat of it. Good cinematography as well.

I prefer the original movie this one was based upon, Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966), but Blow Out was very engaging and watchable. Might even be time for a re-watch..;)

Rockatansky

07-26-21, 09:17 PM

Does the fact that he has a bowl cut and his first line is "I can't talk too long, I gotta poo" change your mind?

Also worth mentioning that there's a scene where Devon Sawa sings the praises of Limp Bizkit, of whom director Fred Durst was a member.

I actually don't mind the movie. At the very least, Durst, Travolta and Sawa understand what it's like to be a washed up, bottom-feeding loser. The film's caustic (if dumbassed) perspective seems genuine.

Rockatansky

07-26-21, 09:20 PM

Also worth mentioning that there's a scene where Devon Sawa sings the praises of Limp Bizkit, of whom director Fred Durst was a member.

I actually don't mind the movie. At the very least, Durst, Travolta and Sawa understand what it's like to be a washed up, bottom-feeding loser. The film's caustic (if dumbassed) perspective seems genuine.
https://youtu.be/zXWgokx6fK8

Rockatansky

07-26-21, 09:21 PM

Whoops! We've gotten the wokesters upset. We'll have to be more careful...:)

I don't think "wokeness" has much to do with people's issues with the ending.

Torgo

07-26-21, 09:25 PM

Nice commentary. I agree that Travolta gave a strong performance. The story held one's interest, although it took a little long to get to the meat of it. Good cinematography as well.

I prefer the original movie this one was based upon, Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966), but Blow Out was very engaging and watchable. Might even be time for a re-watch..;)Thanks! I caught it on TCM, but I think it's on VOD, streaming services, etc.

Just curious, when De Palma's movies were in theaters, was he a big draw like a Nolan or a Spielberg movie? Were they more of a curiosity like David Lynch's work? I've watched 99% of his movies at home.

BooBooKittyFock

07-26-21, 11:00 PM

Captain Fantastic

https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/Captain_Fantastic_038.jpg?bwg=1569400321
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/Captain_Fantastic_039.jpg?bwg=1569400321
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/Captain_Fantastic_050.jpg?bwg=1569400321

5

Love and Compromise can sew any bleeding heart.
~ Me, myself and I

ThatDarnMKS

07-26-21, 11:01 PM

I don't think "wokeness" has much to do with people's issues with the ending.
“I wish the characters were as horrible as they seemed to be and the film followed through on that through an act of violence against a woman”= woke.

To imply otherwise would be to imply a mental simplicity that uses the concept of wokeness as an intellectual boogeyman in which to lump all concepts and ideas one finds disagreeable.

Siddon

07-26-21, 11:33 PM

Yeah, but his actual performances, his acting itself, seemed to actually become bad. Like, really not good. How does that happen?

I don't think of Travolta as ever being a "good" actor he's always a leading man. His job in his best work is to tell the story and to make the character actors around him look better.

His best work (A Civil Action, The Generals Daughter, Pulp Fiction, Swordfish, Get Shorty, Taking of Pelham 123 and Face Off) he's not the great actor it's the character actors around him and the story.

Rockatansky

07-27-21, 12:17 AM

Nah, man, JT rules in Saturday Night Fever, and not just on the dance floor. Powerful ****ing presence, tight white suit be damned.

He also out-Cages Cage in Face/Off. He'll always have my respect for that.

Wooley

07-27-21, 12:41 AM

Whoops! We've gotten the wokesters upset. We'll have to be more careful...:)

You and your "woke" business. Can never tell if you're trolling and if so, who.

TheUsualSuspect

07-27-21, 12:42 AM

Belly - 3.5

Sorry TheUsualSuspect but this sh*t bangs

You can't be serious.

Wooley

07-27-21, 12:42 AM

Thanks! I caught it on TCM, but I think it's on VOD, streaming services, etc.

Just curious, when De Palma's movies were in theaters, was he a big draw like a Nolan or a Spielberg movie? Were they more of a curiosity like David Lynch's work? I've watched 99% of his movies at home.
Well, I do remember his name being mentioned in ads and reviews but that was a different time.

Wooley

07-27-21, 12:45 AM

I don't think of Travolta as ever being a "good" actor he's always a leading man. His job in his best work is to tell the story and to make the character actors around him look better.

His best work (A Civil Action, The Generals Daughter, Pulp Fiction, Swordfish, Get Shorty, Taking of Pelham 123 and Face Off) he's not the great actor it's the character actors around him and the story.

I don't disagree with you... except for Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, and Blow Out, all of which seem to be the work of a young force to be reckoned with. And then what the hell happens? Suddenly you get all those movies you named. And then all the ones you were kind enough (to him) not to.

WHITBISSELL!

07-27-21, 12:53 AM

Whoops! We've gotten the wokesters upset. We'll have to be more careful...:)Umm, I don't think there's a "we" here. When I said, "I can see that" I meant that I understood the studio was thinking of the bottom line. It in no way makes it right though. And that they specifically wrote in his dismissal at the end of Lina's very real fear as just another hysterical female overreacting makes it even worse. But it most certainly was a crappy ending and Johnnie a despicable character.

Thief

07-27-21, 12:57 AM

He also out-Cages Cage in Face/Off. He'll always have my respect for that.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e0/bf/51/e0bf51ef59b428e3dca0b08b1516c839.gif

This whole scene is ****ing genius :D

ThatDarnMKS

07-27-21, 01:12 AM

I don't disagree with you... except for Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, and Blow Out, all of which seem to be the work of a young force to be reckoned with. And then what the hell happens? Suddenly you get all those movies you named. And then all the ones you were kind enough (to him) not to.
While I think Travolta will never be confused with Daniel Day Lewis in terms of acting veracity, I think he’s very good if not great.

I think even in works like the Fanatic, where the performance is absolutely wrong for the film it is in, it’s a “bad” performance that takes a great deal of talent to even do.

I think part of the problem is that Travolta’s eccentric personal life has taken a bit of a toll on his acting life and he’s become increasingly more unbelievable for “normal roles.”

I really enjoyed his flamboyant performance in the People vs. OJ Simpson and would like to see much more in that vein and far less like Gotti (in which I’d argue, he still gives a serviceable performance despite the film being utterly lifeless)

Rockatansky

07-27-21, 01:34 AM

Urban Cowboy
Ah, this movie. Tried to do for country what Saturday Night Fever did for disco. Is it as successful? Not really, but it's got a fun location to hang out in, and Scott Glenn is ****ing great it in.

I actually wish they didn't turn Glenn into a heel at the end. He's got a very different kind of masculinity than Travolta, would have been nice to see them bond eventually.

Also, he dropped out of the movie, but he is responsible for Giorgio Armani's involvement in American Gigolo, which is one of THE menswear movies. Those big, soft-shouldered suits... *chef's kiss*

Iroquois

07-27-21, 02:00 AM

You can't be serious.

Bruh, I've got an Escape From L.A. avatar. This should not be surprising.

Fabulous

07-27-21, 02:21 AM

Dragged Across Concrete (2018)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/crRdazoirgBIB50ScJns8KMsZNM.jpg

StuSmallz

07-27-21, 05:03 AM

I love this film so much. Emotionally-driven sci-fi is my favorite kind of sci-fi. I also think it's gorgeous.It's interesting that you say that, since I found the more emotional/dramatic material in Annihilation (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/annihilation/) to be slightly underwhelming, in particular the revelation that Portman's character had an affair, which felt like it occurred in a bit of an emotional vacuum, since it didn't feel like it really offered as much insight into or affected the overall perception of her character as much as it was meant to. Come to think of it, the movie sort of makes for an unintentional trilogy with A Quiet Place (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/a-quiet-place-2018/) & Hereditary (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/hereditary/), as 2018 Horror movies with somewhat flawed dramatic elements in them (as much as I'm still obviously a fan of the former). Still, the Sci-Fi/Horror aspects of it were enough to make it a good film on the whole, despite all that.

StuSmallz

07-27-21, 05:03 AM

Whoops! We've gotten the wokesters upset. We'll have to be more careful...:)You think we're being "woke" for criticizing Suspicion for not having the husband try to kill the wife?

https://i.ibb.co/1mwy18s/Princess-Bride-That-word.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

Iroquois

07-27-21, 05:13 AM

At this point, I'm pretty sure his avatar is a pic of him getting his brain fried to the point where he posts like this.

James D. Gardiner

07-27-21, 05:28 AM

https://i.imgur.com/vOdWtIo.jpg

The Divided Heart (1954)
Directed by Charles Crichton

Realistic and heart-wrenching drama about how the tragedy of war adversely affects people's lives. When a three year old boy is found alone in Germany during WW2, he is placed in an orphanage when it is assumed that the rest of his family is missing or dead. Eventually he comes to be adopted by a German couple who provide him with a loving home. Seven years later after the war has ended it is found that the boy's natural mother has survived as a refugee in Yugoslavia, and now wishes to claim her son, leading to an emotional moral dilemma.

One of the things I really liked about this film was its straight-forwardness in presenting the facts without taking sides or casting judgement on anyone. All the principle characters are sensitively portrayed with humanity and understandable motivations, who must evaluate these whilst considering the boy's own future and the understanding of his past. It's a powerfully accurate statement on the tragic aftermath of human conflict and the reality of how many lives were displaced.

It's extremely well written and directed, with the black and white cinematography particularly outstanding. For their fine performances, Yvonne Mitchell won the British Film Award for Best Actress, and Cornell Borchers as Best Foreign Actress.

9/10

carterrohan6

07-27-21, 08:47 AM

before sunrise - 8/10

xSookieStackhouse

07-27-21, 08:55 AM

5 rewatched <3
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Up_%282009_film%29.jpg
3.5
https://i2.wp.com/image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342//cGLL4SY6jFjjUZkz2eFxgtCtGgK.jpg

Takoma11

07-27-21, 09:57 AM

It's interesting that you say that, since I found the more emotional/dramatic material in Annihilation (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/annihilation/) to be slightly underwhelming, in particular the revelation that Portman's character had an affair, which felt like it occurred in a bit of an emotional vacuum, since it didn't feel like it really offered as much insight into or affected the overall perception of her character as much as it was meant to. Come to think of it, the movie sort of makes for an unintentional trilogy with A Quiet Place (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/a-quiet-place-2018/) & Hereditary (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/hereditary/), as 2018 Horror movies with somewhat flawed dramatic elements in them (as much as I'm still obviously a fan of the former). Still, the Sci-Fi/Horror aspects of it were enough to make it a good film on the whole, despite all that.

It's not the fact of the affair that is meant to hit hard, in my opinion. It's the idea that it has changed the relationship between the two of them. And then you layer in the sci-fi element that they might literally NOT be the same people.

I know I've linked this video essay like 8 times on this site, so apologies to those of you who are like "IS SHE LINKING THAT FOLDING IDEAS VIDEO AGAIN?!?!?!?!", but it really does sum up what I love about the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URo66iLNEZw

GulfportDoc

07-27-21, 10:48 AM

79694
The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)

This is a must-see noir, if for no other reason than for it was directed by one of the very greatest noir directors, Robert Siodmak (The Killers, Criss Cross, Phantom Lady).

An unusual title (hard to remember), it stars Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey. The story bears more than a passing resemblance to Double Indemnity, done 5 years earlier. Story writer Marty Holland (Fallen Angel) and screenwriter Ketti Frings (Come Back Little Sheba) had to have patterned their writing on Messrs. Caine, Wilder and Chandler's superb earlier film.

Stanwyck plays another rotten femme fatale, who in this story manipulates an assistant D.A. (Corey) into defending her against the murder of her aunt, thought to be murdered by her secret husband.

This, along with Rear Window, is Corey's finest work. He always seemed limited in scope, but in the right role, such as this one, no one could have done it better.

George Barnes' (Jane Eyre, Spellbound) moody photography demonstrates how a noir ought to be lit. If you haven't seen this premier noir, it's available for free on the Internet Archive or YouTube.

Doc's rating: 7/10

CringeFest

07-27-21, 12:55 PM

Deep

10/10

I don't think i've ever seen a thai movie before

https://www.heavenofhorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/deep-netflix-review.jpg

John W Constantine

07-27-21, 01:05 PM

The Most Dangerous Game - 1932

3.5

Citizen Rules

07-27-21, 01:20 PM

The Most Dangerous Game - 1932

rating_3_5Ah, one of the first old films I seen, it must have been 20 years ago. I remember thinking it was much like the movie pilot for Fantasy Island. Good film.

Thief

07-27-21, 01:34 PM

I'm biased cause The Most Dangerous Game is probably my favorite short story so I wasn't that fond of the tone and liberties taken by the film.

Marco

07-27-21, 02:43 PM

Snowpiercer (2013)

This was nice and inventive but, to be a moany old get not my pace.

2.5

John W Constantine

07-27-21, 03:12 PM

Ah, one of the first old films I seen, it must have been 20 years ago. I remember thinking it was much like the movie pilot for Fantasy Island. Good film.

It's made by the same team I believe that made King Kong the following year, you can definitely see similarities in the creative settings/design.

Torgo

07-27-21, 05:54 PM

Escape from the Bronx - 3

Did this movie deserve the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment? Probably. Is it worth watching without Mike and the bots? Definitely. Also known as Escape 2000 and "Leave the Bronx," it's definitive early '80s Italian B-movie action. A "dark side of gentrification" premise that it explores only enough to set up scenes where silver-robed henchpeople get strafed or blown up? Check. A New York sewer system that was obviously shot in caves in Rome? Check. Henry Silva? Check. It is repetitive - after all, there are only so many ways silver-robed henchpeople can be shot or decimated - and there's a kidnapping sequence that greatly overstays its welcome. What it does have that so many B-movies like it don't have, though, are characters who, while cliched, are colorful and fleshed out. Besides Silva's fascistic, sugar-hating Floyd Wrangler, I love Antonio Sabato's highly animated and excitable underground leader Dablone (who the MST3K crew affectionately dubbed Toblerone). Oh, and the guitar-heavy soundtrack rocks. In short, it's not a great movie, but it's one of the better Italian knockoffs and not just because it asks this probing question: "who the hell wants to move to New Mexico?"

WHITBISSELL!

07-27-21, 05:56 PM

https://cdn.britannica.com/46/90646-050-11D0C1AE/Scene-The-Man-Who-Knew-Too-Much.jpg

The Man Who Knew Too Much - Not the '56 color version with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. This is the original B&W from 1934 with Leslie Banks and Edna Best as the vacationing couple entangled in a far reaching global assassination plot. I watched the remake a few years back so it's been awhile but I think I actually prefer this one for it's no-frills narrative and brisk pacing. It also has what might be Hitchcock's best villain in Peter Lorre's fey and diminutive Abbott. With his doleful yet bemused countenance, his scarred face and a white streak in his hair Lorre certainly looks the part but he also imbues the character with a quiet menace.

Bob and Jill Lawrence are on vacation in the Swiss Alps and a French acquaintance of theirs, Louis Bernard, is competing in a ski jump contest while Jill is a participant in a skeet shooting match. She loses to marksman Ramon, who figures heavily into the story later on. That night while on the dance floor with Jill, Louis is shot and killed by an unknown assailant. Before he dies, he tells her to look in his room for some vital information that she is to pass on to the British consul. When the bad guys get wind that the Lawrence's are indeed in possession of the info they kidnap their daughter Betty and instruct them not to contact the authorities. The rest of the story unwinds expeditiously with Bob and family friend Clive attempting to locate and rescue Betty. This eventually leads them to a nefarious dentist, a secretive sunworshipping cult, hypnosis, a pretty nifty chair throwing melee and an ultimate shootout between the gang of anarchists and tons of policemen.
All in all this was a very entertaining 70 or so minutes of intrigue and dry British wit. I'd have to rewatch the '56 version to honestly tell which was superior but as it stands this one was loads of fun and Lorre makes for a perfectly hissable villain.

rating_4

Thief

07-27-21, 05:59 PM

I haven't seen the remake but I enjoyed the original very much. The pace with which Hitchcock moved these late-30's spy thrillers was effective as hell. I enjoy all of them very much.

mark f

07-27-21, 06:09 PM

Trouble Will Find Us (Alexander Milo Bischof, 2020) 2+ 5/10
The Trench (William Boyd, 1999) 2.5 6/10
Demolition Girl (Genta Matsugami, 2019) 2+ 5/10
Faraway Eyes AKA Here After (Harry Greenberger, 2020) 2.5 6/10
https://i.imgur.com/JeRnDzK.png
After Michael Rispoli dies, he returns to find a soulmate and may find one in Nora Arnezeder. Overlong and way too contrived, but eventually gets affecting.
Unspeakable (Thomas J. Wright, 2002) 2 5/10
Spirit Untamed (Elaine Bogan & Ennio Torresan, 2021) 2.5 6/10
The House Next Door (Deon Taylor, 2021) 2 5/10
Real Talk (Preston A. Whitmore II, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODBlNGNjYmMtMjBkMS00YjA3LWIzMzktYjA0NTJkZjVlZTdmXkEyXkFqcGdeQVRoaXJkUGFydHlJbmdlc3Rpb25Xb3JrZmxv dw@@._V1_UX477_CR0,0,477,268_AL_.jpg
L.A. radio talk show host Jasmine Carmichael has an incredibly eventful night at the station and on the phone.
The Dance of Life (John Cromwell & A. Edward Sutherland, 1929) 2 5/10
Lansky (Eytan Rockaway, 2021) 2.5 6/10
The Virtuoso (Nick Stagliano, 2021) 2+ 5/10
A Fantastic Fear of Everything (Crispian Mills & Chris Hopewell, 2012) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6d39ef6735db1af148e92f148a5c65a3/tumblr_myy0xoYyrC1rfd7lko1_400.gifv
Writer Simon Pegg knows he made a big mistake going to the laundromat.
The Dungeon of Harrow (Pat Boyette, 1962) 1.5 4/10
The Last Letter From Your Lover (Augustine Frizzell, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Before I Go (Eric Schaeffer, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Justice Society: World War II (Jeff Wamester, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/5a3c1174fd8bd0ca0a8deadaeeff1772/e4feb9a987e615b7-95/s540x810/8464e1b2a8092d66b03411ea664c4b7d2db60946.gifv
The Flash doesn't understand why he's fighting the Nazis but he helps the other super heroes anyway.
Monster from the Ocean Floor (Wyott Ordung, 1954) 2- 5/10
Kokutai (Ryushi Lindsay, 2019) 2.5+ 6/10
The Nut Farm (Melville W. Brown, 1935) 2 5/10
The Wandering Soap Opera (Raoul Ruiz & Valeria Sarmiento, 2017) 2.5 6/10
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/images/8756-fb964482c1f820dd4747d64091a2ea97/wandering08152017_medium.jpg
Life in Chile seems to be a series of telenovelas..

Gideon58

07-27-21, 06:16 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/Godspellmoviep.jpg/215px-Godspellmoviep.jpg

Umpteenth Re-watch...I don't know what it is about this movie...it's no masterpiece, but it holds enormous re-watch appeal for me thanks to one of the most iconic scores in the history of musical theater. This film's use of Manhattan as its locale ranks right up there with Woody Allen...there's one musical number that begins on the jumbo trinitron and ends on the twin towers (they were still there in 1973).

3.5

GulfportDoc

07-27-21, 07:31 PM

Thanks! I caught it on TCM, but I think it's on VOD, streaming services, etc.

Just curious, when De Palma's movies were in theaters, was he a big draw like a Nolan or a Spielberg movie? Were they more of a curiosity like David Lynch's work? I've watched 99% of his movies at home.
Oh yes, he was very popular. Perhaps not as much as Spielberg, but up there for sure.

WHITBISSELL!

07-27-21, 08:38 PM

I haven't seen the remake but I enjoyed the original very much. The pace with which Hitchcock moved these late-30's spy thrillers was effective as hell. I enjoy all of them very much. TCM had a 48 hour Hitchcock marathon a few weeks back and I availed myself of the ones I hadn't seen. I watched one from 1936 that I'll review a little later. One I'm sure you've seen. And I still need to get to The Lodger. Once I do I'll have seen a total of 28 of his films. I've still got a bunch more to go but it's better than I had been doing a couple of years ago in the single digits. The only one I've held off on is Torn Curtain mostly because of it it's low Tomatometer.

Thief

07-27-21, 09:02 PM

THE INNOCENTS
(1961, Clayton)
A film from the Criterion Collection whose number includes the #7

https://reelclub.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/ti4.jpg

"All I want to do is save the children, not destroy them. More than anything, I love children."

The Innocents follows Miss Giddens as she tries to take care of the kids. But things start to unravel when she starts to fear that the estate is haunted and that the kids are possessed, putting to the test her love and her desire to "save the children". Can she handle the situation? Will she do what's needed to "save" them?

This is a pretty darn good film, but the story behind the scenes is compelling as well. Based on a popular play, the original script was written by William Archibald. However, producer/director Jack Clayton, wanting to add layers to Archibald's script, commissioned Truman Capote to rework it, incorporating deeper psychological themes that take the story beyond the inherent eeriness of its plot.

Grade: 4

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2224195#post2224195) or on the PR HOF4 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2224196#post2224196)

Wyldesyde19

07-27-21, 09:04 PM

The Innocents was really good.

Thief

07-27-21, 09:05 PM

TCM had a 48 hour Hitchcock marathon a few weeks back and I availed myself of the ones I hadn't seen. I watched one from 1936 that I'll review a little later. One I'm sure you've seen. And I still need to get to The Lodger. Once I do I'll have seen a total of 28 of his films. I've still got a bunch more to go but it's better than I had been doing a couple of years ago in the single digits. The only one I've held off on is Torn Curtain mostly because of it it's low Tomatometer.

Look forward to your other review. As for Torn Curtain, that's one of the few of his I haven't seen. I know I'll eventually get to it, and to Topaz, but I'd rather tackle a few others first.

Gideon58

07-27-21, 09:47 PM

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/960x0/https%3A%2F%2Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%2Fimageserve%2F60eef1f1ed19c87470201fb6%2FSpace-Jam--A-New-Legacy%2F960x0.jpg%3FcropX1%3D0%26cropX2%3D2764%26cropY1%3D0%26cropY2%3D4096

3

Fabulous

07-28-21, 02:10 AM

The Spectacular Now (2013)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/5jga4MRYE1Y989RHdzE6H29J9BG.jpg

PHOENIX74

07-28-21, 03:58 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Hell_or_High_Water_film_poster.png
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51578312

150 years ago all this was my ancestors land. Everything you could see, everything you saw yesterday. Until the grandparents of these folks took it. Now it's been taken from them. Cept it ain't no army doin' it, it's those sons of bitches right there.

Hell or High Water - (2016) - DVD

Very happy to see a decent film which combines rust belt anger over corporate greed with brotherly love. Great performances by Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Gil Birmingham. And Texas! Although New Mexico is standing in for it - and to tell you the truth I can't tell the difference. I know and love some great Texans though, even as far away as this corner or the World.

Fantastic screenplay by Taylor Sheridan - I saw his Wind River just a few weeks ago and rate that very highly as well. We all know about Sicario. A big career, or will he fade out? I'm hoping very much he just gets better and better and writes (and directs) some very memorable films.

There it is. I've seen all 2017 Best Picture Oscar-nominated films. A crowded field that included Moonlight, Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion and Manchester By the Sea.

Special Features - Making of features Enemies Forever : The Characters, Visualising the Heart of America, and Damaged Heroes : The Performances. A half hour Q&A session with the four main actors and director David Mackenzie (his Outlaw King looks like it might be okay.) Vision from the red carpet premiere in Texas. Trailer. No commentary for me...

8/10

EsmagaSapos

07-28-21, 04:50 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/L8x87s53/91-Mr-Zmh9-D4-L-RI.jpg

4

Here's a fim Céline Sciamma should look up to. Not slight pretentious, not slight crazy feminist. A reminder of the great independents America used to do, filmed and acted accordingly. A powerful film. Powerful silence.

LChimp

07-28-21, 09:47 AM

https://i0.wp.com/aftercredits.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TillDeathPoster.jpg

Yeah...

lobotomy

07-28-21, 09:57 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/Schizopolis.jpg/220px-Schizopolis.jpg
I have no idea what to make or think of this movie and yet I still enjoyed it.
3.5

Thief

07-28-21, 10:00 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/Schizopolis.jpg/220px-Schizopolis.jpg
I have no idea what to make or think of this movie and yet I still enjoyed it.
3.5

Haven't seen it, but someone brought it up for the last episode of my podcast calling it "galvanizingly funny and audacious as an experiment in how extreme one can be but I don't know what it is about." :laugh:

lobotomy

07-28-21, 10:02 AM

Haven't seen it, but someone brought it up for the last episode of my podcast calling it "galvanizingly funny and audacious as an experiment in how extreme one can be but I don't know what it is about." :laugh:

I've been trying to comprehend it for a good few days now and I still have absolutely no clue what it's suppsed to be about :laugh:

Wooley

07-28-21, 11:28 AM

Gideon58

07-28-21, 12:26 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDUyZWU5N2UtOWFlMy00MTI0LTk0ZDYtMzFhNjljODBhZDA5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzA4ODc3ODU@._V1_.jpg

1st Re-watch...The first silent film to win the Oscar for Best Picture and four other statues...just as joyous and heartbreaking as it was the first time I watched it. This is movie magic at its most pure and most inventive. It deserved every Oscar it won and a few it didn't...a masterpiece, pure and simple.

5

Stirchley

07-28-21, 01:57 PM

…there's one musical number that begins on the jumbo trinitron and ends on the twin towers (they were still there in 1973).

Gee, I hope so as they were built in 1973.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Hell_or_High_Water_film_poster.png

Terrific movie. Seen it twice.

not slight crazy feminist.

Why do people think one has to be “crazy” to be a feminist?

Stirchley

07-28-21, 02:04 PM

79728

Terrific movie. Sad & strange that 2 of the 3 leads died prematurely in 2017.

And whatever happened to Fonda? I see she hasn’t made a movie since 2002.

Gideon58

07-28-21, 04:44 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWI3MzgyODctODM3NS00YTYxLThjZjAtYzdjOGIzZWQyZmIzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_.jpg

3

lobotomy

07-28-21, 05:06 PM

As I was planning to watch the rest of..
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81JEopGfyiL._RI_.jpg
The Ninth Configuration 4.5
Quite an amazing film hence the rating, though as I almost fell asleep trying to watch it the first time I would personally recommend viewing on a full 9 hours of sleep. :D

John W Constantine

07-28-21, 06:35 PM

Crime and Punishment - 1935

3.5

Gideon58

07-28-21, 06:47 PM

https://i1.wp.com/alexusrenee.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-21-at-14.54.47.png?resize=867%2C1024&ssl=1

3.5

GulfportDoc

07-28-21, 08:22 PM

...
The only one I've held off on is Torn Curtain mostly because of it it's low Tomatometer.
Torn Curtain is actually a decent cold war thriller type film, but it suffered from the incomprehensible casting and pairing of Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. However it did feature a nice turn by the incomparable Lila Kedrova (of Zorba the Greek fame).

The other deficit was the absence of a score by the inimitable Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock's refusal to use Herrmann's score caused an irreparable rift in their professional relationship, causing them never to work together again. Reportedly there is a version floating around with Herrmann's score added. I'd love to see that one.

But I think you'd enjoy it. It's not great Hitchcock, but it's a very watchable film.

BooBooKittyFock

07-28-21, 08:46 PM

Brick

https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/12%20(184).jpg?bwg=1547152066
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/20%20(184).jpg?bwg=1547152066
https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/36%20(183).jpg?bwg=1547152066

4.5

Is worth the watch for the dialogue alone, not to mention the plot, acting, cinematography and score.

ThatDarnMKS

07-28-21, 08:51 PM

I've only seen Sciamma's Water Lilies is she really crazy feminist? I was gonna watch Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
Folks on here toss around feminist and woke to the point of meaningless around here.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is great.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 09:06 PM

Folks on here toss around feminist and woke to the point of meaningless around here.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is great.
Not sure the first sentence is necessary. It’s essentially calling out people without naming them and serves no purpose here, nor does it have much, if anything, to with his question.

mark f

07-28-21, 09:09 PM

But it's true.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 09:10 PM

But it's true.
It is, but all it does is troll, and that’ll just start up trouble. It’s unnecessary.

mark f

07-28-21, 09:17 PM

Normally, maybe. I don't think those being referred to even understand or pay attention enough for any trouble to occur, but I'm shutting down now.

ThatDarnMKS

07-28-21, 10:12 PM

Not sure the first sentence is necessary. It’s essentially calling out people without naming them and serves no purpose here, nor does it have much, if anything, to with his question.
Posting on a message board isn’t necessary nor is someone complaining about Sciamma’s apparent crazy feminism.

Yet here we are.

It’s relevant because it’s a part of this board’s culture and is actively discouraging posters from checking out quality films due to this persistent and flippant usage of political terminology.

So what’s the use in trying to police my discussing it as it happens?

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 10:18 PM

Posting on a message board isn’t necessary nor is someone complaining about Sciamma’s apparent crazy feminism.

Yet here we are.

It’s relevant because it’s a part of this board’s culture and is actively discouraging posters from checking out quality films due to this persistent and flippant usage of political terminology.

So what’s the use in trying to police my discussing it as it happens?
Critiquing a director, however wrong they are (and I agree with you on this) isn’t the same as calling out “folks”. *
His question had nothing to do with said calling out “folks” and was asking about a film itself.

It isn’t “policing” so much calling out something close to grandstanding, and I didn’t want it to derail the thread.

Yet here we are.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 10:22 PM

Bleh. I’m acting like a mod. I’m not a mod. that isn’t my intention. So, let me extend an olive branch before it derails this any further.
Cool?

ThatDarnMKS

07-28-21, 10:29 PM

Critiquing a director, however wrong they are (and I agree with you on this) isn’t the same as calling out “folks”. *
His question had nothing to do with said calling out “folks” and was asking about a film itself.

It isn’t “policing” so much calling out something close to grandstanding, and I didn’t want it to derail the thread.

Yet here we are.
It’s definitely hall monitor style posting and all it does is redirect the conversation to being about the culture of this site, which does have that exact issue.

I was addressing their (and others) sloppy film criticism, which is at least more “on topic” than what you’re currently doing

ThatDarnMKS

07-28-21, 10:29 PM

Bleh. I’m acting like a mod. I’m not a mod. that isn’t my intention. So, let me extend an olive branch before it details this any further.
Cool?
Disregard the post I made while you were writing this. We cool.

Rockatansky

07-28-21, 10:37 PM

Less fighting, more Nightbeast.

*stamps punchcard*

Rockatansky

07-28-21, 10:38 PM

Less fighting, more Nightbeast.

*stamps punchcard*

Is it one of those "crazy feminist" movies?

Could be, we never learn the Nightbeast's gender.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 10:41 PM

It’s definitely hall monitor style posting and all it does is redirect the conversation to being about the culture of this site, which does have that exact issue.

I was addressing their (and others) sloppy film criticism, which is at least more “on topic” than what you’re currently doing

I didn’t read your post as “addressing their films criticisms” so much as calling them out for their beliefs, however flawed it was.*

I didn’t consider that “on topic”.*
Anyways. We’re cool.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 10:42 PM

Disregard the post I made while you were writing this. We cool.
Haha. I responded, but please don’t take me as being aggressive in it. I was trying to get a point across, but I did come off as somewhat “Hall monitor” ish.

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 10:45 PM

Less fighting, more Nightbeast.

*stamps punchcard*

*adds to watchlist*

Wyldesyde19

07-28-21, 11:05 PM

I've only seen Sciamma's Water Lilies is she really crazy feminist? I was gonna watch Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

Definitely watch it. Regardless if someone feels it’s “crazy feminist”, (and really, other then being an exaggeration, how is that an issue?) you should watch it and decide for yourself.
It has me interested in her earlier works
now.

WHITBISSELL!

07-28-21, 11:52 PM

Torn Curtain is actually a decent cold war thriller type film, but it suffered from the incomprehensible casting and pairing of Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. However it did feature a nice turn by the incomparable Lila Kedrova (of Zorba the Greek fame).

The other deficit was the absence of a score by the inimitable Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock's refusal to use Herrmann's score caused an irreparable rift in their professional relationship, causing them never to work together again. Reportedly there is a version floating around with Herrmann's score added. I'd love to see that one.

But I think you'd enjoy it. It's not great Hitchcock, but it's a very watchable film.
I know I'll eventually get around to it. It is Hitchcock after all. Even his subpar efforts are better than most other films. My list of Hitchcock films I feel I absolutely need to watch includes Torn Curtain, Topaz, I Confess, Notorious, Spellbound and Foreign Correspondent.

Takoma11

07-29-21, 12:20 AM

*adds to watchlist*

https://media.giphy.com/media/XgSzDeI83CxYRVDahs/giphy.gif

I know I'll eventually get around to it. It is Hitchcock after all. Even his subpar efforts are better than most other films. My list of Hitchcock films I feel I absolutely need to watch includes Torn Curtain, Topaz, I Confess, Notorious, Spellbound and Foreign Correspondent.

I found Torn Curtain very blah. Poor actor chemistry and just all around unmemorable. As in, I am not sure I could tell you a single thing that happened in the film. The only thing I remember about it is being baffled by the acting.

SpelingError

07-29-21, 12:37 AM

https://media.giphy.com/media/XgSzDeI83CxYRVDahs/giphy.gif

You need to get on board the Nightbeast bandwagon. All the cool kids are doing it.

PHOENIX74

07-29-21, 01:39 AM

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Artist and Schizopolis are great. A Simple Plan is pretty good.

I'm adding Never Rarely Sometimes Always and The Ninth Configuration to my watchlist.

I've had Brick all ready to go for a while now. When will I finally watch it? Today? Maybe!

I might even watch Nightbeast, because I really want to be one of the cool kids. I hear it's bad for you - but I'm one of the only ones not doing it :( I'll finally be cool then, right?

ThatDarnMKS

07-29-21, 01:39 AM

https://media.giphy.com/media/XgSzDeI83CxYRVDahs/giphy.gif

I found Torn Curtain very blah. Poor actor chemistry and just all around unmemorable. As in, I am not sure I could tell you a single thing that happened in the film. The only thing I remember about it is being baffled by the acting.
You don’t remember that excellent brawl where they try to quietly kill each other in the farmhouse?

The rest of the film is just fairly okay. But that sequence is pure Hitchcockian goodness.

Topaz is the better film with a lot of artfully made sequences but Hitch chose to not use stars and that film cries out for a Grant or even a Connery.

StuSmallz

07-29-21, 03:20 AM

It's not the fact of the affair that is meant to hit hard, in my opinion. It's the idea that it has changed the relationship between the two of them. And then you layer in the sci-fi element that they might literally NOT be the same people.

I know I've linked this video essay like 8 times on this site, so apologies to those of you who are like "IS SHE LINKING THAT FOLDING IDEAS VIDEO AGAIN?!?!?!?!", but it really does sum up what I love about the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URo66iLNEZwBut my problem with that aspect of the movie isn't that the affair fails to come off as some sort of shocking revelation, because that didn't feel like Garland's intention (what with the foreshadowing of it and what not), it's that it feels like it was designed to offer a certain insight into Portman's motivations and emotional state of mind, but it also feels like you could completely remove the affair entirely from the film, and nothing essential would be lost from Portman's characterization. The same also goes for the sub-plot's thematic connection to the implication at the end that they've been changed by their time inside The Shimmer, because that didn't add much to it either; don't get me wrong, I still feel it's a good movie, but that's definitely more for the freaky/beautiful encounters with mutated creatures, and (especially) the climax in the lighthouse, rather than the dramatic elements.

I did watch that video essay because of your recommendation, though, so I owe a sincere "thank you" for that, at the very least.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 04:35 AM

I've only seen Sciamma's Water Lilies is she really crazy feminist? I was gonna watch Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is beautiful, but pretentious. You can see right when the movie starts. One depicted men badly, the other depicted men badly, one was truthful, the other was not. I mean, I help ladies with their bags, I don't let them jump to where a men should jump, and I see the same mentality in men, I'm not the only one. I'm also driven by my sexual impulses, it takes awareness to recognize that, and I acknowledge that some men take advantage of their status, position, force to do things like the supermarket scene, the subway scene, or the ATM scene, I recognize the truthfulness of what I see.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 04:45 AM

Why do people think one has to be “crazy” to be a feminist?
I didn't say that anywhere, the fact you saw that maybe says something you need to think about, maybe you want people to say that, I think Sciamma's probably does. Do vegans need to protest naked using cow blood on the floors of fast food chains for minimum wage workers do the cleaning up? They don't. Do feminist need to make things out of proportion to make people aware of social inequality/injustices? They don't. Anyone who's extremist about any given subject is crazy to me.

Fabulous

07-29-21, 04:54 AM

Mikey and Nicky (1976)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/ikKB3UCXJ9acTrXEkyqGsWzCfvv.jpg

Wyldesyde19

07-29-21, 05:00 AM

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is beautiful, but pretentious. You can see right when the movie starts. One depicted men badly, the other depicted men badly, one was truthful, the other was not. I mean, I help ladies with their bags, I don't let them jump to where a men should jump, and I see the same mentality in men, I'm not the only one. I'm also driven by my sexual impulses, it takes awareness to recognize that, and I acknowledge that some men take advantage of their status, position, force to do things like the supermarket scene, the subway scene, or the ATM scene, I recognize the truthfulness of what I see.
I somehow doubt we watched the same film. There was nothing pretentious with PoaLoF at all. It was a beautiful story of two women in love that dealt with subtle allegories and themes that captivated me.
There was so much to take away from this film, none of which involves looking at it as if some personal attack against men.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 05:06 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/8cSrqgxB/4374811.jpg

4

A simple, predictable story considering the time period, and it couldn't be made any other way. The outstanding thing about this film is the production, I didn't see anything I could say: it's unrealistic, it's forced. They perfectly conveyed the audience. The picture is very beautiful, the 4:3 aspect ratio that helped focusing the viewers to the essentials, the A24 vibrant colors, very beautiful picture. Without a proper study of that time period this film couldn't be made because the film is all about bringing the audience there, to the life, thoughts, ambitions and struggles of it's inhabitants.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 05:23 AM

I somehow doubt we watched the same film.
No one sees the same film everybody else sees, like Tarkovsky says about books: A book read by a thousand people, is a thousand different books. I hope you can respect my opinion, it doesn't have much value, but it's mine.

The first time I saw Portrait of a Lady on Fire I could move past the inclinations I was seeing and focus on the story and in the end I was moved by it, the Vivaldi, the number on the page, I fond it beautiful and sort of poetic. I understood the need of such story. The second time I saw the film I couldn't move past the inclinations because I was paying attention to more details because I already knew the story.

I don't have prejudice against women, if anyone here wants to go trough that and make that judgment, keep it, I don't mind, I have a brain to think and I use it. When I see something accurate (according to my experience and experience of close people), without anything out of proportion or made to create reactions, without resentments, like the recent Never Rarely Sometimes Always, or Vitalina Varela, I'm moved by it, I embrace the need of such films. It's more and more difficult to make films without statements because people have a need to belong a certain group and people want others to belong their group. To just show and let people see and make their own assessments, that's what I find very valuable, even if I don't agree, sometimes there's not even anything to agree or don't agree, that's the point.

ScarletLion

07-29-21, 05:46 AM

I've only seen Sciamma's Water Lilies is she really crazy feminist? I was gonna watch Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

She's an amazing film-maker, one of the best around at the moment. Yes feminist, which as we all know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Check out her films 'Girlhood' and 'Tomboy' too. Sciamma is 4 from 4.

Can't wait to see 'Petite maman'.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 05:53 AM

Yes feminist, which as we all know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
No problem in being Muslin, what about belonging ISIS? I don't support radical ideas, they fail to look around, they often demonize the other part.

ScarletLion

07-29-21, 06:02 AM

No problem in being Muslin, what about belonging ISIS? I don't support radical ideas, they fail to look around, they often demonize the other part.

What in god's name are you on about?

StuSmallz

07-29-21, 06:06 AM

No problem in being Muslin, what about belonging ISIS? I don't support radical ideas, they fail to look around, they often demonize the other part.
https://i.ibb.co/phVfg13/tenor-1.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

PHOENIX74

07-29-21, 06:54 AM

Okay, I'll be as quick as I can for these five films, where I delved in reputation be damned to try and find a gem I think deserves better than it got...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/You_Should_Have_Left_Poster_2020.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - https://movies.universalpictures.com/media/yshl-poster-18-5ee27861e7470., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64249060

You Should Have Left - (2020)

In the most unfortunately-named film since The Naked Bomb, Kevin Bacon rents an evil house full of jump-scares with no build-up of tension. Everything here is blandly cheesy, and the story is all over the place. I really hated this movie - devoid of a plot or sinister atmosphere - even though on the latter count they at least tried.

2/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/The_Vanishing_2019_poster.jpg
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59717291

The Vanishing - (2018)

This felt like it could have been something more. Based on the fascinating disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers from the Flannan Isles Lighthouse. It grabbed me at times once it got going, but ultimately was a bit of a let-down.

4/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/The_Head_Hunter%2C_2019_film%2C_limited_release_poster.jpg
By Vertical Entertainment - Vertical Entertainment, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63494479

The Head Hunter - (2018)

Pretty interesting low-budget horror film set in a mythical dark ages kingdom. Here a monster-killing bounty hunter is set on revenge for the killing of his daughter. A lot of the action takes place off-screen, but it has a moody atmosphere and plenty of invention. Not quite Evil Dead-type mayhem but it has a kind of deadite feel to it.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Vivarium_film_theatrical_poster.jpg
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61424261

Vivarium - (2019)

I loved this film far more than it's reputation merits. To me it worked as both metaphor and straight-forward sci-fi - reminding me more than a little of the goings-on in Under the Skin (fantastic film that.) Once I met Martin I was hooked - such an eccentric performance by Jonathan Aris. One of those films that just fit me. Much of what you see at the start will be referenced in one way or another, which rewards a second viewing. I feel most people would rate The Head Hunter highest from these Awful Four(ful) Plus One films, but I vote for Vivarium - not even Jesse Eisenberg (who I always find hard to like) could ruin it for me. In fact, it's one of my favourite films with him in now.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Inheritance_%282020_film%29.jpg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film's distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63840969

Inheritance - (2020)

Interesting casting here, with Simon Pegg. That's the best I can muster for this mess full of plot holes and unlikeable characters. Bad movie.

3/10

Torgo

07-29-21, 08:06 AM

Guys, there's nothing wrong with going Muslin. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself wrapped around a baby afterwards.

WHITBISSELL!

07-29-21, 08:54 AM

I found Torn Curtain very blah. Poor actor chemistry and just all around unmemorable. As in, I am not sure I could tell you a single thing that happened in the film. The only thing I remember about it is being baffled by the acting.
Hmm. Food for thought. Thanks!

Takoma11

07-29-21, 09:11 AM

You don’t remember that excellent brawl where they try to quietly kill each other in the farmhouse?

Here was my reaction to that: "Was that really something that happened, or is he joking?".

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is beautiful, but pretentious. You can see right when the movie starts. One depicted men badly, the other depicted men badly, one was truthful, the other was not.

But . . . there weren't any men in Portrait of a Lady on Fire?

The "villain" in the film is the social system that pushes people to marry for a "good family match" instead of love, and the face of this villainy is the mother, a female character. Heloise had been in a convent, and it's only because of her sister's death that she's even been "pulled off the bench" to get married.

It's true that patriarchy is one of the oppressive forces in the film (along with religion and social class), but men aren't the bad guys in the movie.

In fact, one of the biggest barriers to their happiness is Marianne's idea about love and art, and the fact that she would rather "possess" Heloise as a perfect captured moment on canvas than as a whole, real person.

Hmm. Food for thought. Thanks!

I'm sure it's still . . . .fine. But as with any really talented filmmaker, something mediocre can seem much more disappointing.

EsmagaSapos

07-29-21, 09:51 AM

But . . . there weren't any men in Portrait of a Lady on Fire?
I've tried to find the scene on YouTube. It's the second scene in the movie I think.

I don't know, is not often that I like a film and dislike it the second time around, but I did. Maybe because it's French, there's many French movies I don't like without a particular reason, maybe it's my instinct or prejudice thinking they think they're ahead of everybody else, I don't know, and I don't care that much. There's a lot of things I don't try to put into words, just like when you find a person and your first instinct/reaction is to dislike her, and maybe with time you change your view, and maybe you know what made it change or maybe you don't think about it.

Wooley

07-29-21, 02:34 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWI3MzgyODctODM3NS00YTYxLThjZjAtYzdjOGIzZWQyZmIzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_.jpg

3

Can you give me some thoughts on this? I haven't seen it since the 80s and have been thinking about re-watching it but I thought I remembered being kinda lukewarm on it despite some critical praise.

Wooley

07-29-21, 02:35 PM

Folks on here toss around feminist and woke to the point of meaningless around here.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is great.

Glad to hear it. Looked really good.

Wooley

07-29-21, 02:38 PM

Definitely watch it. Regardless if someone feels it’s “crazy feminist”, (and really, other then being an exaggeration, how is that an issue?) you should watch it and decide for yourself.
It has me interested in her earlier works
now.
Yeah, I guess I thought the person was saying that the director, who was crazy feminist, was not good because they were over-focused on making political points and not focused on making a good film, which I would be less interested in. I think we've solved the problem.

Wooley

07-29-21, 02:46 PM

Okay, I'll be as quick as I can for these five films, where I delved in reputation be damned to try and find a gem I think deserves better than it got...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/The_Head_Hunter%2C_2019_film%2C_limited_release_poster.jpg
By Vertical Entertainment - Vertical Entertainment, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63494479

The Head Hunter - (2018)

Pretty interesting low-budget horror film set in a mythical dark ages kingdom. Here a monster-killing bounty hunter is set on revenge for the killing of his daughter. A lot of the action takes place off-screen, but it has a moody atmosphere and plenty of invention. Not quite Evil Dead-type mayhem but it has a kind of deadite feel to it.

5/10

I've been considering this for a while but a 5/10 review doesn't really inspire me.

Gideon58

07-29-21, 03:16 PM

Can you give me some thoughts on this? I haven't seen it since the 80s and have been thinking about re-watching it but I thought I remembered being kinda lukewarm on it despite some critical praise.

"Lukewarm" pretty much describes it...Sarah wanting to reconcile with Macon 2/3 of the way into the movie made no sense to me. The issues that tore them apart hadn't changed. William Hurt was superb. Geena Davis was good, but I don't think she should have won the supporting actress Oscar. I checked the other nominees that year and at least two of the other nominees were better than Davis.

Captain Terror

07-29-21, 03:21 PM

I've been considering this for a while but a 5/10 review doesn't really inspire me.

I thought Head Hunter was pretty cool. An interesting way to make a monster movie when your budget is too small to afford any monsters. (You'll know what I mean if you watch it.)
I think MKS was a fan too.

Rockatansky

07-29-21, 04:48 PM

I thought Head Hunter was pretty cool. An interesting way to make a monster movie when your budget is too small to afford any monsters. (You'll know what I mean if you watch it.)
I think MKS was a fan too.

2 words: gorilla suit

I haven't seen the movie.

Captain Terror

07-29-21, 04:51 PM

2 words: gorilla suit

I haven't seen the movie.

79765

honeykid

07-29-21, 04:54 PM

Rawhead Rex. :cool: I can still remember hiring that from the video shop. I have a copy somewhere. Another I should look back on sometime.

Rockatansky

07-29-21, 04:57 PM

79765

:eek:

Thief

07-29-21, 05:48 PM

I'd like to jump in the Portrait of a Lady on Fire bandwagon. It's great.

Thief

07-29-21, 05:48 PM

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
(1968, Kubrick)
A film about astronauts or set in space

https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/wire/legacy/2001-tycho.jpg

"I don't suppose you have any idea what the damn thing is."
"I wish to hell we did."

2001: A Space Odyssey was released in the spring of 1968, puzzling critics and audiences in the way. It is reported that in one premiere alone, more than 200 people walked out. Much like the scientists (or the apes, or Bowman) in the film upon finding the famous monolith, they were probably wondering "what the damn thing [was]". That is a question that even I, on perhaps my 4th or 5th viewing, still ask myself, regardless of my undying love of the film.

Although it spans several centuries, 2001: A Space Odyssey primarily follows a crew of astronauts on their way to Jupiter; a journey that was apparently sparked by the discovery of a mysterious monolith buried under the surface of the moon. But to limit the film to just that chunk is a disservice to it. The film is much more than that, more than the "apes" that initially encountered the monolith in the first act of the film, or more than Dave Bowman's colorful space "trip" beyond Jupiter in the last act.

Grade: 5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2224826#post2224826)