Rate The Last Movie You Saw [Archive] - Page 312

PHOENIX74

07-13-23, 12:49 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/SRdq0Ww7/fire-that-took-her.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40180437

The Fire That Took Her - (2022)

This left me a little speechless. There are two twin roads going in opposing directions when it comes to documentaries about justice. Either a completely innocent nice guy gets railroaded through the system and ends up with life behind bars, or else a real monster does something horrific, and society must move heaven and earth to get a sentence that reflects the severity of the crime. This was the latter - but the crime is one that's going to sit in the corner of my mind and threaten to give me nightmares. The perpetrator, Michael Slager, operates in a psychological space very few of us can comprehend - there's killing your partner with a knife or a gun, which is terrible, and then there's pouring gasoline on them and lighting them on fire, which is a whole other twisted level. Because the woman he did this to, Judy Malinowski, defied medical logic and kept clinging to life day after day, and then week after week, the cops could only charge him with a degree of assault that had a maximum penalty of 11 years. This documentary tells the tale of the determination to see the punishment fit the crime (as impossible as that is) and also make sure that this poor woman's suffering really meant something, by bringing lasting change. It chokes me up a little.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/The_Widow_Couderc.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43415650

The Widow Couderc - (1971)

Continuing on my Alain Delon journey, I come across a film that I liked, but left me with lingering questions. The widow, Couderc, is played by Simone Signoret - she lives on a very small farm with her father-in-law, and has relatives just across a river connected by a draw-bridge - relatives that despise her. Along comes a prison escapee (played by Delon) looking for work and a place to hide - but the longer he stays at Couderc's place, the deeper their sultry love connection becomes, and the harder it is for him not to drag her down with him when tragedy arrives. I could really get into their relationship, if it wasn't for the fact that Delon's character is constantly crossing the river and having relations with 16-year-old Félicie (Ottavia Piccolo) - it really spoils the dynamic, (and I reckon a French story might include this factor to assure French men of Delon's virility, considering Couderc's age. Different times.) The very final scene left me unsure of what to make of it - the kind of moment where I'll constantly think "Either the production ran out of money or else this is an artistic statement." I think it was an artistic statement, and if so I liked it. Really interesting film, with just a few flaws.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Welcome-philippe-lioret.jpg
By http://sortie-cine.fr/affiche/affiche-cine-du-film-welcome, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25320923

Welcome - (2009)

Interesting French issue at hand in this film. The conservative government of the day (we have this type of stuff in Australia too) made it against the law (penalty - up to 5 years prison) to help illegal immigrants, no matter the situation. If you see one starving, or in need, you'd get into serious trouble by giving them food or shelter. In Welcome we meet 17-year-old Iraqi-Kurd Bilal Kayani (Firat Ayverdi) who has made it all the way to France on foot - and is desperate to get across the channel to England to reunite with his love. After failing to get across smuggled in a truck (at the border check you have to put a plastic bag over your head to hide your carbon dioxide emissions) he decides he's going to swim the channel, and enlists the help of champion swimmer and teacher Simon Calmat (Vincent Lindon) - the two form a father/son bond, but can they avoid the attitudes of those around them and the authorities? Both characters are somewhat low-key but winsome, and the story rings true. Laws contrary to basic humanity make us all worse off in the end.

6/10

Act III

07-13-23, 03:54 AM

93703

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Dramatization of the 2010 offshore oil rig disaster, the worst ever. Not much to say about it. Top notch production. Makes you think.

8/10

Burning

07-13-23, 04:23 AM

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7/10

Good movie, really easy and fun to watch. Funny enough and has a good theme to watch. But the plot might not be that valuable specially concerning today's issues.

StuSmallz

07-13-23, 06:11 AM

Annihilation (2018)
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/5zfVNTrkhMu673zma6qhFzG01ig.jpg
4.5
Still one of my favorite movies, though imperfect. The way it makes my brain think...its just the ending that seems a note off.What's wrong with the ending, then?

Gideon58

07-13-23, 02:03 PM

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3.5

Takoma11

07-13-23, 04:38 PM

https://i.postimg.cc/SRdq0Ww7/fire-that-took-her.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40180437

The Fire That Took Her - (2022)

This documentary tells the tale of the determination to see the punishment fit the crime (as impossible as that is) and also make sure that this poor woman's suffering really meant something, by bringing lasting change. It chokes me up a little.

I just watched this one and, yeah, it's really intense.

It also raises some interesting questions about the blurry lines between assault and attempted murder. For example, the way they kept raising the fact that he was driving her to rehab, so why would he have intended to kill her?

Fabulous

07-13-23, 05:09 PM

Over the Edge (1979)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/tZEJL00TB6Md5sC5o36aI8pk1LV.jpg

Takoma11

07-13-23, 05:37 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2Fhm8gTyliPMvcC9ikt0njV18cS3Q.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9b447fbe8a8688d2d010215dd54416cc628f826f5ccfd89f445584e27f0ad1a8&ipo=images

Gaia, 2021

Gabi (Monique Rockman) and her husband, Winston (Anthony Oseyemi) are park rangers conducting surveillance in the depths of a large forest. When they are separated, Gabi is injured and later taken in by a father and son pair, Barend (Carel Nel) and Stefan (Alex van Dyk). While the strange family seems to present a threat, it soon becomes clear that something very strange is happening in the forest.

Intriguing imagery and a neat premise don’t quite sustain this film through a lot of repetitive sequences and a sense that it doesn’t quite live up to its promise.

3

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2398483#post2398483)

Gideon58

07-13-23, 05:50 PM

Citizen Rules

07-13-23, 06:18 PM

chawhee

07-13-23, 06:27 PM

What's wrong with the ending, then?

All of the changes up to that point seemed relatively tame and/or natural to understand, while the final sequence of the psychologist's spewing of bright matter everywhere was a little over the top. Same goes for the floating fractal being that absorbed Portman's blood drop (though I like the mirror image body that ultimately emerges). I don't think it all needed to be that "alien", as it could have been something much more grounded and still been sensible (less climactic maybe?).

Gideon58

07-13-23, 06:33 PM

What is your #1 favorite movie? The Sound of Music?

Close...Mary Poppins of course.

Citizen Rules

07-13-23, 06:53 PM

Close...Mary Poppins of course.Of course I should've guessed that one.

WHITBISSELL!

07-13-23, 07:46 PM

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The Neon Demon - Some critics have said this is Nicolas Winding Refn's best film. I don't think it qualifies. The subject matter might be the most in sync with his style of film-making but that doesn't necessarily equate to a superior experience.

Elle Fanning plays 16 year old aspiring model Jesse. She has just arrived in Los Angeles and meets up with all manner of predatory types. There's makeup artist Ruby (Jena Malone), models Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee) regular nice guy photographer Dean (Karl Glusman) and, playing against type, Keanu Reeves as scuzzy motel manager Hank. Much like the living mannequins that Refn is spotlighting the film is beautiful to watch. The color palette is so immersive that his usual languid shots make for an especially superlative accompaniment. But the film sort of holds you at arms length which, even though it also matches up well with the milieu, doesn't make for a very compelling watch.

The third act is jarring but at the same time, doesn't stray from the overall tone of the film. In the end it still comes down to it being a cautionary tale. Albeit an especially gorgeous one. I wouldn't consider this a clinker from Refn. So, I guess ... thumbs up to NWR?

65/100

Darth Pazuzu

07-13-23, 08:02 PM

Darth Pazuzu

07-13-23, 08:07 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71BSEHHOirL._AC_UY218_.jpg

It pains me to say this, but I've got to say that as a long-time fan of the Evil Dead series, the premise is becoming just a bit worn and threadbare. I guess you could say it's beginning to figuratively wear through the scalp to a far greater extent than literally tearing through it. (Couldn't resist. Sorry!) And director Lee Cronin's solution to the problem of how to make things different - transferring the action from a cabin in the woods to a crumbling urban high-rise - only ironically underscores how repetitive things are starting to become. The fact that this time the plot involves a family - a divorced mother, her three children and their aunt who is the heroine - should theoretically make the proceedings far more emotionally involving and shocking, but I don't think Cronin's quite good enough as a writer of character to pull it off. But although Cronin fails to make his story darker, the movie itself is far more drenched in actual darkness than it really needed to be. I'm telling you, I could barely see a thing! I know at one point there's a blackout at a crucial point in the story, and so it's supposed to look dark, but for much of the time I was seriously straining my eyes. I don't know if the movie was filmed digitally or on film - honestly I can't tell anymore - but in any case the cinematography left much to be desired. I think that there's a certain level of invention and creativity, a certain aesthetic sensibility, that's been gradually disappearing in movies over time. Having said all this, I did watch the 4K version first, and haven't watched the Blu-ray yet. And I find the 4K UHD versions of most movies to be certainly less bright than the Blu-ray versions. (Although I admittedly have a relatively inexpensive Vizio TV set and have yet to upgrade.)

(Side note: Does anybody else find it slightly amusing that the director's real name is exactly the same as the anagrammatic pseudonym used by ace writer Gene L. Coon for the episodes he penned for the original Star Trek's third season in 1968-69? Or is that just me? Hey, apropos of nothing, just thought I'd mention it...)

Yes, I'll always be a huge fan of the original Evil Dead trilogy with Bruce Campbell. Heck, I even have a soft spot for Fede Álvarez's 2013 remake, which is a reasonably successful variation on Sam Raimi's classic original. (And I think the additional dramatic element of its lead female character being a recovering drug addict was far more effective than the weakly pedestrian family drama of the new Cronin film.) The Ash vs. Evil Dead series was rollicking good fun, as well (up to a point, anyway). But I think we're starting to see signs of creative fatigue setting in and there are only so many things that filmmakers can do to squeeze any more creative juice out of a premise once it's played out.

But I have only seen Evil Dead Rise once so far since purchasing the 4K, so maybe repeat viewings will reveal other virtues and aspects that I overlooked or didn't notice the first time around. Anything's possible, and we're all entitled to change our minds...

GulfportDoc

07-13-23, 08:27 PM

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Umpteenth Rewatch...My # 2 favorite movie of all time. Still holds up. Elizabeth Taylor is absolutely amazing, one of the best Best Actress Oscar winners ever. rating_4_5
Oh yeah! Everyone was anticipating that movie due to Liz & Richard's real life marriage, and it sure didn't disappoint! Not for the faint of heart, though. Albee was a fairly twisted guy..:cool:

Just watched a bit of Liz in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) last night. She did a nice job, while Newman overacted; but I couldn't stop marveling how good Burl Ives was.

Tugg

07-13-23, 08:29 PM

All three children from Evil Dead Rise were different looking. Were they from different fathers? If yes, mom must be 304.

I preferred Evil Dead (2013) over this one. I felt it was more cohesive.

Takoma11

07-13-23, 10:18 PM

Keanu Reeves as scuzzy motel manager Hank

I found the scene with the knife (you definitely know what I'm talking about) incredibly disturbing. Like, pause the film and walk away for a minute disturbing.

I was somewhat mixed on the film and scored it about the same as you (6/10). There were some really inspired moments, horror-wise and visually, but it wasn't enough for me. The original jolt of the main character being like, yeah, this is the lifestyle and I'm into it wasn't enough to sustain real interest in her or the story as a whole. It also touches on the whole "women as collaborators in their own exploitation" thing, but doesn't say much worthwhile about it.

PHOENIX74

07-14-23, 12:26 AM

I just watched this one and, yeah, it's really intense.

It also raises some interesting questions about the blurry lines between assault and attempted murder. For example, the way they kept raising the fact that he was driving her to rehab, so why would he have intended to kill her?

Yeah. If you pour gasoline all over a person (he made sure she was covered) and light them on fire, it's reasonable to immediately conclude that they're going to die. Same with perhaps, shooting a person in the head (and many people have miraculously survived that as well.) It's also reasonable to conclude that an intent to kill can form after the decision to drive her to rehab, or else, he intended to convince her not to go during the drive. I think it was alluded to that the argument was about her going to rehab? But what was it with not giving her medical aid or recompense because she happened to have been a drug addict? I understand the rule, but applying it in this instance was completely shoving aside the circumstances of her case and being unnecessarily cruel - because applying it is akin to directly telling her "We think this is your fault." They're using the mindset of her abuser, and in doing that the bureaucracy involved is being an abuser in itself.

WHITBISSELL!

07-14-23, 12:53 AM

I found the scene with the knife (you definitely know what I'm talking about) incredibly disturbing. Like, pause the film and walk away for a minute disturbing. Oh yes. I agree about it being disturbing and my discomfort distracted me to the point where I wasn't sure if it had been a dream or not. She sort of comes to on the floor. But then the stuff that follows was certainly real. Was it Hank that came and rattled her door knob? And was it him next door? I thought about going back and re-watching it. But then thought, "Nah, I'm good."

I was somewhat mixed on the film and scored it about the same as you (6/10). There were some really inspired moments, horror-wise and visually, but it wasn't enough for me. The original jolt of the main character being like, yeah, this is the lifestyle and I'm into it wasn't enough to sustain real interest in her or the story as a whole. It also touches on the whole "women as collaborators in their own exploitation" thing, but doesn't say much worthwhile about it. Add the fashion industry to the list of things that titillate Refn.

PHOENIX74

07-14-23, 12:57 AM

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By CineMaterial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59167897

Sisters - (2015)

Great idea for a comedy. Two middle-aged sisters, Anne and Maura Ellis (played by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) throw an impromptu party at the house they grew up in when their parents (played by Dianne Wiest and James Brolin) decide to sell it. They invite all of the people they knew from high school, and as such we get a version of your average "teen party" movie with much older characters. If you know the stars you know what kind of comedy you're going to get - a mix of ad-libbed moments (usually over dozens of takes, with the best line making it into the film) and Paula Pell's comedic writing, which is good - her pug/waxing strip cameo is very funny as well. The film, overall, doesn't strike me as a comedy classic though. I've seen both Fey and Poehler in better form than this.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Affiche-du-film-le-gitan.jpg
By http://s.tf1.fr/mmdia/i/41/1/affiche-du-film-le-gitan-10913411bscaq.jpg?v=1, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48140087

The Gypsy (Le Gitan) - (1975)

When you think of a crime caper like this, with a durable gypsy (played by a moustachioed Alain Delon) included amongst the characters, you immediately think of Snatch - I couldn't help comparing the two films. The Gypsy lacks the more modern film's farcical comedy, and as such it's a very dry combination of police procedural with heists, raids, escapes and chases. The plot includes two parallel stories - that of the gypsy, who has escaped from prison, and crime kingpin Yan Kuq (Paul Meurisse). Kuq is also an expert safe cracker, and has just participated in a heist when he returns to find his wife talking to a lover on the phone (that lover being a detective who will be involved with this case.) When he confronts her, she threatens to jump off the couple's balcony - and she slips, falling to her death. Both the heist and death have the cops on his tail, and wherever he runs to, the gypsy also happens to be committing his crimes - over and over, by some hard-to-fathom coincidence. With a bit more fun infused into this film's DNA, it could have been more enjoyable. As it is, it's well made - it's leaden tone it's only serious defect.

6/10

hales1319

07-14-23, 04:18 AM

Now the last movie that I saw was "The Whale" and that movie was superb but I am going to rate 8.5/10.

ScarletLion

07-14-23, 06:36 AM

John-Connor

07-14-23, 07:11 AM

THE BRAVADOS 1958 Henry King
93724
1h 38m | Drama | Western
Writers: Philip Yordan, Frank O'Rourke
Cast: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva

At first glance a simple revenge story but what sets The Bravados apart from other Westerns of that time. It reflects on the internal moral struggle of a man who by circumstance is forced into the way of the gun and the laws of the land which conflict with his own religious morals and values. Beautiful film in magnificent CinemaScope and I hope ‘58 Joan Collins visits me in my dreams tonight. :love:

4- (7.5/10)

93723

Act III

07-14-23, 11:06 AM

93722

The MacKintosh Man (1973)

Above average British special agent undercover movie. A more realistic 007 without the style and gross wealth and gadgetry. Good story, I liked this more than Bullitt.

7/10

Gideon58

07-14-23, 11:58 AM

Oh yeah! Everyone was anticipating that movie due to Liz & Richard's real life marriage, and it sure didn't disappoint! Not for the faint of heart, though. Albee was a fairly twisted guy..:cool:

Just watched a bit of Liz in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) last night. She did a nice job, while Newman overacted; but I couldn't stop marveling how good Burl Ives was.

Burl Ives was amazing. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year for a different movie called The Big Country and I always wondered how he could win for that movie over Cat and then I saw The Big Country a few years ago and he was better in that than he was in Cat believe it or not.

matt72582

07-14-23, 12:21 PM

Elisa, vida mia - 6/10
Incoherent at times, which made it hard to connect the dots, but I didn't turn it off, and just took whatever at face value and killed some time. I like Fernando Rey a lot (despite always playing himself) but can't handle Geraldine Chaplin. I'm thinking Carlos Saura's first movie (The Hunt) was his best, and I'm just chasing that high, but getting stuck with fentanyl instead.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Elisa_vida_m%C3%ADa.jpg

ScarletLion

07-14-23, 12:35 PM

'The Taste of Tea' (2004)

https://images.mubicdn.net/images/film/265/cache-91704-1481539854/image-w1280.jpg

A slice of life type film about 6 members of a family in the Japanese countryside. It's whimsical, surreal, funny, eccentric, a little bonkers but very beautiful. Possibly the closest thing to a live action Ghibli film I've seen.

8.6/10

Citizen Rules

07-14-23, 01:08 PM

THE BRAVADOS 1958 Henry King

1h 38m | Drama | Western
Writers: Philip Yordan, Frank O'Rourke
Cast: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva

At first glance a simple revenge story but what sets The Bravados apart from other Westerns of that time. It reflects on the internal moral struggle of a man who by circumstance is forced into the way of the gun and the laws of the land which conflict with his own religious morals and values. Beautiful film in magnificent CinemaScope and I hope ‘58 Joan Collins visits me in my dreams tonight. :love:

rating_4- (7.5/10)
:up: Glad to hear you enjoyed The Bravados and Joan! She was hot in the 50s!

Have you seen Gregory Peck in The Big Country? Love that movie! It was also in my Top 10 profile until I changed to all noir.

Stirchley

07-14-23, 01:18 PM

matt72582

07-14-23, 02:14 PM

IMO, the best movie Saura made was Cria Cuervos.

I tried watching that a couple of times and couldn't get past the 20-30 minute mark.

Stirchley

07-14-23, 02:16 PM

I tried watching that a couple of times and couldn't get past the 20-30 minute mark.

Wow. Seen it a million times.

beelzebubble

07-14-23, 03:58 PM

Now the last movie that I saw was "The Whale" and that movie was superb but I am going to rate 8.5/10.

I liked the way you feel as if you are underwater or in a ship while watching this movie. So kudos to set and sound design.I found myself unable to finish it; but I can't remember why.

Gideon58

07-14-23, 04:02 PM

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4

Takoma11

07-14-23, 04:08 PM

But what was it with not giving her medical aid or recompense because she happened to have been a drug addict? I understand the rule, but applying it in this instance was completely shoving aside the circumstances of her case and being unnecessarily cruel

It's all unnecessarily cruel. It's a way of "moralizing" the law, and ending up in incredibly harsh situations. For example, someone could be high in their own home, harming no one, and if someone came in their house and stabbed them, they wouldn't qualify for medical assistance because of the drugs in their system. And seeing how badly Judy is suffering in the film really highlights the unfairness of that.

I mean, right now my local community is trying to make it a CRIME to overdose in public. I have almost no words for how dangerous I think that is and how much harm I think it will do to people. But I think there's often this idea that if you make something illegal people won't do it, but that's so hard when you're talking about drug addiction. And she was on her way to rehab!

Stirchley

07-14-23, 04:22 PM

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4

Terrific movie.

Darth Pazuzu

07-14-23, 05:35 PM

(NOTE: I do not believe in "rating" the movies I see. For one thing, it would create a consistency problem with my Favorite Movies of All Time list. Having rated any movie I've seen, I would feel obligated to rank it on my list in such a way that's consistent with my rating here. And there are plenty of other factors involved in how I rank my favorite movies. Mainly, I rank them in groups of ten that seem to fit together really well on a programmatic level. So it's actually best not to create any internal inconsistencies! :D)

Here are my two most recent purchases:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51s81-c1SyL._AC_UY218_.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71UDKjH4hbL._AC_UY218_.jpg

Ever since hearing about the recent controversy surrounding the streaming version of The French Connection (1971) put out by Disney, which censored Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman)'s use of a certain racial epithet, I immediately ordered the most recent physical Blu-ray edition, for fear it might go out of print one of these days! :eek:

It's not my favorite William Friedkin thriller, my being rather more partial to 1980's Cruising or 1985's To Live and Die in L.A. (the new 4K UHD version of which I'll definitely get once it drops on July 18th of 2023), as well as the classic The Exorcist (1973). (And let's not forget 1977's underrated Sorcerer!) But The French Connection is still a brutally kick-ass and gritty '70s action drama nonetheless. That chase scene still holds up like nobody's business. I love the drug chemist's flat, laconically delivered analysis of the shipment: "Blastoff: 180... 200: Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval... 210: U.S. Government certified... 220: Lunar trajectory, junk of the month club, sirloin steak... 230: Grade-A poison. Absolute dynamite. 89% pure junk. Best I've ever seen." And I get a kick out of Doyle (Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) listening in on the wiretaps while playing cards and not being able to contain their amusement. When Sal Boca's wife Angie nags him about ordering a pizza - "And don't forget the anchovies!" - they burst into laughter, scattering their playing cards. Absolutely rock-solid entertainment.

And has anyone out there seen Noon Wine? It's definitely one of the more obscure items in Sam Peckinpah's filmography. Starring Jason Robards and Olivia de Havilland, it's a short little 51-minute TV film that Sam made for ABC Stage 67 in 1966, based on a 1937 novella by Katherine Ann Porter. And it's essential viewing for Peckinpah fans, because it's a real heartbreaker. Robards stars as a farmer with a wife and two sons, who hires a Swedish immigrant to work on his farm, and when a bounty hunter arrives to take the Swede into custody claiming that he's an escaped mental patient, the farmer kills the bounty hunter in order to protect his worker. Things only go downhill from there, culminating in a very sad ending. I won't give spoilers. Heartily recommended, and not just to fans of Peckinpah and Robards.

Gideon58

07-14-23, 06:33 PM

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4

GulfportDoc

07-14-23, 08:40 PM

Burl Ives was amazing. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year for a different movie called The Big Country and I always wondered how he could win for that movie over Cat and then I saw The Big Country a few years ago and he was better in that than he was in Cat believe it or not.
Agreed! I vaguely remember The Big Country. The 1950s were probably the best era for the big western.

I just noticed that Ives' mouth puts me in mind of Charles Laughton's.

'58 was a busy year for Ives. Do you remember his great performance of "Cottonmouth" in Wind Across the Everglades? I always thought that was in the Louisiana swamps.

Nausicaä

07-14-23, 08:55 PM

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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

PHOENIX74

07-14-23, 11:34 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Notre_histoire_poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47487461

Our Story (Notre histoire) - (1984)

Bertrand Blier belongs to a group of absurdist or surrealistic filmmakers that include Andrzej Żuławski and Luis Buñuel, and his film Our Story also reminded me of Wim Wenders' Wrong Move. The film starts off with Robert Avranches (Alain Delon) on a train, propositioned by a stranger, Donatienne Pouget (Nathalie Baye) whom he becomes obsessed with. Only slowly do we notice how strange the world they live in is - how every character tries to become a master of the film's narrative, and tell the story as they'd like it to be - something that always turns out to be futile in the end. Avranches is an alcoholic, and he'll end up chasing different characters played by the same actress, Baye - in the meantime, the film has a lot to say about men, women, attraction, lust and love. I really enjoyed it - there's a really comedic mid-section that's a lot of fun, and once familiarized, the absurd aspects made me feel like I was watching a good Buñuel film. This did well at the 1985 César Awards, Delon winning for Best Actor and Blier for Best Writing. I'd like to watch this one again one day, knowing from the start how to read it's strange rhythm and style.

7.5

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Explorersposter1985.jpg
By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12290582

Explorers - (1985)

Explorers had the double whammy of having a 14-year-old Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in early starring roles - I never saw it back in the day, but presently my curiosity was piqued by it's young stars plus the fact that it was just out there, but not considered cool at the time. It's a great film for young kids, whose fantastical daydreaming might include building a spacecraft and coming into contact with alien beings. Ben Crandall (Hawke) is being telepathically sent schematics for a device that makes travel through space (and solid matter) possible - messages sent through his dreams - which he jots down and shows to his genius friend Wolfgang Müller (Phoenix). Joining the pair is Darren Woods - played by Jason Presson, whose career never gained traction. That man must live with the fact that once upon a time he had equal billing with River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke, but unlike them never followed through. The three have wacky adventures which eventually lead to a climactic visit with an alien spacecraft. I won't render spoilers, except to say that what they find on the craft is exceedingly silly, but still clever. Doesn't matter - this is another fine film from Joe Dante. Aimed squarely at kids, it works as a really fun family feature. It's production was rushed, with many of the effects unfinished, and was a box office bomb - but has since gained cult status. As always with Dante, Dick Miller shows up and adds his very unique "It's Dick Miller!" magic to the film.

7/10

Act III

07-15-23, 03:40 AM

93756

The Deadly Tower (1975)

True story about an ex-marine in 1966 sniping civilians from a tower in Texas. A young Kurt Russell plays the villain here. This guy is f*cking nuts. The movie is played well and nothing is flawed or lacking so that it detracts you from the action. No complaints here about the film. Tragic story. Being that this was before my time I didn't know about it.

7.5/10

Thursday Next

07-15-23, 12:22 PM

Nimona (2023)

What do you get if you took a quirky graphic novel and turned it into a Netflix kids' movie? Something that's nowhere near as good as the novel but still better than your average animated kids' film. The plot, setting and characters are simplified into something quite different but it still keeps something of the spirit of Nimona, especially in the title character, a shapeshifter who is often a girl, but also sometimes a shark, a whale or anything else. Nimona joins forces with outcast villain (who isn't really a villain) Ballister to uncover conspiracy in the establishment. There's a good dose of humour, an interesting future-fantasy setting and something of the punky hero/anti-hero fun of Cruella, although it's all about as subtle as a bright pink whale and I missed a lot of what I liked about the novel (what happened to Dr Blitzmeyer?). I enjoyed it on its own terms, though, and think it would be a great movie for kids about 8+.

3.5

Gideon58

07-15-23, 02:44 PM

Agreed! I vaguely remember The Big Country. The 1950s were probably the best era for the big western.

I just noticed that Ives' mouth puts me in mind of Charles Laughton's.

'58 was a busy year for Ives. Do you remember his great performance of "Cottonmouth" in Wind Across the Everglades? I always thought that was in the Louisiana swamps.

In '58 we got Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Big Country, and The Long Hot Summer

Takoma11

07-15-23, 10:50 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcinemasiren.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2Fmaudie-lewis-movie.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2e8be9e8643efbc58e8243897a8190cff388876e1ff4d993dcec8427bcd908ba&ipo=images

Maudie, 2016

Maudie (Sally Hawkins) lives in Nova Scotia with her aunt Ida (Gabrielle Rose) and her brother, Charles (Zachary Bennett). Maudie is heartbroken when her brother sells their family home, and feeling stifled under her aunt’s thumb, on a whim she answers an advertisement for a housekeeper placed by Everett (Ethan Hawke), a local fisherman. While Everett is abrasive, the two of them build a life together. Maudie expresses herself through painting, and soon comes to build a business selling her work, eventually becoming nationally recognized for her artistic merits.

This complex, captivating biographical film features excellent lead performances from Hawkins and Hawke.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2398853#post2398853)

PHOENIX74

07-15-23, 11:42 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Lawnmower_Man.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2841183

The Lawnmower Man - (1992)

The 1980s and 90s saw a tidal wave of Stephen King adaptations, and while some were huge prestige pictures like The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption, some were utter schlock - stuff like The Running Man and this number, The Lawnmower Man. I'd read the short story, and it's one of King's most bizarre, hallucinatory tales that reads like a fever-dream on acid. The movie doesn't bear too much resemblance as far as I can remember, other than the fact that it features a lawnmower man with God-like powers - the film adheres to a schlocky plot, but the book has you asking "Am I reading this right?" Pierce Brosnan, in a performance I'm sure he's trying to forget, features as the mad scientist type while Jeff Fahey plays Jobe Smith - a simple-minded man with learning difficulties that at first becomes smart (through the use of virtual reality - don't ask me) and continues on to develop ESP, psychokinesis and other powers. The CGI (pre-Jurassic Park) has aged really badly, as has the movie as a whole. King sued to get his name taken from the title. Those who like schlock - this fits in well for it's period, and almost predicts the rise of the internet - something God-Jobe wants to upload his consciousness to - so he can get every phone in the world to ring at the same time. Except those that are busy. It's also a little bit of a throwback to the classic age of sci-fi, with man messing around in the creator's domain. Both fun, and terrible.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Oysterfarmer_subpage.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Sherman Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3645078

Oyster Farmer - (2004)

The main star of Oyster Farmer, Alex O'Loughlin, screen-tested for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale and was close by all accounts - but I'm glad we got Daniel Craig instead. Around the time his name was being bandied around, he featured in this film - a very average Australian drama that purveys many themes and manages to squeeze Jack Thompson in via a very superfluous character. O'Loughlin features as Jack Flange, who commits a very clever crime while working as a (you guessed it) oyster farmer on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. The loot he mails to himself, to avoid detection, but the parcel goes astray and he spends the rest of the film trying to figure who stole it. There are plenty of red herrings, female characters for Flange to possibly hook up with and various other plot strands. This is a painfully average film - it does enough to rise to an acceptable level, but it's director, Anna Reeves, has never done any work since transitioning to the business side of things. It feels like a film made by someone very competent and extremely intelligent, but uninspired.

6/10

Fabulous

07-16-23, 12:11 AM

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2GvITgv9It0mWjmUKNCd8yuIKgL.jpg

Act III

07-16-23, 12:50 AM

93765

Mars Attacks the World (1938)

I wouldn't call this cinema but I would call this trash cereal pulp something or another. In contrast to all of the other pre-1940 films I've seen so far, this one is close to the worst. Its entertaining in that its dumb and poorly constructed and is made in an alien era so much different than our own. Somewhere in the middle theres some hairlike strings on the lens ruining the shot. The attitude is chipper and matter-of-fact through the whole film, no variance in tone of emotion in any circumstance. Still a fun watch though if you want to laugh at something badly done. And that poster got my hopes up.

3/10

SpelingError

07-16-23, 01:16 AM

Heaven's Gate (1980) - 3.5

Given its sprawling, padded out runtime, it's not hard to figure out why this is one of the most divisive cult films out there. Did it have to be 3.5 hours long? No. Was there a ton of padding to draw out the film? Of course. Are these inherently problematic elements though? Not necessarily, no.

While one could certainly call the film slow (as much as I hate using that word), I prefer to describe it as patient. There are multiple ways to tell a story. Not every film should be required to follow the same narrative progression to get to the end. Having the pacing meander is another valid approach to storytelling. Is there a line where this could go too far? Probably. Am I one to determine what that line is? Absolutely not. Trying to come up with a set in stone rule for how long a film can be allowed to meander before it becomes a flaw (especially if you're trying to nail down an exact number of minutes the film has to commit to) would be ridiculously hard to determine, vary depending on the attention span and taste of the person deciding it, and quite frankly wouldn't be worth the effort of doing so.

While one could argue that this film goes too far pacing-wise, the more pressing question I ask myself when watching meandering films is whether they offer enough in the way of mood, style, feel, etc. to keep me engaged. All things considered, this film did an alright job at that. First things first, I think the main argument one could make towards its length is that it serves to paint a vivid portrait of the town's rhythms and give us a sense of what's going to be disrupted (the same argument could be made for the divisive first hour of The Deer Hunter). While I admired what Cimino did, I think The Deer Hunter handled this pacing style better. Since the threat of Canton's posse was made clear before the big chunk of padding, taking focus away from that and shifting to a more relaxed tone took me out of the film for most of the middle act since a significant amount of narrative tension was lost in the process. This wasn't an issue with The Deer Hunter as, while the first act had the inevitability of the Vietnam War, it mainly loomed in the background while the relaxed and rhythmic vibes of the town were at the forefront.

Still though, the prolonged middle act was able to keep me on board for a few reasons. For instance, with the exception of The Searchers, it's probably the most gorgeous Western I've ever seen (it's a shame the film wasn't on the Criteron Channel when I watched it). The landscape/panoramic shots are beautiful to look at and, with the abundance of flowers in some shots, bordered on fantasy at times. Given that Westerns are more reliant on the scenic qualities of their environments than most other genres, this is a big strength. A few of the side characters were also decently compelling. Nate Champion's arc is well-done, John Hurt gives his character enough humanity to balance out his pathetic aspects, and Ella Watson's able-bodied portrayal fit the action-centric second half really well. Jim Averill is perhaps the least colorful of those characters, but this didn't bother me much. The action scenes in the second half probably don't warrant much defending (aside from the unfortunate on-set animal cruelty). They're tehnically impressive, differentiate from each other significantly in terms of set pieces, and in the case of the wood wagon fight at the end (how did the immigrants even build all that in one night?), rather jaw-dropping given the amount of craft on display.

I originally gave this film a slightly lower rating, but in retrospect, I decided to bump it up a notch. I think the "too slow" criticisms levied at it aren't entirely fair or sound, so even though it's not without its flaws, I'm okay with giving it this extra bit of support. Really, if you loved The Deer Hunter, you should find plenty to enjoy with this film.

Nausicaä

07-16-23, 01:26 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/TheWhalePoster.jpg

3.5

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

Act III

07-16-23, 02:43 AM

93766

Mars Attacks! (1996)

I've seen this a couple times before. A good comedy sci-fi with a big cast. Cartoonish aliens. Makes you laugh here and there. If you haven't seen it you should.

7/10

Raven73

07-16-23, 11:29 AM

Cocaine Bear
7/10.
A horror/comedy about a black bear that goes on a killing rampage after eating packages of cocaine that had been dropped out of an airplane. I found the first half hilarious, but the CGI-obvious bear did not scare me. The movie starts with the caption "Based on a true story", but it should read "Very loosely based on an actual event".
I found it frustrating that several people had a chance to shoot and kill or at least wound the bear and failed to do so - it was like they were just frozen with stupidity.... I also doubt that a bear could consume that much cocaine and still be conscious (or even alive).
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODAwZDQ5ZjEtZDI1My00MTFiLTg0ZjUtOGE2YTBkOTdjODFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

Mr Minio

07-16-23, 11:41 AM

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2GvITgv9It0mWjmUKNCd8yuIKgL.jpg Price sporting a hoodie before rappers

Thief

07-16-23, 12:15 PM

VERTIGO
(1958, HItchcock)

https://i.imgur.com/qQYWJNr.png

"One doesn't often get a second chance. I want to stop being haunted. You're my second chance, Judy. You're my second chance."

Vertigo follows retiring detective Johnny "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) as he copes with bouts of vertigo and acrophobia following a tragic accident at work. But when an old college friend asks him to tail his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), Scottie is forced to come face to face with everything that haunts him if he wants to move forward.

Following Madeleine gives Scottie that chance, or at least that's what he thinks. The plot puts him in an intricate web of deception and lies in which he finds himself in both sides. The truth is that his "vertigo" is nothing more than a manifestation of the guilt and trauma he's suffering for not being able to save a fellow officer; something that he's clearly not been able to get past.

Grade: 5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2398930#post2398930)

Citizen Rules

07-16-23, 12:59 PM

Heaven's Gate (1980) - rating_3_5

... with the exception of The Searchers, it's probably the most gorgeous Western I've ever seen...I feel the same way, the roller skating scene alone is sublime, all of the film is gloriously shot. I wrote about my appreciation of the visuals of Heaven's Gate in my review, take a look.
https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1367638#post1367638

SpelingError

07-16-23, 01:53 PM

I feel the same way, the roller skating scene alone is sublime, all of the film is gloriously shot. I wrote about my appreciation of the visuals of Heaven's Gate in my review, take a look.
https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1367638#post1367638

Nice review. It looks like we share plenty of thoughts for the film.

doubledenim

07-16-23, 04:47 PM

The Menu (2022)

I can haz cheeseburger has reached its final form.

3

Under the Silver Lake (2018)

A guided tour to living your worst male life.

3

WHITBISSELL!

07-16-23, 05:02 PM

https://scifist.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1953-the-magnetic-monster-007.gif
https://scifistdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/1953_magnetic_monster_006-richard-carlson.jpg

The Magnetic Monster - This 1953 scifi offering might seem nondescript at first glance but it wins bonus points for its's earnest attempts at realism. Richard Carlson stars as Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation. He and his partner Dr. Dan Forbes (King Donovan) are called out, Ghostbusters style, to a local appliance store. Their clocks have stopped and their metal products inexplicably magnetized. Using a geiger counter they pinpoint the source to a suite of second floor offices where they find lab equipment and a dead body. The precise cause is nowhere to be found leaving only a heavy dose of radiation residue to mark it's presence.

After asking the public to call in with any anomalous occurrences they eventually track down fellow scientist Dr. Howard Denker (Leonard Mudie) on a flight that is immediately rerouted back to Los Angeles. They find the source off all the unexplained phenomena in a briefcase the scientist was carrying. It turns out to be a new unstable element Denker has created by bombarding a substance called "serranium" with alpha particles. It needs to "feed" by absorbing energy from it's surroundings every 11 hours which causes it to kill anything that happens to be in the way. It also doubles in size and mass giving off radiation and magnetic waves. The magnitude of the situation becomes clear when calculations show the isotope will eventually become heavy enough to alter the earth's orbit

It's a quick and concise 76 minutes long with the climax taking place in Nova Scotia at an experimental generator dubbed the Deltatron. The film is a little dated of course and their are several instances of stock footage being used but the technical jargon comes off as plausible and they seemed to have gone to some lengths to make it appear as valid as possible.

70/100

Fabulous

07-16-23, 05:57 PM

Wild River (1960)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1SRl5DG5EtBx1anSg2zxtuuNehk.jpg

Raven73

07-16-23, 06:00 PM

Price sporting a hoodie before rappers
Vincent Price Performs The Thriller Rap Live 1987
https://youtu.be/RpEfX1IKEak

Mr Minio

07-16-23, 06:16 PM

Vincent Price Performs The Thriller Rap Live 1987 the OG

GulfportDoc

07-16-23, 09:17 PM

VERTIGO
(1958, HItchcock)

Vertigo follows retiring detective Johnny "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) as he copes with bouts of vertigo and acrophobia following a tragic accident at work. But when an old college friend asks him to tail his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), Scottie is forced to come face to face with everything that haunts him if he wants to move forward.

Following Madeleine gives Scottie that chance, or at least that's what he thinks. The plot puts him in an intricate web of deception and lies in which he finds himself in both sides. The truth is that his "vertigo" is nothing more than a manifestation of the guilt and trauma he's suffering for not being able to save a fellow officer; something that he's clearly not been able to get past.

Grade: rating_5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2398930#post2398930)
Nice review! Like you, I've watched this many times since I first watched it on its release. It's one of the great films for sure, and in my top 3 Hitchcock; but there are a few peculiar things in the film which I've noticed over the years.

First, as you've alluded to, Scottie didn't have vertigo, but acrophobia-- a fear of heights. But of course they couldn't very well have named the film "Acrophobia"..

Right from the first sequence in the picture we see Scottie slip and hang off a ledge, which introduces Scottie's acrophobia. But there he was hanging several stories over an alley, and the cop who tried to help him falls to his death. How did Scottie escape his deathly predicament? We never find out. It's not mentioned in the next scene in his old college chum's office.

Also when Scottie tails Madeline to the old McKittrick Hotel, she enters the hotel, and then he sees her in the second floor window. Then when he goes in to question the manager (Elen Corby) about it, she says no such person is there, and shows him the room Madeline was in, which is empty. What happened to Madeline? We don't know.

There are several weird unresolved scenes in the movie. When questioned about them, Hitchcock said he didn't mind about that, and that the audience wouldn't either. Also he told Truffaut in their interviews that basically Scottie was in effect a necrophiliac. Hell, that's even more modern than some of the sick stuff in contemporary movies!!!..:eek:

Thief

07-16-23, 10:01 PM

MORTAL KOMBAT
(2021, McQuoid)

https://i.imgur.com/0uDgDwH.jpg

"There are not many of us with the marking left, so you must train harder and fast. Because if you fail to discover your inner power, you will never defeat your opponent. They will ravage everything you hold dear. There will be no mercy. You must fight without question."

Like the game, Mortal Kombat follows a group of characters that find themselves somehow in the midst of a battle between multiple otherwordly realms, all striving for control of each other through the titular tournament ("the word 'combat' isn't even spelled right.") In the middle of it all is Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a washed up MMA fighter and non-game character that has just realized he is the descendant of a legendary fighter and the subject of a prophecy.

The truth is that I'm struggling to write these brief synopsis to make it sound coherent, because the film is just shock-full of clumsy character introductions, a weak script, and some mediocre performances. There also seems to be a divide between the two main subplots: that of Cole stumbling upon the Mortal Kombat tournament, and the story of his lineage which introduces to us the popular characters of Scorpion and Sub-Zero (Hiroyuki Sanada and Joe Taslim) while bookending the film.

Grade: 2

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2399036#post2399036)

Fabulous

07-16-23, 10:11 PM

Hooper (1978)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/xCMaFiJf16uOqw4N7PDF0kw0SD0.jpg

Takoma11

07-16-23, 11:15 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2F69i5e6aDJUTZhAe9xSJORzqWxbo.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2848b00fbdd2028731fb2892ec90a6f7b6209094b38d2f96c458dcb178e0cee3&ipo=images

Sweet Thing, 2020

Billie (Lana Rockwell) and her little brother Nico (Nico Rockwell) live a precarious existence with their alcoholic father Adam (Will Patton). But when Adam heads off to rehab, they end up spending several weeks at a beach house with their absentee mother, Eve (Karyn Parsons) and her unpredictable new boyfriend, Beaux (ML Josepher). They befriend a boy who lives nearby, Malik (Jabari Watkins), but their “vacation” quickly becomes just as volatile as their previous situation.

Firmly rooted in the relationship between the siblings, played by actual siblings, this is a compelling portrait of children with no one to rely on but each other.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2399053#post2399053)

PHOENIX74

07-17-23, 12:15 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/htq9hc0j/war-of-the-worlds.jpg
By Illustrator unknown. "Copyright 1953 Paramount Pictures Corporation, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88111742

The War of the Worlds - 1953

This is still one hell of a lot of fun to watch. Here's what I said on Letterboxd after seeing the film again yesterday - "One of the best of that golden age of science fiction. The strings might be visible, in our high definition big screen era, but what's also visible is the effort and care in transposing the classic H. G. Wells story to the screen. Technicolor aliens invade a bright, Technicolor world, desecrating a perfect, post-war 1950s period - George Pal and Paramount showing the world how visionary the genre could be if art and production design were imaginatively utilized. Great music from Leith Stevens, sound (Loren L. Ryder), editing (Everett Douglas) and Oscar-winning effects. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson would have cameos in the Spielberg remake. Even Mr. Magic couldn't outdo the original though."

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Eye_in_the_Sky_2015_film_poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Entertainment One., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49024042

Eye in the Sky - (2015)

This is probably one of the best films about modern "warfare" out there. Remotely controlled drones in Kenya are being piloted by Second Lieutenant Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) in Nevada, U.S.A. Looking on and commanding from two different locations in the U.K. are Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) and Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman - in one of his last theatrical roles) while in the meantime, on the ground in Kenya is agent Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi) who is in control of ingenious little flying spy devices. Throughout the film these people, among others in other places, debate firing a missile on a house with three prime targets and two 'soon-to-be-activated' suicide bombers. The collateral damage - which includes a little girl - makes the situation highly charged. It highlights the changed nature of war, with politicians playing a more active role in battlefield decisions, and it also asks us the questions about our complicity in the death of civilians - what is acceptable if you're trying to stop suicide bombers killing people. Very tense, exciting and thought-provoking this.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/The_Frozen_Ground_poster.jpg
By Lionsgate - AwesomeBMovies.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36791927

The Frozen Ground - (2013)

Robert Hansen (John Cusack) was a real-life serial killer in Alaska who would pick up prostitutes, rape them at gunpoint, take them into the wilderness and then hunt them. He ended up killing at least 17 - although estimates go up as high as 41. The Frozen Ground starts with one of the girls that got away - Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens) whose story of rape and torture is dismissed by police because she was a prostitute (they saw it as a deal gone sour) and because they saw Robert Hansen as a stand up, respectable guy. Later, state trooper Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) is investigating the discovered body of a girl, which he connects to other victims, then Cindy, then Hansen. His investigation is obstructed at every corner by officials who really don't want to indict the man - and it takes brilliant police work to outwit the killer and his defenders. This is an enjoyable movie of it's kind - and only really skims the surface of the case. I have to admit though, that it had me on the edge of my seat at times, with Cusack excellent as the cocky and horrible Alaskan killer.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Sherlock_holmes_ver5.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from [1], impawards.com or Warner Bros. Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24853267

Sherlock Holmes - (2009)

There's a big budget movie-factory sheen to Sherlock Holmes that's just ever so slightly off-putting, and I never really liked Robert Downey Jr. in the role. Respect to Guy Ritchie for adding a kind of bisexual element to the character though. I guess I'm just tired of these giant blockbusters - the destructive set-pieces, endless one-liners and emptiness of it all is getting to me. My rating is low - probably too low, but movies like Sherlock Holmes are emblematic of why cinema feels like it's dying in this modern era.

5/10

Thief

07-17-23, 12:21 AM

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT
(2018, McQuarrie)

https://i.imgur.com/5yRVhmq.jpg

"You had a terrible choice to make in Berlin: one life over millions. And now the world is at risk."

Mission: Impossible - Fallout has Hunt and his team trying to locate a trio of plutonium cores that were lost in a botched handoff, all because Ethan chose to protect his friends. Because of this, he's tacked on with CIA agent Augustus Walker (Henry Cavill) to make sure that everything runs smoothly. But since this is "mission impossible", things won't necessarily go their way as they are once again put in the path of captured anarchist Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), who might still have a couple of tricks under his sleeve.

This was my second time watching the film, mostly for a guest appearance at a friend's podcast, but I didn't mind it at all. As a matter of fact, I think I enjoyed it and appreciated it more this time around. From the great performances and chemistry of the cast, to the insane action setpieces, it's always a delight to know that even though the world is at risk, Ethan Hunt is out there to make the terrible choices we can't.

Grade: 4.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2399062#post2399062)

Act III

07-17-23, 04:23 AM

93775

Targets (1968)

Hard to know what to say about this movie. This guy isn't your typical gunman gone wild. Very shocking what he does and to see his follies and boyishness. The movie pulls you in two directions with the two stories progressing but then they tie in together near the end. I could imagine how disturbing it was to see this in the 1960s.

7/10

Gideon58

07-17-23, 11:17 AM

Torgo

07-17-23, 12:01 PM

Defence of the Realm - 3

This is a pretty good British political thriller that has the same appeals of the typical '70s movie of its ilk, successfully swapping that era's reasons to keep your doors locked and your windows shuttered with the Cold War and nuclear annihilation paranoia of the '80s. It kicks off with a news report of a disaster that may have been accidental, played over two young protesters infiltrating a remote military base. It then introduces us to journalists Mullen (Byrne) and Bayliss (Elliott), who are investigating a possible connection between an MP and someone on the other side of the Iron Curtain. They along with the MP's secretary (Scacchi) later uncover a connection that is much more worthy of concern.

Byrne's performance as Mullen has a lot to do with him becoming a household name and it's easy to see why. Besides his presence and charisma, he's convincing as an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation and as someone who values the truth above all things. No less impactful is Denholm Elliott as his friend and mentor, who shares a good rapport with Byrne and proves that a lifetime in such an industry runs one ragged. Again, paranoia is the dominant vibe in movies like this one, and besides the strong work of the three leads, directory Drury and company make it last in various and surprising ways, highlights being the voyeuristic shots of Mullen's apartment, the anonymous phone calls and the drivers who may or may not be following him. I also appreciate that the movie does not handle its subject or the powers that put it on everyone's mind at the time with kid gloves. Also, even though our lead is a journalist, I like that its warts and all presentation of the media prioritizes realism over heroism. Despite liking a lot of things about the movie, I wouldn’t call it a classic of the genre or anything. What few visual effects it has have not aged well, and your mileage may vary with the synth soundtrack, which is a tad cheesy at times. It's still worth checking out if you have a modicum of interest in its era or if you're simply in the mood for a good, old fashioned "dad movie."

Thief

07-17-23, 12:38 PM

UNCLE JOSH AT THE MOVING PICTURE SHOW
(1902, Porter)

https://i.imgur.com/8DzOn3E.jpg

"Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater."

The above is a quote from director Roman Polanski, regarding the goals of cinema. The theater experience should make you feel like you are *inside* the movie, immersed in what's happening; whether it is the sound and rumble of an incoming train, the sights and feelings of an alien world, or the thrill and adrenaline of jumping from a cliff.

Released in 1902, Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show plays with that premise as we follow the titular character (Charles Manley) as he attends a "moving picture show". But as soon as the camera starts rolling, Uncle Josh forgets he's sitting in a theater as he experiences the joy of a can-can dance, the dread of an incoming train, and the jealousy towards a kissing couple which drives him to tear up the screen.

At 2 minutes, there isn't much else to it, but it is still a pretty neat slice of meta before the word was ever invented; a testament to the aspirations and goals of cinema. Maybe not to tear the screen, but hopefully to make us forget that we're sitting in a theater.

Grade: N/A

Thief

07-17-23, 12:41 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Do_the_Right_Thing_poster.png

3rd Rewatch...Spike Lee's masterpiece, which, arguably, was robbed of the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989. This ferocious tale of racial tension in a sweaty Brooklyn neighborhood is just as powerful as it was in '89. 4.5

Recently rewatched this after 20+ years and it really blew my mind. It's a masterpiece indeed. It's ironic how the film wasn't even nominated, but the one that won is this "vanilla" interpretation of race relations that nobody talks about anymore.

Stirchley

07-17-23, 01:27 PM

Gideon58

07-17-23, 01:31 PM

Recently rewatched this after 20+ years and it really blew my mind. It's a masterpiece indeed. It's ironic how the film wasn't even nominated, but the one that won is this "vanilla" interpretation of race relations that nobody talks about anymore.

Don't get me wrong...I loved Driving Miss Daisy, but it didn't even come close to being the motion picture experience this was.

Stirchley

07-17-23, 01:38 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Do_the_Right_Thing_poster.png

3rd Rewatch...Spike Lee's masterpiece, which, arguably, was robbed of the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989. This ferocious tale of racial tension in a sweaty Brooklyn neighborhood is just as powerful as it was in '89. 4.5

I should dig this out & re-watch. Hasn’t stuck in my mind at all & I can’t recollect a single scene. But it’s in my collection somewhere.

Gideon58

07-17-23, 01:53 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2IwZDU2NDAtNmJlYS00NDJlLWI1ZjQtOTViY2I0YWZlM2U1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_.jpg

2.5

snowisland

07-17-23, 02:14 PM

The Witcher - 9/10
Secret Invasion - 8/10
Foundation Season 1 - 8/10

Thief

07-17-23, 02:44 PM

Don't get me wrong...I loved Driving Miss Daisy, but it didn't even come close to being the motion picture experience this was.

Exactly. I watched Driving Miss Daisy for the first time in December and it was OK, but Do the Right Thing is essential.

Mr Minio

07-17-23, 02:50 PM

Do the Right Thing is transcendental. I think we have different definitions of that word.

Thief

07-17-23, 02:56 PM

I think we have different definitions of that word.

You're right, it wasn't the right word. I edited it for something more akin to what I wanted to convey.

GulfportDoc

07-17-23, 08:59 PM

Targets (1968)

Hard to know what to say about this movie. This guy isn't your typical gunman gone wild. Very shocking what he does and to see his follies and boyishness. The movie pulls you in two directions with the two stories progressing but then they tie in together near the end. I could imagine how disturbing it was to see this in the 1960s.

7/10
I thought it was a very good picture by Bogdanovich, one of his first films. Evidently the mis-marketing of the picture resulted in poor box office. It was an unusual portrayal by B. Karloff --one of his last roles-- but he was outstanding.

It used as its basic inspiration the country wide shocking mass shooting by Charles Whitman, who in 1966 climbed up into a tower at Univ. of Texas in Austin and started randomly shooting at and killing people below. Sadly today these types of horrible crimes are commonplace, but in 1966 it seems to me that this was the first. And you're right-- nobody could believe it!

But Bogdanovich made the most of what he had, and it really put him on the map.

Steve Freeling

07-17-23, 09:07 PM

https://a.storyblok.com/f/178900/1920x1080/0ab31fb422/psycho-pass-providence_12-credit-psycho-pass-committee.jpg

Psycho-Pass: Providence (2023) rating_5
As someone who's been a fan of Psycho-Pass for several years, I was eager to give Providence a watch. It doesn't disappoint, fitting right in with the first two seasons and the first film. Naoyoshi Shiotani certainly hasn't lost his touch after being part of the franchise for over a decade. The story, told via a screenplay penned by Makoto Fukami and Tow Ubukata, is a compelling one, providing plenty of action while the thought-provoking questions Psycho-Pass poses about the human condition, the nature of law and crime, and how ethical a system like the Sibyl System really is—this question an especially timely one that plays into ethical concerns about the use of AI—aren't lost here. As I sat in the dark theater and watched the film with my parents (interestingly, the only other members of the audience), faced with several morally ambiguous characters, I couldn't help recalling what Arkady Renko, portrayed by the late great William Hurt in Gorky Park, calls "the gulf between what is said and what is done." I guess it's fitting since like the Soviet Union seen in Michael Apted's film, the future Japan of Psycho-Pass is a nation where the government isn't all that trustworthy and the official version of events is often merely a façade to cover up that government's misdeeds. As a result, nothing can be taken at face value and, like Renko, the protagonists of Psycho-Pass have to question that government at every other turn out of necessity and as another result, doing what's right oftentimes isn't taken kindly to by the powers that be, lest people discover the brood of vipers they really are. The villains of the piece, a guerrilla movement calling themselves the Peacebreakers, are just as bad as the KGB and the Sibyl System, even going so far as using the word of God to justify their crimes against humanity. Overall, it's about as Psycho-Pass as they come, and apparently, the film's story also provides some context for season three, which should be interesting to see when that season finally gets a dub. The animation is stunning, in true Psycho-Pass fashion, with the action and violence as vivid as ever, though interestingly, despite the film's R rating, and despite having arguably the deadliest villains in the history of the franchise, it has less gore (only one of the franchise's infamous explosions where a baddie's body swells before popping like a balloon in a geyser of blood and guts after being fired on with a Dominator) than previous incarnations of the franchise, with several violent deaths actually occurring off-screen and only showing the aftermath. With that being said, Psycho-Pass has always taken an approach similar to Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and John Carpenter's The Thing, where the gore is story-appropriate rather than gore for the sake of gore, thus the lack of focus on gore doesn't detract from the film. Aside from that, characters, objects and backgrounds are well-rendered, enhancing the overall quality of the animation and, yes, the realism of the aforementioned violence. Yugo Kanno returns to musical scoring duties with excellent results as Ling Tosite Sigure and Egoist return to perform theme songs for the film, Alexithymia Spare and The One Concerned (Tōjisha), respectively. Crunchyroll's English dub, directed by the legendary Caitlin Glass, is also excellent, bringing back the major players from previous dubs of the franchise. Kate Oxley is once again excellent as Inspector Akane Tsunemori, who questions the Sibyl System at every turn as Japan's politicians question the need for laws even after Sibyl allowed Shogo Makishima to commit one murder after another. Robert McCollum is equally impressive as ex-Enforcer Shinya Kogami, who took Makishima out into a field and capped him in the head and is now a special investigator for the Suppressing Action Department (SAD) of Foreign Affairs. Josh Grelle also does solid work as Nobuchika Ginoza, a one-armed Enforcer with some animosity toward Kogami. Cherami Leigh is rock-solid as Mika Shimotsuki, a firecracker of an Inspector who has the guts to try to run Foreign Affairs off from a crime scene. Erin Kelly Noble is also more than adequate as SAD Agent Frederica Hanashiro. Bruce DuBose is also excellent as Atsushi Shindo, a calculating politician who knows more about what's happening than he lets on. John Gremillion is appropriately menacing as Tsugumasa Tonami, the Peacebreakers' deranged leader who quotes the Bible to justify the guerilla group's crimes against humanity and is deadly enough to give Makishima a run for his money. All the rest, including Lindsay Seidel as Enforcer Yayoi Kunizuka, Lydia Mackay as Analyst Shion Karanomaori, Z. Charles Bolton as Enforcer Sho Hinakawa, Mike McFarland as Enforcer Teppei Sugo, and Dallas Reid as Arata Shindo, are also up to par and the dub script is completely natural, though interestingly, the dub contains a lot less swearing than previous installments—which, like the reduced gore, doesn't diminish one's enjoyment of the film. Overall, Providence is an exciting and thought-provoking film and a great addition to the franchise, and no fan of Psycho-Pass should skip it. As for this fan, definitely buying it on Blu-ray and/or UHD down the road.

Act III

07-17-23, 09:08 PM

I thought it was a very good picture by Bogdanovich, one of his first films. Evidently the mis-marketing of the picture resulted in poor box office. It was an unusual portrayal by B. Karloff --one of his last roles-- but he was outstanding.

It used as its basic inspiration the country wide shocking mass shooting by Charles Whitman, who in 1966 climbed up into a tower at Univ. of Texas in Austin and started randomly shooting at and killing people below. Sadly today these types of horrible crimes are commonplace, but in 1966 it seems to me that this was the first. And you're right-- nobody could believe it!

But Bogdanovich made the most of what he had, and it really put him on the map.

I would've rated it higher but I thought the ending was weak and that much more could have been done with the drive-in scene.

Act III

07-18-23, 03:37 AM

93794

Hollow Man (2000)

Couldn't get into this one much. The main character is a rapist and sexual pervert and that seems to be the main focus of much of the movie. Both male and female nudity. Some slick special effects. Violence and blood. Not a movie you watch with your family or friends. Not a movie I'd care to see again. Got some familar faces though.

4/10

PHOENIX74

07-18-23, 07:04 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/Reality_poster.jpg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73779673

Reality - (2023)

One day America is going to try to process the Trump era, much like it did the Vietnam war in the mid-to-late '80s and early '90s. Reality isn't doing that, but it is an interesting look at information and truth during it. The film hasn't been dreamed up, but is based on a real transcript of an FBI interrogation, which in turn was made into the play called 'Is This a Room'. First of all - the lady who this is all about has the real name "Reality Winner", and is played by Sydney Sweeney. Reality was in the Air Force, and her job at the time necessitated a high security clearance. Saying any more than that would ruin the film - it's best to go in and experience the surreal conversations FBI agents had with her when they searched her home one afternoon, and the events that were uncovered and occurred. "Is this a room?" is actually something one of the agents asks another during the search, and underlines how tricky our information-rich world is becoming to navigate. On the day Reality is being interrogated, FBI Director James Comey was being fired amid a storm of controversy and debate - lies and vitriol being traded, and few facts being offered. I really enjoyed Reality, and I think the future will see many similar films.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/City_Slickers.jpg
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7732446

City Slickers - (1991)

I don't know what it is about City Slickers. It's not hilariously funny, and it's no deconstruction of the mythical Wild West. It's more a search for a kind of masculinity that isn't toxic amid a world where men either lack masculinity or else display the more toxic variation. We have Billy Crystal - who is neither rugged nor handsome, but wins through in this by being honest and intrepid, while Jack Palance's Curly Washburn exhibits the kind of mojo that men used to aspire to, but confesses to Crystal's Mitch that he was so busy embodying it that he never had the chance to settle down with someone dear to him. Those two actors are so likeable that I'm ready to buy whatever they're selling. Marc Shaiman whips up a rousing classic Western musical accompaniment, and all the sudden I find myself forgiving City Slickers it's mediocrity and really get into it. I went horse riding once and I still remember how bad I hurt afterward - but this makes me want to get back on that saddle.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Nanny-diaries-poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8878406

The Nanny Diaries - (2007)

I have to confess that The Nanny Diaries' first act had me hating this film, but I thought it picked up as it went on. I don't know if it's this way in the novel, but Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) comes off as quite conceited, and lacking the grace not to criticize nearly everyone directly, or cry out "poor me" after being blessed with health, youth, a great education, parental support etc. When the film focused more on how the rich people she works for ignore their children, and starve them of attention, I thought it had something more worthy to work with, and so did the character. Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti are both really good as horrible people.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Cool_World.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7145105

Cool World - (1992)

I became aware of Cool World in 1992 through my David Bowie fixation, for he wrote and performed the song 'Real Cool World' for the film - and for some reason I never bought the single, and it was getting zero air-time so I never heard it for many, many years - remaining a blind spot (deaf spot?) in his oeuvre for me. The same with the film really, I'd never seen it before. It's basically a poor man's (very poor man's) Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Instead of the magic you get in that film, you get some very awkward and cheap-looking combination of animation and real-life - some moments are astonishingly poor. The plot revolves around a detective in the cartoon world (played by Brad Pitt) whose job it is to stop cartoons and humans having sex. Yeah, you read that right. I'm sure Kim Basinger and Gabriel Byrne would like to pretend this never happened. It's interesting though, despite being a bit of a car wreck - there's an old-school quality to the animation, and a dark kind of energy to it. I'll be tempted to see this again.

5/10

LChimp

07-18-23, 10:35 AM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk2NzczOTgxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODQ5ODczOQ@@._V1_.jpg

Re-watch.

Tugg

07-18-23, 06:10 PM

A Simple Plan (1998) rating_4
https://thescriptlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/082515_SimplePlan-768x461.jpg
Double Jeopardy (1999) 3.5
https://images.kinorium.com/movie/shot/127912/w1500_245865.jpg
To Leslie (2022) rating_3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/dfzj9jn-19ca8716-0b98-45ad-8028-db1cf2d53a35.png/v1/fit/w_512,h_512/to_leslie__2022__movie_folder_icon_by_nandha602_dfzj9jn-375w-2x.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZD QxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaW dodCI6Ijw9NTEyIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvYzcyNjhjNzktOTQzNi00MjMwLWI3NWUtMjgxNDQ5NWIyNWY0XC9kZnpqOWpuLTE5Y2 E4NzE2LTBiOTgtNDVhZC04MDI4LWRiMWNmMmQ1M2EzNS5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9NTEyIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aW NlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0._kftZBC6xjN-azk6WZB8LK9gMegamBO7tAt1DCwRjcU
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) 3.5
https://cinemaautopsy.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4072_d001_00203.jpg?w=840
The Out-Laws (2023) 3.5
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/8cb372ee-ec0c-464a-aa42-cea4658ea0f4/dg2xbuf-e9a110b1-ea25-452c-b7e6-7eca4262e70f.png/v1/fit/w_512,h_512/the_out_laws__2023__by_eghost1980_dg2xbuf-375w-2x.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZD QxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaW dodCI6Ijw9NTEyIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvOGNiMzcyZWUtZWMwYy00NjRhLWFhNDItY2VhNDY1OGVhMGY0XC9kZzJ4YnVmLWU5YT ExMGIxLWVhMjUtNDUyYy1iN2U2LTdlY2E0MjYyZTcwZi5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9NTEyIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aW NlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.DeW5MSGGrjnMMpbdeEJ32Kh4iv80a9H5GTrNALIECmQ

Act III

07-18-23, 07:26 PM

93795

Abbott & Costello meet the Invisible Man (1951)

Not their best movie but decently entertaining enough. The money-in-hand bit was pretty funny. I always enjoy seeing a good A&C flick.

6/10

GulfportDoc

07-18-23, 08:23 PM

93802

The Fallen Sparrow (1943)

This enjoyable 1943 picture has been mis-labeled as a “spy” film, but in fact it’s certainly RKO’s first “A” film in the then nascent film noir movement-- released a full 16 months before the studio’s superb faithful rendition of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, renamed Murder My, Sweet for its cinematic treatment.

The Fallen Sparrow stars John Garfield as a soldier (“Kit” McKittrick) who had fought in sympathy with the leftists in the Spanish Civil War, and who had been held prisoner and tortured by Franco’s Nationalists before escaping and returning to the U.S., where he learned of his best friend’s “accidental” death after helping to arrange Kit’s escape. Disbelieving that his friend’s death was an accident, and sleuthing out the real reason for his friend’s demise, and just who were the guilty parties, serves as the basis for the film.

Along the way we meet the drop dead gorgeous Maureen O’Hara who stars in the only femme fatale role of her career, Toni Donne. Kit and Toni meet on his trip home, and quickly become attracted to each other. Kit has suffered hallucinations from his torture as a prisoner, and he often thinks he hears the foot dragging behind the limp of his former torturer (Walter Slezak), which unnerves Kit and causes him to relive his treatment as a captive.

During Kit’s seeking of the truth there are plenty of twists and turns, leading to a true noir ending.

The composer Roy Webb (Murder, My Sweet; Notorious) received one of his many Oscar nominations for his thrilling score. And the splendid chiaroscuro cinematography of the great Nicholas Musaraca (Out of the Past; The Blue Gardenia) sets the mood and tone of the film, which never lets up. Although not known for noir, director Richard Wallace’s long experience adds just the right guidance.

If ever an actress was made for technicolor it was Maureen O’Hara. But even though this picture is in black and white, she still shimmers in her loveliness. Another beauty in the film was Patricia Morison, who was later to be passed over as Alan Ladd’s steady co-star by Veronica Lake. Walter Slezak was at his sadistic despicable best as Dr. Christian Skaas. But it is Garfield who dominates the movie. His intensity puts me in mind of James Cagney’s many histrionic roles.

Take a look at this earliest “A” noir from the studio who made more than any other: RKO. It’s a bit of a mish-mash, but the pluses far outweigh any detraction. Available on the Internet Archive.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

PHOENIX74

07-19-23, 12:16 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Get_Out_poster.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53245463

Get Out - (2017)

I haven't seen many films that hold up as well as Get Out does after multiple rewatches - familiarity can absolutely destroy some pretty good films, but this one remains strong. Strange that a comedy and horror film happen to be two of the best films about race in our contemporary era (the comedy I'm including is BlacKkKlansman.) Get Out is working at all levels, and somehow the creepiness remains after you know the reveal. Underneath, the subtext is speaking volumes, and because of that we're never allowed to get really comfortable. Props to the underrated performances of Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel and LaKeith Stanfield for being the literal embodiment of white people inside black bodies - it's their moments which provide the film much of it's chills. Allison Williams makes for a great villain, and Daniel Kaluuya is superb. This one is set to become a 2010s classic.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Land_of_the_Lost_poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20821957

Land of the Lost - (2009)

Land of the Lost is an unsatisfying mix of million-dollar CGI effects, Will Ferrell on valium and Danny McBride messing around. Not only do their lines feel like improv, the whole story does, and even the film's high points have you feeling "eh" as the cast founders and project sinks. One or two half-decent jokes do not justify the $100 million that was spent on this - and when I say half-decent, I mean "Danny McBride said something slightly amusing." Ferrell looks lost as Dr. Rick Marshall, and kind of like he doesn't want to be there. A massive marketing campaign couldn't prevent it from becoming a box-office bomb, and the Golden Raspberries nominated it in 7 categories. It's utter garbage - I held out hope because Ferrell and McBride can be creatively funny, but what I didn't take into account was how bored actors can get performing in front of green screens day after day. This needed a stronger screenplay and it's performers to be more inspired - with the amount of money spent on it, you'd think it would have had those things.

3/10

Act III

07-19-23, 02:48 AM

93801

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

This movie is as good as the poster says. I vaguely remember some parts but I must have been not much more than a toddler when I saw it. Great continuation of the first film without flaws.

10/10

StuSmallz

07-19-23, 04:32 AM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk2NzczOTgxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODQ5ODczOQ@@._V1_.jpg

Re-watch.Ooh, what did you think?

Allaby

07-19-23, 01:27 PM

Troop Zero (2019) I watched this today and really enjoyed it. It's funny, cute, and the young girls in it are super adorable. The lesson of the film is when in doubt, pee your pants. And isn't that something we can all relate to? 4

Gideon58

07-19-23, 01:51 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTIyMTUwNzg3Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjM1MDI1MQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

4

Stirchley

07-19-23, 02:29 PM

Tugg

07-19-23, 02:43 PM

A Simple Plan & To Leslie are both very good movies.
Have you seen The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)? I'd recommend to see it at least once. It's very unpredictable and grand in it's story telling. It has left a lasting impression on my mind.

Torgo

07-19-23, 03:09 PM

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - 4

This entry in the long-running series achieves a pleasant balance of looking to the future and at how far the series has come. It makes this intention apparent off the bat with a thrilling and scary cold open involving submarine combat and a force that many have good reasons to be concerned about lately (I'll just go ahead and say it: AI, which it dubs as "the Entity"). This is followed by the return of everyone's favorite company man from the movie that kicked it all off, McKittridge (Czerny), who tasks Hunt with a mission that brings our beloved team of Luther, Benji and former rogue and now ally Ilsa together. They soon encounter someone who is just as duplicitous and who makes their jobs more complicated in professional thief Grace (Atwell). She's a minor inconvenience, however, compared to yet another uninvited guest who happens to be a ghost from Ethan's past and who brings the most prominent question of this entry and likely its follow-up into focus: can AI be a friend, or is it ultimately a foe?

Despite the adversary being on the bleeding edge, what stands out the most when I think about the movie is how old school its action set pieces look and feel. A better way of saying this is that they have much more weight and much less of the corner- cutting and/or obvious CGI that have made action movies from this decade less fun and involving. In addition to the finale that has a nod to the first movie's, the car and foot chases through Venice are favorites and make me glad that such set pieces can still excite me, and that they have genuine comic relief makes them all the better. That's not to say such scenes are bereft of CGI, but what it does have from the look of the Entity to all those digital readouts on the IMF's ultra-modern hardware emphasizes purpose over showing off. It is nice to have Czerny along for the ride again, and although it's only been five years, it's nice to see everyone in the entire team again, and they all get to do what they do best. Atwell is a very welcome addition, especially for how she holds her own against the mainstays, as is someone else I won't say much more about other than he may even intimidate Solomon Lane. As for the series' commitment to James Bond-like globetrotting: if it also makes you keep coming back for more, it's very much intact here as well.

As much as I enjoyed seeing this in a theater - and I do recommend seeing it in one if you can - the movie is not without its flaws. Your mileage may vary with McQuarrie's writing, which I find to be excessive in the same way that Christopher Nolan's is at times. Also, this may just be an unavoidable consequence of adding and reintroducing characters, but as nice as it is to see Luther, Benji and Ilsa again, I wish there were more "off the job" time with each of them, if you will, especially since past entries make a point to do this. Other than that, while I'm not sure where I would rank this entry since it's so consistent, I again must call out how well it reminisces and looks forward at the same time and that it commits to its trademark spy craft as much as it does to the action. What may be a more worthwhile compliment, though, is that I'm still wondering what will happen in the follow-up days after seeing it, which is thankfully only one year away.

doubledenim

07-19-23, 03:17 PM

I was very surprised by To Leslie, especially after the discourse that surrounded Riseborough’s Oscar nom. She might not have hit every note, but it was a great performance.

Stirchley

07-19-23, 03:33 PM

Have you seen The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)? I'd recommend to see it at least once. It's very unpredictable and grand in its story telling. It has left a lasting impression on my mind.

Huge fan of gosling, but can’t remember if I saw this or not.

I was very surprised by To Leslie, especially after the discourse that surrounded Riseborough’s Oscar nom. She might not have hit every note, but it was a great performance.

It really was. Very convincing as an American also.

matt72582

07-19-23, 03:48 PM

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=93775

Targets (1968)

Hard to know what to say about this movie. This guy isn't your typical gunman gone wild. Very shocking what he does and to see his follies and boyishness. The movie pulls you in two directions with the two stories progressing but then they tie in together near the end. I could imagine how disturbing it was to see this in the 1960s.

7/10

I gave it the same score, and yes, it was released right after MLK and RFK and didn't do well because of it.

LChimp

07-19-23, 04:03 PM

https://www.atoupeira.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/the-flash-novo-poster-nacional-2604.jpg

I wasn't expecting anything and was left unimpressed. There are a few cool things here and there, but ultimately is just fan service and misplaced songs.

Corax

07-19-23, 04:09 PM

just fan service and misplaced songs.

Well, that's enough for me to pass on it.

John-Connor

07-19-23, 05:41 PM

ON THE BEACH 1959 Stanley Kramer
93807
2h 14m | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi
Writers: John Paxton, Nevil Shute
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins

From scenes that really drag with slow 50’s soapy drama to strong apocalyptic thought-provoking scenes. A stand out dramatic performance by Fred Astaire, the dancer actually out acted both Gardner and Perkins imo. A real mixed bag for me but the story by itself was compelling enough to keep me engaged till the end.

3+ (63/100)

THE LAST VOYAGE 1960 Andrew L. Stone
93812
1h 31m | Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller
Writer: Andrew L. Stone
Cast: Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Edmond O'Brien, Woody Strode

"Fire in the engine room."

3+ (62/100)

JUGGERNAUT 1974 Richard Lester
93808
1h 49m | Action | Drama | Thriller
Writers: Richard Alan Simmons, Alan Plater
Cast: Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, David Hemmings, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley Knight

3.5- (69/100)

Gideon58

07-19-23, 06:22 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzI0NmVkMjEtYmY4MS00ZDMxLTlkZmEtMzU4MDQxYTMzMjU2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQ0MzA0NTM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

4

GulfportDoc

07-19-23, 09:02 PM

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - rating_4

This entry in the long-running series achieves a pleasant balance of looking to the future and at how far the series has come. It makes this intention apparent off the bat with a thrilling and scary cold open involving submarine combat and a force that many have good reasons to be concerned about lately (I'll just go ahead and say it: AI, which it dubs as "the Entity"). This is followed by the return of everyone's favorite company man from the movie that kicked it all off, McKittridge (Czerny), who tasks Hunt with a mission that brings our beloved team of Luther, Benji and former rogue and now ally Ilsa together. They soon encounter someone who is just as duplicitous and who makes their jobs more complicated in professional thief Grace (Atwell). She's a minor inconvenience, however, compared to yet another uninvited guest who happens to be a ghost from Ethan's past and who brings the most prominent question of this entry and likely its follow-up into focus: can AI be a friend, or is it ultimately a foe?
...
VERY nice review, Torgo. Really looking forward to this picture, especially with there being so much ca-ca out there...:)

Act III

07-19-23, 11:57 PM

93820

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

This post-WW3 sci-fi film is dialogue heavy and overflowing with relevant AI philosophy. The story is doom laden with the humans unable to repopulate themselves along with their cyborg/android creations in mutiny against them. I was anticipating a 10/10 movie but it ends prematurely without resolving the story. This was like a Twilight Zone episode. There doesn't appear to be a sequel so I must remain disappointed. In regards to AI this film was way ahead of its time.

8/10

StuSmallz

07-20-23, 12:01 AM

I just wrote a free essay on my Patreon comparing/contrasting Shutter Island & Inception, inspired by a point ThatDarnMKS made about it a while ago, so feel free to check it out if you're interested, guys: https://www.patreon.com/posts/shutter-island-56789555

Mr Minio

07-20-23, 02:52 AM

Targets (1968) This is a film on the fight between the old and the new. Old and new cinema, old and new mentality. It's a film where the old monsters of the silver screen go against the new killers of reality. Karloff, the old cinematic monster, eventually confronts the new real monster and beats the hell out of him. The new monster turns out to be but a weeping wimp.

Citizen Rules

07-20-23, 02:55 AM

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=93820

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

This post-WW3 sci-fi film is dialogue heavy and overflowing with relevant AI philosophy. The story is doom laden with the humans unable to repopulate themselves along with their cyborg/android creations in mutiny against them. I was anticipating a 10/10 movie but it ends prematurely without resolving the story. This was like a Twilight Zone episode. There doesn't appear to be a sequel so I must remain disappointed. In regards to AI this film was way ahead of its time.

8/10That poster doesn't do the film justices. The poster looks like a z movie but The Creation of the Humanoids and several steps beyond that, it surprised me and that's saying a lot.

PHOENIX74

07-20-23, 04:10 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Bvsccover.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4050478

Buena Vista Social Club - (1999)

A good documentary has the power to transport you somewhere else both physically and psychologically. Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club does both superbly, illuminating both the joy great Cuban musicians have for their particular style of music, and the poverty that exists all around them - a visual incongruity that will strike many people who watch this, but of which the singers themselves seem mostly unaware of. Initiated by musician, songwriter and film score composer Ry Cooder, a friend of Wenders, some of the danzón greats are assembled, and we hear their particular stories. When they travel to the United States for the first time in their lives, they don't see the disparity in living conditions in a negative light, and are simply delighted to be on the adventure they're on. It's a privilege to hear the great music they perform - it's been dancing around in my brain ever since I watched this.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Scream_of_Stone_FilmPoster.jpeg
By The cover art can be obtained from Movieposterdb.com., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32739286

Scream of Stone - (1991)

A strange one from Werner Herzog. Look, some aspects of Scream of Stone are undeniably terrible, and if you're hoping to enjoy a film in an ordinary narrative sense, then get ready to be frustrated. It's hard to tell what's going on in this film - despite the bigger picture being clear, and as such the superfluous scenes meander painfully and characters appear seemingly at random in places you're surprised to find them in. The film is about two climbers, Roccia Innerkofler (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) and Martin Sedlmayr (Stefan Glowacz), who are battling to be the first to climb the unclimbable Cerro Torre - egged on by publicist Ivan (Donald Sutherland). It also features Brad Dourif as a character called "Fingerless" - and yes, what you're thinking is why he's called that. It's a crazy mess of a movie that seems to have been beyond being saved in editing. Cinematographer Rainer Klausmann managed to capture many wonderful mountain shots - but even with them, this is hard to watch. I would have loved to have seen this one work.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/EvilDeadRiseTeaser.jpg
By New Line Cinema - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72657374

Evil Dead Rise - (2023)

Got the DVD and gave this a rewatch. The main body of the film is perfect, and it's only the film's sub-par opening and lack of satisfying or original ending that I don't like. Far better than I was expecting though, when the first trailer gave me the feeling this would be disappointing. I enjoyed it, probably even more the second time. It's a keeper.

7/10

hales1319

07-20-23, 05:27 AM

The reviews on my last movie that is "Ant-Man" will give 9/10.

Gideon58

07-20-23, 11:18 AM

https://www.sonypictures.com/sites/default/files/styles/max_560x840/public/title-key-art/iwannadancewithsomebody_onesheet_1400x2100_he.jpg?itok=MBlb1x3Y

1st Rewatch...Arrived at a friend's house who was getting ready to watch this and joined her. my opinion hasn't really changed. My original opinion hasn't changed, nothing special, just another biopic. 3

Gideon58

07-20-23, 03:17 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzhkNjFlNDQtMDYxNy00NGU5LWE4YmItOWIyYzg5MTNmNzcxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

3.5

Gideon58

07-20-23, 06:29 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjQ2NmQ3MTQtMWRmMy00ZTcwLWE4MTEtMGYzNmU1NTVhYTA0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTc0OTE4NzA@._V1_.jpg

3

Allaby

07-20-23, 07:06 PM

Barbie (2023) There is a lot to unpack (unbox?) here. Some parts worked for me but some elements I had issues with. First the positives. The film looks great. I enjoyed the colours and sets and costumes in Barbieland. The performances are mostly good. Margot Robbie does a great job. Ryan Gosling does the best he can with Ken, although I really didn't like the way the character was written. Helen Mirren is good as the narrator. For the most part, I liked America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt as a mother and daughter that Barbie meets in the real world. There are some fun moments early on and a few laughs. The problem is that the film is very heavy handed at key moments and becomes entirely too preachy in the second half. The lecturing takes away from the enjoyment of the film. I didn't like parts of the story that focused and talked repeatedly about the patriarchy. The movie pits Ken against Barbie in a way that doesn't feel genuine and is not convincing and Ken comes across as an ass. There are moments where this film feels incredibly dishonest, which is a shame because this could have been a really fun and entertaining adventure. In spite of the winning performance of Margot Robbie and some amusing early scenes, Barbie is a preachy, heavy handed disappointment. 3

Nausicaä

07-20-23, 07:22 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/The_Flash_%28film%29_poster.jpg/220px-The_Flash_%28film%29_poster.jpg

3.5

SF = Z

Bla, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Especially Supergirl, she was fabulous. And Michael Keaton is my Batman, so loved the parts with him. :D

[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

07-20-23, 07:56 PM

The Fortune (1975)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/sOKFLbAkLYcZVIiuodCROtGG7qN.jpg

GulfportDoc

07-20-23, 08:43 PM

...
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) rating_3_5
https://cinemaautopsy.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4072_d001_00203.jpg?w=840

I didn't believe I'd seen this, so I took your tip and watched it last night. I soon realized I HAD seen it. I recognized most scenes as they occurred, but I could remember any of it coming up. Must have seen it in 2012.

It was very good, and held one's interest despite being a bit of a slog. Good acting, directing, etc. It's length made it feel almost as an epic, like Once Upon a Time in America (1984). One silly thing. When the time frames jumped ahead 15 years, everybody still looked about the same...:D

Act III

07-20-23, 08:54 PM

Fabulous

07-20-23, 11:13 PM

America America (1963)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/pmAFiu0ZZp7D6VXXdv4giw0qwHc.jpg

Act III

07-21-23, 02:08 AM

93834

Interstellar (2014)

I could go on for pages about this movie because there's so much there to contemplate and examine, but my main impression is a few mysterious slips in the story and a shaky first act kept me from rating it higher. There's some kinks in there but altogether its an amazing realistic space movie filled with some fancifulness. I don't want to spoil it but there's some awesome stuff to see.

9/10

PHOENIX74

07-21-23, 04:07 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/MissionImpossiblePoster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2004331

Mission: Impossible - (1996)

Going back to the first Mission: Impossible film, some 27 years ago, made me apprehensive at first - but those famous set-pieces that define it still stand out as excellent examples of perfectly drawn-out tension and well calibrated action. It's hard to bring to mind sequences in the ensuing couple of entries off the top of my head, but the computer room heist and bullet train/helicopter segments in the first are famous and instantly recognizable. Other than that, it pulls slick fake-outs on us and adds the star power of Jon Voight, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez. Some characters are killed early, and some aren't who we think they are with Tom Cruise becoming a younger, more agile and laid back version of James Bond with his Ethan Hunt character. What makes this really stand out is Brian De Palma's direction, with him adding that Hitchcock aura he'd bring to most of the movies he made. Obviously Paramount were hoping this would become the first film in a series, but I think even they'd have been surprised to hear that these films would be around for as long as they have. Although it was a big deal at the time, we hardly recognize that it all started with a television series in the late '60s and early '70s.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Mission_Impossible_II.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://fontsinuse.com/uses/12023/mission-impossible-2-2000-movie-posters, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23364226

Mission: Impossible 2 - (2000)

I've been hoping and wishing for a long long time that James Bond comes on over to Australia, even if it's only for one small part of a mission. Mission: Impossible 2 did pretty much what I'd imagined up to that point. A biological weapon developer has it's virus stolen, so it's up to Ethan Hunt to track it down and destroy it, preferably in places that feature the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Sydney Opera House in the background. John Woo really knows how to shoot action, so watching this isn't a chore, but it does follow age old formulas regarding macguffins, femme fatales and villains. It feels too much like every other action-adventure film out on the market, albeit a good one. The characters feel too archetypal. Also, though Australians do say "mate" a lot (me included) we don't insert it into every single sentence we utter.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Mission_Impossible_III.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4565518

Mission: Impossible III - (2006)

This is the last explicitly numbered Mission : Impossible film. That's gone out of fashion, with films tending not to be numbered at all now. The series had lost a little traction at the box office, but those who stayed home missed a film that was better than the one before. This time it's the magnificence of Philip Seymour Hoffman that livened things up - and man, do I miss him. J. J. Abrams gets his turn - Paramount, much like Eon did with the Bond franchise, using an ultra-impressive roster of directors. Another improvement over the second film was the fact that it felt like we were dealing with people again, rather than soulless action figures and cliched baddies. The action remains top-drawer, but neither the second nor third could top those special set-pieces the first had. Ving Rhames knew he was on to a good thing, career wise, appearing in all three up to this point, and Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn character is introduced. James Bond was feeling the competition, and rebooted for the first time ever around the same time this came out.

7/10

Torgo

07-21-23, 12:33 PM

A Walk Among the Tombstones - 3

While this pretty good neo-noir may seem like yet another Liam Neeson action vehicle, and it may have moments straight out of one, it has more going for it than that. He is Matt Scudder, a New York P.I. and main character in Lawrence Block's long-running book series. A recovering alcoholic who is also recovering from a tragic moment from his past, his latest case comes courtesy of drug dealer Kenny (Stevens), who wants him to locate a pair who kidnapped and murdered his wife, and it’s not long until Matt learns she's not their only victim. Realizing he is too old fashioned for his own good, he enlists the help of T.J. (Astro), an intelligent, streetwise, tech-savvy teenager against his better judgement.

This movie succeeds at making you feel like you're going into this case as cold as Matt is. It provides a uniquely genuine sensation that he is entering uncharted territory, which says a lot given how Neeson makes him seem like he's been around the block. Speaking of Neeson, he could have just gone through the motions given how many characters he has played like this in the last decade, but he acts with a refreshing amount of nuance and is convincing as someone who is desperate to recover in more ways than one. Its look into AA and the clever way it presents its 12-step program also deserves credit, as is the pleasant amount of grit and grime, which doesn't come close to how much there is in movies from the genre's '70s heyday, but I can't complain too much since it's in short supply in general.

Neo-noir is a crowded genre, and this entry does a lot of good things, but it does not do enough to make it a very special one. Also, it reminds us that it takes place on the verge of Y2K more than once, and other than emphasizing how not tech savvy Matt is and limiting the use of cellphones, it does not do anything that interesting with the setting. It's still worth seeking out if you enjoy this genre as much as I do, especially if you also enjoy revenge and redemption stories. Oh, and fellow Stranger Things fans, take warning: you may never look at David Harbour the same way again.

Guaporense

07-21-23, 04:22 PM

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021)

https://s4.anilist.co/file/anilistcdn/media/anime/cover/large/bx107625-2UIAI4TRwXz0.jpg

A pretty meh anime movie. While I have been watching a ton of TV anime, it has been a while since I watched an animated movie. This one is one of those Japanese slice of life/romance movies where nothing significant happens, but it is supposed to have the feelz. In this case, I got a low signal-to-noise ratio.

Gideon58

07-21-23, 05:39 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU5NDc2MzI1M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTk3NDE3MjE@._V1_.jpg

3.5

Fabulous

07-21-23, 06:26 PM

Obsession (1976)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/muZtyqsjuLDuQiGymS7vnHn5kJI.jpg

PHOENIX74

07-21-23, 11:44 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Desk_Set_cinema_poster.jpg
By 20th Century Fox - http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/fdcd5a75, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37131420

Desk Set - (1957)

Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy had made 7 films together before Desk Set, which would be the penultimate film for the pair (10 years later, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner came along - a belated swansong.) What interests me most about this film, however, is the fact that it's a 1950s comedy about computers - which weren't even called computers in this, but "electronic brains". (Kind of reminds me of those "Electronic Brain Enhancements" on Look Around You*.) It's set in a reference library which is run by Bunny Watson (Hepburn) and her team of ladies, one of whom is played by Joan Blondell. Along comes Methods Engineer and efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Tracy) to gauge the possibility of installing one of his EMERAC ("Electromagnetic MEmory and Research Arithmetical Calculator") machines - a computer which takes up half the space of the library. The girls are all afraid that they'll become redundant and be let go, but EMERAC can't reason - it's only a kind of reference tool that spits out information that's been added to it manually.

Against this setting a romance plays out between Bunny and Sumner. Bunny is already in a relationship with Mike Cutler (Gig Young) - her reference library is in service to the television network he's an executive of. Mike is treating Bunny badly though - having fun with her when he has the time, he always expects her to be available for him like "an old coat" in a wardrobe, and 7 years of waiting for him to propose has come to nothing yet. As Sumner learns more about Bunny, so do we - she has a savant-like memory and ability to calculate and reason complex matters in moments, which stuns the unprepared engineer. This is a pleasant film - it didn't set my world on fire, but it was amusing and quaint in many different ways. Hepburn and Tracy obviously have chemistry together and have learned to perform as a team. I haven't seen many films that deal with the first tentative steps into the computerization of the world and the fears many people had about that, so watching this dream acting team and that was enough for my enjoyment.

6/10

*Don't be a fool. Go easy on your EBEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spF6A2QK31s

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/X-Men_The_Last_Stand_theatrical_poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57360124

X-Men : The Last Stand - (2006)

Many years late, but I've finally seen all three films in the original X-Men trilogy. I came in knowing how most fans of the franchise feel about this film, and that coupled with the fact that I'm not a huge lover of this original trilogy is a difficult position to judge this from. I never got to a point when I was saying, "Hey, I actually like this," to myself. I was expecting a little more since this was meant to cap off the overall story, but obviously my expectations were also low. It hit pretty much where I thought it would - that "mildly interesting" level on average. I'm much more a fan of X-Men : First Class, which I think is on a whole other level.

5/10

Fabulous

07-22-23, 12:04 AM

Fists in the Pocket (1965)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2G5cHDT3oX9wEDX6fNjU0LcgSeQ.jpg

Takoma11

07-22-23, 12:24 AM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNjk4ODRhMmUtYzdjNy00NDRlLWJmZTUtNDZjNGE0NWI4YTljXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUyND k2ODc%40._V1_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=3e78855c9f45d2819d27036fd3e5c0af503c7ce1955e9ce8a0d6cfd2cb2744a5&ipo=images

Drowning by Numbers, 1988

Cissie (Joan Plowright) comes home unexpectedly one evening to find her husband drunk, naked, and philandering with a local woman and impulsively drowns him in the bathtub. Her actions are covered up by the local coroner, Madgett (Bernard Hill), who has feelings for Cissie. But soon Cissie’s actions trickle down into the lives of her daughter, Cissie (Juliet Stevenson), and her niece, Cissie (Joely Richardson). Also impacted is Madgett’s son, Smut (Jason Edwards), an odd but sensitive boy.

Enlivened by quirky touches, this is a fun and fantastical variation on a classic murder caper.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400194#post2400194)

Act III

07-22-23, 01:27 AM

93853

The Time Machine (1960)

I've seen this a number of times, but not for at least 15 years. A classic movie as always.

10/10

skizzerflake

07-22-23, 01:56 AM

Not sure...disappointment? It's the latest epic, directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer. The story of this conflicted, enigmatic physicist, the largest figure in the Manhattan Project, seems to not know what it wants to be. There's a huge story here, and a great cast, and lots of FX. There's also flashbacks, flashforwards, sequences that lurch between black and white and color. I've read several books on this project, the one that launched the atomic world, for better or worse, but I walked out of the theater perplexed tonight. I had high hopes, but found myself befuddled. Oh well....maybe see it again? We saw it on IMAX too, but it's not that much of a visual spectacle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi363I5MoAk

Nausicaä

07-22-23, 02:09 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Scream_VI_poster.jpg/220px-Scream_VI_poster.jpg

3.5

SF = Z

Unfortunately I knew the ending beforehand, so probably would have loved it even more... sigh.

[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

07-22-23, 02:29 AM

White Lightning (1973)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/pwYoTPysMY8Z0pDvlfuBvaHYwzE.jpg

honeykid

07-22-23, 08:36 AM

Mission: Impossible - (1996)

Obviously Paramount were hoping this would become the first film in a series, but I think even they'd have been surprised to hear that these films would be around for as long as they have. Although it was a big deal at the time, we hardly recognize that it all started with a television series in the late '60s and early '70s.

They're not the only ones. I saw this when it came out and left thinkinig, meh, at best. I was a little bored, if anything But then, I'm not much of a Bond or De Palma fan either. Though both have their moments.

Not sure...disappointment? It's the latest epic, directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer. We saw it on IMAX too, but it's not that much of a visual spectacle.

This is exactly the sort of film I have to ask why you'd pay extra to see it that way?

Nighthawks - 2.5 - I've seen this a few times and liked it quite a bit when I was a kid. It's an easy watch with Hauer making a cold yet charasmatic terrorist who always keeps your attention whenever he's onscreen. Stallone and Dee Williams are a good partnership, though don't develop the 'buddy' feeling you'd expect, but that's probably intended because of Stallone's characters personality/issues and plot reasons. It's a standard thriller of its day with little to recommend it beyond nostalgia and Hauer's performance, but it's not a bad film.

skizzerflake

07-22-23, 12:08 PM

......This is exactly the sort of film I have to ask why you'd pay extra to see it that way?......

Basically because it was there in the theater and the time slot fit into our schedule and I had not seen an IMAX for a while. It really was not worth the premium price.

Ironically, not only was it an unnecessary IMAX but it wasn't showing in one of our usual downtown venues, so I drove out into the big-burbs into one of those mega-cineplex places, and parked across a huge parking lot and ate in a big-chain restaurant. It was culture shock all around.

MovieBuffering

07-22-23, 12:21 PM

The Searchers - 1956

Always on my list but finally got around to watching it. First time I've really watched a John Wayne flick. He takes a little time to adjust to because to me he isn't a terribly great actor. Feels a bit one note. But he is so confident you finally accept it and move past it until he feels like he is killing it. Is that what confidence does for you? Wouldn't know :laugh: The film surprisingly has a decent amount of comedy for such a dark plot. Which the plot keeps you intrigued enough through the whole movie. I enjoyed it. I am not running back to rewatch it but it was fun enough.

I am usually against remakes but a lot of these old Westerns feel ripe for an updated interpretation ala 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit. It's the one genre I am more forgiven with remakes. Rumor has it Spielberg was developing a remake of it. That would have my intrigue. If not the old one is just fine though :-)

3

https://www.cinemaclock.com/images/posters/1000x1500/46/the-searchers-1956-us-poster.jpg

Corax

07-22-23, 01:08 PM

This is a film on the fight between the old and the new. Old and new cinema, old and new mentality. It's a film where the old monsters of the silver screen go against the new killers of reality. Karloff, the old cinematic monster, eventually confronts the new real monster and beats the hell out of him. The new monster turns out to be but a weeping wimp.

Sounds similar in some fashion to Renfield.

On the old mentality (Stoker's) Dracula was a blood-sucking revenant. In his novel, the battle is really between the old-world irrationalism of a demon-haunted world and the rationalism of a new scientific age. Van Helsing is a scientist and uses scientific instruments and theories to understand and combat Dracula. The vampire, on the other hand, goes to London in the hope of updating his OS--to understand this new age and adapt to it. He does not wish to stay behind in the fading old-world.

On the new view, Dracula is a toxic narcissist who thrives on co-dependency, a psychological vampire. Renfield is a bit of a weeping wimp himself, a victim of a bad boss. He's done bad things, but they're not really his fault (or so it seems) and he comes into his own finding agency in resisting his oppressor. Thus it is a perfect film for this generation (e.g,. anti-work, anti-cap, obsessed with therapy, status determined by victimage). Both films serve the needs and reflect the anxieties of their time.

matt72582

07-22-23, 03:30 PM

Fists in the Pocket (1965)

rating_4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2G5cHDT3oX9wEDX6fNjU0LcgSeQ.jpg

I recommend this to a lot of people.. A lot more than some in my Top 10, because it's unique.

For those interested, the full movie is free/remastered on YouTube
https://youtu.be/VSMtwc7l2zg

Gideon58

07-22-23, 03:33 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODBjM2M4YTQtNmJlMS00MGU2LWI4ZGYtZTA1MzdmZDAyMjFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_.jpg

3.5

LordWhis

07-22-23, 03:50 PM

Oppenheimer- 2/10

Barbie- 10/10

Takoma11

07-22-23, 04:28 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcinematicrandomness.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F05%2FDeath-Warmed-Up-IMG011.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=b3e1344f766817da9fd0fba7a5d6cda54dd9d5b8723f78651e2a289abe50aeb7&ipo=images

Death Warmed Up, 1984

Dr. Howell (Gary Day) believes that he’s pioneered a new form of brain surgery/medication that can control behavior. When he gets pushback from a co-worker, Howell abducts the man’s son, Michael (Michael Hurst) and uses his techniques to get Michael to kill his own parents in their home. After being released from a mental institution after several years, Michael goes on vacation to an isolated island with his girlfriend Sandy (Margaret Umbers), and friends Lucas (William Upjohn) and Jeannie (Norelle Scott). Once there, Michael is thrown into a crisis when he spots Howell in town, realizing that what he thought was a delusion was actually reality.

Landing in that just-right zone of low-budget charm, this film gets a surprising amount of emotional heft from some good character work and disturbing imagery.

3.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400280#post2400280)

matt72582

07-22-23, 04:50 PM

America America (1963)

rating_3_5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/pmAFiu0ZZp7D6VXXdv4giw0qwHc.jpg

I don't know if it was the movie, or if it would have improved with another leading actor. But, Kazan made up for it with the only movie of his I liked after "Splendor in the Grass" with 1972's "The Visitors" -- such a dark movie! I wish Kazan would have made more independent movies like that, but luckily it's available on YouTube for free for everyone to see.

https://youtu.be/rvzRh5r0sQI

Corax

07-22-23, 04:59 PM

Oppenheimer- 2/10

Hmm, I'm hearing troubling stuff about this one.

WHITBISSELL!

07-22-23, 05:04 PM

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2d0812_6429c5a5ead0415fb4fb5c1413995b57~mv2.gif
https://media.tenor.com/nahM4kFibj4AAAAd/doctor-strange-doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness.gif

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Let's start with the good. Great visuals and cinematography. And Sam Raimi directing automatically raises it to a higher level. But the cold opening introduces what turns out to be the central protagonist with little to no setup. Which is probably okay if you're a comic book reader and familiar with America Chavez. Everyone else, myself included, will be left a bit adrift.

It's big and kinda, sorta messy with lots of fan service moments that have become the norm and oftentimes are used to coverup or distract from weak storytelling. Once I found out Raimi was directing I figured that any parts I liked were directly attributable to him. Which is probably an accurate take. But in the end though I just couldn't accept Wanda Maximoff as the big baddie.

So all in all it was a prosaic kind of experience for me. Results may differ. I do get the feeling that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania might make this look better by comparison. At least I hope it does. Sam Raimi deserves better than to be remembered for a second superhero stinker.

70/100

PHOENIX74

07-22-23, 10:47 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/64/DrZhivago_Asheet.jpg
By http://www.thesandpebbles.com/terpning/terpning.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6628725

Doctor Zhivago - (1965)

Taken as it is, Doctor Zhivago is a great film, but I also see it as a missed chance at perhaps being one of the greatest films of all time. It's all to do with Boris Pasternak's novel being banned in the Soviet Union, which had the flow-on effect of the Soviets refusing to let David Lean make his film in their country. So, all those grand shots that would have featured Moscow and the steppes were either filmed in studios or in Spain. It hurts the film somewhat, and I'm always cognizant when what would ordinarily have been some great shots on Moscow streets are more stunted and studio-bound. Aside from that major issue however, this is a profoundly moving film - the story and Maurice Jarre's haunting, romantic score are enough to rouse almost anyone's heart. Omar Sharif, Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness and Rod Steiger perform their roles admirably. It's still hard though, not to view this as a missed opportunity.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Father%27s_Little_Dividend.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15394732

Father's Little Dividend - (1951)

This sequel to Father of the Bride followed hot on the heels of it's predecessor, with the same director and stars participating. I'm glad, because the same dynamic that I liked so much in the first film still exists here. Spencer Tracy is fantastic and extremely funny as Stanley T. Banks - one of his best comedic characters. Stanley can say a lot with a look, or with body language - and I grin even when he's not doing anything. I mean, he's always doing something - but sometimes it's just a certain look that betrays what he's thinking in a subtle way. This time he's put out by becoming a grandfather, and later by the fact that his grandchild bursts into tears whenever he goes near him. Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Russ Tamblyn and Don Taylor are all there basically to play against Tracy - it's his show, and I enjoyed this nearly as much as the first film. There are some very old fashioned ideals and manners which would be offensive today though - it was a very different time.

7/10

Takoma11

07-22-23, 11:41 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Fsm%2Fupload%2Fnp%2Flw%2F64%2Fmu%2Fhick-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg%3Fk%3D6e82766688&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c4f2857efe3eaaf8cc0668821b4b665b55ea4d7014ee0c02977832d4c58e6fd7&ipo=images

Hick, 2011

Luli (Chloe Grace Moretz) lives in a small town in Nebraska with an alcoholic father and an indifferent mother. After a bizarre 13th birthday party in which she’s gifted a revolver, Luli decides to run away. She first hitches a ride with Eddie (Eddie Redmayne), who seems both contemptuous of Luli and attracted to her. She later ends up traveling with Glenda (Blake Lively), but ends up crossing paths with Eddie again. As Luli gets increasingly enmeshed with the messy personal lives of Glenda and Eddie, she finds herself in more danger than she ever imagined.

Overly written characters and an uncomfortable fetishizing of its main character makes this a labored and icky watch.

2

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400357#post2400357)

Act III

07-22-23, 11:46 PM

93866

Arrival (2016)

I am in the minority in not liking this movie much, according to IMDb. All the flash forwards / flash backs are annoying and the story gets slower and slower. The entrance into the craft was fascinating along with the contact and all that but while I waited for the action to start and the story to take off and climax, it sort of dissipated and fizzled out instead. And the security protocols seem really lax for a regiment establishing contact with space aliens, you'd think every inch of that place would be on strict lockdown. This film also seemed sympathetic to communists and thats a mighty big huge thumbs down with me.

It's another one of those "sneak something in near the end" movies.

5/10

Takoma11

07-23-23, 12:29 AM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eddieizzardbelieve.com%2Fimages%2Fcircle_photo.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9f720c6e5c99e4b771d4dba91eb1519f18ecd58ed11a865cad244dfb946002cd&ipo=images

Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, 2009

This documentary follows stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard as she navigates a challenging year of trying to write and launch a new show.

Some okay insights here, but I hope one day Izzard gets a documentary that lives up to all the interesting facets of her life.

3

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400367#post2400367)

BKB

07-23-23, 12:45 AM

I watched "The WOLF OF WALL STREET" and haven't seen it in awhile and it's really good and if you're looking to see Margot Robbie in all her buff & glory, this is the movie to see her in.. Can't decide if that was a stunt double or her in that nude scene with Leo??

WHITBISSELL!

07-23-23, 02:50 AM

https://i0.wp.com/www.nerdylittlesecret.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/crabmonsters.gif?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ScornfulAmbitiousAllensbigearedbat.webp

Attack of the Crab Monsters - Another Roger Corman joint and one of nine (!) films he is credited with having directed in 1957. This one takes place on an uninhabited island where a group of researchers have come ashore to investigate the fate of the previous scientific expedition. Those unfortunate folks were there to study the effects of radioactive fallout from the Bikini Atoll explosion. The only actor I recognized was Russell Johnson, who later played the Professor (another shipwreck survivor) on Gilligan's Island. There's a French guy, a German guy and the requisite couple. Corman keeps his cast busy scurrying up and down trails and navigating caves. The titular monsters are, of course, atomically mutated land crabs that have not only grown to enormous, man killing size but are also super intelligent and mostly invulnerable. They also absorb their victims minds and are therefore able to taunt the survivors. Things play out in requisite fashion with the group winnowed down until it all wraps up in somewhat abrupt fashion. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say someone had to have flipped a coin to get that ending.

65/100

https://assets.mubicdn.net/images/film/8042/image-w856.jpg?1649665804
http://dailygrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/THE-AMAZING-TRANSPARENT-MAN-1960-gotta-sneeze-so-bad.jpg

The Amazing Transparent Man - There's really nothing amazing about this movie. It's a low budget affair clocking in at under an hour. But it is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer who had helmed some pretty decent films in the past including The Black Cat and Detour but also the not so decent Beyond the Time Barrier (which Ulmer shot back to back with this in a combined two weeks!) and The Man from Planet X. In this one thief and safecracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) is broken out of prison by retired Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith). He wants to use Faust to steal fissionable material from a secure government location so that scientist Dr. Ulof (Ivan Triesault) can keep fine tuning an invisibility ray. He blackmails Faust into undergoing a procedure that renders him invisible but the short runtime and the budgetary constraints conspire to have the wheels come off in abbreviated fashion. Characters are killed off and plot points laid to the side and forgotten in the headlong rush to wrap this up. Few if any f***s are given.

45/100

StuSmallz

07-23-23, 03:39 AM

The Searchers - 1956

Always on my list but finally got around to watching it. First time I've really watched a John Wayne flick. He takes a little time to adjust to because to me he isn't a terribly great actor. Feels a bit one note. But he is so confident you finally accept it and move past it until he feels like he is killing it. Is that what confidence does for you? Wouldn't know :laugh: The film surprisingly has a decent amount of comedy for such a dark plot. Which the plot keeps you intrigued enough through the whole movie. I enjoyed it. I am not running back to rewatch it but it was fun enough.

I am usually against remakes but a lot of these old Westerns feel ripe for an updated interpretation ala 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit. It's the one genre I am more forgiven with remakes. Rumor has it Spielberg was developing a remake of it. That would have my intrigue.Yeah, I think if any older movie would benefit from a remake with some updated, less problematic cultural depictions in it, it'd be this one, to be perfectly honest.93866

Arrival (2016)

This film also seemed sympathetic to communists and thats a mighty big huge thumbs down with me.

It's another one of those "sneak something in near the end" movies.Um... what?

TheDoctor

07-23-23, 05:35 AM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8166zXz82WL._RI_.jpg

It basically is BODY SNATCHERS from a parallel dimension, rather than growing out of pods who where coming from space.

4 Doppelganger out of 5

Takoma11

07-23-23, 09:48 AM

[RIGHT]
https://i0.wp.com/www.nerdylittlesecret.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/crabmonsters.gif?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ScornfulAmbitiousAllensbigearedbat.webp

Attack of the Crab Monsters - Another Roger Corman joint and one of nine (!) films he is credited with having directed in 1957. This one takes place on an uninhabited island where a group of researchers have come ashore to investigate the fate of the previous scientific expedition. Those unfortunate folks were there to study the effects of radioactive fallout from the Bikini Atoll explosion. The only actor I recognized was Russell Johnson, who later played the Professor (another shipwreck survivor) on Gilligan's Island. There's a French guy, a German guy and the requisite couple. Corman keeps his cast busy scurrying up and down trails and navigating caves. The titular monsters are, of course, atomically mutated land crabs that have not only grown to enormous, man killing size but are also super intelligent and mostly invulnerable. They also absorb their victims minds and are therefore able to taunt the survivors. Things play out in requisite fashion with the group winnowed down until it all wraps up in somewhat abrupt fashion. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say someone had to have flipped a coin to get that ending.

65/100

I absolutely love Attack of the Crab Monsters. I think it's weirdly quotable and funny, and it has some really out-of-left-field elements like using metal items to communicate with telepathic powers.

I watched it with a friend and her 5 year old daughter. We were a little nervous about whether the crabs would scare her. Later in the film she says something like, "The crab is eating that man. He's hungry!". LOL.

Jackie Daytona

07-23-23, 11:38 AM

God, Roger Corman movies are just fun. Remember when you could make a whole movie premised over giant crabs attacking people?

MovieBuffering

07-23-23, 11:59 AM

Oppenheimer - 2023

Still gathering my thoughts after I saw it last night. Was definitely a theatrical experience. Also side note Barbie is going crush Oppenheimer in the box office...nothing but girls in pink at the theater...Oppenheimer had a crowd but nothing like Barbie. Anyways takeaways. Murphy was incredible and should be a shoe in for a nomination. The Trinity Test sequence lives up to the hype I was filled with anxiety during it. Downey will probably get a nomination as well. He was great. It's a bit jarring with how much Nolan switches from time line to time line. It takes a second to catch up if you can. Very dialogue heavy. It feels like a thick book at times. I've read some reviews that say it's too cold but I think that is the point. That was Oppenheimer's scientific nature. He was cold. I enjoyed the film and it will give you tons to ponder after. I will be safe and give it a 3 of out 5. However it has a chance to go up on a rewatch. I think I almost need a rewatch to give it a proper rating. Think I'll be able to digest it better after a 2nd watch. Deftinely better than Tenet.

3

https://www.animationxpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Oppenheimer-3-1.jpg

iluv2viddyfilms

07-23-23, 12:30 PM

Oppenheimer - B-
Gilda - A-
Flesh + Blood - B

Takoma11

07-23-23, 04:00 PM

God, Roger Corman movies are just fun. Remember when you could make a whole movie premised over giant crabs attacking people?

I am still very much in this market if Hollywood is willing to churn them out.

If only Eight Legged Freaks had been a bit better!

Takoma11

07-23-23, 09:38 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-nFAZVezQKb4%2FTwY1vnYuZVI%2FAAAAAAAAJns%2FegEL_Uahi28%2Fs1600%2Fsr26.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=cc7492a634b2a38ab5d44d803db52efe3433f05ae0e1ac46b167f6f0bf388263&ipo=images

Silent Running, 1972

In a distant future, all flora and fauna on Earth has died out and will not re-propagate. Deep in space, Lowell (Bruce Dern) tends to several biomes in a specially designed spacecraft. He holds out hope that one day they will get the call to return home and help revive the planet. But when they do get a call, their direction is to destroy the biomes and return home. Distraught, Lowell turns against the other crew members, going to more and more extreme lengths to save his plants and animals.

If you don’t have some of those environmental anxieties, I’m sure this would be a long haul. For me, I connected very deeply with Lowel’’s emotions and his conflicting feelings. I’d often heard very middling things about this film, but I really liked it.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400502#post2400502)

chawhee

07-23-23, 09:56 PM

Takoma11

07-23-23, 10:13 PM

They Cloned Tyrone
https://fictionhorizon.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/They-Cloned-Tyrone-Ending-Explained.jpg
3
A funny movie about cloning, but it is longer than it really should be (2 hours). The cast is really what makes this worthwhile to me...Boyega was fantastic.

This movie wasn't even on my radar and then today I read a review of it that made me very interested in checking it out. I've loved watching Boyega's star rise ever since Attack the Block.

Thief

07-23-23, 11:11 PM

NOPE
(2022, Peele)

https://i.imgur.com/hkdh8Tk.jpg

"This dream you're chasing, the one where you end up at the top of the mountain, all eyes on you, it's the dream you never wake up from."

Nope follows siblings OJ and Emerald (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer), the aforementioned horse handlers, as they struggle to make ends meet. That is until some weird occurrences and sightings of an alleged UFO presents an opportunity for them to gain both fame and fortune. But chasing that dream can be the reason for them to never wake up again.

There is something about Peele's work that still amazes me on this, his third film. It's a confidence and assuredness in his direction that makes you feel at ease with his work; at least in terms of the craft because the premise is still as eerie and intriguing as with his previous works. No matter the shot, you get the feeling that Peele knows what he's doing and that there is purpose in everything you see on the screen.

Grade: 3.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400544#post2400544)

PHOENIX74

07-23-23, 11:54 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Colette_%282018_movie_poster%29.png
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5437928/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57884483

Colette - (2018)

I'm very aware that looking to cinema for an education in history is pretty foolish, but I'm often inspired to learn more about the subjects I watch - and this was no different with Colette. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette earned enough fame to be accepted by her preferred nomenclature "Colette" - but to get there she had to fight her way out of her husband's shadow. Henry Gauthier-Villars had his own one-name moniker, "Willy", and Collette's novels were at first released under his name. In fact, when her "Claudine" novels became a massive popular hit in France, he convinced her to write more, at stages locking her up when her output slowed down. This film starts with their marriage - Keira Knightley playing Colette and Dominic West, Willy, focusing on their sexual proclivities, and a relationship which was at times close and friendly, at others frosty and dysfunctional. Willy parties, and usually spends a lot of money buying drinks and dinner for the countless people with him - it's amazing how he goes through the massive amounts of money the two earn, and one particular financial transaction hurts Colette keenly. In the meantime, Colette explores her bisexuality, and partners up with Mathilde de Morny - kind of daring for the time, but Mathilde openly dresses in men's clothes and openly identifies with being a man. Interesting biopic, but like with many biopics, I don't see myself ever watching it again - it did it's job, encouraging me to learn about these late 19th/early 20th Century figures.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Assassin%27s_Creed_film_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2016/assassins_creed_ver3.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50518324

Assassins Creed - (2016)

Oh boy. $125 million - and honest effort. They weren't fooling around. New Regency Productions, Ubisoft Motion Pictures and all the other production companies and head honchos really wanted this to work. But - and this is an important but - they didn't grasp what's intrinsically fun about the games. Running around in the past and being an assassin - the action and historical accuracy. The present day sections are around 10% of the game, and the more laborious, overarching and narratively complex parts - the parts that should have been minimized. You can guess what happened - we get a few half-decent action set-pieces in 15th Century Spain, but most of this film is set in the future/present with the tangled web of hopelessly convoluted narrative lovingly transplanted for cinemagoers to hate. Don't blame yourself if you don't understand it - it's simply vague and nonsensical. This film's narrative should have been straightforward, and most of it should have played out in the 15th Century portion. Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling - a dream cast in a film that's a living nightmare to watch - but the reviews that popped up on YouTube are a lot of fun to watch instead.

3/10

Fabulous

07-24-23, 12:18 AM

Pandora's Box (1929)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/sHf8pIve2KKWb92zx8iojwlTtK5.jpg

Act III

07-24-23, 03:31 AM

93869

The Martian (2015)

I forgot how good this movie was. I saw it in theaters and was floored with the special effects. Everything is so realistic. The depiction of Mars is perfect as far as I know, looks and feels like what you see on the NASA site. Second time around though it doesn't quite hit the same level of excitement and intrigue because you know whats already going to happen. I can't see rating this under 10 because there doesnt seem to be any reason whatsoever to knock it down a notch.

10/10

Fabulous

07-24-23, 04:22 AM

Tess (1979)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/rSaHcXMo4Mz6pXzE3y1PwwMDaqT.jpg

LChimp

07-24-23, 09:46 AM

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/146c86109443695.5fd3aa7183819.jpg

I've watched this movie so many times I've lost count. Love it

Stirchley

07-24-23, 01:01 PM

Stirchley

07-24-23, 01:03 PM

93882

Not sure I followed the entire storyline, but loved this movie. The makeup department was fantastic in how it aged the mother. So realistic. Also loved Tilda’s movie dog, which turned out to be her real dog.

Gideon58

07-24-23, 03:17 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTc0NTU5MjI2MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTg5NTQzMw@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

4

Gideon58

07-24-23, 06:47 PM

https://resizing.flixster.com/s0upn5u_k0MAotQz3gxCnsjjCDE=/ems.cHJkLWVtcy1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzLzk3NjMwMGI0LTY0ODktNDE1NS1hNmJiLWE5ZDcxOTU3YzM0Yi5qcGc=

4

Thief

07-24-23, 10:33 PM

BROOKLYN BRIDGE
(1981, Burns)

https://i.imgur.com/Q1ftuwI.jpg

"Isn't it marvelous? that it was built by people like you and I? people like... we would like to be, at least?"

Brooklyn Bridge chronicles the design, construction, and legacy of the titular bridge. It is the directorial debut of popular documentarian Ken Burns, who takes a traditional but insightful approach to the film about this "marvelous" bridge "built by people".

Featuring interviews and commentaries from architects, writers, and regular New Yorkers, Brooklyn Bridge is a breezy and interesting journey through the drive of those that not only wanted to build something to connect, but also of those that wanted to be like them and conveyed that through word, poetry, music, comedy, or just simply by crossing it.

Grade: 3.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400879#post2400879)

Thief

07-24-23, 11:28 PM

SALUDOS AMIGOS
(1942, Various)

https://i.imgur.com/Lf1p7ju.jpg

"This is what can happen to a big city when a crowd of cartoonists are turned loose."

Saludos Amigos is an anthology film released by Disney during World War II. It is comprised of four different shorts all set in different countries of Latin America (Bolivia, Perú, Chile, Argentina, Brazil) and features characters like Donald Duck, Goofy, as well as the introduction of José Carioca, a Brazilian parrot.

Regardless of the reasons for its inception, the film has its moments. The Pedro segment, which follows a young antropomorphic plane on a dangerous air mail mission, is charming while the final segment, Aquarela do Brasil, is colorful and full of neat music. Unfortunately, there is little to no cohesion between each segment which makes it all feel like what it is: a crowd of cartoonists turned loose.

Grade: 2.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400883#post2400883)

Fabulous

07-24-23, 11:44 PM

The Color of Money (1986)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/hhCp6ZLDjS5wUHkGg7k3VGvH3Xm.jpg

Thief

07-24-23, 11:58 PM

UNCLE JOSH'S NIGHTMARE
(1902, Porter)

https://i.imgur.com/C53DXt9.png

"Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

That is the first sentence of a classic children's bedtime prayer. One that is asking for protection from the Lord, and eventually guidance to the soul if Death ends up coming. But even if Death doesn't come, there's still the nightmares to deal with.

Directed by Edwin Porter, Uncle Josh's Nightmare is the first of a "trilogy" of sorts that feature the titular character in different places and situations. This one follows Uncle Josh (Charles Manley) as he tries his best to sleep. That is until a devil-ish presence makes all it can to bother the poor man.

From playing tug-o-war with the bed sheets to disappearing furniture, the short is a showcase of the editing tricks of the early 20th Century. At a little over 2 minutes, it is a breezy and simple watch that sheds some light into the way things were in cinema more than 100 years ago.

Grade: N/A

Act III

07-25-23, 03:10 AM

93901

The Invisible Man (1933)

First half is better than the second half for many reasons. Altogether an above average movie for this era with some over-acting in parts as they did in those days. I didnt like how the ending scenes played out but I'm not going to pick it apart.

7/10

ScarletLion

07-25-23, 05:54 AM

'The Deepest Breath' (2023)

https://i0.wp.com/critterfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/freediving.jpg?resize=1080%2C718&ssl=1

A particularly moving documentary focusing on a world champion free diver and the diving safety instructor she forms a relationship with. Produced by A24 and bought by Netflix after it debuted at Sundance. Some people say it’s a stupid ‘sport’ that is too dangerous. Holding your breath and diving 100m down into the murky depths of the ocean. But as the documentary shows, the people who do it are largely people who have finally found their meaning in life. It gives them such a purpose that they feel alive. Just like the wonderful documentary ‘Free Solo’, this is a film that shows a world so far away from the average person’s that we’re almost watching it in morbid fascination. Some of the underwater shots are also stunningly captured.

There’s a sense of impending doom about it all as the viewer gets a sense very early, that not everything ends happily. In a way, that manipulates the audience emotionally, but I didn’t care as the story is told so well. I was left emotionally drained at the end. Which, is exactly what I want a film to do to me.

9/10

4.5

PHOENIX74

07-25-23, 05:54 AM

I’ve been reading Colette since I was a child. Hated this movie & bailed out.

The movie wasn't really great enough for me to mount much of a spirited defense. It was mediocre. I have to admit to never having read any of Colette's stuff - I don't know if that would have made a difference to me or not. I probably would have come into it with preconceptions. I didn't mind that English actors were playing French people - stuff like Valkyrie has desensitized me. I haven't bailed on a movie (makes me think of leaving a cinema with a parachute strapped on) for ages either, but there was one I watched last night where I came very, very close to.

PHOENIX74

07-25-23, 06:26 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Oppenheimer_%28film%29.jpg
By https://assets.gettyimages.com/bf-boulder-whitelabelbucket-getty-prod/p83rf4nzhg676c69qpb639/v/1109991157/original/386651id1_OPR_Final_27x40_1Sht_RGB.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71354716

Oppenheimer - (2023)

I think I can confidently say, after only having seen Oppenheimer once, that it might be the movie Christopher Nolan is remembered for, and is certainly in the running for being regarded as his best. It's his most mature, layered and balanced - delivering stunning insight into this "American Prometheus", J. Robert Oppenheimer. I'll go and see Barbie - but it's got one hell of a steep incline to travel to beat this film when I regard them side by side. Cillian Murphy also steps up, and delivers a performance that is as assured as Nolan's direction is, but it was Robert Downey Jr. I regarded as much a candidate for an Oscar when we eventually get to that stage. For me, his Lewis Strauss is his best ever performance - something Nolan is more confident of summoning from his talent. I loved the way this film was structured (again - Nolan's screenplay) and it's perfect rhythms. It treated it's subject with the required seriousness, but it's reverence was reserved for science itself - when we start to mix science with politics we begin to stride through noxious, dark and sticky repugnance. I loved this movie - my best 'first watch' for quite a long time, with the ability to go up to full marks the next time I see it. It mixes the much-hated biopic with art and incisiveness, creating a monster that rivals Oppenheimer's creation.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/MuchAdo.jpg
By http://muchadothemovie.com/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33536920

Much Ado About Nothing - (2012)

Here's a movie I nearly parachuted out of, unwilling to go the full journey - about 20 minutes or so into Much Ado About Nothing I was searching for other candidates as I was getting closer and closer to just turning it off. There's something especially pretentious about people who shift a Shakespeare play to the present day, calling attention to all the incongruities using the text as written creates. I wasn't understanding much, and I didn't like the photography - which seemed as conceited as the primary idea. But - I eventually got into it. Credit some spirited acting and Shakespeare's adaptability. Joss Whedon and a cast from shows such as Buffy seem a strange place for this to be coming from - but I liked it in the end, and just have to warn that it takes some adapting from the viewer as well, to fully get into this. I don't think I'd ever seen the play, in any form, but it might just be my favourite from The Bard. Nice work.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/ShanghaiNoon_Poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4063648

Shanghai Noon - (2000)

This comedy depends an awful lot on the laid back and original Owen Wilson gelling with the dynamic Jackie Chan - and for the most part it's a partnership which bears fruit in Shanghai Noon. The screenplay is utter garbage, but these two performers manage to elevate it several rungs above where it belongs - especially Wilson, to whom some people might not enjoy as much as others. He uses his trademark "friendly dopey guy" schtick in this to the hilt, but it's something that seems to fit the Old West. Chan does his marital arts bits - it depends on how much of a fan you are, so it might be too much or too little. Apart from that, this is real Hollywood product, so you know what to expect. Wilson and Chan kind of save this from being a real sinking stone.

6/10

Takoma11

07-25-23, 03:44 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthisorthatedition.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2Fthelastofthemohicans-still.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=852466f19bd8e1ae3355a6e7e620ea7f6622d13d16c128ec320aea200d4e9b4e&ipo=images

The Last of the Mohicans, 1992

Cora (Madeleine Stowe) and Alice (Jodhi May) are the daughters of a British commander, Munro (Maurice Roeves), being escorted to their father by British Major Heyward (Steven Waddington) and Native guide Magua (Wes Studi). But when Magua betrays them, due to a fierce hatred of Munro, the travelers must rely on the Mohican family of Chingachgook (Russell Means), Uncas (Eric Schweig), and the adopted Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis). Along their various adventures, Cora and Hawkeye begin to develop feelings for each other, something that disturbs Munro and Heyward, who wants Cora for himself.

Despite a story that betrays some old-fashioned narrative conventions, engaging performances and beautiful scenery make this an enjoyable adventure-romance.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401018#post2401018)

Mr Minio

07-25-23, 05:14 PM

Hollywood or Bust (1956) - ★★½ (Distinct)

https://i.imgur.com/WFWFavu.png

The final collaboration between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, a duo that graced the screen for a decade before, is a delightful Tashlin vehicle that combines cartoonish gags, colorful visuals, and satirical commentary on American culture and media.

Tashlin, who started his career as an animator for Warner Bros., brings a sense of dynamism and exaggeration to his live-action films, creating a world where anything can happen and nothing is taken seriously. I'd seen 5 of his live-action films before and this one might be my favorite so far. While my introduction to the auteur, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, his madcap Artists and Models, and musically gleeful The Girl Can't Help It, are perhaps just as entertaining, it was Hollywood or Bust that made me truly fall in love with the director's fluid ascension of gags, humorous situations, and creativity that explode with such effervescence only Hong Kong cinema of the 80s and 90s can ever match this level of fun.

https://i.imgur.com/ijaB62P.png

The premise is simple. Two strangers both obtain a winning ticket that wins them a car that was supposed to be won by just one person. There's no other choice but to share the car. Hilarity ensues as the two men decide to take a trip to California, encountering various mishaps, adventures, and romantic entanglements along the way.

Godard famously said: "Tashlin indulges in a debauchery of poetic discoveries where charm and comicality alternate with a constant happiness of expression... He has not renovated American comedy, he has done better, he has created. And henceforth, when you speak of a comic film, no longer say: it's Chaplinesque, but say very loudly: it's Tashlinesque". The fact that a serious French film critic praised Tashlin aplenty may have several reasons, one of them being that Tashlin's fluid mastery of craft is to be enjoyed unquestionably. I see Tashlin in the same league as, say, Jing Wong. Entertainment-first films have little to do with artistic pretenses or meaningful messages. Both directors have been known to employ comical, cartoonish sorts of humor, and while Tashlin was more civil than the Hong Kongese cash cow, you can hardly call Hollywood and Bust an art film.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/51f45f1ce0ba975749035467f5154509/90705f67d091d01f-9b/s540x810/d0851598bf07a37c3d432dc3979027cab069f175.gif
Or maybe Godard just loved this shot of Anita Ekberg.

All in all, Hollywood or Bust is a madly entertaining film in striking VistaVision. Tashlin is a great director and it's quite incredible how fluid and competent the whole thing feels. Laughs and fun guaranteed as long as you can stand Lewis' voice and the fact you're not watching a high-brow art film for a change.

Gideon58

07-25-23, 05:36 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Faces_%281968_poster_-_retouched%29.jpg

3.5

Gideon58

07-25-23, 05:37 PM

Hollywood or Bust (1956) - ★★½ (Distinct)

https://i.imgur.com/WFWFavu.png

I don't think i liked it as much as you did, but I did like this film. Glad to see I'm not the only one who watched it.

Act III

07-25-23, 08:23 PM

93905

Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

This movie is nothing like the other Mad Max movies. There's minimal vehicle use, at least until near the end of the film. The rest of time they use horses. You think okay, this fits into a further down the line scenario. But it isn't serious and borderlines parody and slapstick, so you instantly stop caring about those sort of details. The middle third of it becomes Peter Pan and the last act is a straight up kids movie. Minimal violence, almost no blood, cheeky jokes and so on. Then I saw the end dedication "for Byron" and quickly found an article on what that means. The co-director had died while scouting film locations for this movie in 1983, so I guess that has something to do with the sudden change in tone and seriousness of the Mad Max series. Mel Gibson plays the only serious character in the film, keeping true to his part shown in the previous installments, but this is deeply drowned out by the goonish nature of all the other characters. Also of note is that the "thunderdome" scene is a very small part and has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, evoking a WWF wrestling type atmosphere. This one seems out of place among the other movies in the series. There is nothing terribly wrong with it but if you'd seen the first two and went to see this your expectations would've been blown to bits. I do remember snippets of it here and there but mainly I'd forgotten most of it since seeing it in the 1980s.

6/10

GulfportDoc

07-25-23, 09:01 PM

BROOKLYN BRIDGE
(1981, Burns)

Brooklyn Bridge chronicles the design, construction, and legacy of the titular bridge. It is the directorial debut of popular documentarian Ken Burns, who takes a traditional but insightful approach to the film about this "marvelous" bridge "built by people".

Featuring interviews and commentaries from architects, writers, and regular New Yorkers, Brooklyn Bridge is a breezy and interesting journey through the drive of those that not only wanted to build something to connect, but also of those that wanted to be like them and conveyed that through word, poetry, music, comedy, or just simply by crossing it.

Grade: rating_3_5
Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2400879#post2400879)
Thanks for the tip. I haven't seen this documentary. Occasionally I'd get a ride back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge when I briefly taught at the John Jay College in 1967 (normally I took the subway). I got a little thrill every time traversing the bridge due to its history-- kind of like the first few times I drove over the Golden Gate in S.F. And in '81 perhaps it was before Burns swang left...:)

Takoma11

07-25-23, 11:10 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FbkTfP6r7Vq6V0wXIuar7gb2inyb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c577f9555dbcad98cd692bac5a343925af170b158f3a32fc6945877abb3af19c&ipo=images

Yellow Submarine, 1968

In this animated musical film, Pepperland is overtaken by the music-hating Blue Meanies. As the land is drained of life and color, Fred (Lance Percival) is sent for help, and soon finds the Beatles. Fred, the Beatles, and an eccentric scientist named Jeremy Hillary Boob (Dick Emery) journey together in the yellow submarine on their way to save Pepperland.

Visually engaging and full of enjoyable songs and gentle humor, this is a total treat.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401086#post2401086)

iluv2viddyfilms

07-25-23, 11:37 PM

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 - B
The Velvet Queen - A-
Easy Living - A

Guaporense

07-25-23, 11:51 PM

Oppenheimer (2023)

https://nominister.files.wordpress.com/2023/07/oppenheimer-2023-movie-poster.jpg

At first, I thought about waiting for the movie to show up on Amazon Prime before watching it. :D But, since everybody was talking about it, I decided to give it a go. It is a great movie, perhaps Nolan's best, but also flawed. My main issue with the movie is that very fast editing in some parts lowered the gravitas of the movie (should learn with Tarvkosky) while the excessive focus on Oppie the communist witch trials distracted too much and wasted too much of the movie's runtime.

Despite these issues, I think this is the best Hollywood movie I watched that was made in recent years. Really great indeed.

PHOENIX74

07-26-23, 12:13 AM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Killer_inside_me_2010_poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards or Revolution Films, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27480943

The Killer Inside Me - (2010)

This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Jim Thompson pulp novel by screenwriter John Curran and director Michael Winterbottom - it's seedy ability to shock coming from a couple of ill-advised off-putting scenes where main character Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) beats a couple of vulnerable women to death. Sadistic to the audience in it's graphicness, it reflects the kind of tone a novel of that sort would have, but is needlessly in bad taste. This is a film from the point of view of the killer, and reflects the matter-of-fact casualness with which he views his abhorrent actions - the rest of the characters are far, far removed. I'm not quite sure what to make of all of that, other than the fact that it gives us an idea of what a sociopath's thought-processes are like. Directed by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, the exploitation factor would have been ratcheted up and the characters played by Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson would have had more of a voice (all the characters would have, really) - we'd understand why it was made. As it stands, I have no idea why Winterbottom and Revolution Films made this film, and that makes me a little uneasy.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Blame_it_on_fidel.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14953198

Blame it on Fidel! - (2006)

What's a young girl to do when her parents suddenly become social activists and politically motivated? It's 1970, and spoiled little French lady Anna de la Mesa (Nina Kervel-Bey) has had her world turned upside down after a visit from her Spanish Aunt and cousin - unfortunate victims of the Franco regime. Before she knows it, her mother and father have found Communism, and her joyful existence becomes a miserably poor one full of "group solidarity", teargas-filled marches, poverty and loneliness. Her parents move around and their house is always full of activists, planning elections and protests. As her frustration boils over into rage, again and again, Anna will stage protests of her own against what she sees as the tyranny of maman and papa in this enjoyable French drama. Nina Kervel-Bey is gorgeous, and she has a frown that will make you laugh every time it creases her eyebrows.

6/10

Act III

07-26-23, 02:28 AM

93932

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

The science seems flawed all over the place, but everything else was fine in a Star Trek kind of way. Reminds me of 50's sci-fi so maybe this was made by folks that got their start back then. I think it could have been better all around but I'm more of an action kind of guy.

7/10

Fabulous

07-26-23, 04:26 AM

Castle of Sand (1974)

4.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/sxYDAjrAcwk1w6Yshj9CpBTcKv3.jpg

LChimp

07-26-23, 07:39 AM

https://uploads.jovemnerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/creed_3_poster_encarada__0xzi9l0cm.jpg

Predictable. You know exactly how things will unfold, miles before they actually do.

Fabulous

07-26-23, 11:26 AM

Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1QlZ3Kge4bCH01V3VibxckeVIiu.jpg

Stirchley

07-26-23, 01:32 PM

93937

One heck of a storyline. The two leads were very good - the woman was new to me. Mark Rylance was terrifying!

Good movie. I enjoyed it very much, but would not re-watch.

Gideon58

07-26-23, 07:40 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTRhZjg0YWYtNzMwMy00NDkzLThhMGUtZDBiNmYxNzkxNWU5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQwMTY2Nzk@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

3.5

Gideon58

07-26-23, 07:41 PM

93937

One heck of a storyline. The two leads were very good - the woman was new to me. Mark Rylance was terrifying!

Good movie. I enjoyed it very much, but would not re-watch.

I liked this movie lot and no argument that there's no re-watch on my schedule. This was not an easy watch.

beelzebubble

07-26-23, 08:13 PM

Sad Vacation: The Last Days of Sid and Nancy (2016)
This is an entertaining though sad documentary of the last days of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. It was a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me. I wasn’t a part of that scene, but I was part of the art and punk scene in Philadelphia during the Eighties. It was fun to see who still looked punk and who had moved on. I was reminded of mosh pits and crazy performers rubbing doll parts and cat food on themselves. And some guy who cut himself and flung his blood in the crowd, which freaked me out as it was during the AIDs crisis.
But pack to Sid and Nancy. It was lovely to see people who actually knew and liked Nancy. I think she got such a bad rap because the break up of the Sex Pistols happened while she and Sid were dating. Kind of a Yoko Ono thing; fans blaming the woman rather then the men in the group for its demise.

Many people believe Sid could not have killed Nancy, many paint him as a sweet guy. But he and Nancy had a lot of fights and he was not averse to clocking someone over the head with a bottle. They also liked to play around with knives. I think the likely hood is Sid stabbed Nancy, but not with any vigor the cut was actually relatively shallow, while they were both high on heroin. They then nodded off while Nancy bled to death.
The documentary places Sid and Nancy with in their punk milieu and also goes over the timeline of Nancy's stabbing and then Sid’s death of an overdose. I really don’t know how the movie would go over with someone who doesn’t know the scene or who, Sid and Nancy, were to it. But for those who do, it is a kind of nostalgic trip. If the deaths of two young people, can be called such a thing.
2.5 popcorns
https://steveemberton.com/app/uploads/2013/02/Sid-Nancy-78-5A02-Edit.jpg

PHOENIX74

07-26-23, 11:33 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Gosford_Park_movie.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12082258

Gosford Park - (2001)

Well - that was kind of overwhelming. 16 major characters, and big performances are too much for me to take in on a first viewing. Who stood out to me last night? Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Richard E. Grant, Michael Gambon, Emily Watson and Stephen Fry - although I have to say that I'm also a big fan of Derek Jacobi and Charles Dance. The murder that's hinted at in Gosford Park's tagline doesn't really sit at the heart of this movie, like I thought it would. Instead it's the two separate worlds that are examined - the upstairs 'moneyed' world and the downstairs 'servants' world which are actually very alike. In fact, the murder is linked to a kind of connection between the two. A 1932 setting puts this at the very dusk of the gilded age, and most of what happens and especially what is said in this Altman film is a comment on that curious time and circumstance. I'm going to need to see this a few more times though - which I will when I get down to reviewing it. There was simply too much here for me to get on a first viewing.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Primal_Fear_%281996_film%29_poster.jpg
By POV - Can be obtained from the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18560847

Primal Fear - (1996)

We live in an age of movies that are too reliant on having some kind of twist define them - and that can devalue a movie like Primal Fear - the swifty it pulls at the end was a real shock to audiences in '96, but there's a lot more going for it than that. A stunning debut from Edward Norton, earning him an Academy Award nomination, overshadowed what was a really strong showing from Richard Gere. Here's what I wrote on Letterboxd : "There comes a time in a narcissistic defense attorney's life when he has to believe not only that he's the best in court - but a great and altruistic person as well. The way this plays out in Primal Fear, with Richard Gere's Martin Vail convincing himself his client isn't guilty, makes for a film that really plays to Gere's strengths as an actor. The entire spotlight was stolen by a young Edward Norton, however, who dazzled in his debut and earned an Oscar nomination not to mention many other awards and plaudits. He plays client Aaron Stampler - obviously guilty, but the perfect case for Vail to prove that he's not only exceptional, but cares about this altar boy's humanity as well. The further he probes, the more convinced he really is of Aaron's innocence - leading to a devastating denouement that most of us should have really seen coming - except for this heady lawyer who in the end realises, too late, that narcissism blinds. Top notch thriller this, that has become a cliché over the years. Gere's smug self-love and performance overall shouldn't be overlooked - he's great, as are Laura Linney and Frances McDormand."

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Pecker_movie_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5886203

Pecker - (1998)

A John Waters film is really it's own unique thing - and I can't overstate how much I love them, especially Pecker. It's hard to describe - let's start with Edward Furlong, who is giving what is probably the worst performance of his life, and yet making the film all the more glorious for it. It's a deep, abiding love of trash that's so grand it convinces me I've got everything wrong my whole life. It's a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary continually saying "Full of grace!" while it's obviously being operated via ventriloquism by an earnest grandmother that runs a "Pit Beef" stand that is unreasonably popular. I don't even know what pit beef is. It's an 83-minute film that takes a good third of it's running time to introduce it's burgeoning cast of characters. It's a film that's conscious of it's own surreal simplicity and twisted logic. Some said that Pecker was John Waters' first stab at making a mainstream film - but when I watch it I see nothing mainstream at all. It's just as crazy, and just as enjoyable, as his other films. It's not Citizen Kane or There Will Be Blood, but it strikes a chord with me that has me wondering why I haven't watched all of John Waters' films already.

7.5/10

Takoma11

07-26-23, 11:42 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.traileraddict.com%2Fcontent%2Fextra-thumbs%2F256730537-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9b37cc093ad6ed2eea907a0dc8b8d78e452d8492e669f985f168ab35b61d47a5&ipo=images

The Redeemed and the Dominant: Fittest on Earth, 2016

This documentary follows the efforts, triumphs, and tragedies of the competitors at the 2015 CrossFit Games.

It’s . . . a movie about CrossFit.

2.5

Full Review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401324#post2401324)

Takoma11

07-27-23, 12:54 AM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fscreen-connections.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F02%2FThe.Night_.Clerk_.2020-Still.Image-00523.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=197830a383dd808d855b7d096f0aa277c0e70d59345a1b53b7594a5cf2d409fe&ipo=images

The Night Clerk, 2020

Bart (Tye Sheridan) is a night clerk at a hotel, where he uses hidden cameras to spy on the people who stay there. Bart has autism, and ostensibly he is using his recordings to gain insight into the way that people interact. But Bart becomes fascinated by a woman (Jacque Gray) staying overnight, and is distraught when he witnesses her murder. Unable to admit to his voyeurism, Bart becomes enmeshed in the investigation. Worse, he is drawn to an enigmatic woman named Andrea (Ana de Armas) who may be connected to the killing.

This is a bad movie, and watching it made me grumpy. It looks okay, I like the cast, but the writing is terrible and enamored with an outdated, offensive portrayal of autism.

2

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401328#post2401328)

Fabulous

07-27-23, 04:17 AM

Penelope (1966)

2

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/cN6iR0hNUmyMoTkY8Ihg40hYe1F.jpg

Siddon

07-27-23, 06:28 AM

One heck of a storyline. The two leads were very good - the woman was new to me. Mark Rylance was terrifying!

Good movie. I enjoyed it very much, but would not re-watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5z3cr8AB5g

She was in Waves (2019) which if you know me I tend to rip on most modern AA cinema. The movie doesn't just focus on melodrama but bothers to tell an original story with actual cinematography which is becoming rarer and rarer in modern films.

ScarletLion

07-27-23, 07:06 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5z3cr8AB5g

She was in Waves (2019) which if you know me I tend to rip on most modern AA cinema. The movie doesn't just focus on melodrama but bothers to tell an original story with actual cinematography which is becoming rarer and rarer in modern films.

Terrific director Trey Shults. 3 great films so far in his career. I wish he would do something else soon. Apparently he has a tv series about lumberjacks in the pipeline but not much else.

LChimp

07-27-23, 07:38 AM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmQzOWZhOTMtZTcxNC00MTdkLWEwYmUtOWVmOTFhNTdkNjRkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk2NDQ3MTA@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

I thought it was pretty good.

matt72582

07-27-23, 10:58 AM

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Groundbreaking Documentary on a Legendary Band | Gone With The Wind - 7.5/10

https://youtu.be/0E2YncA4UME

Thief

07-27-23, 12:35 PM

POWDER KEG
(2001, González Iñárritu)

https://i.imgur.com/Chk3T5z.png

"I've had people wounded on their knees in front of me, begging me to help. You know what I do?... Ah, take the picture. I've never saved anybody... Fifteen wars. Not a single one."

The question of what we do in the face of war, especially when it's something so common in our lives, is part of what fuels this short from Alejandro González Iñárritu. Powder Keg is yet another short film from The Hire series, produced by BMW. In this one, our unnamed driver (Clive Owen) is tasked with taking a wounded war photographer, Harvey Jacobs (Stellan Skarsgård), across the border and out of hostile territory.

Putting aside the reasonings and logistics of this BMW driver being thrown into this scenario – other than promoting the shiny BMW X5 3.0i, now with leather interiors. Perfect for transporting bleeding people! – I found the short to be quite effective. First, you can feel how close it is to González Iñárritu's sensibilities, but second, Skarsgård is great in the role as he transmits the bitterness and regret of Jacobs about what he sees as his inability to do anything in the face of constant war.

Grade: 4

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401396#post2401396)

Thief

07-27-23, 01:40 PM

TICKER
(2002, Carnahan)

https://i.imgur.com/gqjYOlL.png

"What would you fall on your sword for? If not this, then what?"

Ticker is the seventh short film from the BMW series The Hire, but the eighth I see. In this one, the driver (Clive Owen) is transporting a man (Don Cheadle) carrying a mysterious briefcase. However, they are relentlessly pursued by a helicopter with armed men determined to stop them which, of course, allows our driver to showcase the BMW Z4 3.0i *wink, wink*

Even though this one's from the "second season", it is interesting that I saw it right after Powder Keg, which was the first one from the "first season". The thing is that they both put the driver into more ludicrous high-stakes situations (rescuing people in war-torn countries) as opposed to just driving people around. This one does feel a bit over-produced, but as far as the action goes, Carnahan's direction is pretty slick and effective.

Grade: 3

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401412#post2401412)

Thief

07-27-23, 03:37 PM

THE ESCAPE
(2016, Blonkamp)

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

"I might be a little rusty right now, but I've been doing this for a long time. I'm very good at it."

In The Escape, the driver is tasked with transporting Lily (Dakota Fanning) to an unknown client while escorted by a mercenary called Holt (Jon Bernthal). The thing is that Lily is a clone created by Molecular Genetics whose illegal activities have just been exposed. Their "escape" takes place just as the FBI is raiding the facility.

As they're driving, the subsequent interactions with Lily and the mistreatment of her by Holt seem to force the driver to a moral dilemma, where he decides to dump Holt and take Lily to safety. This, of course, gives him the opportunity to drive a BMW G30 really fast for all our potential customers to see.

Grade: 3.5

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401442#post2401442)

Darth Pazuzu

07-27-23, 07:02 PM

I'm just starting to really get back into the habit of going to see movies in an actual theater! :D I don't know what it is, or whether or not I've been just lazy or cheap or what, but I have not been a regular big-screen cinema-goer in many years. I've gone to see movies in theaters sort of "on and off" over the years, but lack of interest in what was generally happening at the time meant that my visits were strictly sporadic. (And the Covid quarantine of '20 certainly didn't help, either.) I mean, just by way of example, I certainly couldn't give you a history of what's happened in the Marvel Universe over the past decade-and-a-half. For the most part, I've just been building up my collection of Blu-rays, 4K's and DVD's and enjoying the cinematic marvels of the past in the comfort of my own apartment. (And speaking of Covid, the spare time and the additional financial benefits during the lockdown greatly facilitated my collecting and home viewing habits!) Yeah, I did go to see Christopher Nolan's Tenet, the Bowie montage documentary Moonage Daydream and the latest David Cronenberg film Crimes of the Future. But as far as the big screen goes, that's been it!

And hopefully, all that will change. Hopefully, I can get back into the groove of watching one film in a local movie theater per week!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Dial_of_Destiny_theatrical_poster.jpg/220px-Indiana_Jones_and_the_Dial_of_Destiny_theatrical_poster.jpg

Just last week, on my Grandma Sue's invitation, we both went to the Tuesday showing ($7 apiece!) of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). We certainly had a good time and the experience was highly enjoyable. But for both us, the experience could not equal how exciting it was when we both saw Raiders of the Lost Ark together for the first time in its first theatrical run. That was quite memorable for the 8-year-old I was at the time - in particular the climactic Nazi meltdown!

As of the first viewing, I'm kind of on the fence about Dial of Destiny. I mean, the premise is really good, and I actually rather liked the idea of Indy as this creaky-boned old codger who relates more to the great achievements of the past than those of his present (that being the moon landing of 1969). Maybe it's because I just turned 50 years old (the half-century mark), I'm watching all my heroes either die or fade away day by day, and I can't always relate to what's happening in popular culture (music or movies), that this characterization of Indiana Jones strikes a rather poignant chord within me. A lot of people don't seem to like this aspect of the film, but I think that that's just nostalgia talking and speaks to a need that people have to preserve the ideals and memories of their youth... and to not have to acknowledge the facts of our own death, mortality and the occasional disillusionment that happens along the way. (As deeply problematic as I find the J.J. Abrams Star Wars Sequel Trilogy to be, I certainly didn't have as much of a problem with the characterization of Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker as an aged, embittered recluse, for precisely that very reason. Other people certainly did, including Hamill himself, and they're all certainly entitled to their opinions.)

I liked Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw, and Mads Mikkelsen was good as the villain. (But then, isn't Mikkelsen always really good?) But the fact of the matter is, much of the film feels just a little too perfect and streamlined, like so much of today's big-budget action cinema. As exciting as the opening train sequence set in the 1940's is, it doesn't necessarily have the physicality of the first three Indiana Jones movies. And psychologically, Indy's advanced age aside, there isn't really any depth to any of the characterizations. We just get a series of thumbnail sketches instead of full-blown characters, and Waller-Bridge's transformation from selfish mercenary into a genuinely heroic sidekick doesn't necessarily feel earned or convincing. And while it's certainly nice to have John Rhys-Davies' Sallah and Karen Allen's Marion drop in, they aren't really given much to do. I guess at this point it's meant to be sort of a final curtain call, presuming of course that this is indeed Ford's final bow as Indiana Jones.

Overall verdict: I think it's okay, and I had a good time. But I'm also once again reminded of how Hollywood moviemaking is becoming streamlined and more mechanical. The "human factors" just seem to be getting steamrolled, and I'm ultimately left with not much more than the aftertaste of popcorn in my mouth. (I guess that's kind of why my visits to the movie theater have been so infrequent over the past decade or so.) Oh well...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Asteroidcity.jpg

Now this is certainly quite idiosyncratic and a great deal of fun. Asteroid City is the latest opus by Wes Anderson, whose overall oeuvre I'm probably less familiar with than I should be. I've seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou from 2004 and The Grand Budapest Hotel from 2014, but to this day I don't have anything on Blu-ray yet. (Oversight! :eek:) It's kind of hard for me to describe Anderson's extremely stylized work to those who aren't as familiar with it, but his films definitely take place within their own universe and each has its own unique visual style. The characters are always interesting, the dialogue intelligent and quirky. Realism and naturalism are decidedly not the highest priorities for Anderson, but you're always left with the feeling of a story well-told, and one you feel as if you've never really been told before.

In this fanciful sci-fi-themed play-within-a-play set in the very small retro-'50s town of Asteroid City, the plot, story and character details kind of fly at you rather relentlessly, and you feel like you might need a second viewing to fully catch up and assimilate it. But this is something I genuinely admire in movies greatly, and I like movies that are quirky and smart and assume that its viewers are intelligent. In terms of picking out details, I kind of haven't fully processed Asteroid City quite yet, but this was one of the most enjoyable trips to the movies I've had in quite some time. It's definitely got one of the most distinctive and amusing scenes of an alien visitation I've ever seen, and if I tried to describe it I wouldn't do it justice in a million years! :lol:

Highly recommended, and one for my Blu-ray/4K UHD wish list.

Next item on the agenda... (hopefully) next Tuesday... Oppenheimer!

What would you recommend for future viewing? I'm open to suggestions. :D

Thursday Next

07-27-23, 07:21 PM

Joy Ride (2023)
Not really my type of humour. Some of it was ok.

2.5

Smoking Causes Coughing (2022)
Absolutely nuts. Horror/comedy/weird shit. Kind of fun.
3.5

The Take (2016)

Hokum.
2

Gideon58

07-27-23, 07:24 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjZmZjJkZDgtMjMyNy00NDk3LTkxOWItNTI3OTU5ODRiZTdkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTE5MDM3ODM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

3.5

Allaby

07-27-23, 07:47 PM

Oppenheimer (2023) Cillian Murphy is excellent and gives what is currently my pick for best performance by an actor in a leading role. Robert Downey Jr is also fantastic. I liked the score and the use of sound in the film. Very effective. Oppenheimer is very well directed and remains interesting and engaging, even though it does go on a little too long. Currently, my 4th favourite film of the year. 4.5

beelzebubble

07-27-23, 08:19 PM

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Groundbreaking Documentary on a Legendary Band | Gone With The Wind - 7.5/10

https://youtu.be/0E2YncA4UME
Oh yeah! I saw this, Really good!

matt72582

07-27-23, 08:43 PM

Oh yeah! I saw this, Really good!

Nice...

That channel is full of very good rock documentaries!

Act III

07-27-23, 11:05 PM

93977

Escape From New York (1981)

I haven't seen this movie before, it must have been Escape From L.A. that I saw. The action was lacking and the whole vibe seemed very relaxed. Being an end of the 70s flick I guess that might be partially why. Overall this movie doesn't stand up to many other action movies from the late 70s / early 80s. For me it was interesting to see a slice of that frame of time. There's nothing to put you off while watching it, but it seems mediocre to me. I imagine that back then the theater would have been filled with teenagers going to see this.

6/10

Takoma11

07-27-23, 11:09 PM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mubicdn.net%2Fimages%2Ffilm%2F63342%2Fcache-243459-1501726292%2Fimage-w1280.jpg%3Fsize%3D740x&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=94587e828ad8bd53f6675bf5d8e2d87fb4ce18fb49ed9c2b6a5cd233649153b7&ipo=images

A Girl of the Limberlost, 1990

Elnora (Heather Fairfield) lives with her mother, Kate (Annette O’Toole), still reeling from the loss of Kate’s husband and Elnora’s father. Elnora wants desperately to go to school, but her mother balks at the idea, insisting that she needs Elnora’s help to keep their farm afloat. In Elnora’s corner is nature photographer Gene Stratton-Porter (Joanna Cassidy), a woman who is shaken by the rapid deforestation taking place in the community, something that threatens to seriously harm several species of butterflies.

Hampered by a somewhat tepid overall storyline, there is some good character work here, especially from O’Toole.

3

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2401635#post2401635)

PHOENIX74

07-27-23, 11:40 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Local_Hero_Poster.jpg
By www.rogerebert.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3284626

Local Hero - (1983)

I can still remember people adoring this when it first came out. I was a little too young for it's sleepy, settled pace at the time, but it's perfect for me now. Local Hero has a sharp wit to it, and there are many instances where it's laugh-out-loud funny - it makes me wonder why Peter Riegert wasn't a bigger star. In the film an oil executive - Mac (Riegert) - travels to a sleepy coastal Scottish town to negotiate a price for the entire place, much to everyone's secret delight. It's refreshing to see a film where the locals are all too happy to accept being shifted off their land for the millions they'll earn, but it's the oil executive who realises the magic of the place he's about to defile. It makes sense - we all take home for granted, and it's those with new eyes of discovery that can see true beauty. Over time Mac adapts to the place, and that's what a lot of the film's about - the way it seeps into him. The screenplay has a perfection to it I love, and aside from Lancaster it's carried by a cast that aren't exactly household names. Refreshing and assured, I'm glad it had an audience back then, and still does now.

8.5/10

https://i.postimg.cc/rwL5Kd8x/keeping-rosy.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3284626

Keeping Rosy - (2014)

Fast-paced, no nonsense thriller - very spoiler sensitive, about a quick-to-anger young executive who has been done wrong, and creates a dangerous situation for herself which evolves over time. Like Stuart Gordon's Stuck (I don't know why that film comes to mind) it's very basic, but Steve Reeves' only feature film knows which buttons to press and when. In an era of bloated epics, it's nice to see something this lean and direct. Tense, and one of those films where you're suddenly asking yourself, "Wait. Am I suddenly relating with the bad person here? Who is, and what is okay regarding this situation?" Nothing. That's why I think I'm going to remember Keeping Rosy.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/The_Young_and_Prodigious_TS_Spivet_poster.jpg
Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40657873

The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet - (2013)

There aren't many films where I can say "If I'd seen that in the intended 3D, then I might be rating it differently." After Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection, Amélie, A Very Long Engagement and MicMacs, Jean-Pierre Jeunet made this. When it came time for it's U.S. release, Jeunet had a run-in with Harvey Weinstein, and wouldn't make another feature for nearly a decade. I'd describe it thus - this is as close as you'll get to a Wes Anderson movie that's not made by Wes Anderson. Everything is here, from the whimsical narration to the cut-out diorama flourishes. If you've read the book, you'll know what kind of thing to expect - one genius kid's journey across the U.S. to visit the Smithsonian and accept a prize - but it's a real shame to have to see it without 3D, for this film was really made for that format. If you have 3D equipment, then it's well worth a look.

6/10

PHOENIX74

07-28-23, 12:04 AM

Next item on the agenda... (hopefully) next Tuesday... Oppenheimer!

What would you recommend for future viewing? I'm open to suggestions. :D

If it's still showing, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an exceptional watch in a cinema. Never underestimate how great those animated Spider-Man movies are. I love them, and I'm not even that great a fan of the character.

iluv2viddyfilms

07-28-23, 12:56 AM

The Four Feathers (1939) - A

iluv2viddyfilms

07-28-23, 01:01 AM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjZmZjJkZDgtMjMyNy00NDk3LTkxOWItNTI3OTU5ODRiZTdkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTE5MDM3ODM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

3.5

Love, love, love this one. It's a bit heavy handed at times with John Wayne's political messaging, but it works on many levels and if a person can get beyond how politically incorrect or "problematic" as the kids say, it is, you'll find an amazingly well crafted and fun film that wears its Shakespeare references on its sleeve - primarily Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth. It's an A- flick for me and one I'll watch any time.

Fabulous

07-28-23, 04:11 AM

Absolute Beginners (1986)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/aGGC3CVlfsWF4FjSeafVHd3oav4.jpg

TheUsualSuspect

07-28-23, 10:22 AM

Talk To Me

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/kdPMUMJzyYAc4roD52qavX0nLIC.jpg

4

On the surface, A24's Talk To Me is a teen horror film ready to make you jump with fright, but this Australian horror flick has more on its mind than just jump scares. In fact, I have a hard time recounting any real jump scares in the film as director brothers Danny and Michael Philippou are more focused on making your skin crawl and they excel at that in spades.

Mia is still recovering from the death of her mother and she talks her best friend, along with her best friend's little brother and boyfriend into going to a party to try this new internet trend that many think is a hoax. The trend involves touching a severed and embalmed hand and speaking the lines "Talk to me...I let you in." What comes next is the thrill of being possessed for a short period of time. But, as with all things supernatural, sometimes those dead spirits tend to hang around a bit longer than they should.

At times gnarly and shocking, Talk to Me is a breath of fresh air in a very familiar possession subgenre. It's smarter, better looking, and more original than its contemporaries. Those expecting another Smile, with the constant jump scares will most likely be disappointed. Talk to Me will have your heart racing and the constant dialogue running through your head..."Don't touch the damn hand!!!"

The Philippou brothers clearly have some talent and a keen eye for the visual horror flair that makes the film separate itself from the pack. The talent doesn't stop behind the camera, in front of the camera is Sophie Wilde, who plays Mia. Wilde has the difficult task of playing a character we need to sympathize with while the deterioration of touching the hand tears away at who she is. As the film progresses we understand that maybe we can't trust what she sees anymore and thus she becomes a liability. Who would pass up the opportunity to talk to a loved one if the chance were to arise? Dealing with grief is a key theme here as is the juggling of teenage behaviour. Would I trust my kids at a party not to do dumb shit? Nope.

I can't go on without discussing the sound design. The Philippou brothers use auditory cues to clue the audience into the sequences where she sees the dead without the hand. It plays perfectly for inner character turmoil as we realize what those sounds are and it walks the perfect line of being just eerily uncomfortable enough to make you squirm.

The violence is small but packs a punch. When it hits, it hits a visceral level of uncomfortableness. Is it scary? I can see some people being freaked out, but my screening had a child no older than 6 in it. I didn't hear him cry once the entire time. Great parenting skills whoever that guy was...

Talk to Me is an excellent debut from two young talented filmmakers and I eagerly await more films from them. And hey...if the film is a success maybe we get a prequel and see who the hell that hand belongs to.

ScarletLion

07-28-23, 10:35 AM

Allaby

07-28-23, 11:12 AM

The Slumber Party (2023) Directed by Veronica Rodriguez, this Disney Channel Original movie is about four friends who wake up after a sleepover with no memory of the night before and one of them is missing. Although I'm the target audience for this, I really enjoyed it. The lovely and talented Darby Camp is charming and delightful and the other girls are wonderful too. There are several laugh out loud moments and lots of fun teen girl shenanigans. It's like The Hangover, only funnier, more enjoyable and with cute teen girls in it. Recommended for families with tween or teen girls. 4

gulshan212

07-28-23, 12:15 PM

I saw Avatar 2 last week, and I will rate 9/10.
Amazing VFX and all characters are just amazing.

TheUsualSuspect

07-28-23, 12:49 PM

I'm glad this is good, it's been on my radar for a while.

It was a pleasant surprise.

Stirchley

07-28-23, 01:04 PM

93983

Strange good movie. Senegalese lead actress new to me. Beautiful woman. Wouldn’t watch it again, but that’s ok.

93984

Very talky like all French movies are, but it turned out to be a good movie about family. Léa Seydoux very good as per usual.

Gideon58

07-28-23, 03:29 PM

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDg1OGQ4YzgtM2Y2NS00NjA3LWFjYTctMDRlMDI3NWE1OTUyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_.jpg

2nd Rewatch....Considered by a lot of cinephiles to be Woody's masterpiece, I still scratch my head over how this film won the Oscar for Best Picture over Star Wars, The Goodbye Girl, Julia, and The Turning Point. There's some solid writing, but God, this Alvy Singer is probably the most unlikable character Woody has ever played and I just don't see what Annie (Oscar winner Diane Keaton) sees in him because he treats her like dirt. Unfortunately I also think Alvy Singer is probably the closest thing we've ever seen onscreen to the real Woody Allen. I think Woody has made at least half a dozen films better than this one. 3

Captain Steel

07-28-23, 05:50 PM

Absolute Beginners (1986)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KCA8PXR7L._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg

I'm really torn on how to rate this movie. It's almost as cringe-worthy as it is entertaining.

It's quite bizarre with a plot that, while simple at its core, seems to go all over the place before everything is said & done (going from satire about the entertainment industry to race wars and beyond)!

TCM introduced it as more of "an extended music video" than a movie - I'm not sure if I would've picked up on that without hearing the description first, but it is a musical and a visual spectacle (it's very colorful and the set work bears noting).

https://culturalgutter.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/screen-shot-2022-08-06-at-12.48.33-pm.png

The nostalgia level is on two points: first the movie was made in 1986 which is quite obvious especially to the MTV generation, but it tells a story that takes place in 1958 (so it's 86's version of 58)! I'm not sure how well it conveys 1958 (outside of some music styles & civil unrest indicative of the time). It seems more like a 1958 amalgam with 1986.

Real life musicians Sade, Ray Davies, and David Bowie appear (with Bowie in a secondary role) and Patsy Kensit (as "Crepe Suzette") is cute to look at.

There are lots of familiar elements from former Rock / Pop musicals and some pretty direct homages to West Side Story!

This is one where you may love it for the colorful presentation, the nostalgia and the music, or may hate it for all the same reasons!

2.5

GulfportDoc

07-28-23, 08:43 PM

Annie Hall

2nd Rewatch....Considered by a lot of cinephiles to be Woody's masterpiece, I still scratch my head over how this film won the Oscar for Best Picture over Star Wars, The Goodbye Girl, Julia, and The Turning Point. There's some solid writing, but God, this Alvy Singer is probably the most unlikable character Woody has ever played and I just don't see what Annie (Oscar winner Diane Keaton) sees in him because he treats her like dirt. Unfortunately I also think Alvy Singer is probably the closest thing we've ever seen onscreen to the real Woody Allen. I think Woody has made at least half a dozen films better than this one. rating_3
I saw it when it came out. And although it was mostly enjoyable I, like you, believe it to be overrated, even though I've always been a big Woody Allen fan. Diane Keaton's wardrobe did start a new ladies' fashion.

I much prefer Manhattan (1977), and a few others.

PHOENIX74

07-28-23, 11:34 PM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Tangerine_%28film%29_POSTER.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46566026

Tangerine - (2015)

I don't know which of Sean Baker's movies you'd call his breakout - he seems to have been on a steady progression, but I'd probably say The Florida Project was the really major breakthrough, with Tangerine doing enough to make critics really take notice. This is recognizably Baker and super enjoyable. Both light-hearted and really serious, it takes place in that familiar lowest rung, where social outcasts and the forgotten walk the streets or meet up in donut shops. (Yeah - Baker appears to be obsessed with donuts.) In this it's Christmas Eve, and transgender prostitute Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) gets out of jail after a 28-day stint, meets up with friend and fellow sex worker Alexandra (Mya Taylor), then discovers her pimp "boyfriend", Chester (a deliriously funny James Ransone) has been cheating on her while she's been inside. Added to the mix is a cab driver, Razmik (Karren Karagulian) whose penchant for and friendliness with transgender prostitutes is a big secret from his family, and Dinah (Mickey O'Hagan) - yet another prostitute who is about to feel Sin-Dee Rella's wrath. Everything in this film clicks perfectly, with a flow that soon makes you forget just how grotty life is for these people on Christmas Eve - obviously none of them are expecting the same kind of Christmas you or I do. Without The Florida Project or Red Rocket I wouldn't have sought out Tangerine as urgently as I did - and I'm glad, because it has all of Baker's strengths working nearly as well as they do in those films. Really, really enjoyable movie to watch. Glitter in a gutter.

8/10

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In Search of a Midnight Kiss - (2007)

Some films assuredly capture what a moment really feels like so well, that you feel it as if you're one of the characters in the film. In this it's a somewhat amazing first date that 29-year-old Wilson (Scoot McNairy) and Vivian (Sara Simmonds) go on one New Year's Eve. By amazing I by no means mean smooth and trouble-free - just really memorable. Early on, In Search of a Midnight Kiss really sheds that "independent film" vibe it has and sucks you in - so impressive from a filmmaker, Alex Holdridge, who has won many plaudits but whose career never really took off. It suits it's theatrical black & white photography - so if you have the choice, see that version and not the colour one. It's moving, life-like, funny and has many unexpected moments - all of the characters feel like real people. It lost me a little here and there though - not all of it's twists and turns or unexpected moments are good. There were several instances where I was completely thrown as to what kind of movie this would be - and I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed that my expectations weren't met. But all in all, by the end of the film, I was thinking how nice and measured everything was, and how the film was making me feel. I'm perhaps underrating it, but I hope my words convey my pleasure.

6/10

iluv2viddyfilms

07-28-23, 11:40 PM

Tunes of Glory (1960) - A+

Takoma11

07-29-23, 12:06 AM

Act III

07-29-23, 04:54 AM

94002

The Three Musketeers (1921)

I haven't seen too many silent films but this was one of the better ones. The subtitles are often too quick and you'll need to pause and rewind every once in a while. A long two hours filled with a continually forward driving story and doesn't test your patience like Wings does. The narrative predates cinema so of course plays out like traditional stage fare. Hard to rate these but I will give it an 8.

8/10

Fabulous

07-29-23, 05:43 AM

Stray Dog (1949)

3.5

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doubledenim

07-29-23, 08:37 AM

Barbie (2023)

Not enough pink.

2.5

Allaby

07-29-23, 01:29 PM

If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do? (1971) Directed by Ron Ormond, this extremist religious and political propaganda is a hilarious and demented delight. Estus W. Pirkle plays himself and preaches about the dangers of impending communism due to America's acceptance of miniskirts, cartoons, dancing and sex education. Interspersed are laugh out loud, over the top depictions of communists torturing and murdering Christians, especially children, with some of the most ridiculous acting and dialogue I have ever seen. Probably one of the most unintentionally funny, so very bad that it is so very good films I have encountered. If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do is a terrible movie that manages to be really entertaining and funny in spite of itself, regardless of your religious or political views. 4

SpelingError

07-29-23, 04:08 PM

Fish Tank (2009) - 4

It's not hard to understand Mia's fixation of Connor. Whether you're referring to her conflict with her younger sister, the lack of attention she receives from her mother, or her isolation from other people her age, finding someone to latch on to was important for her. Connor was the exact person to do that and act as the parental figure she needed since he showed her more kindness than her family did. Or, at least, this is your initial impression of him. The more you see of his behavior (giving her money to buy alcohol underage, killing a fish around her, having varous one-night stands with her mother, touching her suggestively when carrying her to bed), the more rough around the edges he seems. Though subtle at first, his questionable behavior culminates in their sex scene and his reaction after the fact which makes the film's emotional core all the more profound. Mia needs love and attention more than anything, but nobody she comes across is able to provide her with such, nor act as an appropriate role model or parental figure. In fact, few scenes have gotten to me as much as her synchronized dancing session with her family at the end. It's the first time in the film the three of them bond together, showing they could've potentially gotten along with each other in the right setting, except it happened too late at that point. While Mia isn't the most likable character, you still feel sympathy for her as her compassion (caring for the safety of a horse) and her ambitions (starting a successful career as a dancer) are made clear and act as counterpoints to her rough-on-the-surface, volatile behavior. Overall, it's a powerful film which I won't be forgetting about anytime soon.