Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[WHITBISSELL!]

It was included in a 5 movie collection, The Classic Sci Fi Ultimate Collection, which also had another favorite creature feature, Tarantula, in which a different dusty southwestern town is attacked by the titular 200 foot spider.Loved that one too. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s Leo G. Carroll right? I found the DVD on Amazon and remembered four out of the five right away. Monster on the Campus took me a little longer because I haven't seen it in a while. All great movies. :up:

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/TheElephantManposter.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20132209

The Elephant Man - (1980)

That John Morris score, the photography from Freddie Francis and David Lynch's careful, delicate concoction add up to one of the most painful and moving films about human dignity and both kindness and cruelty in The Elephant Man. I saw this film for the first time way back in the early 1980s, renting the video from the back of the van that was Pam's revolutionary mobile video shop (the first video store I'd ever encountered.) It hits me harder now, with more life experience behind me - and for it's subject everything is so right. The soft, hazy black and white is where our sleeping, subconscious, shared remembrance comes from - a dream - through the many years to when Jack the Ripper was stalking the streets of Whitechapel and Joseph Merrick (John Hurt, as John Merrick) was looked after by a curious Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins). Nightmares on the verge of a new, revolutionary era itself - but very interesting that this film asks us if Treves is simply doing what the exploitative Mr Bytes (Freddie Jones) is - profiting from this man's misery. The film forces us to consider how isolating, humiliating, and debilitating Merrick's deformed condition is, and it's terrifying - but it also offers us a glimpse of what we can aspire to when we afford the unfortunate respect, kindness and a sense of worthiness. A grand achievement - and somehow beaten by Ordinary People for a Best Picture Oscar at the 1981 awards ceremony.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/I_Wish_movie_poster.jpg
By http://asianmediawiki.com/Kiseki, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31131600

I Wish - (2011)

After seeing Shoplifters and Broker I still feel like I need to see more of Hirokazu Koreeda's earlier films to decode his broad collection of 'family unit' contemplative pieces as a whole. Here, from the perspective of the children, we find out what two young brothers yearn for - the mending of their broken family. One is living with his mother, the other his father - a sad situation for everyone. But there always seems to be a need for magical intervention for all children, and as such the crossing paths of two bullet trains becomes the source of miraculous wish-fulfillment in their imaginative minds. I still feel like a newcomer to Koreeda films, but I'm building an appreciation.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/Elektra_teaser.jpg
By "Elektra (2005)". Yahoo. Retrieved 2008-09-10., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3952121

Elektra - (2005)

When Iron Man came out in 2008 and the MCU started building towards something truly spectacular, films like Elektra suddenly looked even more second-rate than they did to begin with. Blissfully, this only goes for 97 minutes. It's said that Marvel rushed this into release, but I don't know why. To clean up after Daredevil left fans begging for more? They were begging for you guys to stop. Anyway, I didn't feel completely insulted - I liked the over-the-top magical powers the villains had in this, because otherwise it would have been a dreadfully dull affair. Including Elektra (Jennifer Garner) herself, there are no characters in this - movies should be based around people who aren't just blank slates who either have to be fought or saved. I had some appreciation for the guy whose tattoos come to life and the Medusa lady, and that's about it. Thankfully, the whole genre was on the verge of revolutionary change - but is always threatening to slip back into 'hack' territory.

4/10

[skizzerflake]

Another one tonight from the DVD set....Them!, a 1950's sci-fi monster movie. In this case, a decent cast, including James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn and James Arness (pre-Gunsmoke) do battle with giant ants in yet another dusty, southwestern town. Everybody in the cast plays this one completely straight, especially Sandy Descher, a young girl who has been traumatized into catatonia by seeing the ants kill her family. She's a picture of total horror when she snaps out. This one is pretty good too, surprising for this genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4URRp39XOo

[skizzerflake]

Loved that one too. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s Leo G. Carroll right? I found the DVD on Amazon and remembered four out of the five right away. Monster on the Campus took me a little longer because I haven't seen it in a while. All great movies. :up:

Yeah....Leo was a misguided scientist (common in movies of that time) who turns into a deformed acromegalic.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Another one tonight from the DVD set....Them!, a 1950's sci-fi monster movie. In this case, a decent cast, including James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn and James Arness (pre-Gunsmoke) do battle with giant ants in yet another dusty, southwestern town. Everybody in the cast plays this one completely straight, especially Sandy Descher, a young girl who has been traumatized into catatonia by seeing the ants kill her family. She's a picture of total horror when she snaps out. This one is pretty good too, surprising for this genre.I've always felt this is like the grand daddy of the genre. A consummate achievement and a true classic.

[Fabulous]

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

2

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/phhe9poa5jq95FJCAMXD7BdNQ6.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media1.giphy.com/media/az3aDLaDBcZS7ud61z/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47sykvi3vclyg0k45c38c6u5z55a2nktqj2litk6r1&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://media4.giphy.com/media/FD1SdQfuCusPNuiEW3/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e475r2vs4x1f2ot6i1j3p3qlapkkp5eeysgipanb7a7&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

Cocaine Bear - I know. An interesting concept and the trailer did look kinda promising. Even those gifs look intriguing. It turned out to be mostly meh though. They did manage to assemble a good cast and it was Ray Liotta's last role before he died. But yeah, once the credits roll you'll forget even having watched it. They do string together some passable moments but then there's also dead space in between and too many uninteresting characters. The script is anorexic and Elizabeth Banks isn't about to make anyone forget Greta Gerwig. I wouldn't bother with this unless you have an hour and a half to burn. Not recommended.

55/100

[Mr Minio]

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/phhe9poa5jq95FJCAMXD7BdNQ6.jpg "I promise I'll practice every day!"

[PHOENIX74]

THE GUARDIAN
(1990, Friedkin)

https://i.imgur.com/GvWVCq8.jpg




The Guardian follows Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell), a young married couple that is going through some changes: Phil was just hired for a new job, they just moved to Los Angeles, and they're about to have a baby. Their worst nightmare, though, is that Camilla (Jenny Seagrove), their lovely new nanny, is actually a supernatural being that sacrifices babies to a tree entity.

Director William Friedkin certainly has a talent for building atmosphere and dread; whether it is in The Exorcist or Killer Joe, or Sorcerer which I just saw earlier this month. His films always give you that sense of uneasiness and danger to its characters, whether that danger is spiritual, human, or in this case, supernatural.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409849#post2409849)

I watched The Guardian for the first time a few weeks ago, my rating being close to what you gave it. It was originally simply going to be a film about a nanny who steals babies - a much more serious tone. I guess somebody asked, "Well, what does she do with the babies when she steals them?" and somebody uncertainly replied "Gives them to...feeds them to a...magic...tree?" In all seriousness though, Dan Greenburg's novel The Nanny, on which this was based, was about a vampire nanny, or at least she was some kind of ancient milk-loving creature/seductress in need of newborn babies. If you ask me, the whole idea of a baby being stolen means you don't need to conjure up demons or magic trees, as it's scary enough as is. I think some of the horror elements were leftovers from Sam Raimi's attachment to the project, and as such I enjoyed it without giving it a lot of serious thought.

[matt72582]

San Francisco in the 1950s - 7.5/10


https://youtu.be/A8suzWtrpso

[matt72582]

Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMCurMyP4n8&t=3978s

[chawhee]

The Blackening (2022)
https://media-prod.fangoria.com/images/The-Blackening-Header.width-800.png
3
It started out poorly, with acting bad enough that I thought about turning it off. Once it gets going though, the mix of humor and horror works sufficiently. A couple jokes I laughed out loud at, though many of them landed flat.

Hail, Caesar! (2016)
https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/hail-caesar-2016/large_large_ux5y8qjKSZufAB5VSAQXhNDMyt3.jpg
4
Despite seeing reviews of this movie on here, I never read into it enough to grasp what the movie would really be about. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance, because this was terrific! Odd, funny, well-paced...like what Babylon was supposed to be maybe?

[Thief]

I watched The Guardian for the first time a few weeks ago, my rating being close to what you gave it. It was originally simply going to be a film about a nanny who steals babies - a much more serious tone. I guess somebody asked, "Well, what does she do with the babies when she steals them?" and somebody uncertainly replied "Gives them to...feeds them to a...magic...tree?" In all seriousness though, Dan Greenburg's novel The Nanny, on which this was based, was about a vampire nanny, or at least she was some kind of ancient milk-loving creature/seductress in need of newborn babies. If you ask me, the whole idea of a baby being stolen means you don't need to conjure up demons or magic trees, as it's scary enough as is. I think some of the horror elements were leftovers from Sam Raimi's attachment to the project, and as such I enjoyed it without giving it a lot of serious thought.

I was reading that the concept of the antagonist is that of a Hamadryad. Reading the Wikipedia page on them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamadryad) now and it makes the ending pretty accurate. Nothing about stealing babies, though, which the character says she needs to do to sustain the tree's life.

[Torgo]

Immortals - 3

Tarsem takes his unique visual style to a world where it's a good fit, Greek mythology, for a pretty good telling of the story of Theseus (Cavill). Our hero is a peasant whose strength and honor earned him the favor of the Gods, which is something our villain, King Hyperion (Rourke), would never want. He aims to kill them, in fact, and to do that, he needs the lost Epirus Bow, which will free imprisoned titans who can take care of that for him. It's up to Theseus to find it first, and he has allies in Phaedra (Pinto), the Oracle whose visions reveal what he's capable of, wisecracking thief Stavros (Dorff) and of course the Mt. Olympians, who assist despite Zeus's (Evans) command that they do not directly intervene in human affairs.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that Tarsem is one of film's best artists and he more than achieves his goal of making the movie seem like a moving Renaissance painting. From Theseus's cliffside home to the seas of soldiers in Hyperion's army, I wanted each cut to last longer than it should just so I could bask in their visual splendor. That applies to the scenery and to the action, which employs slow motion in ways that make 300's use of it seem juvenile. It's easy to see why Cavill became a household name after this came out for how much charisma and physicality he exudes. From his gravelly voice to how he milks Hyperion's disregard for anyone in his way, Rourke is a worthy foil. I'm also happy to see John Hurt (R.I.P.), who plays Theseus's mentor, in anything and every scene gets better once the Gods show up.

What holds this back from greatness, though, is even though it doesn't look like anything else, it still does, if you will. The story is too much like those in the typical comic book origin story. I wasn't surprised to learn it's a melange of many Greek myths because the writers probably massaged in a way to make it resemble the typical blockbuster's at the time. Again, it's worth watching if you also love visually rich experiences, if you're simply in the mood for a decent action movie or if you have even a faint interest in Greek mythology. Just don't be surprised if it doesn't make you more interested in the subject.

[Jackie Daytona]

The OG Frankenstein (1931) was on Svengoolie the other day, man this holds up so well, as do most of the Universal Horror classics. Looks fantastic, love how it's shot love the sets. Karloff's performance has been parodied so often it's easy to loose track of how genuinely unsettling his monster is. Maybe the Dr. Frankenstein character was a bit overacted by today's standards but otherwise an eminently rewatchable classic.

[Stirchley]

94843

Long movie. Not bad, I didn’t bail out. Bardem very good. Zero interest in I Love Lucy & the documentary about them was much more interesting.

94844

This movie was shelved in my house for some reason even though I’ve never seen any of it. Not a memorable movie, I wouldn’t watch it again, but it was fairly good.

94845

Indie movie. Not bad at all. Famke & the kid who played her son were very good. R.I.P. Torn too.

94849

One of Kelly Reichardt’s earlier movies. I enjoyed it.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/I_Love_You%2C_Beth_Cooper_%28film%29.png


2

[Fabulous]

Arabesque (1966)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/k90yiIMDETqID616oOHTsVqzMsF.jpg

[skizzerflake]

I've always felt this is like the grand daddy of the genre. A consummate achievement and a true classic.

It seems to be at least the first of the big-bug movies. It was predated by quite a bit by King Kong and some other dinosaur movies, but big bugs seem to be a 1950's thing and Them! seems to be the beginning of them (note the lower case here).

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/1611/them-1954-giant-ants-warner-bros-big-bug-movies/

[Citizen Rules]

...Them!, a 1950's sci-fi monster movie. In this case, a decent cast, including James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn and James Arness (pre-Gunsmoke) do battle with giant ants in yet another dusty, southwestern town. Everybody in the cast plays this one completely straight,

especially Sandy Descher, a young girl who has been traumatized into catatonia by seeing the ants kill her family. She's a picture of total horror when she snaps out. This one is pretty good too, surprising for this genre.
I just remembered I reviewed Them! and guess what my lead photo was?
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28866&stc=1&d=1487043088

Make no mistake about it, 1954's Them! is no B-budget movie. Warner Brothers studio went all out with an expensive production that used real military equipment and personal. There's a real military helicopter, plane and a number of jeeps too. Most impressive are the real flame throwers, that were operated by actors who had been in WWII and used them in combat. Add to that the on-location filming in a real California desert where the temperatures were 110 degrees!

We get authenticity not often seen in giant mutated insect movies. Plus we're treated to a unique view of the underbelly of LA, when the military go under the city into the actual water basins and viaducts of LA. This is an A list movie with a lot of money spent on it and it shows!


One of the strengths of this movie is the attempt to add science and explain the life cycle of the ants, which adds a lot to the story. We not only see a very believable military hearing on the dangerous ants, we get to go deep inside a giant ant nest to find what dangers lurk there.

[skizzerflake]

https://media1.giphy.com/media/az3aDLaDBcZS7ud61z/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47sykvi3vclyg0k45c38c6u5z55a2nktqj2litk6r1&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://media4.giphy.com/media/FD1SdQfuCusPNuiEW3/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e475r2vs4x1f2ot6i1j3p3qlapkkp5eeysgipanb7a7&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

Cocaine Bear - I know. An interesting concept and the trailer did look kinda promising. Even those gifs look intriguing. It turned out to be mostly meh though. They did manage to assemble a good cast and it was Ray Liotta's last role before he died. But yeah, once the credits roll you'll forget even having watched it. They do string together some passable moments but then there's also dead space in between and too many uninteresting characters. The script is anorexic and Elizabeth Banks isn't about to make anyone forget Greta Gerwig. I wouldn't bother with this unless you have an hour and a half to burn. Not recommended.

55/100

I did have an hour and a half to burn plus low expectations. I figured that the biggest piece of work would have been coming up with the concept of a coked-up bear. After that, the rest just has to be mildly amusing. That was about it, an excuse to get out of the house.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Past_Lives_film_poster.png
By http://www.impawards.com/2023/past_lives_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73102407

Past Lives - (2023)

12-year-old sweethearts Nora (Seung Ah Moon - Greta Lee as adult Nora) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim - Teo Yoo as adult Hae Sung) are seperated when Nora's family immigrates to Canada. 12 years later, Nora is surprised to learn that Hae Sung has been looking for her, and trying to get in touch with her over the internet. There starts a deep life-long relationship which is constantly asking us "what if?" as Nora and Hae Sung chase after their career goals and Nora gets married to another man. Nora looks upon it all in relation to the Korean concept of "in-yeon" - that we all keep meeting the same people in past and future lives, and that every relationship has it's significant place. The way Past Lives works all of this into it's narrative is in a magnificently direct and unsparing way, with every scene pressing down hard on the nerve centers which play on the central themes of this film. Believe the hype - this was absolutely brilliant in both an emotional and artistic point of view, and dug right down deep into my soul. It's a stirring debut from Celine Song, who I'll be watching carefully as to what she does next. Heartrending, bittersweet and beautiful.

8.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Fantastic_Four_poster.jpg
By "Fantastic Four Poster". IMP Awards. Retrieved 2007-01-30., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1597562

Fantastic Four - (2005)

Harmless and cute, I didn't really have all that much of a clue this existed - but came across it because of my curiosity surrounding Marvel failures that predated the success of the MCU. The Fantastic Four have always had a bit of a curse on them when it comes to making films based on the characters - and perhaps that's because they're a little far out. This one has all the polish of a Television show pilot, but people were so desperate for a good F4 film that it turned into a box office success - thus meaning we'd get a sequel to a film there really, really should not have been a sequel to. The weakest link was director Tim Story. Goofy, lightweight - but also adorable compared to the Marvel behemoths we get today. Already terribly dated.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Fantastic_Four_2_Poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29207768

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - (2007)

Zips by in under 90 minutes, and has a pretty promising story outline - one that sounds like it might have actually belonged in a much better movie. From space a silver Klaatu-like being heralds the end of mankind, and the military bring in villain Doctor Doom to help deal with the problem. A great set-up, but the tone is a mismatch with the wackiness that's the Fantastic Four, and the climax to the film feels perfunctory and lacking in imagination. I didn't mind either Fantastic Four film all that much, but they pale in comparison with the good superhero movies we get these days - here, the F4 go with a limp screenplay and a lack of great set-pieces. Everyone bar Chris Evans feels like a second-stringer, and even he was one at the time this was made. If you don't take them all that seriously, they're a bit of fun though, in a zany way.

4/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Littlemanposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Revolution Studios., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4779839

Little Man - (2006)

Hands down worst movie I've seen this year - by a margin. When you come close to crossing the threshold of good taste, you have to be sure your stuff is at least a little funny. What we get from the Wayans here is so far from funny it's not fun, or even slightly amusing. Idiots made this movie. Lame, stupid and constantly looking for the dumbest common denominator when it comes to comedy, Little Man is bad in a head-shaking way. People who come down hard on this movie are sometimes called out for being a "stick in the mud" - but I'm all for fun, and I'm even more all for fun in bad taste - but when it's simply stupid non-funny stuff in bad taste, then be ready to get booed off the stage. An absolute nightmare of a movie.

1/10

[chawhee]

Super Mario Movie (2023)
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/hJoe1i1MXoO7sXkbQRuONvUNPEo.jpg
3.5
First rewatch, and my rating remains the same. It fills all the nostalgic feelings, but some voices still feel a bit miscast. The body of the movie still seems elementary as well.

[xSookieStackhouse]

i been seeing alot of movies lately so cant be bothered to put on here but last movie i saw is equlizer 3 rating_4_5
https://i.etsystatic.com/43778811/r/il/55113d/4993833301/il_794xN.4993833301_zmut.jpg

[skizzerflake]

The OG Frankenstein (1931) was on Svengoolie the other day, man this holds up so well, as do most of the Universal Horror classics. Looks fantastic, love how it's shot love the sets. Karloff's performance has been parodied so often it's easy to loose track of how genuinely unsettling his monster is. Maybe the Dr. Frankenstein character was a bit overacted by today's standards but otherwise an eminently rewatchable classic.

My favorite of the old Universal horror movies. I love that old stye of black and white cinematography and, how Frankenstein the man goes into the mad scientist thing, and, how Karloff brought some believable feeling into that ponderous makeup and costume. The "Bride" sequel is equally great. A blue-ray box set of the classic Universal flicks has a place of honor on my shelf.

[Tugg]

Vacation Friends (2021) 3.5
https://www.tune-list.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Vacation-Friends-Soundtrack-2021.jpg
No Hard Feelings (2023) 3.5
https://lastmovieoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/no_hard_feelings_review_header.jpg
Vacation Friends 2 (2023) 3
https://www.joblo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/vacation-friends2-review-cena-1024x537.jpg
The Flash (2023) 3
https://itsastampede615821596.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/the-flash-movie-review-2023.jpg
Strays (2023) 3.5
https://images.mubicdn.net/images/film/370733/cache-854595-1675996616/image-w1280.jpg?size=800x

[LChimp]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjMwNDkxMTgzOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTkwNTQ3NjM@._V1_.jpg

Spider-Man Into the Síder-verse (2019)

Re-watch, with my son. Next up, Across the Spider-verse

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWI0NTljMzYtMjNiMS00ZTMxLTg0OWItNzI5ZmUzNjBiZDM2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMzOTQyOTk1._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/36/f0/57/36f057f52ead3cb483b9e2d64bb98292.gif
https://media.tenor.com/ubvOcyCiEL0AAAAC/marine-one-london-has-fallen.gif

London Has Fallen - 2016 sequel to 2013's Olympus Has Fallen. Gerard Butler reprises his role of uber-competent Secret Service Agent Mike Banning with Aaron Eckhart once again playing President Benjamin Asher. There's an opening scene of a US drone strike in Pakistan which is a set up for the rest of the movie. Fast forward two years and the British Prime Minister has unexpectedly died which necessitates an all hands on deck for his state funeral. Most of the world's leaders are expected to attend including Asher.

The plot mirrors the somewhat outlandish events of OHF where the audience is expected to play along and buy into the action driven plot. And to be honest it does do a competent job of it if the overriding jingoistic aspects don't trouble you too much. I read a couple of reviews that also made use of the "racist" descriptor. I suppose you could perceive it but I really think you'd have to be looking for it or already in that mindset going in.

I happened to derive enjoyment from it for what it is, which is a shoot-em-up along the lines of some of the Die Hard flicks. Where a lone hero takes on an overwhelming and seemingly inexhaustible number of bad guys. Sure there are some eye rolling moments but that's to be expected with this type of actioner. You shouldn't have to grunt and hoot your way through it in order to be considered satisfied.

75/100

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNTE4MTJmMmUtYmM4ZC00NTlhLWEyYTMtZWVlMjA3MDUwM2Y2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUyND k2ODc%40._V1_SX500_CR0%2C0%2C500%2C328_AL_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=04a37f0522c6048aef20c527fe7c58971c189b23700053e575010afc28759676&ipo=images

White Mischief, 1987

Based on a true story, this film follows the exploits of a crew of wealthy aristocrats living in Happy Valley in Kenya during World War 2. Drugs, drinking, and infidelity are everyday occurrences, and that’s all well and good until Diana (Greta Scacchi) and her older husband, Jock (Joss Ackland), roll into town. Diana is immediately smitten with local playboy Erroll (Charles Dance), a man who is the side-piece of practically every woman in the region. Tensions rise and rise until a deadly incident occurs and everyone is left questioning who pulled the trigger.

None of the pieces of this movie worked for me. The decadence wasn’t memorable enough; the mystery wasn’t mysterious enough; and the drama wasn’t dramatic enough. Not a bad film, necessarily, merely a weak one.

2.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410170#post2410170)

[Fabulous]

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/7dNp8vrTGzYxTLhQXUnApZisOQH.jpg

[RockyBoboa]

The Breakfast Club, I’ve seen a million times btw, 10/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/The_Theory_of_Everything_%282014%29.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/mediaviewer/rm72239616, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56836391

The Theory of Everything - (2014)

My fascination concerning how the remarkable Stephen Hawking lived his life comes up against my general dislike of biopics in The Theory of Everything - how can you really condense a life into two hours on a screen? Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) was diagnosed with motor neurone disease when he was 21, in 1963, and given 2 years to live. He went on to live another 55 years - as startling an achievement as his wonderous theories about the universe we live in. In this film what concerns us is his relationship with his first wife, Jane (Felicity Jones), his children, his colleagues - and especially his disease. I can't speak to it's accuracy, but it imparts a fair amount of information about all of these things, and Redmayne rises to the particularly unique challenges of this once-in-a-lifetime role. This might sound extra corny - but Hawking taught us as much about fighting adversity as he did physics, and while he wasn't a perfect man, he was inspirational in a broader sense. His first wife rose to his level in a situation few wives are faced with for such a considerable amount of time - and it's the second version of Jane's book, Travelling to Infinity, that this is based on. It can be hoped that quite a few kids who didn't know who Stephen Hawking was saw this, and as such it's not a bad introduction to the great theorist.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Indian_Summer_1993.jpg
By http://mycampfriends.com/pages/my_great_eight_camp_lists/75.php, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26629467

Indian Summer - (1993)

I always remember summer camps as being an ordeal - fun from a "friends cutting loose" standpoint, but very far from the many comforts of home. In Indian Summer a group of 30-somethings return to meet the retiring Lou Handler (Alan Arkin), who runs Camp Tamakwa. In a Big Chill kind of way, they reflect on past crushes, regrets, good times and big events when they were all kids. The likes of Diane Lane, Bill Paxton and Elizabeth Perkins appear in this, and there's even a small role for Sam Raimi, who was director Mike Binder's childhood friend. It's an average sort of drama that never reaches any great heights, and won't stick in many people's memories the way the past antics of these people have. It's best aspect is it's tendency to make us think back to our experiences as kids.

5/10

[SpelingError]

Showgirls (1995) - 4

My MKS approval rating has likely gone up.

[Act III]

94873

Django (2017)

This French language movie showcases Django Reinhardt, the popular jazz guitarist of the 1930s and 1940s, during WW2 occupation. So, it isn't a biopic in the true sense, only focusing on a brief period of time in 1943.

Very dramatic and entertaining. The music is great and the picture quality is great. All the costume and everything appears authentic. I can't help but think there should be more detail to the story or maybe there should be some more movie preceding what is shown here to illustrate Djangos life as a guitarist.

Good movie, recommended.

7/10

[iluv2viddyfilms]

Fear is the Key - B
Lost Highway - A-
Frontier Marshall - A
Ninotchka- A+

[Act III]

94874

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

The music didn't stand out but none of it was bad enough to make you want to stop watching. The story though was pretty funny and completely out of left field. The acting was great. I liked this one and wouldn't mind seeing it again. Most movies from the 1940s are boring in comparison, at least the ones I've watched.

7/10

[Stirchley]

94881

American classic. Seen it a million times. Why the heck didn’t Brad Davis win an Oscar for this?


94882

Not bad. Good ensemble cast. Don’t ask me about the plot - I haven’t the faintest idea. Amusing to see Sally Hawkins as a gangsta girlfriend. Sienna Miller wildly under-used. All she had to do was parade in her lingerie.


94883


Excellent movie from the Balkans. Funny thing is I got to the very end of the movie & only then realized I’d seen it before. Odd.

[Gideon58]

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4

[Fabulous]

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

3

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[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExNm4xOWVqOGpvaDhqdGZvdG1qMTF3ZzNzcGh2N2IzdHJlaWJjcDl1aSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/IlBDbiMHKPkhbCUTgj/giphy.gif
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Champions - If you were asked to summarize this film I think all you'd have to say is that it's a Bobby Farrelly movie. It might be simpler than explaining that Woody Harrelson plays a hot tempered assistant semi-pro basketball coach. He loses the latest in a downward trajectory of jobs when he shoves his boss and head coach (played by Ernie Hudson). He then dots the "i" by rear ending a cop car while drunk. The judge then gives him the option of community service or eighteen months in jail. He takes the community service which entails him coaching The Friends, a team made up of players with intellectual disabilities.

If you're familiar with Farrelly's work you'll know he specializes in semi-lowbrow and tepidly comedic offerings. This is no exception and has a thrown together sort of quality to it where Harrelson delivers his lines like he was handed the script seconds before the cameras rolled. As luck would have it though he's exactly the kind of agreeable performer that excels at it. So that part is taken care of and they did find the right star. His costar is Kaitlin Olson and she also fits her role of unconventional love interest to a tee. The Friends all have distinctive personalities and truly make the movie.

It is a lightweight plot where nothing particularly heavy or untoward transpires. If you've seen any sports minded, underdog type film then you basically know what's going to happen. Harrelson is the big draw and I truly love to see Ernie Hudson in anything. As a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia it's good to see Olson in a larger role. And pay close attention during the courtroom scene and you might recognize Mike Smith playing Harrelson's defense lawyer. He's better known to fans of Trailer Park Boys as Bubbles. It's not innovative or categorically inspiring but there's worse ways to kill a couple of hours.

75/100

[Act III]

94876

The Glenn Miller Story (1954)

While a good movie about a music icon, he sure was a strange man that seemed to be lost in his own world, as the way he goes about things seems shocking. You get to see the classy culture of jazz and how jazz bands organized their business, showing that they were more of an upper-middle class lot, unlike modern rock bands which are usually of a lower sort. The mystery of Glenn Miller's disappearance isn't explored here and adds to the mystery. You wonder what happened. I got my own theories but will keep them to myself. The best thing about this biopic is that it was made a mere 10 years after his death, so it was fresh in everyones minds and played by the people who were there and listened to his music while it was fresh.

7/10

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/GranTurismoMoviePoster.jpeg/220px-GranTurismoMoviePoster.jpeg

GRAN TURISMO

Two months ago, after being invited to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the local theater with my grandmother, I made a solemn vow to myself: That I would watch one movie in a theater per week. See, for years my theater-going habits had dwindled to almost nothing, seeing as I was far more preoccupied with collecting older movies on Blu-ray and 4K. Plus, I was going through a rather lengthy period of not-quite-snobbish disillusionment about the current state of cinema, something I imagine older people such as myself who find themselves closing in on the half-century mark often go through. But since the price of a ticket on Tuesdays is a mere $7.62, I figured I was out of excuses. (So I guess my viewing of episodes of the FBI shows is going to be rather sporadic in the future - that is, assuming they continue to air on Tuesdays. Plus, nowadays we have DreamLounger Reclining Seating!! :lol:) So after Indiana Jones, week by week, I then went to... Asteroid City... Oppenheimer... Barbie... Talk to Me... Lynch/Oz (a documentary)... The Last Voyage of the Demeter...

And now Gran Turismo! Full disclosure: This is what I would refer to as a B.T.P. (Blind Ticket Purchase). I only saw this because it was a Tuesday and there was literally nothing else I particularly wanted to see. Honestly, I've never really been into race car driving or even computer gaming. Like many young kids in the early '80s, did go to places like Aladdin's Castle or Chuck E. Cheese and did enjoy playing many old-school arcade games - y'know, Pac-Man, Galaga, Q*bert, Crystal Castles, Centipede, stuff like that - but I'd never even been all that good at it. (Egads, I feel old sometimes! :p) I've certainly got nothing against professional race car driving or computer gaming, it's just not my thing. So, not really knowing anything whatsoever about Gran Turismo, beyond a vague mention seen someplace to the effect that it was doing pretty good at the box office, I went in a completely blank slate, hoping for my senses and gray matter to be sufficiently engaged.

You know, sometimes low expectations can be a good thing... ;)

Anyway, this movie is the true story of Jann Mardenborough (well-played by the very talented Archie Madekwe), a young man from Wales with mad gaming skills who gets recruited into the Nissan GT Academy in order to compete with other young hopefuls, with the prize being the possibility of competing as a professional race car driver. (BTW, does this idea remind anybody else of 1984's The Last Starfighter? :lol:) As the movie progressed, I became very much aware that it was rather closely following the post-Rocky underdog sports genre story structure. We follow a young person from a humble background as he is plucked from obscurity to be given a chance to follow his dream, become a contender, go the distance, etcetera, etcetera. And we get the inevitable conflicts internal and external, as our protagonist must deal with the scoffers and skeptics and those who would crush him before he even gets to the starting gate, as well as his own inner doubts and fears and bewildered sense of "Do I even belong in this picture?" And there is also the character of the crusty old trainer, in this case former pro driver-turned-mechanic Jack Salter (played by David Harbour), who starts out not believing that these nerdy gamer kids could ever develop the athleticism and physical skills required to compete in the real world, and little by little becomes the young man's friend and champion. We even have ourselves a super-nemesis, in this case arrogant hot-shot professional Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski), who is there at every turn to undermine and take down the young upstart any underhanded way he can (and although the film has a couple of tense confrontations on and off the track, it's rather mercifully sparing with the "I'm gonna bust you up!" melodramatics). And inevitably, we get a lot of training montages.

So... story-wise we're in kind of familiar territory, right? Throughout most of the movie, I was able to more or less anticipate what the next plot development was going to be, and more often than not I was right. But you know something? That didn't bother me. I found myself caught up in the story regardless of its familiarity. I found myself enjoying the movie greatly, even though I didn't feel like I was experiencing anything really novel.

And then... it happened. And without giving spoilers, by it I mean the "freak accident"! This was the point where I realized that the stakes had been raised. That this wasn't just another in a long line of underdog sports dramas that have come along at least since Rocky. This was something real, something that had real-world consequences. And we are brutally reminded, once again, that this was based on a true story.

Throughout most of the movie, we have a sense of inevitability, of "onward and upward" as our man Jann wins the competition against other gamers at GT Academy and then goes on to compete in Spain and Dubai, after which he earns his professional racing license and then moves on to compete in Tokyo. One thing the movie gets absolutely right is that although Jann makes great progress very fast, he also experiences great setbacks and defeats. But you have a sense that these are the inevitable bumps and bruises and growing pains that one goes though in this sort of competition, and it more or less feels authentic. Like I said, the story archetype is very familiar, but watching one feels grateful that his progress is a messy one.

And then... we get to the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, and we're completely blindsided when... y'know, it... happens. All I will say is that although there is no permanent physical damage resulting from the incident, there are tragic results and this is definitely a make-or-break moment. Does our man Jann allow the horror of this to define him? Or does he pick himself up and move on? By the time the credits rolled at movie's end, I felt like that the whole genre had been kicked up a notch, that this wasn't just another story in the Rocky mould. I felt like this could possibly be the new Rocky for a whole new generation of filmgoers!

So as you can gather... I really, really liked Gran Turismo! :D Perhaps you'll find my response to the film just a tad hyperbolic. I dunno, maybe it is! And like I said earlier, I had absolutely no expectations going in, and when that happens you can always end up easily impressed. But I really do feel like it's a superior movie, and that it's worthy of whatever kudos get thrown its way. Not being familiar with the work of director Neill Blomkamp - beyond the fact that his previous films have been mostly sci-fi - I was blown away by what he did here. All the cast does exemplary work here, in particular the aforementioned Archie Madekwe as Jann. Orlando Bloom - a bit older and portlier than when he played Legolas in The Lord of the Rings! - plays Danny Bloom, the marketing executive with a crazy dream. His character has moments of being less than sympathetic, especially at a point where it's unclear as to whether or not Jann has actually won the academy competition, but Bloom always plays him as real, never as villainous or indeed purely virtuous. And the aforementioned David Harbour is magnificent and affecting as the trainer Jack Salter, a man who at one point could have been a racing contender himself and had been derailed by his own tragic accident.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention the brilliant Djimon Hounsou as Jann's father. Their relationship is an extremely affecting one, the father starting out as being a pragmatist and a realist who wants his son to be practical and put the computer games away and do something with his life, as one imagines all good fathers do. When it happens at Nürburgring Nordschleife, and Jann's mother and father - the former played by former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell - are watching on TV at home, it's a brutal moment where they are absolutely fearing the worst and not even knowing whether their son is even alive or dead. Eventually there is a joyously tearful reunion and reconciliation between father and son later on, and it is decidedly not sentimental or sappy. Like everything else about this movie, it feels real. You know, much of what we consider clichéd or overly familiar only seems that way because they're rooted in greater truths. Such is the case with this movie.

There are also some great visual FX, incorporated into the movie in such a way as to give a kind of metamorphosis of perspective as Jann in a game simulation imagines himself actually driving, and also vice versa later in the film. These sequences feel completely organic and almost never gratuitous. Sure, it's a very high-end, tech-y, flashy kind of filmmaking, but everything feels very much earned.

A very entertaining soundtrack as well: When Jann is chilling out, he listens to Kenny G. and Enya on his digital player! I always did have a soft spot for Orinoco Flow (a.k.a. Sail Away). The older Jack Salter, on the other hand, is more of a Black Sabbath man (in particular Paranoid)! It's a really cool moment when Jann buys a CD Walkman in Tokyo as a present for Jack, in order to give his mentor a technological upgrade. And any movie which uses Iggy and the Stooges' Search and Destroy has got to be considered cool by definition! ("Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology / Ain't got time to make no apology!")

A very satisfying cinematic experience overall. I was very glad to have picked Gran Turismo as my "B.T.P." this week. :)

[beelzebubble]

Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs
This is the comedian who is famous for getting canceled from SNL for saying slurs. I'm not sure which ones. I think it was the r-word and maybe the f-word. Anyway he says the r-word a number of times and says gay instead of the f-word. He really skirts around getting re-canceled, but he has built his fan base up and they are basically the same kind of guy who was a fan of Bill Burr back in the day, before he went as these guys woudl say "woke." Yes, getting laid has softened old Billy ginger balls. In fact, Bill Burr is one of the Executive producers of this special. Doh! Gotta go. I will finish tomorrow.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Livinginthematerialworldposter.jpg
By http://www.facebook.com/georgeharrison, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32415057

George Harrison : Living in the Material World - (2011)

The best compliment I can give to a film that goes over the 200-minute mark is that I simply couldn't stop watching until the end. George Harrison was a wonderful enigma, because he was eminently famous but lived such a rich inner life - concerned more with his spirituality than accolades or adoration. He fully matured as a songwriter just as The Beatles were breaking up, and although it's a shame that his greatest works weren't adorned by what John Lennon and Paul McCartney could have added to them, they're wonderful to listen to regardless. I have to add, concerning his later life, that every time I hear a Traveling Wilburys song, it takes me back to a specific time and place in the late 80s and early 90s. Martin Scorsese has done a marvelous job fusing the many interviews, music clips and moments caught on film together until they flow with the natural rhythms of a man's life. By the end I had a lump in my throat, because everything that's special and unique about George is on full display, and with that it's harder to say goodbye - even though we already did a few decades ago. 58 was way too young, but I've never seen a famous person more prepared to meet his maker than George Harrison was.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Ice_Age_%282002_film%29_poster.jpg
By http://www.matttrailer.com/ice_age_2002, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18574697

Ice Age - (2002)

When it comes to animated films I really like and have seen multiple times, Ice Age is in the upper echelons of that medium-sized group. It makes me happy every time I watch it, and I'm sure it would have been a huge favourite if I'd seen it as a kid. One thing I'd never stopped to consider before is how much the plot resembles that of Three Godfathers - a film John Ford had adapted from a novelette twice. Anyway, I think it has a great mix of characters. Ray Romano has the perfect voice for Wooly Mammoth Manfred, and John Leguizamo is a hoot as Sid. It's short, fun, funny and warm - I don't know how many of the sequels I've seen, but I might start watching 'em.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/TotalRecall2012Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35255194

Total Recall - (2012)

I don't like to turn a movie off and abandon it at any stage - I would have missed quite a few surprises if I did - but I came so close with this 2012 version of Total Recall, and I really should have. I can see what the makers of this version were going for - the 1990 Paul Verhoeven version is tremendously silly and often quite loopy, and here Len Wiseman et al has remade this with an ultra-serious tone and grounded the story. It's been turned into a grey (literally grey - the dominant colour of this film) mundane, unfunny and grave science-fiction movie. I admit that the 1990 version is easy to pick apart - but man, is that movie a whole lot of gory and outlandish fun, with typical Schwarzenegger film comedy and many bizarre, head-turning moments. This film, however, gives you little reminders of that version, and then turns and goes for the toned down serious option instead. Everything is so dull in this movie - there's no more Mars, or mutants - just drab sci-fi exteriors and bland interiors. I never read Philip K. Dick's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", so I don't know if this stays truer to the source material, but regardless - I don't know why you'd take such a movie, suck all the fun and colour out of it, and expect us to be happy with it.

3/10

[Act III]

94893

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

A movie about a cafe playing indie folk singer in 1961. He screws himself with some bad acting out and stretches the patience of those he imposes upon. He also screws up his big breaks due to his negative short sightedness. The film is alright till about halfway through but much like the main character it doesn't peak or progress into something more compelling, fizzling out much like him.

6.5/10

[Act III]

94894

Performance (1970)

Off to a confusing start you don't know why this gangster is in trouble, but after a while the movie gains focus and you slowly begin to understand what it is all about. Mick Jagger can act and that makes this movie exceed my expectations. They play the old cloak and dagger routine but you don't see it coming. Sex and nudity, drugs, a music video in there somewhere. I sincerely thought it was going to be a drag but it was better than that. If you like rock n roll and excess you might like this if you like getting stoned.

8/10

[matt72582]

Jaco - 9/10
You don't even need to be a music fan to appreciate this. I heard about him decades ago because the bass player in my band was a fan. Very unique and interesting guy - interviews, etc..



https://youtu.be/UavJDQtr81E

[ScarletLion]

'Afire' (2023)

https://i0.wp.com/www.socialnews.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/22/screenshot-2023-06-22-at-11-54-37-am5232651.jpg?quality=80&zoom=1&ssl=1

New film from Christian Petzold. Centres around two friends Leon and Felix who stay at a retreat on the Baltic coast. Writer Leon tries to finish his latest book as his publisher is due to visit. There are forest fires near but should avoid them. Meanwhile, Nadja a carefree lady is also staying with them.

Resembling a dream at times, it is essentially about the flaws of the struggling artist, but the line between fiction and reality blurs somewhat due to a nice little plot mover, and there are many metaphors to be found in the script and the beautiful landscape. Slightly meanders in the middle section, and the literature references are way over my head- but the last 30 minutes are terrific. Comparisons to the films of Eric Rohmer are spot on.

7.2/10

3.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media.tenor.com/rh0FbfJ2Dk0AAAAd/day-shift-white-women.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/1c5cbc8588f3b8feb9237eadee06d620/2b25e6c1ca084075-9e/s540x810/1bec6aea5348cbbbd998a6abe0ba5f69d9e29550.gifv
https://media.tenor.com/_rRkHUxaynIAAAAC/pointing-a-gun-bud-jablonski.gif

Day Shift - I never really held Jamie Foxx in high regard even after he won the Best Actor Oscar for Ray. But he's put together some fine, A-list type of work including Collateral, Django Unchained, The Kingdom, Baby Driver and just recently They Cloned Tyrone. Here he plays Bud Jablonski, an ersatz pool cleaner who in reality hunts vampires in modern day Los Angeles. The San Fernando Valley to be exact. But since he's run afoul of the local union he's having to operate under the radar and relies on his business acquaintance Troy (Peter Stormare) to buy the fangs that he pulls from his kills. The script does attempt some world building with different classes of bloodsuckers and the weapons employed against them.

After his ex-wife informs Bud that she is in the process of moving herself and their daughter to Florida Bud must come up with 10,000 dollars in less than a week. He hits up his friend and local legend Big John Elliott (Snoop Dogg) to arrange a second chance tryout with the local union chapter. Not wanting to insult Big John, the head of the chapter Ralph Seeger (Eric Lange) reluctantly agrees. But, in accordance with the rules, he sends union rep Seth (Dave Franco) to monitor Bud's activities. From there it turns into a mismatched-buddy-cops type film with the iconoclastic Bud gamely trying to earn a fat paycheck while keeping the persnickety Seth alive. But this being the second act an antagonist/big baddie has to put in an appearance. There are familiar beats to be hit before the requisite third act denouement.

This starts out promisingly and keeps it forward momentum going through the first act. Then it starts slowing down so that by the time the third act rolls around it's kinda running on fumes. But then this could describe a lot of the movies out there. Details that were supposedly established are thrown out the window or ignored for the sake of advancing the story. A character is introduced then seemingly forgotten about until it's time to bring them back as one of the stars? What? Anyway, it's hard to come up with something relatively new and original in a genre as well traversed as vampire flicks. Here we have a little more than half of a passably engaging flick with the remainder not being egregious enough to negate the good feelings it's engendered. If you like these types of comedic horror offerings and appreciate Jamie Foxx then by all means check it out.

80/100

[GulfportDoc]

94905

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

This mystery thriller, which has one of the most intriguing and alluring titles in recent times, is set in the winter of 1830, and takes place exclusively in and around the U.S. Military Academy, better known as West point, 50 miles up the Hudson from NYC. Yet the title taken from the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, has little relation to the tale apart from setting the anticipatory mood. That anticipation is enhanced right from the start by the darkly lovely winter scenes photographed by Masa Takayanagi (Silver Linings Playbook; Hostiles).

There had been a mysterious hanging and mutilation on the grounds of West Point. Fearing backlash from the event which could effect the continued funding of the academy, the Superintendent (Timothy Spall) hires an experienced non-military detective, Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), out of retirement to investigate the case without fanfare.To help his investigation Landor soon enlists the aid of a young cadet, Edgar Alan Poe (Harry Melling) to provide insights into his fellow cadets and the academy’s administrators. We learn that Landor is a widower and that his daughter had gone off several years prior. Landor tends to melancholy, and drinks because of it.

Surprisingly while the investigation is advancing another shocking murder and mutilation occurs. Landor and Poe start suspecting that the institution’s physician, Dr. Marquis (Toby Jones) , who had performed the autopsy on the initial victim, may somehow be involved. In addition Dr. Marquis’ daughter Lea (Lucy Boynton) is afflicted with seizures, and Marquis was treating her using black magic. Both Marquis’ wife (Gillian Anderson) and his son (Harry Lawty) are both odd balls. Soon a third cadet disappears, causing everyone to suspect the worst.

The action and the course of the investigation evolve slowly, providing a few red herrings, and twists. Landor’s and Poe’s relationship solidify as they put their heads together to sleuth out the culprit. The result comes to a satisfactory conclusion, but yet one final major surprise presents itself.

There are several jumps of plot logic as if a hole or two were leapt over. It put me in mind of movies made in the 1940s where an important dramatic point suddenly appears which, although it doesn’t hold up to logic, the viewer simply accepts it and focuses on the next point. And too there were several minor detractions which lumped together weaken the impact of the film.

Bale did a journeyman’s job, and was fairly effective as the detective, but he seemed distant, as if he wasn’t giving 100%, which is unusual for this fine actor. Perhaps it was the writing (writer/director Scott Cooper). His co-star Harry Melling is quoted as saying that he didn’t think that Bale was employing his typical method acting technique. And to be sure, it was Melling’s superb portrayal of Poe that pretty well stood out in the picture. His casting was a masterstroke, as Melling’s face is hauntingly similar to Poe’s-- right down to the shape of is head and the slightly lower left eye orbit in relation to the right. He ended up with more lines than Bale had, and there was not a nuance left out. It’s surprising that he was passed over for award nominations.

Other minor demerits were the music score by Howard Shore, and the unceasing dreary settings. Shore is an excellent composer/orchestrator, but his style of music which perfectly fits epic films --like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit-- don’t perfectly fit a smaller scale mystery. The music is too busy, too grandiose, and almost bothersome-- another similarity to some ‘40s dramas. The continuous wintry and forlorn nature photography was appropriate given the mood of the movie, but an occasional bright or mirthful setting would have been a nice contrast.

The cast’s acting was first rate, which in some cases overcame the ineffectual writing. This was an American picture about an American suspense thriller, but practically the whole cast was British. In fact it took me awhile to realize that it was Timothy Spall as the superintendent, due to his well disguised English accent. Another surprise to me was that Edgar Allan Poe did attend West Point during that period for 8 months before he suborned a discharge of his enlistment.

In sum this is is a very watchable picture, but one that might have been improved with a little tidying up of the plot. Available on Netflix.

Doc’s rating: 6/10

[beelzebubble]

Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs
This is the comedian who is famous for getting canceled from SNL for saying slurs. I'm not sure which ones. I think it was the r-word and maybe the f-word. Anyway he says the r-word a number of times and says gay instead of the f-word. He really skirts around getting re-canceled, but he has built his fan base up and they are basically the same kind of guy who was a fan of Bill Burr back in the day, before he went as these guys woudl say "woke." Yes, getting laid has softened old Billy ginger balls. In fact, Bill Burr is one of the Executive producers of this special. Doh! Gotta go. I will finish tomorrow.


I don't have much to add to this. It was pretty good. This guy is quite talented. I don't think he is outrageous for the heck of it, that is just the way he thinks. It's well constructed, but we, ladies, are not the intended audience. Dudes are. I am so not a dude.


He had a one joke that really stuck with me and that was describing being a history buff is a warning sign of late onset Republicanism. Its funny because its true.

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Ice_Age_%282002_film%29_poster.jpg
By http://www.matttrailer.com/ice_age_2002, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18574697

Ice Age - (2002)

When it comes to animated films I really like and have seen multiple times, Ice Age is in the upper echelons of that medium-sized group. It makes me happy every time I watch it, and I'm sure it would have been a huge favourite if I'd seen it as a kid. One thing I'd never stopped to consider before is how much the plot resembles that of Three Godfathers - a film John Ford had adapted from a novelette twice. Anyway, I think it has a great mix of characters. Ray Romano has the perfect voice for Wooly Mammoth Manfred, and John Leguizamo is a hoot as Sid. It's short, fun, funny and warm - I don't know how many of the sequels I've seen, but I might start watching 'em.

7.5/10


I love Ice Age. I used to put it on all the time in the video store where I worked.

Be warned that the sequels fall off in quality pretty steeply, and I thought the third one was terrible.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/StepbrothersMP08.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2008/step_brothers.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15874794

Step Brothers - (2008)

Modern comedians often take things to an extreme, and in comedies like Step Brothers the method seems to be mostly improvisational - it works often enough for me to really like the film, but I see that opinion is sharply divided. The movie bets everything on two men around 40 acting like children, and that sharply divides audiences, because if you like that you're going to get plenty of it, and if you don't like it you're going to grow more and more tired of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's antics. I think they add a lot of little touches that are inspired, and while some of their invention feels forced their general body language and tone are enough to keep me amused regardless. I know these two guys do it a lot, but in Step Brothers they took it as far as they could. Adam McKay has yet to make a film I actively disliked, from his earlier comedies to his more recent politically inspired movies - without him, Ferrell and Reilly often seem lost and directionless, but here they maintain what they're going for and I think it's genuinely funny. I very much like Step Brothers.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Ice_Age_2_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/2006/ice_age_two_the_meltdown_ver5.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18685721

Ice Age 2 : The Meltdown - (2006)

This all came back to me as I watched it - I've seen the second Ice Age movie before. It introduces a few new characters - Crash and Eddie are possums, and are annoying, while Ellie (Queen Latifah) is a mammoth and love interest for Manfred. Not quite as much really funny stuff here (I liked the bit with the dung beetles - an insect that is always good for a laugh.) I don't think Sid gets into enough trouble, but he's having attention stolen via the fact that a film series like Ice Age always adds characters as it goes along. Yeah, I don't know. Average.

6/10

I love Ice Age. I used to put it on all the time in the video store where I worked.

Be warned that the sequels fall off in quality pretty steeply, and I thought the third one was terrible.

I don't think my expectations for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs could get any lower at this point.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Don%27t_Worry_Darling_Poster_2.jpg
By IMPAwards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71510663

Don't Worry Darling - (2022)

It sounds like Olivia Wilde had a terrible time making Don't Worry Darling, which is a shame - I really love Booksmart, and whenever I love someone's debut film I want them to go on and keep that trajectory aimed skyward. With a film like this, and this is especially true of contemporary movies, there's so much stock put into pulling off a twist or surprise. The whole audience is primed, because the film is constantly building up to "What is really happening with this Victory place? What's going on?" almost to the exclusion of everything else. When everything is revealed at the end, it happens at the same time the film's meaning comes into sharper focus - but those two aspects kind of trample each other. I could have done with a reveal at the halfway point, or closer to the beginning of the movie, so that we could focus more on what the film is about. For me the surprise was a complete anticlimax, and robbed us of the tension that had been building between characters Frank (Chris Pine) and Alice (Florence Pugh) - also, Alice's husband, Jack (Harry Styles) has a deep-seated, infantile issue with his wife and who she really is, which was interesting but is revealed too late to explore more. There was a really good movie here, but the execution way, way off.

5/10

[Fabulous]

Boy on a Dolphin (1957)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/esRUKDULnDRhybA7GRKKagi6Ctq.jpg

[I_Wear_Pants]

Today I watched my new favorite Kenneth Branagh film; Frankenstein. It's just so excellently made. I don't care if people don't favor it much. I loved it to pieces, in part because it broke me into a few pieces. He did such an awesome job with the story. I love it.

[Torgo]

Blue Steel - 4

This is a tense and uncompromising police thriller featuring Jamie Lee Curtis's rookie Megan’s not-so-welcoming entry into the world of men. On her first day on the job, she uses - and loses - her gun during a robbery, its new owner being day trader Eugene (Silver), who is part Patrick Bateman and part Chip Douglas from The Cable Guy (but a lot less funny). The more he makes Megan's life a living hell, the less helpful and trusting her all-male superiors are. She finds an ally in veteran detective Mann (Brown), but will he be enough?

What makes this movie stand out from others like it is in one thing it does that similar ones don't: let Megan do more showing than telling to answer why she became a cop. You see it in her response to a sexist would-be suitor, her relationship with her father, etc., so when we get her one-word response when someone else asks why, it’s all we need. The way director Bigelow "shows" may be why I keep coming back to her, especially how she makes everything from faces to the streets of Manhattan make you wish you were watching it on a big screen instead. How she depicts the man’s world is another reason, such as how she presents the heated stock exchange floor as a breeding ground for guys like Eugene. There’s also how small she makes Megan seem whenever her captain (Dunn) or Eugene's lawyer (Jenkins) question her credibility and sanity. Silver (R.I.P.) is terrifying as Megan's stalker, and with this movie and his work as Alan Dershowitz in Reversal of Fortune, it was a banner year for him, and Curtis also deserves credit for how well she exudes confidence in one moment and abject fear the next. I also like Clancy Brown's cynical veteran detective for how he conveys that he's helping Megan against his better judgement and that he'll pay for it sooner or later.

So, a female cop whose male superiors don't trust her? When it comes to revealing the dark side of the patriarchy, isn't that a bit on the nose? Probably. Also, as good as Dunn and Jenkins are at making you love to hate them, their disbelief about Megan's story sometimes strains credulity. This is still another feather in Bigelow's cap, and the effectiveness of its commentary notwithstanding, what’s important is that this a thriller that keeps you on edge until the very end. Just be prepared to feel as much anger as excitement due to the persistent feeling that if one person believed Megan, so much of what happens could have been prevented.

[Stirchley]

94916

Re-watch. Written & directed by Gary Oldman. Dark & grim, but a very good movie.

94917

Excellent movie. Very strange & these two are the only actors on-screen. They’re both excellent.

94918

Chrissie Metz is so very obese I could not focus on this movie at all. Talk about “Stay Awake”: It was so boring I couldn’t keep from nodding off.

94919

Very good interesting movie.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://nitratediva.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/the-blue-gardenia.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/620089e8f8ca04cbecb81a98b77293ba/tumblr_p2et18nDVH1snmmclo1_500.gifv


The Blue Gardenia - Maybe it's because I've never been a fan of Anne Baxter but I didn't pick this and it did turn out to be a bit of a potboiler. Something about Baxter always struck me as contrived. I've watched her in a handful of movies and she just wasn't what you would call a naturalistic actress. There are several other reasons to avoid this besides the soap opera quality of the script. The zero chemistry between Baxter and her leading man Richard Conte. Or maybe it was the lack of any agreeable characters. The women are there to either be ogled or preyed upon. The men are either predatory or creepily obsessed with their "little black books". It seemed dated even by 1953 standards.

Norah Larkin (Baxter) is rooming with two other women and pining away for her GI sweetheart who's in Korea. The three roommates are telephone switchboard operators and in the opening scene are fending off the unwanted advances of artist Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). He's the yardstick against which most of the guys in the movie are measured. As in, if you're not as big a scumbag as this guy then you are, by default, a nice guy. Norah gets some bad news and decides to go out and celebrate her birthday with Prebble. She gets blackout drunk and 50's noir stuff happens. Conte plays newspaperman Casey Mayo and Ann Sothern her pragmatic roommate Crystal. A barely recognizable George 'Superman' Reeves rounds out the cast as Police Capt. Sam Haynes. Fritz Lang directs this and he and his cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca do a good job of capturing the vibe and look but the banality of the script and miscast stars fail them. I wouldn't bother.

60/100

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTcyNjk1MjgtOWI3Mi00YzQwLWI5MTktMzY4ZmI2NDAyNzYzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4.5

[Raven73]

Fall
8/10.
Intense, gripping and terrifying.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Fall_%282022_film%29.jpg

[Thief]

HALLOWEEN 4
THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
(1988, Little)

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


"You can't kill damnation, Mister. It don't die like a man dies."



Halloween 4 starts with the transfer of Myers from one hospital to another, and his expected eventual escape. With Myers headed to Haddonfield, it is up to Loomis to stop him from murdering Jamie. But this time, he has the help of the townspeople, especially Jamie's foster sister, Rachel (Ellie Cornell).

A couple of things separate this installment from the bunch. First, Rachel makes for a pretty good "final girl". She's brave, smart, and resourceful, and manages to hold her own against Michael. Second, despite all the rehashed elements, it is nice to see a "different" Haddonfield, with townsfolk still suffering and reeling in from the events of a decade before. Not that the film dwells too much in it, but it was still nice to see that speck of realism.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410757#post2410757)

[Fabulous]

Irma Vep (1996)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/a4pRH7qU74jcKPdVd2ZO0Deg2Ak.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/The_Woman_King_%28film%29.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/posters/woman_king_ver3_xlg.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71355974

The Woman King - (2022)

The catchwords for the The Woman King are "Rise Up", but one of the refreshing things about watching it is the fact that these African men and women don't really have to - they already exist as proud leaders and warriors in their own culture and society. Obviously as inspiration for our troubled times, and something we don't see enough of, is pre-colonized African culture in cinema. The only major problem with it is the fact that we still can't fully embrace stories that are different from what we're used to telling - and as such I felt like I wasn't stimulated as much by The Woman King's story and screenplay. What I did really like were the costumes, choreographed dancing and battles along with the production design. Oh - and Viola Davis, who apparently had to give us a mighty frown for five months, and as such may never be able to smile again - but she did look like a warrior, while the rest of the cast and extras all looked like models. That was always going to happen. Overall though, when weighed up, it was something different - and I really appreciate that. Every step the American mainstream movie-making machine (this came from Tristar/Sony I believe) takes in that direction is a positive one.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Resident_evil_apocalypse_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: Internet Movie Poster Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10113506

Resident Evil : Apocalypse - (2004)

Every Resident Evil movie I watch feels a little bit broken, so I'm just going to embrace that aspect of the series - that of a dozen cooks all trying to make their own version of the recipe. That's the vibe these movies give me. We actually take off where the first Resident Evil left off, with Raccoon City overrun by zombies and Alice (Milla Jovovich) stuck in the middle of the epidemic. Character-wise, we get Thomas Kretschmann as our Umbrella Corp villain, Major Timothy Cain, and Jared Harris as Dr. Charles Ashford - a good guy in a bad company. So those two additions were definitely plusses, for I really like those two actors. Ashford tries to get Alice and various other characters to save his daughter, promising to airlift them out of the city (that's about to be nuked.) In the meantime, Major Cain is testing various Umbrella Corp creations (monsters) as to how well they kill - and this includes the genetically enhanced Alice. There's zombies and shooting. Actually, that could have been my entire review. "There's zombies and shooting." I made this sound better than it really is.

3/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Resident_Evil_Extinction.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13469909

Resident Evil : Extinction - (2007)

The series takes a very different direction here, with this chapter obviously being majorly influenced by the Mad Max series. The setting is a post-apocalyptic desert world - and the characters, aside from the villains and Alice (Milla Jovovich) come from a group of 'on the move' dusty, dented vehicles in which a bunch of survivors exist. There are zombie crows in this one - that needs pointing out. Other than that - Zombies and shooting. This one feels much less broken than the first two movies - it actually has the vibe of actually being what it's meant to be. That did not help it though. At all.

3/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzE4MTllZTktMTIyZS00Yzg1LTg1YzAtMWQwZTZkNjNkODNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4.5

[Captain Terror]

MARS AND BEYOND (1957) 4

In 1957 Walt Disney and his animators passed around a bong, got high AF and made a show about Mars.

The first half is a brief history of astronomy, followed by a brief rundown of early works of fiction (Wells, Burroughs, etc). This is played for laughs somewhat, with lots of imaginary Seussian alien creatures.

94930

Second half gets a bit more serious as they discuss what other planets, and specifically Mars, might look like, and how successful mankind would be in surviving on these planets. It's in this segment that we get a lot of sweet Chesley Bonestell-esque spaceships and landscapes. Pure eye candy for fans of the vintage retro-future aesthetic.

94931

This might be one that Mr. Torgo would enjoy. It's on Disney+ but also Youtube if you're not a D+ subscriber.

[Fabulous]

Cold Water (1994)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/70G50Uhb4yOEmTQlhFrib3xKFUi.jpg

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 so scary and alot of jumped scares and loved taissa farmiga from american horror story shes one of my favourites on that show and loved anna popplewell from narnia movie trilogy, they both did good job, i really enjoyed the movie and i recommended to go and see it if ur a big fan of the conjuring universe *and taissa farmiga is the sister of vera farmiga from the conjuring in real life 🙂
https://quakercinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/0-quaker-cinema-movie-poster-nun-2.jpg

[Deschain]

HALLOWEEN 4
THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
(1988, Little)

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




Halloween 4 starts with the transfer of Myers from one hospital to another, and his expected eventual escape. With Myers headed to Haddonfield, it is up to Loomis to stop him from murdering Jamie. But this time, he has the help of the townspeople, especially Jamie's foster sister, Rachel (Ellie Cornell).

A couple of things separate this installment from the bunch. First, Rachel makes for a pretty good "final girl". She's brave, smart, and resourceful, and manages to hold her own against Michael. Second, despite all the rehashed elements, it is nice to see a "different" Haddonfield, with townsfolk still suffering and reeling in from the events of a decade before. Not that the film dwells too much in it, but it was still nice to see that speck of realism.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410757#post2410757)

I have a soft spot for 4. It reminds me the most of 1, probably because they were trying to soft reboot the franchise after 3. I like the rednecks riding around hunting Michael Myers and I like the siege element to the people in the house.

[Thief]

I have a soft spot for 4. It reminds me the most of 1, probably because they were trying to soft reboot the franchise after 3. I like the rednecks riding around hunting Michael Myers and I like the siege element to the people in the house.

Yeah, I like it and those are strong elements. I think they had good ideas which were mostly well executed.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/e0ac293fd9044c4818401aded88af7b5/e5f001e76515969a-77/s500x750/50abc28b8db661a66876985e694f9b5c5fbbe704.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c7fcacde52503f6aedb927962731f7c6/e5f001e76515969a-42/s500x750/151e4267b3449fb87db6494d82853131329bda45.gifv

The Killing - 1956 heist drama and Stanley Kubrick's third film. I'm glad I finally watched this because it certainly earns all the praise that it's garnered. It features a great cast up and down the line. Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, a hardened criminal recently paroled from prison. He's assembled a ragtag crew to rob a racetrack of millions in cash. They include debt ridden and bent cop Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia), racetrack bartender Mike O'Reilly (Joe Sawyer) and betting window teller and henpecked husband George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.).

Plus unhinged sharpshooter Nikki Arcane (played by the marvelous Timothy Carey) and wrestler Maurice (Kola Kwariani) to provide crucial distractions during the robbery. Jay C. Flippen plays Marvin Unger, a bookkeeper who bankrolls the heist. The wild card is George's dissatisfied and unfaithful wife Sherry (the great Marie Windsor). She's a master manipulator and finagles George into telling her all about the heist which she then passes on to her boyfriend Val Cannon (Vince Edwards) who immediately starts making plans of his own.

This was the last film that Kubrick filmed entirely in the US and I think he really nails the zeitgeist of what could be considered an essentially American genre. From the non-linear narrative to the extra care taken to find the letter-perfect cast it's easy to see the influence this had on various directors and on the countless heist films that followed. Consider this a must-see.

90/100

[Act III]

94932

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

This film started as a stage play by Terrence Zdunich, an art school student. Visually, you are reminded of Tim Burton films from the same period, with plenty of gothic, burlesque, final fantasy video game elements, its a comedic musical horror movie with plenty of parody mixed in. Short comic book animated narrations between some of the scenes. The music is charming in a cartoonish way, with a metal and dark electronic dance backdrop to most of it, but don't expect anything all that great. This is the intersection of several genre specific cultures and stands alone in that respect. This films strength is the visuals not the sound and looks like they had great fun making it but on the whole as cinema I cant say more than 6.

6/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Hearts_in_Atlantis_film.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2668836

Hearts in Atlantis - (2001)

I've been eyeing up Hearts in Atlantis from a distance over the years - it's the kind of movie where you can't easily discern what it's about. Something about a boy, Anthony Hopkins, "low men" - then not only does the trail go cold, but I don't even know what "low men" means - so, even if maybe I'd seen it before, I had to watch it to find out. It was good though - because somehow I was really in the mood for this kind of movie. Not a lot of people love it - it's about a relationship between an older man, super-psychic Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) and 11-year-old Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin). It's no surprise that Hopkins gets his performance beautifully right, but so does child actor Yelchin, which is a nice bonus - the two seem to have real chemistry, and I totally believe that this kid, who has a really horrible (but sympathetic) mother (played by Hope Davis), would latch onto Ted like he's a father figure. Ted's on the run from operatives desperate to put his talents to good use, but most of the movie is a light coming of age romp involving Bobby. Usually I'm not so much of a fan of author Stephen King's tendency to add a little too much "psychic powers" to any recipe he's cooking up - but there's a nice balance here in the film (William Goldman adapted the source) between the emotional bond the two characters have and the tragic danger which gives their relationship a short use-by date. It's Anthony Hopkins, though, that's the attraction here. Like I said - I was in the unknowingly in the mood, and I enjoyed it.

7/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODk3OWJhMTUtMTU2MC00ZjJmLTk2OGYtN2NiZGMxNmY4NzU3L2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg


3.5

[Jackie Daytona]

Doomed !: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four

Aw wow, this movie had so much more heart than I expected; hit me right in the feels. Visionary filmmaker Roger Corman made a Fantastic Four movie that to this day has never truly seen the light of day, this is the account of the people involved. Is there a Stan Lee cameo? Maybe!


Available on Youtube

[Act III]

94945

Wayne's World 2 (1993)

This one sort of bums me out. It's like you know this movie isn't that great but there's a bunch of people and bands and all that you like. Sort of like seeing the last gasp of an old era, it was there, you remember this stuff, but it was gone before you could appreciate it or enjoy it yourself. What came after this capstone was pretty bleak. The party is over man, here's the last minute of it. This was supposed to be a comedy.

5/10

[Marco]

The Card Counter (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_Card_Counter_%282021%29_film_poster.jpg
This was a strange affair. A guy that gets out of Military Prison uses the skills he learned to earn a living on the gambling circuit. He is in there because of practices that were used on prisoners in Desert Storm. With Shraders films you don't really know where they will go. This was sluggish and seemed like half a good idea not really explored or fleshed out. In all honest the film could have done without Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan full stop. The last 10 minutes are absolutely terrible/risible.

2 (for Oscar Isaac's performance)

[HassieMalcomson]

The Lovely Bones 8/10

It was very sentimental one.

[Gideon58]

94945

Wayne's World 2 (1993)

This one sort of bums me out. It's like you know this movie isn't that great but there's a bunch of people and bands and all that you like. Sort of like seeing the last gasp of an old era, it was there, you remember this stuff, but it was gone before you could appreciate it or enjoy it yourself. What came after this capstone was pretty bleak. The party is over man, here's the last minute of it. This was supposed to be a comedy.

5/10

I lioked it a little more than you did. Of course, it's not as good as the first one, but I understand where you're coming from.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/216d2ed702194cf50b335a4beeb0f3da/tumblr_nd11g6qVkj1qe4ru4o4_500.gifv
https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-09-2021/y_k00D.gif

The Woman in the Window - This was released in 1944, a year before Scarlet Street was made and features the same director (Fritz Lang), cinematographer (Milton R. Krasner) and three stars (Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea). In this one Robinson plays college psychology professor Richard Wanley. As the movie opens he's sent his wife and two kids away on vacation and is meeting his two friends, District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey) and Dr. Michael Barkstane (Edmund Breon) at their club.

Taking notice of a portrait in the neighboring studio he and his friends talk about the beautiful woman in the painting. After leaving the club he stops to admire the portrait again and runs into the actual model Alice Reed (Bennett). They go out for a drink and eventually end up at her apartment where they're interrupted by her enraged boyfriend and sugar daddy. It doesn't end well but Professor Wanley is surprisingly resilient and coolheaded. He coaches the rattled Alice and reassures her before getting to work. He methodically takes the necessary steps to clean up any evidence of their transgression.

It being by necessity a multi-step process there are unplanned and additional witnesses and a trail of breadcrumbs left behind. Wanley then ends up playing an unintended game of cat and mouse with his District Attorney friend. It's all brought to a head when Dan Duryea puts in an appearance as a disgraced ex-cop turned blackmailer. I kind of saw the twist culmination ahead of time but then the movie throws in a Wizard of Oz type ending before wrapping it up in somewhat playful fashion. Even though it was considered the superior film I still liked this a little better than Scarlet Street. It does start out slow though with the three friends at their club debating the finer points of temptation as it applies to middle aged men. But restrained yet engaging performances by both Robinson and Bennett and a snide and menacing bad guy turn from Duryea make it well worth watching.

80/100

[Thief]

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
MUTANT MAYHEM
(2023, Rowe)

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


"Even though it looks like we'll never be accepted, I still think we should try to be heroes."



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem follows the turtles struggle to stop two different people from getting their hands in the mutagen that mutated them: on one side, there's TCRI executive Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph) who wants to use it for her evil experiments, and on the other hand there's Superfly (Ice Cube), a mutated housefly turned criminal that wants to use it to mutate all creatures and achieve mutant dominance.

The theme of acceptance and its importance is also well represented across most of the characters. Being teenagers isolated from the rest of the world, it makes sense that the turtles would want to go out, make friends, and have fun. But when you pair it with the fact that they're mutant turtles, it creates an obvious predicament. Their desire to be heroes is fueled by that need for acceptance, until they realize they *should* be heroes to save the world, regardless of whether they're accepted or not.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410964#post2410964)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BN2FkYTc2NGMtY2U3ZS00ZWNjLWFiMDMtYTEyNGM0MDE0N2FhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzQ1Nj gzOTA%40._V1_FMjpg_UX480_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=a0a350fa60a947e8ffa2d5b9a7c16609faf3c00c7602e9d997af45127cf8b3b5&ipo=images

Manganinnie, 1980

Manganinnie (Mawuyul Yanthalawuy) is an aboriginal woman whose tribe is massacred as part of driving the native people from their land. Determined to find any of her people who may have scattered during the raid, Manganinnie sets off into the wilderness, heading for the coast. On the way she encounters Joanna (Anna Ralph), the daughter of a family of white settlers. As the pair journey through the wilderness, they form a bond with one another, though Manganinnie’s sense of despair grows the more she sees of what is happening to her country.

This is an interesting film that tells an intimate story against the backdrop of a larger cultural tragedy.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410967#post2410967)

[Gideon58]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/nightjarprod/content/uploads/sites/130/2023/04/28184122/strays-poster.jpeg


4

[SpelingError]

The 47 Ronin (1941) - 3.5

Not an easy watch and not the kind of film I can see myself revisiting anytime soon, but as a subversive film which broke just about every rule I expected it to follow when I first discovered it, I found it pretty fascinating. Reading the plot summaries for the film, one may find potential for it to predate Seven Samurai in terms of scope, but what you instead get is practically no action and nearly four hours of conversations about what's either going to happen or what has already happened offscreen. Reading this, you've likely already written the film off, but while I wasn't always engaged by the unrelenting theatrical conversations, I still enjoyed witnessing the breadth of details discussed in the film, like the numerous characters both directly and indirectly involved in the plot, the intricacies of them planning their revenge, or the way their plan conflicts with their code of honor. This manages to give the sense that the environment is fully formed, even if you don't get to see much of it. Which is a rather impressive feat given this is essentially an action-less action film. If you're still baffled by the film's tone though, reading up on the historical background provides some additional context to its uncompromising style. During WWII, Mizoguchi was forced to create this film by the government. They wanted it to be a propagandistic film which would double as a morale booster and as justification for the expansionism and imperialism Japan was involved in during the war. Given this background, completely omitting action from the film could be read as a subversive move by Mizoguchi so that he could simultaneously comply and disobey his orders by the government. This also gives a double meaning to the opening preface of "Defend the Homes of Those Who Fight for a Greater Asia" in the opening, in the sense it's referencing the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (GEACPS), a pan-Asian union which was formed in an attempt to resist the threat of imperialism during WWII. So, while I'd still put this film in the "I enjoyed thinking about it later more than actually watching it" pile, I would still recommend it if you think you're up for the task.

[Fabulous]

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2DTEVxyeR70hskIm94fQ413hUox.jpg

[GulfportDoc]

Hearts in Atlantis - (2001)

I've been eyeing up Hearts in Atlantis from a distance over the years - it's the kind of movie where you can't easily discern what it's about. Something about a boy, Anthony Hopkins, "low men" - then not only does the trail go cold, but I don't even know what "low men" means - so, even if maybe I'd seen it before, I had to watch it to find out.
...

7/10
I've somehow missed this film even though I'm a huge Anthony Hopkins fan. Will try to catch it soon.

According to Wikipedia: "...Ted explains that he has escaped the grasp of the 'Low Men', strange people who would stop at nothing to get him back in their control."

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNTRhMjUzNzgtNGYxNC00ODdiLThjMDYtYjEzZTY5ZTVhZmZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc0Nj Y1ODk%40._V1_FMjpg_UX720_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=704ff57efe2a83a1cc37b3c558e3826daad2eb47204d886af5af7da477be787f&ipo=images

Close Your Eyes, 2002

Hypnotist Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic) specializes in curing people of smoking addictions, but his work takes a darker and more dangerous turn when one of his clients, Detective Losey (Shirley Henderson) , draws him into a case involving a sadistic kidnapping. Heather (Sophie Stuckey) was kidnapped, held captive, tattooed, and finally rescued, but has been mute since her ordeal. But Heather’s ordeal is far from over, and Michael has put himself in the line of fire regarding the sinister plot behind her kidnapping.

Skip.

2

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410994#post2410994)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2JjNzVhOTMtNTc3Yi00NGNjLWI3YjgtYjkyZTYzY2FmMmIxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4.5

[iluv2viddyfilms]

Ladies in Retirement- A

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/The_Auschwitz_Report.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9415108/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65781632

The Auschwitz Report - (2021)

I don't know if this is even remotely true, and I don't mean it in a bad way, but I think there might be a little Holocaust fatigue when it comes to moviegoers. I find it's something so bad that it constantly defies imagination - there are horrible things that I can imagine (and instantly chase from my mind), but I can't imagine what it would have been like to die that way. To lose your dignity, your humanity, hope and spirit in such away, before being brutally murdered. The Auschwitz Report does a great job of putting you in Auschwitz, but it takes a course that feels unusual - this is the true story of Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, who miraculously escaped, seemingly going beyond human endurance, on a mission that really ended in heartbreaking failure. All of the prisoners believed that if their plight became known to the world, the camps would be wiped out. They wanted to see bombs fall - even if it meant their own demise. What they were met with once they'd told their story is at once infuriating and so sad. This was the Slovakian entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, and damn, it must have come close. It's well made, and unflinching in it's vision - I think more people should have seen it. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Kungfupanda.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/35b70595, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23581787

Kung Fu Panda - (2008)

Holy moly - this was awesome! Not just in a comedic and story sense - but the animation itself, which was beyond incredible. There were a great triumvirate of animated film up for the Animated Feature Oscar in 2009 - this, WALL-E and Bolt. Love all three now, but never knew Kung Fu Panda was this good. I don't know what else I can say about it except for the fact that for an hour and a half I was a kid again - wishing I'd seen this on the big screen. I missed out. Funny, and made by artists inspired by silliness and great beauty.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Shrinkposter09.jpg
By Impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23076927

Shrink - (2009)

There came a certain stage while watching Shrink where I was debating with myself whether I should just give it up or not. Then, the start of the third act gave the film a dark boost, and I got interested again - thinking "Just as well you didn't turn it off." But then the movie ended with a fizzle, and all-up wasn't very good. Dr. Henry Carter (the cancelled Kevin Spacey) is a Psychiatrist to the stars in Hollywood, but when his wife commits suicide he spirals into drug addiction and depression himself. Man, at one stage he's treating Robin Williams and the whole exercise became all too real, dark and unpalatable. Shrink wouldn't have been much good no matter who starred in it, but considering it's two bankable stars were an outed sleaze and a suicide, it takes on a whole new shade of black. Definitely not recommended.

4/10

[skizzerflake]

I have not seen this one for a while....a big budget, big FX iteration on some old 1950's black and white movies that you probably never saw unless you stayed up real late for the creature feature. It's Core, in which the earth's core develops a problem and a "cast of characters" have to invent a way to go down there and fix it. It's like The Night the World Exploded or When Worlds Collide, but in color with good special effects. The world, of course, will be saved by a bunch of eccentric eggheads with a big drill. This one goes for the big time, when lightning destroys the ancient Roman Coliseum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcjj6ZSjtNU

[Gideon58]

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1st Rewatch...I think I enjoyed this exuberant film version of Lin Manuel Miranda's first Broadway smash even more than I did the first time. Anthony Ramo's movie star performance in the starring role, Miranda's sizzling latino/hip hop score and Christopher Scott's brilliant choreography make this story leap off the screen. That title number and that production number in the swimming pool "96000" never gets old. Also loved how Hollywood veteran Olga Merediz amde the most of a major supporting role among a cast of nubile twenty-somethings. 4.5

[Torgo]

Drug War - 5

Johnnie To is at the top of his game in what is one of the best undercover assignment movies I've seen. After crashing into a restaurant while escaping his destroyed meth factory, Timmy (Koo) is apprehended. Since the penalty for his crimes is death, he has no choice but to accept police captain Lei's (Honglei) offer to help his squad bring down an international meth smuggling ring. Since Timmy's former co-workers are involved, can he be trusted?

How would I describe this movie in a few words? "All business, all the time." It's the entire assignment from start to finish and there's such immediacy to it all that I felt like I was part of Lei's team. Their professionalism and unwavering commitment to the assignment recalls Michael Mann's best workaholics, but it's not all sternness, mind you. There's room for laughs, such as when Lei pretends to be the exceedingly smug and appropriately named drug supplier Haha, and scares, like his close call after being forced to sample the product. On top of that, there's the drama regarding whether Timmy will stay committed, which is all but enhanced by the mission taking him through his familiar haunts. Luckily, the combined drama culminates in a shootout for the ages, which occurs near a primary school yet never comes across as cheap or ventures into bad taste. While I approve of the movie's "all business" approach, it has the same flaw as others like it in that if your attention wavers even for a few seconds, you may feel like you're out of the loop for a while. It's still a prime example of a director doing what he does best, and pardon the pun, a must-see in the Prime Video library.

[Gideon58]

Shrink - (2009)

There came a certain stage while watching Shrink where I was debating with myself whether I should just give it up or not. Then, the start of the third act gave the film a dark boost, and I got interested again - thinking "Just as well you didn't turn it off." But then the movie ended with a fizzle, and all-up wasn't very good. Dr. Henry Carter (the cancelled Kevin Spacey) is a Psychiatrist to the stars in Hollywood, but when his wife commits suicide he spirals into drug addiction and depression himself. Man, at one stage he's treating Robin Williams and the whole exercise became all too real, dark and unpalatable. Shrink wouldn't have been much good no matter who starred in it, but considering it's two bankable stars were an outed sleaze and a suicide, it takes on a whole new shade of black. Definitely not recommended.

4/10


Really liked this movie...Spacey, Williams, and Dallas Roberts were brilliant. here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1993290-shrink.html

[Stirchley]

94962

Very good movie. Two female leads excellent. Patricia Cookson with a very flattering wig. (I have a thing about bad wigs.)

94963

Didn’t realize I had seen this movie until I started watching it. Very good movie.

94964

One of my all-time favorite French movies.

94965

Nothing needed to be said. A classic of American cinema.

[Gideon58]

[QUOTE=Stirchley;2411073]94962

Very good movie. Two female leads excellent. Patricia Cookson with a very flattering wig. (I have a thing about bad wigs.)

[QUOTE]


Really liked this movie...Carey Mulligan was superb.

[Stirchley]

[QUOTE=Stirchley;2411073]94962

Very good movie. Two female leads excellent. Patricia Cookson with a very flattering wig. (I have a thing about bad wigs.)

[QUOTE]


Really liked this movie...Carey Mulligan was superb.

She was, but I actually enjoyed Kazan’s performance more. Anyway, they were both terrific.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Drug War - rating_4
It's still a prime example of a director doing what he does best, and pardon the pun, a must-see in the Prime Video library.Thank you. :up: Just added it to my queue.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b299ca856af3985d23dbf1dcd0558e3f/tumblr_psa9nruXW91qgojgxo3_540.gifv
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Avengement - Scott Adkins stars as Cain Burgess, the more law-abiding and principled of the two Burgess siblings. His brother Lincoln (Craig Fairbrass) runs a crew of thugs who bilk and strong arm families out of as much money and belongings as they can. Lincoln also operates as a loan shark and Cain approaches him for the seed money to start his own fight training facility. His brother at first refuses but when pressed offers him an opportunity to earn the loan. He and his number two man, Hyde (Nick Moran) send Cain out to steal a bag that a woman will be carrying when she leaves Lincoln's favorite haunt and base of operations, the Horse and Jockey Pub. The simple theft goes bad when the woman chases Cain, is hit by a car and dies. He ends up being sentenced to a prison term at HMP Belmarsh where he is repeatedly beaten, stabbed and burned. During one of his many fights a fellow prisoner tells him that his own brother has a 20,000 pound bounty on his head. Now hellbent on payback Cain trains his body and mind to withstand the hellish conditions. Cain and Lincoln's mother in the meantime has been diagnosed with cancer. Cain trades his cooperation in helping bring down his brothers criminal empire in exchange for one final visit with his dying mother. He arrives too late when his armed escorts decide to stop for coffee. Overpowering them in the elevator, he escapes and makes his way to the Horse and Jockey with detours to visit his brothers accountant and a crooked policeman in Lincoln's employ.

Once there he holds the crew and Hyde hostage and waits for Lincoln to show up. This is all shown in flashback with Lincoln's arrival setting in motion the hyperkinetic third act where Cain takes on the entire crew in a vicious free-for-all. The last two men left standing are of course Cain and Lincoln and it wraps up in satisfying manner with no clear answer as to Cain's survival. I did wonder why Cain didn't just go ahead and kill Bez, the pub's bartender, as well. But then I figured the films ending was clearly trying to delineate the difference between Cain and Lincoln. And having him murder a woman, no matter how treacherous and obnoxious she may have been, would have only soured that vibe.

Good movie. I love British gangster films, from Guy Ritchie's numerous offerings to Layer Cake, The Long Good Friday, The Krays (and Legend), Get Carter, In Bruges, Brighton Rock, Down Terrace. You name it. I haven't seen that many Scott Adkins movies. Not ones he stars in anyway. I think I'll try his Debt Collector films next since his costar in those, Louis Mandylor, is also in this one.

80/100

[Fabulous]

Look Back in Anger (1959)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/9hfbdr8sMG6ppYGc1rWyBsqVgZ8.jpg

[beelzebubble]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=94963

Didn’t realize I had seen this movie until I started watching it. Very good movie.




This looks interesting. I like Keira, Matt Goode and Ralph Fiennes.

[beelzebubble]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNTRhMjUzNzgtNGYxNC00ODdiLThjMDYtYjEzZTY5ZTVhZmZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc0Nj Y1ODk%40._V1_FMjpg_UX720_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=704ff57efe2a83a1cc37b3c558e3826daad2eb47204d886af5af7da477be787f&ipo=images

Close Your Eyes, 2002

Hypnotist Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic) specializes in curing people of smoking addictions, but his work takes a darker and more dangerous turn when one of his clients, Detective Losey (Shirley Henderson) , draws him into a case involving a sadistic kidnapping. Heather (Sophie Stuckey) was kidnapped, held captive, tattooed, and finally rescued, but has been mute since her ordeal. But Heather’s ordeal is far from over, and Michael has put himself in the line of fire regarding the sinister plot behind her kidnapping.

Skip.

rating_2

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2410994#post2410994)


I liked it the time I saw it many years ago. But I am a huge fan of Goran Visnjic. I watched several times just to see him. I also like Shirley Henderson in this. She is always fun to watch.

[Gideon58]

https://www.hcpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image.png


2.5

[iluv2viddyfilms]

Gaslight (1944, George Cukor) - A

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Theater_camp_poster.png
By Searchlight Pictures - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74021149

Theater Camp - (2023)

The concept of a theater camp is a little new to me, but Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman's funny mockumentary is immediately ingratiating and you needn't have any experience of one to understand what goes on. It's a rare instance of a short film being upgraded into a feature but maintaining it's frenetic energy - this year at AdirondACTS Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, leaving the very specialized job to her no-hoper son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) who, in a few short weeks, will run the place into the ground. The teachers take theater very seriously, except for the one Troy hired, who lied about everything on her resume. It's the madness of show biz at a kid's camp. Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) meanwhile have their relationship tested while writing the musical that will be this year's original performance : "Joan Still", about their comatose theater camp's owner. It has a few hilarious moments, and is pretty funny throughout.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Onegin_%28film_poster%29.png
By http://www.impawards.com/1999/onegin.html (converted to PNG myself), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19837050

Onegin - (1999)

Eugene Onegin is an Alexander Pushkin novel written in verse - suffice to say I haven't read it, and if I did it would probably go over my head. A Ralph Fiennes performance, though, I do get and appreciate. Bizarrely, this film was one shared amongst the Fiennes family, with the actor's sister, Martha Fiennes, directing while Magnus Fiennes composed the music and Sophie Fiennes played one of the small roles. Regardless - the story of unrequited love - or at least love requited way, way, waaay too late is one I really like - so much tragedy and heartbreak in it that it definitely seems Russian. Fiennes is fabulous, while a doe-eyed Liv Tyler gives us a kind of strange Tatyana - I never seem to be on her wavelength. Anyway - great period stuff, and I liked it. Critics were up and down on it's various facets. Pushkin's story really gives the actors something to grapple with, and that's always interesting. Handsome, spellbinding and a mix of a very Russian story told by Brits.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Limitless_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30175232

Limitless - (2011)

What would you do it you had a God-like mind that could think 50 steps ahead and hoover up information like a computer? For Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), when an ex-brother-in-law gives him a sample of new drug NZT, it's get his book written and published, then clean up big on the stock market. But when he finds out the drug has certain deadly side-effects, and his dealings in the underworld and the world of big movers and shakers puts him in great danger, he must fight minute by minute just to survive. I was hoping this film would really be about something - and thus come together in some way in it's last act. It's okay - pretty good even, but it's a story without any great meaning attached to it. Addiction, power, superiority, exploitation - there was a lot to work with, but in the end it didn't amount to so much. I enjoyed the visuals though - which give us a photographic high to go with Eddie's drug use. Robert De Niro collects a paycheck as an industry titan.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Batman_The_Dark_Knight_Returns_%28film%29.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37067909

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 - (2012)

Classic comic book animation - when watching this I really did feel like I was watching an animated comic. Peter Weller gives voice to a much older Bruce Wayne/Batman who reneges on an old promise when Gotham sinks into anarchy and an old foe returns. Not totally my thing - but quality nevertheless.

7/10

[ScarletLion]

'Clara Sola' (2022)

https://d2qpwwz51er3b0.cloudfront.net/folketsbio/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/21084738/clarasola-instagram.jpg

Really beautiful Costa Rican film focusing on Clara, a woman with learning difficulties who starts to feel a sexual awakening and years to flee the grip of her controlling mother. At some points it reminded me of Ali Abbassi’s ‘Border’, with the message that we are all individuals who should be free to make choices and start relationships with whoever we choose. This film is very spiritual and connects with the Catholicism of central America. It also connects with nature, and some of the visuals and audio of the Costa Rican forests, rivers and insects wouldn’t be out of place on a wildlife documentary.

Clara is seen as a healer by her mother, who has labelled her as special. She’s also prone to the odd outburst and she has difficulties expressing her desires and needs. Her niece has a 15th birthday party coming up, and everyone is focused on that, while Clara is more or less neglected. The only friend she has is Yuca, a beautiful horse that was given to the family by a wealthy man who Clara helped. It's the debut feature of both lead actress Wendy Chinchilla Araya and director Nathalie Álvarez Mesen, which is pretty extraordinary given how well it is constructed and acted.

7.8/10

4

[mrblond]

Rifkin's Festival (2020)

Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Wallace Shawn and Gina Gershon

After the last couple of twisted Covid and Political years, finally, I had a chance to see this film. They broadcasted it last evening on a film channel here.
Well, it is not as precise as the usual Allen's works. I've had a feeling for it being a hurried work. Anyway, it is always a pleasure to watch the film-master's releases and the nice Wallace Shawn is perfect in the lead here.
3.5+
74/100
94982

[Fabulous]

Vagabond (1985)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/tKsFh8qpYyi2AMg5O8QTVdChm4k.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

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Dead End - Rewatch of a William Wyler directed slice of life drama. It's a surprisingly bleak (especially by 1937 standards) rendering of the daily grind in a NYC Lower East Side slum. Sylvia Sidney stars as Drina Gordon, currently on strike and desperate to make enough money to escape the wretched conditions of her neighborhood. Her main reason for wanting to leave is her younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop). She knows that staying there will mean nothing but a bad ending for him. He's the de facto leader of a group of nascent criminals played by the Dead End Kids. Dave Connell (Joel McCrea) is Drina's childhood friend and her unrequited love interest. He dreams of using his architectural degree but is stuck in poverty alongside everyone else.

I don't know if this is historically accurate but the plot involves a luxury high rise abutting the slum tenements. It's well-to-do residents are forced to use the rear entrance because of road construction which puts them in close contact with some of their poorer neighbors. Dave is seeing a nouveau riche type named Kay (Wendy Barrie) who is literally slumming in between cohabitating with a rich benefactor.

Into this diorama comes fugitive Hugh "Baby Face" Martin (Humphrey Bogart). He's a lifelong criminal and eight time murderer who grew up in those same tenements and is back in hopes of seeing his mother and ex-girlfriend. The reunions don't play out as he hoped and his partner Hunk (Allen Jenkins) advises him to abandon his stroll down memory lane and get while the getting is good. Dave in the meantime has recognized Martin despite the plastic surgery he has had. Not liking the bad influence he's having on Tommy and his gang he threatens to go to the cops if Martin doesn't bug out. This sets off a well staged confrontation between Dave and the thugs with a squad of cops putting in a late appearance and coolly delivering the coup de grace.A lot of positives to this movie and very few if any negatives. The set design for the tenement neighborhood along with a stand in for the East River is a marvel. You forget you're looking at an actual movie set. The cast is first rate with Bogart just starting to pick up momentum on his long and successful career. Sidney, McCrea and Jenkins are great as well and there are plenty of pivotal supporting roles like Halop and the rest of the Dead End Kids. Marjorie Main turns in a small but heartrending performance as Martin's demoralized and broken mother and Claire Trevor also shines as Francey, Martin's tarnished, burnt out childhood girlfriend. There is a lot here to like.

85/100

[Takoma11]

I liked it the time I saw it many years ago. But I am a huge fan of Goran Visnjic. I watched several times just to see him. I also like Shirley Henderson in this. She is always fun to watch.

He's great, but neither he nor Henderson is given much to do.

My go-to Visnjic film is The Deep End, which has bonus Tilda Swinton and sexy chemistry.

[beelzebubble]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Limitless_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30175232

Limitless - (2011)

What would you do it you had a God-like mind that could think 50 steps ahead and hoover up information like a computer? For Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), when an ex-brother-in-law gives him a sample of new drug NZT, it's get his book written and published, then clean up big on the stock market. But when he finds out the drug has certain deadly side-effects, and his dealings in the underworld and the world of big movers and shakers puts him in great danger, he must fight minute by minute just to survive. I was hoping this film would really be about something - and thus come together in some way in it's last act. It's okay - pretty good even, but it's a story without any great meaning attached to it. Addiction, power, superiority, exploitation - there was a lot to work with, but in the end it didn't amount to so much. I enjoyed the visuals though - which give us a photographic high to go with Eddie's drug use. Robert De Niro collects a paycheck as an industry titan.

6/10

I really like this movie. It's got a young Bradley Cooper, is very suspenseful and who doesn't have that fantasy of pulling it together and balling. I have seen it a couple times.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffilmschoolrejects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FFacesPlaces_Image2_4b55287d-8cf0-45ae-9dd4-5f27b0c5631c_lg.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9c800b5b88d64eb5adb7a99ce70b0572910a41bf5456f93c83fe953f25f789df&ipo=images

Faces Places, 2017

This documentary follows filmmaker Agnes Varda and French artist JR as they travel the French countryside creating art installations, interviewing locals, and bonding over their shared passion for capturing the stories and faces of everyday people.

Full of stunning imagery and one of the most endearing odd-couple friendships I’ve ever seen on screen, this documentary is moving and brimming with heart.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2411346#post2411346)

[GulfportDoc]

Rifkin's Festival (2020)

Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Wallace Shawn and Gina Gershon

After the last couple of twisted Covid and Political years, finally, I had a chance to see this film. They broadcasted it last evening on a film channel here.
Well, it is not as precise as the usual Allen's works. I've had a feeling for it being a hurried work. Anyway, it is always a pleasure to watch the film-master's releases and the nice Wallace Shawn is perfect in the lead here.
rating_3_5+
74/100
I too enjoyed the film, although it strained credulity a little. Shawn did a great job but he did feel a tad miscast.

Looking forward to Allen's new one, Coup de chance, which premieres in France on 9/27. Don't know when it'll be available here. Maybe a streamer like Netflix will pick it up.

[Allaby]

I Like Movies (2022) Watched this on Netflix today. Anchored by a fantastic performance by the wonderful Isaiah Lehtinen, this Canadian comedy/drama is about an awkward film obsessed teen who gets a job at a video store. I liked the character and cared about his journey (even though he acted like a dick at times). Also, strong supporting performances by Krista Bridges and Romina D'Ugo. The film is laugh out loud funny, sweet, and heartfelt with a great screenplay by director Chandler Levack. Highly recommended. 4.5

[John McClane]

The System - 0.5 - Omg, this is the gift that keeps on giving. You think this honestly can’t get any worse and then behold: CHEAP FAKE STAUCHE.

If you wanna make a game of it take a shot every time someone says the word system. Your liver is gonna hate me.

[Captain Steel]

Good News (1947)

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ha04ZUWIcmg/XWa-aWtsH6I/AAAAAAAAUGw/xbLZQCG8vesJ4U7F3iTZvKOOl0BtwiezgCLcBGAs/s1600/1.JPG

Interesting... the last film I reviewed here was a musical made in 1986 that I viewed for the first time in 2023, but which took place in 1958 (it was called Absolute Beginners).

While THIS film (Good News) is a musical made in 1947, that I viewed for the first time in 2023, but which takes place in 1927 (this is mostly because it's a remake of an earlier film that was based on a Broadway play from 1927).

What occurred to me was that 1927 must have been viewed as the last Golden Age in the years just following WWII (years we now view as a sort of Golden Age themselves)... as they were the last years before the Great Depression. And that view seems to shine through in the film.

I actually watched it just to see what Mel Torme looked like in 1947, but I really liked it especially because it had a stage-show feel and the singing (at parts) seemed a bit amateurish (remember, Peter Lawford was not a song & dance man).

This had to be my favorite number:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmMZmcoTc0s

Aside from a couple love songs, the others are real toe-tappers.

Too late for Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland (as the film was intended to fill in as a sequel to one of their earlier musicals) and too early for Frankie and Annette.

3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Beauty_and_the_Beast_%281991_film%29_poster.jpg
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1396348

Beauty and the Beast - (1991)

Beauty and the Beast - it's very nice looking, has beautiful music and has that emotionally authentic Disney appeal that shows up pretenders and their knock-offs. Actually, it's better than "nice looking" - what am I saying? It's a magnificent combination of traditional Disney animation and computer animation production systems - giving life to scenes by computerizing backgrounds and making the result cinematic - a composite where movement gives the impression of a dollying camera. The tried and true music gets through the toughest of defenses as well - and although I was never a big fairy tale kid growing up (I went straight from Dick and Jane to Stephen King novels) it's nice seeing a variant of this old French story. A classic - one that I'd hope kids still watch today.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/Mechanic_poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMPAwards or CBS Films., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29612476

The Mechanic - (2011)

Mechanics, house painters, plumbers...they're all either killing people, spying, or fixing toilets. This addition to the Jason Statham action film empire (with those looks he was always going to be in action movies) is not bad - but I have to admit that I haven't seen the original Charles Bronson Mechanic, which this is probably inferior to. Add Ben Foster playing a typical Ben Foster role and you've got an assassin (Statham's Arthur Bishop) and assassin's apprentice (Foster's Steve McKenna) who kill people in inventive ways to make their hit jobs look like accidents. At least they would if McKenna didn't always act like a bull in a china shop and go crazy. If he's that insane already, what's he going to be like when he finds out that Arthur killed his father? Boom.

6/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

The Mechanic - (2011)

- but I have to admit that I haven't seen the original Charles Bronson Mechanic, which this is probably inferior to.

6/10It's got Jan-Michael Vincent at his Jan-Michael Vinciest. Try and catch it. You won't be sorry.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDc2ODQ5NTE2MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODExMjUyNA@@._V1_.jpg


5

[Fabulous]

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/sAv8CWuanXVciYNd0AWssDWKjaT.jpg

[Act III]

95000

The Thing Called Love (1993)

There isn't anything inherently terrible about this movie. A mild drama seems made for TV, doesn't feel like cinema. I enjoyed seeing the early 90's/late 80's scenery filled with the old logos and cars and signs and so on, so it was like remembering a forgettable day from back then. There's many cues taken from this movie by actors and film-makers in the late 90's/early 00's which is a mystery, considering. Don't dislike this, don't care much to see this again. I liked Wayne's World 2 a notch more.

4/10

[Act III]

95004

Singles (1992)

While the Seattle band thing is a part of this movie, music really isn't a central focus, more like a side show with some cameos and a peek at the scene of what that was all about. 65% of the movie was based around a couple of girls and their dating problems. It seemed like another mediocre early 90's TV flick with a bad taste of style. The clothes look thrift and the overall picture seems messy and frayed. A lot of familiar faces I haven't seen in forever that you might remember but can't place a name on.

4/10

[xSookieStackhouse]

3.5 its an okay movie i loved the cast but i prefer 2003 version of haunted mansion with eddie murphy better
https://images.thedirect.com/media/article_full/haunted-mansion-cast-disney-characters_v52qnN8.jpg

[Stirchley]

95011

A very top-heavy cast in a so-so movie. Colin Firth & Olivia Colman having sex a couple of times was more than I needed. I finished the movie, but was very under-whelmed.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDJmMzY0ZGUtYWE1My00OWViLTg1NTctOWMwZWJlNDQzNGRiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_.jpg

4

[Allaby]

Elemental (2023) I really liked the animation and character design. The romance was sweet and cute. Watched on Disney+. 3.5

[Fabulous]

Black Belt Jones (1974)

2

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/6eMtiAmWIGGFCEoRyJWLUcojPfU.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

95011

A very top-heavy cast in a so-so movie. Colin Firth & Olivia Colman having sex a couple of times was more than I needed. I finished the movie, but was very under-whelmed.

That sums up my thoughts about Empire of Light to the letter - I don't think I'll ever be in a hurry to revisit it.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Inside_deep_throat_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1523504

Inside Deep Throat - (2005)

Young people today might be surprised to hear that the culture wars we're burdened with today were going way back in the 1970s, the only difference being the hysteria wasn't about a traditional Christmas or teaching evolution in schoolrooms - the focus was squarely on pornography. This meant that when Deep Throat came out and Linda Lovelace had people of all backgrounds rushing to cinemas to see it, Nixon and the more conservative religious figures of the day had a specific movie to target to show voters/parishioners they were serious. Inside Deep Throat interviews nearly everyone involved with the making and distribution of the film, along with the likes of Wes Craven, John Waters, Larry Flynt, Gore Vidal and the man who prosecuted poor actor Harry Reems. Narrated by Dennis Hopper, it looks at the political, filmmaking, cultural and societal impact all of this was having, and what exactly was going on - first rate stuff really. 800 hours of interview footage was recorded, and we get to see news broadcasts and current affair show highlights. We even get to see some of the explicit film itself - so be prepared. Linda Lovelace is an elusive figure from what we can see - fine with her part in adult film history or claiming what she was apparently made to do could be classified as rape. It often depended on who she was with, as she was the kind of person who adapted herself to what people wanted from her. Been meaning to add this to the DVD collection for a while. Lovelace died in a car accident in 2002, so unfortunately we can no longer ask her how she felt about her part in pornographic history.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Wonderwheelfilmposter.jpg
By Amazon Studios - Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55287092

Wonder Wheel - (2017)

Seeing A Rainy Day in New York made me wary, but Wonder Wheel is the complete opposite of the somewhat pretentious and navel-gazing 2019 Woody Allen feature. Kate Winslet is given a role in this that brings out the best in her as Ginny Rannell, the overworked waitress whose life has hit a dead end - married to slob Humpty (Jim Belushi) and mother to young fire bug Richie (Jack Gore). Ginny starts an affair with lifeguard Mickey Rubin (Justin Timberlake) and sees in him a chance for happiness, but when Mickey falls for Humpty's adult daughter Carolina (Juno Temple) Ginny makes an awful, drunken decision with fateful consequences. This was sharp and in it I found Allan as biting as any filmmaker going around these days - despite some slight discomfort about him telling a story that features an older and younger lover, and making harsh judgements on the matter. Wonder Wheel is something of a painful story inhabited by the old, jaded and bitter set against the young and idealistic - and I loved it.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Hairspray_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17365670

Hairspray - (1988)

A John Waters film for the whole family? But that sentence doesn't make any sense! The movie does feel like a watered down Waters film, with even the usual insanity somewhat tamed - Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) has dreams of being a dancer on the The Corny Collins Show, and when it comes time for the show to be integrated for black and white people, she and her friend Penny waste no time campaigning for that as well. Featuring the likes of Divine (of course), Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono and Jerry Stiller, along with cameos for Pia Zadora, Ric Ocasek and John Waters himself, Hairspray has it's moments, but I do miss some of the more unhinged urges Waters usually has when it comes to filmmaking. It quickly became a cult favourite though, and was remade as a Broadway musical in 2002, which was adapted to film in 2007. It's hard not to like it, but I find it equally hard to love it.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Fahrenheit_451.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57171580

Fahrenheit 451 - (2018)

Retooled to fit in with our current, insane "alternate truth" times, this adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 does it's own thing - and as such creates all kind of brain-bursting hypocritical crimes against an original source. But hey - the whole "we burn books - no more books" thing, which is at the central core of Bradbury's novel story-wise, is present. I don't mind if movies deviate from the source - often it's necessary - but when the result is fairly pedestrian and uninspiring, you have to wonder why. Admittedly, the world has changed a lot since the book was written, and since it was last adapted, but when refitting it and using it to comment on new ideas and cultural mores, the result should have more depth and meaning than this HBO version gives it. I liked Michael B. Jordan's performance though.

5/10

[wositelec]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODEyMjYzMjY5Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjYyODQyNjE@._V1_.jpg
7/10 - it's good comedy movie :-)https://www.movieforums.com/community/data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAoGBxUUExYTFBQWFxYXGiAcGBkZGBkaIB0hHRkYHx0cHRwfHyoiGRwnHxkZIzgjJysuMTExGCE2OzYwOiowMS4BCwsLDw4P 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 yNdCUCbcid2Pj8SpDJcuOBvAcn7addibfXEjqboZSdxBIB+1W9arDB3WttKyCOIMVYWwNr22yF1XPA1gdrxIg8TvnjXL6iLjsvja 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[Act III]

95020

This Must Be The Place (2011)

They took the image of the Cure, the personality of an old woman and made a funny mild comedy/drama out of it. The story is a device used to play out these amusing scenes and doesn't seem all that important as you watch to see what he is going to do next. Some charming stuff in there.

6/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/112d0aad28a7edf338639a6b7e7e0d9d/dbe484f8144a8ed8-27/s540x810/e203e78536b333d1697bd96f48a111f04b9ae594.gifv
https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/13653_5.jpg

Invisible Invaders - This abbreviated, low budget 1959 alien invasion film has been criminally marginalized IMO. That might not be strictly true but I sure haven't heard a lot about it in any film discussions I've come across. Granted it does have all the earmarks of your prototypical cheesefest including stentorian narration by actor John Dehner and what some might consider laughably bad special effects. Some might, but not me. I first watched this as a kid during an afternoon TV matinee and it both scared me and stuck with me. There's a special effect involving moving dirt that serves to "show" the invisible invaders. In hindsight it was obviously thought up to circumvent a meager budget but at the time it worked wonders on me.

How can you not love any movie that opens with a brooding Dr. Karol Noymann (John Carradine) purposefully mixing beakers and vials and then promptly blowing himself to hell and gone? But wait, Carradine is billed #5 in the opening credits. How can they kill him off seconds into the movie? After a quick scene at his gravesite, where his friend Dr. Adam Penner (Phillip Tonge) delivers the eulogy, Penner is chilling at home when there's a knock at his door. Who else could it be but the outrageously resilient Noymann? Not wanting to put too fine a point on it he explains to Penner that he is A. an extraterrestrial visitor B. here to invade and take over Earth and C. invisible. He maybe should have led with that.

But long story short the aliens can take over the cadavers of the deceased and will use them to inflict widespread damage and casualties if the population doesn't surrender. Penner is eventually convinced and attempts to spread the word starting with his skeptical colleague Dr. John Lamont (Robert Hutton) and his daughter Phyllis (Jean Byron). Both Penner and Lamont are widely and dismissively ridiculed which forces the aliens to up the ante by making very public threats at ... sporting events. Not the UN or White House or The Hague. The fight commences and humanity is immediately on the ropes. So the powers that be quickly evacuate essential personnel to hidden laboratories and put them to work on a way to defeat the unstoppable enemy. John Agar plays their military escort and bodyguard/stalwart hero Major Bruce Jay.

This is a little over an hour long yet it manages to tell the story in a concise and coherent way. And then there's all the ways that this shaped George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Nine years down the road and universally accepted as the progenitor of the zombie genre this movie's undead makeup and their shuffling, shambolic movement clearly influenced him. Which, by default, makes this the grandpappy of a genre that's still going strong to this day. Maybe aficionados of "surprisingly good B movies" have heard of it and sing it's praises. I just thought I'd add my voice to the chorus.

85/100

[Gideon58]

Good News (1947)

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ha04ZUWIcmg/XWa-aWtsH6I/AAAAAAAAUGw/xbLZQCG8vesJ4U7F3iTZvKOOl0BtwiezgCLcBGAs/s1600/1.JPG

Interesting... the last film I reviewed here was a musical made in 1986 that I viewed for the first time in 2023, but which took place in 1958 (it was called Absolute Beginners).

While THIS film (Good News) is a musical made in 1947, that I viewed for the first time in 2023, but which takes place in 1927 (this is mostly because it's a remake of an earlier film that was based on a Broadway play from 1927).

What occurred to me was that 1927 must have been viewed as the last Golden Age in the years just following WWII (years we now view as a sort of Golden Age themselves)... as they were the last years before the Great Depression. And that view seems to shine through in the film.

I actually watched it just to see what Mel Torme looked like in 1947, but I really liked it especially because it had a stage-show feel and the singing (at parts) seemed a bit amateurish (remember, Peter Lawford was not a song & dance man).

This had to be my favorite number:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmMZmcoTc0s

Aside from a couple love songs, the others are real toe-tappers.

Too late for Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland (as the film was intended to fill in as a sequel to one of their earlier musicals) and too early for Frankie and Annette.

3.5

"The French Lesson" was my favorite number in Good News too.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWU1NTIxNDMtZmEyNS00NjkzLTg4NzUtMmVkZTA0N2IwODM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Blue_Beetle_poster.jpg/220px-Blue_Beetle_poster.jpg

Continuing my unbroken streak of Tuesday theater engagements ($7 and change), which have been going on just over a month now...

Well... Blue Beetle is a bit of a mixed bag, if certainly an entertaining one. Yes, it's another superhero movie (this one from DC), but it's actually got a good deal of warmth and humanity to it, and the inevitable CGI, while flashy, serves the story well and is rarely gratuitous.

Xolo Maridueña is quite engaging in the title role, whose alter ego is young Jaime Reyes, who's returned to his hometown of Palmera City after graduating from university. He's trying to get a high-end job to help out his family, who are in danger of being evicted from their home. He gets a job working for Kord Industries, whose CEO is the ruthless and ambitious Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who in the prologue has extracted an alien scarab device from the Antarctic and is attempting to use it to create super-soldiers as part of her OMAC (One Man Army Corp) program. Kord's daughter Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) attempts to steal the scarab from her mother and has Jaime smuggle it out of Kord Tower in a fast-food container without his realizing what she's doing. Eventually, the blue alien scarab attaches itself to Jaime and symbiotically grafts itself to his body (in an impressively visceral display of FX work). The inevitable consequences (and oft-hilarious nascent superhero growing pains) immediately ensue. Victoria Kord then attempts to track down Jaime in order to get the scarab back. She is aided in this by her fearsome bodyguard Ignacio Carapax (a scary Raoul Max Trujillo), who is already equipped with an OMAC device, and inevitably we get a few knock-down drag-outs between the two super-beings. Jaime's family (which includes a very funny George Lopez as his tech-wizard Uncle Rudy) gets further involved in the story, and there is an eventual tragedy. In the meantime, Jaime and Jenny fall in love.

I know my last review, of Gran Turismo, was rather long-winded (and rather draining!), so I've been trying to keep this one reasonably concise. In short, I was very entertained. The movie was very smartly and wittily directed by Ángel Manuel Soto. Having been out of the superhero cinema loop for a while (not having a clue as to what's going on in the Marvel and DC Universes at the moment), I feel like it has the potential to really stand out from the rest of the pack. Like I said before, the humanity is never allowed to be overwhelmed by FX spectacle, and there is a genuine sense of warmth to the film. The only real sore spot for me was Susan Sarandon as Victoria Kord. I thought the character made for a rather one-dimensional villain. While Sarandon certainly earns her paycheck, the character is sadly a waste of her considerable talents and she isn't able to transcend what was on the page. And while I loved the characterization of Jaime's family, including the aforementioned Lopez as Rudy (who at one point declares Batman a fascist), I thought the sudden revelation of the grandmother Nana (Adriana Barraza)'s guerilla-fighter revolutionary past was just a bit over the top! (She dispatches baddies with a high-tech weapon while laughing maniacally.) :lol:

But these are relatively minor qualms. The point is, I had fun, and felt even just a tad inspired. What more can you ask from cinema? :) (A lot more, actually, but I'm trying to keep on the sunny side here...)

Any further recommendations for current (and future) theatrical viewing? I know I've definitely got The Exorcist: Believer in my sights, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that one...

[Gideon58]

Elemental (2023) I really liked the animation and character design. The romance was sweet and cute. Watched on Disney+. 3.5

Didn't really care for Elemental

[Allaby]

Theater Camp (2023) Watched this on Disney+ (Hulu in some countries). I thought it was pretty good with some fun moments, but they could have done more with it. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Wonderwheelfilmposter.jpg

By Amazon Studios - Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55287092

Wonder Wheel - (2017)

Seeing A Rainy Day in New York made me wary, but Wonder Wheel is the complete opposite of the somewhat pretentious and navel-gazing 2019 Woody Allen feature. Kate Winslet is given a role in this that brings out the best in her as Ginny Rannell, the overworked waitress whose life has hit a dead end - married to slob Humpty (Jim Belushi) and mother to young fire bug Richie (Jack Gore). Ginny starts an affair with lifeguard Mickey Rubin (Justin Timberlake) and sees in him a chance for happiness, but when Mickey falls for Humpty's adult daughter Carolina (Juno Temple) Ginny makes an awful, drunken decision with fateful consequences. This was sharp and in it I found Allan as biting as any filmmaker going around these days - despite some slight discomfort about him telling a story that features an older and younger lover, and making harsh judgements on the matter. Wonder Wheel is something of a painful story inhabited by the old, jaded and bitter set against the young and idealistic - and I loved it.

8/10You might be the only MoFo besides myself who really likes Wonder Wheel. I think people who don't like it wanted a more ramped up excitement with the crime/danger aspect of it. For me I appreciate that the film is about the psychological aspects of the people involved and not a crime thriller.

[Allaby]

You might be the only MoFo besides myself who really likes Wonder Wheel. I think people who don't like it wanted a more ramped up excitement with the crime/danger aspect of it. For me I appreciate that the film is about the psychological aspects of the people involved and not a crime thriller.

You two aren't the only ones. I really enjoyed Wonder Wheel too and rated it an 8/10.

[Citizen Rules]

You two aren't the only ones. I really enjoyed Wonder Wheel too and rated it an 8/10.Welcome to the club bro!

[PHOENIX74]

Well, it's certainly nice to wake up and find so much Wonder Wheel appreciation going on.

[Fabulous]

Before the Rain (1994)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/sblkcCiwGeRhiOvQOe8txic0DZe.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/W_ver4.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/2008/w_ver4.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19812456

W. - (2008)

One of the nicest guys to be elected President of the United States, and one of the worst ever presidents. That seems to be the consensus, which hasn't shifted much in the 15 years since George W. Bush left office. He lacked Nixon's paranoia, JFK's vision and Trump's hatred - and although he lacked intelligence, he was smart enough to know the presidency is a multiple choice question type of exam - with so many advisors, he only ever need pick the right option. His make or break moment came after the U.S. temporarily ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan in the first big chess move during the War on Terror - when the likes of Cheney and the many hawks in his administration pushed for a full-scale invasion of Iraq , Bush Jnr chose the wrong option. Lacking any plan beyond victory, the war turned into a fiasco that dragged on for many years, and sowed the seeds for further trouble, ultimately losing the momentum that had been gained. In the meantime his fiscal mismanagement led to a financial collapse in 2008.

Despite all of that, the George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) in Oliver Stone's W. is not a deplorable fellow. He's the typical dumb rich kid growing up, with problems with the law, and his education, always fixed by his powerful father, George Bush Snr (James Cromwell), who grows weary of his son's alcoholism and penchant for quitting hard jobs. His electability was probably helped by his "what you see is what you get" down to earth sincerity, despite his lack of wit, wisdom or intelligence. Stone's film never seems to find any darkness, and it appears there are few layers to be peeled back - and that's the shocking thing about this film. "There wasn't all that much to him" seems to be what sums this historical figure up, and as such W. feels unsatisfying. Why look when there's not much to find? There's some fun to be had when Brolin's character blithely walks into metaphorical walls, or completely misreads what his advisors are telling him - which might be the whole point. Aside from that, his entire life boils down to a need to please his high-achieving father. Anyway - a second watch after seeing this when it came out. So-so movie.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Outrageousfortuneposter.jpg
By Movieposter.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12465747

Outrageous Fortune - (1987)

You can taste the 1980s in this. Arthur Hiller directed his fair share of comedies that boil down to the equivalent of bubble gum pop songs during this era. Bette Midler, and to a slightly lesser extent Shelley Long, were common faces - and the inclusion of George Carlin would always give you a great deal of respect. In this Lauren Ames (Long) and Sandy Brozinsky (Midler) are embroiled in Russian espionage when they both get involved with ladies man Michael Santers (Peter Coyote) - who has stolen a chemical weapon, hoping to hold the U.S. to ransom. Long and Midler are cute, and make a pretty good team - definite chemistry there. Carlin does what he can with a bizarre turn as a white Indian. The performers try their darndest to elevate a D.O.A. screenplay, turning their energy up to an 11 - and without this, Outrageous Fortune would be terrible.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Tin_Man_poster.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21255695

Tin Man - (2007)

270-minute mini-series and modern adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - for kids that like what they watch to be really dark. It was okay - the strange thing about it is the fact that it goes for so long and the ending is so abrupt - after spending so much time with them, none of the characters get a denouement. Richard Dreyfuss features as the Wizard and spoilers...

The Witch brutally murders him!

6/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2JlN2Q2ZmYtYmU4OS00ZjNlLWE2OTEtOTc2ZDY5NjEwMTM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg


3.5

[wositelec]

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8 / 10 :-)https://www.movieforums.com/community/data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxMTEhUTExMVFRUXGCAaGBgYFxoZGhcXFxgaFxcXFxgYHSggGB4lHhUXIjEhJSkrLi4vFx8zODMtNygtLisBCgoKDg0O GxAQGy8lICUtLy0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS8tLy0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLf/AABEIARMAuAMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAcAAABBQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAFAAIDBAYHAQj/xABLEAACAQIEAgYFCAYIBQUBAQABAhEAAwQSITEFQQYTIlFhcRQyQoGRByMzUnKhscFigpKi0fAVJDRTY3Oy4RYls8LxQ5OjtNKD RP/EABsBAAIDAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEDAAIEBQYH/8QAQhEAAQMCAwMIBgcIAQUAAAAAAQACEQMhBDFBElFhBXGBkaGx0fATFCJyssEVMjNCUtLhIyQ0U2KSovEWBkNjgsL/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AOjnGIpgwDE7cvOpBjl7xQriw7S+X51neJO3XWlBuwQxItkDYrBadwJM1wa/Kj6dd1INFuJ/DKfTpbZz39glbkY1e8fdSGNX6w+6uepxi5CGLctBiH2dVYLObQ9qMx0pYrFvadyHdwDADSwE2muDRQPaUDwBPnS/pWt+AZSLm+Xinepv8OOXiuienL3j7q99NT6w+Irn93iFw2rreqVMLlVgR249ZtGMd21ef0k9shIJhwPnNXMqGglDlBlonbaiOVqx +4MzqdI4cVPVH6ceyD810L00fWX4ivRjV+svxFYSzjbpKj5sTcKkQ8qMrMOeuiHXYyKp28e9ovLG4A7DtmYFu4iaRGpDn4CgOWKh 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[Torgo]

The Protégé - 3

This is a decent combination dad/airport novel movie that slipped through the cracks during the pandemic. Anna (Q) is a Vietnamese hitwoman living in London whose surrogate father, Moody (Jackson), rescued her from a room full of dead bodies when she was a child and taught her his trade. Shortly after taking a missing person assignment, everything in her life is destroyed overnight. Anna's investigation leads her back to her homeland where she hopes to get answers, revenge and reckon with her past.

So, what makes this movie stand out from the seemingly dozens of "veteran contract killer seeks vengeance" movies produced since Taken exceeded expectations? Not much, but there are some things in it worth complementing. It's nice to simply watch Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton, who plays a mysterious visitor to Anna's bookstore day job, do their thing. They're the kind of scenery-chewing roles for which actors like them get first pick and rightly so. The action also isn't half bad, and since the bad guys are ones for our times - there are few Vietnamese natives on screen despite most of the action occurring there for a reason, in other words - it offers worthwhile catharsis. The cinematography and production design also create sufficient atmosphere and the flashbacks with a young Anna and an amusingly mustachioed Moody provide welcome character building. Other than that, it’s reheated comfort food through and through. If you still can't get enough of this subgenre and/or want to see a movie that feels like it should have a late summer/early fall release date, you could do worse. I just recommend saving it to watch on your next plane ride.

[Stirchley]

You might be the only MoFo besides myself who really likes Wonder Wheel. I think people who don't like it wanted a more ramped up excitement with the crime/danger aspect of it. For me I appreciate that the film is about the psychological aspects of the people involved and not a crime thriller.

Can’t remember a single scene, but I know I finished this movie.

[Stirchley]

95042

It’s a classic so nothing for me to say.

95043

Good movie. Two leads very good. I actually prefer the original Swedish version, but that doesn’t detract from this movie.

[Takoma11]

Tin Man - (2007)

270-minute mini-series and modern adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - for kids that like what they watch to be really dark. It was okay - the strange thing about it is the fact that it goes for so long and the ending is so abrupt - after spending so much time with them, none of the characters get a denouement. Richard Dreyfuss features as the Wizard and spoilers...

The Witch brutally murders him!

6/10

I really didn't like this mini-series. I thought it was WAY overlong and some of the "classic, but make it weird and dark!" stuff fell pretty flat for me.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1DT_TnMW6CA/X3EYCRjhmUI/AAAAAAAAChM/3lQlSz9E-BAPKQrurVf32_wWndArlNOUACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/4.%2BSuprised%2521.png
https://resizing.flixster.com/Wr8DwYrXI5obYnYlMTPSZBqDmqw=/300x300/v2/https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p3674_k_v13_aa.jpg


The Ghost Breakers - This might not be a problem anyone else has because it seems like most people have no trouble finding the exact movie they're looking for. But you ever think to yourself, "Ooh, you know what movie I'd love to watch again?" But then you either can't find it streaming or don't want to pay to rent it or are leery of downloading it. I was actually able to find this on Plex (albeit with commercials) within minutes of first thinking about it. I wish they were all this simple to find.

It's a 1940 Bob Hope mystery/horror/comedy costarring Paulette Goddard. She plays Mary Carter who has just inherited a mansion and plantation in Cuba. Hope plays radio host Lawrence L. Lawrence. He's just spilled gangster Frenchy Duval's secrets on air and Duval invites him to his hotel to "talk things over". A nervous Larry heads over with his valet Alex (Willie Best) and somehow ends up convinced that's he's shot and killed a man. Taking refuge in Mary's room and hiding from the police he ends up on the ship Mary is taking to Cuba.

It's a pretty good mystery with voodoo and zombies and a big haunted mansion. Hope is at his wisecracking best and Larry and Alex play great off each other. Goddard makes for a beautiful and spunky heroine. This is probably my favorite Hope movie along with My Favorite Brunette and The Paleface.

80/100

[GulfportDoc]

You might be the only MoFo besides myself who really likes Wonder Wheel. I think people who don't like it wanted a more ramped up excitement with the crime/danger aspect of it. For me I appreciate that the film is about the psychological aspects of the people involved and not a crime thriller.
You can add me as a third. It was an interesting picture-- quite a departure from Allen's overall fare. And of course I love the era.

[LChimp]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81+HfwcH-lL.jpg

Across the Spider-verse (2023)

Excellent.

[Citizen Rules]

You can add me as a third. It was an interesting picture-- quite a departure from Allen's overall fare. And of course I love the era.The era help make the picture for me.

[Gideon58]

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wixDLh0RWko/Vxmt8m9hITI/AAAAAAAA56U/8QKh11PJhRMEU7MEiqAjcst7Y1HDzZ8fwCLcB/s1600/MeetDannyWilsonLobby.jpg


3.5

[PHOENIX74]

I really didn't like this mini-series. I thought it was WAY overlong and some of the "classic, but make it weird and dark!" stuff fell pretty flat for me.

I was really liking Tin Man at first, but for me it didn't hold up in it's final 90 minutes - it lost it's way a little (maybe a lot.) I probably would have mindlessly loved it as a kid - a Wizard of Oz with a whole lot of murder in it - and, surprisingly enough, Nazis. It had that afternoon television feel to it - reminded me of the days I'd scamper home to catch the next episode of The Tripods - (I'm curious as to how that adaptation holds up.) Some time previously, our English teacher read the whole first book to us, and had the whole classroom under it's spell.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/MI_%E2%80%93_Fallout.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2018/mission_impossible__fallout_ver3.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56464804

Mission Impossible : Fallout - (2018)

I've abandoned my plan to watch all the Mission Impossibles in correct order, and that didn't ruin this 6th Ethan Hunt blockbuster - it has a finale that really had me asking myself, "Is that the best action set-piece I've ever seen?" It's a wonder James Bond can compete these days with all the Jason Bournes and Ethan Hunts running around, always taking the formula and changing it just enough to make everything seem exciting and new. Watch out though - you'll never know when someone is going to rip their face off to reveal they were wearing a mask the whole time. I'm surprised the series has managed to keep that fresh, but I still enjoy it (as unbelievable as it is.) The story is par for the course - stolen plutonium, crazed megalomaniac(s), nuclear bombs, hostages, travel to exotic locales and the works - the stakes always high. I often go through phases when I see a lot of action in movies and wonder if I just don't care at all about it anymore - and then a film with superlatively well-executed action makes me realise that many films simply get it all wrong. Fallout keeps everything moving really fast, and as a result this could be near the top of my list for action movies in the 2010s. I mean - wow. All I can say is - wow.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/Baseketball.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Universal Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1745919

BASEketball - (1998)

I'm really sorry fans of BASEketball, but this David Zucker comedy did nothing for me. The union of his zany comedy and the talents of Trey Parker and Matt Stone really didn't work very well. Parker and Stone never again featured in anything they didn't write and/or produce - the results of which benefit both us and them. Maybe, just maybe, this was okay way back then but has gone stale in the interim - but I can't help but point my finger at how uncertain the two were onscreen. This isn't really as funny as it ought to be, and I struggled to get through to the end.

4/10

[Takoma11]

I was really liking Tin Man at first, but for me it didn't hold up in it's final 90 minutes - it lost it's way a little (maybe a lot.) I probably would have mindlessly loved it as a kid - a Wizard of Oz with a whole lot of murder in it - and, surprisingly enough, Nazis. It had that afternoon television feel to it - reminded me of the days I'd scamper home to catch the next episode of The Tripods - (I'm curious as to how that adaptation holds up.) Some time previously, our English teacher read the whole first book to us, and had the whole classroom under it's spell.

We had it at the video store where I worked and I was excited to rent it one weekend. It was such a bummer! Nothing like a show/movie/mini-series that goes distinctly downhill as it goes on. By the last hour I felt just sort of a vague resentment.

[skizzerflake]

Tonight was A Haunting in Venice - the latest of the Inspector Poirot, with Kenneth Branagh trying to mimic a French accent, sometimes successfully. In this one, the dispirited Poirot is living in Venice, is invited to a halloween party. A seance ensues, then fakery is revealed but then a real murder happens. In the style of these sort of stories, doors are locked and the cast of characters populating the party take turns questioning, accusing, acting suspicious and getting restless, until another murder happens. Poirot is nearly murdered himself, being nearly forcefully drowned in a wash basin.

As is also usually the case in these sort of stories, most of the characters have motives, alibis and attitudes. As is also the case in these sort of stories, there's a question of supernatural involvement.....is it spooky or is it not. The house is a centuries-old palazzo in Venice, the sort of place that just can't help but have ghosts.

I was sorta in the mood for one of these old-school Agatha Christie mysteries, in this case, one based on Halloween Party. This one didn't hit all the notes I wanted, but it's been a long time since I saw another similar movie, so this was OK. Not great but OK.

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

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOThlNmY4ZDYtYTVmYi00MDRiLWE3ZmYtNWI0MDJmMDcwZWIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE1OTYyNDgx._V1_.jpg


4

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5c/NoHardFeelingsPoster.png/220px-NoHardFeelingsPoster.png

3

SF = Z


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

[Fabulous]

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/sI1C4Y3i78OqG10kMt5PWjFnhI.jpg

[mrblond]

Cop Car (2015)

Written and Directed by Jon Watts
Starring Kevin Bacon

Haven't seen Kevin Bacon for very long time. What happened with this guy?
Came across this movie on the telly today. Not bad thriller. Very interesting story as a whole. Well filmed. Just some ridiculous details here and there but anyway it is OK.
3.5
70/100
95051

[LChimp]

https://cdn.posteritati.com/posters/000/000/058/702/the-incredibles-md-web.jpg

The Incredibles (2004)

One of THE best super hero movies ever, jut love it.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/5b7d43f60742211398b51d9a0b735aa3/tumblr_nynfviHDX61qe4ru4o4_400.gifv
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tZsTLfFkUk8/UofHegz6AeI/AAAAAAAADVQ/PDUtXiCUK6A/s1600/MFB2.gif

My Favorite Brunette - 1947 comedy starring Bob Hope as San Francisco baby photographer Ronnie Jackson. The film opens with Jackson on death row recounting his story to reporters after having been convicted of murder. His office had been next door to tough as nails private eye Sam McCloud (Alan Ladd). Ronnie dreams of one day becoming a PI himself. McCloud repeatedly turns down Ronnie's offers of becoming his partner but does give him access to his office while he's out of town. One day while daydreaming in McCloud's office he is interrupted by Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour). She wants to hire a PI to look for her missing husband and Ronnie, being instantly smitten, pretends to be McCloud.

This leads into a classic PI entanglement featuring a gang of spies or wartime profiteers or both. There are also concussions, frameups, car chases and narrow escapes. The cast is first rate with Peter Lorre as the small and murderous Kismet and Lon Chaney Jr. as the walnut cracking and simple minded muscle Willie. I didn't find it as funny as The Ghost Breakers and the version I ended up watching was shoddily colorized but that didn't detract too much from the proceedings. The bad guys are easy to root against and Hope and Lamour make for an appealing couple.

75/100

[mrblond]

Danny Collins (2015)

Written and Directed by Dan Fogelman

Starring Al Pacino, Annette Bening and Christopher Plummer

My second view. First I saw it when it came out and last evening, it was on the telly.
Cute, entertaining movie. A bit overcooked here and there from the screenplay side. Anyway, full with nice characters and top acting.
3.5+
73/100
95055

[Act III]

95077

Vox Lux (2018)

I think this movie is rife with metaphors but I only got a few of them. Seems to define some general things about singers in the post-diva era. It doesn't feel like 2 hours because of the time gaps in the story and the speed of the progression. Sort of a novelty you'd not watch twice. The ending performance reminds me a lot of Miley Cyrus and so I'm guessing thats where they got their blueprint from for some of the imagery and sound. Altogether a numbed version of the post-Columbine era state of music affairs from a girls point of view. It doesn't shovel too deep and probably for the better. This has got to be my least favorite Portman character by far.

5/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDFmZWViY2UtMTMzZS00NjJkLWJjYWQtMmVkMzJlYjZlNjNmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffilmthreat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2FREVIEW-The-Parts-You-Lose-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e34cc3ab48884d18e92d94b032bfd067272022964ead4ba5b0e1758ff3bed512&ipo=images

The Parts You Lose, 2019

An unnamed, injured man (Aaron Paul) is on the run from the police and ends up hiding in the barn belonging to the family of a little boy named Wesley (Danny Murphy). Wesley is deaf, and suffers abuse at the hands of his classmates and his alcoholic father, Ronnie (Scoot McNairy). Wesley forms a bond with the stranger, but their tentative friendship is clearly on borrowed time as the police close in.

This is one of those movies that is just good enough that its paltry momentum can carry you along from beginning to end. But it’s hard to recommend as anything other than something you put on in the background while you vacuum.

2.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412050#post2412050)

[PHOENIX74]

Vox Lux (2018)

I think this movie is rife with metaphors but I only got a few of them. Seems to define some general things about singers in the post-diva era. It doesn't feel like 2 hours because of the time gaps in the story and the speed of the progression. Sort of a novelty you'd not watch twice. The ending performance reminds me a lot of Miley Cyrus and so I'm guessing thats where they got their blueprint from for some of the imagery and sound. Altogether a numbed version of the post-Columbine era state of music affairs from a girls point of view. It doesn't shovel too deep and probably for the better. This has got to be my least favorite Portman character by far.

5/10

This is one of those movies where on the surface it looks like my kind of thing, but I have never dared watch it because of all the bad reviews and poor ratings I've seen.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Hombre_%28film%29.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8055850

Hombre - (1967)

Paul Newman delivers a white hot performance made up of suppressed rage and simmering discontent in Hombre - a film in which he features as John Russell. Raised by Apaches and known by many names, Russell lives as one, and sees first hand his people starved and driven onto inhospitable land by white settlers, who steal the reparations which are meant to go to them. When his father dies, he's left a large boarding house and gold watch as inheritance, and to sell them so as to help his people, he has to transition to white society - where he's treated well...until he mentions he's Indian. When a stage coach he's riding on is held up, all the passengers who insisted he travel outside the coach have to rely on him to save them. Hombre is really gritty, and was totally reliant on Newman's above par performance, which makes the film. It takes place in a dust and dirt-filled Arizona where even the most respectable people end up looking like bums due to the sheer amount of filth about them. It's one of those films where the hero hates the people he's saving about as much as those he's fighting - and in it there are many moral quandaries that keep the narrative interesting. It doesn't have many faults in a storytelling sense, and is as rock solid as they come. A great movie.

8/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzQ1YmY1YTItNzg1MC00NDBkLThjZmItYzhkMjdkNjZjMjdmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTAyMjQ3NzQ1._V1_.jpg


3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Hombre_%28film%29.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8055850

Hombre - (1967)

Paul Newman delivers a white hot performance made up of suppressed rage and simmering discontent in Hombre - a film in which he features as John Russell. Raised by Apaches and known by many names, Russell lives as one, and sees first hand his people starved and driven onto inhospitable land by white settlers, who steal the reparations which are meant to go to them. When his father dies, he's left a large boarding house and gold watch as inheritance, and to sell them so as to help his people, he has to transition to white society - where he's treated well...until he mentions he's Indian. When a stage coach he's riding on is held up, all the passengers who insisted he travel outside the coach have to rely on him to save them. Hombre is really gritty, and was totally reliant on Newman's above par performance, which makes the film. It takes place in a dust and dirt-filled Arizona where even the most respectable people end up looking like bums due to the sheer amount of filth about them. It's one of those films where the hero hates the people he's saving about as much as those he's fighting - and in it there are many moral quandaries that keep the narrative interesting. It doesn't have many faults in a storytelling sense, and is as rock solid as they come. A great movie.

8/10


I saw this movie at a drive-in when I was a kid. Don't really remember it,but might have to revisit.

[Fabulous]

Shag (1988)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/lVZp87gtMJPQ6RDNcqtet9qZt8U.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

Hombre - (1967)Hombre is really gritty, and was totally reliant on Newman's above par performance, which makes the film.

8/10It's a take no prisoners kind of film so it's no surprise that it was adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel. You should try Valdez Is Coming if you haven't already. It's another Leonard western but you'll have to get past Lancaster performing in brownface playing Bob Valdez. It's not as good as Hombre but still a decent flick.

[mamnito]

se7en (1995)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/mediaviewer/rm2566055168/

[Act III]

This is one of those movies where on the surface it looks like my kind of thing, but I have never dared watch it because of all the bad reviews and poor ratings I've seen.

There's nothing wrong with the acting, the way it was filmed or anything, its the story and the subject matter and the characters that seem like poor choices and that theres seems to be room for more movie but I guess thats what fit the bill at the time. I'm not into pop culture a whole lot so I don't have an opinion without knowing much. As a movie though its something to see that seems to portray a certain type of music star in an accurate manner. Not my sort of thing. Not sorry I saw it.

[Act III]

95082

Jalsaghar (1958) India
The Music Room in the U.S.A.

A man of royal wealth who lives in a palace is heir to a strong lineage but he cuts it short with his addiction to music and partying, spending large sums on private shows to entertain guests. He's living in the old ways as the new ways of electricity and automobiles start taking over. There's a supernatural angle to it, a sort of poetic tragedy, that his obsession brings about.

First half of the movie sets you up for something great but you get disappointed with the way it ends. That first song resonates so well with the harmonies that I had to go back when it was over and listen once again. With a better ending that equals the opening this could have easily been a 9 or 10, but you're left feeling as empty as this once wealthy landlord.

7/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQxNjE3NjYxN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTk2NDQ3NjM@._V1_.jpg

1st Rewatch...I stand by what I said in my original review. The film can't decide if it's a sequel or a remake, but there's a lot of entertainment to be gleaned here, thanks to Rob Marshall's energetic direction and choreography. Emily Blunt is the closest thing to Julie Andrews we will ever have and Lin-Manuel Miranda does a convincing cockney accent. And I LOVED Ben Whishaw as a grown up Michael Banks. Marc Shaiman's score contains no classics but it serves the story and I love that David Magee's screenplay gave Mary's umbrella bigger role than in the original. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk2NDI1NjM2OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjIzMTg4NA@@._V1_.jpg


1st Rewatch...This quietly powerful film on a squirm-worthy subject should have earned Kevin Bacon an Oscar nomination. His intense and understated performance as a pedophile trying to resume his life after 12 years in prison is powerhouse work and easily the finest work his career. The film reminds me a lot of the Dustin Hoffman film Straight Time because this guy really wants to rehabilitate and is doing everything to fight his demons but finds roadblocks at every turn, including a nasty parole officer (Mos Def) and an initially sympathetic brother-in-law (Benjamin Bratt). I checked the lead actor nominations for 2004 and I think Johnny Depp got the nomination that Bacon should have received, but I think the award went to the right performance (Jamie Foxx in Ray). Bacon should have been nominated though. It's an uncomfortable watch, but well worth it. 4

[LChimp]

https://www.geekmagazine.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/9ea3ec44-bd8a-43c4-85ea-4e2f7d3a01ed-70438-00000926f918b7ad_file.webp

Elemental (2023)

I liked it, I thought it was pretty fun.

[Thief]

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE
(2002, Anderson)

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


"I'm a nice man. I mind my own business. So you tell me 'that's that' before I beat the hell from you."



Punch-Drunk Love follows Barry (Sandler), a "nice man" that happens to be socially awkward, depressed and, well, prone to violent outbursts. Things take a turn when he meets Lena (Emily Watson), the charming co-worker of one of his seven sisters, just as he starts being accosted by a phone sex operator that was trying to extort him under orders of his shady boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

There's something magical in seeing a gifted director like Paul Thomas Anderson take someone like Sandler and what might seem like a tired schtick and make something as beautiful as this film. Punch-Drunk Love is an earnest romcom about the magic of two seemingly different people meeting each other and learning to work with the other person's strengths and weaknesses for the benefit of the relationship; which is pretty much what Anderson and Sandler did with this.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412180#post2412180)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bdcwire.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F02%2Fjesus-camp_32146-1000x666.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=6562cb979602952b7cfccaceeb99eeec9fc08b46ec8a530531a03ace844eed94&ipo=images

Jesus Camp, 2006

This documentary follows several children as they attend an evangelical summer camp run by Becky Fischer, a woman who sees children as the future army of God. From speaking in tongues to leading prayers, to protesting against abortion, the children are called to action to constantly demonstrate their status as true believers.

Walking a thin line between funny and tragic, the earnestness of the featured children makes this a moving film even in its seemingly absurd moments.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412184#post2412184)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTY1MzIwNDQyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDEwNzYyMw@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg


4th Rewatch...this movie gets better every time I watch it. One of the best adaptions of a Broadway musical to the screen, thanks primarily to director and screenwriter Bill Condon who does an extraordinary job of making a stage show look like a movie. This is also that rare musical where the songs actually flesh out characters and advance story. Many have issues with Jennifer Hudson's Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress, but her performance of the show's most famous song, "And I am telling you I'm not going" might possibly be the greatest musical number put onscreen and brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. Eddie Murphy was robbed of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his dazzling Jimmy "Thunder" Early and Jamie Foxx's less is more performance as the greasy Curtis Taylor Jr is an acting class all by itself. Flawless production values are the icing on the cake h ere. 4

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/fWVJjLVN/bigtrail.jpg
By Distributed by Fox Film Corporation. - Scan via DivxClasico.com., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87259991

The Big Trail - (1930)

How much you like The Big Trail might depend on how cynical you're feeling on the day you watch it. I mean, it's typical "Out West" stuff, with a hero, raised by Indians and an expert at just about everything, who woos the girl, finds and kills the villains that murdered his friend, and sees a whole caravan of settlers to their paradise. That hero is played by a 23-year-old John Wayne (discovered by John Ford and recommended), who is devilishly handsome at that young age, but who'd struggle to get parts in A-pictures for nearly the rest of the 30s. I found the movie so very entertainingly active and exciting, with a comedic impulse that had me guffawing out loud - it spoke to me. For a film of it's age, it's quite impressive - and one John Ford threw Raoul Walsh's way, but the latter kept it to John Ford standards. Just a rugged, adventurous, no bulldust western of the highest order despite it's age. Be prepared for some real scenes of both people and horses nearly killed - apparently Walsh would not stop shooting for anything, and a few choice moments of real trouble are up there on the screen.

I can't end it there with this film though, because I thought it worth mentioning how much it wants to have it's cake and eat it too. These "settlers" are often at odds with Native Americans, but Wayne's Breck Coleman, raised by them, often has a powwow or two with the "good Indians" (part of a myth created around the time the Western and cinema itself was in it's infancy) and promising not to settle on their land. I don't know where it stands concerning the rest of colonization, but it seems a bit suspect that a film concerning settlers tries to be so fair to Native Americans. It kind of distracts us from what's happening here. Still, I don't know. It's just an early adventure - and very early "talkie" Western. We get everything in this - blizzards, floods, river crossings, Indian attacks, the passing of impassable terrain, hell-hot deserts, buffalo and the like. There's a colour, widescreen version - but I'm not sure if it exists anymore (it was supposedly breathtaking.) I really liked this - it was really 'alive', and you get the feel that this is being made on a scale never attempted before. I'll remember it for a long time.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/The_Survivor_%282021_film%29.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/survivor.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70470644

The Survivor - (2021)

Jewish Boxer Harry Haft (a nearly unrecognizable Ben Foster) slowly opens up to the press about his experiences in Auschwitz, where he was forced to fight fellow inmates in matches where the loser is shot. He tells this story in the hopes his pre-war love sees the articles and contacts him. When that doesn't work he sets up a suicide bout with champ Rocky Marciano. Slick direction from Barry Levinson can't hide the fact that we never really get close to getting inside Harry's mind. We know he's damaged, determined to find someone in an almost naïve, child-like belief they could start up again from where they left off, and it gets tough after that. He has that Neanderthal Jake LaMotta feel about him, and Ben Foster gives him way too much of a swagger in his concentration camp scenes. The story of Harry Haft is a true one - but Levinson's film is always slightly off-track and it feels way too hard to become emotionally involved with it's characters, all of whom aside from Harry are one-note - even his eventual wife Miriam (Vicky Krieps). It's fine looking, and using black and white for the Auschwitz scenes work - they're chilling, but not as chilling as Son of Saul or The Auschwitz Report (two recent Auschwitz films) are. This was decidedly average.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Avengers_Infinity_War_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2018/avengers_infinity_war_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53151892

Avengers : Infinity War - (2018)

Rewatch - Incredible what Marvel did here. I never would have believed I'd be this enthusiastic about watching a Comic Book Superhero film, or like it as much as I do. This and Endgame will go down as modern classics, and we may never reach these heady heights again. We had a great build-up, but the payoff with those two films was kind of miraculous.

9/10

https://i.postimg.cc/cC9FyBpX/josepth-and-the-amazing.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53151892

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - (1999)

Okay - so this was a film. When I put it on, I thought I was going to get a straight-up recorded stage version, but this low budget, straight-to-video version was my strange introduction to the 1972 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Imagine my surprise when I notice the likes of Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins in the cast. Maybe I hallucinated this - it feels like maybe I did.

7/10

[iluv2viddyfilms]

Dragonwyck - A-

[Torgo]

The Quiet Girl - 4

This beautifully quaint drama from Ireland shows how a little love can go a long way. The titular girl is Cáit (Clinch), the middle child in a large dysfunctional family who has more than one reason to be the "quiet one." Not only is she bullied and misunderstood in school, but her home life is also not far removed from Harry Potter's at the Dursleys or Dawn's from Welcome to the Dollhouse. With another sibling on the way, her detached and alcoholic father (Patric) makes her stay at a cousins' dairy farm for the summer. Their treatment of Cáit could best be described as mixed at first, which is understandable when she discovers why.

A movie that could easily be a silent one - no pun intended - first-time director Bairéad lets the images do most of the talking in a way that values simplicity and elegance. A sudden cut to Cáit and her father at a dimly lit bar explains their relationship better than words ever could, for instance. There's another similar moment I won't say much more about other than it proves my opening statement, and the ending notwithstanding, it's likely to be the one you will recall the most. There's also the sweetly nostalgic vibe of the farm, whether it's how much the sunlight overwhelms - in a good way - each outdoor scene or the repeated shots of its landmarks like the well or the milking parlor. With each revisit to these places, you can almost hear the memories being etched into Cáit's mind. Clinch deserves praise for her work as Cáit, especially for how gradual she charts her long-time-coming growth. Cinematographer McCullough also deserves credit for keeping everything at Clinch's height so we feel like we're in her shoes. As for the ending, it not only pays off a memorable sequence, but also has just the right amount of ambiguity. It ends up being a movie bound to charm you with its optimism that it only takes a little love to make things better and that doing so is possible no matter what happened before.

[Stirchley]

95097

Nothing needed to be said.

[mrblond]

Asteroid City (2023)

Written amd Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring: a dozen of movie stars...

It is always a feast watching a Wes Anderson film. The last of his works delivers as usual: great cinematography, superb production design, a nice collection of interesting characters... Only the screenplay this time limps a bit - starting great and then lose ideas from some point onward.
4
80/100
95103

[Fabulous]

The Last Run (1971)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/xolHvw5X1AmePTVS9qexuFBhF2S.jpg

[Thief]

HALLOWEEN 5
THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
(1989, Othenin-Girard)

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


"I prayed that he would burn in Hell, but in my heart I knew that Hell would not have him."



Set a year after Halloween 4, Halloween 5 follows Loomis as he realizes once again that Myers is back, once again to try to murder his niece, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) who is recovering from the trauma of the year before when she attacked her foster mother. That attack is now attributed to a sort of telepathic link with Michael.

One of the many mistakes of the final film is how it brushes off what happens in the end of the previous film, which would've been infinitely more interesting. Instead, the film just feels like a rehash of Part 4 as Jamie is put in danger again and again, while Michael Myers looks for her. The whole story feels more formulaic and pretty much like a checklist to put dumb teenagers in his path to be dispatched.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412315#post2412315)

[Act III]

95090

1776 (1972)

Good historical movie that gives you a look at how the decision to declare independence was configured but as a musical the numbers are tiresome and mediocre so it was better to have left the songs out and make it a straight non-singer. Without the music my score would be higher. It's a good thing the songs take less than 1/4 to a 1/3 of the screen time IMO.

6.5

[Thief]

PSYCHO
(1960, Hitchcock)

https://i.imgur.com/ivt24u1.jpg


"I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."



Psycho follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a real estate secretary that decides to steal $40,000 from her boss perhaps to escape her own private trap, or is she stepping into a new one? While on the run, she stops at the remote Bates Motel, where she encounters owner Norman (Anthony Perkins), who happens to be in his own private trap himself.

I assume there's no need to tiptoe around the plot, but I guess it goes without saying that neither Marion's nor Norman's budged an inch. Instead, their traps end up clamping down on them harder. In the surface, Psycho might seem like a simple film, but in reality, it is an interesting mixture of character study and plot-driven thrills.

Grade: 5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412352#post2412352)

[Gideon58]

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/R9B5EX/original-film-title-since-you-went-away-english-title-since-you-went-away-year-1944-director-john-cromwell-credit-united-artists-album-R9B5EX.jpg


3.5

[GulfportDoc]

PSYCHO
(1960, Hitchcock)

Psycho follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a real estate secretary that decides to steal $40,000 from her boss perhaps to escape her own private trap, or is she stepping into a new one? While on the run, she stops at the remote Bates Motel, where she encounters owner Norman (Anthony Perkins), who happens to be in his own private trap himself.

I assume there's no need to tiptoe around the plot, but I guess it goes without saying that neither Marion's nor Norman's budged an inch. Instead, their traps end up clamping down on them harder. In the surface, Psycho might seem like a simple film, but in reality, it is an interesting mixture of character study and plot-driven thrills.

Grade: rating_5
Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412352#post2412352)
Agree with your rating in spades. One of the great films. I think it's interesting that the first part of the film is a perfect noir; but from the shower scene on it's a horror film.

[Thief]

Agree with your rating in spades. One of the great films. I think it's interesting that the first part of the film is a perfect noir; but from the shower scene on it's a horror film.

Yeah, that's one of the most interesting aspects of the film indeed. One that has lost its edge because of popular culture knowledge, but it's still cool to see it unfold and analyze the how/why of it all.

[Thief]

LIFTED
(2006, Rydstrom)

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

"I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth."



Lifted follows an alien who seems to be undergoing some sort of test to abduct a human farmer using the spaceship's beam and hundreds of buttons. However, abducting a human being is one thing; but doing it under the eye of a strict examiner is another.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412408#post2412408)

[Thief]

BAO
(2018, Shi)

https://i.imgur.com/8SIf9bh.jpg


"Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter.”



Bao follows a Chinese-Canadian woman who is baking a batch of bao for her husband, only to realize one of the buns has come to life. The woman then decides to raise the bun as we see "him" go through different phases of life, from a child to a teenager and eventually a young adult.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412412#post2412412)

[Gideon58]

https://i.etsystatic.com/35861622/r/il/e9761d/5258951343/il_794xN.5258951343_jenn.jpg

1st Rewatch...I rewatched this entire miniseries in less than 36 hours. There's mad entertainment value here, but the main thing that keeps this miniseries sizzling is the ferocious performance by Oscar winner Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. 4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/97/Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg/320px-Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg
By Illustration by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm. Distributed by UFA. - https://www.moma.org/collection/works/88251, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63350586

Metropolis - (1927)

I had the pleasure of watching the closest we've come to Fritz Lang's original cut of Metropolis last night - the 148-minute version. It's strange now, to think that the 1984 'rock soundtrack' 83-minute version tells us that most of the film has been "lost forever". Not until 2008 did we find most of what was gone. It's such a sprawling behemoth of a film it's hard to just say this and that about it. Set in the great city of Metropolis, where wealthy magnates and industrialists along with their families live in a utopia, the working masses that keep everything running, from underneath the city, toil in 10-hour shifts, driven to concentration camp levels of exhaustion and despair. Enter Maria (Brigitte Helm) - a revered figure underground who preaches the word that a great "mediator" will arrive to negotiate with those in power. "The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart" - this man turns out to be Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) - the son of the master of Metropolis, Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), who is conspiring with the mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to build a robot that can help him put down any notions of hope or deliverance for the city's workers.

It's a dystopian/utopian, somewhat Marxist vision that's to a certain degree simplistic - but that's what movies are. They simplify and use metaphors to both entertain and (sometimes - though rarely) educate. The concrete world created for the film is utterly breathtaking in every single scene. There's a lot of that German expressionism which inevitably leads to crazy designs that nonetheless work better than anything else would - the madness taking place in front of your eyes during Metropolis is dream-like operatic splendor on an epic, gargantuan scale, and has never been bettered. I mean, if Metropolis was made now, would it even come close to this? No. This movie fuses everything into it's DNA, and is biblical at the same time as being a frightening futuristic vision - that of life in this new era of concrete and glass cities stealing away our souls. Or at least the souls of the worker ants, trapped inside the cold, dark interiors and keeping the machinery which fuels all motion alive. Fiction often depends on the arrival of a messiah, as it does here, which along with it's length are the only two small quibbles I have with the film. It's a magnificent masterpiece, and required viewing.

9/10

https://i.postimg.cc/BQ45cYXH/patrick-swayze.jpg

I am Patrick Swayze - (2019)

Just a summary of what Patrick Swayze's family, friends and fellow actors had to say about him : He was a man with a burning desire to be the best at everything - and when being overcompetitive at football somewhat cruelled the dream of ballet (it's always the knees that can't take it), he slipped on over into acting. Swayze always wanted to be an actor first and foremost, and be the best. When he kept on getting sucked into the "world's sexiest" star status he'd express genuine dismay. I know it'd be nice, but it's understandable - those people are not taken seriously as actors, making it a sore spot. He approached surviving cancer the same way, but unfortunately it was too much even for him. He learned to drink to excess when his father died, and from time to time he was too reliant on booze to ease whatever pain he might be experiencing in the moment. I always felt a good vibe concerning Patrick Swayze, and thus although I didn't always like the movies he was in or the roles he got, I liked him regardless.

6/10

[Fabulous]

Cry-Baby (1990)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/hu9wKWL0x1QhgXn55lWEKRbX58G.jpg

[ScarletLion]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/97/Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg/320px-Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg
By Illustration by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm. Distributed by UFA. - https://www.moma.org/collection/works/88251, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63350586



Oh yeah. I have a huge canvas print of that poster in my cinema room.

[ScarletLion]

'Love According to Dalva' (2013)

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p23371196_v_v13_aa.jpg

Wow. What an outstanding debut by Emmanuelle Nicot. Belgian drama cinema is flying at the moment and this co-production with France (in French) is more of the same. The content is bleak at times but there is nothing disturbing image wise, it is purely about the drama.

Synopsis: "One evening, Dalva is suddenly taken away from her father’s house. Dumbfounded and outraged at first, she later meets Jayden, a social worker, and Samia, a teen with a temper. A new life seems to start for Dalva, that of a girl her age."

Zelda Samson gives not just one of the best young performances of recent times but perhaps the performance of the year as the titular character who is suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome in the grasp of her father's controlling ways. It's a film that is hard not to spoil as it's key theme is at the forefront of the whole film, but it is so tenderly dealt with by Nicot, who also wrote it. What an incredible talent.

There are many close ups of Dalva and it's her headspace that we focus on and not the criminal, which makes the audience zoom in on the victim side of the crimes. We see Dalva in he recovery as she tries to make new friends and gain an understanding of something which is so difficult for her to comprehend. The final scene in a court room is a tearjerker.

This is a great film.

9/10

4.5

[xSookieStackhouse]

3.5 not a fan of DC movies but went with my support worker who is fan of DC movies this is kinda okay i loved george lopez his really funny actor and susan sarandon is a really good actress she did a good job as a villian
https://imgix.hoyts.com.au/mx/posters/au/blue-beetle-0030e718.jpg

[Act III]

95115

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

I'm glad I found this movie. Feel good comedy that doesn't disappoint. You can see where a lot of musicians got some of their visual ideas throughout the years since this movie. There's some noticeable picture quality variation where you can see some of the higher quality film was used, mostly during the first half, unusual for a 70s movie, but then you get some of the blurrier film quality near the end. The music isn't the best but in a comedy like this the music plays second string. Enjoyed this a lot and will one day add it to my collection.

9/10

[Act III]

95117

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Another good movie. Watch Elvis and President Kennedy fight a cursed mummy who haunts a resting home, preying on old folks, sucking their souls away. Better than I thought it was going to be.

8/10

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Talk_to_Me-840055936-large.jpg


4

[PHOENIX74]

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

I'm glad I found this movie. Feel good comedy that doesn't disappoint. You can see where a lot of musicians got some of their visual ideas throughout the years since this movie. There's some noticeable picture quality variation where you can see some of the higher quality film was used, mostly during the first half, unusual for a 70s movie, but then you get some of the blurrier film quality near the end. The music isn't the best but in a comedy like this the music plays second string. Enjoyed this a lot and will one day add it to my collection.

9/10

https://media3.giphy.com/media/QuTOdlwvMl5lHKbpRC/200w.gif?cid=6c09b9520atnu0xkhll0q84u4zi39tmqvpfrgy4dkz5q40d3&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Father_of_the_bride_poster.jpg
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22381511

Father of the Bride - (1991)

Specifically, the upper middle class Father of the Bride who can afford a $100,000 wedding, and invite 500 people to the ceremony and reception. Yes, I was just as shocked as George Banks (Steve Martin) when it was revealed the wedding cake would cost $1200 - even though I kind of get it. This 1991 remake isn't as funny as the original overall, although it has some very funny moments - it keeps hovering between drama and comedy. Steve Martin and Spencer Tracy play the father part very differently - with Martin very much externalizing his anguish and displeasure with his daughter getting married. He's that type of comedian - Tracy was way more subtle. That's not a bad thing though. It's a very light affair - anyone can watch this, and it simply plays on familial connection, growing up, change and love. If Cape Fear or Terminator 2 were too violent for you, there was this option at multiplexes. My biggest fault with it is the guilt most people were going to walk away feeling, not able to splash a ridiculous amount of money around for their daughter's big day. Martin shines like a beacon, however, and he's just too damned likeable to not make this film worth seeing at least once.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Father_of_the_bride_part_ii.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7542016

Father of the Bride Part II - (1995)

I thought we were going to get a remake of Father's Little Dividend here, but Father of the Bride Part II goes in a different direction. When Annie (Kimberly Williams) - the daughter of George Banks (Steve Martin) announces she's pregnant, George's wife Nina (Diane Keaton) finds out she's also expecting. Keaton was 49 when she took on this project - so it's a definite surprise to me, because I went into this blind. From there on it's mostly predictable - the screenplay plods along, but Steve Martin and Martin Short are both wonderful performers here. I don't think the first film really needed a sequel - and without actually including the kid like the 1951 film does, there's a slight lack of focus. A few sporadic sparks aren't enough to make this film memorable or worth recommending.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Powder_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/1995/powder.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8345633

Powder - (1995)

Oh Powder - I threw this on without knowing anything about it, including it's director, Victor Salva. The way it started off, it was really interesting, and had a slew of big-name talent in supporting roles : Mary Steenburgen, Lance Henriksen and Jeff Goldblum feature prominently. It's about an albino kid, Jeremy Reed (Sean Patrick Flanery), whose grandfather dies with him never having left his house before - leaving him alone in the world. When Jeremy gets taken to a boy's home and normal school, you know this kid is going to get bullied - but what we don't know about is the varied incredible powers he has. In it's second half, the film deals really heavily in schmaltz - with far too many heart-rending speeches set to rising orchestral music. It feels trite - and it was a shame because I liked a few of the factors here. Then I go look this film up and see it getting smashed because it's director, Salva, is a convicted paedophile. This was back in the day when people weren't cancelled, so after he got out of jail he just kept rolling along making movies. Powder at times felt like a superhero origin story, at others an emotionally sentimental sugary drama, but in the end I had to deal with a lot of disappointment regarding the way it played out.

5/10

[Fabulous]

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/eafY7wcacGGigNBmLPs0FMB124z.jpg

[wositelec]

https://d-tm.ppstatic.pl/kadry/53/c0/273eabe8274d0cafc3d117b81a13.1000.jpg


Ptačí král - 9 / 10

[ScarletLion]

'Onoda: 10,000 nights in the Jungle' (2021)

https://thirdwindowfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/promo-1.jpg

A fascinating look at the real life of Hiroo Onoda - the Japanese soldier who trained in the secret force of the Futamata, who were different to normal soldiers in that they were trained to never surrender or take their own lives.

As a result, Onoda spent 29 years on a Phillipine island evading capture, The film is apparently very true to real life events, and has to be seen to be believed.

8/10

4

[Stirchley]

'Onoda: 10,000 nights in the Jungle' (2021)

https://thirdwindowfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/promo-1.jpg

A fascinating look at the real life of Hiroo Onoda - the Japanese soldier who trained in the secret force of the Futamata, who were different to normal soldiers in that they were trained to never surrender or take their own lives.

As a result, Onoda spent 29 years on a Phillipine island evading capture, The film is apparently very true to real life events, and has to be seen to be believed.

8/10

4

I’ve put this in my queue. Will either love it or hate it.

[Gideon58]

https://images.moviesanywhere.com/72bed4a17052d83ef0ecdbc844082319/fa6c6007-cbf6-49e1-a076-c836df823ccc.jpg


4

[Stirchley]

⬆️ Can’t remember a single scene, but I did like it.

[Raven73]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
7/10.
I had low expectations going into this movie, due to my dislike of Crystal Skull and some negative reviews, but I actually thought it was pretty good. Action was great.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxZCpf2aYAAEBrH?format=jpg&name=medium

[Tugg]

Just finished this and was blown away by it. The hype is justified for this one. I thought it might be predictable but I never knew where it was going. The visuals were great and the idea was wonderful. It had many twists too.
Talk to Me (2022-2023) 4
https://media-prod.fangoria.com/images/talktome-header-2.width-800.jpg

[Thief]

HALLOWEEN
THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS
(1995, Chappelle)

https://i.imgur.com/g0qaI8B.jpg


"This force, this thing that lived inside of him... came from a source too violent, too deadly for you to imagine. It... It grew inside him, contaminating his soul. It was... pure evil."



Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers follows up a couple of years after Halloween 5 as Loomis realizes that Michael's existence or evil is the result of scientific experiments performed by members of a druid-like cult trying to investigate and control the power of Thorn... or something like that, who cares. Meanwhile, Michael is out to eliminate family members because, well, that's what he does. Again, who cares.

I remember seeing this back in the day and still thinking it was crap. Rewatching it now, it just confirms that it is. The film is an unnecessary convoluted mess that clearly doesn't understand what made the original film work. Aside from that mess, we have uninteresting characters, as well as yet another unceremonious dispatch of the lead character of the previous two.

Grade: 1.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412750#post2412750)

[Gideon58]

https://q9c3t4p4.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Vacation-Friends-2-Cast-Hulu-Every-Actor-Character.jpeg


2.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.makeagif.com/media/10-12-2021/FGHwYF.gif
https://www.classic-monsters.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Cat-and-the-Canary_01.jpg


The Cat and the Canary - Ten years after his death the six surviving relatives of millionaire Cyrus Norman gather at his remote Louisiana bayou mansion. His oddball companion Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard) has been the sole occupant and she professes to be attuned to the many spirits which inhabit the mansion and grounds. Cyrus' executor Lawyer Crosby (George Zucco) is the first to arrive for the reading of Cyrus' will which is to take place at the stroke of midnight. Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard) is named as the sole beneficiary. But, fearing the streak of insanity that runs in his family, Cyrus has stipulated that she must remain in full control of her faculties for 30 days in order to claim her inheritance.

Bob Hope plays radio actor Wally Campbell and you can see him starting to settle into his comedic delivery. But there's so much going on with the spooky mansion, hidden passages, escaped madmen and quirky, devious relatives that Hope isn't asked to shoulder as much of the load.

This "old dark house" horror/mystery was such a success when it was released in 1939 that Paramount studios rushed to reteam Hope and Goddard in The Ghost Breakers the following year. I still liked TGB a bit more but this has the richer palette as far as story goes. It comes in a close second.

79/100

[Corax]

https://q9c3t4p4.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Vacation-Friends-2-Cast-Hulu-Every-Actor-Character.jpeg


rating_2_5


Midjourney, make a me a poster for a mediocre ensemble comedy.

[Marco]

Caligula (1979)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Caligulaposter.jpg
Well, you could make a film about the making and editing of this film but just lets say, if your expecting a sword and sandals epic, forget it. Tinto Brass made a rather artsy and erotic retelling of the legend of the Emperor Caligula, packed with nudity and violence. Then it was butchered to increase sales by inserting hardcore sex scenes post production by Bob Guccione and we end up with this mess. Not to say it doesn't have good "bits"...McDowell is great playing the insane Prince/Emperor and there are several good set pieces. The "inserted" scenes are obvious and slow the story down and caused even moreupset to the original director as they used the same sets made for his vision.
Pretty mad!
2.5

[GulfportDoc]

[Feud]

1st Rewatch...I rewatched this entire miniseries in less than 36 hours. There's mad entertainment value here, but the main thing that keeps this miniseries sizzling is the ferocious performance by Oscar winner Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. rating_4
I agree. Lange took pains to almost impersonate Crawford-- her expressions, her manner; whereas Sarandon rarely felt like B. Davis. Interesting portrayal of them and their relationship.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Caligula (1979)
Then it was butchered to increase sales by inserting hardcore sex scenes post production by Bob Guccione and we end up with this mess.
rating_2_5I'm shocked. Not the gooch. I mean, just look at him.

https://content.time.com/time/2010/farewells_2010_2/guccione.jpg

[Thief]

SHIMÁSÁNI
(2009, Lowe)

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


"Where is there a place without meanness?"



Set in 1934, Shimásáni follows two sisters (Brigadier and Noelle Brown) standing at a cultural crossroad. Because of the needs in the household, only one of them has been chosen to attend school while the other has to stay to tend the goats and the crops under the watchful eye of their strict grandmother (Carmelita B. Lowe). The die has been cast for both, and both hate the fate that has been chosen for each. But when the second one gets her hand in her sister's school book, she finds herself drawn and mesmerized by the outside world she might never know.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412812#post2412812)

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/J7dDS2bH/my-name-is-nobody.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/il-mio-nome-e-nessuno-i70215/p/yxsfq6ir, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54474222

My Name is Nobody - (1973)

You go in blind and sometimes you come out a little perplexed, but it wasn't long before I was set straight regarding My Name is Nobody. By the time it came out, in 1973, the Spaghetti Western was old hat, and this Tonino Valerii (Sergio Leone did have a big hand in this as well) version completely pokes fun at the genre. I guess the inclusion of Italian comedian Terence Hill should have clued me in, but I just thought he was branching out into westerns. There are two distinct sides to this film - there's the Henry Fonda side, which is pretty much straight-up western stuff, and then there's the Terence Hill side, which is flat out Tom and Jerry cartoon. This slapstick isn't quite my style, but it was so strange seeing it in a western that I have to admit to being interested. Even Ennio Morricone is in on it - composing loopy versions of work he'd done previously, trading lusty twangs and operatic swoons for foghorns, duck quacks and tin-rattles. The story, of old great gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) and the young, better, up-and-comer who idolizes him, Nobody (Hill) is par for the course - but when cartoon logic is sometimes applied, I wouldn't get comfortable with relying on it. I'd have been better steeping myself in Spaghetti Westerns before watching this - but I get the joke anyway. The genre as a whole was dying around this time, and to send it up would be the smart thing to do.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Triangle_%28Christopher_Smith%29.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from PreparetoBeScared.com or Icon Entertainment., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25921490

Triangle - (2009)

The best psychological horror films go the weird and inexplicable route without copping out and explaining what's going on - half of the fun is maintaining the mystery, and in Triangle there's so much that's weird and wonderful, and never even given the slightest hint of being explicable. I can't say much - the fun of the film is in the way it unfolds, and as such it's a spoiler minefield. Single mother Jess (Melissa George) and a group of her friends take a yacht sailing, encounter a storm, and are stranded on their upturned boat - but along comes a mysterious ship to save them. Trouble is, the group can't find anyone aboard, and those they do see are only fleeting glimpses of someone, just around corners - always running away. From there, things get freakier and freakier. If you think too hard about everything, there are plot holes - but when you're in the land of the bizarre, who's to say what's real or what's not? This mightn't feel special at first, but when the conceit has finally been revealed, then many will be hooked - and will remain so right to the end.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Safe_House_Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: MovieNews.ro, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33617158

Safe House - (2012)

Master manipulator Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) has valuable information on his hands that he's trying to sell for $10 million. When pursued by killers, he flees to the American consulate in Cape Town, South Africa. He's tortured by the C.I.A. in an attempt to get him to confess his contacts, and what he knows, but the killers find him, and kill all but one of the agents, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) who flees with Frost - beginning a wild ride and bloody ride. This is one of those films where a main character, Frost, is set up with a gift (here, as someone who can talk anyone around) - so of course I'm expecting that to play a big part in what follows. Nope. Safe House goes the safe route, and pretty much stuffs in as much chasing and gunplay as it can instead of storytelling - it's not bad per se, but it just felt like we were promised so much more at the start. I mean, it's Denzel Washington playing a silver tongued rogue - come on, let's see him use it - and come to think of it, the film didn't make any use of Ryan Reynolds innate abilities either. A fine movie - while at the same time a monumental waste of acting talent.

6/10

[PHOENIX74]

Caligula (1979)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Caligulaposter.jpg
Well, you could make a film about the making and editing of this film but just lets say, if your expecting a sword and sandals epic, forget it. Tinto Brass made a rather artsy and erotic retelling of the legend of the Emperor Caligula, packed with nudity and violence. Then it was butchered to increase sales by inserting hardcore sex scenes post production by Bob Guccione and we end up with this mess. Not to say it doesn't have good "bits"...McDowell is great playing the insane Prince/Emperor and there are several good set pieces. The "inserted" scenes are obvious and slow the story down and caused even moreupset to the original director as they used the same sets made for his vision.
Pretty mad!
2.5

A completely new version of this played at the Cannes festival this year - edited from previously unused footage, this new "Ultimate Cut" version (considering the film, I might say definitely no pun intended) doesn't have a single shot that was used for the 1979 version. Tinto Brass is being a killjoy and trying to kill it with lawsuits - but that will only perhaps end up with his name being scrubbed from the credits. I'm looking forward to checking it out, albeit with reservations.

[Act III]

A completely new version of this played at the Cannes festival this year - edited from previously unused footage, this new "Ultimate Cut" version (considering the film, I might say definitely no pun intended) doesn't have a single shot that was used for the 1979 version. Tinto Brass is being a killjoy and trying to kill it with lawsuits - but that will only perhaps end up with his name being scrubbed from the credits. I'm looking forward to checking it out, albeit with reservations.

It isn't available anywhere for streaming that I can find and maybe this legal thing is the reason. I would like to see both versions now, theatrical and re-cut.

[ScarletLion]

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Triangle_%28Christopher_Smith%29.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from PreparetoBeScared.com or Icon Entertainment., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25921490

Triangle - (2009)

The best psychological horror films go the weird and inexplicable route without copping out and explaining what's going on - half of the fun is maintaining the mystery, and in Triangle there's so much that's weird and wonderful, and never even given the slightest hint of being explicable. I can't say much - the fun of the film is in the way it unfolds, and as such it's a spoiler minefield. Single mother Jess (Melissa George) and a group of her friends take a yacht sailing, encounter a storm, and are stranded on their upturned boat - but along comes a mysterious ship to save them. Trouble is, the group can't find anyone aboard, and those they do see are only fleeting glimpses of someone, just around corners - always running away. From there, things get freakier and freakier. If you think too hard about everything, there are plot holes - but when you're in the land of the bizarre, who's to say what's real or what's not? This mightn't feel special at first, but when the conceit has finally been revealed, then many will be hooked - and will remain so right to the end.

7/10


Love that film. It's a proper mindfunk film.

[ScarletLion]

'Dead Presidents' (1995)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/Dead_Presidents_OST_2.jpg/220px-Dead_Presidents_OST_2.jpg

Dead presidents tells the story of Anthony, a black man from New York who struggles to adapt to life after being a marine in the Vietnam war. The film is structured into three distinct parts; his early years deciding to not go to college, the experience of the Vietnam war, and life after the war in which he decides to commit a crime to help pay the bills.

It's a bit of a patchwork film in that respect, as the segments don't flow easily. The first segment is well put together with some excellent family drama. The Vietnam segment is quite graphic and has some rather ludicrous make up / blood spurting effects, and the last segment is altogether a bit of a mess. The acting is satisfactory in parts but stunted in others. There’s no real resolution at the end, with the directors choosing to just hammer home the theme of how difficult life was after military service. It’s not a bad film, just rather dated and no real spark there to enhance any emotion.

3

[Thief]

RED ROCK WEST
(1993, Dahl)

https://i.imgur.com/Aem9VIa.jpg


"You're a nice guy, aren't you, Michael?"
"I try to be."



Red Rock West follows Michael (Nicolas Cage), a drifter desperately looking for a job in rural Wyoming. In the process, he finds himself in the middle of a misunderstanding when a bar owner (J.T. Walsh) mistakes him for a hitman he hired to murder his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Things get even more complicated when the actual hitman (Dennis Hopper) arrives and stumbles upon Michael.

Cage has always done a great job portraying vulnerable guys that are cornered into complicated situations all while trying to come afloat and still be "nice". He's also paired with a solid supporting cast, with Hopper easily having the meatier role. His performance as Lyle (from Dallas) is not equal to Frank Booth, but it's somewhere in that area. Walsh and Boyle are both pretty good too.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412940#post2412940)

[Marco]

I'm shocked. Not the gooch. I mean, just look at him.

https://content.time.com/time/2010/farewells_2010_2/guccione.jpg

Not many can get away with *that* look.....

[Jackie Daytona]

RED ROCK WEST




Nic Cage and Dennis Hopper, together at last! How have I never heard of this movie before?

[Marco]

A completely new version of this played at the Cannes festival this year - edited from previously unused footage, this new "Ultimate Cut" version (considering the film, I might say definitely no pun intended) doesn't have a single shot that was used for the 1979 version. Tinto Brass is being a killjoy and trying to kill it with lawsuits - but that will only perhaps end up with his name being scrubbed from the credits. I'm looking forward to checking it out, albeit with reservations.

Sounds interesting, certainly to me. How much footage did they actually shoot?! I'd heard that the idyllic scene with he and his sis in the field at the start was originally to go in the middle of the film. Good editing whomever put it at the start. Shows his decline.

[Thief]

[/CENTER]




Nic Cage and Dennis Hopper, together at last! How have I never heard of this movie before?

It's mostly out of print and unavailable on streaming platforms. You might have to use, umm, alternate means to see it.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Not many can get away with *that* look.....Canadian tuxedo ✅
Cowboy boots ✅
Shirt open almost to the navel ✅
Gold chains ✅

His dogs seem to like him though.

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e00fc4a8d710e0ff8f3080fc585583e1

[Thief]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2016, LEMMiNO)

https://i.imgur.com/ZrAgb87.png


"If AI becomes more competent in every regard, then what purpose or function would be left for us to serve?"



Artificial Intelligence is a 12-minute short produced by YouTube creator LEMMiNO. In it, he analyzes the development and growth of artificial intelligence, and how it can pose a threat to us. From seemingly inconsequential things like computers beating expert players in chess or Go, to the development of AI-generated content in news media or even music.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412955#post2412955)

[Deschain]

It's mostly out of print and unavailable on streaming platforms. You might have to use, umm, alternate means to see it.

I rented the DVD of Red Rock West from Netflix, but that won’t be an option much longer.

[Takoma11]

Triangle - (2009)

The best psychological horror films go the weird and inexplicable route without copping out and explaining what's going on - half of the fun is maintaining the mystery, and in Triangle there's so much that's weird and wonderful, and never even given the slightest hint of being explicable. I can't say much - the fun of the film is in the way it unfolds, and as such it's a spoiler minefield. Single mother Jess (Melissa George) and a group of her friends take a yacht sailing, encounter a storm, and are stranded on their upturned boat - but along comes a mysterious ship to save them. Trouble is, the group can't find anyone aboard, and those they do see are only fleeting glimpses of someone, just around corners - always running away. From there, things get freakier and freakier. If you think too hard about everything, there are plot holes - but when you're in the land of the bizarre, who's to say what's real or what's not? This mightn't feel special at first, but when the conceit has finally been revealed, then many will be hooked - and will remain so right to the end.

7/10

Triangle is great. It's in the Sixth Sense club of movies that have a "big twist", and yet are just as compelling to rewatch, and maybe even more rewarding when you know the full story from the beginning.

[GulfportDoc]

RED ROCK WEST
(1993, Dahl)

Red Rock West follows Michael (Nicolas Cage), a drifter desperately looking for a job in rural Wyoming. In the process, he finds himself in the middle of a misunderstanding when a bar owner (J.T. Walsh) mistakes him for a hitman he hired to murder his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Things get even more complicated when the actual hitman (Dennis Hopper) arrives and stumbles upon Michael.

Cage has always done a great job portraying vulnerable guys that are cornered into complicated situations all while trying to come afloat and still be "nice". He's also paired with a solid supporting cast, with Hopper easily having the meatier role. His performance as Lyle (from Dallas) is not equal to Frank Booth, but it's somewhere in that area. Walsh and Boyle are both pretty good too.

Grade: rating_4

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2412940#post2412940)
We rated it the same. Enjoyable film, unusual story. I never know how to link to reviews, so here is a little commentary about the film:

Red Rock West (1993)


This is a solid neo-noir set in present day Wyoming, with a little dark comedy and some Hitchcockian twists thrown in. It’s both directed and written by John Dahl (Unforgettable; Rounders)-- well known for his neo-noir work. DP Marc Reshovsky provides some very tasty photography. Composer William Olvis provides an expressive and moody score.


After Michael Williams (Nicholas Cage) is discharged from the Marine Corps he drifts around looking for work. He’s rejected as a hire for an oil field worker due to a war injury to his leg. His wandering takes him to Red Rock, Wyoming. When he sits down at a bar, and the bartender, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), spots Williams’ Texas license plates out front, the bartender mistakenly presumes that Williams is the hit man (Lyle from Texas) that he has hired to murder his wife. When the bartender plunks down one-half payment of the hit man’s fee, Williams sees the mistake, plays along, and accepts the money.


Instead, Williams goes to the man’s wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle), and informs her of her husband’s murder plot. Suzanne then offers Williams double the money to kill her husband. After that meeting Williams decides to leave town, but along the way he has an auto accident. When the sheriff shows up it turns out that he is the same man as Wayne the bartender who he met earlier. Wayne realizes the ruse, and wants to dispose of Williams. But Williams escapes on foot, and is eventually picked up by a motorist who turns out to be the real hit man-- Lyle from Texas (Dennis Hopper).


The two bad guys, the femme fatale, and Williams proceed to partake in a deadly square dance to get the cache of money that Wayne had stolen back east, and to do away with each other. It all comes to head when the quartet ends up at a remote graveyard to dig up the stolen money, leading to a satisfying finish.


Michael tries several times to get out of Red Rock, but keeps getting brought back for one reason or another. Being chased by the bad guys at one point, he jumps off of a building onto a departing semi truck to get out of town. But several miles later the truck driver (Dwight Yoakam) discovers him, only to order him out of the truck at gunpoint.


The casting was first rate. Cage is good at playing a guy thrown into a situation not entirely of his making, and in that way is a little reminiscent of his hapless character’s role in Raising Arizona. Boyle (Twin Peaks) makes for a convincing femme fatale. The inestimable J.T. Walsh is perfect as an unblinking double dealer. And Hopper couldn’t have been a better choice for a kooky but threatening hit man who’s going for all the marbles.


Doc’s rating: 8/10

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d6/A_Haunting_in_Venice_%282023%29_poster.jpg/220px-A_Haunting_in_Venice_%282023%29_poster.jpg

First of all, let me make a confession: I had no idea going into the theater that this was the third in a series of Agatha Christie adaptations directed by Kenneth Branagh! :lol: I mean, yeah, I knew that over the last couple years there had been adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022), but I didn't really know that much about them or even pay much attention to who was in them, so I hadn't properly made the connection. I mean, I have yet to see the original 1974 Sidney Lumet adaptation of the first one. You know, the one with the all-star cast including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman and Sean Connery! One of these days, yeah, I suppose... ;)

Anyway... This one was okay, I guess. When I first saw the trailer for A Haunting in Venice, I was definitely intrigued. It looked like some supernaturally-themed period murder mystery thriller. The locale also intrigued me, because I was also a fan of Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (1971) and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973). I must say, this one doesn't really approach the heights of either one of these. One of the things I liked about the movie is its air of post-World War II melancholy, with Branagh's Hercule Poirot having lost faith in God and humanity in the wake of human suffering. This theme lies at the heart of the work of William Peter Blatty (specifically his so-called "Faith Trilogy" consisting of The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration and Legion), and so consequently when this subject was addressed I was led to expect a great deal more from the movie. Perhaps that was unfair. Anyway, this thriller at least has the decency to get the obligatory jump scares out of the way early on (a falling chandelier, a noisy cockatoo), and throughout at least a murky, melancholic mood is maintained. The plot involves a séance at the palazzo of a famous opera singer (Kelly Reilly) who had lost her ailing daughter a couple of years back. This ritual is to be conducted by a supposed psychic medium (Michelle Yeoh), and the now-retired Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is roped into coming along by a novelist friend of his (Tina Fey, performing quite adequately in a serious role). Inevitably there are some brutal murders, and Poirot has to solve yet one more case.

I don't really know why I wasn't more impressed by this one, but for me it was merely an adequte, professional Hollywood thriller. There are some pretty good performances, some decent scares, and I have to admit I didn't really see the twists coming. (This is adapted from an Agatha Christie story, after all. We're in the hands of a master here.) But everything just felt kind of lockstep and there didn't seem to be anything at stake as the story progressed. You can't win them all, I suppose...

Does anybody else feel different about the movie? Am I missing something here?

[Thief]

Triangle is great. It's in the Sixth Sense club of movies that have a "big twist", and yet are just as compelling to rewatch, and maybe even more rewarding when you know the full story from the beginning.

I really liked the film a lot, and found myself thinking about it days after. That's the kind of film I love. The ones that stick with you.

[Takoma11]

I really liked the film a lot, and found myself thinking about it days after. That's the kind of film I love. The ones that stick with you.

Yup.

Between this, The Betrayed, and A Lonely Place to Die, Melissa George had a good run of anchoring some prime late-night, mid-aughts action thrillers.

[Thief]

Yup.

Between this, The Betrayed, and A Lonely Place to Die, Melissa George had a good run of anchoring some prime late-night, mid-aughts action thrillers.

Haven't seen those others, but...

https://gifdb.com/images/high/jones-as-fbi-agent-jim-barney-taking-notes-mih1u9tj5tl9i8uo.gif

[Takoma11]

Haven't seen those others, but...

https://gifdb.com/images/high/jones-as-fbi-agent-jim-barney-taking-notes-mih1u9tj5tl9i8uo.gif

While A Lonely Place to Die has some dumb character choices, the premise is interesting (a group of hikers finds a little girl who is being held hostage for ransom and must decide whether or not to try and rescue her) and I'll watch George in anything.

[Fabulous]

I Love You Again (1940)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/6iqcaM3HLeOi6AdIpLeaZ2KHU8O.jpg

[Thief]

HALLOWEEN H20
20 YEARS LATER
(1998, Miner)

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


"If you want to stay handcuffed to your dead brother, that's fine. But you're not dragging me along. Not anymore."



20 years later, Michael is back looking for his sister, ignoring all the sequels in between. Halloween H20 follows the attempts from Laurie, who now runs a private academy under the name of Keri Tate, to finally stop Michael while protecting his teenage son John (Josh Hartnett). He is the one who says the above quote to Laurie, trying to snap her out of the traumas and ghosts of her past, which we know will become her present AND future again.

Fortunately, Halloween H20 ends up being a fairly competent slasher and probably one of the best entries of the franchise. To see Jamie Lee Curtis take on the role again, balancing the terror and fear of his brother with a newfound resourcefulnes is quite good. Hartnett is also pretty solid as her son, and although most of the supporting cast end up being bodies for Michael to dispose of, they're mostly likable and enjoyable to watch interact.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2413075#post2413075)

[Gideon58]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/something-wild-1986/large_i3LUtgcc77kXuRLkfEfb0T14XxU.jpg


3.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/ac9f7076776fe68b413439eae2d0d77f/c26e354cf6821cd9-c5/s500x750/5058acfe6c698f172679807b2687b233345c935b.gifv
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTZiNTYxOGYtODUzMi00NjI0LWJiNTktYTcyYThiYzQ3MDUzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDk0MDM0Mzg@._V1_.jpg

Yellow Sky - A bandit gang led by James 'Stretch' Dawson (Gregory Peck) robs a bank and is pursued by a company of soldiers forcing them to cross a vast stretch of salt flats in Death Valley. Half dead they stumble on the deserted town of Yellow Sky where they meet the sole occupants, no-nonsense Mike (Ann Baxter) and her prospector grandfather (James Barton). Being the opportunistic types they quickly figure out that the old man is keeping a valuable secret and they immediately take steps to find and abscond with the treasure. The rest of the gang consists of former gambler Dude (Richard Widmark), the unsavory Lengthy (John Russell), rotund Walrus (Charles Kemper), Half Pint (Harry Morgan) and youngster Bull Run (Robert Arthur).

Over time I had seen maybe 90 to 95% of this. But this time was from beginning to end. I particularly liked it because of the attitude and the standards of the less law abiding characters. Sure they were unprincipled thieves but they didn't seem the least bit conflicted about it. Plus there was passing mention made about how the Civil War had unsettled an entire generation of young men. I had never heard this unexpected yet somehow obvious justification alluded to before or since. A kind of PTSD that pinpoints and rationalizes all of the marauding and plundering that's featured in most Westerns. And it's just one of the distinctive touches director William A. Wellman and writers Lamar Trotti and W.R. Burnett bring to the movie.

For some viewers though this might all end up largely negated by the predatory nature of the gang in regards to Mike. Lengthy being setup as the most "rapey" of the bunch. But even Stretch, the ersatz "hero" and leading man, forces his atttentions on her. The script of course eventually spins this as more of a mutual attraction but it'll be up to the individual viewer to decide if a protagonist can come back from something like that. And that's just it. His James Dawson is an essential element of the vibe that Wellman and his writers were going for here. And it might be problematic but still understandable in that context. I myself liked it for it's uncompromising nature. No white and black hats here. Just overriding greed and lust versus a line that isn't to be crossed.

85/100

[wositelec]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjkxNzQ1ODE2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDM2Njk5MTE@._V1_.jpg


Batman & Robin (1997) - 90/100

[PHOENIX74]

It isn't available anywhere for streaming that I can find and maybe this legal thing is the reason. I would like to see both versions now, theatrical and re-cut.

Sounds interesting, certainly to me. How much footage did they actually shoot?! I'd heard that the idyllic scene with he and his sis in the field at the start was originally to go in the middle of the film. Good editing whomever put it at the start. Shows his decline.

According to this Guardian article (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/19/an-irresistible-mix-of-art-and-genitals-caligula-finally-comes-to-cannes), there were 96 hours of raw footage. I'm pretty keen, and I'm keeping an eye out for any kind of release, either streaming or in arthouse cinemas. I'd be pretty damned disappointed if we never get to see it.