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I’ve seen this a couple of times. I kinda like it.
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Winchell -
Whether or not you can't get enough of what is now affectionally called "tea," this HBO biopic is worth seeking out. What it lacks in novelty, it mostly makes up for with its strong performances and interestingly told history lessons. For those of you who drew a blank when you read the title, Walter Winchell was a mid-20th century American journalist and radio show host whose true medium was gossip. His style always put him at odds with his employers, but Winchell really made them seethe when he started making it personal, such as famously warning the world about Hitler and infamously siding with Joseph McCarthy.
Veteran character actor Stanley Tucci takes the lead in this one for a change and he's more than up for the task. Besides nailing his New York accent and staccato delivery, I like how he conveys his strong work ethic, especially his unwillingness to compromise regardless of how many friends he loses in the process. One who managed to stick with him until the end is Herman Klurfeld, his ghostwriter, audience surrogate and the author of the book on which the movie is based, who's also played by a welcome sight: a young Paul Giamatti. I also approve of the period details from the historically accurate production design to Bill Conti's jazzy score. Unfortunately, the movie is too willing to settle for the biopic format's hoariest cliches from its rise and fall structure to showing the supposed moment during his childhood that made Winchell...well, Winchell. I at least approve that it begins with his childhood for how it makes the movie a study of the public's shift in preference from newsprint to radio to television. Even if you're also tired of biopics, you could do worse if you have a modicum of interest in Winchell, the history of gossip journalism, etc. Just don't be surprised if your desire to watch Walk Hard or Weird: The Al Yankovic Story spikes once it's over.
Whether or not you can't get enough of what is now affectionally called "tea," this HBO biopic is worth seeking out. What it lacks in novelty, it mostly makes up for with its strong performances and interestingly told history lessons. For those of you who drew a blank when you read the title, Walter Winchell was a mid-20th century American journalist and radio show host whose true medium was gossip. His style always put him at odds with his employers, but Winchell really made them seethe when he started making it personal, such as famously warning the world about Hitler and infamously siding with Joseph McCarthy.
Veteran character actor Stanley Tucci takes the lead in this one for a change and he's more than up for the task. Besides nailing his New York accent and staccato delivery, I like how he conveys his strong work ethic, especially his unwillingness to compromise regardless of how many friends he loses in the process. One who managed to stick with him until the end is Herman Klurfeld, his ghostwriter, audience surrogate and the author of the book on which the movie is based, who's also played by a welcome sight: a young Paul Giamatti. I also approve of the period details from the historically accurate production design to Bill Conti's jazzy score. Unfortunately, the movie is too willing to settle for the biopic format's hoariest cliches from its rise and fall structure to showing the supposed moment during his childhood that made Winchell...well, Winchell. I at least approve that it begins with his childhood for how it makes the movie a study of the public's shift in preference from newsprint to radio to television. Even if you're also tired of biopics, you could do worse if you have a modicum of interest in Winchell, the history of gossip journalism, etc. Just don't be surprised if your desire to watch Walk Hard or Weird: The Al Yankovic Story spikes once it's over.
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I might have to see this. Winchell, Tucci and Giamatti: you have my attention.
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You like addiction films don't you? I watched Submarino. It is extremely good.
My review above ^
My review above ^
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VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
(1967, Robson)
(1967, Robson)
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Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
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Directed by Werner Herzog and on our documentary list, I watched it for the upcoming war countdown. It's the story of Dieter Dengler, a pilot who was shot down during the Vietnam War and held captive. What this dude had to say about what he went through just blew me away. So sad that he took his own life in 2001 after getting ill. I guess I'll have to watch Rescue Dawn now.
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I’ve seen this a couple of times. I kinda like it.
This movie is my # one guilty pleasure...as terrible as it is, I find the movie funny as hell and find endless entertainment value through unintentional laughs.
just like the "rotten business" the characters are sucked into, there is something captivating about it. Not enough for me to "love it", but enough to not turn it off.
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Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
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Directed by Werner Herzog and on our documentary list, I watched it for the upcoming war countdown. It's the story of Dieter Dengler, a pilot who was shot down during the Vietnam War and held captive. What this dude had to say about what he went through just blew me away. So sad that he took his own life in 2001 after getting ill. I guess I'll have to watch Rescue Dawn now.
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I haven't seen Little Dieter Needs to Fly, but I've seen Rescue Dawn, and the liberties he took with the actual story to elevate Dengler at the expense of his fellow prisoners has always bothered me. That said, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies are great in it. Bale, not so much.
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Weirdly enough, I woke up and thought I want to watch King Richard, the 2021 bio-pic of Richard Williams, the father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams. This is not my usual first thought in the morning. It is usually something like, get this cat off me or where is my iced tea.King Richard was a decent movie. Will Smith was good but I wondered why he played the man crouched over. Was it a part of Williams physicality? It made him seem unctuous, which his speech did not. The girls playing Venus and Serena were charming.
I enjoy a rags to riches story and I like to watch people excel. The best thing about this film was it models behavior that is actually helpful in a parent that is attempting to form high-achievers that are well-rounded people as well as top athletes. He plays them Disney’s Cinderella to teach them humility after the girls win big in a tournament. He insists on good grades and academic achievement as well as dedication to tennis. And most importantly, he shows disgust for the parents he sees browbeating their children at juniors level tennis.
It was a very different sort of “stage mother” story. And it was created with love for the subject by the producers Venus and Serena Williams.
3.5/5
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I’ve seen this a couple of times. I kinda like it.
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The People We Hate at the Wedding (2022) This was terrible. It feels disjointed and doesn't know what it wants to be. Most of the humour and the story doesn't work. It's unfunny,badly written and the characters are annoying and unlikable. Avoid!
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By http://impawards.com/2000/men_of_honor_ver1.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7614375
Men of Honor - (2000)
Yesterday I was looking for a movie that would probably need a minimum amount of concentration to follow - and this film fit the bill. Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jnr.) fights prejudice, and brutal loud-mouthed instructor Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro) to become a US Navy Master Diver in an era of de-segregation - it's really polished and has great lead performances, but takes very few risks and plays out exactly how you'd expect it to. For an added extra hurdle for him to overcome, Brashear injures his leg at one stage and has it amputated so he can continue diving. When this was released, it trailed Little Nicky and Charlie's Angels at the box office, but probably came in ahead of some really interesting films that were a little different. The box office does nothing to sort films from best quality to worst. Anyway, this was okay - nothing special, but I couldn't call it bad.
George Tillman Jr. directed 2018 film The Hate U Give - I remember enjoying that.
6/10
By Netflix - http://www.impawards.com/2022/gray_man_ver5_xxlg.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70857248
The Gray Man - (2022)
Thank you MoFo for lowering my expectations to the point where The Gray Man, unexceptional as it is, passed a couple of hours without me feeling bored or unhappy. It adds absolutely nothing to it's genre, and is cluttering up the landscape, making it harder for much better films to get exposure, but things went boom and our hero, Six (Ryan Gosling) is stabbed, pounded and treated to concussions that would kill an average elephant. Anyway, Chris Evans is having fun! (even if nobody else is.) Billy Bob Thornton is much appreciated. This does everything modern action films do - and slightly not as well as most of them. I didn't end up hating it - at times I thought it might be okay - but in the end it just scraped a pass mark and I can't imagine any scenario that would have me watching it again.
5/10
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Sleep Has Her House (2017, Scott Barley)
Stumbled upon this film recently... wow, what a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Loved the shapeshifting, liquid quality of it.. the way it played with darkness and light, and the hypnotic textures of its compositions. The static long takes had that "stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" effect—not that it was particularly disturbing or terrifying (aside from those apocalyptic last fifteen minutes or so) but the longer the film went on, the more I became aware of a vague sense of menace mixed with unspeakable awe emanating from this otherworldly, human-less nowhere-land I was witnessing. Was it an artistic depiction of the mystery of night, a glimpse of a post-human Earth drawing toward its last days, or merely a dream being dreamt by a woman alluded to in the title?
Definitely one of the most visually transporting experiences I've had in recent years, this is experimental cinema at its finest.
Last edited by this_is_the_ girl; 03-31-23 at 08:58 AM.
KELLY’S HEROES 1970 Brian G. Hutton + (75/100)
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED 1976 John Sturges (70/100)
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED 1976 John Sturges (70/100)
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Sleep Has Her House (2017, Scott Barley)
Stumbled upon this film recently... wow, what a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Loved the shapeshifting, liquid quality of it.. the way it played with darkness and light, and the hypnotic textures of its compositions. The static long takes had that "stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" effect—not that it was particularly disturbing or terrifying (aside from those apocalyptic last fifteen minutes or so) but the longer the film went on, the more I became aware of a vague sense of menace emanating from this otherworldly, human-less world I was witnessing. Was it an artistic depiction of the mystery of night, a glimpse of a post-human Earth drawing toward its last days, or merely a dream being dreamt by a woman alluded to in the title?
Definitely one of the most visually transporting experiences I've had in recent years, this is experimental cinema at its finest.
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Hey, is this a documentary? Or art house film?
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