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WARNING: spoilers below
They were only able to quarantine SK because the DMZ provided a barrier and they have the newscasters remake “I guess it’s good this happened before reunification”


It’s the kind of bizarre, shoehorned politics I expect out of Ip Man 4, where I think China officially declared war on the US, not a SK zombie flick.





After watching all 3 seaons of Kobra Kai, my son and I felt the need to watch this classic again.Holds up surprisingly well for its age.
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ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...
(2020)

First viewing. In her debut as a film director, Oscar winning actress Regina King presents a compelling candid look at a rare gathering between 4 of the most influential African American figures in modern American history on the night Ali won the championship title against Sonny Liston: Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke.

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“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” ~ Rocky Balboa



Victim of The Night

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...
(2020)

First viewing. In her debut as a film director, Oscar winning actress Regina King presents a compelling candid look at a rare gathering between 4 of the most influential African American figures in modern American history on the night Ali won the championship title against Sonny Liston: Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke.

I am REALLY interested in seeing this. I was so impressed by Regina King in Watchmen that I'm just like, "Ok, what else you got? Oh, you're gonna direct too? Can't wait."
Also, I am a fan of Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and especially Sam Cooke. I must admit I don't know nearly as much about Malcolm X.



I am REALLY interested in seeing this. I was so impressed by Regina King in Watchmen that I'm just like, "Ok, what else you got? Oh, you're gonna direct too? Can't wait."
Also, I am a fan of Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and especially Sam Cooke. I must admit I don't know nearly as much about Malcolm X.
The movie seems to have been written for the stage, as the the movie feels like you're watching a play. Heavy on dialogue. It was intriguing and reflective of the racism that is still very much present in our country.



Victim of The Night

I had heard about this film from time to time but it never really came across my "feed" (if you will). I got HBO Max to watch WW84 which turned out to be the worst money I've spent in a while, but it was redeemed because it contains a Turner Classic Movies section.
Aside from having titles like the Lone Wolf And Cub series (at least several of them), Chloe From 5 to 7, Bicycle Thieves, The Gold Rush, etc., there was Black Girl finally coming through.
And at just 60 minutes run-time, how could I resist.
The movie, as the poster states, is about Diouna, a poor, young woman in Dakar, living in a shanty-town, who goes to work for a white French couple as a nanny for their children. But when she accompanies the family back to France she finds herself living in a sort of prison of subservience in their small apartment.
The movie is one of the more powerful studies of the legacy of White Colonialism and racial inequality that I've seen, to be honest. By reducing it to the story of this one woman and the one family that oppresses her, in a contemporary context (for 1966), what you see is the big picture through the eyes of how it harms and how much it harms an individual life. It humanizes the situation so much more than these broad-stroke films we so often see about it (In which there always has to be a sympathetic White character as well to act as avatar for the audience). It made me think a lot about the Democrats and how they suppress Progressivism in their party and continue, even in late 2020, to talk about "Incremental Change" and how that is the right way to do things, while the lives of millions of individuals continue to be ravaged by income inequality, racial inequality, and lack of real and equal opportunity in America. Like it's ok that entire generations suffer because eventually we're gonna get there. Just not while it's going to effect me. "Incremental Change" is just a subtle extension of White Colonialism and the maintenance of racial and economic inequality in America. And it led to a conversation this morning with a friend of mine who is African American about how so much of the kind of permissiveness toward racism comes from the inability of the white ruling class in America to even see the effects of their persistent colonialist attitudes. This whole notion that so many "good" whites have that equality already exists in this country, that "they" have all the rights that "we" have, and that they just need to "assimilate", and it's somehow on "them" that they haven't and that's why the police murder them in the street or they don't actually get to vote.
Yes, this movie led to all of that thought and more.
Because it's so personal, to be inside the head of a person who is oppressed. The film is actually much more subtle than most American films made about racial inequality and the long-term effects of White Colonialism, even though it's really not that subtle at all, which just goes to show how far off American attitudes about this topic are. For example, Diouana leaves her shantytown, where so many of the people who are actually from her city in Dakar live, to go seek work in the brand new, stark white, gleaming apartment buildings the White Colonialists have built for themselves. And she just looks up at the buildings, glaringly pristine to her even though they may be nothing amazing to us, as she has just left the doorless hut where she lives with her mother. When she rings a doorbell to ask for work, the moment the White woman inside sees her, she slams the door in her face.
And the relationship between Diouana and her "mistress" is just so awful but in such a real, non-cinematic way, such as the White woman complaining about having to make her own coffee one morning because Diouana is so "lazy" when Diouana is essentially their slave. Man, the way the White people (the family and their friends) talk about her while she's in the room, just assuming that she can't really understand them, even commenting that she understands how to respond more "instinctually... like an animal", it's just chilling and heartbreaking as Diouana talks to herself in her head - in perfect French - about how miserable she is. And of course, the White family can't fathom that she could be depressed because look at how good her life is with her clean dress and her high-heel shoes - which the "mistress" keeps insisting she take off - she must either be lazy or ill, which they repeatedly ask her about in their ignorance of how they have destroyed her spirit. God, the shoes thing alone, the way they are symbolic to Diouana of her dignity and the mistress makes her take them off every time she sees them.

Obviously, this was a very thought-provoking film and it's material is handled, in my opinion, very deftly, with much more depth and elegance than most any film I can think of about this subject. It has so much humanity in such a small and intimate and short film and the ending I felt was especially powerful.
I really strongly encourage people to spend the hour to watch it if you haven't already.



is thouroughly embarrassed of this old username.
Gleaming the Cube (Graeme Clifford, 1989)
Bland and forgettable outside of the skate scenes. There should have been more skate scenes.


Ham on Rye (Tyler Taormina, 2019)
Delightful little debut. Really enjoyed the vibe and structure.


3 Women (Robert Altman, 1977) rewatch
One of those films I liked initially but immediately knew I would enjoy a lot more on a second watch and I was very correct about that. It looks incredible throughout and the tone is expertly controlled. Truly a film that is felt and, if we're being honest, it eats Persona's lunch.


Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (Grigori Kromanov, 1979)
The psychological thriller/mystery type films tend to go on way too long I find but this is nice and brisk, looks good and sounds good. Like all these films, it gives away its ending immediately in an attempt at foreshadowing, which makes it tough to engage with the mystery aspect in anyway.


Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962)
Definitely carried by the music and camerawork (as a film should be) and the first hour or so is really enjoyable but loses a lot of steam in the second half (especially while they're traversing the island) and mostly just fizzles out.




I had heard about this film from time to time but it never really came across my "feed" (if you will). I got HBO Max to watch WW84 which turned out to be the worst money I've spent in a while, but it was redeemed because it contains a Turner Classic Movies section.
Aside from having titles like the Lone Wolf And Cub series (at least several of them), Chloe From 5 to 7, Bicycle Thieves, The Gold Rush, etc., there was Black Girl finally coming through.
And at just 60 minutes run-time, how could I resist.
The movie, as the poster states, is about Diouna, a poor, young woman in Dakar, living in a shanty-town, who goes to work for a white French couple as a nanny for their children. But when she accompanies the family back to France she finds herself living in a sort of prison of subservience in their small apartment.
The movie is one of the more powerful studies of the legacy of White Colonialism and racial inequality that I've seen, to be honest. By reducing it to the story of this one woman and the one family that oppresses her, in a contemporary context (for 1966), what you see is the big picture through the eyes of how it harms and how much it harms an individual life. It humanizes the situation so much more than these broad-stroke films we so often see about it (In which there always has to be a sympathetic White character as well to act as avatar for the audience). It made me think a lot about the Democrats and how they suppress Progressivism in their party and continue, even in late 2020, to talk about "Incremental Change" and how that is the right way to do things, while the lives of millions of individuals continue to be ravaged by income inequality, racial inequality, and lack of real and equal opportunity in America. Like it's ok that entire generations suffer because eventually we're gonna get there. Just not while it's going to effect me. "Incremental Change" is just a subtle extension of White Colonialism and the maintenance of racial and economic inequality in America. And it led to a conversation this morning with a friend of mine who is African American about how so much of the kind of permissiveness toward racism comes from the inability of the white ruling class in America to even see the effects of their persistent colonialist attitudes. This whole notion that so many "good" whites have that equality already exists in this country, that "they" have all the rights that "we" have, and that they just need to "assimilate", and it's somehow on "them" that they haven't and that's why the police murder them in the street or they don't actually get to vote.
Yes, this movie led to all of that thought and more.
Because it's so personal, to be inside the head of a person who is oppressed. The film is actually much more subtle than most American films made about racial inequality and the long-term effects of White Colonialism, even though it's really not that subtle at all, which just goes to show how far off American attitudes about this topic are. For example, Diouana leaves her shantytown, where so many of the people who are actually from her city in Dakar live, to go seek work in the brand new, stark white, gleaming apartment buildings the White Colonialists have built for themselves. And she just looks up at the buildings, glaringly pristine to her even though they may be nothing amazing to us, as she has just left the doorless hut where she lives with her mother. When she rings a doorbell to ask for work, the moment the White woman inside sees her, she slams the door in her face.
And the relationship between Diouana and her "mistress" is just so awful but in such a real, non-cinematic way, such as the White woman complaining about having to make her own coffee one morning because Diouana is so "lazy" when Diouana is essentially their slave. Man, the way the White people (the family and their friends) talk about her while she's in the room, just assuming that she can't really understand them, even commenting that she understands how to respond more "instinctually... like an animal", it's just chilling and heartbreaking as Diouana talks to herself in her head - in perfect French - about how miserable she is. And of course, the White family can't fathom that she could be depressed because look at how good her life is with her clean dress and her high-heel shoes - which the "mistress" keeps insisting she take off - she must either be lazy or ill, which they repeatedly ask her about in their ignorance of how they have destroyed her spirit. God, the shoes thing alone, the way they are symbolic to Diouana of her dignity and the mistress makes her take them off every time she sees them.

Obviously, this was a very thought-provoking film and it's material is handled, in my opinion, very deftly, with much more depth and elegance than most any film I can think of about this subject. It has so much humanity in such a small and intimate and short film and the ending I felt was especially powerful.
I really strongly encourage people to spend the hour to watch it if you haven't already.
That's been on my watchlist for a while. I'll have to bump it up the queue. Good review!
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His House (2020) - 6/10. A very good horror flick. Nicely done. The refugee angle was an interesting take on a genre that is quite really getting stale. I enjoyed the visuals. Its not scary, but artistically done.
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Very good movie. Some good movies come out of Senegal.
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Had no idea what to expect from this movie. Love anything NYC, but unfamiliar with Pete Davidson.

Actually a good movie though a tad over-long. Funny, irreverent, what can I say - very New York.

BTW, Marisa Tomei looks terrific at age 56 in the movie.



Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962)
Definitely carried by the music and camerawork (as a film should be) and the first hour or so is really enjoyable but loses a lot of steam in the second half (especially while they're traversing the island) and mostly just fizzles out.
There's a scene in Dr. No that I love (his confrontation with Prof. Dent) that is arguably my favorite moment of the franchise. But other than that, the film is indeed mid-tier Bond for me.
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Just finished watching Come and See. I don't think I have watched any Russian films, so some of the aspects of the movie (acting, shots, etc) just felt weird. Didn't feel as powerful. Maybe because I have watched my share of war movies, and I am no longer left uncomfortable or shocked. I do feel sad, and maybe even angry thinking about people who desire wars. Anyways, overall a really good movie.
Grave of Fireflies was the last war (anti-war) movie that left me feeling uncomfortable.



First Reformed - I had read that some people might have written off director Paul Schrader because of some clinkers he had made and other not so great choices in movie projects (The Canyons). But then he's also written some great movies like Taxi Driver, Blue Collar, Rolling Thunder, Raging Bull, Affliction and this one starring Ethan Hawke as Reverend Ernst Toller. He is the pastor at First Reformed church in upstate New York, which is about to celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. It's also a historical attraction due to it being a stopping point in the Underground Railroad. Toller is undergoing a crisis of faith which may have contributed to his numerous physical maladies as well as his drinking problem. He is visited by Mary, (Amanda Seyfried, in one of her best performances) one of the parishioners in his steadily diminishing flock. She is pregnant and worried about her husband Michael (Phillip Ettinger). He in turn has been suffering from depression and feels that they shouldn’t be bringing a baby into a world that’s headed for an ecologically triggered extinction. All these events intersect and bring Rev. Toller’s spiritual impasse to a head.

Ethan Hawke had proven his acting chops as far back as 1997’s Gattaca but it’s only lately (probably starting with Training Day) that he’s been given the opportunity in a string of satisfying and substantial roles. He, along with Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer as the pastor of a mega church and Schrader’s solid script, really makes this movie. 90/100



some recent watches:

Snatch (2000) 8.5/10 (funny)

Rush (2013) 9/10 (don't remember watching a racing movie that is so good)

Ford vs Ferrari (2019) 7.5/10 (not as good as Rush)

La Haine (1995) 3/10 (really boring)

Before Sunset (2004) 9.5/10 (really cute)

Certified Copy (2010) 6.5/10 (rather easy to watch for Kiarostami)




Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (2021) (not to be confused with the 2016 TV movie The Night Stalker starring Lou Diamond Phillips).

It's the story of the stalker's horrific serial murders and other crimes during 1984-85 in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's a well done documentary that tells the tale from the point of view of the two L.A. Sheriff detectives who ultimately solved the case. There have been other depictions of this serial killer on video. But this one firmly holds one's attention, and provides suspense even when the outcome is likely known.

Directed by James Carroll and Tiller Russell, the story is told by interviews with Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo, as well as by archival news footage and people involved in the story, along with a few victims' first hand accounts.

The miniseries does not delve into the stalker's motives or background, but those subjects are available online.

Available on Neflix.

Doc's rating: 7/10




Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (2021) (not to be confused with the 2016 TV movie The Night Stalker starring Lou Diamond Phillips).

It's the story of the stalker's horrific serial murders and other crimes during 1984-85 in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's a well done documentary that tells the tale from the point of view of the two L.A. Sheriff detectives who ultimately solved the case. There have been other depictions of this serial killer on video. But this one firmly holds one's attention, and provides suspense even when the outcome is likely known.

Directed by James Carroll and Tiller Russell, the story is told by interviews with Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo, as well as by archival news footage and people involved in the story, along with a few victims' first hand accounts.

The miniseries does not delve into the stalker's motives or background, but those subjects are available online.

Available on Neflix.

Doc's rating: 7/10

I'm totally into these Netflix serial killer documentaries, and I like this one as much as most, but I started wondering about how cool this movie started to make Rodriguez seem. And it made me feel weird.



But still, I enjoyed the **** out of this.