What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[Stavros]

Elektra (Rob Bowman, 2005)

I had not seen Jennifer Garner in a film before, and on this evidence, I won't be seeinh her again, though she clams she was obliged to make this as part of the contract for making Daredevil part of which I watched before falling asleep.

[Stavros]

Azor (Andreas Fontana, 20210

A Swiss banker arrives in Buenos Aires in 1980 to deal with clients followin the 'disappearance' of his partner. This under-stated film is intended to reveal how the rich protect their money in difficut times, one client giving the banker a sports bag full of cash which is then handed to a Swiss embassy employee who will take it to Switzerland in a 'diplomatic bag' and thus undeclared to customs. The banker does this expressing almost no emotion, just as he takes the cancellation of an account without getting upset, but explains to a creepy Priest who gives him a list of firms to invest in, that they don't trade in currency. It is the Priest who states matter of factly that they had to clear the streets of parasites, though the daughter of one his clients 'disappeared' after being involved with a leftist group, and at the end it seems the bankers partner may have 'disappeared' because he fell out with the military off-loading the assets they have 'stripped' from the 'disappeared'. A chilling film, quite short with some fine acting, as if often the case with flms made in Argentina. Incidentally, although the word 'Azor' in the film is a code word the banker and his wife use with each other to indicate 'say nothing', it is also Greek for Mongrel.

[max1958]

Bram Stoker's Van Helsing

[Stavros]

You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017)

Unofficial sub-title: If I Had a Hammer. But nothing like the song.

Man liberates abused girl; girl liberates abused man. Result.

I guess, as this has a happy ending, you could call this film a comedy, though it doesn't have any laughs.

Scottish-born Ramsay has a way with dark sides, having diected We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and Morvern Callar (2002). The film is well worth seeing, but one does wonder if Joaquin Phoenix enjoys life.

[hardiron4u]

Official Secrets (2019) Netflix

A true story about a British whistleblower who leaked a memo exposing an illegal spying operation by US and British intelligence services relating to potential blackmailing of United Nations diplomats voting on a resolution regarding the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Interesting how governments operate in secrecy.

[bruce_willy]

Oliver Stone's 2016 documentary about the crisis in Ukraine:

[Stavros]

Oliver Stone's 2016 documentary about the crisis in Ukraine:

The only thing documented in this offensive rubbish is Oliver Stone's obsession with conspiracy theories and his tragic belief that Putin is a misunderstood champion of freedom. Are there Neo-Nazis in the Ukraine? Yes, as there are in Russia -consider the role Russian exiles in Munich played in the creation of the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s-, as there are in the UK where I live. The odious attacks in this film on the IMF, George Soros -ie all the 'usual suspects' rarely if ever bothers to ask ordinary Ukrainians for their views, whereas corrupt politicians who stole billions from the people are treated as if they were heroes. The same people who salted away two-thirds of Ukraine's wealth between 1989 and 2014. What is never explored in this film is how the Russians have managed to alienate so many Ukrainians in so short a time, just as Putin's imperial ambitions are not discussed, or presented as some 'defence of the realm' as if Russia was going to be invaded by NATO, the World Bank, George Soros, and probaby George Clooney and Tom Hanks. The truth may indeed be more complicated than this, and there may be some ugly truths in the Ukraine, it is after all, a moder state with all the problems that contains. But this wretched drivel is allergic to the truth. It's just Infowars on steroids.

Oliver Stone has form, as the risible JFK showed. Treat with caution.

[iHeart_PONG]

The Batman

I wrote a gigantic blog post and have argued this movie with friends so I will just summarize my thoughts here.

There is an incredible detective and Batman character study deep within this movie just waiting to be told but it never quite gets there. Reeves is too busy with long dramatic shots and trying to seem deep and introspective than actually being it and therefore it just misses the mark as an overall movie. Almost all of the cast knocks the roles they are given out of the park except for Dano (Riddler) and Wright (Gordon). With the latter, Wright is just not that important and I feel he is really only in this as a set up for his forthcoming HBO Max series focusing on the GCPD. With The Riddler, his character fell apart in the 3rd act after the reveal of his ultimate plan and motivation. He was menacing up until that point but everything that happens after the interrogation scene ruined the Riddler for me.

[bruce_willy]

The only thing documented in this offensive rubbish is Oliver Stone's obsession with conspiracy theories and his tragic belief that Putin is a misunderstood champion of freedom. Are there Neo-Nazis in the Ukraine? Yes, as there are in Russia -consider the role Russian exiles in Munich played in the creation of the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s-, as there are in the UK where I live. The odious attacks in this film on the IMF, George Soros -ie all the 'usual suspects' rarely if ever bothers to ask ordinary Ukrainians for their views, whereas corrupt politicians who stole billions from the people are treated as if they were heroes. The same people who salted away two-thirds of Ukraine's wealth between 1989 and 2014. What is never explored in this film is how the Russians have managed to alienate so many Ukrainians in so short a time, just as Putin's imperial ambitions are not discussed, or presented as some 'defence of the realm' as if Russia was going to be invaded by NATO, the World Bank, George Soros, and probaby George Clooney and Tom Hanks. The truth may indeed be more complicated than this, and there may be some ugly truths in the Ukraine, it is after all, a moder state with all the problems that contains. But this wretched drivel is allergic to the truth. It's just Infowars on steroids.

Oliver Stone has form, as the risible JFK showed. Treat with caution.

Well I thought it was pretty interesting. It never mentioned the Holodomor though. That kind of explains why some Ukrainians hate Russia an joined the Nazi's during WW2.

What do you reckon on all these US funded biological laboratories in the Ukraine located near Russian borders that have now been discovered?

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/vic...biological?s=w

[Stavros]

What do you reckon on all these US funded biological laboratories in the Ukraine located near Russian borders that have now been discovered?

"The posts misrepresent a 2005 pact under which the U.S. Department of Defense and Ukraine’s Ministry of Health agreed to work together to ensure that labs studying disease in Ukraine could not be used to develop biological weapons and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, the Kyiv Post reported in May 2020.

The U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program’s “priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
The arrangement grew out of the 1994 agreements under which Ukraine gave up the nuclear weapons that remained in its possession after the breakup of the Soviet Union and which, at the time, made Ukraine the third largest nuclear power in the world.
The pact — and a similar one in the former Soviet republic of Georgia — has been the target of disinformation campaigns in the past, said Andrew Weber, a senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks and a board member of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association."
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/so...ction-program/