What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[hardiron4u]

The Grand Budapest Hotel
864449

[hardiron4u]

St. Vincent
865541

[Stavros]

Mission:Impossible-Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie, 2015)

An outstanding action adventure film with a vaguely implausible plot, fantastic gadgets and people able to withstand more physical punishment than is probably possible, but brilliantly done. Makes Bond look like Friends. Recommended. Sorry the youtube link has annoying ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmC6rZyByzk

[RallyCola]

just a side note on MI:Rogue Nation. Why are guys going ape shit over rebecca ferguson? she is cute but not outstanding. i don't get it.
865616

[asdolollo]

A true masterpiece in his category. Technically perfect, animation-ish kind of photography (very colored, many wide angle scenes, slow edits), awesome cast.


The Grand Budapest Hotel
864449

[RallyCola]

A true masterpiece in his category. Technically perfect, animation-ish kind of photography (very colored, many wide angle scenes, slow edits), awesome cast.

i would have to agree...it is a great film. it is my 2nd (maybe 3rd) favorite Wes Anderson movie behind #1: The Life Aquatic and possibly #2: Rushmore. I have to re-watch Rushmore and Budapest to see which one is really better.

For me, other than the utterly forgettable Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson's only mis-step as a writer/director/producer has been The Darjeeling Limited (I don't count the Squid and the Whale as one of his films here since he only produced it).

[Stavros]

just a side note on MI:Rogue Nation. Why are guys going ape shit over rebecca ferguson? she is cute but not outstanding. i don't get it.


I can't say my declining hormonal impulses quickened when I saw her, she is too thin, although she did wear a sexy dress to the opera -I think the point in the MI films is that where the Bond girls are there for decoration, in MI they take part in the action, which may also be why MI2 is the weakest of the sequence so far.

[Stavros]

i would have to agree...it is a great film. it is my 2nd (maybe 3rd) favorite Wes Anderson movie behind #1: The Life Aquatic and possibly #2: Rushmore. I have to re-watch Rushmore and Budapest to see which one is really better.

For me, other than the utterly forgettable Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson's only mis-step as a writer/director/producer has been The Darjeeling Limited (I don't count the Squid and the Whale as one of his films here since he only produced it).

The problem with Anderson's films is that he seems more interested in their look than their content -Budapest Hotel is great to look at, but who cares what happens to the characters? Moonrise Kingdom could have been a better film but the young 'actor' was so poor he ruined the film, and the girl he persuades to run away with him is too cute, when she ought to have been a geeky type like him.

[JenniferParisHusband]

Just saw a Korean flick called "Gangnam Blues." Typical Korean gangster flick, trying to be 80's John Woo at times, and then a little too much like every other conflicted Korean drama that's come down the pipe since Joint Security Area came out in 2000. Still, good way to kill a couple hours. Would recommend "The Thieves" for anyone looking at Korean cinema though, a lot lighter, good action, nice laughs, and some hotties for scenery.

[svartekaptenen]

Ted 2 it was hilarious.

[hardiron4u]

Captain Phillips
865690

[hardiron4u]

Dallas Buyers Club
866361

[BlüeKarma]

Home (2015)

866433

[hardiron4u]

Tammy
866781

[Darkseid]

Empire Strikes Back w/Commentary

[RallyCola]

On a dare...I actually just sat through Ballistic Ecks vs Sever again last night. Don't do it.

[BoNBoN]

Fury

866954

[skippyfever]

The man from uncle

[hardiron4u]

The King's Speech
867691

[Stavros]

I know it is not an obligation in this thread, but it would help if people posting titles of the films they have seen could say whether or not they liked it, or some other information.

[Stavros]

Transsiberian (Brad Anderson 200-eight)
I had not seen or heard of this film before watching it on tv last night. It has the usual plot holes, absurd situations, but does have some well-defined characters, none of whom are likeable, which is unusual. It means that it is hard to root for the anti-heroine (no pun intended), or anyone else for that matter, and is not the kind of film that is going to encourage anyone to take the long train journey from Russia to China or the other way. The issue of mules is an interesting one, as it has been in the news in the last few years but does not seem to figure as a major plot line for films. I am also surprised that an American Christian evangelist would be so partial to any alcohol, not just vodka.

[hardiron4u]

The Lincoln Lawyer
869203

[JenniferParisHusband]

Just saw "Straight Outta Compton."

It was incredible! There are some issues with the film, it doesn't always do the best job of explaining motivations, and some of the issues; and I'd even go so far as to say it really glosses over a lot of negatives about some of the members of NWA. But to be fair, so did "La Vie En Rose" with Edith Piaf, and "Walk The Line" with Johnny Cash. Very solid movie though, 2 hrs+ and it flew by. If I still had my vote with the Academy, it would be one of my top 3 so far this year (the other two being "In The Heart Of The Sea" and "Me, Earl & The Dying Girl"). I'd also put Corey Hawkins on my short list for Best Actor (so far).

[fred41]

I know it is not an obligation in this thread, but it would help if people posting titles of the films they have seen could say whether or not they liked it, or some other information.

There is no point to posting a movie you watched without any comment on it what so ever. It's like those ridiculous facebook photos people post of the food they are eating.
It's like - "Yeah,....I watch movies ...sometimes...uhm...here's one".

[broncofan]

There is no point to posting a movie you watched without any comment on it what so ever. It's like those ridiculous facebook photos people post of the food they are eating.
It's like - "Yeah,....I watch movies ...sometimes...uhm...here's one".
I wondered about that but often it will be a movie like Ernest Goes to Camp or something I am pretty sure sucks. Still I don't know why a comment about whether the movie is any good wouldn't feel necessary...otherwise you haven't even expressed a complete thought.

I saw Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl. I think the movie does a good job of portraying some of the quirks of adolescence and is also sentimental and touching. It is supposed to have comedic elements, but I thought it was only mildly funny. It didn't do a great job of depicting high school life though I realize it wasn't going for realism. But where it wasn't supposed to be realistic it was supposed to be funny or evoke some sort of nostalgia about those awkward years, the latter of which it often does effectively despite being nothing like my high school experience. Definitely worth seeing.

[hardiron4u]

War Horse
A Steven Spielberg film about courage during World War I. Whether you arean animal lover or not I think it is a great story and recommend it.
869563

[Stavros]

The Drop (Michael Roskam, 2014)
Marv and his cousin Bob run a bar in Brooklyn which stashes pockets of money for the local mobster -hence the id of their bar as 'a drop bar'. Marv at one time had ambitions to be a player but screwed it up and as a result is embittered and reckless, while his cousin who was part of the scheme that went wrong barely talks and is incapable of showing any emotion. Enter the dog. Although I thought I might cringe at the use of the dog as the means whereby Bob rediscovers his feelings, this moral tale of redemption is well-written, brilliantly acted and does not go over the top on emotions, maybe because the director is European. According to the special features on the dvd Brooklyn has changed and there are no more 'drop bars', but what do I know? Recommended as a satisfying couple of hours and James Gandolfini's last film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nWJ5NDYMU

[broncofan]

I also enjoyed the Drop although it did develop slowly at times. I was more intrigued by the performance of Tom Hardy than the movie. But when I looked at his filmography there were some recognizable films in there but I don't remember him that well from those movies. I'll be paying a bit more attention from now on.

[buttslinger]

I am a big movie buff and I liked THE DROP, and I have to tell you, there aren't that many good movies coming out the last few years.
I have a hunch the actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts have no talent, but if you get the right team around them and a big budget that a good director knows enough to keep them in the range where they shine.

[Stavros]

I have a hunch the actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts have no talent...

A hunch? Is the evidence so elusive?

[Stavros]

The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015)
I saw this in the 3D version, so I got the best out of the superb photography. The space scenes and the gadgets are also superbly done, Jessica Chastain looks superb too although she doesn't have much to do or say. How much of this film is pure fantasy and how much science fact I can't say, but it is at its heart a feel-good rescue drama with a poor script, practical decision-making which would never happen in the real world, and standard acting. For some reason Sean Bean retains his English accent, but Chiwetel Ejiofor has to speak American, and in the early part of the film without subtitles I could not understand what the crew of Hermes were saying. The film was shot in Hungary and also in the Wadi Rum in Jordan where David Lean (or rather 2nd Unit director Nicolas Roeg) shot a lot of the desert scenes in Lawrence of Arabia. Coincidence or not, when he was a young man Ridley Scott might have drunk a pint of Watney's Red Barrel, a popular (if by today's tastes, disgusting) brand in its day. Overlong at 241 minutes but worth seeing in 3D.

[Laphroaig]

Thanks for the review, Stavros. I was in two minds about whether to see The Martian or not. I find Ridley Scott's films something of a hit and miss. Gladiator was superb and, I know I'm in a minority on this, but Kingdom of Heaven (The Directors Cut version) is in my opinion even better. On the other hand, I've tried and failed on many occasions to enjoy Blade Runner. It sounds like The Martian is similar to Prometheus, which I did see at the cimema on it's release, visually spectacular (in 3D) but ultimately lacking believability and a decent plot.

ps. I checked IMDB and the cinema version is 141 min long. Knowing Ridley Scott, the Directors Cut when it comes out on DVD could well end up at 241 min though... :)

[buttslinger]

The last movie I saw in 3D was Friday the 13th part III!!!
Maybe I should exit the compound if the new Star Wars movie gets raves.
I liked Kingdom of God also, only saw it on TV, and I don't even know if I saw the director's cut. I might have to investigate that.

There are movies like The talented Mr Ripley that have great moments and come close to being great, but somebody in charge tries too hard and fucks it up, ruins the story. I think that's what happened on Bladerunner. It certainly had it's moments.

[Stavros]

Thanks for the review, Stavros. I was in two minds about whether to see The Martian or not. I find Ridley Scott's films something of a hit and miss. Gladiator was superb and, I know I'm in a minority on this, but Kingdom of Heaven (The Directors Cut version) is in my opinion even better. On the other hand, I've tried and failed on many occasions to enjoy Blade Runner. It sounds like The Martian is similar to Prometheus, which I did see at the cimema on it's release, visually spectacular (in 3D) but ultimately lacking believability and a decent plot.

ps. I checked IMDB and the cinema version is 141 min long. Knowing Ridley Scott, the Directors Cut when it comes out on DVD could well end up at 241 min though... :)

You are right to correct me on the length of the film, definitely not 241 minutes! I agree with you on Blade Runner, but not Kingdom of Heaven or Gladiator; The Martian is much better than the pretentious garbage of Prometheus, but a much simpler story too with no villains. The 3D probably makes it look better than it is. Go for it!

[Laphroaig]

The last movie I saw in 3D was Friday the 13th part III!!!
Maybe I should exit the compound if the new Star Wars movie gets raves.
I liked Kingdom of God also, only saw it on TV, and I don't even know if I saw the director's cut. I might have to investigate that.

There are movies like The talented Mr Ripley that have great moments and come close to being great, but somebody in charge tries too hard and fucks it up, ruins the story. I think that's what happened on Bladerunner. It certainly had it's moments.

The cinematic version of Kingdom of Heaven was an abomination, which (even Ridley Scott admits) had so much removed from it that much of the characterisation was lost and some of the subplots made no sense whatsoever. The directors cut adds 45 min to the film, restores scenes which are vital to the plot and fleshes out some of the characters, in particular Sybilla (Eva Green). Directors Cut versions usually make little or no difference to whether a film can be considered good or not. This is a (rare?) example of a film totally transformed afterwards.

Edit: Stavros, I only saw your post after writing this. Very few people agree with me on Kingdom of Heaven... :)

[Stavros]

The cinematic version of Kingdom of Heaven was an abomination, which (even Ridley Scott admits) had so much removed from it that much of the characterisation was lost and some of the subplots made no sense whatsoever. The directors cut adds 45 min to the film, restores scenes which are vital to the plot and fleshes out some of the characters, in particular Sybilla (Eva Green). Directors Cut versions usually make little or no difference to whether a film can be considered good or not. This is a (rare?) exmple of a film totally transformed afterwards.

Edit: Stavros, I only saw your post after writing this. Very few people agree with me on Kingdom of Heaven... :)

Fair enough as I was not aware Kingdom of Heaven had been cut so much. I will consider giving it another look.

[RallyCola]

The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015)
I saw this in the 3D version, so I got the best out of the superb photography. The space scenes and the gadgets are also superbly done, Jessica Chastain looks superb too although she doesn't have much to do or say. How much of this film is pure fantasy and how much science fact I can't say, but it is at its heart a feel-good rescue drama with a poor script, practical decision-making which would never happen in the real world, and standard acting. For some reason Sean Bean retains his English accent, but Chiwetel Ejiofor has to speak American, and in the early part of the film without subtitles I could not understand what the crew of Hermes were saying. The film was shot in Hungary and also in the Wadi Rum in Jordan where David Lean (or rather 2nd Unit director Nicolas Roeg) shot a lot of the desert scenes in Lawrence of Arabia. Coincidence or not, when he was a young man Ridley Scott might have drunk a pint of Watney's Red Barrel, a popular (if by today's tastes, disgusting) brand in its day. Overlong at 241 minutes but worth seeing in 3D.

Well, I too saw The Martian in an early preview last weekend and I will say this: if you liked Interstellar and Gravity, you will like this movie, but if you found flaws in the implausibility (even for sci-fi) with the above movies, this will not be a pleasant experience.

First off, when I saw this, I went in with very VERY low expectations and was pleasantly entertained. True to the book in most cases, it is visually a great movie to watch and superior to Interstellar, but falls short of Gravity in terms of visual intensity. That is partly because the movie is mostly shot on the planet so the space visuals are secondary to the terrestrial shots but also because unlike Gravity (which mind you I enjoyed FAR less than this), this movie has multiple perspectives instead of just focusing on one character so the Jordanian backdrop is nearly inconsequential.

Next, the acting: Matt Damon, is, well MAAAAT DAAAMON (ala Team America). He isn't a very good actor in my opinion so I can't knock him too much since he could not save his script. I know the book is supposed to be funny and witty so that his character isn't perceived as a depressed loaner, but to me, the character should have had far more desperation to be believable. That said, I did enjoy other performances.

Next, the story: Well, it should be clear from the trailer, and since it is faithful to the book how it ends, but Stavros also spoiled it above. That doesn't ruin it really, because no one really wants to watch or make, for that matter, a depressing movie, but the manner in which the final plot unfolds, well sucks...which brings me too...

The science: please do not expect anything remotely plausible or factual as the movie is as bad at being accurate as Alien, Prometheus, Spaceballs and Machete Kills In Space are all rolled into one. It is science fiction but its attempt at reality fail so miserably that it makes me wonder why they even tried. I am fine with made-up science for entertainment but...well...watch final chapter of this and you will see what I mean.

Overall, I would give this movie a solid 5/10. To base that, Gravity was a 3/10 for me, Prometheus was a 4/10 as a stand alone film, 0/10 as an Alien prequel and Interstellar was a 2/10. I would recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind scientific inaccuracy. I would also recommend it to anyone that likes rescue movies because, as Stavros said, it is really standard fare. I have not truly enjoyed a Ridley Scott film since 2001 but this is probably his best effort since Black Hawk Down.

[trish]

Black Mass
Definitely no romanticizing here. In this accounting Whitey Bulger brutal, petty, gritty and totally unappealing. One is mystified by the loyalty he was able to extract from his fellow 'southers.' Well done, and in my estimation worth the price of admission. Wouldn't be surprised if Depp was nominated for this one.

[runningdownthatdream]

Transsiberian (Brad Anderson 200-eight)
I had not seen or heard of this film before watching it on tv last night. It has the usual plot holes, absurd situations, but does have some well-defined characters, none of whom are likeable, which is unusual. It means that it is hard to root for the anti-heroine (no pun intended), or anyone else for that matter, and is not the kind of film that is going to encourage anyone to take the long train journey from Russia to China or the other way. The issue of mules is an interesting one, as it has been in the news in the last few years but does not seem to figure as a major plot line for films. I am also surprised that an American Christian evangelist would be so partial to any alcohol, not just vodka.

I liked it because all the characters were so unlikeable.......fits well with my world-view!

[runningdownthatdream]

I hope you will give it a try, it is very long and very slow so be aware of that. As someone who knows the PI you will notice the absence of mobile phones and also the church, and I think this is deliberate. The religious devotion of most Filipinos is hinted at in the story of the family whose faith seems to be taken for granted, and who suffer the most from the corruption in the country, but it's not their fault, whereas the man who has rejected law, politics and religion and is free to do what he wants destroys everything he comes into contact with. It is also noticable that the woman tells her children she and her husband thought about working abroad but decided to remain in Ilocos Norte, evidently the wrong decision! If there is a message here, the director seems to be saying nothing works in the Philippines, and there is no hope anything will. Bleak.

I finally got around to watching this. I started off with a long-assed commentary and think my login session timed out and lost it all. So i'll be brief: movie was good and accurately portrayed the cast of characters you'll run into in the Philippines on any given day at any given time. It really was like watching real-life unfold with the exception of the antagonist - can't say I've met anybody here with the knowledge or the burning desire to get answers to the big questions of life. Most people here tend to be suspicious of knowledge and people with knowledge. Trying to engage anyone in an intelligent, thoughtful discussion is like trying to get Obama to bomb Iran - it ain't gonna happen! I think the writer was trying to advocate that idea by just taking the main character with his knowledge and questions and turning him into an abomination to humanity. And if you're here for any amount of time you'll notice that anybody who purports to 'know stuff' is deemed 'boastful' and more or less shunned.

Really loved the way violence wasn't shown BUT the sounds were....in long and painful detail. Also loved the long, continuous shots of the environment without man and with nothing but audio to complement the scenery. Almost like the director was reflecting on the natural world and its correlation to society.

For another take on the Filipino existence try Metro Manila which was directed by a Brit, Sean Ellis. Really engaging, thoughtful movie that, for the most part, shows things as they really are although towards the end it veers into unlikely sentimentality. I felt the director, after showing the thorns, copped out and tried to redeem either the Filipino or his view of the Filipino.

880684

[Stavros]

Well, I too saw The Martian in an early preview last weekend and I will say this: if you liked Interstellar and Gravity, you will like this movie, but if you found flaws in the implausibility (even for sci-fi) with the above movies, this will not be a pleasant experience.


Next, the story: Well, it should be clear from the trailer, and since it is faithful to the book how it ends, but Stavros also spoiled it above. That doesn't ruin it really, because no one really wants to watch or make, for that matter, a depressing movie, but the manner in which the final plot unfolds, well sucks...which brings me too...

The science: please do not expect anything remotely plausible or factual as the movie is as bad at being accurate as Alien, Prometheus, Spaceballs and Machete Kills In Space are all rolled into one.


-Sorry if I spoiled the film, that was unintentional
-I don't think science fact is that important, most of us have no idea so as long as it looks plausible or tells the story, isn't that what matters?

[Stavros]

I finally got around to watching this. I started off with a long-assed commentary and think my login session timed out and lost it all. So i'll be brief: movie was good and accurately portrayed the cast of characters you'll run into in the Philippines on any given day at any given time. It really was like watching real-life unfold with the exception of the antagonist - can't say I've met anybody here with the knowledge or the burning desire to get answers to the big questions of life. Most people here tend to be suspicious of knowledge and people with knowledge. Trying to engage anyone in an intelligent, thoughtful discussion is like trying to get Obama to bomb Iran - it ain't gonna happen! I think the writer was trying to advocate that idea by just taking the main character with his knowledge and questions and turning him into an abomination to humanity. And if you're here for any amount of time you'll notice that anybody who purports to 'know stuff' is deemed 'boastful' and more or less shunned.

Really loved the way violence wasn't shown BUT the sounds were....in long and painful detail. Also loved the long, continuous shots of the environment without man and with nothing but audio to complement the scenery. Almost like the director was reflecting on the natural world and its correlation to society.

For another take on the Filipino existence try Metro Manila which was directed by a Brit, Sean Ellis. Really engaging, thoughtful movie that, for the most part, shows things as they really are although towards the end it veers into unlikely sentimentality. I felt the director, after showing the thorns, copped out and tried to redeem either the Filipino or his view of the Filipino.

880684

I agree with a lot you say about Norte: The End of History, but I still find it too bleak at times. Metro Manila was predictable and run of the mill. Most Filipinos I know never watch these films, they prefer soap operas.

[trish]

-Sorry if I spoiled the film, that was unintentional
-I don't think science fact is that important, most of us have no idea so as long as it looks plausible or tells the story, isn't that what matters?Already spoiled the movie by reading the book (which was great by the way). Thanks for the review, I'm definitely planning to see it.

[runningdownthatdream]

I agree with a lot you say about Norte: The End of History, but I still find it too bleak at times. Metro Manila was predictable and run of the mill. Most Filipinos I know never watch these films, they prefer soap operas.

Ahhhhh a little harsh on Metro Manila.......it had me glued to the screen until it turned predictable in the last 15 minutes or so......and then copped out entirely with that ending.......

Not sure if we touched on one called Manila, In the Claws of Neon before but try to find that one. Made in the 70s and an all Filipino production. Given when it was made I thought it was quite well-done......similar theme to Metro Manila but with a more spiritual vibe (not religious).

And you're right, the average Filipino is really engrossed with soap operas and all the popular movies I've seen or heard of are relationship-related drivel that involve women throwing temper tantrums, men almost lactating, and precocious children providing comic relief........almost all of it is predictable. Escapist stuff but it isn't hard to understand why its so popular.

[runningdownthatdream]

Haider
A contemporary Indian presentation of the Hamlet story - yes Indian and Hamlet! First let me be clear that popular Indian movies I've seen don't have a lot of attraction for me because I find them predictable, corny, escapist, unrealistic and lacking in substance. However, Haider sorta takes the concept of the popular Indian movie, adds some Shakespeare drama, current geopolitical and religious issues, a little song and dance (wouldnt be Indian without it), and some really nice acting but overly zealous direction and turns out a really entertaining film. The action sequences are well-done and the overall production looks great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3390572/

880687

[Stavros]

Not sure if we touched on one called Manila, In the Claws of Neon before but try to find that one. Made in the 70s and an all Filipino production. Given when it was made I thought it was quite well-done......similar theme to Metro Manila but with a more spiritual vibe (not religious).

And you're right, the average Filipino is really engrossed with soap operas and all the popular movies I've seen or heard of are relationship-related drivel that involve women throwing temper tantrums, men almost lactating, and precocious children providing comic relief........almost all of it is predictable. Escapist stuff but it isn't hard to understand why its so popular.

Lino Brocka is the director you are thinking of, and I believe he made Manila: In the Claws of Light and Manila: In the Claws of Darkness. I saw one of them but was not impressed, but would have to see them again as it was a long time ago and some of those 70s film directors I used to like (Antonioni for example) I now think little of.

Brocka in one book I read a long time was credited with promoting the career of an American actor with whom he had an affair, I don't know but I think it might have been Brad Davis.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0110653/

[jamesedwards]

Hell i am behind times on movies, last one was secret service men, that was dope.
Martian seems like a remake of that movie where don chedelle i think that's how spell his name, in the movie "mission to mars" he was the only one there on mars and they came back for him. Not going to see martian.

[runningdownthatdream]

Lino Brocka is the director you are thinking of, and I believe he made Manila: In the Claws of Light and Manila: In the Claws of Darkness. I saw one of them but was not impressed, but would have to see them again as it was a long time ago and some of those 70s film directors I used to like (Antonioni for example) I now think little of.

Brocka in one book I read a long time was credited with promoting the career of an American actor with whom he had an affair, I don't know but I think it might have been Brad Davis.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0110653/

should have known you would at least be aware of the movie! I heard about it from reading some list (possibly by Peter Bradshaw who I do believe you've mentioned you don't hold in high regard) of award-worthy 'foreign' movies from the 70s.

You might think differently about it.......I've found that things that were once trite sometimes take on new meaning with age and experience. the film may not have gotten better but maybe the story will have some attraction this time around.

Never heard of Brad Davis.........but did read that Lino Brocka liked the young boys.

[maxpower]

Brad Davis is best known for portraying the lead character of Billy Hayes in Midnight Express, the true story of an American man who is thrown into a cruel Turkish prison after being arrested for attempting to smuggle hashish out of the country. Brad Davis had other roles in his career, but nothing ever approaching the acclaim of this one. He died from AIDS in the early 90's.

[RallyCola]

-Sorry if I spoiled the film, that was unintentional
-I don't think science fact is that important, most of us have no idea so as long as it looks plausible or tells the story, isn't that what matters?

I don't mind that you spoiled it...because it is a book.

the story matters most, but you said it best yourself

...it is at its heart a feel-good rescue drama with a poor script, practical decision-making which would never happen in the real world, and standard acting...Overlong at 141 minutes but worth seeing in 3D.

it is not a must see movie that does anything new and impressive. it is just regular.

taken together, because it is just regular and had no moment of tremendous interest for me, I had to take issue with the science because the rest of the movie did not distract me. take for example, inception. as a neurologist, i shudder to think about how much someone was paid to write the "science" of inception but the actual story was compelling enough that i never even thought of the inaccuracies while watching it the first time...i found inception thoroughly entertaining. the martian on the other hand, didn't do that for me. movies are cheap fun...a few bucks for ~2 hrs of entertainment...so where someone can suspend disbelief, the movie is worth seeing, but all i am saying is do not expect the story to be extraordinary because it isn't.

[Stavros]

taken together, because it is just regular and had no moment of tremendous interest for me, I had to take issue with the science because the rest of the movie did not distract me. take for example, inception. as a neurologist, i shudder to think about how much someone was paid to write the "science" of inception but the actual story was compelling enough that i never even thought of the inaccuracies while watching it the first time...i found inception thoroughly entertaining. the martian on the other hand, didn't do that for me. movies are cheap fun...a few bucks for ~2 hrs of entertainment...so where someone can suspend disbelief, the movie is worth seeing, but all i am saying is do not expect the story to be extraordinary because it isn't.

I was not impressed with Inception, I lost interest in the film about half-way through and for all its remarkable visuals there wasn't much at its centre; and The Martian was not 'a few bucks' as it cost extra to see a film in 3D and so it cost me £11 or about $17.

[Stavros]

Macbeth (Justin Kurzel, 2015)
There cannot be a more beautifully photographed version of this play, from the blasted heath filmed in winter on the bleak north of the Isle of Skye, to the golden sands of Bamburgh Castle in Nothumberland, and the production exudes a rugged, primitive Scotland of candlelight and mist. It is hard to pin down quite what the director's focus is on this play. It twice hints at a childless couple seeking compensation for their lack of issue by taking the issues of others, with the as expected over-confident reliance on the predictions of the witches; but the struggle for the crown of Scotland also takes its place in the play while the more intriguing idea that Macbeth is about sexuality and the masculinity (challenged) of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is not explored. In spite of its sumptuous photography, the main problem is that the tone and pace of the film are the same from start to finish, and the actors do not speak so much as drone, to match the droning score composed by the director. This also makes many lines hard to understand, an aggravation in Shakespeare where the unfamiliar to common speech makes this an experience really for those who already know the play, though those who don't may be inspired to find out more. Michael Fassbender drones well, Marion Cotillard, though stunning to look at, never really gets inside this complex woman and is not given much chance to develop as a character. The film is a treasure to look at and should do wonders for the Isle of Skye's tourist industry (although I doubt that it needs it as one of the more famous islands with some outstanding Malt whisky to boot), but if you want a version of Macbeth that encapsulates the play and pivots with intense drama around Macbeth and wife, I recommend Akira Kurosawa's Japanese version usually translated into English as Throne of Blood (1957) although the literal translation is The Castle of the Spider's Web.
The fight scenes are outstanding compared to the fight scenes in other films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgH_OnrYlCk

[maxpower]

I was not impressed with Inception, I lost interest in the film about half-way through and for all its remarkable visuals there wasn't much at its centre; and The Martian was not 'a few bucks' as it cost extra to see a film in 3D and so it cost me £11 or about $17.


I have to say that I'm surprised that you seem to have hopped onto the 3-D bandwagon. I would have guessed that you would consider it to be unnecessary gimmickry.

[Stavros]

I have to say that I'm surprised that you seem to have hopped onto the 3-D bandwagon. I would have guessed that you would consider it to be unnecessary gimmickry.

Having seen those terrible 3D flicks in the past with the plastic glasses yes, I was a sceptic, but modern technology has taken film to new and exciting levels, so I am more or less a convert, as some films only seem to really use 3D for 30% of the film. I love films and have done all my life, and I can be a terrible snob about it as a genre, but I do like to be entertained so I now welcome 3D as long as it does really enhance the experience of watching a film. The Martian is not a great film, but it is great entertainment. If I want depth, I always have Ozu, Bergman and Tarkovski to watch.

[Stavros]

The Walk opens in the UK this weekend. I saw the trailers in the cinema and I can see that it looks well filmed, though I am not sure about the French accent of the lead actor, and there was a documentary Man on Wire about Petit's 1974 stunt. My problem is that I can't not see the Twin Towers without thinking about 9/11 and their fate and a film about a man who if he failed would have fallen evokes images we have seen but would rather forget, if that were possible. Maybe I am making too much of it but I feel morally uneasy about this now and won't be going to see it.

[Laphroaig]

Rock of Ages

885431

Ok, this isn’t a new, nor by any stretch of the imagination a good film. However, no film that opens to the tune of “Paradise City” can be all bad… Having just watched it on DVD, I have a confession to make. I saw it at the cinema when it was released (and whisper it, I did sing along).

Tom Cruise makes a decent fist of playing Stacee Jaxx (an Axl Rose clone).

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

Russell Brand is his usual annoying self but the scene where he and Alec Baldwin realise they are both gay is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5MDenG5QY

The two lead actors, Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta are unknowns and likely to remain that way. To be honest, unless you were brought up on 80’s music like me there’s little to recommend this musical. However, if you want to relive your youth with a soundtrack from the likes of Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Guns n’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Warrant, Foreigner, etc…then rock on…:rock2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBjEi1Ymj2w

…and then there was this scene which was inexplicably cut from the cinema version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wTYEtHYbgs

[bluesoul]

885466

was part of a test audience for this film @ universal studios. quite possibly the dumbest mockumentary i've ever watched (too self reflective and aware of itself and relies heavily on how much you follow and like pop culture). there are a couple of good jokes (and music) but the story moved too fast and at one point kinda loses the whole "mockumentary" thing. comes out june 2016. btw: have you heard of the lonely island? i hadn't until i watched this. i guess they're popular (or semi popular).

after the film i met this absolutely gorgeous brunette who also works in the industry. about 5"4, petite with strawberry red lips and a classic figure (think anna karina or leslie caron or michelle hicks in the late 90s). i got her number and seeing her tonight for dinner; no movie. i'm very nervous. souhaitez-moi bonne chance

[Jimmy W]

THE MARTIAN. Stavros, I have only seen the trailers for this and it seems to me like a film that is way too heavy on 'tag lines' "Im gonna have to science the shit out this...in your face Neil Armstrong.....Im the best botanist on this planet....Im still alive...obviously..and the crew coming up with all kinds of cool ways to say...we screw up - we die" Seems to me like a movie Will Smith said NO to. I'll see it next week in non -3D but is my initial impression correct?

[Stavros]

THE MARTIAN. Stavros, I have only seen the trailers for this and it seems to me like a film that is way too heavy on 'tag lines' "Im gonna have to science the shit out this...in your face Neil Armstrong.....Im the best botanist on this planet....Im still alive...obviously..and the crew coming up with all kinds of cool ways to say...we screw up - we die" Seems to me like a movie Will Smith said NO to. I'll see it next week in non -3D but is my initial impression correct?

If you know enough about science to know that a certain gadget hasn't been invented, or that the physics of space travel in the film are impossible, you may be disappointed, even dismissive. This is not one of Scott's 'complex' or 'profound' films, it is just a feel-good entertainment based on a novel in which I believe there is more successful humour than is found in the book. It is well made, but don't complain to me if you hate/hated it.

[Jimmy W]

Thanks for the reply and the review.

[trish]

Bridge of Spies
It was directed by Steven Spielberg, but the Coen brothers (who wrote the screenplay along with Matt Charman) are all over this. Splendidly written, superbly acted (Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance of Wolf Hall fame). On the surface its about the famous cold war prisoner exchange (U-2 pilot Gary Powers for Russian spy Rudolph Abel) but it's also about honor, freedom, people and principle. I'd be curious to know how faithful the film is to the historical events.

[Stavros]

Bridge of Spies
It was directed by Steven Spielberg, but the Coen brothers (who wrote the screenplay along with Matt Charman) are all over this. Splendidly written, superbly acted (Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance of Wolf Hall fame). On the surface its about the famous cold war prisoner exchange (U-2 pilot Gary Powers for Russian spy Rudolph Abel) but it's also about honor, freedom, people and principle. I'd be curious to know how faithful the film is to the historical events.

There is a review of the film as fact in this issue of Time (spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the film). It hasn't opened in this country yet so I haven't seen it. Spielberg's father was in Russia shortly after Powers was shot down.

http://time.com/4070307/bridge-of-spies-history/

[trish]

Thanks, Stavros, for the article.

[bluesoul]

886809

screened this film for a bunch of friends near the moca in little tokyo a few days ago. it's not a bad little film: a mom returns from hospital after having reconstructive surgery and her twin sons begin to suspect the woman under the bandages might not be their mother.

it relies a lot on atmosphere and minimalist dialogue and it's obviously very taught, but it's really two types of film masquerading as one. you've got an opening half that's very psychological, then the last half which is horror(?)

886811

waited until everyone watched this before i checked it out (last wkend). absolute crap. all the acting was so wooden and contrived it was hard to get into the film. here is an example: young ice-cube is on the bus from high school. the kid sitting is front of him is taunting some gangsta's cursing beside the school bus. the gangstas "roll up" in front of the bus, take out their "pieces" and proceed to get onto the bus and demand the kid apologize for taunting them. then they take one look at weee ice cube- starring them straight in the face, then leave. why did they leave? these guys are much older than all the kids on the bus and they have guns. did they know ice cube? it's never made clear.

there are countless other scenes like these and then it finally dawned on me: i don't care. out i went

886812

if you were @ universal studios yesterday then you caught the back to the future day: hover-board outside the hill valley court house, enchantment under the sea dance, delorean and props and catching all 3 films (again).

[runningdownthatdream]

Not a movie per se but currently watching the 10-episode Ken Burns documentary on Jazz produced in 2001. I'm only up to episode 5 but so far it's been fascinating to me. As someone who appreciates the complexity and creativity of jazz - though i much prefer listening to blues - it's been incredibly illuminating to see and hear how the form developed and find where its influences extended through the years into the most surprising and often even mundane aspects of today's music.

Very enjoyable and highly recommended for music lovers.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221300/

[bluesoul]

890797

went to an early morning screening for this yesterday @ culver city where sony is still desperately trying to do damage control from the gop hack fallout.

return to roger moore form (thankfully) from the woefully embracing and terribly misguided quantum of solace (what the fuck were they thinking?) but this is still somewhat shaky territory babs broccoli and co. who are desperately trying to find footing for the franchise that seems to have stumbled at the le chiffre narrative for ernst blofeld (last seen in never say never again from 83?).

it's understandable now why craig so desperately wants out of this (http://www.businessinsider.com/daniel-craig-says-he-would-rather-slit-his-wrists-than-play-bond-again-2015-10), bond has been a joke since whatever movie came before goldeneye: i still think daniel craig is one of the best bonds, he just hasn't had a bond script that's been complimentary

one of the best parts of this screening was a free grab bag that included, amongst other toys, a spectre pen replica of the dupont st that attaches to a butane lighter engraved with the swirl decor from the gun barrel sequence. the original is currently priced at $7,600

[Laphroaig]

return to roger moore form (thankfully)

You think Roger Moore was the best Bond?? (why isn't there a "raised eyebrow" emoticon when you need one?...)

[Stavros]

Billy Elliott (Stephen Daldry, 2000)
I had not seen this film before and took the advantage of a tv broadcast to watch it. It is a familiar story of the lad from a poor background who fights poverty and prejudice to make it to the Royal Ballet School and eventually the lead role in Swan Lake. The tried and tested formula means almost every scene can be ticked off with predictable tedium with only the irritating gay sub-theme suggesting the film is any different from other films of this kind. The acting-by-numbers doesn't add any depth to the film, and there may be music but I have forgotten it already. The climax of the film is also its lowest point, as it features a now mature Billy in Matthew Bourne's all-male Swan Lake, surely the biggest mistake in the history of ballet? I saw it once and had hoped never to set eyes on this meaningless rubbish again but there it was, to insult the audience. I can only hope that this pathetic film declines into the same obscurity as Bourne's Man Lake while the rest of us get on with the more satisfying experience of seeing proper dancers take on the old warhorse which, when done properly still captivates the heart and the mind. The least one can say is that Jamie Bell who plays young Billy was a trained dancer, and can tap.

[trish]

Our Brand is Crisis: Fair to middlin'. At least it was a story and not a romance.
Spectre: Pretty bad. In fact we laughed all the way through it, so I guess it was laughably bad.

[MrFanti]

Terminator: Genisys

[MrFanti]

You think Roger Moore was the best Bond?? (why isn't there a "raised eyebrow" emoticon when you need one?...)

George Lazenby or Timothy Dalton were the closest to the book character IMHO.....:cool:

[Stavros]

I read this in disbelief -there is going to be a remake of Christopher Nolan's Memento. What a waste of money!!

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/16/christopher-nolan-memento-remake-just-15-years-after-origina

[fred41]

I read this in disbelief -there is going to be a remake of Christopher Nolan's Memento. What a waste of money!!

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/16/christopher-nolan-memento-remake-just-15-years-after-origina

Completely senseless. I loved that movie...just the way it was. Christ.

It's one of those films that works because it had the right cast with the right script ...and at the time, was very original.
The movie's also good because of the surprises revealed at the right time....you don't redo films like that.



...Kind of like - for the same reasons, they should not have remade the Korean revenge flik "Oldboy"

[Laphroaig]

George Lazenby or Timothy Dalton were the closest to the book character IMHO.....:cool:

I've never read the books so I can't comment on who most accurately fits the character, but I have to admit (and I'm probably alone in this...) that I like Pierce Brosnan.

[bluesoul]

i grew up in the mid 80s- around the time when roger moore was still bond and they had reruns of the saint on tv so moore has always represented that debonair secret agent in my eyes. in fact, the first bond i watched was octopussy and the next one was (on my birthday) the man with the golden gun. both those films have scenes that are forever etched into my brain (and curiously, both those films have maude adams)

years later, i'm on the palace du casino in monte carlo a stones throw from the hotel du paris and i see a calvacade of bentley limousines pull up, and disgorge nattily dressed top caliber gentlemen (and make no fucking mistake, they were gentlemen) dressed in impeccably tailored in multi-thousand pound brushed woolen saville row suits soft like an agora rabbit to the touch, calf-skin gloves and gleaming shoes from clark. one of these gentlemen just happened to be roger moore and he had with him, his wife at the time, luisa mattioli. this was around 97 or 98. monaco was expensive, but it made sense this is where james bond lived, and this is how he spent his afternoons

[bluesoul]

894894

watched this last night at a screening in burbank. turns out apollo had an illegitimate kid (who now lives in a youth detention center in los angeles) with mary anne creed and is prone to getting into fights. he's picked up by his mom and years later, he's now trying to get into boxing by booking fights in tijuana. he eventually moves to philly so he can be trained by rocky balboa but doesn't tell him he's apollo's son.

after that he's pretty much working his way up to his first title shot against a cocky english bully known as pretty ricky whilst courting downstairs r&b singer and neighbor.

if this sounds even slightly familiar it might be because it's basically "kinda" similar to the first rocky film, complete with music cues from previous rocky films because it's part of those films (?)

[hardiron4u]

Draft Day
898876

This is a movie for American football and Kevin Costner fans. It's the story of a general manager of a professional football team wheeling and dealing on Draft Day for the best possible college players. Interesting insight to what goes one behind the scenes for teams to get the best selection order to draft players. I found it interesting and entertaining. Many cameo roles of sports broadcasters and former players. If your not a fan of the NFL it may not strike a chord with you.

[bluesoul]

http://twitchfilm.com/assets/2015/04/hateful_eight_300.jpg

long winded and especially slow to begin western about two bounty hunters (one who is transporting his prisoner) and a sheriff hooking up with four dodgy characters at a mountain pass before a murder mystery begins to unfold. this is (like all tarantino films) very character driven and talky (the first hour and a half seemed a little unnecessary imo) but everyone is very fleshed out so it relies heavily on the pedigree of the actors chosen (jennifer jason leigh was a standout and lucky for tarantino he didn't cast a previous actor who- according to him, was too young for the role and lacked a lot of the dynamic presence needed).

there is an overture and intermission in the film (but not all copies will have this and thus will be slightly shorter)- a few times i was checking the time.

movie will be released on christmas day in select cities and go wide jan 8th

[trish]

Spotlight
I give it two thumbs up.

[nausicaa]

Tangarine http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3824458/ - missed it at the london film festival (was a bit dubious about the 'filmed on i-phone' thing) - but caught it yesterday. Really good - great perfs and a lot of humour - and the cinematography is astonishing - had expected a lot of jerky 'found footage style' filming - but really lush smooth stedicam style shots - you would never know it was filmed on iPhones apart from the credit at the end

[Ben]

Raising Cain.... Not bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqMY-syKcwc

[Trapt53]

Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9mBdN6F1SI

[onetluv]

The Revenant...HIGHLY recommend it...great movie and great acting...awesome story.everything about it was good.another awesome flick starring Leo..

[Stavros]

The Revenant (Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, 2015)
This pretty looking flop cannot decide if it is a survival or a revenge drama. One can dismiss the revenge story given that there are hundreds of such films and this one suffers because the survival story dominates and the revenge is only there to tie loose ends in the story. Once Glass returns to Fort Kiowa the film's pulse stops. Unfortunately, the survival story is riddled with fact and fiction; the bear attack is the highlight of the film, the scenes with the horse stretch credulity, for some to breaking point. The music whines on with no relation to the film, while a mix of Pawnee, Cree and Sioux men on horseback, often a-whoopin' and a-hollerin' like something from a long-forgotten John Wayne movie occupy the same part of the land where in reality they were far apart. And there are no dogs, even though the first nations and the trappers who (often, but not always) stole from them all had dogs, for hunting, retrieval and company, as depicted in one of the most glorious of American paintings, George Caleb Bingham's Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845), linked below. It is perhaps fitting that Leonardo DiCaprio, the 43-year old actor with the voice of a 14 year old should spend so much time in the woods, given the state of his acting, and if he gets an award it might be because he doesn't speak for most of the film. The opening scenes which are supposed to present character, scene and motive, are all but incomprehensible, Tom Hardy having perfected a grunting even more obscure than Brando.

The Revenant is the second film to use the story of Hugh Glass, abandoned on a hunt he built a raft and spent something like 6 weeks sailing down the Missouri after that bear attack. Richard Harris was the first 'Glass' in Richard Sarafian's film Man in the Wilderness (1971).

What a way to make a living!

http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/40667/file-14015063-jpg/images/bingham_fur_traders-resized-600.jpg?t=1454363078875

[scorpeo777]

french film " A Prophet" , highly recommended

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/a-prophet-poster.jpg

[hardiron4u]

The Big Short

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjM2MTQ2MzcxOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzE4NTUyNzE@._ V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg

The true story about the recent housing bubble. Its about betting that the stocks you buy will fail. Specifically the investment in securitized subprime home mortgages. This movie is nominated for 5 Oscars. Entertaining but the scaring thing is that this can happen again. Made a few folks very rich and millions poorer.

[SanDiegoPervySage]

Dirty grandpa

[BlüeKarma]

Bridge of Spies, good Tom Hanks Cold War-era thriller

[simes]

Seven. Entirely ace.

[broncofan]

Very perceptive review about The Revenant. I read the book and decided not to see the movie on the basis of it. In the book, the revenge story is even less compelling, which is probably why Inarritu dressed it up a bit for the film. I could tell this from a trailer where Glass has a son and is buried alive with loose dirt. It took a story where the basis for revenge was head-scratching and turned it into a melodrama.

Assuming the movie is similar in other respects, the main character makes it back to safety after a harrowing attack, only to drive headlong into the wilderness as winter approaches with a hostile Native American tribe (the Arikara) in his path so that he can get his revenge. Couldn't he have waited to see if his tormentors survived winter? Apparently that wouldn't be reckless enough for a man who survived a bear attack that took off his scalp and left him with maggot-infested wounds on his back.

I'm not sure Leonardo DiCaprio is such a bad actor though...

[nycMuscleGuy25]

Brazil

[SusanMichelleBlessington]

The Enemy Below - Staring Robert Mitchum

[tacocorp]

Blue Mountain State - The Rise of Thadland.

Show was better...

[Stavros]

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
Tarantino continues his decline into irrelevance with this exceedingly long film about people who express their hate for each other in word and deed. As with most Tarantino films, talking leads nowhere, guns solve everything. The story, to the extent that it matters, revolves around a bounty hunter taking a valuable possession to market who seeks refuge from a severe blizzard in a remote 'Haberdashery' which in addition to selling household goods acts as a bar and restaurant. Having collected another bounty hunter on the way, and a man claiming to be the new sheriff of the collective destination -Red Rock, Wyoming (although the film itself was shot in Telluride, Colorado) -these three people and the prize find themselves in the Haberdashery with four strangers. Half way through there is a plot twist which is intended to send this 'drama' spiralling into a new dimension, but is in fact ruined by the voice over -by Tarantino himself- which explains what is happening, presumably because he couldn't work out how to do it as a film. Indeed, Tarantino's trade-mark cross-references to his own and other people's films becomes the weakest part of his work these days. Most of the plot seems to have come from an Australian tv drama called The Rebel, and while there is supposed to be some context in the left-over soldiers from both sides of the Civil War carrying on their private struggle as criminals and bounty hunters, any attempt to link this to contemporary America is feeble, given that profound is the one concept Tarantino does not do. A graduate student in semiotics will point you to the moments when the inhabitants have to nail the door shut from the inside, as if it were their coffin, which is as deep as it gets. We are told only Minnie sits in Minnie's chair, but when she is on set, someone else is sitting in her chair and she doesn't mind, just as we are told she don't allow Mexicans in her 'crib' yet there is one right in front of her. Joe Gage arrived with four others in a stagecoach, yet wears spurs on the heels of his boots...it is just so sloppy. Or it could be that this is a film about 'brotherly love' taking that as a reference to ties of blood, gangs, the 'hood'...let's just say that I can't be the only person not waiting for the next chapter in the career of this gun-crazy hack.

[trish]

Mostly agree with your take on The Hateful Eight, Stavros. Thanks for the review, and welcome back (I haven't seen you for awhile). I'll add that for an action movie where everything is settled with gun-play and violence, there is a lot of talking and story telling. The film is broken into a number of well-defined segments, each one filling in or adding to the history of one or more of the characters. In spite of all the action and violence, the story telling functions to slow down the film. Unfortunately the characters and their stories are 'cartoonish' and uninspired. Most people can find more productive ways to spend three hours and seven minutes.

[tslvr]

The Danish Girl

[runningdownthatdream]

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
Tarantino continues his decline into irrelevance with this exceedingly long film about people who express their hate for each other in word and deed. As with most Tarantino films, talking leads nowhere, guns solve everything. The story, to the extent that it matters, revolves around a bounty hunter taking a valuable possession to market who seeks refuge from a severe blizzard in a remote 'Haberdashery' which in addition to selling household goods acts as a bar and restaurant. Having collected another bounty hunter on the way, and a man claiming to be the new sheriff of the collective destination -Red Rock, Wyoming (although the film itself was shot in Telluride, Colorado) -these three people and the prize find themselves in the Haberdashery with four strangers. Half way through there is a plot twist which is intended to send this 'drama' spiralling into a new dimension, but is in fact ruined by the voice over -by Tarantino himself- which explains what is happening, presumably because he couldn't work out how to do it as a film. Indeed, Tarantino's trade-mark cross-references to his own and other people's films becomes the weakest part of his work these days. Most of the plot seems to have come from an Australian tv drama called The Rebel, and while there is supposed to be some context in the left-over soldiers from both sides of the Civil War carrying on their private struggle as criminals and bounty hunters, any attempt to link this to contemporary America is feeble, given that profound is the one concept Tarantino does not do. A graduate student in semiotics will point you to the moments when the inhabitants have to nail the door shut from the inside, as if it were their coffin, which is as deep as it gets. We are told only Minnie sits in Minnie's chair, but when she is on set, someone else is sitting in her chair and she doesn't mind, just as we are told she don't allow Mexicans in her 'crib' yet there is one right in front of her. Joe Gage arrived with four others in a stagecoach, yet wears spurs on the heels of his boots...it is just so sloppy. Or it could be that this is a film about 'brotherly love' taking that as a reference to ties of blood, gangs, the 'hood'...let's just say that I can't be the only person not waiting for the next chapter in the career of this gun-crazy hack.

You're brutal like Tarantino but, unlike Tarantino, you get to the heart of things quickly! I agree with your assessment though I still watch his movies if only to see and hear actors I like speaking Tarantino's lingua franca. Yes, it's tired and has been since Pulp Fiction but I do get some joy from seeing Samuel Jackson holler essentially the same caveman script time and again. And I definitely enjoy seeing DiCaprio let loose his inner racist or Jamie Fox kick white ass or Kurt Russell as an aged and more voluble Snake Plisken. With Tarantino it's all about the visceral effect derived from watching certain actors expand on innate characters that they don't get to do in other movies. Once they play their Tarantino role it's difficult to imagine them otherwise. And of course, details are somewhat inconsequential - maybe spurs on Joe Gage's boots were used to keep him steady in the stagecoach!

For me, watching the latest Tarantino movie isn't much different than listening to the latest Rolling Stones album: you pretty much know what to expect and will get what you expect with maybe a fatter pig and different colour of lipstick.

[BatMasterson]

Kuroneko

[Erika1487]

Milk

[qwerty81]

Chi-raq

[loren]

Pride And Prejudice Zombies

[Stavros]

You're brutal like Tarantino but, unlike Tarantino, you get to the heart of things quickly! I agree with your assessment though I still watch his movies if only to see and hear actors I like speaking Tarantino's lingua franca. Yes, it's tired and has been since Pulp Fiction but I do get some joy from seeing Samuel Jackson holler essentially the same caveman script time and again. And I definitely enjoy seeing DiCaprio let loose his inner racist or Jamie Fox kick white ass or Kurt Russell as an aged and more voluble Snake Plisken. With Tarantino it's all about the visceral effect derived from watching certain actors expand on innate characters that they don't get to do in other movies. Once they play their Tarantino role it's difficult to imagine them otherwise. And of course, details are somewhat inconsequential - maybe spurs on Joe Gage's boots were used to keep him steady in the stagecoach!

For me, watching the latest Tarantino movie isn't much different than listening to the latest Rolling Stones album: you pretty much know what to expect and will get what you expect with maybe a fatter pig and different colour of lipstick.

The success of Reservoir Dogs is due mostly to the script and the editing, and at 99 minutes it is a neatly drawn essay on how gangs fall apart, compared to the 187 minutes of The Hateful Eight and the 165 minutes of Django Unchained. On gang cohesion and collapse, Tarantino as usual pinching ideas and motifs from Triad and Yakuza films, where greed or pride is usually the cause of breakdown. If RD is different from the Asian films of Johnnie To and Takashi Miike, it is that in RD the gang is ad hoc, formed of people that mostly don't know each other, but where the strongest figure in the gang, Nice Guy Eddie is revealed as the weakest in the longer term as he recruited the undercover cop, Mr Orange who is the agent of the gang's destruction.
In Pulp Fiction, an alternative explores a more personal version in which the gang survives by losing one of its own -Vincent Vega- and by reconciling with an errant member -the one who kills Vega-, although Butch Coolidge is not formally part of the gang. In PF, the leader of the gang, Marsellus remains in place, but with his sexuality compromised more explicitly than in any other Tarantino film. The quasi-homosexual bond between Marsellus and Butch is at the symbolic level announced with Christopher Walken's speech about the 'watch in the ass' -focusing huge importance on the ass as the centre of gravity for Butch just as it is Marsellus' 'black ass' that gets violated in the sex scene, but where the two become reconciled in their liberation.

While Tarantino's wholesale pinching of or cross-references to his own and other people's films is common knowledge, less discussed is the gay subtext to so many of his films -how in Kill Bill the women who kill replace guns with substitute dicks, albeit ones made of steel (but not Valerian steel). As Tarantino says it in RD 'dick dick dick dick dick dick dick dick'. It does seem to interest him. Joe Gage in The Hateful Eight may be a reference to the Joe Gage who directed Gay Porn films in the 1980s, but as this is a long topic to get into, I offer you this link instead-
http://www.out.com/armond-white/2015/12/22/how-quentin-tarantino-acknowledges-gay-porn-hateful-eight

[runningdownthatdream]

The success of Reservoir Dogs is due mostly to the script and the editing, and at 99 minutes it is a neatly drawn essay on how gangs fall apart, compared to the 187 minutes of The Hateful Eight and the 165 minutes of Django Unchained. On gang cohesion and collapse, Tarantino as usual pinching ideas and motifs from Triad and Yakuza films, where greed or pride is usually the cause of breakdown. If RD is different from the Asian films of Johnnie To and Takashi Miike, it is that in RD the gang is ad hoc, formed of people that mostly don't know each other, but where the strongest figure in the gang, Nice Guy Eddie is revealed as the weakest in the longer term as he recruited the undercover cop, Mr Orange who is the agent of the gang's destruction.
In Pulp Fiction, an alternative explores a more personal version in which the gang survives by losing one of its own -Vincent Vega- and by reconciling with an errant member -the one who kills Vega-, although Butch Coolidge is not formally part of the gang. In PF, the leader of the gang, Marsellus remains in place, but with his sexuality compromised more explicitly than in any other Tarantino film. The quasi-homosexual bond between Marsellus and Butch is at the symbolic level announced with Christopher Walken's speech about the 'watch in the ass' -focusing huge importance on the ass as the centre of gravity for Butch just as it is Marsellus' 'black ass' that gets violated in the sex scene, but where the two become reconciled in their liberation.

While Tarantino's wholesale pinching of or cross-references to his own and other people's films is common knowledge, less discussed is the gay subtext to so many of his films -how in Kill Bill the women who kill replace guns with substitute dicks, albeit ones made of steel (but not Valerian steel). As Tarantino says it in RD 'dick dick dick dick dick dick dick dick'. It does seem to interest him. Joe Gage in The Hateful Eight may be a reference to the Joe Gage who directed Gay Porn films in the 1980s, but as this is a long topic to get into, I offer you this link instead-
http://www.out.com/armond-white/2015/12/22/how-quentin-tarantino-acknowledges-gay-porn-hateful-eight

That was an enjoyable read - thanks!

I mostly watch film for the entertainment value and a lot of the literary nuances escape me. This may have come from my learning to read at age 5 and using books as a means of escape instead of tools for learning. It took awhile for me to absorb the 'moral of the story' when I read. And when I did, I was mostly interested in the historical significance of what was contained in the book - I read the bible not for spiritual guidance but its historicity. The whole religious thing was lost on me! In many ways I watch film in the same way - to escape. Depending on the presentation (combination of the story and cinematography) I may look deeper. I like David Lean and Sergio Leone and Roman Polanski. To me, most American cinema either tries to shock and awe or twist its tongue into foreign shapes trying to look intellectually muscular and profound. But I guess that's the problem of all johnny-come-latelies trying to establish their own identity.

I asked in another thread but you didn't respond: did you watch Tangerine and what did you think about it?

[sukumvit boy]

One of the other brilliant minds at Bletchley Park, but not movie material-

"But it was Harry Hinsley who, at the end of April 1941, identified the Enigma system’s fatal flaw. The same codebooks used on German U-Boats were also aboard their unprotected trawlers. These trawlers, transmitting weather reports to the Germans, also received naval Enigma messages. Hinsley helped initiate a programme of seizing Enigma machines and keys from German weather ships, significantly aiding Bletchley Park’s breaking of German Naval Enigma."
http://thebloxwichtelegraph.com/2012/07/08/from-birchills-to-bletchley-park-harry-hinsley/
Sorry , I'm a little late to this party but just got around to seeing "The Imitation Game" and find the fast and loose play with historical , biographical and scientific fact distressing Also , although I must admit I enjoyed the movie and am sort of a Cumberbatch fan from the BBC "Sherlock" series , they portrayed completely wrong .
I found a few interesting links to that effect :

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/12/03/the_imitation_game_fact_vs_fiction_how_true_the_ne w_movie_is_to_alan_turing.html

http://www.turingfilm.com/short-biography-by-andrew-hodges#

[Stavros]

Sorry , I'm a little late to this party but just got around to seeing "The Imitation Game" and find the fast and loose play with historical , biographical and scientific fact distressing Also , although I must admit I enjoyed the movie and am sort of a Cumberbatch fan from the BBC "Sherlock" series , they portrayed completely wrong .
I found a few interesting links to that effect :


You can be as late as you like. On the Enigma codes Poland now wants more recognition for its contribution-
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-imitation-game-poland-angry-that-its-contribution-to-cracking-enigma-was-reduced-to-just-one-a6880906.html

[sukumvit boy]

Right , the Polish contribution to breaking an earlier 'Enigma' was significant , and the Poles are now upset ,like many others , about the way " the Imitation Game " handled the history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma

Unfortunately , those of us who expected 'the real story' got a flaky pastry instead .
We'll have to wait for someone like a Ken Burns to treat this fascinating and complicated story and personality with the respect for the history of science and biography that it deserves.

[BatMasterson]

Kuroneko
Murnau's 'Faust'

[Stavros]

Right , the Polish contribution to breaking an earlier 'Enigma' was significant , and the Poles are now upset ,like many others , about the way " the Imitation Game " handled the history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma

Unfortunately , those of us who expected 'the real story' got a flaky pastry instead .
We'll have to wait for someone like a Ken Burns to treat this fascinating and complicated story and personality with the respect for the history of science and biography that it deserves.

Too many people involved in a complex sequence of events out of which to make a feature film, the curse of all fact-based history films. The focus on Alan Turing was in any case part of a separate campaign to rehabilitate his reputation. Hinsley, whom I mentioned in an earlier post, was given the job by Prime Minister James Callaghan, of supervising the Official History of British Intelligence in the Second World, the result being five volumes in the link below. Hinsley's view -and had he lived I would imagine Turing also would have said it - was that Bletchley Park was a community all of whom played their role and elevating one above the other trivialises the endeavour, and that is without adding in external help from Poles, the French, the Americans...

I can't imagine a feature film on the origins of the CIA or the National Security Agency would get it all right and be a great film...?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-British-Intelligence-Second-World-War/dp/0116309334

[Jeremy.Nogueira]

Nolan's Interstellar for the 2nd time. A brilliant masterpiece!

[Stavros]

This week I watched two films by the Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan -Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012) and Winter Sleep (2014).
Both films are beautifully shot and set mostly in the rural interior of Turkey in the present day. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia concerns the attempt by the police to find the body of a man who has been murdered. Set mostly at night a small convoy directed by the key suspect drives to various locations because he cannot recall precisely where he buried the body. This becomes a metaphor for a country that was founded on violence having also lost its way, while the closing moments in the mortuary where the post-mortem technician complains about having to use out-dated tools adds to the feeling that for all its economic success, remote rural areas remain as poor and neglected as they were when the Republic was founded.

In Winter Sleep, a retired actor and the manager of a hotel built into the rocks at Cappadoccia (the actor playing the role was in the BBC soap opera Eastenders for a few years) where he lives with a young wife and his sister, is revealed to be part of a family indeed, a 'community' of people who live close to each other but are remote from each others feelings to the point where their concerns -mostly about money, property and facilities for local schools- are either ignored or spurned.
Both films are long and very very slow, and stylistically related to Bergman and Tarkovsky. I found them understated and at times quite dull, which may be deliberate. I would only recommend them to people who enjoy these 'meaningful' films unless you have trouble sleeping at night, in which case either one will send you to sleep after at least an hour and a half.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1827487/

Winter Sleep
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2758880/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

[runningdownthatdream]

This week I watched two films by the Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan -Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012) and Winter Sleep (2014).
Both films are beautifully shot and set mostly in the rural interior of Turkey in the present day. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia concerns the attempt by the police to find the body of a man who has been murdered. Set mostly at night a small convoy directed by the key suspect drives to various locations because he cannot recall precisely where he buried the body. This becomes a metaphor for a country that was founded on violence having also lost its way, while the closing moments in the mortuary where the post-mortem technician complains about having to use out-dated tools adds to the feeling that for all its economic success, remote rural areas remain as poor and neglected as they were when the Republic was founded.

In Winter Sleep, a retired actor and the manager of a hotel built into the rocks at Cappadoccia (the actor playing the role was in the BBC soap opera Eastenders for a few years) where he lives with a young wife and his sister, is revealed to be part of a family indeed, a 'community' of people who live close to each other but are remote from each others feelings to the point where their concerns -mostly about money, property and facilities for local schools- are either ignored or spurned.
Both films are long and very very slow, and stylistically related to Bergman and Tarkovsky. I found them understated and at times quite dull, which may be deliberate. I would only recommend them to people who enjoy these 'meaningful' films unless you have trouble sleeping at night, in which case either one will send you to sleep after at least an hour and a half.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1827487/

Winter Sleep
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2758880/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

Y'know you're little too cynical sometimes! While not disagreeing entirely with you about Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, I did rather enjoy it. The silences, the panoramas, the darkness all combined to make it somewhat like a fairytale. But one must be in the mood for alone time to really get into it........shut out the outside, turn off the lights, put on the headphones and just become an observer.

[Stavros]

Y'know you're little too cynical sometimes! While not disagreeing entirely with you about Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, I did rather enjoy it. The silences, the panoramas, the darkness all combined to make it somewhat like a fairytale. But one must be in the mood for alone time to really get into it........shut out the outside, turn off the lights, put on the headphones and just become an observer.

Far from being cynical, the problem is that I was not moved by the films, I do understand the landscape and the use of time, but there is a gap or an emptiness in the films which could not be filled -for me.

[Ambiguous shyster]

Snow White and the huntsmen

[trish]

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" a troubling mix of humor and war depicting the addiction of an embedded journalist to the hazards of her job. It has it moments. I give it 2 1/2 stars (out of four).

[Absarokah]

927150

[BlüeKarma]

Hush, about a deaf writer who lives in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and then she gets a psycho slasher problem.

[fred41]

Hush, about a deaf writer who lives in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and then she gets a psycho slasher problem.

Yeah, I was either going to watch that or "The Hallow"...I chose the latter. It had some potential but it was wasted and, at a playing time of 1hr. 32 min...it was about 32 min. too long.
Did you think Hush was worth it ?...I might still watch that next.

[Stavros]

The Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn, 1976)
I came back to to this film after a gap of many years recalling it when I first saw it as a flop even though the promotional material for the film declares that Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson are 'a dynamo combo who set the screen ablaze...'. The film concerns the last days of horse rustlers in an age when modernisation and the rule of law is making their line of work hard and expensive. A local land baron hires a 'regulator' to stamp out rustling, and this pits Brando, as the eccentric regulator, against Nicholson with fatal results. Much comment on the film has claimed Brando spoiled the film, ranging from self-indulgent over-acting to changing the lines, but the real problem is Arthur Penn. In a series of films beginning with Bonnie & Clyde and continuing with Little Big Man, Night Moves, and this film, Penn tried too hard to make deeply meaningful films about people who lose control of their lives, but did not know how long a scene should be and repeatedly failed to dig deep enough to give his movies depth. Too many scenes in this film drag on for no purpose, the dialogue sounds at some points improvised, because it was, at other times stilted and theatrical. This mars a lot of Penn's work, and makes this film tepid when it ought to be hot, sluggish when it should be fast. The final confrontation between Brando and Nicholson is an abrupt moment which suggests there was a major cut in the final edition as there is no real confrontation at all. That Brando prior to it holds a conversation with two horses while waving around some carrots also implies that by this time Penn had lost patience with the 'World's Greatest Screen Actor' and just wanted to end it all as quickly as possible. One wonders what Clint Eastwood in his best western days would have made with this story. The quality of the print on the dvd was not good either and the music inappropriate.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074906/

[Stavros]

Talking of westerns, I see there is a new re-make of The Magnificent Seven, itself a re-make of Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai which with Rashomon and Throne of Blood ranks as his best films. The John Sturges western was good but not a patch on the Japanese original, but why do we need yet another version? Answer, we don't. What is next for a remake? Jaws? Citizen Kane? I just don't know how they get the money for it when there is such a lack of decent original films, just franchises and re-makes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/magnificent-seven-trailer/

[runningdownthatdream]

Talking of westerns, I see there is a new re-make of The Magnificent Seven, itself a re-make of Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai which with Rashomon and Throne of Blood ranks as his best films. The John Sturges western was good but not a patch on the Japanese original, but why do we need yet another version? Answer, we don't. What is next for a remake? Jaws? Citizen Kane? I just don't know how they get the money for it when there is such a lack of decent original films, just franchises and re-makes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/magnificent-seven-trailer/

.......remakes are needed for one simple reason: revenue. Why bother take a risk on the unknown when you can easily remake a popular original with tweaks to make it relevant to today's audience and likely assure yourself of a flood of money? I would expect every large budget film goes through a process of quantification, focus group studies, assessment for cultural significance, etc before it's greenlighted. Is it coincidence that movies with similar themes seem to appear in bunches? Look at the number of films about artificial intelligence released over the past few years as an example - it's relevant because a lot of influential tech people are involved in the space and making it a reality - e.g: Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, Google self-driving cars. The singularity is coming!

I bet there are people in the film industry dedicated to going through back catalogues and doing assessments on which films could be remade for significant profits. It's shameful but totally in-line with the millennial mindset which is to imitate the things they heard or saw in their youth and apply their pop-culture memes to totally destroy whatever artistic value it originally had.

[Jericho]

The remake of Point Break should put a stop to all that! :hide-1:

[Stavros]

The Big Short (Adam McKay, 2015)
Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)

I watched these two films back to back on dvd last night. Both are fictionalised documentaries and neither delves deeply into their subject matter. In The Big Short, the events leading up to the financial crisis of 2007-08 are presented through the dynamics of investment bankers who have realised that they are sitting on a mountain of unsustainable debt but can make money if they take a risk and bet the family firm on one colossal bet, rather like those casino films in which the gambler having won a million in 20 bets places the whole lot on one final number. The film is remarkable in providing no political context for an economic environment dominated by cheap mortgages, low interest rates, and an absence of regulation in the private investment banking sector. Four Presidents -Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush are absent from the narrative, as is Congress, yet it was changes to the law that facilitated much of what happened in 2007-08, so on this basis alone the film does not tell 'the whole story' and is anyway produced with the superficial energy of a comic book, and the subject is more important than that.

Spotlight is a tepid, spineless account of the exposure of a sustained culture of child abuse in Boston which took place within the Roman Catholic communities over 40 years (or more). That this was sustained through a cover-up of known incidents within the church becomes the main focus of the Boston Globe reporters investigations even though the film barely touches on the priests themselves, as only one retired priest is ever seen being asked about the abuse. The actual perpetrators and the clergy who covered it up are replaced by a vague 'system' of lawyers and courts where, again, Boston politics is absent, other than as an invisible handmaiden to the Church which, it is implied, could do what it wanted in Boston. I don't know about that, but the absence of politics and a confrontation of the church hierarchy lets this film down, more concerned as it is with its moral fibre. It is also odd that campaigning lawyer Garabedian should present himself to one of the reporters as an outsider being Armenian, when the Boston area has, or used to have one of the largest Armenian communities in the USA.

4/10 for both films, soon to be found in a charity shop near me.

[loren]

Nice Guys

[youngblood61]

927150Same here, really enjoyed it.

[Stavros]

Over Your Dead Body (Takahi Miike, 2014)
Those of you familiar with Miike's films about what it is that causes families, gangs or crime syndicates to fall apart, or heal, will recognise this film as being close to Audition (1999) but without that film's depth, I almost wrote 'cutting edge' (!). The film suggests a tired Miike producing a moral tale in which infidelity carries with it risks that could be avoided. In this case a play about feudal Japan being filmed fuses with the real lives of the actors. A disappointing film given Miike's previous work.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2916416/

[BlüeKarma]

Yeah, I was either going to watch that or "The Hallow"...I chose the latter. It had some potential but it was wasted and, at a playing time of 1hr. 32 min...it was about 32 min. too long.
Did you think Hush was worth it ?...I might still watch that next.

If you enjoy thrillers where the girl gets beat half to death but wins using "Final Girl" power, yeah it's a decent watch.

[trish]

The Nice Guys. A 70's era, noir detective comedy with impeccable timing. Loosely based on an old pulp novel by Brett Halliday (Davis Dresser). Reminiscent in some respects (but not an attempt to copy), The Great Lebowski or Get Shorty. There are homages to Laural and Hardy, I Spy and probably a lot of other stuff I missed. It's a fun plot and a lot of laughs.

[sukumvit boy]

Over Your Dead Body (Takahi Miike, 2014)
Those of you familiar with Miike's films about what it is that causes families, gangs or crime syndicates to fall apart, or heal, will recognise this film as being close to Audition (1999) but without that film's depth, I almost wrote 'cutting edge' (!). The film suggests a tired Miike producing a moral tale in which infidelity carries with it risks that could be avoided. In this case a play about feudal Japan being filmed fuses with the real lives of the actors. A disappointing film given Miike's previous work.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2916416/

Too bad "Audition" was chilling.
939211

[BatMasterson]

Fitzcarraldo (1982) (Before the Millennial ADHD bullshit fucked up cinema)

[Stavros]

Not having seen Star Wars since the first film and its sequel at the time, The Empire Strikes Back, and intrigued by the rave reviews for the latest version -The Force Awakens, I decided to go back and watch all seven films in sequence beginning with the first The Phantom Menace. The crucial problem for me is that there is a mis-match between the production values and the story, with writing so bad and acting so atrocious the whole experience is a test of credibility and endurance. We know George Lucas poaches ideas and tropes from Zen Buddhism, the Brothers Grimm and who cares what else but the central dynamic of good people attracted by the dark side has no real moral depth -the same people urged to reject the hate and anger of the dark side even when they have done so have no problem killing hundreds if not thousands of people, and who are these people? We never really know, except there is an 'us and them'. You then have to deal with a hairy ape whose tone of voice or rather, bark never changes, a wheelie bin with added computer that can negotiate stairs and jungle floors no problem, and almost the lowest moment of all in Return of the Jedi when a modern high tech army is defeated by some teddy bears in the woods. And it isn't even satire. Above all this is some of the worst writing and the most wooden and atrocious acting you will ever have the misfortune to see with Haydn Christensen taking irrelevance to a new level of disinterest. At least in The Force Awakens Daisy Ridley makes a good job and lifts the film to a point where you at least don't lurch for the STOP button on the remote. Across seven films there is little to interest an intelligent human, as it is mostly a set of cartoon inflated motion pictures mimicking 1970s space invader video games. There will be at least one more film in this franchise, but one hopes it will be the last.

[Petra180972]

Think it was Warcraft

[Jericho]

The remake of Cabin Fever.
Probably the most pointless remake since Funny Games.
Even the tits were shitter!

[IluvemHung]

Wack ass X-men Apocalypse movie smh!!!

[Robbyboy79]

I think it's X-Men : Apocalypse for me as well.
Olivia Munn looked fantastically hot as Psylocke.

[Petra180972]

Had seen this movie also - think it was ok :tongue:

[tacocorp]

Warcraft movie, I liked it, except it could have been a bit longer so they can explain stuff better. :D

[joesocalif]

The Witch.

[MrFanti]

Interstellar...

[metalmike6969]

Kill Bill Volume 1, House Of Blue Leaves Uncensored Japanese Version.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD5TMdAtmQs

[viyility]

Concussion (2015)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322364/

[sukumvit boy]

Looking forward to the "Mystery Science Theater 3000 " reunion coming June 28th.
http://www.hennepintheatretrust.org/events/rifftrax-live-mst3k-reunion-show-state-theatre-tickets-minneapolis-2016
945902945903

[Stavros]

The American director Michael Cimino has died at the age of 77. He is best known for two films, The Deer Hunter (197-eight) and Heaven's Gate (1980) though some will recall his first feature Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) and films such as Year of the Dragon (1985) and The Sicilian (1987). He has been described as a genius; or as a vain, self-indulgent, egotistical, megalomaniacal and an enfant terrible...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cimino#The_Deer_Hunter

but I think he sits somewhere between the two as there is a lot of skill and vision in his films, but I am not always sure about the depth. The opening scene in Heaven's Gate is particularly fine, even if it was shot not at Harvard but Mansfield College, Oxford and the 'old oak tree' was a fake. I think The Deer Hunter will survive as one of the best films about the US experience in Vietnam and its consequences, with some terrific acting from De Niro, Streep, Walken and John Savage. It remains controversial, but I think the context of the film in the 1968 'Tet Offensive' and the deceit over the war that followed was still raw in 1978 when it divided audiences, as it still does. In the UK Heaven's Gate was not released and I had to go to Paris to see it as in those days Paris got the latest US films about 6 months before they were show in the UK. I haven't seen it since then but recall it as a stunning visual film with a problematic script, and I might chase down the best version I can find to see it again.

There is an account of the opening scene of Heaven's Gate by an extra here:
http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/features/dancing-through-heavens-gate#

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001047/#director


(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001047/#director)

[broncofan]

I saw the movie The Shallows. It is a decently reviewed movie about a surfer who is attacked by a shark. I'm generally an easy audience but it was a waste of time. Why does a shark spend a full day staking out a hundred pound blonde in a bikini when it has an enormous whale carcass a hundred yards away from the tiny island she's nestled on? Do sharks like blondes? Do sharks dislike blondes?

[metalmike6969]

The Legend of Tarzan


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5r6FrEgg5M

[redtiger]

I watched Independence Day 2 today. I gave it a C. Wait til it comes out on DVD and then go check it out from your local library. Not worth the money to go to the theatre or buy at the store. Hopefully the Star Trek movie coming out on the 22nd of July will be much better!

[Stavros]

Son of Saul (Lazslo Nemes, 2015)
This film is based partly around the revolt of the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 1944 but mostly concerns the attempt of one of them (Saul) to give a dead boy a decent burial, claiming it is his son though there is no proof of this. The Sonderkommando were Jews who were forced to do the dirty jobs in the camp and who were usually executed after three months work. The film is distinguished by its claustrophobic camera work that rarely pulls away from the face or head of Saul, obscuring from view the horror around him. The climax of the film takes place on the day of the revolt which leads to both its predicted end but closes the film with an image which might be interpreted as resurrection, hope, release or the only conceivably positive note in this otherwise bleak film. Whether or not it is possible to make a feature film (rather than a documentary) about Auschwitz is not answered by this film but this one may hurt more than the wretched nonsense of Schindler's List or some other 'holocaust' films best not mentioned.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3808342/

[Jimmy W]

Spotlight. It was excellent!

[bigkid69]

Just watched 28 Days Later for the first time. I'm Jonesin' for some Walking Dead.

[sukumvit boy]

Just go all 4 seasons of the original 1990's Granada Television /BBC series "Jeeves and Wooster" ... "frightfully entertaining ,wot?"
951042951043

[hamdasl]

To Have and Have Not.

[Torris]

I watched Independence Day 2 today. I gave it a C. Wait til it comes out on DVD and then go check it out from your local library. Not worth the money to go to the theatre or buy at the store. Hopefully the Star Trek movie coming out on the 22nd of July will be much better!

Indy Day 2 was meh. An excuse to get out of the heat and eat some popcorn. I was surprised how underwhelming the new Star Trek was.

[peacheater]

Barbarella - yes seriously! Great psychedelic campy fun and although some of you might find the lack of a cock disconcerting, Jane Fonda is sooooo fucking hot

[Jericho]

The Brothers Grimsby.
If you're a bit childish...Or stoned, give it a watch.
The elephant scene...!!!

[Fitzcarraldo]

The Beguiled ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066819/?ref_=nv_sr_2 ), a very dark, very strange Clint Eastwood movie.

[hamdasl]

Angels with Dirty Faces. 956413

[Stavros]

I read that David Fincher and Brad Pitt are going to make a sequel to World War Z, I think it is going to be called
World War Zzzzzz...

[Fitzcarraldo]

White Hunter, Black Heart. I'd seen it before, but wanted to watch it again after reading the book. Of course the book is better!

[Fitzcarraldo]

Just finished Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, which was a big influence on Star Wars.

It's only my second Kurosawa flick (I've also seen Rashomon). Japanese culture has always baffled me. The stylized acting seems alien to me. I did enjoy the movie, but I think from what I've seen of Kurosawa that I like Fritz Lang better.

[Stavros]

Just finished Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, which was a big influence on Star Wars.

It's only my second Kurosawa flick (I've also seen Rashomon). Japanese culture has always baffled me. The stylized acting seems alien to me. I did enjoy the movie, but I think from what I've seen of Kurosawa that I like Fritz Lang better.

The Hidden Fortress is not one of Kurosawa's best -given the number of times it has been copied, the original Seven Samurai is surely one of the best films ever made? It is three hours long and old and in black and white, but builds to a thrilling climax, and few directors did rain like Kurosawa...I do recommend it even if it is the last Kurosawa you see..

[Fitzcarraldo]

The Hidden Fortress is not one of Kurosawa's best -given the number of times it has been copied, the original Seven Samurai is surely one of the best films ever made? It is three hours long and old and in black and white, but builds to a thrilling climax, and few directors did rain like Kurosawa...I do recommend it even if it is the last Kurosawa you see..

Maybe I'll get that one during the next Criterion sale. But I figured I didn't need it since I've already seen The Magnificent Seven....

[Stavros]

Maybe I'll get that one during the next Criterion sale. But I figured I didn't need it since I've already seen The Magnificent Seven....

John Sturges does a version that works as a standard western, but the Kurosawa is superior on every level -from the photography and editing, to the script and the acting- and has a more trenchant social message than the Western. Both films concern justice, but in the Japanese film there is a more subtle treatment of the concept of 'honour' that gives the conclusion to the film an unexpected degree of bitterness. Seven Samurai is a much darker film than The Magnificent Seven.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Seven Samurai is a much darker film than The Magnificent Seven.

Oh, I can imagine that.

Last night I watched London Boulevard, an English gangster film directed by the screenwriter of The Departed. It's very dark and pretty good, but a little self-consciously hip in terms of blasting music over certain sequences. It's also a warped take on Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd.

[Robinhood81]

Spotlight. It was excellent!

Yep excellent film, shocking too, I knew about this but I didn't know how high the numbers were

[Fitzcarraldo]

Last night I watched the Russian Stalingrad from a couple years ago. What a stinker! The music is relentless and slo-mo is really overused in cliche-ridden battle scenes.

The story is crap, too. For some reason it has a framing story that opens with an earthquake in present-day Japan. WTF?

It's also loaded with bad CGI, including a scene early on of Russian soldiers on fire charging Germans and fighting as they burn.

The propaganda aspect of it is laughable as well.

There's a German movie called Stalingrad from over 20 years ago that's much better and had to be more challenging to make, as it's a film with no heroes.

[Stavros]

I have not seen this film as it has not yet been released in the UK but it will be showing at the Toronto International Film Festival which begins on the 8th of September. The link below is to the TIFF website but not the best way to arrange its programme. If I am in Toronto at the time I would consider seeing it as I have liked a lot of Walter Hill's films: this is the intro:

(re)Assingment
This jaw-droppingly audacious revenge thriller from the great Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hours) stars Michelle Rodriguez as a lowlife killer put through full male-to-female gender reassignment surgery by a score-settling surgeon (Sigourney Weaver).
http://www.tiff.net/films/re-assignment/

http://www.tiff.net/?filter=festival

[Fitzcarraldo]

I watched The Eiger Sanction last night. Great Clint Eastwood flick. For such an in-demand pro, his first hit is kind of sloppy, though. Decent amount of gratuitous nudity and Clint getting it on with an African-American woman (Vonetta McGee!) and a Native American woman, plus violence and mountain climbing. What more could you want?

[runningdownthatdream]

I have not seen this film as it has not yet been released in the UK but it will be showing at the Toronto International Film Festival which begins on the 8th of September. The link below is to the TIFF website but not the best way to arrange its programme. If I am in Toronto at the time I would consider seeing it as I have liked a lot of Walter Hill's films: this is the intro:

(re)Assingment
This jaw-droppingly audacious revenge thriller from the great Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hours) stars Michelle Rodriguez as a lowlife killer put through full male-to-female gender reassignment surgery by a score-settling surgeon (Sigourney Weaver).
http://www.tiff.net/films/re-assignment/

http://www.tiff.net/?filter=festival

Cool - you might be in Toronto! September is an excellent time to be here.....

[redtiger]

Star Trek:Beyond! Over-hyped and lousy plot! Wait til it comes out on dvd and then either rent it or check it out from your local library. It's not worth wasting your money to see at the theatre!

[fab]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3c/Whiteorleander.jpg/220px-Whiteorleander.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwijy52YiuHOAhVDshQKHeYwAc4QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWhite_ Oleander_(film)&psig=AFQjCNECx3NKNE4yVlneHAH6LAKH_7Mdlw&ust=1472369560006511)

[Stavros]

Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
For reasons I cannot explain I had never seen this film before last night, even though I have seen most of Leone's films several times, they are that good. Nevertheless, I do always feel there is in Leone's films a lack of bite, perhaps because he prefers to create moods and impressions the most common of which is the lowered head (usually wearing a hat) rising to look at someone or something in the distance, accompanied by a short musical motif. Leone spent much of his early years working on productions of opera, and I wonder if the motifs -particularly those associated with curses, or fate- that one finds in the operas of Verdi and Wagner influenced him throughout life. Revenge, and the woes that follow men in search of money by any means is a repetitive theme in Leone films, but he does it well, though the women in his films lack depth of character. Leone died too soon to make more than about 12 films, but they stand up to repeated viewing, I can't imagine anyone making a western this good in 2016, it is hard to believe it was made in 1967 and released the year after.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
For reasons I cannot explain I had never seen this film before last night, even though I have seen most of Leone's films several times, they are that good. Nevertheless, I do always feel there is in Leone's films a lack of bite, perhaps because he prefers to create moods and impressions the most common of which is the lowered head (usually wearing a hat) rising to look at someone or something in the distance, accompanied by a short musical motif. Leone spent much of his early years working on productions of opera, and I wonder if the motifs -particularly those associated with curses, or fate- that one finds in the operas of Verdi and Wagner influenced him throughout life. Revenge, and the woes that follow men in search of money by any means is a repetitive theme in Leone films, but he does it well, though the women in his films lack depth of character. Leone died too soon to make more than about 12 films, but they stand up to repeated viewing, I can't imagine anyone making a western this good in 2016, it is hard to believe it was made in 1967 and released the year after.

Yeah, that's a great movie! And it has a wonderful Morricone score as well. I like it better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Jason Robards is great in it, and of course Claudia Cardinale is a goddess.

I had to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory last night, in memory of Gene Wilder.

[Stavros]

A Fistful of Dynamite (Sergio Leone, 1971) aka Duck, You Sucker!
The last of the Leone films I had not seen before, and for all the trademarks -the whistling theme tune as a motif for fate, the sweaty faces peering out under hats, the cynical realist counterposed to the doubting idealist- the film is probably half an hour or even an hour too long. The film with its Mexican revolutionaries and criminal underclass bears some comparison with Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1968) which is a darker, meaner film than Leone's, but one admires -or dislikes- the slow pace of Leone's films, his near obsession with the contrast between landscape and close-ups, and the way he tries to unravel moral arguments in situations where they either do not exist, or ought to. Unusually I think are the scenes of mass murder in the film, and quite uncommon in westerns.

[Stavros]

Yeah, that's a great movie! And it has a wonderful Morricone score as well. I like it better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Jason Robards is great in it, and of course Claudia Cardinale is a goddess.

I had to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory last night, in memory of Gene Wilder.

Cannot add a positive word on Gene Wilder, as The Producers was so wretched an experience Wilder became an actor to avoid.

[sukumvit boy]

Wow , surprised to see your comment on Wilder ,Stavros.
For me , there are a few actors and comedians I just cannot watch. It is usually because of something about their personal style I just find annoying .
I can understand why some people might find Wilder's style hackneyed , but those Mel Brooks comedies never seem to get stale for me.
However ,I respect your apparent reluctance to speak unkindly of the recently deceased .

[Stavros]

Janis: Little Girl Blue (Amy Berg, 2015)
This biographical film about the singer Janis Joplin aired on the BBC last night, and offered an insight into what it was that both motivated Janis Joplin and ultimately killed her. From a middle class home in Port Arthur in Texas, Janis was ridiculed and abused in school to the extent that one year she was voted 'the ugliest man', a devastating judgement for a teenager, and one that may have haunted her for years thereafter. In addition to her 'tomboy' looks she was a rebel and graduated naturally to the folk-bues-rock scene that was emerging in Austin at the time, an era coincident with the growth of the 'counter-culture' that became the expression of the first generation to have been born during or after the Second World War. It became evident too that Janis had a natural blues voice, and she moved from Austin to San Francisco where in addition to feeling she was in a different world and growing into the music scene that led to her first group -Big Brother and the Holding Company- she was turned on to heroin by a boyfriend. She found love of a sort in the adulation of the public she played to, and needed both that and the intensity of live performance to feel fulfilled, albeit temporarily, but after the excitement of a live gig with no means of 'coming down' heroin became the means of doing so. There were times when she managed to get off the habit, and she found an all-consuming love with a man she met in Brazil in the last year of her life, but their commitments took them apart. What the film does not explore is what impact Janis Joplin's death had on her family, notably her parents who were both happy that she had found something she was good and successful at, but probably appalled by her behaviour and reputation. What the film does provide is an example of a voice that in its prime was thrilling in its raw intensity, a core sound from the 1960s as vital as the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Cream and Hendrix. Indeed, and even though the genre might be different, it is hard to think of a better singer emerging from the US since the 1960s, as most of the female singers since then have been bland, safe, and in many cases not even real singers, the exception being Alison Krauss. I would go so far as to say that the sound of Janis Joplin resembles a firework display of raw emotion, where the sound of Adele or Beyonce resembles a pile of shit.

[Stavros]

Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)
I saw this worthless garbage on the red eye from Toronto, in the murky hours before midnight. A revenge drama in which a posse of real American Trumps who discard the law in favour of 'direct action' against the drug cartels heads down to See-You-Dad Whore-ez, where they shoot up a couple of cars full of tattooed gun-slinging cartelinos (no complaint from Mexican government of course) and then head off to a tunnel in Arizona while elsewhere the 'man of mystery' (not-so Benicio del Toro) obliterates the cartel hombre who murdered his wife and daughter. Into this risible crap the English actor with a Merry Can accent, Emily Blunt, is plunged to offer a moral compass- or come, pass (because she is FBI who are, in this case, literally pussies) which has no relevance as there are no morals in this film at any time. DJ Trump must love this film, which replaces law with action, even though, or because the Gosh! Brolin character admits that until Merry Cans stop shoving white powder up their nose, the trade and its war will go on, and on, and on. This does rather beg the question -who is good, who is evil? Without an answer. Had I not been 35,000 feet over the Atlantic at 11pm, I would have been inclined to leave before the end. Reader, I stayed.

[hardiron4u]

969449

Interesting insight into the true story of the blacklisting of Hollywood screenwriters in the late 1940's.

[Stavros]

969449

Interesting insight into the true story of the blacklisting of Hollywood screenwriters in the late 1940's.

This topic has been tried before with Guilty By Suspicion, an Irwin Winkler film from 1991 with Robert de Niro that to me was a bit too righteous and lacking in both a good script and drama.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101984/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_74

[Budweiser]

Sully.

[hardiron4u]

Red Corner
969984

A interesting story about criminal justice in China involving an American lawyer accused of murder. Be careful who you pick-up when thinking with the wrong head!!!!!

[hamdasl]

Manchurian Candidate (original).
970021

[Stavros]

Locke (Steven Knight, 2013)
I watched this film on tv last night. Apart from some panoramic scenes of a motorway at night most of this film is shot inside a car that is taking Construction Engineer Ivan Locke from the Midlands to London roughly between 8-10pm and consists almost entirely of telephone conversations, other than the imaginary chats Locke has with his absent father. Although this is a film, it ought really to be a radio play, though I doubt this would improve it. I give it 2/10.

[Stavros]

Takers (John Luessenhop, 2011)
As in 'taken to the cleaners' or 'taken for a ride'. This confusing film tries hard to merge Tarantino with Michael Mann and ends up making one wonder if there is a reason why some films are put on tv late at night which is where I saw it.
One wonders what the police in Los Angeles are doing while two gangs wage world war three (to romantic music!) in a hotel not far from police HQ...and is anyone else fatigued with the tendency these days to make every really really bad drug dealing, bank robbing crooks Russians? Or is this part of the new cold war?

[runningdownthatdream]

Takers (John Luessenhop, 2011)
As in 'taken to the cleaners' or 'taken for a ride'. This confusing film tries hard to merge Tarantino with Michael Mann and ends up making one wonder if there is a reason why some films are put on tv late at night which is where I saw it.
One wonders what the police in Los Angeles are doing while two gangs wage world war three (to romantic music!) in a hotel not far from police HQ...and is anyone else fatigued with the tendency these days to make every really really bad drug dealing, bank robbing crooks Russians? Or is this part of the new cold war?

Where have you been the past 50 years! Hollywood bad guys run in cycles dependent on who is making big news in the mainstream American media. In the 70s it was Arabs - because of the energy crisis. In the 80's we had the Japanese and Russians as bad guys - the Russians were obvious but the Japanese were bad because they were threatening American jobs by producing desirable products much cheaper. In the 90s it was Jamaicans and Colombians because they were 'flooding' America with drugs, and pimps, and gang violence. In the 2000s we were back to Russians but not for political reasons - now freed from Communism they were invading with guns, gangs, human trafficking, and extreme violence. More recently its been the Chinese and again for threatening American jobs. Throughout that time, the most constant enemy has been Muslims and 'urban' African-Americans who pose everyday threats to the goodness of America (read: White America)

[BlüeKarma]

Patient 7, a horror anthology set in a mental institution, kind of meh but it did have Michael Ironside.

[Stavros]

Where have you been the past 50 years! Hollywood bad guys run in cycles dependent on who is making big news in the mainstream American media. In the 70s it was Arabs - because of the energy crisis. In the 80's we had the Japanese and Russians as bad guys - the Russians were obvious but the Japanese were bad because they were threatening American jobs by producing desirable products much cheaper. In the 90s it was Jamaicans and Colombians because they were 'flooding' America with drugs, and pimps, and gang violence. In the 2000s we were back to Russians but not for political reasons - now freed from Communism they were invading with guns, gangs, human trafficking, and extreme violence. More recently its been the Chinese and again for threatening American jobs. Throughout that time, the most constant enemy has been Muslims and 'urban' African-Americans who pose everyday threats to the goodness of America (read: White America)

If referring to light-weight, flimsy action films which have no real story you might be right, but consider my argument from a different perspective. I would argue that the best action/drama films out of the US endure over time and stand up to repeated viewing because, amongst other things, the good guys are as interesting as the bad guys, and in almost every case, 'the enemy within' has dominated. This is true of the gangster classics of the 1930s shaped by issue such as prohibition and the depression; the films noir of the 1940s and 1950s where Americans who fail to realise their 'American Dream' take it out on other Americans, or the films from the 1960s where institutional corruption often shapes the plot. Even in a classic like The French Connection the French villain is working with American villains; in The Godfather the enemy is within in the sense that much of the drama is shaped by the conflict between and within the Mafia families. In Dirty Harry, a Conservative critique of liberal law, namely Miranda, the bad guy is that all-too familiar American -the madman with a gun.
There have been divergent examples, in Blade Runner the 'bad guys' are Replicants; in the Matrix trilogy laid low by its Messiah-complex, the enemy is a computer system and then its virus. But look again at Tarantino's queer fantasies -not only are the villains American, they are all male, and in The Usual Suspects, the arch-villain Keyser Soze is...American, surely? In fact, it seems that it is when the action/drama film relies on foreign intruder stereotypes that they fail, at the level of drama, and rely on an orgy of killing to replace the plot.
The one case where the villain is truly problematic is the American woman, as in dire films such as Basic Instinct, Presumed Innocent and Fatal Attraction, with the worst being the abysmal sample of a man dressed as a woman Dressed to Kill. What was Michael Caine thinking of, other than the pay cheque?

Other than the examples of misogyny, I hope you see my point.

[MrBlackbeard]

Sausage Party

[broncofan]

-not only are the villains American, they are all male, and in The Usual Suspects, the arch-villain Keyser Soze is...American, surely?
Agree with all of your points. But that still means there's been a lot of cheap stereotyping in Hollywood movies simply because so many are poorly done. No surprise that when a screenwriter or director relies on a national or cultural stereotype instead of character development, the other aspects of the film are not well executed.

Small point is that in the flashback Keyser Soze is revealed as a Turkish man whose family is killed. In this case, probably not a stereotype, but just a way of connecting a mysterious name with a culture. Certainly Kevin Spacey's character had no trace of a Turkish accent and the back story was told as something of a rumor or legend.

[Stavros]

Small point is that in the flashback Keyser Soze is revealed as a Turkish man whose family is killed. In this case, probably not a stereotype, but just a way of connecting a mysterious name with a culture. Certainly Kevin Spacey's character had no trace of a Turkish accent and the back story was told as something of a rumor or legend.

Let me help you here: Keyser or Qaysar is Turkish for Emperor/Caesar; Soze means Speech, thus: Keyser Soze = Caesar/Emperor of Speech = the man who talks his way out of police custody. Maybe Roger 'Verbal' Kint has had dealings with Turkish drug dealers...
You know nothing, John Snow...

[broncofan]

Let me help you here: Keyser or Qaysar is Turkish for Emperor/Caesar; Soze means Speech, thus: Keyser Soze = Caesar/Emperor of Speech = the man who talks his way out of police custody. Maybe Roger 'Verbal' Kint has had dealings with Turkish drug dealers...
You know nothing, John Snow...
Amazing. Thank God you speak Turkish or we'd have never figured that out. Screenwriter thinks he's so clever using everyday Turkish words for names. What's next. Someone thinking they can sneak an Icelandic subjunctive verb into a film...just kidding everyone knows Icelandic doesn't make heavy use of the subjunctive.

[runningdownthatdream]

If referring to light-weight, flimsy action films which have no real story you might be right, but consider my argument from a different perspective. I would argue that the best action/drama films out of the US endure over time and stand up to repeated viewing because, amongst other things, the good guys are as interesting as the bad guys, and in almost every case, 'the enemy within' has dominated. This is true of the gangster classics of the 1930s shaped by issue such as prohibition and the depression; the films noir of the 1940s and 1950s where Americans who fail to realise their 'American Dream' take it out on other Americans, or the films from the 1960s where institutional corruption often shapes the plot. Even in a classic like The French Connection the French villain is working with American villains; in The Godfather the enemy is within in the sense that much of the drama is shaped by the conflict between and within the Mafia families. In Dirty Harry, a Conservative critique of liberal law, namely Miranda, the bad guy is that all-too familiar American -the madman with a gun.
There have been divergent examples, in Blade Runner the 'bad guys' are Replicants; in the Matrix trilogy laid low by its Messiah-complex, the enemy is a computer system and then its virus. But look again at Tarantino's queer fantasies -not only are the villains American, they are all male, and in The Usual Suspects, the arch-villain Keyser Soze is...American, surely? In fact, it seems that it is when the action/drama film relies on foreign intruder stereotypes that they fail, at the level of drama, and rely on an orgy of killing to replace the plot.
The one case where the villain is truly problematic is the American woman, as in dire films such as Basic Instinct, Presumed Innocent and Fatal Attraction, with the worst being the abysmal sample of a man dressed as a woman Dressed to Kill. What was Michael Caine thinking of, other than the pay cheque?

Other than the examples of misogyny, I hope you see my point.

Agreed........a film like Takers surely falls into the category of lightweight.....it stars Chris Brown AND Hayden Christensen FFS. Such films are made for a certain type of movie-goer.......the type who enjoys WWE-style 'pro' wrestling for example.

The better action/dramas like those you mentioned usually keel to a deeper meaning. And likewise the pseudo-intellectual films that you mentioned are all silk-covered manure which DIDN'T seem to be quite that at the time they were released. I recently watched 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie' as well as 'The Long Goodbye'. Both were hailed as brilliant when released but seeing them now for the first time I find them to be just pretentious and transparent, lacking honesty and depth. Unlike let's say 'The French Connection' and 'Blade Runner'.

[runningdownthatdream]

Agree with all of your points. But that still means there's been a lot of cheap stereotyping in Hollywood movies simply because so many are poorly done. No surprise that when a screenwriter or director relies on a national or cultural stereotype instead of character development, the other aspects of the film are not well executed.

Small point is that in the flashback Keyser Soze is revealed as a Turkish man whose family is killed. In this case, probably not a stereotype, but just a way of connecting a mysterious name with a culture. Certainly Kevin Spacey's character had no trace of a Turkish accent and the back story was told as something of a rumor or legend.

I think I get your point here and I agree. There was no need for the stupid name - it was a cheap trick.

[Stavros]

Arrival (Denis Vileneuve, 2016)
Given the choice between peace and war, we should always choose peace.
This film, which presents itself as a palindrome, is about language and time, and how, if we only learn how to communicate with each other, we can live in peace and harmony, and how we entertain the illusion that we can move through time through memory, but in fact are condemned to live it in only one direction. If there is a major flaw in the film, which has a few (the voice over; and the 12 apostles arrive, they remain, they communicate, and then they...), it is the failure to link the audience to Louise Banks' ability to understand the language of the extra-terrestrials -we can see what is happening, but there is no child-like explanation for a dim audience, which is what you would get, say, in a Spielberg film. Nevertheless, on a scale of 7/10 this is a well-made film that is worth seeing, with a choice of lighting that helps, as it were, to illuminate the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMo3UJ4B4g

[Absarokah]

979580

[sukumvit boy]

Let me help you here: Keyser or Qaysar is Turkish for Emperor/Caesar; Soze means Speech, thus: Keyser Soze = Caesar/Emperor of Speech = the man who talks his way out of police custody. Maybe Roger 'Verbal' Kint has had dealings with Turkish drug dealers...
You know nothing, John Snow...
:Bowdown:Fucking amazing , I always wondered about that !

[sukumvit boy]

I just finished reading John Le Carre's ( real name David Cornwall) newest book ,The Pigeon Tunnel : Stories From My Life
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/john-le-carres-the-pigeon-tunnel-stories-from-spy-writers-life/news-story/075e49675aa5b522f37d4a5f19b0b149
So I decided it was time to rewatch The Third Man , Orson Wells (1949) . That film never gets old for me , I'm so lucky to have a stunning black and white Criterion Collection edition because I see it's no longer available at Amazon.I also never tire of the wonderful zither sound track by zither virtuoso Anton Kares.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9yyDEDGlr0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8jN1treRKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7bInqjmEN4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7bInqjmEN4)

Also decided to watch The Spy Who Came In From the Cold , Richard Burton (1965).I had read the book but never saw the movie. I see that's available on Youtube , plan to watch it tonight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI4Ca1Dic2w

[Stavros]

So I decided it was time to rewatch The Third Man , Orson Wells (1949) . That film never gets old for me , I'm so lucky to have a stunning black and white Criterion Collection edition because I see it's no longer available at Amazon.I also never tire of the wonderful zither sound track by zither virtuoso Anton Kares.


I once considered watching The Third Man just to count the number of times that damn zither plays the theme tune. It was going to be part of a superficial study into the abuse of music in films. I would also have had to sit through Bo Widerberg's Elvira Madigan (1967) to count the number of times one passage from the andante of Mozart's Piano concerto k467 is played, ditto Visconti's film Death in Venice (1971) in which the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony is massacred so many times I think I stopped listening to the symphony for years thereafter, and it is still my least favourite Mahler.

Why would anyone play one portion of a piece of music 100 times in succession, and then stick it in a film -to drive the audience mad?

Karas plucked the theme tune from a guitar practice book and far from enhancing it, gives The Third Man a layer of irritation to add to the cynical plot with its glaring hole -why does Lime invite Holly to Vienna when Lime is making money from crime, the kind of activity Holly frowns upon? I guess Lime doesn't know his friend very well.

The film is contrived and cut from cardboard. Graham Greene based Lime on Kim Philby, which doesn't really chime in with the crime element. You may also want to check your running times as the British version is 11 minutes longer than the US version which also has a voice-over at the beginning to explain that Vienna is divided into four zones controlled by the Russians, the Americans, the French and the British, though the thought of an extra 11 minutes with that damn tune is more than I could bear.

There is also a scene in Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004) in which the contract killer justifies his job on the basis that life has no meaning. It is actually a better scene than the one on the Ferris wheel in the Prater given that Switzerland has in fact produced more than the Cuckoo Clock, and Michael Mann is usually better at making films than Carol Reed.
The Third Man -a film for the dustbin of history.

[Vladimir Putin]

"Rules Don't Apply" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, with a Q&A with Warren Beatty afterwards.

[sukumvit boy]

Very interesting and amusing comments Stavros , thanks . Yes ,I am familiar with the British version.
I was hoping to hear your take in the Burton "Spy" movie.

[Stavros]

Very interesting and amusing comments Stavros , thanks . Yes ,I am familiar with the British version.
I was hoping to hear your take in the Burton "Spy" movie.
Have only seen it once many years ago and cannot recall much of it. I don't rate Burton as an actor- too much ham- but willing to see it again, though I do think it is one of Le Carre's better books.

[Stavros]

I have spent the last week on the Planet of the Apes box set of seven films from the original Planet of the Apes of 1968 through Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the 2001 remake or new version of Planet of the Apes, and the most recent offer Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Look at it this way, the box set cost me £7 and was over-priced by about £6 as the original film is at least original with a stunning ending. The rest are either poorly made tv shows similar in production values to The Love Boat, or in the case of Tim Burton's 're-make of the original', a bizarre 'future-sci-fi' with the permanently confused Mark Wahlberg and an hilarious ending at the feet of Ape Lincoln. The last one Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the best made, with the best script and acting, but reliant on the rebel as hero motif. This film is regularly shown on tv
And i don't even like monkeys, having once been bitten by one. Never again.

[blackchubby38]

And i don't even like monkeys, having once been bitten by one. Never again.

You never know what you're going to read on an internet message board. Case in point, the aforementioned statement.

[sukumvit boy]

LOL, you must be going ape shit !
Sadly ,I never saw any of them as I found the absurdity of folks running around in ape suits too distracting . Thus , I have missed all the references to "Planet of the Apes " in all my favorite cartoon shows , in which dogs who can talk and drive a Prius and babies with football shaped heads who build time machines are not absurdly distracting.
http://www.moddb.com/members/apornasplanet/videos/references-to-planet-of-the-apes-in-cartoons
984558
984557

[Stavros]

LOL, you must be going ape shit !
Sadly ,I never saw any of them as I found the absurdity of folks running around in ape suits too distracting . Thus , I have missed all the references to "Planet of the Apes " in all my favorite cartoon shows , in which dogs who can talk and drive a Prius and babies with football shaped heads who build time machines are not absurdly distracting.


I try to keep an open mind on films and if I am going to see a new release will not read any reviews beforehand. I also wanted to see if this 'franchise' had maintained the quality of the original which though dated now has a well-written script closer to the Pierre Boule novel. Unfortunately, I think the franchise film market is made up of second-rate trash, from the execrable Bond to Star Trek and Star Wars, films empty of content even story, overloaded with cartoon characters and fight scenes poached from every other fight scene ever shot. The three Bourne films work, as does Mission:Impossible, but I can't think of any others. Contrast this with the emergence on TV of the drama serial and the ones like The Wire and Game of Thrones which manage to maintain their quality year after year. Indeed, with the TV market producing such a better product, we may be seeing the end of the Marvel rubbish and to really dream the dream the end of Bond and Stars Trek and War.

[sukumvit boy]

Speaking of comics , I see that youtube has the entire movie Crumb which I enjoyed but found somewhat disturbing when it came out in 1994 . David Lynch , whose work I enjoy very much , was an associate producer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumb_(film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXVX24JoOB8

[BlüeKarma]

The Big Short, parts of it were pretty good, but overall I had a hard time staying awake.

[Stavros]

Speaking of comics , I see that youtube has the entire movie Crumb which I enjoyed but found somewhat disturbing when it came out in 1994 . David Lynch , whose work I enjoy very much , was an associate producer.

My first thought was of George Crumb the composer but no relation to Robert whose work is of no interest to me. In my late teens I lived in a house where a student upstairs had a cartoon of his on the wall that would probably be illegal today. I used to have a Nonesuch album of George Crumb's works like Black Angels, and Ancient Voices of Children which Christopher Bruce choreographed for the Ballet Rambert in 1975.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvpuiI3fGeU

[sukumvit boy]

Looking forward to watching "Rare Exports : A Christmas Tale " around the holiday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tFsbESxaC0

[sukumvit boy]

Soon to be released and widely acclaimed as the best film of 2016 , the German comedy Toni Erdmann.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uwi5EPnpA

http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/movie-review-toni-erdmann.html

[fred41]

Looking forward to watching "Rare Exports : A Christmas Tale " around the holiday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tFsbESxaC0

I saw this quite awhile back and loved it. Think it was on Netflix, but not 100% sure anymore. A good Christmas selection sukumvit boy!

[Stavros]

Passengers (Morten Tyldum, 2016)
I went to see this expecting the worst, but it was not as bad as some reviews have suggested. Don't go expecting a profound experience. There is a problem with the story which mixes a pioneer theme with a rescue mission, and has a moral problem which the rescue sort of resolves, whereas in The Guardian a few days ago the film was accused of justifying stalking. Jennifer Lawrence is hardly pushed to the limit of her abilities and as usual looks good dressed or undressed, but so too does this film, with one of cinema's best spaceships in Avalon. Yes there are plot holes and some silliness, but it is Christmas and the film entertains for a couple of hours.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355644/

[Stavros]

Victoria (Sebastian Schipper, 2015)
This film, shot in one take over just over two hours in Berlin, tells the story of a Spanish woman who meets some guys being thrown out of a club between 4-5am and gets involved in their adventure, climaxing around 6.30am. She emerges at the end as a paid up member of the 'self-preservation society' though one does wonder at times if her behaviour was so reckless she ought not have survived at all. A bravura piece of film-making, but disappointing that crime seems to be the driver of this drama, not least because it leads to some of the least convincing scenes in the film. Nevertheless, worth watching.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4226388/

[holzz]

Adangamaan.

[Stavros]

The English actor John Hurt has died at the age of 77. He appeared in some notable films, such as The Elephant Man, the first of the Alien series, and was a regular on TV in the UK for many years. An actor of great sensitivity often portraying, when younger, vulnerable characters as he grew older he graduated to more senior, often world-weary establishment types associated with government. In his early career he stood out in A Man for All Seasons as the ambitious lawyer Richard Rich who, in this scene, advised by Sir Thomas More to teach rather than seek a position at court, uses his resentment to smear More's reputation and play a role in his eventual execution. He made some crap films, as do most actors, but at his best he could give a film depth through his skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3-e7mtDcAs

[Stavros]

Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973)
I don't recall seeing this when it was released, and have not seen the TV series so I thought I would begin with the original. Although quite interesting the film has no depth, a poor script, some poor acting, and a low budget that makes it all rather flat and lacking the sensational drama the plot seems to demand. I can't imagine the TV series being better, but it can hardly be worse- can it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070909/

[trish]

Manchester By The Sea
The sad story of a man whose understandable inability to forgive himself inhibits his ability to help and relate to others - and his one an incremental step toward progress. Depressing, but well written, with incredible performances.

[Stavros]

Manchester By The Sea
The sad story of a man whose understandable inability to forgive himself inhibits his ability to help and relate to others - and his one an incremental step toward progress. Depressing, but well written, with incredible performances.
I would like to see this film but it is not on general release in the UK I will have to travel to a large city to see it, and that is no guarantee.

Logan's Run (Michael Anderson, 1976)
Set in the year 2274 when people cannot live beyond the age of 30 (in the original book, which I have not read, it is 21), the film exploits the 'little man against the system' in the form of a 'Sandman' who hunts and kills 'runners' who want to live beyond 30. One Sandman questions the system after meeting a young woman and together they escape from the 'Dome' in which they live to discover a living world outside -Washington DC in ruins- and an old man living in Congress -they return to the Dome to destroy it and liberate the people from an early death. This occasionally good looking film has a terrible script, terrible acting and thus resembles an episode of Star Trek or Dr Who. Whether or not a remake is justified I can't say, but I can't see any point to it either.

[Gillian]

Logan's Run (Michael Anderson, 1976)...
This occasionally good looking film has a terrible script, terrible acting and thus resembles an episode of Star Trek or Dr Who.

The point is that is has Jenny Agutter in it and is therefore a good film. End of ... ;)

[Stavros]

The point is that is has Jenny Agutter in it and is therefore a good film. End of ... ;)

An actress of stunning mediocrity.

[Stavros]

Apocalypto (Mel Gibson, 2006)
This film aired on tv a week or so ago. I had not seen it before as I do not intentionally purchase anything by Gibson, and was going to turn it off and go to bed but decided to see it through to the end. Gibson's reputation for ignoring, or distorting history can be found in Braveheart, and also in this truly dismal film which makes some claim to concern the Mayan civilization in decline and the self-inflicted violence that tore it apart. The truth, of course, lies elsewhere, and is not helped by Gibson appearing to confuse Mayan and Aztec rituals, quite apart from the basic premise devaluing the Mayan people he presents as head-chopping lunatics. According to imdb, the budget for the film was $40m, money that could have been better spent on the relief of the poor. In addition to the imdb link there is a powerful critique of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1217-24.htm

[trish]

GET OUT
Gave me new respect for the T.S. motherfuckin' A.

[BeholdTheTrove]

I'm halfway through Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks plays a sailor who's ship is taken over by Somali pirates, really intense stuff! I'll be watching the rest tonight.

[Cerberus]

Bad Santa 2.
Christina Hendricks. wow!

[Jericho]

War On Everyone
A violent, crude, over the top, excellent movie!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3708886/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[Jericho]

War On Everyone
A violent, crude, over the top, excellent movie!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3708886/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Nearly forgot, Derrick Barry makes an appearance, too.
Wasn't expecting that!

[fred41]

Nearly forgot, Derrick Barry makes an appearance, too.
Wasn't expecting that!
will have to watch that...for me usually, Michael Pena makes even a bad movie better.

[Jericho]

will have to watch that...for me usually, Michael Pena makes even a bad movie better.

Him and Alexander Skarsgard work well together.
I enjoyed it.

[Chaos]

The Three Muskateers (newest version)...I fell asleep about 2/3 through...lol.
Not a movie but I will be binging Iron Fist tonight....Marvel/Netflix REALLY knows how to put good shows together.

[Jericho]

I, Daniel Blake.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5168192/?ref_=nv_sr_2

I don't know what to say about this.
I've never really been a fan of Ken Loach films, and this one has its faults.
But if its intention was to leave me feeling depressed, angry, and ashamed of this country, fucking job done!

[Cerberus]

Brimstone.
Don't let this one pass you by.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895315/

[Stavros]

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

Around halfway through this film the police chief says to K 'We are all looking for something real'.
Her name is Joshi; K when he is given a male name is Joe, and his virtual girlfriend is called Joi, I am not sure if this is coincidental or just another aspect of the lame script that lets this film down. Joe K (not in any way related to Kafka's Joseph K, surely not) is part of the Wallace generation of androids (and in no way related to the Wallace Collection in London, surely not) and spends most of the film in a kind of Odyssey though an assumption we are led to belief around half-way turns out to be a clever plot twist and the last image in this film does have an oddly touching effect. For the most this is a fabulous production, with outstanding photography and editing but cannot elevate a trivial study of family love (there is a glimpse at one point of Michelangelo's painting, The Holy Family) into something deep and meaningful though it tries very hard.

In his review of the film in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw, who I assume saw the same film as me, wrote of a scene in which [K] is brought down over a gigantic rubbish dump in San Diego by a low-tech harpoon gun is one of the most exciting action-movie scenes imaginable -a remark I would find extraordinary if I thought Bradshaw was good at his job, but he isn't and the scene is not that awe-inspiring.

Seeing this so soon after the massacre in Las Vegas gave the film an added and welcome addition of nostalgia. The problem is that films about our dystopian future ask more questions than they answer, but as the film is set in 2049 I was inclined to ponder the long-term impact of the politics of 2017 and ask 'we were really that bad at government?' -but when you listen to what Colt .45 says about North Korea, you wonder if Blade Runner 2049 is fiction or documentary. The film can also be seen in 3D and is wrapped in heavyweight 'sound-music' to divert you from the thin script and wooden acting.

[Stavros]

Miss Sloane (John Madden, 2016)

Is it possible to make a film about the political lobby in Washington DC that is interesting, dramatic, funny, informative -something, anything to retain the attention of the audience? On the basis of this film, the answer is no. I would go as far as to say this is one of the worst films I have seen in recent years. There is nothing to recommend and I honestly wish I had never laid eyes on this garbage and wasted over an hour of my life on it.

[bryanferryfan2]

Scooby Doo

[hamdasl]

Some Like It Hot.
But because it was on an airplane, they cut out the pseudo-lesbian scene with Marilyn and Tony Curtis.

[Stavros]

Some Like It Hot.
But because it was on an airplane, they cut out the pseudo-lesbian scene with Marilyn and Tony Curtis.

Doesn't matter where you see it, the film is an embarrassment, it is barely worth a concrete slab in a graveyard.

[Stavros]

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci, 2017)

Some people think films that satirize dictators are tasteless, but it may be a powerful way of stripping them of their legitimacy. Iannucci succeeds with Stalin because he has a sparkling script and an ensemble of brilliant actors who convey both the pitfalls of loyalty to a dead man and his party, and their own naked ambition. Put together in 2014 so long before President Obama was replaced with a foul-mouthed con-man, the film speaks to us because it suggests that for the remnants of Stalin's politburo politics was as much a vanity project as it was about hard political choices facing the USSR at the time. The German sociologist Max Weber developed a theory of the 'charismatic' leader as one example of political rule, but these days we have two examples of a vanity project gone badly wrong -the ten year catastrophe that fell upon Italy when Silvio Berlusconi was elected Prime Minister, and the unfolding mess in the USA where another billionaire businessman thinks he can reform the political system.
To some extent, Nikita Khrushchev (another priceless performance from Steve Buscemi) did reform the USSR, but reforms that did not guarantee his own survival, and the film does tend to underline the callous attitude to life, and the paranoia that circulated at the time, and these days may have returned with so many people afraid that public criticism of Putin will result in them covered in a blanket on the sidewalk, very dead. Although there are many factual errors in the film, it conveys well the paranoia of the times, expertly presented at the beginning of the film, and in a cameo of effervescent delight by Andrea Riseborough as Stalin's daughter.
Highly recommended.

[youngblood61]

WonderWomen. It was pretty good too.

[slave2u]

maze runner: scorch trails - not all that good, but to be fair not really aimed at me,

[MDinMD]

Into The Wild.

I read the book years ago and liked it; the movie was very, very good. The cinematography alone was worth the two-and-a-half-hour length.

[BatMasterson]

Darling. A horror film on one of the streaming services presently.

[bluesoul]

i'm a hater so you will get spoilers (do not read if you dont want spoilers. i am a hater)


beyard and me: short about 2 gay dudes. one was a civil rights actvisit; the other was just gay. things happened.

blade runner 2049: boooring.the dame i went with started making out with me about 12 minutes into the film and i reciprocated because that was moreentertaining. things happened, some people got injured, and whenever someone died they yelled "oooowwww"
if someone tells you they liked it, thats what they mean. (i.e. befriend them ASAP)h

happy death day: boring. walked out. luckily into this-

jigsaw: not really into this kinda stuff but i hate to admit it- i enjoy this stuff. it's silly and sadistic and over the top. i kind of think of it as "okay, what can you do next that's more fucked up?" kind of way. because the story is always the same. torbin bell said he'll be at the arclight randomly all weekend to meet fans if thats your thing.

dog tags: i've been hounding everyone i know all week about this film because i couldn't watch it as a kid. now i have. it's brutal. it's adults only. it's everything i never wanted to see but had to see. i won't remember the others, but i will remember this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmfmO-m4I58

[fred41]

Dame?...are you channeling the ghost of Frank Sinatra?
There were no spoilers...bit disappointed.
Dog Tags...I think I may have seen it already, but I'm not sure, so now I'll have to find a copy. It looks bad, but it might be 'funny as long as you're stoned Bad', type bad.

[slave2u]

i'm a hater so you will get spoilers (do not read if you dont want spoilers. i am a hater)



but which of those was the last one you watched?

[slave2u]

cabin in the woods - didn't get to finish, mate called round, we chatted, they left, i fell asleep so will finish it tomorrow.

[bluesoul]

but which of those was the last one you watched?

jigsaw was the last i watched. actually enjoyed it but not in the sense it's a good movie. it was just fun. and sorry i had no spoilers (i guess i'm not a hater after all- sad!).

[Stavros]

The Imposter (Bart Layton, 2012)

I bought this in my local shop in a sale. It cost me £2. I was robbed. It is barely worth 2 pence.

[BJ4TS]

Wind River...I was surprised at how good it was. Dialog was great.

[Stavros]

Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas, 2016)

I have much enjoyed earlier films by Assayas, notably Summer Hours and his series on Carlos the Jackal. This film appears to be about mediums, ghosts, self and others, while sort of straying into horror at some level. I don't know what to make of it, and will watch it again. It is a slow moving films which has some interesting moments, but a lot will depend on whether Kristen Stewart has the appeal to carry this film. I am not sure the film has as much depth or visual subtlety as I would like, but it is worth a look, and can be purchased now at a reduced price in most shops.

[broncofan]

Wind River...I was surprised at how good it was. Dialog was great.
Wind River
I had been told it was good but didn't know what to expect. I thought the acting was very good, particularly Jeremy Renner's performance. It was understated at times, powerful at other times, with good dialogue but not overdone. There's was a decent bit of violence but it was necessary to the story. I am not sure how typical that is of life on a Native American reservation, but it seemed like a serious and well researched depiction.

Anyhow, the story was about the murder of a young woman on Native American reservation in Wyoming. A tracker for the Fish and Wildlife Service and a young fbi agent investigate her death. Can't give too much else away. I definitely enjoyed it.

[skirtrustler]

Groundhog Day ... again.