What is The Last Movie You Watched?

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Originally Posted by Stavros

If you didn't like The Mule, I can't recommend another film of an old man robbing banks, apparently also based on a true story.

The Old Man and the Gun (David Lowery, 2018 ) has been showing on UK tv more than once, and is a tedious succession of polite exchanges between Robert Redford and some unfortunate bank teller or manager, with the inevitable gun somewhere in his grasp. The film has the charm of cat shit on the carpet, as the memory of its 'banter' with horse-loving Sissy Spacek lingers unwanted, for at least 24 hours. That said, Ms Spacek - who made some genuinely memorable films in the 1980s- looks to be in better condition than Mr Redford- maybe we should all take up horse riding as we get older. Got to be safer and healthier than robbing banks.

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:banana:

Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood, 2015)

This aired on tv the other night, and presents an air strike on suicide bombers preparing for a mission as a moral dilemma because a young girl arrives outside their building to set up a stall and sell bread. There is a cast of well-known actors with a well-drilled script, but as I did not believe -on the basis of air strikes and drone strikes across the Middle East and Afghanistan- that anyone in the military or government in the UK or the US would agonise for so long over this moral problem, it might have been better to call the film Pie in the Sky.

"Mars Attacks "and "Guildmember" .
Absurd ,stupid and mindless, best watched with someone you love and are not trying to impress .
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt011699
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin..._in_Goldmember

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (Michael Cimino, 1974)

Though I have seen this film several times, I started watching it late night on tv, and decided to stay the length again. It was the first of the 8 films Cimino directed, and rivals Heaven's Gate as his best, though I think his films are under-rated. Eastwood may also have been at his peak in the 1970s, but whatever, and in spite of the references to other films (eg, Midnight Cowboy), it is an engaging film, with a spakling script and some fine acting, particularly from Jeff Brides, though the Montana Armoury's security system lacks credibility. The scene with Mr Frosty on the wrong street being harangued by a schoolboy must have been something Tarantino remembered when he came to make Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction -?

The streaming TV series ,"The Monarch of The Glenn" ,made between 2000 and 2005 I find this charming series interesting and entertaining. We just started series one and I am reminded of John McPhee's delightful book "The Crofter and the Laird" describing the Scottish Highlands system of land management and ownership with it's roots in feudal times.
https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show...ch-of-the-glen

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/..._and_the_Laird

Judas and the Black Messah (Shaka King, 2021)

Based on the true strory of Black Panther Party leader in Chicago, Fred Hampton, this is a gripping film with a strong script, well-chosen and not intrusive music, and an array of cinematic skills in lighting, editing, camerawork -I was worried this was going to be a standard biopic, but in the era of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor the relevance is clear, based on the evidence the FBI was involved in Hampon's murder and covered it up for years. It is astonishing to bear in mind Hampton was just 21 years old at the time of his death, while the actors playing him and the FBI undercover agent Wllliam O'Neal (even yonger than Hampton in real life) are much older.

There is little in the film to link the Panther's socialist tactics with the pre-existing but no less important community work in Chicago with which Saul Alinsky is associated, nor any sense of any dialogue the Panther's might have had with the Lost-Found Nation of Islam and its corruptt and twisted leader Elijah Mohammed, surely in the broader context of Chicago, and especially in the turbulent 1960s this would have merited more attention, where the attempt by Hampton to fuse the aims of the Panthers with the city's Gangs did in fact take place (see the links for historical accuracy).

I am not sure the fim emphasies that in Chicago guns were used in self-defence, though there seems to have been a mixed message on this in the Panther Party more widely. Thus the film may be part of a conversation in the US that reviews the past with a more favourable attitude to the Black Panther Party than has been the case since it went into decline in the 1970s. That said, the Marxian and Maoist elements in Hampton's speeches and perspective open the rift between the Panther's social and community work, and their revolutionary intent. This was a revolution without a resolution, or one where the tenets that maintaned the USSR and China and were the currecy of activists who supported the Cuban Revolution and the Vietnamese Communists, have long since been tossed into the dustbin of history. That does not invalidate socialism but begs the question of what it might be in the 21st century, while the insistent and violent reality of race in the US remains as toxic now as it was in 1969, as if little had changed.

As Roger Ebert has argued in his blog, the film does not really develop out the character of O'Neal and his relaionship with Hampton, though Lakeith Stanfield gives as good a performance as he can with the material he is given. I really liked this film and recommend it to anyone with an interest in the 1960s.

Historical accuracy is discussed in these two links-

https://slate.com/culture/2021/02/ju...-accuracy.html

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/r...black-messiah/

A Cure for Wellness (Gore Verbinski, 2016)

The most obvious cure for something that doesn't need a cure: do not go to a Sanatorium in Switzerland and be mistaken for a patient and never get out. The film has multiple references to other films, mostly 'Gothic Horror via Kubrick) but even that is just a conceit to perpetuate a long and ultimately unsatisfying film.

Nomadland (Chloé Zhao, 2020)

What happens when people lose a home, but gain a house -on wheels. This gently stated film on grief and loss explores how people adapt, how they can survive through temporary jobs and friendships, but never regain the stability they once had, even if there is an implication that the past was not always that good. The cruelty of industrial decline does not generate rage or anger, while Frances McDormand offers a visual explanation of her situation that needs no words. A most intelligent and sensitive film.

No Time to Die (Cory Fukunaga, 2021)

Not time to die? Oh I don't know, after the bike chase, the car chase, the rogue scientist, the billionaire baddie ("people want oblivion"), guns with unlimited ammunition going pop-pop-pop, stun grendes, real bombs, female accomplices in skimpy clothing, irate bosses, and drivers at dusk wearing sunglasses....maybe now is as good a time as any. Farewell, Bond -don't come back, there's a good chap -or chapette...

Dune, which was over hyped IMO. Nothing happens and then it just sort of ends.

Dune

Lynch Dune is better

Dune (Frank Herbert, 1965)
Dune (David Lynch, 1984)
Dune (Denis Villleneuve, 2021)

Frank Herbert's ambitious series of six novels begins with Dune, which is set in 10191 and tells the story of two families squabbling over a previous commodity found only on a Desert Planet called Dune. The inhabitants of Dune do not benefit from the trade in 'Spice' or 'Melange' and believe one day a Messiah/Mahdi will come and liberate them from the oppression they have experienced. The main character in this, Paul Atreides is a direct descendent of Agamemnon who led the unified Greek armies against Troy. The book is an object lesson in theft, perhaps when JK Rowling was stealing names and ideas and themes from European literature, she figured 'if Frank Herbert could do it so can I'- even creating a young man who doesn't realize at frst that he has special powers and a special mission to accomplish...yawn....

David Lynch in 1984 attempted to compress all of the first book into one film, thus being forced to leave out a lot of plot and characters, and having to rely on 1980s technology to represent the sandworms, spacecraft etc, but actually does a good job considering the material he has to work with. He also had the benefit of Francesca Annis, in her prime one of the most astonishing beauties on screen, but with a lame hero who never rises to the challenge.

Denis Villeneuve has filmed half the first book, the assumption being Part One will be followed by Part Two -and Three? His hero is as feeble and uninspiring as Lynch's, but the film does offer more detail close to the book, but cannot avoid the bland fact that this is a film that is not really about more than some rival families fighting each other. If there are 'deep' issues in Herbert's book about the power of international finance, a global trade in one precious commodity, and the resonances with the Middle East, Petroleum, and mind control, this film doesn't expore them. And though the desert Planet is supposedly a variation on Iraq, Arrakis could just as well be a merger of the Arabic Arak or the Turkish Raki.

The first link offers a claim that Herbert was influenced by the author Lesley Blanch, as well as obvious lifting from European and Asian literature and religion. The second link goes much deeper into Herbert's background, his hard labour, and the fact that just as Herbert poached from others, others poached from him -there is a checklist of 'similarities' between Dune and Star Wars, for example.

All in all, a disappointing experience, not one I shall be keen to follow. But imagine, after 12,000 years, men are still fighting each other with daggers and swords...

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/...story-of-dune/

http://www.moongadget.com/origins/dune.html

Going Clear (Alex GIbney, 2015)

Based on the book by Lawrence Wright, this explores the highs and lows of the universal fraud called Scientology -lots of ology, little or no science. Banned in the UK, it can nevertheless be seen on the internet here-

https://watchdocumentaries.com/going...son-of-belief/

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Originally Posted by Stavros

Going Clear (Alex GIbney, 2015)

Based on the book by Lawrence Wright, this explores the highs and lows of the universal fraud called Scientology -lots of ology, little or no science. Banned in the UK, it can nevertheless be seen on the internet here-

https://watchdocumentaries.com/going...son-of-belief/

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Looks interesting ,I read and found Wright's 2013 book to be fascinating.

This looks like a hoot, so I hope to see it when it is released...if I am still alive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbIxYm3mKzI&t=165s

The Nutcracker ,the movie 1986
Beautifully done ,happy holidays
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091658/

Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021)

Don’t look up, don’t look down, don’t look to the sides, but do look now. Is this a film about climate change or disaster management in the age of Covid? Does it trivialise the important, or expose our fear of fear, causing us to prefer to do nothing as catastrophe looms?

Well, for all its naughty hysteria, over the hill acting, and a supremely unattractive Jennifer Lawrence (but I can confirm female PhD candidates can be sexy and intelligent), it was entertaining, that at least is true.

No Time to Die

Even for a Bond film it's an incredibly stupid title. It's like they pulled a word from random ones and were like this makes sense. It doesn't. Worst Craig Bond film by far. Contrived plot and under written villain. Bad send off.

I Care a Lot (J Blakeson, 2020)

Sarcasm taken to the Nth degree, and if there is one, Rosamund Pike gets the Oscar for smiles...even if they are phoney.

The Blind Side (John Hancock 2009)

There is a tall building in Chicago named after John Hancock. This version would be a tall story if it were not based on the truth, though the real Michael Oher isn't impressed with it. I don't think films about sport ever make it past the half-way line, or the basket, and this ain't no different. I watched it because I like Sandra Bullock.

Elektra (Rob Bowman, 2005)

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

Azor (Andreas Fontana, 20210

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

Bram Stoker's Van Helsing

You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017)

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

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

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

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

Official Secrets (2019) Netflix

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

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

Attachment 1368070

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Originally Posted by bruce_willy

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

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

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

The Batman

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

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

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Originally Posted by Stavros

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

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

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by bruce_willy

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by Stavros

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Originally Posted by bruce_willy

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

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

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

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The Glenn Greenwald substack link I provided was about how the so-called "fact checkers" were lying and is 24 hours old. You provide a link to the "fact checkers" from a week ago.

LOL.

Glenn Greenwald, oh dear. Like he doesn't have an axe to grind?

How does a legally binding treaty that is public knowledge become an example of the 'deep state' at work? The Americans were all over Russia when Yeltsin was President -they were invited in to Russia and the Ukraine, they came with capital and expertise to modernize the clapped out industries Russia had; they formed partnerships with the richest Russian Oligarchs and Putin got his cut.

Crucially, for this post, the US persuaded Ukraine to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons (South Africa did too), and then built in mechanisms to safeguard the stockpiles of reserves and technology because in the 1990s the Russians were incapable of doing it -do you not remember those scare stories of nuclear weapons being stolen in Russia because their security was so poor and impoverished Russians needed the money and they were going to sell these 'bombs' to Militant Muslims? None of that was true either. All you have is a working agreement with the US which Putin doesn't like, so it becomes a conspiracy, just as the Infowars commentary on the Olive Stone film ends by insisting the wicked US was determined to import into Russia those evils that have so corrupted the US at home -geneticaly modified foods, Macdonalds, and 'sexual perversions', presumably Hungangels!

Whatever -I was going to link the film but YouTube asked me to sign in to see it, and other sources claim YouTube have now removed the film. I thnk that is wrong. I think Oliver Stone should be publicly accountable for this sort of trash, and also explain why he never balances his claims with comment from someone in the Ukraine who doesn't agree with him -the only voices you hear are pro-Putin.

It is available on Vimeo here so those not famiiar with it can make up their own mind-

https://vimeo.com/248285239

This is free on youtube. Over 19 million views now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4

Thanks for this link bruce-willy, and the deeply flawed presentation, which shares with Oliver Stone, but in less hysterical terms, the view that the crisis/crises are US led, and amount to a 'top down' form of political revolution. Go straight to 23.10 and Mearsheimer's claim that the Russians have taken Crimea but won't go further and 'try to conquer Ukraine' -because 'Putin's much too smart for that'-hmmmm....so he isn't smart?

Where are the people in these presentations? Nowhere, or, like sheep they blindly follow the Americans, or for that matter in the East and South, the Russians. No mention of the fact that between 1990 and 2004 the Oligarchs, corrupt officials and organized crime stole two-thirds of the country's wealth and the people had simply had enough and wanted change.

And why would Ukraine want to be part of the corrupt core, Russia, the destinaton for most of its wealth, rather than the open democracy of the EU and its Single Market? What terrified Putin was the move toward the very form of democracy that Mearsheimer admits Putin objects to, and decided to use force to stop it- because what the people want is irrelevant to him. But suppose its what the Ukrainians wanted?

As for NATO, there was no forward march in the simple sense he presents it or Finland would be in NATO and it is not. Georgia was an example of a State that to my mind is not logically or geographically in Europe, so has no claim on membership of the EU, but was for good reason fed up with being the footstool for Russian crooks, in the way Azerbaijan has become. So, as with Stone, so with Mearshemer, a contentious presentation of 'Power Politics' which takes it cues from the Top, never coming to terms with the 'bottom' or the broad mass of Ukrainian people, and one wonders if the Russian speaking citizens in the East and the South feel truly blessed to be part of Russia.

You can't force democracy on people, but can you deny it to them too, if that is what they want? And is it not strange, that Americans who have based their entire economic justification for their Union on free markets, seem in these two cases so reluctant to admit new members into it? The UK has left the largest Single Market in the world, and it has been a terrible mistake, one can see why Ukraine wants to be part of it, as indeed at one time, Putin himself considered possible.

He made his choices, and they were the wrong ones.

The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021)

A contemporary version of the 14th century poem which changes its ending, and does not really follow through the theme of Chivalry that is fundamental to the original. It looks wonderful, and the acting is ok, but it is slow, and the change in the ending requires some thought, which I haven't given it much of. The sorcery and magic elements are not as prominent as they are in the original poem, nor is the well-worn idea that a young man must succeed at various trials before attaining 'adulthood' pursued, though this is also a fault in Tolkien. It's not that bad, so I recommend it. The IMDB entry is unusually inaccurate as it give Count Tipperary in Ireland as the location, whereas the extra on the DVD has the director and other members of the crew stating they shot it in County Kildare.

The Batman!

I sold my Green Knight 4K disc, didn’t like it. Glad I only paid $10 for it on Black Friday.

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Originally Posted by iHeart_PONG

Jeffery Wright is really only in this as a set up for his forthcoming HBO Max series focusing on the GCPD.

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Already been done, it was called Gotham on Fox TV and it was a great show. I own the entire series on Blu-ray. Jeffery Wright was great in the film.

Glad Batfleck isn’t in it.

Fantastic movie, liked it better than No Way Home.

Very sad to hear that Ray Liotta has died at the age of 67 while filming in the Dominican Republic. He has over 120 credits on IMDB mostly of films I haven't seen or heard of, and though he will be remembered for Goodfellas, he was in many other fine films too.

Ray Liotta - IMDb

Ray Liotta Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ - YouTube

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Originally Posted by bruce_willy

This is free on youtube. Over 19 million views now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4

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I ve saw that

Inheritance (Vaughn Stein, 2020)

'Simon Pegg as you've never seen him before!'-and never want to see again. Like this film.