Black Widow, last night.
Quite good, as expected; my wife and I will be heading to the theater to see it again soon.
Contact is a good but not great movie, I’d say, and one of the few that is quite a bit better than the book it was based on. Jodie Foster is terrific in the lead role.
I watched No Sudden Move on HBO Max the other day. It was pretty good. Plot was a little difficult to follow but I admit I wasn’t paying 100% attention to it the whole time. Felt kind of like an extra-long, standalone episode from the Fargo TV series.
It’s 100+ outside, 30 mph wind and about 6% humidity. I’m staying inside!
Watched more questionable Sci-Fi. The Adjustment Bureau. Not ‘awful’, but pretty silly. But the movie made me think that this might really be how the world works. Every time something good comes my way, some little thing derails it and sends me back into the shitter.
Oh, wait. That would be The Beer. Never mind.
But really, unless you are a Matt Damon fan, very little to recommend about it. Really non-sensical.
Last week, via the Netflix DVD-by-mail service, I saw a truly bad film called Transylmania, a vampire spoof set in Romania. Really nothing worthwhile. But the backstory is interesting. Apparently, after the movie was completed, the producers convinced some film financing companies to loan them money for the print and advertising costs. First, $11.745 million, then $2 million more and then more after that. A grand total of almost $22 million. Of course the movie was a massive flop. And remember that it was complete before these supposedly smart people invested. (Presumably had they seen the film, they’d know better than to loan any money.)
An article about the situation is here, at the website of The Hollywood Reporter.
Saw Black Widow tonight, pretty good, everything you’ve heard about Florence Pugh is true (in a good way).
But I haven’t heard anything about Florence Pugh!
That’s true!
I heard she’s in this movie, and I guess that’s true, too!
Phew! I thought it was me, but it’s also you!
Posers!
Ford Vs. Ferarri
★★ out of ★★★★★
Gist: If you like sports dramas, watch it. Otherwise, skip it.
This is a movie exclusively for people who like sports dramas or are really into car racing. It offers almost nothing for anyone outside those groups and I found myself mostly bored watching it. There are two parts to this movie: the development of a racing vehicle and the race itself. The race itself was very interesting, but the development of the vehicle was a slog to get through.
Pros:
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great racing footage
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Chrisitan Bale and Matt Damon do a great job in their roles
Cons:
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Bale and Damon can not save a movie this uninteresting
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I was bored until the final race sequence, which makes up a good 35 minutes of the movie-making
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For sports fans and racing fans exclusively. Nothing for people outside those groups
I would only recommend this movie to people who are specifically interested in racing or really love sports dramas like Moneyball. This was not a movie I enjoyed even though I admire the craft behind the movie.
Batman Begins - streams on Hulu
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Gist: A great movie that holds up well 16 years later. Highly recommended.
We get so used to the idea that the Marvel movies are vastly superior to the DC movies, it can be easy to forget that DC released three Batman movies from Christopher Nolan beginning just 16 years ago. I hadn’t seen it in quite awhile and it was very refreshing to see it again.
Pro’s:
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This movie is 16 years old and hasn’t aged a day. If you released it today, no one would notice it is “old”
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They relaunched Batman successfully at a time it seemed his character had run its course in films
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Excellent cinematography, editing, directing, and acting
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Great score
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Christian Bale may have been a surprise, but he is a great Batman and Bruce Wayne
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This is even superior to the 1989 Batman movie with Michael Keaton
Con’s:
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Batman does not appear as much as one would like in a Batman movie
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Batman normally does not kill, but he basically does kill the villain of this film-making
The “con’s” are irrelevant, though. This is an amazing movie and I would recommend it to everyone. If you missed out or haven’t seen it in awhile, go see Batman Begins.
Rounders (1998) (HBO Max). Matt Damon and Edward Norton as poker players; with a very young John Turturro and John Malkovich chewing up the scenery with a ridiculous Russian accent. I’d somehow heard a lot about this film but had never seen it – quite good, despite the dialog being 50% jargon.
I saw this in the theater just the once and never saw it again. I do remember pretty much enjoying it.
I remember really liking Batman Begins but I was disappointed in the followup films, which seemed to drop the fighting for justice angle and really didn’t have a lot of substance. Just sleek and flashy.
Midnight Run on Netflix. Classic Robert De Niro vehicle with Joe Pantoliano and Dennis Farina thrown in for good measure.
The Dark Knight is amazing and is actually superior to the first movie. The last one had a hard task and while there are misfires in it, it isn’t really bad or anything.
Great buddy movie/chase movie! One of my favorites. Best scene: Bounty hunter De Niro threatens to kill his prisoner, Charles Grodin, while talking on the phone to his boss. Grodin looks a little shocked, and De Niro, without saying anything, shakes his head and grimaces, as if to assure him, “Don’t worry about it - I’m just bullshitting this guy.”
Midnight Run has one of my favorite quotes: “Here come two words for you, shut the f*ck up.”