I didn’t realize anyone was in both of them. Huh.
I like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and The Greatest Showman. I just don’t like West Side Story, but had heard such great things about this adaptation.
Huh. I didn’t quite make it halfway through - I thought it was terrible. De gustibus non est disputandum.
Godzilla Vs. Kong
My son wanted to see it. Skull island is 10X the movies that Godzilla Vs. Kong is, but I did enjoy Gvs.K fairly well, this being the second time I’d seen it.
I hate both of the recent Godzilla movies they made, though.
The Suicide Squad
I’ve seen it before. You know what? This movie is good, but a lot less good than the Guardian of the Galaxy movies. Peacemaker, the TV show, was actually better than the Suicide Squad movie, too.
Anyway, it’s fun enough, but I don’t think it is quite as good as some people thought when it came out.
After Yang
A meditation grief and healing, set in a sci-i universe with AI, clones, and holographic data storage. To its credit, it could have turned into a paranoid conspiracy tale set in a dystopian corporate future or a dark comedy in which apathy and bureaucracy crush a lone sane everyman, but it doesn’t, and it is stronger for that. Highly recommended.
Just watched Who’s Minding the Mint? because people recommended it on the “Your 3 Funniest Movies”. It was funny. My favorite part was
When the crew was escaping through the sewer in a line of boats from a Kiddyland amusement park, led by The Captain, played by Victor Buono, who was by far the funniest character in the movie.
My husband pointed out that Jamie Farr plays the most conservatively dressed character on the night of the heist.
Mrs. W wanted to watch Free Guy the other night. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Really fun and entertaining.
I thought, since I’m not much into video games, that it wouldn’t resonate. But it’s not so much about video games. I’m sure there were Easter eggs that I missed, but it’s not very esoteric at all.
My most recent five:
Defending Your Life
Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep costar as recently-dead people in a sort of Purgatory, trying to win the right to proceed to Heaven and falling in love as they do. A rather dry comedy, but I liked it.
Cocoon
Old farts in a Florida retirement home get a new lease on life when friendly aliens move in next door. Charming, bittersweet and often funny.
Ratatouille
A Parisian rat with ambitions of becoming a great French chef teams up with a hapless kitchen assistant, and both end up the better for it. Amazing Pixar animation and a pretty good story. Watch for quick, clever callbacks to both The Incredibles and Up.
Rushmore
A brainy but academically-lackluster teenager at a prep school falls for a winsome teacher and finds himself kinda sorta locked in a romantic triangle with a self-loathing local businessman (Bill Murray, rarely better); zany hijinks ensue to a terrific soundtrack. Still one of my favorite Wes Anderson movies; I actually think it’s close to a masterpiece.
Splash
Tom Hanks plays an unlucky-in-love New Yorker who falls for a beautiful, mysterious young woman who’s actually (wait for it) a mermaid. A very Eighties romcom but definitely still worth a look.
Your random reminder that Wilford Brimley was 50 years old when he made Cocoon….
I took a trip in my time machine to LA in the mid-Sixties and watched The T.A.M.I Show and The Big T.N.T. Show; supposedly the first two live Rock Concert films ever made.
The T.AM.I. Show was filmed at the Santa Monica Cvic Auditorium in October, 1964 during the height of the British Invasion. The producers distributed free tickets to high schoolers to see a lineup that included Chuck Berry, The Supremes, James Brown, and The Rolling Stones and half the fun is watching the audience and realizing a lot of those awkward, square-looking kids are the same people you probably saw in the Woodstock film.
Jan and Dean are the emcees, screwing up their cues and way out of their depth. While Jan battles a misbehaving mic stand, Dean looks like he’s high as a kite although it doesn’t seem to have affected his skateboarding skills. Their faux pas are actually a nice testament to the show’s authenticity. No lip syncing and very little editing.
The Lineup:
Chuck Berry
Gerry and the Pacemakers (Lots of screaming from the girls in the audience - this as close as many will come to seeing the Beatles live.)
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Marvin Gaye (Darleen Love is one of the backup singers)
Lesley Gore - (You can tell she knows what a fucked up song “Maybe I Know” is.)
Jan and Dean (Spoiler: There’s a skateboard in the guitar case)
The Beach Boys (Dennis is the only one who looks awake)
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (no Beatles covers which were his bread and butter.)
The Supremes
The Barbarians (The most obscure band in the lineup but the one most ahead of its time. The drummer is proto-Keith Moon…and he has a hook for one hand!”
James Brown (This is THE definitive James Brown performance. Keith Richards says the Stones’ worst decision ever was agreeing to let Brown go on stage before them.)
The Rolling Stones (Jagger knows exactly where the camera is and gives it all his attention. His dance moves have been neutralized by the guy standing on the stage 5 minutes earlier)
Bonus points if you can pick out Teri Garr and Toni Basil among the go-go dancers (who have obviously put in more rehearsal time than the emcees.)
If, like me, your bag is that era and its music it doesn’t get much better than T.A.M.I If, like me, you love a good train wreck, read on…
The Big TNT Show was filmed about a year later in a Hollywood auditorium on Sunset by mostly the same production crew as T.A.M.I. The audience looks younger than the one at T.A.M.I. and are still kind of awkward and shy, but the boys have longer hair and a few groups of girls in the audience came prepared with some chair-bound choreography.
The wheels almost immediately start to slip off the rails with an orchestral version of “Satisfaction” conducted by host…David McCallum. The WTF look on the kids’ faces is priceless. Then you have Ray Charles and Petula Clark repeating the performances they’ve perfected over innumerable TV appearances. The Lovin’ Spoonful bring the first signs of life to the show and then Bo Diddly and his band almost makes you think watching this thing might not be a total waste of time. Heck, I might even get off my ass and do the twist in front of my TV! Let’s keep the momentum going with…Joan Baez. I got nothing against Joan Baez but I’m standing in front of my TV ready to duck walk across my living room. “500 Miles” seems like 500 minutes. More Ray Charles and then the part of the show where the train hits a bus full of nuns and orphans. Joan Baez and Phil Spector join forces to ruin “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”. Watching and listing to it made me feel dirty! The Ronettes singing “Be my Baby” goes a little way toward getting Joan and Phil’s abomination out of my head. Now it’s time for the newest teen heartthrob and Rock wunderkind…Roger Miller! After a 5 1/2 second rendition of “Dang Me” Roger helpfully explains to the teenyboppers that he doesn’t do Rock n Roll and then proceeds with a set that would rightfully garner a standing ovation at the Grand ol Opry. Now it’s time for the Byrds. Crosby’s stupid poncho - check. McGuinn’s cool shades - check. Gene Clark’s steaming resentment that Roger gets to sing lead on the Dylan numbers? Super double dog check! More Petula and then time for a quick nap during the Donovan numbers. The only thing they did right is save the best for last. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue is worth the wait. The man may have been a monster, but, damn, that was one tight band! If you watch this film, turn it off after Ike and Tina unless you are afraid to miss another David McCallum instrumental and the notice to look for next year’s concert (there wasn’t one).
TL DNR: T.A.M.I. is good fun. T.N.T. is all kinds of fucked up fun.
I remember that! Younger than I am now. IMDB says they bleached his hair and moustache, and added makeup to give him liver spots and more prominent veins.
I’ve seen the last 3/4 of The Philadelphia Story several times and watched the beginning 1/4 for the first time last night. Among the “charming” throwbacks to another time is Cary Grant winding up his arm to punch Katherine Hepburn in the mouth. Luckily he comes to his senses and only pushes her to the ground. Shortly thereafter, photographer Elizabeth comments on the southern decor of a house, surprised that “there aren’t pictures of banjos and pickaninnies”. I watch a lot of old movies and seeing things that wouldn’t fly these days is a constant but for some reason these really stuck out for me. That aside, it is a fun film if you enjoy classics.
I re-watched The Philadelphia Story recently, when it came up on the Unspooled podcast’s list of the AFI Top 100. it seemed to consist of a steady stream of Katharine Hepburn’s friends and relations lining up to tell her what an awful person she is. She should have told them all to FOAD.
Hey, one of my favorite Dopers, C_K_Dexter_Haven, got his username from that movie (Cary Grant’s character)!
The King’s Man - an occasionally ridiculous, occasionally poignant prequel to the other Kingsmen films and as such a little uneven and requiring even more suspension of disbelief than the other films in the series. Nailed who the OTT secret villain was pretty much from the beginning, but still enjoyed it.
A surprisingly good performance from Ralph Fiennes who really carries the whole film, while Gemma “Occasionally remembers to be some kind of Northern” Arterton continues her unbroken streak of mediocre acting.
I call that the “rule of the superfluous character”.
“I Really Do Care.” We liked it, loved the ending.
I watched ‘something’ called Tenet today…
I didn’t understand a fucking minute of this Old Bullshit. Visually kind of exciting, but the story? Complete and utter nonsense. Time travel, war, car chases… just too much… Not a second of this made a bit of sense. And then there is the Ultra-annoying woman “and her son!” crap going on.
Lady, you are on the brink of complete world-wide annihation, get some fucking perspective. Complete Bollocks!
Amen! Tenet was the biggest disappointment for me. I think I hated it and will never see it again. Crying shame. Inception is one of the best movies of the last 15 years and I loved the Batman movies Nolan made.
Tenet was trash.
Gorilla At Large. Starring Raymond Burr and someone named Anne Bancroft 
. Not quite MST3K quality, but pretty cheesy and fun. Also The Wasp Woman.