There was a version I saw as a multiple part series on PBS a few years ago. As much as I love the 1935 version, I liked this one even more.
I just finished Kottentail. It’s about a mutant man bunny who kills a bunch of people. I’d done on a very very small budget. If that’s your game, it might be your slice of carrot cake.
Trivia: one of the assholes was played by Ben Dova, the odd stage name of acrobat Joseph Späh, who was played by Robert Clary in the 1975 movie The Hindenburg. Clary, a Holocaust survivor and Hogans Heroes cast member, turned 96 last March.
It was my second favorite film of 2021 (after CODA).
Yeah, that’s a deep cut for sure.
I still haven’t seen Coda, but it’s on the list.
I saw that, too, but still prefer Hitchcock’s original.
I like them both, but I liked how they ended the series. I love Robert Donat. That is all.
I don’t know if it’s officially a “movie,” but I just watched David Byrne’s American Utopia and loved it. I was so impressed with the entire cast/band, and David Byrne himself. Dang, he’s my age.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (HBO). Saw it when it first came out, but had some time to kill and chose to watch it again and I think I enjoyed it even more this time. Just a cracking good adventure yarn and beautifully photographed.
It’s a shame that this didn’t launch a franchise, since this one story just barely scratched the surface of the Patrick O’Brien novels. Perhaps there’s an alternate universe where we get a 19th century Napoleonic naval adventure movie every year, but there was only one Spider-Man movie.
The Sadness
Taiwanese “zombie” movie. I put zombie in quotes because it isn’t really like most zombie movies. Once a person is zombified, they do horrible things to other people, not just kill them. I guess this movie is supposed to be incredibly extreme, but I didn’t find it to be as intense as Martyrs or Inside, which actually were less violent in parts, but were more horrific.
Anyway, The Sadness is a pretty good movie, but nothing all that special. It’s the type of movie where in a year, I’ll see that I watched a movie called The Sadness, but I won’t remember what it was until I look it back up.
Most definitely. These threads may also be of interest:
Watched Vin Diesel in Bloodshot (2020) on UK TV.
A mix of Robocop, Universal Soldier and (minor spoiler) Groundhog Day.
Vin is the Special Forces soldier who dies and is bought back to life via ‘nanite’ infused artificial blood.
It’s not great. It’s based on a pre-existing comic and even before it was released the producers were talking of creating a multifilm franchise. For me that explains its failure. The watching experience left me feeling the producers weren’t interested in this film. They were already planning the next.
It’s watchable but mainly for trivia: Why does Guy Pearce act in so many stinkers? In a film where the plot moves around the world why not just set the scenes filmed in South Africa in South Africa rather than claiming its London and not even bothering to fit a few UK number plates to the cars?
TCMF-2L
Tried and failed to watch Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019).
I watched well over an hour but while it was well crafted I hadn’t spotted much sign of a plot and with (including adverts having recorded it from the TV) still well over two hours remaining I bailed out and deleted it. I have no interest in giving it another chance.
I can manage three hour films. Godfather II, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly spring to mind but other films I’ve enjoyed such as Mad Max, Day of the Dead, The Terminator need less than two hours.
TCMF-2L
Yeah, I lasted all the way through Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and the only thing that kept me going was watching how well they’d captured the 60s look of Los Angeles. I could nearly smell it, it was so accurate.
The story? Eh. Expensive wish fullfillment.
And the Bruce Lee fight scene went on waaaaay too long and was completely unnecessary. I felt that way about most of the studio scenes. No matter how well acted or written, they were time wasting and felt like filler. Which a three hour movie doesn’t need.
I enjoyed it but can’t say I’ve thought about it much since then, and I doubt I’ll ever see it again.
It’s my #3 Tarantino, and it holds a special place in my heart for the reason that I was able to take my daughter to opening day release, the daughter that was seven years away from being born when Pulp Fiction came out in 1994.
The film is front loaded with stuntman, Manson girls, and Sharon Tate vignettes. The most brilliant part of the film is the DiCaprio character’s day on the set of Lancer.
I liked parts of it, and it was well done, but it went on too long for my tastes.
I found Once Upon A Time In Hollywood pretty mediocre when I first saw it, but like most Tarantino movies, it bears a second viewing. I really like it. The biggest problem with it is that is basically two movies in one: 1 - a long drawn out character study on the decline in popularity with the onset of age and 2 - A Charles Manson alternate history with Brad Pitt beating the shit out of a girl with a telephone. The second part is actually pretty fun, Tarantinoly, that is
A couple weeks ago I watched The 39 Steps (1935). Good film and good story.
A few days ago I started watching the Blu-ray for King of Hearts (1966). I really tried, but I just couldn’t get in to it. Ejected it after 30 minutes.
I am now watching Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). I’m 20 minutes into it. Wow, what a hoot! Great acting & direction, the photography is excellent, and the characters & script have a contemporary feel. I can’t believe it was made 89 years ago.