I feel this response has not earned enough love. I salute you for it, sir/madam/other.
I watched Princess Mononoke last night. Somehow never saw it before now. Depressing and kinda creepy (intentionally so) but beautiful and well worth it.
I saw, “Thor: Love and Thunder”, yesterday. It was touching and funny for the most part, though it had moments when the humor was ridiculous. I give it 2 1/2 out of 4 stars and am glad I went to see it.
I re-watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade this weekend. I just felt like doing it.
1.) It still holds up, although some of the effects (like the dirigible) looked iffy even back then. Maybe Lucas and Spielberg will someday go back and simply fix up – not re-do, but clean up the obvious flaws – in the Indiana Jones series.
2.) It’s been 33 freakin’ years since it came out!
3.) I still get a thrill from the opening, when the Paramount logo blends into the sandstone tor. I instantly knew which rocks those were – Courthouse Towers at Arches National Park, where I had spent the two previous summers hiking. The illusion was only mildly spoiled by my knowledge that the camera must have been mounted on the freshly paved road that ran past the spot (and which wound around behind – if a car had been driving on the road it would’ve been visible) and tat the foreground where the horses were traveling single file was normally blocked off by sticks with cords run betwen them to keep tourists off the cryptogamic soil.
4.) Just as with the first two movies, this one stole liberally from the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge story The Prize of Pizarro. A lot of people credit other Scrooge stories for inspiration for Indy, but this is the one that each of the first movies swiped something from. In his case it was the sharp blade that misses our heroes because they were too short and the chasm of doom (“we’ll step across it!” swears Donald Duck). The movie also arguably found inspiration in the 1948 Donald Duck story The Ghost of the Grotto, which has an apparently several hundred year old knight in full armor in a hot region in an underground cave guarding a treasure and looking for his successor.
I’m fully convinced that the fourth Indiana Jones movie – The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – flopped because it didn’t take anything from The Prize of Pizarro, or any other Carl Barks story.
Watched the Elvis movie. Went into it with low expectations because I thought it might be a little tacky and unflattering but pleasantly surprised by the end. The guy playing Elvis did a great job bringing the fun loving vibes in his youth but also the low sunken moods at other times with Tom Hanks doing a wonderful job playing the big bad boss of Colonel Tom Parker.
The Dilemma (2011) (Amazon Prime) Directed by Ron Howard, starring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly and Channing Tatum. You may be thinking: “Wow! Great cast! Why have I never heard of this?”
Because it’s terrible.
VV & KJ are best friends and business partners*; VV discover that KJ’s wife (WR) is cheating on him and anguishes over what to do. Hilarity does not ensure. It can’t decide if it’s slapstick comedy or cringe-worthy drama.
*Their business is making electric vehicles look and sound like 1970’s muscle cars.
Queen Latifah is technically in it but it feels like 90% of her part wound up on the cutting room floor.
Watched A Week Away (2021) on Netflix. A teenager camp musical, overtly Christian, but ecumenical. Quality is worse than mediocre. The songs are mostly forgettable. The acting is poor (except for the female lead, who shows some talent despite the terrible scripting) and the plotting is obvious. Overall, the movie is just barely good enough to avoid quitting in the middle. Do not recommend.
Also watch Vivo (2021) on Netflix. Lin Manuel Miranda is the lead actor and song writer. He delivers. Songs are mostly good. The song “One of Kind” is too much LMM narrative beat. But “My Own Drum” is an awesome rock/rap anthem; be sure to listen to the full version in the credits for full awesomeness.
Plotting is simple and predictable. Animation quality varies, and never close to Pixar. Highly recommended if you like LMM, otherwise it’s merely good.
Absolutely! My kids loved them. Wanted to watch another one after III and they were sadly disappointed. The three movies are iconic masterpieces. Every generation needs to be introduced to them.
Watched the documentary The Day the Music Died/American Pie. Partly about the song, partly about the event that was the main inspiration of the song.
Odd mix of stuff. Definitely stretching it out since it’s just the one song. But quite moving at times. Esp. notable was the appearance by Connie Valens, Ritchie’s sister. The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake is apparently still a going concern and they hold an annual “Winter Dance Party” thing each Feb. 3 with Don McLean performing at it this year.
For some reason a lot of country music performers are included covering the song. Meh.
The song is one of those rare cases where the record company actually realized they had a hit on their hands (despite being over 8 minutes long) and didn’t stifle it.
McLean seems to be using creator’s license in explaining the meaning of the song. And he’s never owned a pickup truck.
Ritchie Valens was just 17 at the time. Donna is one of MrsFtG’s favorite songs. She could listen to it all day. 17. Sheesh.
Give it 3 pink carnations.
La Bamba gets all the press, but Donna is his best song.
What platform is this on?
Queen of Blood (1966) on Amazon Prime. First time I’ve seen it since I was 10 nearly 50 years ago. It holds up. Pretty decent production values for an AIP cheapie thanks to some recycled Soviet sci-fi footage. Even though I don’t think the creators of Alien ever admitted it, this film’s DNA is definitely to be found in the later film. The title character played by an obscure 47 year old Czech actress, Florence Marly, is brilliantly cast. They could have just as easily chosen some 18 year old model to play the part since there are no lines, but Marley speaks volumes with just facial expressions. Dennis Hopper does a decent job of pretending he isn’t embarrassed to be in the film and Basil Rathbone is obviously there for the paycheck.
Nebraska. I generally like Payne’s movies, but I somehow missed this one. Loved it. I completely believed the characters. Heartwarming without being soppy. Beautifully photographed.
Last Night in Soho. Fun trying to guess what was going on, although the Eloise character screamed and whimpered a tad too much. Again beautifully photographed. So much eye candy! Smidge over the top at the end, but nicely done. Anya Taylor Joy is just so weird looking. Sometimes she’s very pretty. Other times she looks like a giant insect.
ETA: I stayed in Redruth Cornwall, and that didn’t look like Redruth to me.
Although Florence Marly was obscure to me as well when I watched that film years ago, I have since discovered she had a not inconsiderable film career, especially while married to French director Pierre Chenal. More significantly, she is associated with the excesses of the Blacklist Era (from IMDB):
“Florence’s American career was cut short when she was branded a Communist and blacklisted. Leaving America for a time, she was eventually cleared after it was discovered that her name had been confused with the Russian club singer Anna Marly who was on the “subversive” list. The damage had already been done, however, and her film career never recovered.”
My latest five:
Weird Science
This is one of those movies I should’ve seen when I was a kid, but didn’t, so I went back and finally saw it. Even as a teenager, I’d like to think I would’ve recognized that it sucks. Some funny moments but otherwise almost a complete waste of time.
The Man with the Golden Gun
Not the best James Bond movie, not by a long shot, but it was still pretty much as silly and fun as I remember it. Christopher Lee is more interesting as the bad guy, the master assassin Scaramanga, than Roger Moore is as 007.
Top Gun: Maverick
A worthy successor to the 1986 original, I’d say. Tom Cruise plays the hotshot Navy fighter jockey once more, now older and (somewhat) wiser, trying to train a bunch of much younger hotshot Navy fighter jockeys for a very dangerous mission. Jennifer Connelly is a great addition to the cast as his not-so-old flame.
Long Walk to Finchley
A Margaret Thatcher biopic that shows her, early in her career, overcoming sexism, scheming and sneers on her way to the top of the British political heap. Andrea Riseborough is terrific in the lead role. The movie would be a good double feature with Meryl Streep’s The Iron Lady.
In the Line of Fire
One of my all-time favorite action/psychological thrillers. Clint Eastwood plays an aging Secret Service agent, still haunted by his failure to save JFK, facing off against a clever, shadowy assassin played by John Malkovich. Despite some nits I have to pick, really a great movie all around, with a near-perfect ending.
One of my favorite descriptions of her, oft-repeated now because it is so on the nose, was from the New Yorker review of/commentary on Queen’s Gambit:
“Nearly every review of the series has mentioned Anya Taylor-Joy’s eyes, which are the size of silver dollars and set far apart, giving her the appearance of a beautiful hammerhead shark.”
Also, to back your insect impression:
“When she begins a game, she rests her chin on her delicate folded hands, like a female mantis preparing to feast, staring at her opponent with such unblinking intensity that at least once I had to glance away from the screen.”
Very good descriptions! That’s very much the vibe I get from her.
Hadn’t thought about her that way before, but yeah, now I see it.
Coming Home In The Dark - Netflix
Never heard of this movie, but found it on Netflix and it had 92% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Yikes, it was actually a pretty good movie. A family of four is on a hike/vacation in New Zealand and more or less out of nowhere, two men show up with rifles and take them hostage. It’s intense, very intense. I was very much on the edge of my seat during this movie.
About 90 minutes, worth it if you need something to watch tonight.
I re-watched Barry Lyndon (1975) starring Ryan O’Neil (Redmond Barry) and Marisa Berenson (Lady Lyndon).
I’m a long-time Kubrick fan. Barry Lyndon didn’t get as much buzz as other Kubrick films, but it’s one of my favorites.
Duels (multiple) are a running motif of the movie. The main theme is existentialism (1st half) vs. anti-existentialism (2nd half) and it contrasts beauty vs. brutality quite effectively.
The film’s framing and cinematography evoke a look of 18th-century paintings. Kubrick was a professional photographer before directing, and it shows in all of his films (they are works of art). One cinematographer of his complained to the producers that Kubrick completely took over his job during a shoot. Stanley told him to just sit there and do nothing, yet he was awarded the Academy Award for cinematography in that film.
Ryan O’Neil’s Redmond Barry is his finest performance, IMO. Kubrick is infamous for demanding perfection from his actors and O’Neil was no exception. After over 100 takes for one scene, an exasperated O’Neil told Stanley to act the part himself and he would simply mimic him. In a final BL scene, Redmond Barry had an amputated leg. Kubrick asked O’Neil to cut off his leg for realism. Ryan thought for a moment that he was serious. 
Actor Leon Vitali had a duel scene where he had to really vomit (he did so after eating a purposely horrible lunch and chasing it with a raw egg). Vitali prayed Stanley wouldn’t demand multiple takes, but luckily, Kubrick was satisfied with the first take (a rarity for him).
Kubrick was notorious for his attention to detail.
Using G.F. Handel’s Sarabande (Keyboard Suite in D Minor) as the music theme was a stroke of genius. The haunting piece highlights the grandeur and gravity of the film.
Kubrick didn’t want to use typical movie lighting for BL, particularly the indoor scenes. He wanted those scenes to use only candlelight, so he commissioned a special camera lens built by the Carl Zeiss Company for N.A.S.A., a 50mm Zeiss lens modified with a Kollmorgen adaptor used in still cameras. It had the largest aperture of any lens ever built for a movie (f/0.7). The candlelit-only scenes are beautiful.
BL was Kubrick’s 2nd longest film, clocking in at 3 hours, 5 minutes. I wish it was longer.
All in all a beautiful and powerful film—an artistic masterpiece, IMHO.
Watching that film, you got the impression that Dueling was the chief employment of 18th century men.