Agree. This one stole my heart completely unexpectedly. I liked seeing the “truth” in the tall tales.
I recently stumbled on this gem on TCM late one night. It’s like watching a bad episode of Star Trek ten years too early.
Come on, this is totally plausible. He was clearly established as a master of beasts in his backstory!
I think RRR is one of the greatest movies ever made and I’m not happy about the Oscar snub. It better win for the dance number at least.
M3GAN was enjoyable. I thought it was going to be gory based on the trailer but the kills were much tamer than they could have been. The only drawback is that most of the characters aren’t particularly sympathetic. There will be a sequel and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
I grew up watching this film (in black and white, 'cause that’s the kind of TV we had). It was a while before I learned it was in color. I liked the bazooka.
So basically it’s a dark version of The Admirable Crichton without the charm and with more violence.
Love it or hate it, you can’t pigeon hole it like that. (And the violence is limited to a grenade and a ship sinking. And what’s not charming about a pirate and a Russian oligarch becoming buddies?). I enjoyed it; each act better than the one that preceded it.
Aquarium of the Dead because, I dunno, it was there.
OK for people having a jones for another Sharknado movie.
We watched three TCM movies this week that were real dogs. The one I especially hated was Live Love Learn because it was profoundly stupid and annoying, plus a complete waste of the talent in it. Rosalind Russell is a rich socialite who marries Robert Montgomery, a starving artist. Russell loves la vie Boheme which mostly consists of living in a fourth floor walk-up, having Robert Benchley as a roommate (in a studio apt!), and being “zany.” When Montgomery gets some notariety he gets picked up by a rich gallery owner (Monte Wooley) and gets rich. Russell hates this and wants to go back to getting drunk in a tenement and cutting people’s ties off (because they’re stuffy for wearing ties?). Just awful awful awful. We FF’d through a lot of it.
The other two dogs were My Life with Caroline and The Garden of the Moon. I think all three got at least two stars and none deserved more than one. We FF’d through a lot of these two as well. Avoid all three of these as you would Donald Trump.
I suffered through Shotgun Wedding last night. All you really need to know is that Jennifer Lopez is in it, and her acting is just as terrible as you imagine. If that wasn’t enough, it features Jennifer “I’ll be in my booth” Coolidge, and she is as annoying in this movie as she was in 2 Broke Girls. Throw in a ridiculous plot, a male lead with no chemistry with Lopez, and top it off with a preposterous airborne climax. I’m so glad I didn’t pay to watch this piece of trash and I’m mourning the loss of hundreds of brain cells from the experience.
I watched two movies on a 10 hour flight Friday.
The Humans with Richard Jenkins and Amy Schumer. Compelling, but not exactly the feel good movie of 2021. Excellent performances and cinematography/soundtrack that really carry over the sense of dread that permeates almost every scene.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent A fun comedy but it didn’t deliver any insights into the real Cage’s character which I was expecting for some reason. Entertaining but almost immediately forgettable except for one thing…Should I now watch Paddington 2?
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Are there any really good Woody Allen movies? I’ve seen Annie Hall, Small Time Crooks, and Manhattan Murder Mystery and to be honest, he may just not be my cup of tea. Not really all that funny and not all that charming.
I wonder if he is just really overrated.
You named, at least, one of them. If you didn’t like any of those, then you probably aren’t going to like any of the others.
Saw Best Picture nominated Avatar 2 in 3D, only my second or third 3D movie (and I never saw the first film in its entirety). The visuals were spectacular, just wow. But 3D is dark, hey? I knew that already, but I did realize/remember how big the contrast is. But still, just gorgeously realized.
That said, the plot was beyond awful…noble savages, the hero’s reckoning, pretty much the history of Disney archetypes…though at least there were some ass-kicking women. Juvenile writing in any case.
56/100.
I figured. I started with Annie Hall because it is so popular. I find his style…well, it’s not mine.
Well, yes. There’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (one of my favorites not starring Woody himself); “Sleeper” (Woody’s hilarious take on a dystopian future); “Blue Jasmin” (a ripoff of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” but Cate Blanchett is marvelous in it); and his early comedies, like “Bananas” and “Take the Money and Run.” “Broadway Danny Rose” is a good comedy, as is “Midnight in Paris.”
I’ll admit he’s made quite a few that were only so-so and some downright clunkers, but his percentage over 50+ years has been pretty good.
That said, his movies just don’t appeal to a lot of people. Today’s glut of SuperHero movies don’t do much for me. It probably helps if you’ve been watching his movies over his entire career.
Saw Avatar TWOW this week. It was ok, I think the small-town theater we were in didn’t project the graphics properly. Cameron needs to join Stephen King and Peter Jackson at an editor’s anonymous meeting.
I think I was the only one in the theater who said ‘Riiipleey’ as the youngest one was getting sucked down the drain.
Many people are put off by Woody in his movies. So the movies where he is the main character may not be your cup of tea. Give Hannah and Her Sisters a try, and see what you think. Woody is in it, but is not one of the main storylines (yet is in one of the best scenes of any of his movies).
Play It Again, Sam is my favorite movie of all time. Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters are also among my 100 favorite movies (out of the more than 4,000 that I’ve seen). Manhattan is close to being among my 100 favorite movies. A dozen or so other of his films are also very good. Allen is one of my two favorite filmmakers. (Richard Linklater is the other.) I’ve seen nearly all the movies in which he was the director, the scriptwriter, or one of the actors.