What? Keanu was great, and the cat does not fight crime at all. He did co-write the movie, but didn’t direct it.
Jordan Peele, or the cat?
Actually, it really reminded me of Jaws
That’s exactly right, and it’s the better for it. Almost, wholesome???
Conversely, in my opinion Moulin Rouge! is the Luhrmann film his usual approach worked best in, and I love the film. On the other hand, it annoyed the shit out of me in Elvis - there was just no reason for the chaotic noise at all.
Having grown up watching “The Bob Cummings Show” (AKA “Love That Bob”), I’ve never been able to take Bob Cummings seriously in anything I’ve seen him in.
But that’s not why I’m posting. “Dial M for Murder” was Hitchcock’s only foray into 3D, which was popular at the time. You can see how he used it in a lot of the shots, most notably Grace Kelly grasping for the scissors. The story goes that when it came time to release it, the 3D craze was over, and Warners decided to release it in 2D instead. It’s available on BluRay disc in 3D, but I’d love to see it on a theater screen that way.
I had a chance to see Dial M for Murder in 3D (with the blue and red glasses and everything) at the Castro Theater in San Francisco back in the late 90’s. Pretty awesome. It include the Hitchcock theme played on the Wurlitzer that rose up from the orchestra pit.
What I remember most about the 3D aspect of it was that every scene had row of bottles in the foreground.
Tender Mercies (1983) on Prime. Robert Duvall won Best Actor for this, and Horton Foote Best Original Screenplay.
I’d seen the film a few decades before, and the rewatch increased my appreciation. The film is low budget and low key, and consistently subverts Hollywood tropes. The film opens with Duvall waking up on the floor of a rural Texas motel. He’s broke and asks if he can work off his bill.
The story involves rural life, country music, church and alcohol — not my main interests in life, but the script’s honesty makes them interesting. Grade: A-.
I saw Dial M for Murder, not in 3D, in the Eighties and remember enjoying it, but don’t remember anything about it at all. I should probably see it again.
Tenebrae
The best giallo movie I’ve seen and I recommend this one to anyone who is interested in the giallo genre. Made in 1982, it’s kind of an absolutely perfect example of this horror genre.
This was a great movie.
I want to point out that it has an incredible crane shot(or tracking shot?) and it is worth taking 2-3 minutes to watch it right here even if you don’t want to see the movie. It does not spoil the movie and it shows just how impressive a movie can be shot, even on a relatively low budget. It’s worth seeing it just for the craft.
I guess we still can not embed videos. Delete the space after the = sign above and it will be viewable.
Is this going to get fixed?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
It’s not flawless, but it’s pretty damn close, despite Kirk’s annoying kid.
Just a great ride — exciting, well-paced, and tightly plotted.
Still, one thing bugs me (I’ve said this on the boards before and not everyone agrees, but): Khan dies thinking he’s taken Kirk with him and has therefore scored a final victory. Just a one-second shot of him seeing the Enterprise warp to safety and realizing he’s been fully defeated would have made the moment that much more satisfying. I still love it though.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
I watched these back-to-back, and wow, does this pale in comparison. It started out promisingly enough, but quickly devolved into stupidity. I do love me some Christopher Lloyd, and he makes a great Klingon. But the final battle between him and Kirk was just meh.
I didn’t even recognize John Laroquette until I read the credits. I wish I’d known.
13 Assassins
From Takashi Miike, the director Audition and Ichi the Killer, but don’t let that turn you off if you were not a fan of his more intense and weird(gruesome?) movies. This movie is an excellent and straight forward samurai movie.
The opening hour or so is just the setup, but the final battle, which lasts over 40 minutes long, is honestly quite incredible. Audition remains the best movie I’ve seen from Takashi Miike, but I think Audition will always turn people off because it is not the type of movie everyone can appreciate.
13 Assassins, however, is excellent and definitely has a wider audience in mind. There is an English-dub on Tubi, which was not bad. However, it also widely available in Japanese on many streaming services, both pay and free.
Highly recommended. I enjoyed all of it.
I’d argue Audition was the best two movies which Takashi Mike did. It is in effect two very different movies.
The Platform - streams on Netflix
Highly recommended, but go in as blind as possible.
I won’t spoil anything, but it’s basically about a big tower that is a series of platforms people live on. I really think totally going in fresh is the best way with this movie, though.
I was completely gripped from the opening moments all the way to the end and this was probably the most intrigued I’ve been by a movie for quite awhile. I’m sure the ending can be debated, but I was there for the journey and it was a great journey.
Terrific, watch it tonight.
Air (2023): In Theaters. Amazon Studios is the distributor, which I did not realize until the start of the movie, so it will (relatively) soon be available on Prime. I watched this mostly because of the cast Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Viola Davis, and they do turn in good performances. Based on real events, it is a nostalgia fest for anyone who lived in the 80s. Although it loses some impact because it is a corporate origin story, the human vignettes throughout are well done, and the pacing kept me engaged until the end.
The idea for this movie came from the writer having seen the documentary The Last Dance, which I have not seen but maybe those who saw that will enjoy the film more as result.
//i\\
Sukiyaki Western Django
Not really recommended, though certainly fascinating.
A Japanese movie, with a Japanese* cast, filmed in English. No, the actors do not all speak English. It is very clear that the majority of actors learned their lines phonetically and to compound the issue, the director(Takashi Miike) does not speak English, so he is hardly the best person to be deciding if line deliveries are correct or not. Anyway, a comedic western movie that features Japanese people as all the cowboys. The movie comes with English subtitles and the fact that Japanese people emphasize the wrong syllables of English…makes the whole thing very awkward and the subtitles necessary.
One or two of the main cast clearly speak English because they sound more natural. The rest do not sound so great. I appreciate the idea of a Japanese Old-West movie, but I think even as a comedy, you are going to have to employ English-speaking Japanese people as much as possible.
*Quentin Tarantino is the sole American cast member. Yes, he’s in it for about 10-15 minutes. He’s fine, but remember, he is not a great actor so other than “Hey, there he is. At least he speaks English”, he does not contribute much to this movie. I presume he did not assist with English dialogue directing.
John Wick 4.
It kicked ass. These movies are ridiculous over the top hilariously taking themselves too seriously and I don’t care, man, they had a blind guy taking out hundreds of dudes and a woman fighting with a bow, it was epic. Roughly 50% of the human population in the John Wick universe is a secret assassin, because why not?? Yes let’s have a gun fight in traffic in front of a famous French landmark. Yes let’s have a club where people keep dancing while mooks get murdered within spitting distance. Let’s have our hero faceplant after falling three stories and stagger away to go kill more guys. Turn off your brain and just enjoy the fucking ride, man.
The quality of the fight choreography just seems to get better and better. Some actually stunning action set pieces. And I recently learned Keanu does most of his own stunts. Mad respect.
I’ll keep watching 'em as long as they keep making 'em.
I enjoyed it too. What really impressed me, outside of the obvious stunt work and fight choreography, was the photography; it looks really good and some of the shots were stunning.
Yeah, I enjoyed Keanu too.
I watched I Came By yesterday. It’s a British flick starring Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley from Downton Abbey). It’s a creepy thriller. Good entertainment for a cold April afternoon.