Yeah, after multiple claims there can be issues. But honestly, it is not the way to get revenge on 'evil big banks".
Find out juicy stuff they are doing and let the regulators know. Doesnt make a sexy film, tho, does it?
We just rewatched The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, that is a fantastic vintage film.
Saltburn
I knew virtually nothing about this, other than it being about an ordinary young man that gets invited to stay at some very posh people’s massive house and estate.
Enjoyed it but it was very daft. I’ve since seen people picking it apart a fair bit, and in fairness I can see why.
The outrageous moments (at least 4 of them) were a total surprise to me. I think the film would suffer a lot if you knew what they were in advance. I will just say I will never hear Sophie Ellis Bextor again in quite the same way.
This week every night I’ve been rewatching action movies that I haven’t seen in ages.
True Lies
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bill Paxton, and slightly ruined by Tom Arnold. Horribly misogynist, but still great action.
Get Smart
Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, and Terence Stamp. One of my favourites, it’s genuinely funny. I wish they had managed to make sequels, but they didn’t quite get things together.
The Italian Job
The remake with Marky Mark and Charlize Theron. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the original. Anyway, it’s pretty good, the action is infrequent but suitably fun. The ending isn’t as satisfying as it ought to be.
Knight and Day
Always loved this one. Tom Cruise at his most charming, and Cameron Diaz at her most frenetic.
The Island
Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as escaped clones. I’m not the biggest fan of Michael Bay, but this is the last one he did before he dedicated his life to Transformers, and it’s actually pretty good. I seem to recall it was dismissed as nothing special at the time, most people focusing on how it stole its plot from a different movie unacknowledged, but I think it works really well.
My action movie marathon will continue…
Streamed 2 last night. Equalizer 3 and Leave the World Behind.
Equalizer 3 was …unbelievable…but very enjoyable.
We really loved Leave the World Behind.
We couldn’t find anything to watch and opted for streaming John Wick: Chapter 3. We may have seen it before, but we didn’t specifically remember it. I know we had seen the first two and found them edgy but watchable.
Perhaps neither of us were in the right mood, but what an unrelenting orgy of sadistic mindless violence this movie was. How anyone could find this entertaining is beyond me.
Wow, this was something strange, seeing both of these today:
Fallen Leaves (2023, Finland/Germany, dir. Aki Kaurismaki)
The Kid (1921, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
Agreed. I love Knight and Day.
“No one follows us, or I kill myself and then her!”
Last two.
Shoot Em Up
A ridiculous over-the-top cartoon of an action movie. Kind of like John Wick meets The Transporter, but even sillier. Clive Owen protects a baby from a pursuing wave of henchmen led by Paul Giamatti. Like most action movies, misogynist and unnecessarily graphic, but still a lot of absurd fun.
Mr and Mrs Smith
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hate each other, but love each other, but have kept a big secret from each other so hate each other, and then they destroy a house. I didn’t like this film the first time I saw it… and still don’t. The gun-violence-as-erotically-charged-passion metaphor turns my stomach, and then on top of that the execrable Vince Vaughn is in it.
Hoopties (Prime, 2023) TRAILER
About three teams of amateur racers who buy, build and then race an under $500 vehicle in a yearly 24 hour endurance race. It had charm and wit and the pace kept it moving along for people not as interested in cars. Recommended! B+
Saltburn (Prime, 20023) - Meh. Body Horror is a genre I like, but Emerald Fennell is no Cronenberg. This meandering nonsense was occasionally gross to distract you from how pointless most of the film was. The reveal didn’t work, and that was the only thing that could have saved it. C-
Body horror? That’s not at all how I would describe Saltburn.
I saw it just once, when it first came out, but really enjoyed it (the scenes on the airliner alone are worth the price of admission). My longstanding fanwank is that Cruise’s character is the same guy from the Mission: Impossible movies, but on a psychotic break.
Agree completely. Plus it was filmed like a glossy magazine photo shoot. Really repulsive.
Ah, Shoot 'Em Up, remember seeing it in the cinema when it was released and it was hysterical as you say, the funniest bit being the scene where he lights and fires ammunition from between his fingers!!
He was also good in The Art of Self Defense (also with his Vivarium co-star Imogen Poots). It’s sort of “Fight Club Light”, but I think he does get punched in the face.
A couple of nights back we watched White Noise .
It was amusing and whimsical in places, no doubt there was some deep social commentary in there regarding academic life, commercialism, media and disasters etc somewhere. I was probably in the wrong frame of mind to watch it.
Um, I don’t think you know what “body horror” means if you think Saltburn is related in any way to that genre.
This one is actually on my not recommended list even for those like me who have read the books almost to the present (I have yet to read the last few books). Of the live action versions of Asterix, this is the one that I like the least even though I feel none of them are particularly good. The animated ones are much better with the latest few being rather good. For me it just doesn’t feel like they capture the feeling of the books quite well enough.
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Left Behind. Nicholas Cage week continues in this pretty weak movie about the Rapture. Inna and I were speculating about the details - according to the film, you won’t take your glasses, but apparently your fillings and pacemakers are making the journey.
Polite Society (2023). I found it to be ridiculous and fun. It starts out fairly normal but then ends with an over the top situation and sequences. The homages to action movies are clear and part of what makes this movie work. At the same time there is a real story about familial relationships underneath it all that grounds the film.
Highlander (1986). Having seen Clancy Brown recently in John Wick 4, I felt an itch to re-watch this movie. Although it certainly is a product of its time, with the action scenes, special effects and especially sound effects being dated, it does feature some of the best transitions in movies. The mix of scenes of ancient times with modern without having to resort to voice over or narration is actually quite good. There were many wipes and fades that have nothing fancy to them but work just right. The music by Queen is of course excellent, and Clancy Brown as the villain is over the top in a great way. It had been years since I had re-watched this movie, and it was still enjoyable, and I will likely watch it again.
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If you liked Shoot Em Up, you might enjoy Free Fire. An arms deal goes awry in this warehouse, and lots of shooting ensues. At one point, one of the guys questions “Wait, which side am I on ?” Ridiculous, but pretty fun.