Rustin - A fascinating film about a previously much-forgotten man. Colman Domingo is absolutely mesmerizing as Rustin and you are left to marvel at the logisitics of pulling off the March on Washington, something I admit I hadn’t really thought much about previously.
Sadly, all the writers’ interest was poured into Rustin’s character and the parade of other big famous civil rights figures come across as rather two-dimensional, particularly Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins and Jeffrey Wright as Adam Clayton Powell (although Glynn Turman manages to inject some occasional oomph into his A. Philip Randolph). But I would still heartily recommend this for Domingo’s Oscar-nominated performance.
The Outfit - A quiet three-room drama starring Mark Rylance as an English tailor in 1950s Chicago drawn into a gangster war. I have to admit that the various twists (and there were a lot) were all reasonably predictable but unlike Rustin every character here is well-written and compelling. Would also recommend.
Because the original conception of them as formed by creator Jack Kirby in 1976 was that they were the inspiration for human belief in deities. Note that they were originally not part of the greater Marvel universe, but their own separate thing. So there was no conflict between the existence of them AND the actual Greek pantheon which existed in the regular MU as straight-up gods (Hercules was a member of the Avengers, much like Thor). But comics are comics and eventually everything gets muddled up and retconned confusingly. The Eternals in particular have been retconned repeatedly.
The latest movie versions have been changed further from the last comic versions yet again.
Same reason people refer to the Boston Celtics as the “Seltics” instead of the “Keltics” and Caesar as “See-zer” instead of “Kai-sar”. Americans pronounce things as they read them in American English.
I agree it just might be the worst of the recent Marvel films.
As I’ve remarked before, the Attack by the Giant Dquid has become a hallmark of a lot of Vene-based movies, even those that aren’t 20,000 Leagues under the sea. It’s not only in just about every version of 20,000 Leagues (although sometimes, for variety, they substitute a different sea creature), it’s also in The Mysterious Island (1929), The Mysterious Island(1961 – although it’s a giant ammonite there), strong textJourney 2: The Mysterious Island** (2012, although there it’s giant moray eels), and The Invention for Destruction/Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)
Verne calls it a “poulpe”, which means “octopus”, although everyone interprets it as a squid. (Verne explicitly says they are not “cuttlefish”) Verne’s novel describes the first one seen as having a body 18 feet long (or 24 feet long – both dimensions are given; The arms are described as twice as long as the body, but it’s not clear if this is added to this dimension or part of it), and this one carries off a crewman and disappears. The Nautilus is then attacked by a number of these, although their sizes aren’t given.
Commentators always try to make the creatures as big as possible, so they tend to take the larger dimension of 24 feet and assume “tentacles twice as long” are in addition to this, giving the creature an overall length of 24 yards = 72 feet. But there’s no reason to assumer the first squid/poulpe was any longer than 18 or 24 feet altogether. That’s still big enough. Verne gives dimensions of some cephalopods that had been verified by his time, and implies that the ship-destroying ones were exaggerations.
The version given in Classics Illustrated is the only one I know of that shows the Nautilus being attacked by a school of big-but-not-enormous cephalopods.
The films had the “It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost? $10?” problem as well. No way De Niro affords that house and RV on a CIA salary/retirement package.
ISTM that retired De Niro is somewhat corrupt in using the full weight of CIA surveillance for personal reasons by trying to have them dig up dirt on his daughter’s fiance. Mr. Circle of Trust indeed.
What a fun action-comedy movie from Indonesia. It has an English dub if you are interested and this is a fun movie from beginning to end, but I think it only gets funnier and more crazy as it goes. A wonderful movie, well filmed and choreographed action, and highly memorable. Is it a bit overlong? Yes. Is it a blast and recommended to everyone? Oh, yes.
And the crap novel immediately becomes a best-seller and gets made into a movie! It’s a funny premise, and this central plot line is surrounded by sub-plots about the challenges that the writer faces in his own family. An excellent performance by Jeffrey Wright.
It has garnered pretty much universal critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Picture which set my expectations pretty high, and I have to say that I was underwhelmed. Every one of the Best Picture nominees that I’ve seen I’ve enjoyed more, and furthermore there were other movies released last year that were not Best Picture nominees that I thought were objectively better (Nyad comes to mind). Still, American Fiction is definitely worth seeing though it’s not in my top 10 list for 2023.
Bank of Dave (2023). This was mentioned several times upthread and sounded like it would be worth watching. It’s a sweet, uplifting little movie that was better than I expected, plus some real drama and tension and even a bit of romance. Well cast, especially the actor who plays Dave Fishwick who looks the part of a charitable kind-hearted soul (and unsurprisingly so does the real-life Dave, pictured in the end credits). The only actor in it who was immediately recognizable to me was Hugh Bonneville who was well cast as the head of the elite Bad Guys trying to protect the evil British banking monopoly. One can just imagine him heading right back to Downton Abbey and becoming Lord Grantham again (not that Grantham was evil, but he certainly exuded English elitism!).
Regarding the fictionalized parts, the opening credits say “based on a true-ish story”. I don’t care if there were some major fictionalized elements as they add the necessary drama to make an engaging story.
I finally – finally! – properly watched Oppenheimer. It’s been reviewed to death and even has its own thread here, so I just wanted to say that some of my earlier problems with it were probably my own fault, starting to watch it when I was tired and realizing how long it was, etc. It really is a magnificent film and well deserving of a Best Picture nomination. I still wish there had been a little more focus on the very challenging technical work at Los Alamos.
Argylle - Not exactly what I was expecting storywise, but pretty much what I was wanting; a silly action comedy with fun characters and a smooshy faced cat. I had never seen Bryce Dallas Howard play a likable character, though I think she’s an excellent actor. Comedy suits her.
My wife’s choice for Valentine’s Day, $5 ticket for us Kapuna (oldsters) . No one is touting these made-for-loudness movies. It delivers: Punches, bullets, knives, mayhem, explosions, preposterous-isitty. Nothing you couldn’t see coming or wasn’t borrowed from another action flick. Good over evil. Lives for another day/movie. She likes these and I stayed awake; no mean feat in the relaxing recliner chairs at the theater.
Long, but never boring episodic silent film stars famed Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine - he of the hypno close-ups - as legendary 18th century seducer and grifter involved in action, intrigue (with Catherine the Great), adventure and ladies, married and otherwise (c’est la vie!) A big budget French-German co-production with great costumes and location work in Venice, it features several impressive tinted sections, scattered funny lines/bits, child actors in blackface and what must be the longest gown train in cinema history.
A mixed bag for sure, but some genuinely funny moments. Written and directed by one of the Zuckers, but so all-over-the-place, it is nowhere near as funny as Airplane or Naked Gun. Some glimmers of comedy in there, but overall the movie is not funny in large chunks.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone took this movie because they figured South Park would be cancelled quickly and they should make movies together while they can…and South Park still runs 27 years later. It’s the only thing they are in that they did not write or direct.
I’ll post the funniest segment of the movie, which is the opening of it. Feels like and early glimpse into Idiocracy.
I just rewatched the Pixar movie Luca. It’s such an odd story. Starts out being about sea monsters, then veers into being about a cycling race. But those aren’t what it’s about at all, instead it’s about friendship. All set in 1950s Italy. Very charming, though.
Thank you.
. No one is touting these made-for-loudness movies. It delivers: Punches, bullets, knives, mayhem, explosions, preposterous-isitty. Nothing you couldn’t see coming or wasn’t borrowed from another action flick. Good over evil. Lives for another day/movie. She likes these and I stayed awake; no mean feat in the relaxing recliner chairs at the theater.