Untouchables 1987 with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner.
I haven’t researched Eliot Ness’ Capone investigation. It seems unlikely so many of Ness’ men were targeted and killed. I was willing to accept the premise and enjoy the shoot outs…
It is highly entertaining and kept me involved. I recommend it for action movie fans.
The irony that tax law actually sent Capone to Alcatraz and Syphilis ate his brain is worth savoring. (Not in the movie.)
Yeah, none were - they got their moniker from turning down large cash bribes. Capone wasn’t quite idiot enough to openly target Feds for assassination. Arguing for and attempting to organize an assassination of New York City special prosecutor Thomas Dewey is what would get gangster Dutch Schultz popped by the mob just a few years later. Bribery or kompromat was one thing, actually killing law enforcement agents was quite another.
The Untouchables is entertaining, but like most movie treatments it is pretty far from actual history.
Damsel - Millie Bobby Brown totally Rambos this tale of a young woman tricked into getting sacrificed to a dragon. Hits all the usual action film notes, but with the increasingly common element for action films starring women where the protagonist achieves her goals with solidarity and compassion for other women/females. There’s even a great “walking away from an enormous explosion” shot. Reviews are mixed, but I would totally recommend.
I don’t find your review…credible.
I need to review my reviews before submitting to make sure they are more…incredible.
Birth (2004)
Not recommended too much.
Nicole Kidman’s dead husband comes back in the body of a 10 year old kid. And yes, they sort of go there…not quite all the way…but they go near there. It’s as weird as you might imagine. Here is the reason this movie fails, though. The premise? Interesting, even intriguing. But, alas, they had no real plan and the movie ends up juts fizzling to the end. It just shrugs and ends.
Misfire for sure.
Having enjoyed and reviewed four Yorgos Lanthimos films so far, I thought I’d mention that a new one is currently in post-production. To be called Kinds of Kindness, it features some of the major stars from his recent films including Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. The plot hasn’t been disclosed but it’s apparently an anthology of three separate stories.
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). This latest iteration of the franchise is good. The voice cast is great even though it missing some of previous members, who were not recast with other voices which I appreciate. Although it does not measure up to the first of the series, it is a worthy sequel. There are of course plot points that are telegraphed but there were also many fun laugh out-loud moments, some that hit harder if you have seen the previous films. An enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.
//i\\
Watched Dune2 last night on imax laser with Mrs mollusc and our daughter who was back visiting from collage.
Really liked the movie , I am ok with directors making some changes and was not a major fan of the books so no major ‘wait what that wasn’t in the book ‘ jarring moments for me. Visually impressive and the acting was all good enough for the spectacle.
The main issue was the sound level, we have been to quite few imax movies, but something was off here, the adverts were painfully loud, several people along with myself went out and complained , which is not something I have ever done and my hearing is not great after spending too long in industrial areas without ear plugs so it’s not like I am super sensitive to loud noises.
The movie was better but my wife and I had fingers in ears for many parts ( the whole of the part on the Harkonans home world ) which took away from the movie watching experience.
Not sure if it is the same for other imax showings of the same movie.
I liked the imax , it felt like being visually surrounded by the movie and the movie didn’t feel long even though it clocked in at 2hrs 46.
Predator (Prime, 1987) - Just rewatching some classics with my boy. This one holds up. Though I got to laugh at some of the dialogue:
Dutch “My team works alone.”
Dutch “Who is our backup?”
Dillon “No Backup, you guys are going in alone.”
Dutch “Figures.”
My Spanish is considerably better than when I first saw this and the Spanish in this film is spoken with the delivery of Middle School Spanish Ed students.
I rewatch Predator every few years. I like the unique premise that more advanced aliens 
consider Earth the ultimate big game hunting preserve.
This particular Predator had the misfortune to hunt a crack special forces team. I guess it was a thrilling experience for the alien.
I suggest watching Southern Comfort with Keith Carradine and Sonny Landham. It’s similar to Deliverance except more intense.
I plan to watch both movies again this week.
I agree with this review completely. I liked the look of it. It had a bit more suspenseful escapes from evil than I expected, but it definitely didn’t spoil the movie for me. I especially liked that they used the “Imagination” song from the Gene Wilder version.
Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
Somewhat recommended.
From Nicolas Cage’s tax problem phase where he had to make a ton of movies very quickly to pay back the IRS. Still, he always showed up for work and tried his best and this movie is actually quite good, though it does nothing particularly bold to make itself stand out. I just have had this one on my mind since I saw ads for it in 2008 and finally got around to viewing it.
I’ll give it this: I did not see the ending coming!
Back to the Future (Peacock, 1985) Another rewatch of a classic my 10 year old hasn’t yet seen. Was feeling down about car trouble and ruminating on the cost of getting it back being only dwarfed by the cost in stress of not having it at all when I suggested something to lighten the evening. Having already seen Galaxy Quest he wanted this. It’s on the lighter end so I said sure.
I had forgotten how often that Delorean craps out on Marty and each time felt like a knife.
It also had occurred to me Doc’s plan wouldn’t work. Even if you knew the exact moment the lightening struck (and they didn’t, only down to the minute of a perhaps inaccurate large ornamental time piece) it appears this infusion must occur at the moment of achieving 88 MPH. The odds of that happening the second the hook makes contact of a car already behind it’s start time are astronomical. Why not just use a long copper cable attached to the car? Like a power cable? Drama, that’s why. My son said this film was almost too intense and he is no stranger to action films.
So, Marty can’t just be 88 or higher MPH and the jolt will send him when it hits? I thought he had to be up to over above 88 when he got to the wire.
I do agree, though, that it requires suspension of disbelief that Marty would hit the wire the moment the electricity runs through it.
Fun series, though.
Absolutely. We’re going Back to the Future Part II tonight, where they go to the future…2015 when my son was 2. It’s going to be hilarious for him.
I saw in that theater as an 11 year old in 1989 and 2015 seemed like a big time future at the time. We are now 9 years past it and other than smart phones and the internet, it’s a disappointment.
The Holdovers (Peacock, 2023) Very touching. I have family that wasn’t easy and they work in academia, for this and many other reasons this film hit me right in the feels. A effort, recommended to anyone with a soul.
Paul Giamatti kept changing the eye for his ‘walleye contact’ and at certain points you’re like, “This man is not driving while looking at the car ceiling.”
A big part of the appeal of Back to the Future (for me, anyway, I liked it very much) was that the trip back was to a time that I could easily remember. I wonder how much that appeals to today’s young viewer watching it for the first time?
I could not remember the 1950’s. I was born in 1978. I did, however, fully process how different '55 was from '85.
I mean, they took the 50’s and turned it into a big stereotype, so it was easy to process for me as a 7-9 year old.