Thanks! We don’t always agree on the movies we like, but I love suggestions like this – it’s one of the great things about this thread!
And thanks for this, too. In the queue for tonight!
I’ll do another soon. I have 10 more I’m sure.
If anyone watches any, please share thoughts. I’m always interested.
Morbius
Slightly recommended.
It’s not anywhere near as bad as its reputation. I actually thought it was OK, even pretty good in some parts. I’m kind of surprised how much negativity gathered up against this movie. I enjoyed Jared Leto, Matt Smith, and Jared Harris in this movie. I thought the storyline was just fine. The lighting was awfully dark near the end of the movie and I found the final action sequences to be kind of hard to follow.
It’s nothing brilliant, but I didn’t find it to be bad at all. Just kind of easy entertainment for 90 minutes.
Venom 1 and 2 are better. Madame Web is much, much worse.
Late Night With the Devil
A found footage/documentary horror, the concept is that we are watching an episode of a famous 1970s late night talk show that aired on Halloween night 1977 when eerie things started to happen…
This was really good! They got the look and feel of a late night talk show from that era perfectly. David Dastmalchian is excellent as the host in a ratings war with Carson. He’s one of those “that guy” actors who’s appeared in so many things in supporting and small roles and it was great to see him as the lead carrying a film. I hope this leads to more starring roles for him!
Mr Majestyk with Charles Bronson and written by Elmore Leonard.
He’s one of my favorite crime authors. I recently bought a box set of 8 hard cover novels. Finished reading 3 already.
No surprise that this movie is extremely good. Probably Bronson’s best work.
I like that Bronson isn’t interested in engaging the bad guys. He disarms them and hopes that’s the end of it. He’s focused on his farm harvest. He very reluctantly has to fight to survive.
There’s a interesting migrant worker storyline. Bronson hires them to harvest his crop. One worker is a union leader and Bronson is supportive. Nice to see worker’s rights illuminated in any film.
I hadn’t seen this film since a vhs rental in the 80’s. It’s free on Prime.
Thanks for the recommendation. Now that I’ve seen it I concur. The excellent cinematography contrasts with the bleakness of the subject matter, both visually and spiritually. The sound is beautifully done, too, with the solo guitar that occasionally cuts in, and the subtly effective outdoor background noises like planes and highway sounds. The little kid is pretty good in a major role.
The Ring (2002). Once you get past the ridiculous premise – that watching a certain scary video causes the watcher to die in seven days – this a pretty decent horror flick. Well executed and with a good performance by Naiomi Watts. It was quite popular so many here have likely seen it, but if not and you like supernatural horror, definitely recommended. This was a second viewing for me; the first was probably way back the year it came out.
Roman Holiday (1953). Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Eddie “Green Acres” Albert. Directed by William Wyler. One of those classics that somehow I missed all these years, so recorded it off TCM.
A prototypical rom-com. A princess from an unnamed European monarchy goes AWOL on a visit to Rome, meets a handsome American journalist, and madcap escapades ensue. Wyler teases us that there’s going to be a silly romantic ending and that they will end up together, but – spoiler alert – they don’t.
This was Hepburn’s breakout role. I’d pretty much only seen her in her mid-60’s roles (My Fair Lady, Charade, Wait Until Dark) and was struck by how incredibly young she was.
Filmed on location, which was a big deal in 1953.
There was a scene with eerie echoes for today: Peck and Albert are having a moral quandary as to whether to break the story about the princesses’ day (and reap a big payday) or to respect her privacy. Albert says “She’s a princess…princesses are always fair game.”
I was surprised to see the credits say “Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo”, and it turns out there’s a story there. When the film was released the credits said “Screenplay by Ian McClellan Hunter” – he was a front for Trumbo, who was on the blacklist. And when the screenplay won an Oscar, Hunter accepted it. In 1993 the Academy corrected the record and gave the Oscar to Trumbo’s widow – and apparently edited the print to include (seamlessly, as far as I could tell) Trumbo’s name.
You buy it once just for the bottle. The vodka itself is nothing special.
Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood (Hulu, 2019) Recommended. Tarantino-esque to the point of over indulgence but he does care for this place and this era and it shines through so that was nice. It was one of his better films and one I would recommend for people who don’t generally like his schtick.
Throwback Films with my kids continues. Mom is gone so I tend to put a film on in the living room while we eat dinner and they can stay and finish it when we are done. My 10 year old son sticks around 95% of the time, my 13 year old daughter 30% of the time.
The Abyss (Paramount+, 1989) A classic that still finds it’s mark. The CGI holds up and any silliness in the motion of the ships, subs and falling debris was necessary to add to the excitement. Nothing happens fast underwater so a studio audience would get bored watching what you COULD see in real life at the SPEED it was happening in real life, but in real life under all that water you’d be plenty scared already. Both kids stuck around and enjoyed it.
Stand And Deliver (Prime, 1988) A classic as far as I am concerned. A total fail. Both left as soon as they were done, we barely got into Algebra. A tough year for math for both of them so that may be the reason, I’ll try again during summer vacation.
Airplane (Prime, 1980) My son wanted something funny and I didn’t want to risk $4 on Spaceballs so we went with this. Tough start, I kept asking myself if I should explain Hari Krishas, Telephone Booths and Jive but then the comic notes began to hit. He laughed out loud a few times and when it was over deemed it, “very funny, 9 out of 10”. My daughter was on a sleepover.
Cloak & Dagger (Prime, 1984) Films about kids doing cool things plays well so I went with this memorable film from my youth. Hadn’t seen it since it’s release. A budget kids version of Wargames, it holds up even if the spy tech is hopelessly outdated. My daughter stayed through most and my son all and enjoyed it.
That’s a good excuse to watch it again when she’s home.
This is not a risk.
Someone over on Twitter just described McGregor’s acting as “Tommy Wiseau-ian,” and I had to steal/share it.
It is for me. I am not a Mel Brooks fan but I would do anything for my son. Even at 10 I think Mel Brooks was too immature for me, but lots of people like his comedy and my son may be one. Spaceballs certainly is in the public conscience.
My children and my wife like to watch Clean Vines/Memes on YouTube after dinner usually. For the uninitiated it’s essentially America’s Funniest Home Videos without Bob Saget. They aren’t curated so they are random as all get out, but they typically tap into the zeitgeist or at least pop culture of our time. So I am on a mission to show my children the source code before everything is ruined for them. I want them to see The Sixth Sense before the end is ruined and they’ll never want to see it, or if they do the reveal is wasted so it’ll be a ho-hum experience at best.
Heh , my daughter watched Seven and she told me she was really confused why they used the “what’s in the box meme” at then end as it didn’t seem a time for offbeat humor, and then late realized that’s where it came from.
I’ll just reference this prior review. I’ve just seen it and I don’t feel quite as negative. Oh sure, Statham is way over the top as a virtually invulnerable retired secret agent who goes all Rambo on a big scamming operation, but it’s a perfectly watchable if rather routine action flick for those who like such things. All the mandatory violence and exploding obects are there.
Funny thing about Statham. He’s obviously a marvelous action hero but my favorite role of his was that of Turkish in Snatch. Very funny and involved in but one physical altercation, which ended up with him losing and saved by his incompetent sidekick.
Wish he’d do more of those characters.
Watch Spy if you haven’t seen it. It is a comedy and Statham is hilarious in it. The best acting role I’ve seen him in. I’m giggling just thinking about him in it.
Agreed. Statham sends up his action hero persona brilliantly.
We watched Home from the Hill last weekend. It had been on TCM a while back, I saw the previews and decided to record it. We loved it. It was made in 1960 - Robert Mitchum, George Hamilton and George Peppard. It’s on the order of Giant. Just a great movie.