The Gray Man on NFLX. Another Jason Bourne clone, but entertaining.
Saw the re-release of Let It Be on Disney+ this morning. After all these years and all the mixed feelings* left over from seeing it in the early 70s it was quite enjoyable. A very different experience from Peter Jackson’s marathon Get Back effort, but it still has the Fab Four spark. Highly recommended If you’re an old-school Beatles fan.
*It was on a triple bill with A Hard Day’s Night and Help! and was kind of a downer after the comedy antics of the other two films.
I’m just off to lay an eyeball on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, will report!
Have you seen the old ITV production of The Mirror Crack’d from 2010? She had a nice juicy part.
Hmmm. Well.
I was surprised, on searching this thread, to find no previous references to the current PlanetApes reboot series (Rise of in 2011, Dawn of in 2014 and War for in 2017). Did I miss something? Anyway, I never saw the original or any of the pre-2011 sequels, so the Jaffa/Silver/Bomback Ape Planet Universe is the only one I know. I am not a good cinema-understander so am a bit nervous to be the only local reviewer of this franchise, but here goes anyway!
Kingdom of takes place “many generations after” the closing events of the third movie, and deals with the interactions of various geographically distinct ape and human tribes.
Much of the early part focusing on chimp society has a sort of historical-legend-film feel, you know, like one of those medieval-saga movies but not the 20th-century corny kind, the kind that work really hard on getting the material setting right and can seem almost like an anthropological documentary? (I told you I was bad at this! 
)
This part wasn’t particularly fast-paced, in fact there were moments that kind of reminded me of Iranian cinema? in the confident willingness to let the characters’ subtle interactions and reactions speak for themselves, without highlighting and dramatizing everything. I liked it! When things turned more dramatic and tragic, it got more action-packed but still with that same serious-epic feel.
When the movie got to humans doing humany things, that came across to me as a lot more lackluster and poorly supported. It got kind of better as the movie went on, and the ape/ape interactions were always good including the final dramatic conflict. But I still don’t believe a lot of the technology plot points and other humany details.
Here’s a summary of a lot of more intelligent reviews of the movie, for those who are interested!
Watched Encanto for the third time, can confirm it is a freaking masterpiece. Best music possibly of any Disney movie ever thanks to Lin Manuel Miranda. It’s funny. The story structure is unique in that it follows the “heroine’s journey” archetype of the heroine venturing inward (deeper into her family history, literally deeper into the family house) and bringing light back to her kingdom. The story unfolds so beautifully. Every character is fully realized, even the “villain.” It is a film kids can enjoy but it brings home a very adult message.
I think what’s so impactful about it is that the grief is so palpable, just as much so as the joy. Neither one outshadows the other.
And the music is so danged catchy!
I was the target demographic at the time of the first ones - pre-teen boy. I thought they were cool as hell. I’ve got them on DVD. Watching as an adult, not impressive. Special effects really aren’t all that special (although the makeup was state-of-the-art for the time); plots were pretty thin.
I think you would like where Kingdom of has gone with the special effects, then; I’ve seen reviews making Avatar-level comparisons.
I should give this another shot…I remember being disappointed on first viewing. The story seemed to me rather disjointed. And the heroine looks like they recycled Moana, with glasses.
But I’m willing to take another look.
Just finished slogging through Thanksgiving. Pretty standard gore film. I really don’t know why I watched it, other than I’m really bored today.
It was a disappointment. If you don’t know, it was a movie based on a fake trailer that Eli Roth made back when Death Proof came out.
Now watch this trailer and you will quickly realize the final actual movie is much more tame. This was supposed to be a video nasty type movie and instead, it’s just an OK regular movie.
I’ll take your word for it. The Thanksgiving “turkey” in the movie was quite enough for me.
Watched Jules last night on Amazon Prime. Light-weight ET-with-old-people premise. The only original idea is a spaceship that runs on dead cats. The usual good performance by Ben Kingsley and it’s nice to see Jane Curtain still working. A cute but likely forgettable film. There’s worse ways to spend 87 minutes.
New Life
Not recommended.
A low budget, but I guess adequately made movie about a woman with a strange variation of Ebola who is trying to escape to Canada. Sent to bring her in dead or alive…one agent who has a degenerative disease of her own.
Uh, why they sent one disabled agent to kill/trap a person who may start the next pandemic…is not explained.
Mostly boring, though. Skip it.
Uh, I’m not even sure why it was called New Life. ???
Spy × Family Code: White (2023). Like many full length outings of popular anime, it helps if you have seen (or read) Spy x Family before. Even without that, they do a brief exposition for those who do not know the characters. A fun movie with plenty of humor and action and some touching moments. For someone who has seen the series, it will feel like one extended episode that completes a story arc that usually you have to wait for due to the time between episodes. I quite enjoyed it, as did a friend who was not familiar with the series.
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This is one that did not draw me in, and then the more I thought about how toxic the relationships in the family are, the more I disliked it. I may give it another watch, but I really have no inclination to so.
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In Harm’s Way 1963 John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Carroll O’Connor, and the kid from Shane.
I hadn’t seen it in many years. The movie is a bit slow-paced but holds up well. It covers the year after Pearl Harbor when the US was Island hopping in the Pacific. The focus is on the Admiral (J Wayne) as he cootdinates the battles to occupy several key Islands. It is a fictitious amphibious operation.
I recommend the movie. The cast is excellent. All the best character actors are in it. The interaction and squabbles of the officers in the midst of war is relatable. It is almost 3 hours long. But I stayed interested throughout.
Wayne is more subdued and understated in this role. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery just after filming was completed. Seems likely he had symptoms and felt bad during filming.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Not really recommended. I mean, maybe a bit.
Not a bad movie, but not particularly good, either. Lots of Nazi killing, but I think Sisu last year delivered more interesting, more violent, and more fun Nazi killing than this movie. It’s a Guy Richie movie, so it is fairly well made. No standout characters, though. Plot is just standard stuff.
Stuff…does get blown up real good at various moments. It is R-rated, so we get a lot of fun guns-a-blastin’ moments.
I’d recommend it if you need a relatively mindless way to spend two hours. In terms of an impactful movie, this isn’t really one of those.
We watched Unfrosted. Sort of odd, it has all the elements I thought I would like, we smiled a fair bit but we barely laughed at all, and only finished because we had started.
Agree with others comments the kids were fun, and the Jan 6 thing was distracting.
The original Meet the Parents (1992)
Universal buried this picture when they bought the rights to remake it. And that’s a shame, because this is definitely worth seeing.
It’s obviously a low-budget independent effort; however, writer/director/star Greg Glienna had a clear vision and executed it perfectly, pulling no punches whatsoever. It’s much darker than the Stiller/Deniro version. Is it funnier? I dunno - there are a few laugh-out loud moments, but it focuses more on the increasing absurdity of the events and the growing discomfort of the hapless Everyman as the universe keeps turning against him.
I’m glad I finally got to see it. And it was a hoot to spot all the old Chicago comedians I used to know back in the day.