Dredd. Again. If you haven’t seen this film, you’re missing out: forget that it’s about a comic book character for a moment, it’s not an overblown CGI fest, mostly because it was shot on almost no money. It’s is one of the smartest, best put together movies you’ve seen in a long time, and a master class in how to assemble a fully functional movie from not very much; there is nothing in there that shouldn’t be there, and the end result is lean, sharp, dirty, and totally engrossing.
The Homesman was an amazing and wonderful film.
I kept expecting certain events to happen. But I was always wrong. None of my expectations ever became true.
However, I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who loves fine films.
Both Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones turned in wonderful performances.
A very surprising film. I kept expecting certain things to happen. But I was always wrong.
December’s been a busy month for movies for me.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Great sfx, but frantically busy, with 'way too many fights and not nearly enough focus on Bilbo. I look forward to someone squeezing down all three bloated movies to something approaching Tolkien’s book.
Intacto
A 2002 Spanish thriller about a subculture of very, very lucky people who bet in different games against each other, sometimes lethally. Not perfect, but worth a look.
Interstellar
Despite some plot holes, a very-well-acted, clever, tense space-travel thriller. Two thumbs up.
The Imitation Game
Not entirely accurate historically, to say the least, but a very engaging movie about British codebreaking during WWII. Benedict Cumberpatch is great as Alan Turing, as is Keira Knightley as his associate and (briefly) fiancee.
Mockingjay, Part 1
Meh. Disappointing. Only for Hunger Games diehard fans.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
The reviews were mixed of this spoof of glitzy Vegas stage magicians, but I thought it was pretty funny. Steve Carrell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde and Jim Carrey are all good, but Alan Arkin steals the show as a crotchety old magician.
Saw “Agency of Vengeance” on Netflix, and it was EXCELLENT and nothing like the title or the cover art would make you think. It’s a smart, funny, sexy take on young adult action adventure movies with a supernatural twist. Highly recommended for a fun, casual watch. Not gonna Change Everything but good entertainment.
Also saw “Knights of Badassdom” on Netflix. It’s subpar at best. About a bunch of LARP (Live Action Role Players) who accidentally invoke a succubus demon. Predictable, trite, dull. Peter Dinklage is in it, as one of the LARPers. Well I guess everyone has to make money somehow.
Also saw “Once Upon A Time In The West” on Netflix. The cinematography was wonderful, but the shots just kept liiiiingerinnnnnng on the faces of Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda and (I think) Jason Robards. And none of them were that pretty, in fact, they were made to look extra seedy for the movie. Even the liiiingerinnnng shots of Claudia Cardinale got dull after a while. Still a classic spaghetti Western, but damn, it has not aged well with respect to pacing.
Since my last post:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Watched with my son, 15, who’s as into sf and fantasy as I am. He enjoyed it and had lots of questions. The movie still holds up very well today - deservedly a classic.
2010: The Year We Make Contact
When he heard there was a sequel, he wanted to see it, too. I warned him it wasn’t as good as the original, and was very different in tone, but he was still game. It’s not a bad sf adventure movie; it just suffers by comparison with Kubrick’s masterpiece.
The Theory of Everything
Saw this new Stephen Hawking tragic romance/biopic with a friend. Excellent acting, a very evocative look at Sixties Britain, but dragged a bit in the middle.
Bad Santa
Billy Bob Thornton steals every scene as an alcoholic sex maniac with a knack for robbing the department stores where he finds seasonal work as a Santa. Had its moments, but not as funny as it might’ve been. Lauren Graham plays a bartender with a Santa fetish who falls for him - hard to believe she did the movie on a break from Gibson Girls!
I just saw Birdman.
It got an astronomical rating on IMDB - 8.7 - I can’t remember seeing one or two other movies ever that rated that high.
I was blown away. I think I will need to watch it at least 2 or 3 more times to get any appreciation for it. I really didn’t get a full understanding on the first viewing.
Michael Keaton is hard to recognize. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen him in a movie. I think the last time was in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown in 1997. Or actually, the last time might have been in The Last Time. (just my little joke - he was in a movie called The Last Time - but I didn’t see that).
There was a huge list of stars in Birdman: Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach GalishitIcantspellit and Damian Young.
Do you recognize the name Damian Young? He played in The Comeback and is unrecognizable in this movie from that show.
Anyway, bottom line is that I’m just perplexed by this movie. But it’s probably worth seeing.
I hope you enjoy it.
His fiancee? That is most surprising since Turing was widely known to be gay.
Haven’t seen the movie or know all that much about Turing, but back in the day gay people often did get married, either because they didn’t understand their gayness or to conceal their gayness, or some admixture of both. Could have been the case with Turing.
Saw “Cashback” on Netflix, about a young artist with the ability to stop time. It’s not really SF or fantasy, it’s a mildly pleasant romantic comedy with the “stop time” thing as a gimmick. The “stop time” gimmick totally unnecessary to the story and handled badly. It was all right to watch, but it squandered the whole “stop time” concept and what was left wasn’t all that much.
Watched “That Kind of Girl” on Netflix, about a young, pretty Austrian nanny living in England. It was billed as a sixties sex romp, it was nothing of the kind. Mostly it was about the dangers of STDs as our heroine catches one early on. Not sure which one … salmonella, maybe? Didn’t watch all of it, as it did not have a “romp” feel to it nor was it fun at all.
Watched “Guns, Girls and Gambling” on Netflix, a farce that takes a lot of fun swipes at action adventure movies. A Hopi death mask is stolen from an Indian casino out west. The suspects are a bunch of Elvis impersonators who performed in an Elvis lookalike contest. The hero, John Smith, played well by Christian Slater, is one of the impersonators. The cops are the least of his problems as the Indian tribal leader has put a bounty of one million dollars out to the lowlife who can recover the mask, which attracts the usual heavily armed scum. Nobody and nothing is exactly what they seem to be when things start out. A fun watch.
Yup. See the movie.
Unbroken (2014) is a WW2 movie with the best action I’ve ever seen.
It opens with a B17 making a bomb run over Japan. I have never, ever, ever seen action as realistic as this.
I felt like I was right inside that bomber. When the Jap fighter planes come in for an attack, it looks perfectly realistic but you will be amazed at just what that looks and feels like. I have never seen action so realistic before.
I have just started watching this movie so I don’t know if the plot is any good or not. But the action is just amazing and I came here to tell you that.
I have no idea how Angelina Jolie (she’s the director) ever managed to accomplish this. There have been other WW2 movies made with people who were actually there and they were just flat and nowhere compared to this movie.
Based on the opening few minutes, I recommend this movie to you as much as I can. It’s just great!
Well, she started with a *fantastic *book, one I had the honor of being among the first to do a Reader Review of.
Haven’t seen it yet, but isn’t it a B-24?: Consolidated B-24 Liberator - Wikipedia
Oh Gosh! It may well be.
I thought the two bombers used by the USA in WW2 were the B-17 and B-29. I Googled the following question:
what were the two bombers made by Boeing used by the USA in WW2?
I got the following response:
The top two items on the list were the B-17 and B-29.
I didn’t see any other bombers on the list. So, … there you go!
At least, that’s were most people went, I think.
I always kind of got the idea that a B-24 had approx 4 people in it whereas the B-17 had about 12. I could be wrong. It would take a few Googles to find that out.
I think you will really enjoy this movie and I hope you do!
It looks like the B-17 had 10 crew members and the B-29 had 11.
http://flgrube1.tripod.com/id26.html
More about the film and its realism.
Have you ever seen what it’s like to be stranded on an ocean when you are bobbing up and down some ten feet at a time?
Talking about the Pacific Ocean which is like a tiger compared to the Atlantic which is like a rabbit - that is, when they are both going at their maximums.
About 38 minutes into this film, three crew members are shown stranded in the ocean and bobbing up and down. More realism than I ever imagined. Bloody terrifying!
More about Unbroken.
I’m sorry to tell you all that I loved the first five miinutes of Unbroken but was very disappointed with the rest. Perhaps I should not ever discuss a film until I have finished watching the whole thing.
The first five minutes were fantastic. But then it was all downhill from there. For the most part, the film was just a traumatic tale of evil after that.
He gets captured and put into a prison camp where one guard beats him savegely and relentlessly.
The end of the film co-incides with the end of the war and I was expecting some kind of redemption or some kind of payment to be made by that guard.
But there was almost nothing. In the last one minute of the film, we are told that he learns that hatred will just destroy him and so he had to forgive this guard in order for him to have a good life.
What a bunch of hooey.
There is a very much better film called The Railyway Man starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.
You won’t recognize Nicole Kidman but this film is miles ahead of Unbroken.
I wish I could make a “raspberry sound” on this board. That is where you stick your tongue out at someone and then blow making a funny kind of sound which is an insult.
I would give Angelina a big raspberry. I would also give her a FAIL on this movie. Compared to The Railyway Man, this one sucks big time.
I’m so disappointed!
The Railway Man (2013)
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers * – 1978 remake. Okay, I saw it long ago, but I appreciate it much more now.
I’ve been trying to watch Kevin Smith’s Tusk (bootleg on YouTube), but it’s so disgusting that I don’t think I can finish it.
Boyhood: So many pointless scenes, so many potentially interesting plot points that are never revisited, a good cast used up in something interminable.
Well …
Recently we’ve been treated to some truly excellent American films, including:
1998 American History X
1999 American Beauty
2000 American Psycho
2007 American Gangster
2013 American Hustle
Some people have expressed some strong negative feelings about one or two of these (like American History X). But, I just can’t get enough of Edward Norton. I think he is really and truly one of the most talented American actors in the movie scene today.
But regardless, most people have to admit the quality of these productions have been top notch! Really and truly … Jolly Good!
Ummm … Have you seen The Last Samurai 2003 yet? It is really another excellent production and if you are fed up with Tom Cruise, don’t let that detour you. It is really worth seeing. The Japanese actress will find a path to your heart. Absolutely!
Anyway, we have now revelled in another one titled, “American Heist”. I suppose we had to find an exception to prove the rule. This movie is not truly excellent. It’s not even anywhere near to “really excellent” or any kind of excellent. IMO, it is fair to describe it as “puss on a stick” or “a brick full of crap”. It is just not any good at all. It is fairly awful. Really and Truly fairly Awful. Jolly Awful. Yes Indeed. What a piece of crap!
I mean crapolla piled high and wide. Vast and Deep.
I can describe this film as "Yet another in the long series of “shoot em up” bank roberries in which almost everyone gets killed. Yes indeed! Jolly Indeed!
There is nothing new or unique or at all entertaining of this piece of (what’s the opposite of entertaining?)
There are a couple of wrinkles that you might find unique. But if I could deliver a message to the film makers, it would be … “Who cares”? Not me. Dat’s fer sure!
I can hardly wait for “Smell a Vision” so that we can see just how they deliver the stench of defecated fecal matter. Because this on would deliver in turds!
If you have decided, "Damn the torpedoes and Full speed ahead! Then, have a good time, Sport! You will need it. But, unfortunately, this bunch of crap won’t deliver it. Not at all!
Jolly Crap.
Watched “John Wick”, the newest Keanu Reeves effort. Ultra-violent video game stuff for the most part, but a good action flick if you like that sort of thing, with a good supporting cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane, along with what appears to be Dean Winters from the insurance commercials.
Could not stand it. Digital blood-splashes ruined this movie and Ican McShane is wasted.