Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Netflix (leaving Jan 31, btw). Cute movie, not much of it made sense. A married couple who’s relationship is on the rocks are secret agents for two competing agencies who… anyone? Bueller? Bueller? That’s right, they get sent against each other and learn to love again. 
This is a movie with few surprises but some good chemistry (too much, it turned out).
I watched since it’s nominated by Film Independent for editing. There was nothing new in this - it had a definite Black Hawk Down vibe, plus the obligatory credit sequence showing the actors and the real people they portrayed. And yeah, seizing an inhabited building in the middle of an active area with only eight guys to overwatch…I mean, maybe that’s what happened? Still, it was weird. Also, everyone shoots like Storm Troopers. Just sayin’.
Editing was very good, though.
It should have been called Formula: The Movie. It had everything I would expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer film…sadly. What a waste of two and a half hours. I should have listened to posters in this thread instead of the Academy.
Yeah, I mean I’m up for a racing movie. I didn’t like this or that Ford vs. Ferrari movie a little while ago. Ebert said “it’s not what the movie is about, it’s how it goes about it.”
Both were snoozes.
Maybe I need to watch that Gran Turismo movie some times.
I often disagree with the Academy. In this case, I can see why it’s on the list. I think it was a well-executed, entertaining film. I don’t think it should win Best Picture though – just recognized for being one of the 10 best movies of the year.
I watched Downfall (2004) last night. Obviously, I was curious about the meme scene (I really wanted to know what he said to get everyone but a few to leave - the memes always try to overthink the narrative … I digress). Overall, this is a spectacular film. I tend to get a little distracted with subtitles but I followed most of it. Performances were top-notch. The flow to the narrative was silky from front to back. It looked amazing. The fact that (spoiler alert) Adolph killing himself and Eva Braun wasn’t the final scene of the movie went a long way for me.
And … not for nothing, but goddamn, I was detecting a lot of Trump in there, especially in the he has lost touch with reality but we have to keep going mentality. I was kind of shocked at the number of high ranking Nazis who weren’t executed … some living long happy lives. Like that tall Lurch motherfucker that was Hitler’s body man (can’t remember his name).
Highly recommended.
Disneyland Handcrafted (Youtube link, also available on Disney+)
“Built from rare archival footage and original audio recordings, Disneyland Handcrafted reveals the extraordinary artistry and grit it took hundreds of craftspeople to bring Walt Disney’s impossible dream project of Disneyland to fruition – from groundbreaking to Opening Day on July 17, 1955.”
Cool documentary, in beautiful Kodachrome and Ektachrome color.
Eephus. A little film about a ballfield in Douglas, MA, that’s going to be razed for a school, and the two recreational league teams playing their last game there. It has an incredibly New England/Red Sox feel, with appearances by Joe Castiglione and Bill “Spaceman” Lee, and it’s one of those bittersweet homages to a bunch of cranky-ass, small-town bastards, and their love of baseball (kind of). 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 84 on Metacritic, but only 6.7 on IMDb, and I think that’s about right…appeals to nostalgia, sure, but also runs long. Nominated by FI for editing, but others are better in that category.
Dr. Zhivago, but not the one you think. This isn’t David Lean’s 1965 epic, but the BBC/WGBH TV version from 2002. It’s got Keira Knightly as Julie Christie, Sam Neill as Rod Steiger, and Hans Matheson (who?) as Omar Sharif.
I’m sorry, but I can’t help thinking of the casting in that way.
I picked up this TV version a few weeks ago, intending to watch it when he time was right. With a Siberian blizzard bearing down on us, I figured the time was right.
It was especially interesting in the way they explored different parts of the book (which I’ve never read). There’s no Alec Guinness in this version – I mean Yuri Zhivago’s half-brother Yevgraf, who is the narrator of the framing story in the 1965 film. I thought that maybe screenwriter Robert Bolt made him up, but a little searching showed that he IS in the book, but doesn’t have a big part. It’s pretty clever of Bolt to blow up his role and have him serve as narrator, and have his search for Yuri’s lost daughter the Citizen Kane-like Rosebud that drove the movie’s narrative.
By contrast, there is no narration in the TV movie. But they have more time, and can actually show the strains in Lara and Pasha’s marriage, rather than having Guiness intone, over a scene of Pasha signing up for the army, that happy men didn’t volunteer to go to war.
They also started the TV film with young Yuri witnessing his father’s suicide, caused (we later learn) by his getting drunk and in despair, egged on by Sam Neill – I mean Komarovski. No wonder Yuri hated Komarovski. There didn’t seem to be quite enough reason in the film. Except that’s not what happens in the book – Yuri witnesses the suicide of an unrelated man, and not at the urging of Komarovski. Screenwriter Andre Davies just altered that bit of the book to give Yuri more reason to loathe Komarovski. He evidently pulls a few more manipulations, as well.
Overall, it’s a good production, even if it lacks the epic imagery and punch of the film (and, of course, doesn’t have Maurice Jarre’s magnificent score). It’s like comparing a modern, pastel-colored movie to a Hollywood film from the age when Technicolor was new, and they wanted every scene to burst with color. A lot of the scenes in the new one look as if they were filmed yesterday, but the 1965 film definitely belongs to the epic past.
Goldeneye (1995) - I had read some lists that had this film as one of the best of the “old” Bond films.
Sheesh: not only did it not age well, but it is ludicrously ridiculous and, as final damnation, frequently boring. It is neither clever nor a quality production, to boot. Some cast members go in-and-out of Russian accents, there are lines dubbed-in without corresponding lip movements, and every 10 minutes I’m yelling at the screen “FUCKING KILL HIM ALREADY!”.
This may be the worst of all the Bond films I’ve seen, IMO. The only nice parts were Judy Dench as M, plus Alan Cumming chewing the Russian scenery.
2.5/5 stars.
Bugonia
I like bat shit crazy and this film is bat shit crazy.
We watched 1965s The Bedford Incident. I had seen it before, but my wife had not. It still holds up.
I never realized it’s yet another variation on Moby Dick. The book makes it more clear with Munceford “and I alone survived to tell thee!” ending, which was not in the film.
I’m super annoyed right now.
While checking “leaving soon” titles on Netflix I saw there was a documentary about John Wick, and the preview for it looked interesting. I fired it up and got halfway through, when they finished talking about the background and production of the first movie and started talking about the sequel. I liked the first movie quite a bit, but didn’t like the second one at all. And then the third movie I gave up maybe 20 minutes in.
But that first hour of the documentary about the first movie whet my whistle, so I did a roku search for it and found the original John Wick on HBO Max. Perfect; fired it up. Got maybe 10-12 minutes into the movie when we first meet the Russians at the gas station where they admire John’s car. Remember the stylized subtitles in the movie translating the spoken Russian into English? Those aren’t there in the streaming version. Turned on closed captions and rewound to the beginning of the scene. When they first get out of the car having a conversation, the CC says, and I quote: “[Speaking Russian].”
Seriously? I googled around and found a reddit thread complaining about this. Apparently the stylized subtitles were removed so that the same video could be used for all markets. The problem is that the subtitles for the spoken Russian were lost for the entire first movie. It’s not like half the movie is in Russian, but it’s also not like it’s only a line or two.
Seriously, WTF? So I’m off to find the original version via other means. Super annoying.
…alternate means have the same issue: “(Men Speaking Russian)”
So I ordered the Bluray from Amazon for $7, says it will arrive Wednesday. Comments mention enjoying the “stylized subtitles for the Russian”; fingers crossed it will include them.
What an irritating limitation in today’s streaming world.
All the limitations in streaming are imposed. They could include alternate audio tracks, including commentaries, and all the DVD extras, but they do not. Between that and disappearing shows entirely for no obvious practical or legal reason (i.e. it’s their own IP) streaming is not living up to its potential.
Wow… it’s in my top 4! Definitely Brosnan’s best, and the best one (at the time it came out) since OHMSS. How on earth did you find it boring? It moves along at a rip roaring pace!
Just want to add that I just warched Brick (2005) and it is indeed excellent. Moody and atmospheric in parts, a tense thriller in others, it’s fine entertainment. It’s nothing like the “Knives Out” movies, but you can see Rian Johnson’s creative excellence all over it.
Since I seem to be on a Rian Johnson kick, the next movie on my list is a delightful comedy he made after Brick, and in fact was reportedly working on the script even as Brick premiered at Sundance. This was The Brothers Bloom, which first premiered in 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the following year at the Boston Independent Film Festival, then got a phased theatrical release.
It stars Rachel Weisz, Adrian Brody, and Mark Ruffalo and concerns a couple of brothers who try to con a beautiful and rich but lonely woman out of her money. Unfortunately it got only average reviews, not great ones.
Roger Ebert wrote that it had many good moments and Weisz was terrific in it, but ultimately was a movie altogether too pleased with itself and had gags that went on long enough to wear out their welcome. I haven’t seen it yet but am planning to watch it tonight and will report back if I have any more comments. I often disagree with critics but I have great faith in Roger Ebert.
Have you seen Mandy with Nicolas Cage?
Just recommending.