Yeah, it could be PTA is not to my taste. I watched it with two PTA fans and my husband, four people all who have pretty different politics, worldviews, and film interests, and we all agreed on what we saw as the problems. But I know people like all kinds of different things and I am really okay with the diversity of feelings about both movies.
One of the cool things about my movie group is we end up watching films we wouldn’t pick up on our own. We have at times had very different reactions but there were also films where we were all having a great time (like In Bruges - which was my pick, thank you!) But no matter what we watch it always makes for stimulating conversation.
So much this. I really just don’t care for him stylistically and I frankly couldn’t get through One Battle…. I abandoned it halfway through the other night.
Sean Penn’s character was just so fucking weirdly ridiculous (Lockjaw? seriously?), Leonardo DiCaprio’s was such an inert lump and Teyana Taylor was just so fucking weirdly ridiculous yet again, I just couldn’t anymore.
It might be a great film deserving of all the awards, I dunno. There’s no accounting for taste. But I think I’m unlikely to find out .
The Rock 1996 Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer
Spencer plays basically the same government official in The West Wing.
I think the first half of the movie is best. The scenes in the hotel with Sean Connery and John Spencer’s confrontation is excellent. The car chase afterwards is well choreographed.
Sean Connery’s scene with his estranged daughter (Claire Forlani) surprised me. I didn’t realize he had that emotional range.
I usually can’t stand Nicholas Cage’s eccentric characters. He’s very good in this movie.
The 2nd half of the movie is a standard Special Op’s mission. It’s well done.
But then Gregory Bovino came along and made Steven J. Lockjaw look like a piker. Not veering into politics, but the movie came out at a very opportune time and seemed to be written for today’s current events.
I actually kinda dug the scene transitions. But I agree with you completely as to the characters. And you didn’t even mention the Christmas brotherhood. I found it hard to grasp what portions were supposed to be taken seriously, which were attempted humor, which were intentional exaggerations….
Small point that kinda bugged me - at the end, Leo and daughter were back in their home just living their lives? After the government (whatever group was under Lockjaw) broke in and after Leo was identified as a wanted terrorist? Just seemed one final unrealistic oddity in a long string of them.
I think that at the end, they were living somewhere new, supposedly with new identities.
I saw the whole movie as part of the “magical realism” genre - everything was an intentional exaggeration, and normal real-world logic didn’t necessarily apply.
It was hard to get a good look, but they showed the front door with the same blue stained glass insert as before, this time with tape over it. Which made me think that was the same door that had been knocked down. I THINK there was a glimpse outside that looked similar to where they had lived before, but only a glimpse.
Magic realism likely is a good description - and explains my personal dissatisfaction with it. First time I heard the term was when my kids were in Jr High/HS - and I quickly realized it ws a style of literature I just did not care for.
Another data point - NOT one of my favorite authors.
Wow! Look what I found in its entirety on YouTube! An excellent transfer to digital with great sound. Thanks to some complicated licensing issues, this compilation of Punk / New Wave / Avant Gard performances circa 1980 was essentially a lost film to me. Apparently there have been DVD and BlueRay releases over the last ten years but I never thought I would see it again.
This is the first time I have watched this film in 40+ years and most of the performances are as good as I remember. I’ll admit to fast forwarding through some of the white Reggae and arty European stuff but there are some real gems in here; notably The Cramps, X, Joan Jett, Surf Punks, The Go-Gos, Athletico Spizz 80, 999, Devo, and Dead Kennedys. I saw many of these bands back in the day and was shocked by how many I have seen in just the last couple of years (Fleshtones, X, Go-Go’s, Devo, Joan Jett). This was a real treat!
Here is a list of the performances:
Opening credits The Police – “Driven to Tears” Wall of Voodoo – “Back in Flesh” Toyah Willcox – “Danced” John Cooper Clarke – “Health Fanatic” Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Enola Gay” Chelsea – “I’m on Fire” Oingo Boingo – “Ain’t This the Life” Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Puppet” Jools Holland – “Foolish I Know” XTC – “Respectable Street” Klaus Nomi – “Total Eclipse” Athletico Spizz 80 – “Clocks Are Big; Machines Are Heavy/Where’s Captain Kirk?” The Go-Go’s – “We Got the Beat” Dead Kennedys – “Bleed for Me” Steel Pulse – “Ku Klux Klan” Gary Numan – “Down in the Park” Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – “Bad Reputation” Magazine – “Model Worker” Surf Punks – “My Beach” The Members – “Offshore Banking Business” Au Pairs – “Come Again” The Cramps – “Tear It Up” Invisible Sex – “Valium” Pere Ubu – “Birdies” Devo – “Uncontrollable Urge” The Alley Cats – “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore” John Otway – “Cheryl’s Going Home” Gang of Four – “He’d Send in the Army” 999 – “Homicide” The Fleshtones – “Shadowline” X – “Beyond and Back” Skafish – “Sign of the Cross” Splodgenessabounds – “Two Little Boys” UB40 – “Madame Medusa” The Police – “Roxanne” The Police – “So Lonely”
Not a movie, but worth mentioning that Taylor Tomlinson has a new Netflix comedy special out, “Prodigal Daughter”. I’ve always liked her authenticity and she’s as funny as ever.
That’s a surprisingly clean transfer/upscaled version. Way better than the VHS I watched back in the day. I actually had the two-cassette tape (which wasn’t quite the complete show), might still in my storage. But nothing to play it on, oh well. Thanks for the link.
Given he left the franchise in the early 1970s (not counting Never Say Never Again in 1983), that’s a lot of films. But his later films include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, and Finding Forrester.
Admittedly they also include some absolute stinkers like The Avengers (not the Marvel one), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Highlander II: The Quickening, but you can’t win them all.
Michael 1996 John Travolta, William Hurt, Andie MacDowell
I was drawn in by Nora Ephron.
Renting this movie was a regrettable mistake.
None of the characters is likeable or interesting. Travolta’s Angel is too weird for me. The romance is forced and there’s no chemistry between the actors.
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