I picked up the WArner Brother Cartoon PLatinum Collection at a flea market a couple of weeks ago, and it keeps on giving. Besides a lot of classic Chuck Jones cartoons, it has a LOT of Warner Brothers cartoons I have never seen or even heard of (although I must have read aboiut them, since I went through Jerry Beck’s book of Warner Brothers cartoons. Beck edited tis DVD). It also has features like Chuck Amuck and an old favorite of mine, The Dot and the Line. I’m still not through with the set. Last night I showed Pepper Mill all the Witch Hazel cartoons (one of her favorites. She loves quoting the “Sharp Enough to Split a Hare – Split a Hare!” complete with crazed cackling.)
Dark Shadows. Of all the Tim Burton movies, this is definitely one of them. You’ll never guess who stars in it, and who is in a supporting actress role, and who wrote the music, and…
Anyway, it was a film. With any luck I shall forget it shortly.
Speaking of forgetting. I also watched The Notebook featuring James Garner and Gena Rowlands as old people in love (sort of) and Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as young people in love. The love story hits all the usual notes but the framing device of it being told by James Garner really adds some much-needed depth to the film. Not earth shattering but rather nice.
Really? I saw the original in theaters and thought it was terrible. Something about a coop of pedophiles (why!?) and some weirdo trying to change out his body parts or his blood or something to live longer?
Young Washington 2026
Rented on Prime
I recommend the film. The story of Washington’s early career is quite compelling.
It’s amazing that he survived the Battle of Fort Necessity and the other conflicts during the French and Indian War.
Professionally he should have been ruined. He was known as the man that started a war with France and his inexperience led to a major defeat.
Washington still rose above every setback.
A lot isn’t actually known about Washington’s early years. The film had to fill in many blanks about his true temperament and his determination to rise in society.
8.5 out of 10
I refuse to give an money to Angel Studios.
That’s a movie I saw in the theater for some reason. I have no recollection of anything about the movie.
The ABCs of Death 2
You’d think I’d learn after watching part one. Twenty-six little films in alphabetical order all involving death. Two or three are OK, but the rest are a long haul in steerage.
There’s an ABCs of Death 2 1/2 focusing on just the letter “M” — don’t look at me, yer on yer own.
Aquaman 2018 Aquaman Jason Moma, Amber Heard
I wasn’t expecting much from this movie. It’s silly escapism and fantasy.
I kept thinking where’s Jason’s surfboard? Aquaman is the ultimate antihero that just wants to hang out on the beach, surf, drink brews, and chill.
Unfortunately his heritage requires him to put that aside and claim the throne of Atlantis.
It helps that Amber Heard is along for the ride/swim.
I can’t rate it more than 6.5 out of 10.
It’s not a bad movie if you approach it as complete silliness and laugh at the ridiculous cgi. I found myself enjoying many parts of the movie.
I have not seen the sequel, but it must be one of the most awkward productions ever. Jason Momoa was actively trying to get Amber Heard fired. Like, right up to the start of shooting. Studio wouldn’t budget.
They made the film knowing Momoa was trying to fire his co-star. Awkward!
Rotten Tomatoes is split on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
33% Tomatometer and 79% Popcornmeter
The fans enjoyed the movie.
I haven’t seen it. I like the ending of the first movie. I don’t feel any need to see a sequel to the story.
Amber Heard had personal problems and a trial distracting her in 2023. I imagine the film set was very stressful filming the sequel.
Maybe he was just trying to shake things up a bit?
Maybe Momoa thought she might leave something floating in the water…
(Cue jaws theme)
On a different note, we watched Obsession over the weekend. An instant classic, I’d say. Played soooo well, that was a meaty role for the main actress.
I re-read all four books a while back, and watched the Hobbit trilogy for the first time a couple months ago. I actually enjoyed them for the most part, but wasn’t blown away.
Yesterday I fired up the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring on HBO Max. Nearly 4 hours (though 27 minutes are credits, so let’s call it 3-1/2).
It’s hard to believe this film is 25 years old. I watched the whole trilogy on DVD - once - after they’d all been released, so probably over 20 years ago. Figured the time is ripe for a re-watch.
I pretty much knew what was going to happen at every turn, yet I was never bored. I didn’t miss Tom Bombadil, but oddly enough, I was rather disappointed by the omission of Bill Ferny (one of my favorite minor characters from the books) and the all-too-brief appearance of Butterbur. I guess even at 3-1/2 hours they had to shorthand these rather substantial novels.
But all the important stuff was there, the actors all did a great job, and it just looks terrific from start to finish.
I plan to watch the other two over the next two weekends. Time well spent while stuck in a hotel room on an extended work trip.
Some friends and I just re-watched all three of them a couple months ago and they were still just as great! They really do hold up well.
Normal (HBO Max)
Violent, silly, and fun. I’m glad I went in not knowing anything about the premise.
The End of Oak Street
Recommended.
Not amazing, but pretty solid. I won’t even spoil the premise on this one as it really is better just going in blind. I think the final edit of this movie shortened it way down; I bet it was supposed to be 2 hours, but the studio insisted it be sliced down to a shorter length. I can tell that things feel a bit choppy.
This is a good “family in crisis” movie. While what happens surely affected many people, we stay only with one family and that gives it a very simple, but effective perspective.
Nothing hugely amazing, but very well down in most parts.
I watched Bugonia on Netflix last night. Can’t say I really liked it or hated it… it’s one of those movies where I think I might understand it better if I watched it again, but I’m not sure I want to watch it again.
I spent about the first half of the movie asking myself “Is that Jesse Plemons? It looks like him, but he’s way too skinny.” I think the last movie I saw him in was that western with Benedict Cumberbatch that won an Oscar or two a couple years ago, and he was pretty portly in that one. (Had to look it up - “The Power of the Dog”)
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Not recommended.
This movie cost $50,000 and it is at least adequately filmed and the sound is recorded properly. For such a low budget, I honestly expected worse.
It’s terrible, though. I read it was shot in less than two weeks. The Winnie the Pooh and Piglet monsters are pathetic, just a mask on a really big guy. They do not move and at no point do you see anything other than a couple of big guys wearing masks.
I like Full Moon Features. They usually find a way to make a fun, bad, low budget film. This is NOT as good as most Full Moon films. It’s just plain cheap and low budget.
Winnie the Pooh and Piglet are in public domain now; this is how this movie was made. You can tell the other animal characters are not in public domain, as they don’t appear(Christopher Robin does).
Anyway, zero point to watching this. I had it on in the background and looked up here and there; it deserves nothing better.
I’m surprised to see that the continuation of this “Twisted Childhood Universe” has some films with pretty good reviews. This one is trash.
Monday night movie night. We inevitably end up watching weird stuff.
Last night’s weird stuff was Time Bandits, a 1981 adventure comedy written and directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. It’s about a kid who time-travels with a bunch of dwarves.
I can’t really say this was a good movie, and it had a start that my husband said reminded him more of a Disney ride than a movie, but some parts of it were genuinely funny and it was mostly entertaining. There were some very famous people inexplicably in this film, including Sean Connery. And there was some great character acting, including the primary villain David Warner.
My favorite bit was with Robin Hood.
Also the leader dwarf, David Rappaport, was outstanding (and handsome.)
Basically it’s a film that took a lot of creative risks and some of them landed and some of them didn’t, but it’s refreshing to see something like this in our modern-day era where everything is slickly produced and mass marketed.
I’m not much of a fan of Gilliam films, either. I liked this better than Brazil and 8 billion times better than 12 Monkeys.