I’m not sure what you mean by this. The 1958 Hammer film Horror of Dracula (Simply Dracula back in England) departed outrageously from Stoker’s novel. The 1970 non-Hammer movie Count Dracula (which also starred Christopher Lee) was pretty faithful, at least for the first half. Coppola’s 1992 version is a bit closer (at least it actually has all the characters, for once). But nobody has made a truly faithful adaptation of Stoker’s very sprawling novel. I’m not sure anyone should. Stoker’s book is a real mess.
Then I was mistaken. I guess I’ve seen the 1958 film so many times that I’ve come to think of it as “the original story”.
So I revise my comment to say that the 2024 film departs quite significantly from the 1958 movie that I had always (apparently mistakenly) regarded as the original version of the story. It retains some of the major plot points but adds a lot of new ones. I may have read the Bram Stoker novel but I think it was a very long time ago.
I’ll reiterate, though, that I’ve seen most (not all) of the Dracula movies and that this one is the best, with the arguable exception of the special case of the 1922 silent classic.
My runner-up in the list of best Dracula films would be Leslie Nielsen in Dracula: Dead and Loving It! “Renfield, you idiot. I fly. You don’t.” 
I saw a live theater adaptation in Frankfurt last year that would probably qualify and forces me to agree that no one should even try to be faithful to the book. It was pretty much two and half hours of actors monologuing.
Mechanic: Resurrection 2016
On Max
It’s such a wonderful pleasure to watch the catalog of an actor. Jason Statham is a fine successor to the aging Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Willis (dementia) action stars.
Jason was a member of Britain’s national diving team and competed for England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. He performed an impressive cliff dive in this movie.
This movie is a sequel to The Mechanic. It’s formulaic and predictable. But I still enjoyed it. The ocean locations are very beautiful.
I haven’t seen the The Mechanic. I may be forced to rent it.
I’m watching it now on Max. It is very good.
I hadn’t heard of the movie until you mentioned it.
Images of the Grim Reaper are still powerful. Sometimes death does seem like an unrelenting entity.
Re watched Dunkirk
Incredible production values both visual and sound on Prime.
Hads not seen since I got my high end head phones …what a sonic treat as well as visual.
Damn what a great movie. Thumbs up (y)
Had not seen the Fugitive in a long time. Very fast paced and enjoyable tho I thought the original series better. Good square off with Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford. √
Then completely new to me The Thicket
Phenomena (1985). A very effective horror thriller written, produced, and directed by the master of horror, Dario Argento. A young Jennifer Connelly puts in a powerful performance as an American girl sent to a rural Swiss boarding school for girls. She’s always liked insects, but discovers that she can not only communicate with them but control them. In a parallel story line, a serial killer is rampaging in the area in which the school is located.
Highly recommended if you like horror thrillers, with a couple of caveats. This being an Argento film, there’s lots of blood and gore. Also, you may want to avoid it if you get squicked out by extreme close-ups of repulsive insects.
Sunshine Cleaning (2008). Amy Adams and Emily Blunt play two sisters, Rose and Nora, who are in need of money – Rose is a single mother working as a maid who wants to send her young son to private school, and Nora has just been fired from her job as a waitress. Rose discovers that there’s big money to be made by running a service specializing in biohazard and crime scene cleanup, and enlists Nora as a partner. Also stars Alan Arkin as the girls’ ne’er-do-well father.
This is a drama with the occasional touch of comedy. It is awash with subplots against the backdrop of their experiences in this unusual business. The film appears to be aiming for a higher level of meaning than it’s actually able to achieve, and ends up being just a passably entertaining story that is bolstered by some fine acting by Adams and Blunt. Mildly recommended but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.
I remember seeing that when it came out on video. Loved the actors in it but I agree with you that the movie doesn’t quite achieve what it’s aiming for.
Just watched Nightmare in Badham County, a 1976 made for TV movie. I am surprised that it was shown on TV even without the extra scenes added for overseas theaters. It was a difficult movie to get through, but I have to say probably the best women in prison movies I have seen. I don’t think I can watch Tina Louise and Robert Reed in the same way anymore. Everything about it was good and the ending left you doubting anything would change.
I saw Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer, starring Steve Buscemi, John Magaro and Britt Lower (who plays Helly in Severance).
It’s about a troubled marriage in which the husband, a writer, is prevailed upon by a guy who is—or claims to be—a ‘retired’ serial killer (Buscemi) to write a book based on his exploits, and who ends up being an ersatz marriage counselor to them.
The trailer (in the above link) does an adequate job laying out the premise, but doesn’t quite capture the vibe, which starts out kind of Hitchcockian and evolves into one of those ‘night out in the city goes increasingly wrong’ movies, a la After Hours.
Not brilliant, but definitely good, and the cast is great.
Last night I watched a 1975 Richard Dreyfuss movie called Inserts. Also featured Bob Hoskins, Veronica Cartwright and Jessica Harper.
It’s about a fading “Boy Wonder” depression era movie director who turns to making silent stag films for a living. The graphic language and nudity won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but I liked finding a well-acted flick that I had never heard of.
Hooboy, is a blast from the past. IIRC it was originally a Movie of the Week and it really messed me up. That was when everyone watched the same shows and I remember we were all freaked at seeing Mike Brady and Ginger in those roles.
Deepwater Horizon 2016 Mark Whalberg, Kurt Russell on Max
Dramatized version of the BP disaster on April 22. 2010.
It works ok as a disaster/rescue film.
The story is confusing in the beginning. There is concern that a concrete test wasn’t performed. Lot of technical details were unexplained. I’m not sure the movie could explain what was happening prior to the explosion in a 2 hour movie. Deep water drilling is highly specialized.
The biggest take away is BP reps on the rig were cutting corners and pushing for faster completion of the project.
I probably won’t watch it again. There’s not much story. Basically it went boom and people had to abandon the rig. 10 workers died.
On a personal note. My grandad worked in the South Arkansas oilfields from the early 1920’s to mid 1960’s. There was a near disaster on a rig that dropped into a sink hole. Fortunately the crew had just left for lunch. The sinkhole filled with water. It’s fenced off after some kids drowned. All the equipment and cables makes it too treacherous for swimming. My grandad took me to see it. That area now is pretty inaccessible with brush and trees
I thought Deepwater well done…quite the disaster flick.
You might like Dark Waters if you have not seen it.
Watched
All so young and Robin Wright luscious.
Somehow missed this early on.
A lot of people keep saying The Nice Guys is a fun flick, so I watched it last night, it was on Amazon Prime. They are right, it is fun. It is very Shane Black, it has a throwback buddy movie style to it, not just in its period setting, but its entire DNA. I can see why everyone wants a sequel.
There was one plot point in the middle of the film that disappointed me, unnecessary in my opinion, but it wasn’t a graphic distasteful film, like many others have been of late. It struck a good balance.
Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022)
Horrible title but an otherwise quite enjoyable film. As a pinball enthusiast, I knew all about Roger Sharpe’s 1976 demonstration that pinball is a game of skill rather than chance in front of the NYC city council. But this movie fills out the tale with some charming romance and many fun characters, not the least being the lead character and his magnificent mustache.
I didn’t fully understand all the technicalities of the tests they were running either, but I did get the gist that Malkovic’s character was making assumptions based on an alternate test, while Russell’s character wanted to wait and get actual data. So, I mean, oil drilling or open heart surgery, it’s easy to peg the antagonist.
It seemed clear the BP representatives on the Platform were responsible. Particularly the BP guy in the cabin (Malkovic’s character) overseeing the pressure test. I think he was also responsible for sending the crew home that were supposed to test the poured concrete?
Ultimately over a Billion was paid. Wikipedia has details in the Aftermath section.
I saw A Minecraft Movie, because my son said it’s enjoy it and a friend was going. It was fun. It was silly. I don’t recommend it especially highly, but if you enjoy the game, or enjoy silly movies, you’ll probably enjoy it.