Last Movie You Watched

[greg]

Saw today. Definitely recommended for anyone who might be considering watching it.

[Daverz]

Breaking Bad: El Camino.  Picks up where Breaking Bad left off, following Jesse Pinkman.  Recommended for BB fans.

[Karl Henning]

In the past two days: The Sublime, and the Non-Sublime...

Kozintsev's King Lear and Superman Returns.

[LKB]

Apollo 11

I saw this in the theatre early this year and was very impressed by the archival 65mm film, which apparently had never been seen  outside of NASA over the last fifty years.

I wasn't expecting the same experience from the bluray, particularly as l had to view it on a so-so laptop played from an external drive.

I should have had higher expectations. Even on barely - adequate equipment, watching this film on bluray is riveting. The large - format footage is unbelievably beautiful, a banquet for the eyes. And one shot in particular, which had to have been taken from a high - altitude aircraft, leaves me amazed: The third stage re- igniting for the TLI, at an altitude of over one hundred miles.

Anyone interested in large format presentations or the Apollo program should have this in their library.

Boosting,

LKB

[Karl Henning]

Apollo 11

I saw this in the theatre early this year and was very impressed by the archival 65mm film, which apparently had never been seen  outside of NASA over the last fifty years.

I wasn't expecting the same experience from the bluray, particularly as l had to view it on a so-so laptop played from an external drive.

I should have had higher expectations. Even on barely - adequate equipment, watching this film on bluray is riveting. The large - format footage is unbelievably beautiful, a banquet for the eyes. And one shot in particular, which had to have been taken from a high - altitude aircraft, leaves me amazed: The third stage re- igniting for the TLI, at an altitude of over one hundred miles.

Anyone interested in large format presentations or the Apollo program should have this in their library.

Boosting,

LKB

Cool as a space suit

[mc ukrneal]

Black Panther
[asin]B079F9D91N[/asin]
Very disappointed. I felt it was a rehash of lots of other movies/shows including Wonder Woman, James Bond, etc. I liked some of the strong characters, but thought most of their performances were wasted.

Spider Man: Into the Spidey Verse
[asin]6317632464[/asin]
This is a film with a superb idea and is quite cohesive in terms of style. It's quite good in how it uses the other characters to help the main character grow. That said, I felt the heart of the movie was quite stereotypical and not much different from dozens of other coming of age stories. Still, the idea is so clever that it makes the film one of the better superhero movies out there.

[Madiel]

A couple of nights ago, Logan.



Every bit as good as I'd been led to believe, but also a very, very tough film to watch. The violence is unflinching.

Afterwards I saw that at least a few reviewers had described it as more like a Western than a superhero movie, and I think that's accurate.

[aligreto]

Black Rock





This film depicts three women friends on a camping trip to an island. There is an issue between two of them and the third woman has surreptitiously arranged the trip. They unexpectedly meet three men on a hunting trip. A situation develops and things soon get out of hand. There is some violence involved but it is relevant to the story. Worth a watch.

[SonicMan46]

Recently returned from Indianapolis to visit our son and DIL, and our 'new' 5+ month old grand dog - watched, went to, and watched more recent additions to my BD collection on return home, for a total of about 9 movies!  Here's a listing while in Indy: Aladdin (Will Smith), Bumblebee, Judy (in a theater), Lion King (new animated film), Stan & Ollie, and Toy Story 4; on return home: Electric Horseman, John Wick 3, and Set-Up, The - will just discuss the ones below.

Judy (2019) w/ Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland - a dramatic bioptic about her 1969 London concerts (she died that year at age 47 years) - plenty of flashbacks to her MGM days and the making of the Wizard of Oz; Renee does well although here voice which is quite good does not match that of Garland; prefer the Judy Davis bioptic Me and My Shadows (shown below) made for TV from 2001 - ratings: 83%, Rotten Tomatoes & 3.7/5, Amazon - 3 1/2* would be my rating.

John Wick: Chapter 3 (2019) w/ Keanu Reeves as the super-assassin w/ a price tag on his head (short synopsis below) - franchise dating from 2014 (and I'm sure there will be a fourth!) - had to watch this 2+ hour of endless killings (usually a few shots to the head) over two nights - not sure that I understand the ratings: 90%, Rotten Tomatoes and 4.1/5, Amazon - I'd do 3* at best and liked the first two films somewhat better - watch at your own risk and try to count the innumerable bounty hunters killed!

Electric Horseman, The (1979) w/ Robert Redford, Jane Fonda; Sydney Pollack, director - just added to my BD collection; a favorite since the VHS days (despite some mixed reviews) - when the DVD was released, the opening & closing Willie Nelson (also in the film) songs were replaced w/ generic music tracks, so I refused to buy - well this 'new' BD release restores this misguided logic - so watched a few nights ago after many years and still loved.

Set-Up, The (1949) w/ Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias; Robert Wise, director - yet another boxing movie w/ a film noir atmosphere - Ryan is excellent (and was a boxing champion in college, I believe); second synopsis below - rating number 8 of 25 HERE, although there are plenty of other boxing film lists!  This film gets lost in the genre, so if a fan of boxing pics and not yet seen, then highly recommended.  Dave

   

 

In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick (Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin's guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world's most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.

8. "The Set-Up" (1949) - The same year as the more famous Kirk Douglas boxing picture "Champion," Robert Wise directed this condensed, unsung, and much more compelling story. Robert Ryan stars as Stoker, a man "always one punch away" from winning, but he's been on such a cooler of late, his own manager Tiny (George Tobias) assures the local gangsters that he'll go down in the second round of his next match without even prepping Stoker for it. Things get complicated and incredibly intense when our downtrodden fighter becomes determined to beat his next opponent, no matter what. What makes "The Set-Up" such a fantastic boxing film is that it manages to be both about the action in the ring and an emotional portrayal of a loving relationship, all in a super-economical 72 minutes. Here we have one of the most rounded and grounded boxing stories, told in incredibly effective, ridiculously immersive, real time. Whether it's inside the sweat-stained locker rooms, ringside with managers chewing their faces off, or in the zoo-like atmosphere of a fight-frenzied general public, Wise's camera pans, zooms, glides, and cuts its way around the milieu in splendidly efficient fashion. Milton Krasner's cinematography (that bagged him an award in Cannes) glosses the entire picture in stunning film noir aesthetics, while Ryan's central performance is nuanced and far ahead of its time.

[Karl Henning]

Welcome home, Dave!

I may possibly content myself simply with the first John Wick. Which I owe in part to our George.

[SonicMan46]

Welcome home, Dave!

I may possibly content myself simply with the first John Wick. Which I owe in part to our George.

Hi Karl - below a pleasant break in Wick 3 from gun shots to heads, i.e. knives and axes mainly -    Dave

https://youtu.be/v00zKyXbfD4

[mc ukrneal]

Hi Karl - below a pleasant break in Wick 3 from gun shots to heads, i.e. knives and axes mainly -    Dave

https://youtu.be/v00zKyXbfD4

I agree with you on WIck 3. It felt more like a stop gap to get you to Wick 4.

[André]

Has anyone seen this film ? And what did you think of it? I'll be watching it next week. Burning is Chang-Dong's third entry to the Cannes film festival (never won, but one of his actresses did).

[George]

Finally saw this today.

Superb acting, as always, by Joachim. It was impossible to take your eyes off him. He is just as convincing when he is being tender with his mother in the film as when he is viciously attacking someone. And he captured that awkward manner of his character as he transformed into Joker perfectly. Creepy, dark, disturbed, so disturbed that it was scary at moments. And his physical transformation was impressive, appearing to be a shell of what we had seen of him before. The direction was incredible, too. The two hours flew by, with each scene seamlessly flowing into the next. No dead spots. Here, the Joker is humanized, we get to learn why he is the way he is and at times it is easy to understand his warped point of view, even if you don't agree with his methods.

[Karl Henning]

Time Limit, Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Martin Balsam, Dolores Michaels, dir. Karl Malden, score by Fred Steiner.
Recommended by our Cato, wonderfully intense.

[Ken B]

Stan & Ollie
2018

Laurel and Hardy on tour in England in 1953. A slow start but pretty good, with outstanding performances by the leads.

[SimonNZ]

Has anyone seen this film ? And what did you think of it? I'll be watching it next week. Burning is Chang-Dong's third entry to the Cannes film festival (never won, but one of his actresses did).

Haven't seen it, but coincidentally will be watching that director's Secret Sunshine tomorrow with a friend. We've recently finished a Hirokazu Kore-eda viewing project, and I learned from a piece in the Guardian asking some directors to pick their favorite post-2000 films that this was his. The local video store also has "Oasis" by Chang-dong, so will probably see that next week.



The directors' cut: film-makers choose the best movies of the century so far

[SonicMan46]

Stan & Ollie
2018

Laurel and Hardy on tour in England in 1953. A slow start but pretty good, with outstanding performances by the leads.

Hi Ken - had Stan & Ollie on my streaming list but my son had it 'downloaded' already - watched and really enjoyed - will not be a purchase but recommended - Dave
.

[André]

Haven't seen it, but coincidentally will be watching that director's Secret Sunshine tomorrow with a friend. We've recently finished a Hirokazu Kore-eda viewing project, and I learned from a piece in the Guardian asking some directors to pick their favorite post-2000 films that this was his. The local video store also has "Oasis" by Chang-dong, so will probably see that next week.



The directors' cut: film-makers choose the best movies of the century so far

Thanks, that's very interesting. Whets my appetite !

[aligreto]

Arbitrage





A tale, well told, of lies and deceit.