Last Movie You Watched

[LKB]

Hi LKB - well that's how my son talks to me -    However, I'll save my $25 for another 4K release -    But I do have a story about Keir Dullea - wife and I married in July 1970 (2001 made in 1968) and spent a week on Bermuda for our honeymoon (thanks to her parents) - on our return flight, we were seated in coach (me on the aisle and her in the middle); WELL, at the window was Keir Dullea - now we were rather sedate and respected his privacy but they exchanged a few words when the lunches arrived - a pleasant bonus to the end of a great week on the island!  Dave

That's a neat story, thanks for sharing. 

I myself would probably have geeked out, big time... 

,

LKB

[71 dB]

RUNAWAY (Michael Crichton, 1984) - German Blu-ray (Koch Media).

Robots have become common in homes and other places in society, but criminals modify them to do bad things. There are special cops who hunt down malfunctioning robots. This movie has plenty of the 80's feel I love nowadays, but Michael Crichton's talent in is writing, not in directing. The lousy directing prevents this movie from achieving its full potential which is a shame.

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[DavidW]

Oh man 71 dB I remember watching that movie as a kid!

[71 dB]

Oh man 71 dB I remember watching that movie as a kid!

I didn't see that many movies as a kid. I saw the "big movies" (Star Wars/Indy/E.T./Back to the Future), but I wasn't interested beyond them. Fast forward to the 21st century and idiotic ADHD movies I found out I actually prefer movies from the 70's and 80's so I'm now watching movies I "missed" as a kid. It is a lot of fun!   When you turn 50, nostalgy becomes a thing. 0:)

[SurprisedByBeauty]

State and Main


starring William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Alec Baldwin, Julia Stiles, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Rebecca Pidgeon, David Paymer, Patti LuPone,
Clark Gregg, and Charles Durning.

I remembered it being a lark... and it is a lark.

[George]

The opening act, Jay London, is quickly becoming one of my favorite comedians. Here's a few of my favorite jokes of his:

I went to an audition the other day, they were casting 13 people to be clouds. 14 people showed up. It was overcast.

I've been taking medical marijuana for constipation. My doctor says shit or get off the pot.

[71 dB]

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (Frank Oz, 1988) - German Blu-ray (koch films)

It has been ages since the last time I saw this. Michael Caine and Steve Martin are superb conmen together and Frank Oz's old-fashioned directing is on point. This is kind of a perfect little movie I have learned to appreciate much more over the years. The picture quality of this particular Blu-ray release is impressive. Very clean, natural and detailed picture that respects the film grain leaving it as it is.

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[Karl Henning]

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (Frank Oz, 1988) - German Blu-ray (koch films)

It has been ages since the last time I saw this. Michael Caine and Steve Martin are superb conmen together and Frank Oz's old-fashioned directing is on point. This is kind of a perfect little movie I have learned to appreciate much more over the years. The picture quality of this particular Blu-ray release is impressive. Very clean, natural and detailed picture that respects the film grain leaving it as it is.

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Great fun! I actually saw that in the cinemas in its opening run.

[71 dB]

SPLIT (M. Night Shyamalan, 2017) - TV

I consider Shyamalan very talented. I like his style of directing, the slow pacing and good camera angles/wide lenses. His movies always have a cool idea althou he has never achieved the level of plot twist he did in Sixth Sense. His weakness is stylistic narrowness. His movies are very similar and its often almost cringeworthy to watch him trying hard to find a new flavor out of his style. It's like trying to serve chicken wings in as many ways you can. He should maybe try something different for a change. Split is a pretty good movie. I found the acting all around be good. The directing was very good. Even the idea behind the movie isn't half bad, but... ...it feels like there's 13 in a dozen of movies like this nowadays! This kind of super cynical movies would work if there were only a few of them, but there's just SO MANY of these! Teenagers kidnapped and kept prisoners in basement by a psychopath. I have seen this a million times in movies and tv shows! How about dropping this set up already and figuring out some new ideas for a change? Mr. Shyamalan is trying hard to make unoriginal ideas original. Even his talent falls short. 

P.S. I hate it how movies have become so cynical and avoid of humanism over the years. I want completely different escapism. That's why I am exploring movies from the 70's and 80's. They feel like fresh air compared to many movies of today. Split was at least watchable thanks to Shyamalan's talent as director, but so many new movies are just unwatchable visual noise to my eyes.

Great fun! I actually saw that in the cinemas in its opening run.

That's cool Karl! 

[SonicMan46]

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (Frank Oz, 1988) - German Blu-ray (koch films)

It has been ages since the last time I saw this. Michael Caine and Steve Martin are superb conmen together and Frank Oz's old-fashioned directing is on point. This is kind of a perfect little movie I have learned to appreciate much more over the years. The picture quality of this particular Blu-ray release is impressive. Very clean, natural and detailed picture that respects the film grain leaving it as it is.

Quote below from Wiki - I also really enjoyed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels w/ Martin & Caine, and of course the adorable Glenne Headly (who played Tess in Dick Tracy several years later); do not currently own the film. This is a remake of Bedtime Story (1964) w/ Brando & Niven, and the beautiful Shirley Jones - I liked this movie years ago, but the reviews were mixed, maybe because some felt Marlon should not be doing comedy, don't know?  More recently, The Hustle was yet another remake - have not seen this film, so not sure if the plot is similar to the other two?  Dave

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Frank Oz and starring Steve Martin, Michael Caine and Glenne Headly. The screenplay was written by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, and Paul Henning. It is a remake of the 1964 Marlon Brando/David Niven film Bedtime Story, also written by Shapiro and Henning, and was later remade in 2019 as The Hustle, starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson. (Source)

   

[SonicMan46]

Well since getting into 4K technology over the holidays, I'm slowly adding/replacing some of my older DVDs/BDs w/ 4K UHD media, whether on physical discs and/or as a UHD streaming option (such as from Amazon Prime Video or Apple iTunes) - as I buy these newer UHD versions, I will be donating my older physical media to a local charity - need to clear up some storage, as always! 

The two newest additions to my Amazon Prime Video library are shown below; watched Maleficent a few days ago (still enjoy a bunch of Disney films, whether old or some new ones) and Top Gun last night - the UHD streaming video quality on my new 4K HDTV is excellent, but sound levels have been low necessitating 'jacking up' the volume on my receiver (have an optical connection from the TV) - once at a good level, the sound quality is excellent - need to explore how Amazon is sending sound to me - any comments would be helpful.  Thanks.  Dave

[drogulus]

need to explore how Amazon is sending sound to me - any comments would be helpful.  Thanks.  Dave

     How do you know that?

     My sources are run through the receiver via HDMI (cable and file player), then to the TV via the ARC-HDMI 3. I've found that the TV streaming is doubleplusgood on the Sony for Prime, Netflix, YT and HBOMax. So it's not a terribly complex setup.

     One thing, though, is that you may not be able to even out volume levels even with HDMI. Using an optical connection might cause some of the volume issues, but not all of them.

[DavidW]

I have a dolby atmos sound bar with hdmi 2.1 tv.  I use the arc from the tv to the sound bar.  I stream directly from the tv. 

Dave your setup doesn't lead to your current problem.  Nothing wrong with your avr nor using optical (except that surround is lossy).

But... what are you using to stream?  I used to use an Apple TV and the volume levels on it were always much lower than any other source.  Cranking up the volume on the avr to compensate will not actually cause clipping imo, but I would just stream from your tv.  And you can probably set it as a gain on your input so the volume level looks the same.

But I recommend you just use the tv.  Smart tvs are much better at streaming now than they used to be.  They are super fast.  And on Sony tvs you can opt-out of them collecting data on your viewing habits (unlike other brand tvs).

Also FYI Modern Disney movies are usually at a lower volume than any other studio for some reason.

[SonicMan46]

     How do you know that?

     My sources are run through the receiver via HDMI (cable and file player), then to the TV via the ARC-HDMI 3. I've found that the TV streaming is doubleplusgood on the Sony for Prime, Netflix, YT and HBOMax. So it's not a terribly complex setup.

     One thing, though, is that you may not be able to even out volume levels even with HDMI. Using an optical connection might cause some of the volume issues, but not all of them.

Well, on most inputs going through the TV > optical cable > Cambridge receiver, I can set the volume in the low -40s dB or up into the mid -30 dB for a moderate level of sound - but on Top Gun last night, I needed to up the volume into the mid -20 dB level - now this was on the Amazon Prime Video app on my Roku (Spotify sound levels on the Roku are fine also) - probably should test the Prime Video app on my 4K Apple TV to see if there is a difference?  No big deal to adjust the volume as long as the sound is excellent.  Dave

[drogulus]

Well, on most inputs going through the TV > optical cable > Cambridge receiver, I can set the volume in the low -40s dB or up into the mid -30 dB for a moderate level of sound - but on Top Gun last night, I needed to up the volume into the mid -20 dB level - now this was on the Amazon Prime Video app on my Roku (Spotify sound levels on the Roku are fine also) - probably should test the Prime Video app on my 4K Apple TV to see if there is a difference?  No big deal to adjust the volume as long as the sound is excellent.  Dave

     I decommissioned my Roku after I found out how good my Sony TV was at streaming. I would try using the TV Prime app.

[SonicMan46]

     I decommissioned my Roku after I found out how good my Sony TV was at streaming. I would try using the TV Prime app.

You're right, I've not yet explored using the apps on my new Sony TV - will give it a try on both the Apple TV and the Sony - thanks.  Dave

[71 dB]

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (Kim Jee-Woon, 2003) - German Blu-ray (Capelight)

For a long time I was put off upgrading my DVD of this film because the Blu-ray releases had poor picture quality. The Korean release is the best, but of course very difficult/expensive to get. Luckily this German Capelight release is almost as good and given how difficult it is to get Asian movies released on Blu-ray especially for western markets I am totally satisfied with this release. The problem with German releases of Non-English movies is often the lack of English subtitles, but luckily this release has English subtitles (not mentioned on the back cover thou).

For a Asian/Korean horror movie this one relies a bit too much on jump scares and sudden loud noises, but it also has the trademarks of Asian horror I love so much. This is a merciless movie, even depressing, but I guess sometimes art has to take this route while exploring the suffering we human have to endure in our lives.

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[Karl Henning]

Repo Man

[DavidW]

Judas and the Black Messiah

I think that it is a very well acted movie, and an interesting story... but... I hate to say it... but there is a certain homogeneity to these type of true story films.  It is not amazing, it is just good.  I just took a look at RT and it looks like everyone else absolutely loves it.  But hey I like it, and it is the best thing to come along in a long time.  Again HBO Max wins again.

[DavidW]

P.S. I hate it how movies have become so cynical and avoid of humanism over the years. I want completely different escapism. That's why I am exploring movies from the 70's and 80's. They feel like fresh air compared to many movies of today. Split was at least watchable thanks to Shyamalan's talent as director, but so many new movies are just unwatchable visual noise to my eyes.

I liked Split but avoid the sequel.  If you want to go back in time for your horror movies I suggest checking out all of Cronenberg's films from that era.  I rewatched them a year or two ago and they are each unique,  insightful and not cliche and not filled with jump scares (like the other movie you mentioned).

Also cult classic to find if you can (it has been frequently banned): Possession (1981) which is very Lovecraftian.

For modern horror movies that won't disappoint, I highly recommend The Wailing (2016) and Memories of Murder (2003).