Movie Thread

[BlueRoads]

Some movies I (re)watched recently:
Princess Mononoke (1997) - masterpiece by Miyazaki, and probably one of the best animated movies ever. The music, the characters, the raw nature, everything is perfect.
Closer (2004) - decent dramedy with some stunning performances, inespecially by Natalie Portman.
Phantom Thread (2017) - P. T. Anderson's best in my opinion, with an incredible Daniel Day-Lewis. Masterpiece.
Lost Highway (1997) - or you love Lynch or you hate him. Well, I love him. One of his finest works with a great soundtrack!

I'm totally not into animated movies, but Mononoke is probably the one I like best, I could actually enjoy it.

I watched "The Last Thing He Wanted", but maybe I will have to see it again (in German this time), because I'm not sure what to think about it. I enjoyed it in a weird way. Ben Affleck has put on quite some weight to have this "physical presence" now, but he was really good, subtle and clear at the same time. Anne Hathaway was decent and I liked her looks in this movie, very authentic. Dafoe was great, as is to be expected. Then there was Carlos Leal as a gimmick, which I enjoyed! although it was the smallest of roles. The atmosphere, setting, costumes, music were nice and fitting.
The story itself, based on a novel by Joan Didion, about a journalist who gets involved in arm deals in Costa Rica, was not really spectacular, but, due to screenplay and editing, presented in an "interesting"/ weird way. Foreseeable, yet chaotic - I just never knew what I was to get as a viewer and what not. Even in the end I did not really know who was on which side and why and why they were suddenly there and for how long they had been there. Some moments were really slow, other pieces just cut out.
There's an over-done voice-over at the beginning and the end.
Yeah, really don't know what to make of this... in one moment I even thought an accident or something most have happened during shooting so that they had to leave out some scenes that were planned - but then I realized it was meant to be that way. Maybe they just did not want to tell this story in a conventional way, but did not really know how else to.

 

[movingtarget]

Some movies I (re)watched recently:
Princess Mononoke (1997) - masterpiece by Miyazaki, and probably one of the best animated movies ever. The music, the characters, the raw nature, everything is perfect.
Closer (2004) - decent dramedy with some stunning performances, inespecially by Natalie Portman.
Phantom Thread (2017) - P. T. Anderson's best in my opinion, with an incredible Daniel Day-Lewis. Masterpiece.
Lost Highway (1997) - or you love Lynch or you hate him. Well, I love him. One of his finest works with a great soundtrack!

Lynch has made some fine movies. Lost Highway was a good one. But I didn't care much for the Twin Peaks TV series. The Twin Peaks movie wasn't too bad.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

The Poseidon Adventure (2005) - Ooof, this must be the worst remake I've ever seen, and even if it wasn't a remake it would just stink as a movie all on its own. Originally it was aired on TV in three parts, watched all in one sitting it's dragged out for three hours and it's about 1.5 hours too long. Some scenes were just completely unnecessary and didn't add anything, the first hour was a complete waste of time. Except for Rutger Hauer (who plays a good guy for a change) the acting was dreadful, the dialogue silly, the special effects laughable, and the characters (except for Rutger Hauer) unlikable. Peter Weller was lucky enough to be able to bail in the first hour because his character had been bumped off, the rest of the cast was not so fortunate. Somebody please sink the ship already so everyone can be put out of their misery!

About the best part about this movie was reading the scathing reviews, this remake should have never been made. The original Poseidon Adventure (1972) is so good, it seems like the filmmakers of this atrocity were trying their best to make the worst remake possible.

 

[movingtarget]

The Poseidon Adventure (2005) - Ooof, this must be the worst remake I've ever seen, and even if it wasn't a remake it would just stink as a movie all on its own. Originally it was aired on TV in three parts, watched all in one sitting it's dragged out for three hours and it's about 1.5 hours too long. Some scenes were just completely unnecessary and didn't add anything, the first hour was a complete waste of time. Except for Rutger Hauer (who plays a good guy for a change) the acting was dreadful, the dialogue silly, the special effects laughable, and the characters (except for Rutger Hauer) unlikable. Peter Weller was lucky enough to be able to bail in the first hour because his character had been bumped off, the rest of the cast was not so fortunate. Somebody please sink the ship already so everyone can be put out of their misery!

About the best part about this movie was reading the scathing reviews, this remake should have never been made. The original Poseidon Adventure (1972) is so good, it seems like the filmmakers of this atrocity were trying their best to make the worst remake possible.

Yes the original was one of the better disaster movies of the 70s. Good cast as well. Juggernaut was also good. There were lots in the 70s cause they were popular : the Airport movies, Earthquake, Towering Inferno and many more.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Yes the original was one of the better disaster movies of the 70s. Good cast as well. Juggernaut was also good. There were lots in the 70s cause they were popular : the Airport movies, Earthquake, Towering Inferno and many more.

I had never heard of Juggernaut so had to google it, first thing that popped up was some Marvel Comics character, I was a bit puzzled. But after a bit more digging it turns out it's a British suspense movie from 1974, I'll have to give it a looky because it sounds interesting, has a stellar cast, and actually has some decent reviews.

I liked the Airport movies (saw the one with Lee Remick recently and was happy her despicable character got to die), and the Towering Inferno, I'll have to revisit them because they're so extravagant and usually have a brilliant cast. They're just fun to watch.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

It's ship disaster movie time! (Went on a bit of a Poseidon movie binge, as well as watching Juggernaut.)

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) - Even if only in jest Michael Caine freely admitted he did it for the paycheck, as did Sally Field, and Sally Field was being exceptionally annoying in this flick. Too bad her character didn't get to die very early on. This sequel was barely running on disaster movie era fumes, about its only redeeming feature were the stars that appeared in it. (Telly Savalas, Karl Malden, Jack Warden, Mark Harmon, etc.) I would skip this one.

Poseidon (2006) - A very flashy remake with fantastic CGI, it actually wasn't too bad as disaster movies and remakes go. The cast was great with the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell (and Andre Braugher and Kevin Dillon in minor roles), the body count was high and some of the deaths were actually pretty funny. (Am not sure I was supposed to be laughing, but I did.) Of all the other Poseidon sequels and remakes this I think is the best one.

Juggernaut (1974) - I really enjoyed this ship crime/suspense drama, especially the parts where they had to defuse the bombs. (There were lots of nuts and bolts and tools involved, this pleased my little mechanically inclined heart.) The cast was great with Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, and Anthony Hopkins, as disaster on the seas movies go I would definitely recommend this one. I'm glad movingtarget had mentioned it upthread.

 

[sir fly]

View: https://youtu.be/yWNm3BvSxmQ

 

[Tricycle Rider]

WarGames (1983) - I'm not sure what I found more annoying - Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, or the score. Clearly this movie was targeting a very young audience, any tension that should have been there had been ruined by the score and the barely adult actors. This is one movie I think would do well with a remake, I would prefer a more adult version where the main characters are college computer geeks and/or hackers rather than high school kids. (I actually couldn't even finish the last 30 minutes, my patience with the silliness had run out.) I did enjoy seeing the old computers though, they reminded me of the days trying to learn DOS in the early 80s. That was obviously way before there was a Win95 black screen of death, in its early days the screen was already black with green text only.

 

[movingtarget]

WarGames (1983) - I'm not sure what I found more annoying - Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, or the score. Clearly this movie was targeting a very young audience, any tension that should have been there had been ruined by the score and the barely adult actors. This is one movie I think would do well with a remake, I would prefer a more adult version where the main characters are college computer geeks and/or hackers rather than high school kids. (I actually couldn't even finish the last 30 minutes, my patience with the silliness had run out.) I did enjoy seeing the old computers though, they reminded me of the days trying to learn DOS in the early 80s. That was obviously way before there was a Win95 black screen of death, in its early days the screen was already black with green text only.

I didn't mind Matthew Broderick in some movies but it seems he later did his best work on Broadway for the most part. I didn't care for War Games but John Badham directed some decent movies, entertaining without being memorable.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

I didn't mind Matthew Broderick in some movies but it seems he later did his best work on Broadway for the most part. I didn't care for War Games but John Badham directed some decent movies, entertaining without being memorable.

I always found Broderick annoying, I couldn't even get through Ferris Bueller's Day Off. (I just don't like John Hughes' 80s teenybopper movies in general.) I did read that Broderick had a respectable career on Broadway though, so good for him I guess.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

A Most Wanted Man (2014) - This I thought was a very good espionage drama, no flash or fancy score (this I'm always a fan of), and it showed just how much of a loss Philip Seymour Hoffman is to cinema. He just had such a way of disappearing into his roles and this was his last one. I normally don't go intentionally looking for movies about Al-Qaeda and terrorism in general, but I'm glad I bumped into A Most Wanted Man. In some ways it reminded me of Syriana (2005), it depicts just how complicated (and convoluted) the world of powerful people can be.

 

[movingtarget]

A Most Wanted Man (2014) - This I thought was a very good espionage drama, no flash or fancy score (this I'm always a fan of), and it showed just how much of a loss Philip Seymour Hoffman is to cinema. He just had such a way of disappearing into his roles and this was his last one. I normally don't go intentionally looking for movies about Al-Qaeda and terrorism in general, but I'm glad I bumped into A Most Wanted Man. In some ways it reminded me of Syriana (2005), it depicts just how complicated (and convoluted) the world of powerful people can be.

Yes not a bad movie. PSH was very good.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

How I live Now (2013) - Sheesh, if I had known this flick was based on a Young Adult novel I would have just skipped it, unfortunately I didn't read the synopsis carefully enough beforehands so I sat through the whole thing. Being a cranky old fart I thought the puppy love romance between the main characters was just stupid and improbable, but that aside there were a load of plotholes. Kids will be kids though, so I don't begrudge them enjoying this movie. I did at least enjoy the lovely scenery though, think most of the scenic stuff had been filmed in Wales. So there's that.

 

[movingtarget]

Changeling (2008) directed by Clint Eastwood. John Malkovich managed to mostly restrain himself, Angelina Jolie was quite good. The best thing about the movie might have been the recreation of LA in the late 1920s. The acting was mostly good. Entertaining without being high quality. based on a true story and a bizarre one, it probably needed a more subtle approach to do it justice.

 

[movingtarget]

Warner Bros to launch its 2021 movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas

The studio’s upcoming 17 releases, including The Matrix 4 and Dune, will premiere in the US for subscribers at no extra charge

www.theguardian.com

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Warner Bros to launch its 2021 movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas

The studio’s upcoming 17 releases, including The Matrix 4 and Dune, will premiere in the US for subscribers at no extra charge

www.theguardian.com

I guess in these trying times streaming new releases makes sense, will you be seeing any of these new movies upon their release?

Personally, I'm not the intended audience for HBO or even Netflix. Each time I try their free trial periods I find they have few movies I want to watch, they just don't have the older, low budget crap flicks no one has ever heard of that I like to watch for free.

Speaking of watching... I've just been binge rewatching Lewis and Grantchester, here I thought Midsomer Murders' little quaint towns had the highest murder rate per capita in the world. But no, Oxford is right up there with them, gotta love the Brits. If they're gonna bother shooting a crime drama episode there better be at least three murders, one would just not even be worth the while.

 

[movingtarget]

I guess in these trying times streaming new releases makes sense, will you be seeing any of these new movies upon their release?

Personally, I'm not the intended audience for HBO or even Netflix. Each time I try their free trial periods I find they have few movies I want to watch, they just don't have the older, low budget crap flicks no one has ever heard of that I like to watch for free.

Speaking of watching... I've just been binge rewatching Lewis and Grantchester, here I thought Midsomer Murders' little quaint towns had the highest murder rate per capita in the world. But no, Oxford is right up there with them, gotta love the Brits. If they're gonna bother shooting a crime drama episode there better be at least three murders, one would just not even be worth the while.

Not really, I haven't been seeing many first release movies lately and I'm avoiding the cinema. My local cinema opened for a few weeks then closed again. Rumours going around it might close for good ! Not a fan of the mainstream crime dramas usually. I liked True Detective on HBO, Wire In The Blood, the old British series ,Dexter and the old series Homicide : Life On The Streets. I did see a mini series lately with John Malkovitch playing Poirot which was quite good. Sharp Objects on HBO was good. One off series. The British series with Gillian Anderson called The Fall was good. Still yet to watch the original Swedish series of Wallander. The British one wasn't too bad even though it didn't quite capture the tone of the books.

 

[BroDeal]

I would not mind seeing Dune in a theater. I regret missing the same director's Blade Runner 2049 on the big screen.

This seems to be a big step in the same direction the theater business is already travelling. The cinema is mostly used for event type movies. You would think a twenty-four screen multiplex would have room to show small productions and niche flicks. Instead it is eight screens for the latest superhero release, six screens for last week']s superhero movie, four or five for a rom-com, another four or five for a children's movie, and maybe one or two screens for something that has been held over.

It sort of reminds me of what happened to video rental stores. They went from having a huge selection of small and obscure movies to mostly newish releases. Come to think of it, the same thing happened to premium cable. For a brief period Netflix shined, but now it is collection of quantity-over-quality furiously pumped out to replace the IP being pulled away by owners who want to start their own streaming service.

 

[movingtarget]

I would not mind seeing Dune in a theater. I regret missing the same director's Blade Runner 2049 on the big screen.

This seems to be a big step in the same direction the theater business is already travelling. The cinema is mostly used for event type movies. You would think a twenty-four screen multiplex would have room to show small productions and niche flicks. Instead it is eight screens for the latest superhero release, six screens for last week']s superhero movie, four or five for a rom-com, another four or five for a children's movie, and maybe one or two screens for something that has been held over.

It sort of reminds me of what happened to video rental stores. They went from having a huge selection of small and obscure movies to mostly newish releases. Come to think of it, the same thing happened to premium cable. For a brief period Netflix shined, but now it is collection of quantity-over-quality furiously pumped out to replace the IP being pulled away by owners who want to start their own streaming service.

Blade Runner 2049 was stunning enough on Blu-ray. I would probably be lured back to the cinema to see Dune. Some movies now don't even get a DVD or blu-ray release, they go straight to streaming, many book publishers no longer print hardcover books only paperbacks and E books. With music, some get a limited vinyl release but no CD release probably because the vinyl market is a loyal one even if it is no longer a big market while CD and DVD sales keep dropping although that may have changed during the pandemic. Even DVD and blu-ray players are a much smaller range than they used to be like desktop computers.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

I would not mind seeing Dune in a theater. I regret missing the same director's Blade Runner 2049 on the big screen.

This seems to be a big step in the same direction the theater business is already travelling. The cinema is mostly used for event type movies. You would think a twenty-four screen multiplex would have room to show small productions and niche flicks. Instead it is eight screens for the latest superhero release, six screens for last week']s superhero movie, four or five for a rom-com, another four or five for a children's movie, and maybe one or two screens for something that has been held over.

It sort of reminds me of what happened to video rental stores. They went from having a huge selection of small and obscure movies to mostly newish releases. Come to think of it, the same thing happened to premium cable. For a brief period Netflix shined, but now it is collection of quantity-over-quality furiously pumped out to replace the IP being pulled away by owners who want to start their own streaming service.

Once in a while HBO comes out with a show or movie I might be interested in, but not enough to pay a subscription. Actually, in the past twenty years there were only two HBO shows I really liked (Oz and The Sopranos), and those I ended up streaming through Amazon years after they were originally aired. And Netflix doesn't have any older movies I would want to rewatch through streaming, lately most of their stuff seems to be movies they just produced themselves. So Netflix I don't have any use for at all.

Weird to think kids nowadays don't know what a Blockbusters is, I used to spend hours there aaand at the local library where you could rent some actually very good/classic movies for free. So yeah, times have changed and not necessarily all for the better.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Not really, I haven't been seeing many first release movies lately and I'm avoiding the cinema. My local cinema opened for a few weeks then closed again. Rumours going around it might close for good ! Not a fan of the mainstream crime dramas usually. I liked True Detective on HBO, Wire In The Blood, the old British series ,Dexter and the old series Homicide : Life On The Streets. I did see a mini series lately with John Malkovitch playing Poirot which was quite good. Sharp Objects on HBO was good. One off series. The British series with Gillian Anderson called The Fall was good. Still yet to watch the original Swedish series of Wallander. The British one wasn't too bad even though it didn't quite capture the tone of the books.

Wire in the Blood was very good, as was the Swedish Wallander, I haven't see the others. I remember A Touch of Frost and Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren were my faves, I'll have to rewatch those at some point. Right now I'm just about finished watching all those murders at Oxford, murders and lots of rowing. Can't go a single episode of Lewis without seeing someone row.

 

[movingtarget]

Wire in the Blood was very good, as was the Swedish Wallander, I haven't see the others. I remember A Touch of Frost and Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren were my faves, I'll have to rewatch those at some point. Right now I'm just about finished watching all those murders at Oxford, murders and lots of rowing. Can't go a single episode of Lewis without seeing someone row.

The only thing I like in some of the British series is the scenery ! I will catch up with Prime Suspect and A Touch of Frost eventually. Have seen a little of both of them. See they made a new series with the character out of Prime Suspect as a young woman called Prime Suspect 1973 and an American version that lasted one series called Prime Suspect. I saw a little bit of that one when it screened on TV. Not as good as the original.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

The only thing I like in some of the British series is the scenery ! I will catch up with Prime Suspect and A Touch of Frost eventually. Have seen a little of both of them. See they made a new series with the character out of Prime Suspect as a young woman called Prime Suspect 1973 and an American version that lasted one series called Prime Suspect. I saw a little bit of that one when it screened on TV. Not as good as the original.

Agreed, I like the Brit shows because of the scenery and architecture, we just don't have 900yr. old castles and structures here in the States. That and the different methods of murder, due to lack of handguns the Brits can get pretty creative. (As far as guns go the most you will probably see is a hunting rifle.) Speaking of creative...

The most gruesome Brit show I've ever seen was Spooks (MI5), in one of the very early episodes one of the agents was being tortured by means of dipping her hand into a deep fryer boiling with oil, and after her partner wouldn't give up any info the bad guys dipped her entire head into the deep fryer. That is when I said I don't need to see any more of Spooks, guess the series went on for quite a few years though.

 

[movingtarget]

Agreed, I like the Brit shows because of the scenery and architecture, we just don't have 900yr. old castles and structures here in the States. That and the different methods of murder, due to lack of handguns the Brits can get pretty creative. (As far as guns go the most you will probably see is a hunting rifle.) Speaking of creative...

The most gruesome Brit show I've ever seen was Spooks (MI5), in one of the very early episodes one of the agents was being tortured by means of dipping her hand into a deep fryer boiling with oil, and after her partner wouldn't give up any info the bad guys dipped her entire head into the deep fryer. That is when I said I don't need to see any more of Spooks, guess the series went on for quite a few years though.

Spooks seemed to be pretty popular for a while there but I only saw snippets.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Dirty Harry (1971) - In order to get into the proper holiday spirit I think I'll rewatch all the Dirty Harry movies, this original one is not my fave. I thought the villain was too cartoonish, and the fact that they couldn't charge him with anything and just had to let him go didn't make sense at all. (I think at the very least they could have charged him with having assaulted a cop.)

I'll have to rewatch Magnum Force now because Harry had thrown his badge away at the end of the original movie, I don't remember how he got back into the game for the sequels or if it's even mentioned. So... as far as sequels go I think the one with Tyne Daly is my fave, I just can't remember, so must rewatch.