Pretty original story.Originally Posted by NogbadTheBad
Pretty original story.
Memento might be one of most cerebral scripts ever written imo. I love that film.
Re-watched The Big Short yesterday. Bale and Carell are just scary good.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
The Ritual
Netflix original movie about 5 blokes from England who decide to spend their annual together holiday hiking in northern Sweden in what is akin to
the Appalachian Trail. As soon as this decision is made, things begin to go very wrong. This was a good, suspense filled thriller. Recommended!
Don't Kill It
This film has an interesting premise. An ancient demon possesses someone. That person becomes homicidal. However, the person who kills the possessed killer,
then becomes possessed. Needless to say, a very high body count. Starring Dolph Lundgren. Horribly acted, with special effects to match. I didn't hate myself
for sitting through it, but you might. To be viewed only if extremely bored and the options are slim.
A Comfort Zone is not a Life Sentence
Love that.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
My wife watched The Ritual the other night - to me it looked too much like a complete rip off of The Blair Witch Project (and maybe that movie about a group of female spelunker friends).
Tonight we watched A Good Year, yet another one that passed me by from approximately a decade ago. Charming little film directed by Ridley Scott with a solid cast. My wife and I cracked open some wine and enjoyed it.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Considering 99.9% of new horror sucks, The Ritual wasn't that bad.
Beautifully shot, well acted, but that last act!?!
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
My wife was a little down last night so I took one for the team and skipped the Olympics. We watched Cabaret on TCM. Man, Bob Fosse was really on his game with this one. Theater fanatics always tell me the stage version is better but I'd rather watch the film.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I have a low Liza Minnelli tolerance (who doesn’t aside from Liza Minnelli?), but it’s good. I saw the show with Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson.
Yeah, Cabaret is about the only thing I can stand Liza in. And the only work of her mother's I can stomach is Wizard of Oz.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
No Meet Me in St.Louis? Great old pic.
Watch it 3-4 times and it just gets better.
Kinda like Blade Runner 2049, Arrival and Groundhog Day.
Breathless
Jean-Luc Godard’s famous 1960 film which launched the French New Wave. Script by François Truffaut.
In one of the opening scenes the main character, Michel Poiccard, is revealed to also use the pseudonym Laszlo Kovacs. Wow, nice homage to the famous cinematographer, I thought.
Then I looked him up. He didn’t do his first film until 1963, wasn’t famous until 1969’s “Easy Rider” and 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces.”
There are other Laszlo Kovacs —a politician, a footballer, a canoeist —but none famous in 1960 that I could see. Weird.
Incidentally, the commentary on the disc, by some movie critic, mentions the cinematographer too. Apparently he never googled the guy.
Finally watched Mudbound on Netflix, and now I know why all the hype.
A really powerful, wonderful, timely film that is equal to or exceeds most of what's made by major studios.
Mary J Blige should definitely continue acting, and Jonathan Banks's character makes his Mike character in B Bad/BC Saul seem pleasant and upbeat!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Watched Dial M For Murder, no sure why this is one of my favorite Hitchcock's, I really like Ray Millard's portrayal of a oily conniving manipulator.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I watched T2: Trainspotting last night. It was good, but doesn't hold a candle to the original.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I saw 15:17 To Paris, Clint Eastwood's docu-film (given the 3 "stars" of the movie as well as the more than 30 other people who were actually on the train that day that are in the film!). How they all were able to re-live it in front of the camera is astounding to me.
I wasn't expecting to need tissues, but early in the film when they were showing the 3 American heroes (there was a 4th French hero) on vacation, they showed them in Venice at a couple of places that Kay & I visited when we were there, as well as a scene where they bought gelato at the same f*****g stand in St. Mark's Plaza that we did! That was a shocker!
It's getting mixed reviews, but I really dug it.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I've never seen the stage play, but the movie definitely gives the feeling of watching a stage play, which is why I think I like it so much. It's also very well crafted and suspenseful.
Rope is like that too IMO.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Your right, definitely has that single room stage play feel.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
HBO is having one of their free weekends through tomorrow, and I'm elated that they aired their new documentary "David Bowie-The Last Five Years" this weekend.
This is never before seen footage (incl. very close to his death) and running commentary from all his band members & mgmt. team, as well as new concert footage.
This is, imo, by far the best doc about Bowie, and also imo one of the 10 best rock docs ever made.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Interesting - I have this recorded on the Tivo but haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps I'll bump it up on the priority list after this strong recommendation!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I forgot to mention that I learned for the first time from this doc that Bowie and Michael C. Hall ("Six Feet Under, Dexter) have a very strong connection. Hall was the male lead in "Lazarus", the short lived Bway musical that Bowie wrote the music for a year before he died. You even see footage from the show of Hall singing "Heroes". This was AFTER his successes in Six Feet & Dexter.Interesting - I have this recorded on the Tivo but haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps I'll bump it up on the priority list after this strong recommendation!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Sorry this is a bit lengthy, but I have been watching a lot but just not posting here for a while. Thankfully I had posted this stuff on a UK website so I just needed to collate them and cut and paste.
Black Panther - I don't know what I am missing here. I have seen and enjoyed all of the Marvel movies to date, to varying degrees...but this one just utterly bored me from start to finish. Something about the earlier trailers bugged me...it looked far too CGI heavy, which I still think it is. The action sequences and fights are just far too cartoony and unrealistic. I could not engage with any of the characters, Chadwick Boseman in the lead role especially. It also felt very disconnected from the whole MCU to me. I never fell for the hype on this one...the suspiciously overwhelmingly positive early reviews thing is now beginning to look far too obvious, and in this case (certainly here in the UK), there was much added hype attached to the ethnicity of the main characters and also the 'powerful roles for women' aspect. I have no problem with either of those concepts in general, but the publicity machine really went overboard on those aspects of the movie here.
2010 - Sequel to Kubricks classic sci-fi epic from 1984. On paper it had a very good pedigree ; Peter Hyams as director, who has proved himself well versed with sci-fi with both Capricorn One and Outland ; stars Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban and even Kier Dullea from the original movie, and the added bonus of Douglas Rain reprising his role as the voice of HAL Plus the involvement once again of Arthur C Clarke himself.
The scale of the movie is very grand, with huge spaceship models, fantastically detailed sets, convincing spacewalking scenes and the recreation of the original Discovery ship itself.
On the whole I liked the movie, thought it was very well made and held its own up against the original until...well, until it made a fatal mistake IMHO storywise. Now I realise that this may have been the story as written in Kubricks novel of the same name, but to me I thought the film made a mistake in attempting to explain the mystery of the first movie, as though it was a puzzle that needed to be solved. I would have preferred they had not done that, and preserved the mystery and enigma of the original movie.
Spacehunter - low budget but fairly enjoyable sci-fi from 1983, with Peter Strauss as kind of 'space scoundrel' who decides to rescue three women who have crash landed on a dangerous planet, full of mutants and various roaming gangs and factions. He hooks up with drifter Molly Ringwald, and also Ernie Hudson to track down the girls. Along the way they need to fight their way through various strange creatures and individuals who try to stop them.
Though its obviously a low budget affair, its somewhat better than most similar movies of that era, largely due to the acting and interesting production design, This was a time when the Mad Max movies were still a big influence, and movies of this type featuring a desolate landscape and gangs etc usually were. But this did have some inventive and interesting production design. Plus you had Michael Ironside chewing the scenery as Overdog, self-styled ruler of the planet.
Walking Tall - a movie that seems to have a bit of a cult following, though one I had not actually seen until now. It is based on the life of one Buford Pusser, an ex wrestler who returns to his home town to settle down, to find it overrun with prostitutes, gambling dens and rife with corruption. He decides to try and do something about it, and despite various attempts to kill him manages to pull through and eventually decides to run for sheriff himself and clean up the town.
It's a little old fashioned and cliched by today's standards, very much a 'mans gotta do what a mans gotta do' scenario, but Joe Don Baker is very good in the title role. It's fair to say that he always had a presence about him, and played many similar roles over the years. There were two sequels, although Bo Svenson took over the title role for those (I have those also, really only bought them because there was a Criterion three pack which was reasonably cheap and had decent pic quality). There is also a remake with Duane Johnson which I have also picked up, and even this one spawned a few lesser known sequels.
It seems that there will always be a market for these types of 'little man fighting the system' movies.
Walking Tall part 2 - this sequel to the original see's Bo Svensson taking over the lead role of Buford Pusser from Joe Don Baker. It's really just a continuation of the first, though this one throws in a lot more action, car chases, fights etc. This was made not long after Pusser himself was killed in a car crash (which many still believe to have been suspicious), and in fact he was due to star in this one playing himself after Baker dropped out.
Walking Tall - Final Chapter. Final movie in the Walking Tall trilogy, and pretty poor to be honest. It plays more like a TV movie, with most of the first half taken up with domestic/family issues, and when things do pick up the fight scenes and action are very poorly handled. It does get slightly interesting when they delve into the folklore and 'celebrity' of Pusser, and even show him being courted by Hollywood for his life story, and the filming of the first movie.
Walking Tall - 2004 remake of the Joe Don Baker original, starring Duane Johnson. This is loosely based on the story of Buford Pusser - Johnson's character goes by a different name for starters, and he is an ex-army vet rather than a wrestler, and also has no wife and kids in tow. Therefore this only uses the bare bones of the original story, with a 'dedicated to' credit to Pusser at the end. Mid you, the original movie was heavily fictionalised anyway.
It was passable. It's a typically cliched tale of a loner coming to town to clean up, take out the bad guys and set the world to rights. Johnny Knoxville is a kind of comedy sidekick, and I suppose the fight sequences are decent.
Meru - astonishing documentary charting the exploits of three extreme mountain climbers, who attempt to climb the titular mountain in the Indian Himalayas. It was one of the last 'unconquered' mountains, and considered more difficult to climb than Everest. The three guys film their journey, and some of it is astonishing. Not just the climb, but the sight of them perched precariously in a makeshift tent, literally hanging off the side of the mountain, where they would eat and sleep and wait for the weather to die down.
As the movie goes on, interviews with the three guys reveal much more about their history, and what happened to each of them before they decided to make the climb...and there are some surprising tales of hardship, horrific accidents and tragedies.
I found it captivating, and I don't think you need to have an interest in mountaineering to enjoy it.
Only The Brave - This movie came and went on cinema release very briefly and was not particularly well reviewed. So I was not really expecting too much, but it turned out to be far better than I expected. Its the true story of a group of specialist firefighters who tackle forest fires led by Josh Brolin, called the Granite Mountain Hotshots, who are a sort of trainee group of firefighters trying to attain official recognition for their group. Its an interesting look at the methods and techniques used to tackle such fires. Thrown into the mix is a new recruit played by Miles Teller, who has a reputation of a bit of a bad boy.
I had not realised it was based on real life events, and the sense of camaraderie among the group is very well portrayed. By the end it was quite moving, due to the tragic nature of the events that unfolded.
The Mercy - Colin Firth stars as Donald Crowhurst, amateur sailor and failed inventor who decides to circumnavigate the globe single handed in a round the world race. Crowhurst is woefully unprepared for the task - he is seriously in debt and even puts up his house for collateral, his boat is ill-equipped, and his voyage is delayed by months.
But Crowhurst refuses to give up, even though its fairly clear that not only will he not succeed, but will probably lose everything. Once he sets out to sea it becomes apparent how much he is out of his depth, and the film becomes very dark and serious. Its at this point that he decides to fake his progress and gives fake reports regarding his position, making it appear he is making record time.
I found it an incredibly sad movie, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it. Firth is excellent as Crowhurst, and there are good supporting turns from Rachel Weisz as his wife, David Thewlis as his press agent, and Ken Stott as the boat building entepreneur who finances his trip.
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Colossal - Very bizarre and very different. Kind of a relationship drama crossed with a Godzilla movie. Very hard to explain the plot, but one of those movies its best to just go with the flow. Anne Hathaway is a messed-up girl who likes to party and sponges off her boyfriend, who eventually kicks her out. She goes back to her home town, and hooks up with an old school buddy (Jason Sudekis). For reasons not explained, she discovers she has a connection with a Godzilla-like creature that suddenly starts to lay waste to Korea. To try to explain more would be futile. There are obvious parallels to be drawn between her personal demons and the creature I guess...but its one of the most unusual movies I have seen for a while, and its fair to say its unlike any other movie. I enjoyed it though.
Good Time - Robert Pattinson is a revelation in this movie. He is so compelling and addicting to watch. You can tell he really put his heart and soul into this movie. If this is a sign of the movies and performances he is going to give in the future, then i am excited. The move its self is fantastic. I was so drawn into it.
Last Flag Flying - Low key but emotional drama involving three former army buddies (Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston), who agree to help one of them collect their deceased army son who has been killed in Iraq, and transport his body across the country for burial.
Carell is low key buy effective as the bereaved father, initially grateful to the army for helping to transport his sons remains, but gradually becoming skeptical about the army's explanation as to the manner of his death. Fishburne is solid as the former crazy MF of the group who has now become a pastor. But the acting honors go to Cranston, initially the boisterous clown of the trio, but revealing hidden depths as the film progresses.
It's a kind of semi-sequel to Hal Ashby's 1973 movie The Last Detail, which I loved. The three characters in the new movie also end up on a trip across the US, getting involved in various scenarios along the way. Being set in 2003, its during the advent of mobile phones and the internet, and a lot of humour is derived from the characters (Cranston especially) getting to grips with these.
But it should be stressed its not a comedy, though it does have humorous moments. Its bittersweet...sad and melancholy for the most part, but the acting keeps it moving along nicely.
The Wilby Conspiracy - Political thriller/drama from 1975, starring Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier. Poitier plays a South African nationalist freed from prison who befriends Caine and his girlfriend (Prunella Gee), but on leaving the court they are involved in an incident with SA police involving an assault and end up going on the run.
Along the way it transpires there is far more to this than meets the eye...Poitier has other motives which may or may not include a hidden cache of diamonds, and they are also pursued by Nicol Williamson's secret service agent, who curiously seems keen to observe and follow them rather than capture them.
It's very much of its time - the attitudes to race and sex are what was acceptable back then. But it is a very good thriller that has plenty of twists and turns right up until the end.
Notable also as the first English language movies of Rutger Hauer and Persis Khambata.
Jackie - Biopic of Jackie Kennedy, mainly focusing on the events immidiatley after the infamous assassination. I liked Portman's portrayal of Jackie, and I thought the film dealt reasonably well with not only her grief, but also the somewhat awkward arrangements of her having to leave the confines of the Whitehouse and start all over again.
Mark Felt - The Man Who Brought Down The White House - now THIS is the sort of movie I would much rather see Liam Neeson doing. He plays Mark Felt, deputy director of the FBI in the early 70's during Nixon's tenure, who is unceremoniously pushed to the side following Hoover's demise. He had hoped to take over the role, but it seems the White House was pulling strings to get their own people in the Bureau, which had previously always been completely autonomous from the government and did not answer even to the President.
It was only years later that Felt made the shock revelation that he was actually 'deep throat', the infamous mole who fed information to the Washimngton Post, subsequently ending Nixon's reign. The film concentrates on the machinations of government and the FBI, with Felt desperately trying to retain some influence over the Watergate events, despite pressure to step aside.
Good performance from Neeson - its a little cold, but apparently Felt had a distinct poker face, helpful in that kind of work. Good supporting roles too from Diane Lane as Felts wife, Tom Sizemore, Bruce Greenwood and Martin Csokas. I don't know if this ever received a cinema release in the UK, or even the US. I had certainly never heard of it before, and I have not seen it on any streaming services either. For the record I watched the US blu ray release.
Murder In The First - 1996. Based on the true story of Henri Young, who spent time in Alcatraz, with 3 years of that in dreadful conditions in solitary confinement for attempting to escape. His initial crime was to steal 5 dollars from a post office in order to buy food for his starving sister. Unfortunately, when released from the hole he kills a prisoner who had snitched to the warden about his escape attempt.
Much of the story revolves around young attorney Christian Slater who is tasked with defending Young during his trial. Kevin Bacon is excellent as Henri Young, Slater is pretty good and Gary Oldman plays the cold, unfeeling and somewhat sadistic warden responsible for the treatment of Young.
Good supporting cast too, with Stephen Tobolowsky, R Lee Ermey, William H Macy and Brad Dourif
I remember enjoying this first time round, and it still holds up pretty well. Unfortunately I was distracted by the poor quality of the picture on the London Live channel on which it was shown. It was either pan and scan or shown in the wrong ratio, because everything seemed too large for the screen.
Witness For The Prosecution - 1957. Probably the best know version of this classic Agatha Christie story (I had recently seen the play in London, and the BBC TV adaptation from 2015). This version has Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power and Marlene Deitrich. Story is of a young man (Power) who befriends a middle aged lady. The lady is murdered, and Power is suspected and later charged with her murder, and Laughton is tasked with his defence. Initially, Power has an alibi provided by his wife, who can apparently prove she was with him at the time of the murder. But as usual, things are never that easy.
Its one of those films that still holds up very well today, and the less you know about the plot the better, because it pulls the rug out from under you on a number of occasions.
I was a little bothered by some lapses in the legal process, especially towards the end, but that's a minor issue. Probably one of the best courtroom drama's ever.
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
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