Thanks. That's the one. Wonder if it will ever get a decent blu ray remaster.
Thing is, there are a lot of similar documentaries around now like For All Mankind and the recent Apollo 11, which was excellent. I wonder if the Space Movie may look a bit old fashioned now.
I checked out a few reviews of the DVD and pic and sound quality are not that great, apparently.
Last night during a crazy storm, we watched Wreckers, a solid drama with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy as a young married couple in a small farm town in England. When his brother turns up unexpectedly, problems begin arising and dark secrets from their past are revealed. Quite good for a 'dark and stormy night'.
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 ***
Straight Time.
1978 drama based on Eddie Bunkers autobiographical book No Beast So Fierce, about his life of crime and time spent in prison.
Dustin Hoffman is brilliant as Max Dembo, a recently released con who is trying to go straight.
There is a coiled spring-like intensity that you dont often see from Hoffman here, he is prone to bursts of violence that often take you by surprise.
Great support too from M Emmet Walsh as a sleazy parole officer (who gets a very satisfying comeuppance), Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey as one of Hoffmans ex con mates and Teresa Russell as his girlfriend.
Interesting early roles too for a young Kathy Bates, and a very young Jake Busey.
Despite Max' tendency toward crime, you do get a genuine sense that he really does want to turn his life around, but the system inevitably works against his and he falls back into his old habits.
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Arctic. Excellent survival drama with Mads Mikkelsen.
The film starts with him already stranded and we follow his efforts to survive in the harsh Arctic.
Mild spoilers ahead.
Things get complicated when a rescue helicopter crashes, and he has to then take care of the injured female pilot as well as himself.
Eventually he realises he needs to try and make the trek across the harsh landscape to civilisation. Throw a polar bear in to the mix and it's a nightmarish tale of survival.
The film looks incredible and Mads Mikkelsen is excellent. But I suspect it will annoy those who want answers as to how he got there, why he crashed etc. Those plot details are not really that important to the story.
And for those who have seen it, my take on the ending is that (Massive spoiler)
its ambiguous. Its left up to the viewer as to whether you think they were rescued. Mikkelsen passes out just as the helicopter comes back into view, but think the helicopter could have been part of his imagination as he was slowly dying. That's my take on it anyway
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Good one. Based on a novel written by Edward Bunker (later Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs), written while he was serving time, if I recall correctly. Interesting that you mention the surprising and sudden violence. The following year he surprised the hell out of Meryl Streep when he smashed the glass in the restaurant in Kramer Vs. Kramer. Totally unscripted, and it made me jump too!
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 ***
Glad you enjoyed it! It was my favorite Spidey movie; I agree that it captures the comic essence and the teenage stuff really well. Tom Holland is delightful as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, and Michael Keaton actually turned the Vulture (a C-list comic villain IMO) into one of the best antagonists in the whole MCU. I was not expecting the direction they took his character, but it was a great surprise and added some real depth.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is definitely worth seeing. I don't know if it surpasses Homecoming for me, but it's good. Jake Gyllenhaal is plays a great Mysterio, and without spoiling anything I'll just say that this take on the character really made me happy.
Another good way to keep up with what's on NF or Prime is instantwatcher.
I've never seen The Space Movie, so I can't comment on it. I think it'd be interesting to see, if for no other than reason, than to hear the bits of the Orchestral Hergest Ridge.
As for For All Mankind, that was great. The entire film consists of NASA films (apparently culled from something like 2000 hours of footage), shot at ground control, in the command modules, and on the moon. Most of it is footage from the Apollo missions, but they also used a few things from the Gemini missions, including Ed White's Gemini 4 spacewalk.
The footage is complimented by audio excerpts from the missions, as well as commentary from several of the astronauts who served on the Apollo missions. There's a lot of really interesting things. For instance, they were allowed to bring a cassette recorder in the command modules, and each astronaut was allowed one cassette. Apparently, one of them was a country music fan, so there's a short bit where you hear a bit of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Both of those songs begins with introductions alluding to the moon missions, which suggests Merle and Buck went into the studio and made special recordings just for this purpose.
Another bit has them playing the fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra (aka "the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey", as it's referred to by one of the astronauts). There's also a bit of a recording of Sleepwalk (though I don't think it's the original Santo & Johnny version), and I think also a bit of Berlioz (one of the astronauts says he was into classical music, but he "got to almost liking country", and he talks of playing that in whichever mission). There's a Frank Sinatra song, but the majority of music is indeed by Brian Eno.
Something you don't usually see or hear about when talking about any of the NASA is apparently, these guys made sure they had fun while they were up there. There's some bits of rather silly commentary, at one point, while gathering rock samples, a couple of them start singing..."I was walking on the moon one day...". Given the mention of "December" as they sing, a little Wiki-ing suggests this must be from Apollo 17, and thus it's Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt singing. The commentary as we see a couple of them traveling in the lunar roving vehicle is fun too.
At one point one of the astronauts starts talking somewhat grimly about what the consequences of a ruptured suit would be, accompanied by a short montage of several of the astronauts falling over, which made me chuckle. Like I said, I don't really remember seeing much of this kind of stuff, before. Usually you only get the more serious side of things, so I'm glad this was included here.
This was definitely a good film, I'm glad I went to see it. My only complaint is that the film sort of makes it seem like you're following just one of the missions, when in fact it's a compilation of footage from several different flights. Also, they don't identify who's speaking at any given time. I had to do a little bit of Wiki-ing when I got home to find out that it was Charles "Pete" Conrad, commander of Apollo 12 who said "That might have been one small step for Neil, but it was one giant leap for me!" as he descended the ladder. I imagine for some people who geek out on this a bit more than I do, they already know which bit was said by which astronaut, on which mission, but for us neophytes, it would be nice to have a little more clarification on such matters (apparently, the DVD has a subtitle option that identifies who is speaking at any given time).
Oh, and there was free popcorn too, so that made it even more fun!
Last edited by GuitarGeek; 07-22-2019 at 12:12 AM.
I think you're right.
I though Hoffman and the movie itself perfectly captured the desperation and ultimate futility of that lifestyle back then.
Once you are part of that criminal fraternity, you are very unlikely to be able to shake it off and have any semblance of a normal life.
And Hoffmans actions and dialogue bely the fact that he is a short guy...even his speech patterns carry an intensity to them. One of his best ever roles, and pretty much unknown these days.
Watched In the Name of the Father which is a 1993 biographical courtroom drama film co-written and directed by Jim Sheridan. It is based on the true story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings, which killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. The screenplay was adapted by Terry George and Jim Sheridan from the autobiography Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon.
I would rate this movie 9/10. Incredibly gripping from the outset with a stellar performances by Daniel Day Lewis, not to mention the rest of the cast. Perfectly captured the political climate in the UK at the time and very compelling personal stories of the victims. I've seen it countless times but my wife hadn't seen it so I watched it again. Just as absorbing as the first time I saw in the the theater.
Last edited by mozo-pg; 07-22-2019 at 02:39 PM.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
Last edited by mozo-pg; 07-23-2019 at 02:15 PM.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
Exorcist 3.
A massive improvement over the terrible second movie.
Some spoilers ahead
This takes place 15 years later, Lt Kinderman is now played by George Scott, and there are a series of bizarre and ritualistic murders taking place in Georgetown.
It seems these murders have the same MO of a serial killer know as the Gemini killer from 15 years before.
And it also becomes apparent that the demon that possessed Father Karras on the night he died may have found another host body.
This is a very atmospheric and unsettling movie, rather than trying to repeat the grand guignol or shock moments from the original. The murders themselves leave you quite queasy, even though you dont actually see them. But the graphic aftermath and description are all you need.
There are also some quite odd characters here, some very quirky acting on display.
Best of all is Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer. His speeches inside the cell are quite disturbing, especially as he appears to be able to distort his voice at will...one minute the voice of an angelic choir boy, the next a snarling beast.
And it has to be said a lot of humour too, especially between Kinderman and Father Dyer.
Occasionally there are some missteps, some attempts at horror that come across as slightly laughable. And the obviously tacked on exorcism at the end does not really work.
But overall this is a very worthy sequel to the original.
^^^ Yes, Exorcist III was a far superior movie to the second one, which is an unbelievable mess. It's also the second time that George C. Scott portrays a character originally played by Lee J. Cobb, as he did in the remake of 12 Angry Men. I like Scott, although there are several moments where he's a bit over the top in this film: "It is NOT! It is NOT IN THE FILE!" Okay George, you're not still filming Patton.
But yes, it does have some genuinely scary moments, in a different way to the first movie of course. Last fall, I bought the collector's set with all five films on blu-ray and I watched them in succession over the course of a week, and this one is honestly the only one that stands up on its own, years later. The second one, as mentioned, is appalling, and 4 & 5 are the same story filmed twice, and not a great one.
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 ***
SWEET!
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Klute (1971)
I just bought the recently released Criterion blu ray during Barnes & Nobles 50% off summer sale.
A top ten movie for me !
Jane Fonda as a call girl with a great shag haircut in gritty 1970 New York.
She's being stalked by a psycho and Donald Sutherland's there to save her.
That performance landed her an Oscar that year.
Last edited by nosebone; 07-25-2019 at 07:55 PM.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
^^^ Somehow they always make me think of Linda Ronstadt...
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
I prefer her "roller skate" era
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 not seen that for years, must checking out.
Another favorite role of mine for Fonda is The China Syndrome. I dont think she gets enough recognition for that one.
It was one of those rare occasions where an actor was utterly convincing in the profession, in this case TV journalism. It was a very committed and well researched role.
The scene outside the power plant at the end is extraordinary...she really sells that moment.
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