Not a fun scary switchback ride at all. Brilliant but not enjoyable.
It's not altogether surprising the way this horror pans out in plot terms, but the sense of place and atmosphere and gathering dread coupled with ennui is very well done.
Recently saw Crawl and absolutely loved it. It stars future Bond girl (hopefully) Kaya Scoderlario who was phenomenal as a girl trapped in a rapidly flooding house with her injured dad and a bunch of hungry alligators.
I saw Yesterday yesterday, and it was a most enjoyable trip to cinema - light-hearted and fun, well shot and naturally featuring a stellar soundtrack of Beatles songs. It's a fun conceit - the Beatles music has somehow in an instant been erased from history except that one person (who happens to be a struggling singer-songwriter) remembers the songs, and is able to pass them off as his own, which kickstarts his music career. It runs the risk of being a silly, cheesy film, but I think Danny Boyle handles it rather well. And the screenplay is by Richard Curtis, whose work I like very much. Good performances, great songs, pretty cinematography, a few enjoyable references for Beatles afficionados...definitely worth a watch.
I really enjoyed this one, it's easily my favorite QT film. DiCaprio's best work to date, and Brad Pitt really stole the movie!
Those of you who grew up around the 60's-70's will have a field day with all of the film, music, and cultural references. It's an absolute time capsule and deserves repeated viewings.
Sir Elton gets to libel the dead in this biopic, it's as well the Northern comics Morecambe and Wise on whose show Elton guested don't appear - perhaps there's a scene on the cutting room floor in which they tell our follicly challenged friend: 'You're not funny and you never will be you Southern sh*te... and you're crap at piano too!'
It's said Elton made it up with his mother before she died and just as well as if she were alive to see this there's be another estrangement.
It's a proper musical unlike the much maligned Bohemian Rhapsody, which featured Queen music generally in a rehearsal or concert setting, like the recent A Star is Born - here instead characters break into song albeit in an offbeat, flashback or hallucinatory context, a bit like the classic Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective.
Taron Egerton is very good as the star, and at no point did I think that he couldn't pull it off or someone else should be doing it. He sings the songs himself too and very good indeed. The entire cast is good and though it makes a play of being warts and all and uncensored, there is still the sense that it soft soaps at times; at no point is Elton ever bald and his wigs and hair transplants never get mentioned, though his hair loss is. To be fair, to include that stuff would make him a clown and be distracting.
Richard Madden does his customary Bond audition - the one they all have to do once they're seen as being in the frame. Looks the part, too short and Scottish accent like the Four Weddings Spartacus bloke so not quite Bond. Dunno, has evolution gone in reverse? We went from Connery to this, from Macca 65 to Ed Sheeran. From Kennedy to Trump.
It seems it's only black folk who have bypassed this unfortunate trend though I should immediately concede that a) Connery had a wig as Bond and b) The whole looks fascism thing was bad for society and made a lot of people needlessly miserable.
And my argument suffers from the fact that Elton was no looker though personable of course.
I unwittingly caught the Singalong version so when the lyrics came up on the screen I thought, okay, that's cool and latterly caught on. No lyrics for the Pinball Wizard clip or any song that's not John and Taupin, perhaps for copyright reasons, dunno.
This was a quality film so I'm not knocking it. Did wonder about other types, like a musical about Macca's Wings, not least because Jamie Bell as Taupin is a dead ringer for Wings' Denny Laine, plus it's the same era.
Batman ( 1989)
I always loved this film and got it on download. Michael Keaton, is a fantastic Batman
and Jack Nicholson is just wonderful as the Joker. Simply a great Movie -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
This movie is is a fairly direct remake of the Norwegian "Kraftidioten" from 2014. The origional starred Stellan Skarsgaard. Skarsgaard is a big fan of the director of both movies, Hans Petter Moland, in spite of his disdain for Norwegian catering.
Liam Neeson is the star of Cold Pursuit in what he claims will be his last action role. The story takes place in the Rockies (I think) where Coxman (Neeson) Works as a snowplow driver. His son dies of an overdose, but Coxman is convinced it's a murder. The dark and bizzare humor from the origional is still there ( reminds me of the Coen Brothers) and together with the unusual locations it saves the movie from becomeing just the last Liam Neeson revenge movie. Well worth watching, I think.
A couple of days ago I took in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino's latest. If you love his films and/or if you like 1960s U.S. movies and TV shows, you'll love this one. Even if you're not a fan of either, you still might get a kick out of the film, which shows that movies correct what's wrong with real life. The film also gives me some hope for the intelligence of moviegoers: it's a hit, despite having few action scenes, special effects that don't hit you over the head (mostly they are used to insert modern actors into older films or shows--Di Caprio doing the Steve McQueen scenes from Great Escape is a trip), and very long scenes of people just talking or of atmosphere being established. Say what you will about QT, dude knows how to make a movie!
I rarely go to the cinema anymore because 90% of the movies are kids movies or superhero movies. "Once upon a time in Hollywood" is none of those, and I'm not going to miss it
I rarely like superhero movies very much. I guess the fact that The Phantom was the only superhero comic I read when I was a kid is a part of the reason, but I think overrealiance on CGI is the main reason. When too many scenes are CGI heavy I lose interest, it feels like watching a computer game I can't play. I think Captain Marvel is an average superhero movie. Brie Larson does a good job in the lead, but if you want to see her acting really well in a good movie I suggest watching "Room" and "Free Fire".
I liked best the scenes on earth were Captain Marvel interacts with humans. Many of these scenes are with Lashana Lynch who's also in the Bond25 cast. I still think Lynch isn't as stunning as the women we're used to in Bond movies, even though she's obviously atractive than most of us. Lynch's acting is good and I liked her character, and I think she was convincing as a jet fighter pilot.
Decent slasher with a young Crispin Glover doing the most hilarious dance ever and an annoying Corey Feldman (even Ted White who played Jason said he couldn't stand being around him). The film has some of the best kills out of the first four. Highlights include a harpoon to the groin, Jason impaling someones hand with a corkscrew and then hacking them in the face with a meat cleaver, and the coolest kill; double-bit axe through the door into an unsuspecting female.
at least the half dozenth time I've seen it, I always notice new things.
Norman starts to tell Janet Leigh a falsified version of what happened to his parents, and cuts himself off: "er, it's not really something to talk about while you're eating."
Janet Leigh asks if Norman likes birds, and he says no, taxidermy is just a hobby to keep himself busy. Later we find out he has preserved his mother's corpse (mommy-fication?), so this is why he's into taxidermy despite not liking birds. It's a skill he had to master and he needed practice.
Norman points to the bathroom but cannot say the word, he is so repressed. Cool worldly Janet Leigh completes the sentence. Some books I've read claim the very presence of a bathroom was a big taboo at the time, forbidden by the Hayes Code and all, and the scene where she tried to flush her notes down the toilet was the first toilet in a major motion picture ever!!
so who's repressed? the Hayes Code people? (Hollywood was selfregulating so that just means Hollywood itself), or the hypocritical viewers who'd rewarded selfcensored film production for decades but were now lining up round the block to see the infamous shower scene?
And of course what happens in the shower is what the nasty filthy viewer should expect for daring to have paid to see a movie with an actual toilet in it!
Janet Leigh has three separate scenes in her brassiere, and gosh does she make that bra look stacked!
since last time I saw the film, there has been Hitch, the dramatised making of..., where Hitchcock (played by Anthony Hopkins) specifically asks for a buxom lass to play the lead, then the film cuts to Scarlet Johansen as Janet Leigh waggling her way on screen to vavavavoom burlesque style music. So I was paying extraspecial attention this time, and, it's true! the real Janet Leigh was a buxom lass!!
during Janet Leigh's long car ride during the first half of the film, Herman's music is telling the story.
The second half is more boring than the first. I dont really care about the new cast of characters who investigate Janet Leigh's death, and the sequencing of scenes is less elegant.
The logical explanation at the very end is much better than the logical explanation in Vertigo though. The Freudian lingo may be out of date, but I think Norman Bates' mental condition s what we now call disassociation.
Tarantino is never boring, and that goes for his ninth film too. I like that it's about people and not superheroes or singing animated animals. Movies made for adults is are all too rare these days. It's a completely original work ("before I sat down to write the screenplay, these characters didn't exist" - Quentin Tarantino), again something that's too rare in feature movies these days. Tarantino takes time for long dialogue or mood scenes, just do let the audience get to know characters and places, and I think that's great. His screenplays are full of great dialogue.
What I don't like so much is Tarantino's tendency to include extremely violent scenes and make them in a way that funny. I know his stories are about movies are about movies and not life, but I still often find it jarring. I felt the most violent scenes don't really fit the rest of the movie and it would be a even better film if he changed the most gory scenes.
What I don't like so much is Tarantino's tendency to include extremely violent scenes and make them in a way that funny. I know his stories are about movies are about movies and not life, but I still often find it jarring. I felt the most violent scenes don't really fit the rest of the movie and it would be a even better film if he changed the most gory scenes.
Agree. I do quite like his films (Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds especially) but the level of extreme violence and gore he insists on including, don't sit well with me and detract from my complete enjoyment of his films. Just seems OTT to shock for the sake of it.
What I don't like so much is Tarantino's tendency to include extremely violent scenes and make them in a way that funny. I know his stories are about movies are about movies and not life, but I still often find it jarring. I felt the most violent scenes don't really fit the rest of the movie and it would be a even better film if he changed the most gory scenes.
Agree. I do quite like his films (Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds especially) but the level of extreme violence and gore he insists on including, don't sit well with me and detract from my complete enjoyment of his films. Just seems OTT to shock for the sake of it.
If I remember correctly, "Jackie Brown" is his only movie where he avoids this.
Clint Eastwood's first film as director. Great thriller, with touches of "Psycho" and surely an influence on "Fatal Attraction" and others. It's notable that Clint's films have good roles for actresses (this one, "Million Dollar Baby", "Changeling", etc) and that he allows his other actors to have their time in the spotlight since Clint the director isn't overly generous to Clint the actor unlike certain other actor/directors (cough, Barbra Streisand, cough).
I remember that cameoing in a movie theatre in Dirty Harry.
Thanks for reminding me of it {[]
Lately, I went and saw Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and amidst the scathing reviews I heard from just about most my acquaintances, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it...not just the last 30 minutes. Takes place at one of my favourite eras in Hollywood with great cast, music and direction, as per usual. TONS of references and even a Bond spoof . Ultra-violence exists, but I cheered it on. I liked that Tarantino's "gang" cameos and casts here but it's a breakaway from what he's done. As much a hangout movie as Jackie Brown, with a twist.
It seemed a bit like damage control when I was watching the movie, considering Weinstein, since he chose Roman Polanski to live right next door. Why was he dressed up like a discount Austin Powers, though? Not Pulp Fiction but above any recent movie he's done so far...and better than most movies released these days, on that score.
This is a drama based on real events in the US coal mining industry in the 1980's. Charlize Theron plays a member of the first group of women to work at the local coal mine. They endure horiffic bullying and sexual harassment (all types of harassment seen in the movieis talken from real cases in the mines). Theron's character sues the company for not doing anything to protect them.
Charlize Theron was nominated to an Oscar for best actress in a leading role and Francis McDormand for best supporting actress. The cast and acting is first rate and include Sean Bean (who survives!), Woody Harleson, Jeremy Renner and Sissy Spacek. My only critisim against the film is the final court room scene. It's sentimental, unrealistic and better suited for a soap opera than a gritty quality drama like this. Even though this film is only fourteen years old I started thinking of how rarely we see this type of films in the cinema: films about working class people , dealing with controversial issues and centered on women, but still with stars in the cast and a fairly high budget. Today many will think of action francises and superheroes with some of the cast now.
I remember that cameoing in a movie theatre in Dirty Harry.
Thanks for reminding me of it {[]
My pleasure. While shooting Dirty Harry director Don Siegel was indisposed for the shooting of one scene so Clint Eastwood (who had directed some TV before) took over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nglh-BExEus
Clint repaid the favour by casting Siegel (who had directed him in 4 previous movies- Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules For Sister Sara, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry) as a friendly bartender in Misty.
Looker ( 1981) a great sci-fi thriller with Albert Finney and James Coburn. From the
Writer Michael Crichton, who gave us West-world and Jurassic Park.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Just when you thought Keanu Reeves had stopped making awful movies, along comes. . .Replicas! Keanu is at his worst, delivering his lines as if he can't make sense of the words he's saying. But this isn't all his fault: the dialogue is cliche and just plain bad, and the supporting performances range from wooden to hammy. Oh, it's about a genetic engineer who clones his dead family. You know where it goes from there.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot. With a title like that you'd expect a Roger Corman-like exploitation movie. Well, in some ways it is--the main character does both things--but as played by Sam Elliott (as the old version; Aidan Turner is the younger one) the man in question is deep, human, and ultimately moving. Really, this has it all: war, comedy, scifi/horror, love story, old age meditation. . .you've got to see it to believe it.
Leviathan ( 1989)
An enjoyable B movie type horror, in the vein of " The Abyss " but on a cheaper budget.
Good cast and some creepy moments, a cross between Alien and The Thing.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ( 2016 )
Not anywhere as funny as the title would suggest. A great idea for a comedy sketch
but fails as a feature length story.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Prince of Darkness, ( 1987 )
John Carpenter takes on the Anti Christ in this 80s Horror.
Galaxy of Terror ( 1981 )
A space horror from The House of Roger Corman, an Alien rip off, but It's one of those
films I'd read about and finally got round to watching. One odd fact about it is that
James Cameron worked as set designer on it before moving on to greatness.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Comments
A weird and nasty trip you can't get off.
Not a fun scary switchback ride at all. Brilliant but not enjoyable.
It's not altogether surprising the way this horror pans out in plot terms, but the sense of place and atmosphere and gathering dread coupled with ennui is very well done.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I really enjoyed this one, it's easily my favorite QT film. DiCaprio's best work to date, and Brad Pitt really stole the movie!
Those of you who grew up around the 60's-70's will have a field day with all of the film, music, and cultural references. It's an absolute time capsule and deserves repeated viewings.
Sir Elton gets to libel the dead in this biopic, it's as well the Northern comics Morecambe and Wise on whose show Elton guested don't appear - perhaps there's a scene on the cutting room floor in which they tell our follicly challenged friend: 'You're not funny and you never will be you Southern sh*te... and you're crap at piano too!'
It's said Elton made it up with his mother before she died and just as well as if she were alive to see this there's be another estrangement.
It's a proper musical unlike the much maligned Bohemian Rhapsody, which featured Queen music generally in a rehearsal or concert setting, like the recent A Star is Born - here instead characters break into song albeit in an offbeat, flashback or hallucinatory context, a bit like the classic Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective.
Taron Egerton is very good as the star, and at no point did I think that he couldn't pull it off or someone else should be doing it. He sings the songs himself too and very good indeed. The entire cast is good and though it makes a play of being warts and all and uncensored, there is still the sense that it soft soaps at times; at no point is Elton ever bald and his wigs and hair transplants never get mentioned, though his hair loss is. To be fair, to include that stuff would make him a clown and be distracting.
Richard Madden does his customary Bond audition - the one they all have to do once they're seen as being in the frame. Looks the part, too short and Scottish accent like the Four Weddings Spartacus bloke so not quite Bond. Dunno, has evolution gone in reverse? We went from Connery to this, from Macca 65 to Ed Sheeran. From Kennedy to Trump.
It seems it's only black folk who have bypassed this unfortunate trend though I should immediately concede that a) Connery had a wig as Bond and b) The whole looks fascism thing was bad for society and made a lot of people needlessly miserable.
And my argument suffers from the fact that Elton was no looker though personable of course.
I unwittingly caught the Singalong version so when the lyrics came up on the screen I thought, okay, that's cool and latterly caught on. No lyrics for the Pinball Wizard clip or any song that's not John and Taupin, perhaps for copyright reasons, dunno.
This was a quality film so I'm not knocking it. Did wonder about other types, like a musical about Macca's Wings, not least because Jamie Bell as Taupin is a dead ringer for Wings' Denny Laine, plus it's the same era.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I always loved this film and got it on download. Michael Keaton, is a fantastic Batman
and Jack Nicholson is just wonderful as the Joker. Simply a great Movie -{
The granddaddy of the Airplane/Naked gun type comedies.
Very, very Funny. I hadn't seen it in years.
This movie is is a fairly direct remake of the Norwegian "Kraftidioten" from 2014. The origional starred Stellan Skarsgaard. Skarsgaard is a big fan of the director of both movies, Hans Petter Moland, in spite of his disdain for Norwegian catering.
Liam Neeson is the star of Cold Pursuit in what he claims will be his last action role. The story takes place in the Rockies (I think) where Coxman (Neeson) Works as a snowplow driver. His son dies of an overdose, but Coxman is convinced it's a murder. The dark and bizzare humor from the origional is still there ( reminds me of the Coen Brothers) and together with the unusual locations it saves the movie from becomeing just the last Liam Neeson revenge movie. Well worth watching, I think.
I rarely like superhero movies very much. I guess the fact that The Phantom was the only superhero comic I read when I was a kid is a part of the reason, but I think overrealiance on CGI is the main reason. When too many scenes are CGI heavy I lose interest, it feels like watching a computer game I can't play. I think Captain Marvel is an average superhero movie. Brie Larson does a good job in the lead, but if you want to see her acting really well in a good movie I suggest watching "Room" and "Free Fire".
I liked best the scenes on earth were Captain Marvel interacts with humans. Many of these scenes are with Lashana Lynch who's also in the Bond25 cast. I still think Lynch isn't as stunning as the women we're used to in Bond movies, even though she's obviously atractive than most of us. Lynch's acting is good and I liked her character, and I think she was convincing as a jet fighter pilot.
Decent slasher with a young Crispin Glover doing the most hilarious dance ever and an annoying Corey Feldman (even Ted White who played Jason said he couldn't stand being around him). The film has some of the best kills out of the first four. Highlights include a harpoon to the groin, Jason impaling someones hand with a corkscrew and then hacking them in the face with a meat cleaver, and the coolest kill; double-bit axe through the door into an unsuspecting female.
at least the half dozenth time I've seen it, I always notice new things.
Norman starts to tell Janet Leigh a falsified version of what happened to his parents, and cuts himself off: "er, it's not really something to talk about while you're eating."
Janet Leigh asks if Norman likes birds, and he says no, taxidermy is just a hobby to keep himself busy. Later we find out he has preserved his mother's corpse (mommy-fication?), so this is why he's into taxidermy despite not liking birds. It's a skill he had to master and he needed practice.
Norman points to the bathroom but cannot say the word, he is so repressed. Cool worldly Janet Leigh completes the sentence. Some books I've read claim the very presence of a bathroom was a big taboo at the time, forbidden by the Hayes Code and all, and the scene where she tried to flush her notes down the toilet was the first toilet in a major motion picture ever!!
so who's repressed? the Hayes Code people? (Hollywood was selfregulating so that just means Hollywood itself), or the hypocritical viewers who'd rewarded selfcensored film production for decades but were now lining up round the block to see the infamous shower scene?
And of course what happens in the shower is what the nasty filthy viewer should expect for daring to have paid to see a movie with an actual toilet in it!
Janet Leigh has three separate scenes in her brassiere, and gosh does she make that bra look stacked!
since last time I saw the film, there has been Hitch, the dramatised making of..., where Hitchcock (played by Anthony Hopkins) specifically asks for a buxom lass to play the lead, then the film cuts to Scarlet Johansen as Janet Leigh waggling her way on screen to vavavavoom burlesque style music. So I was paying extraspecial attention this time, and, it's true! the real Janet Leigh was a buxom lass!!
during Janet Leigh's long car ride during the first half of the film, Herman's music is telling the story.
The second half is more boring than the first. I dont really care about the new cast of characters who investigate Janet Leigh's death, and the sequencing of scenes is less elegant.
The logical explanation at the very end is much better than the logical explanation in Vertigo though. The Freudian lingo may be out of date, but I think Norman Bates' mental condition s what we now call disassociation.
Tarantino is never boring, and that goes for his ninth film too. I like that it's about people and not superheroes or singing animated animals. Movies made for adults is are all too rare these days. It's a completely original work ("before I sat down to write the screenplay, these characters didn't exist" - Quentin Tarantino), again something that's too rare in feature movies these days. Tarantino takes time for long dialogue or mood scenes, just do let the audience get to know characters and places, and I think that's great. His screenplays are full of great dialogue.
What I don't like so much is Tarantino's tendency to include extremely violent scenes and make them in a way that funny. I know his stories are about movies are about movies and not life, but I still often find it jarring. I felt the most violent scenes don't really fit the rest of the movie and it would be a even better film if he changed the most gory scenes.
Agree. I do quite like his films (Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds especially) but the level of extreme violence and gore he insists on including, don't sit well with me and detract from my complete enjoyment of his films. Just seems OTT to shock for the sake of it.
If I remember correctly, "Jackie Brown" is his only movie where he avoids this.
The Running Man, Classic Arnie
Clint Eastwood's first film as director. Great thriller, with touches of "Psycho" and surely an influence on "Fatal Attraction" and others. It's notable that Clint's films have good roles for actresses (this one, "Million Dollar Baby", "Changeling", etc) and that he allows his other actors to have their time in the spotlight since Clint the director isn't overly generous to Clint the actor unlike certain other actor/directors (cough, Barbra Streisand, cough).
Thanks for reminding me of it {[]
Lately, I went and saw Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and amidst the scathing reviews I heard from just about most my acquaintances, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it...not just the last 30 minutes. Takes place at one of my favourite eras in Hollywood with great cast, music and direction, as per usual. TONS of references and even a Bond spoof
It seemed a bit like damage control when I was watching the movie, considering Weinstein, since he chose Roman Polanski to live right next door. Why was he dressed up like a discount Austin Powers, though? Not Pulp Fiction but above any recent movie he's done so far...and better than most movies released these days, on that score.
This is a drama based on real events in the US coal mining industry in the 1980's. Charlize Theron plays a member of the first group of women to work at the local coal mine. They endure horiffic bullying and sexual harassment (all types of harassment seen in the movieis talken from real cases in the mines). Theron's character sues the company for not doing anything to protect them.
Charlize Theron was nominated to an Oscar for best actress in a leading role and Francis McDormand for best supporting actress. The cast and acting is first rate and include Sean Bean (who survives!), Woody Harleson, Jeremy Renner and Sissy Spacek. My only critisim against the film is the final court room scene. It's sentimental, unrealistic and better suited for a soap opera than a gritty quality drama like this. Even though this film is only fourteen years old I started thinking of how rarely we see this type of films in the cinema: films about working class people , dealing with controversial issues and centered on women, but still with stars in the cast and a fairly high budget. Today many will think of action francises and superheroes with some of the cast now.
My pleasure. While shooting Dirty Harry director Don Siegel was indisposed for the shooting of one scene so Clint Eastwood (who had directed some TV before) took over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nglh-BExEus
Clint repaid the favour by casting Siegel (who had directed him in 4 previous movies- Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules For Sister Sara, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry) as a friendly bartender in Misty.
I love how they tried something different with this Halloween movie. It's an almost
Horror James Bond film, with a Villain out to attack the world.
Writer Michael Crichton, who gave us West-world and Jurassic Park.
An enjoyable B movie type horror, in the vein of " The Abyss " but on a cheaper budget.
Good cast and some creepy moments, a cross between Alien and The Thing.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ( 2016 )
Not anywhere as funny as the title would suggest. A great idea for a comedy sketch
but fails as a feature length story.
John Carpenter takes on the Anti Christ in this 80s Horror.
Galaxy of Terror ( 1981 )
A space horror from The House of Roger Corman, an Alien rip off, but It's one of those
films I'd read about and finally got round to watching. One odd fact about it is that
James Cameron worked as set designer on it before moving on to greatness.