Have you seen Thirteen At Dinner? It's the Peter Ustinov version of Lord Edgeware Dies, and while the David Suchet version is better this one has the surreal experience of seeing Suchet playing Inspector Japp!
The Doo Dah Man. An interesting character study of a middle aged conman who picks up a hitchhiking student and how their lives interact. Makes a nice change from CGI infested movies - recommended as something different and slow paced.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Justice League. Not particularly good but I do like Gal as Wonder Woman. :x
Just saw it today, as well. Not as good as it could/should have been, but still a lot of fun, and a good date movie with my girlfriend Ezra Miller’s Flash was funny and engaging...and yes - I’d watch Gal Gadot do anything. She is breathtaking.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
A Monster Calls--ostensibly a kids' movie with a very dark theme: a boy dealing with his mother dying of cancer while he receives visitations from a giant tree creature voiced by Liam Neeson. It's strange and disconcerting, but also very moving. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
Miles Ahead
a hallucinatory, non-linear non-bio-pic of Miles Davis
Don Cheadle plays Miles and also directs, and is credited with "additional compositions"
the main story is a fictional storyline set during the period in the late 70s when Miles did not perform nor record, involving Ewan McGregor as a sketchy journalist and the search for some missing tapes
intercut with flashbacks covering the time of his marriage to Frances Taylor (the woman seen on the cover of Some Day My Prince Will Come), during which he recorded Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and began working with his Second Great Quintet
cameos by the real Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock during the closing scene, alongside younger musicians like Esperanza Spalding
I'm not sure anybody would actually learn anything about the life of Miles Davis from this movie, but if you already know about his music and his life this is an interesting fantasy based upon it
Is anyone else a Russ Meyer fan? I had a mini marathon this weekend:
"Faster Pussycat. Kill, Kill" (John Waters has called this the most perfect film ever made.)
"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"
"Mondo Topless"
"Common Law Cabin"
and "Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!"
This film didn't have great reviews and it really was onto a hiding for nothing given the affection and popularity of the original TV series but .... I really enjoyed it !!
I think it really kept to the spirit of the tv show and the casting was fabulous. Gambon as Godfrey, Courtenay as Jones and Nighy as Wilson were the standouts for me and it was a bit of a who's who of British acting talent.
Not the most intelligent film in the world but a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday afternoon ...
Natalie Portman plays Jackie Kennedy - well, how else are you going to get a Jew in the White House... Oh, I've been dropped from TOTP.
Portman puts in a stellar performance... of someone with the voice of Marilyn Monroe and demeanour of Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. With a soupcon of Audrey Hepburn and the self-regarding daughter in the BBC sitcom Outnumbered. Not sure if Jackie Kennedy was really like that, I've not seen much footage of her.
The film is only about the days after the assassination and her reaction to it. It does work quite well, it is an eerie tale and oddly shot. It is mesmerising but I did find her whole schtick a bit distracting. Peter Seersgard is Bobbie, and now appears more like Hartley the Hare rather than the young almost provocatively handsome and privileged young man. Richard E Grant has a surprising and uncharacteristic turn and then there's John Hurt in his last role.
The bloke who plays JFK in flashback is v good, until a late shot of him dancing at a ball - blimey, he's a midget! I know the Kennedy's were of Irish descent, but they weren't frickin' leprechauns! They really should have faked that scene.
Ultimately the film is good because it tells of an event from the woman's perspective, and is sympathetic to that. Oh, Billy Cradup is good as the journalist interviewing Jackie.
I do feel, in fairness, that Jackie was marred by having Clive 'Corporal Jones' Dunne pop up in a cameo as an FBI agent shouting 'Don't panic! Don't panic!' alongside the motorcade.
I do feel, in fairness, that Jackie was marred by having Clive 'Corporal Jones' Dunne pop up in a cameo as an FBI agent shouting 'Don't panic! Don't panic!' alongside the motorcade.
Saw Justice League. Hey, I really LIKED it! It was not as good as Wonder Woman, but at least she was in it! ) The bad guy looked a little video-gamey, but other than that I had no problems with it. The cast was just really good, and Joss' editing & additions made it better than it was going to be IMO.
Kevin Spacey plays a six-gear predator who coerces a young, shade-wearing kid into being his getaway driver for years on end, as payback for a past misdemeanour.
This is good stuff, and actually I don't mind seeing Spacey, despite his fall from grace, I don't see his crimes being in the same league as Weinstein or our homegrown groomers.
It's cute, original and slick - however, things get boring when the kid thinks he's thru with the job and begins to live a normal life with his new love interest, a waitress. Also, the kid in question becomes less interesting the more we learn about him. Happily, Spacey reenters the frame and things turn interesting again.
I thought Michael Fassbender did a good job as one of the gang up until half-way through, then I was forced to change my mind when I realised the actor was in fact Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame.
It's not quite brilliant, and too many songs spoil the froth - I'm not sure there's one definitive tune here that sums up the movie, but it's a new take on an old theme.
I look forward to watching Baby Driver.
Speaking of Kevin Spacy: apparently he fondled the crotch of the then husband of princess Märtha of Norway when he visited the country for the Nobel Peace Prize consert in 2012 )
Baby Driver
...
This is good stuff, and actually I don't mind seeing Spacey, despite his fall from grace, I don't see his crimes being in the same league as Weinstein or our homegrown groomers
...
It's not quite brilliant, and too many songs spoil the froth - I'm not sure there's one definitive tune here that sums up the movie, but it's a new take on an old theme.
I would nominate the Harlem Shuffle/going to get coffee sequence near the beginning of the film, its near perfectly choreographed and I was convinced the kid was being played by a professional dancer rather than an actor
I think its perfectly acceptable to appreciate Spacey, or any other actor, for the work he does on screen despite disapproving of his actions in real life
you gotta be able to separate the artist from the art, otherwise all your left with is some mighty mediocre art
Ah, yeah, Harlem Shuffle is a very good scene, point conceded.
Who Dares Wins
Early 80s Britflick, the kind that makes you both sad and glad they don't make 'em like that any more. It's a tribute movie to the SAS, hence the name, and like the SAS it's mechanical, efficient and hard to love. Some Bond talent on board, such as Syd Cain and Phil Meheux, the guy who lenses GoldenEye and Casino Royale.
It seems to be a Bond audition piece for Professionals TV star Lewis Collins, who died of late, and he doesn't do too badly. He looks a bit like a young Clint Eastwood, and having seen an orange Moore Trump his pervy way thru Octopussy, I'd rather see Lewis Collins in that role (the two films do have similar themes). That said, it would not have been my opinion at the time, and Collins would have supposedly been up against Connery at the box office. Really, Collins didn't have the movie star charisma although I should say that he is playing an SAS character in this, so maybe isn't bringing that game to the table.
Brosnan seemed to do similar audition pieces, playing a Russian in The Fourth Protocol. He's sort of almost Bond, and I think Collins might have been a hybrid of Dalton and Brosnan. I mean, he's an easier screen presence than Dalton in many ways, but it's not easy being Bond, esp some of the corny lines he gets that only Connery in his prime managed to pull off.
Who Dares Wins is watchable, with a couple of nods to the big screen version of the sitcom Porridge, and much enlivened by having Judy Davis as the possibly terrorist pacifist that Collins is asked to, erm, infiltrate. Some of it is preposterous however, such as how they suspect Collins from the outset, and tail him, yet even after he goes to skilled and sneaky lengths to lose the tail a) He doesn't lose them and b) They still don't find his evasive footrunning conclusive proof that he's a bad 'un!
Ah, yeah, Harlem Shuffle is a very good scene, point conceded.
Who Dares Wins
Early 80s Britflick, the kind that makes you both sad and glad they don't make 'em like that any more. It's a tribute movie to the SAS, hence the name, and like the SAS it's mechanical, efficient and hard to love. Some Bond talent on board, such as Syd Cain and Phil Meheux, the guy who lenses GoldenEye and Casino Royale.
It seems to be a Bond audition piece for Professionals TV star Lewis Collins, who died of late, and he doesn't do too badly. He looks a bit like a young Clint Eastwood, and having seen an orange Moore Trump his pervy way thru Octopussy, I'd rather see Lewis Collins in that role (the two films do have similar themes). That said, it would not have been my opinion at the time, and Collins would have supposedly been up against Connery at the box office. Really, Collins didn't have the movie star charisma although I should say that he is playing an SAS character in this, so maybe isn't bringing that game to the table.
Brosnan seemed to do similar audition pieces, playing a Russian in The Fourth Protocol. He's sort of almost Bond, and I think Collins might have been a hybrid of Dalton and Brosnan. I mean, he's an easier screen presence than Dalton in many ways, but it's not easy being Bond, esp some of the corny lines he gets that only Connery in his prime managed to pull off.
Who Dares Wins is watchable, with a couple of nods to the big screen version of the sitcom Porridge, and much enlivened by having Judy Davis as the possibly terrorist pacifist that Collins is asked to, erm, infiltrate. Some of it is preposterous however, such as how they suspect Collins from the outset, and tail him, yet even after he goes to skilled and sneaky lengths to lose the tail a) He doesn't lose them and b) They still don't find his evasive footrunning conclusive proof that he's a bad 'un!
I saw wdw a few weeks ago and posted here too, loved this movie as a kid. let's not forget that brilliant Roy budd score, a bit reminiscent of enter the dragon to me.
I watched a classic Hammer horror film starring Christopher Lee and of course the fantastic Peter Cushing in The Hound of the Baskerville , such a great film ,the English is perfectly spoken and the costumes absolutely to die for ,this Sherlock Holmes film ,is English/British to the core . And it’s a shame that this style of dress ,manners,and spoken word has been eroded into the mess we have now .Such a great film /story and like all those Hammer films ,a true gem
We had another Hammer classic on last night The curse of the mummy ,but I was watching Sir David Jason’s Secret Service documentary and I’m afraid I nodded off
Comments
Have you seen Thirteen At Dinner? It's the Peter Ustinov version of Lord Edgeware Dies, and while the David Suchet version is better this one has the surreal experience of seeing Suchet playing Inspector Japp!
Ago.
Just saw it today, as well. Not as good as it could/should have been, but still a lot of fun, and a good date movie with my girlfriend
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
a hallucinatory, non-linear non-bio-pic of Miles Davis
Don Cheadle plays Miles and also directs, and is credited with "additional compositions"
the main story is a fictional storyline set during the period in the late 70s when Miles did not perform nor record, involving Ewan McGregor as a sketchy journalist and the search for some missing tapes
intercut with flashbacks covering the time of his marriage to Frances Taylor (the woman seen on the cover of Some Day My Prince Will Come), during which he recorded Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and began working with his Second Great Quintet
cameos by the real Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock during the closing scene, alongside younger musicians like Esperanza Spalding
I'm not sure anybody would actually learn anything about the life of Miles Davis from this movie, but if you already know about his music and his life this is an interesting fantasy based upon it
"Faster Pussycat. Kill, Kill" (John Waters has called this the most perfect film ever made.)
"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"
"Mondo Topless"
"Common Law Cabin"
and "Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!"
This film didn't have great reviews and it really was onto a hiding for nothing given the affection and popularity of the original TV series but .... I really enjoyed it !!
I think it really kept to the spirit of the tv show and the casting was fabulous. Gambon as Godfrey, Courtenay as Jones and Nighy as Wilson were the standouts for me and it was a bit of a who's who of British acting talent.
Not the most intelligent film in the world but a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday afternoon ...
As the vicar -{ ... but sadly I have a very different
Opinion on the film.
Jackie
Natalie Portman plays Jackie Kennedy - well, how else are you going to get a Jew in the White House...
Portman puts in a stellar performance... of someone with the voice of Marilyn Monroe and demeanour of Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. With a soupcon of Audrey Hepburn and the self-regarding daughter in the BBC sitcom Outnumbered. Not sure if Jackie Kennedy was really like that, I've not seen much footage of her.
The film is only about the days after the assassination and her reaction to it. It does work quite well, it is an eerie tale and oddly shot. It is mesmerising but I did find her whole schtick a bit distracting. Peter Seersgard is Bobbie, and now appears more like Hartley the Hare rather than the young almost provocatively handsome and privileged young man. Richard E Grant has a surprising and uncharacteristic turn and then there's John Hurt in his last role.
The bloke who plays JFK in flashback is v good, until a late shot of him dancing at a ball - blimey, he's a midget! I know the Kennedy's were of Irish descent, but they weren't frickin' leprechauns! They really should have faked that scene.
Ultimately the film is good because it tells of an event from the woman's perspective, and is sympathetic to that. Oh, Billy Cradup is good as the journalist interviewing Jackie.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Ian Lavender popped in too which was nice ... I think they are the only two originals still alive ....
I would never say it was a 'must see' movie but it was harmless enough IMO ... As I said, Sunday afternoon fodder.
I've heard very mixed things about it. I'm not sure I can subject myself to another movie about The Kennedys though.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
They don'y like it up 'em !!!
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Kevin Spacey plays a six-gear predator who coerces a young, shade-wearing kid into being his getaway driver for years on end, as payback for a past misdemeanour.
This is good stuff, and actually I don't mind seeing Spacey, despite his fall from grace, I don't see his crimes being in the same league as Weinstein or our homegrown groomers.
It's cute, original and slick - however, things get boring when the kid thinks he's thru with the job and begins to live a normal life with his new love interest, a waitress. Also, the kid in question becomes less interesting the more we learn about him. Happily, Spacey reenters the frame and things turn interesting again.
I thought Michael Fassbender did a good job as one of the gang up until half-way through, then I was forced to change my mind when I realised the actor was in fact Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame.
It's not quite brilliant, and too many songs spoil the froth - I'm not sure there's one definitive tune here that sums up the movie, but it's a new take on an old theme.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Speaking of Kevin Spacy: apparently he fondled the crotch of the then husband of princess Märtha of Norway when he visited the country for the Nobel Peace Prize consert in 2012
Trying to steal the "Royal Jewels "
I think its perfectly acceptable to appreciate Spacey, or any other actor, for the work he does on screen despite disapproving of his actions in real life
you gotta be able to separate the artist from the art, otherwise all your left with is some mighty mediocre art
Who Dares Wins
Early 80s Britflick, the kind that makes you both sad and glad they don't make 'em like that any more. It's a tribute movie to the SAS, hence the name, and like the SAS it's mechanical, efficient and hard to love. Some Bond talent on board, such as Syd Cain and Phil Meheux, the guy who lenses GoldenEye and Casino Royale.
It seems to be a Bond audition piece for Professionals TV star Lewis Collins, who died of late, and he doesn't do too badly. He looks a bit like a young Clint Eastwood, and having seen an orange Moore Trump his pervy way thru Octopussy, I'd rather see Lewis Collins in that role (the two films do have similar themes). That said, it would not have been my opinion at the time, and Collins would have supposedly been up against Connery at the box office. Really, Collins didn't have the movie star charisma although I should say that he is playing an SAS character in this, so maybe isn't bringing that game to the table.
Brosnan seemed to do similar audition pieces, playing a Russian in The Fourth Protocol. He's sort of almost Bond, and I think Collins might have been a hybrid of Dalton and Brosnan. I mean, he's an easier screen presence than Dalton in many ways, but it's not easy being Bond, esp some of the corny lines he gets that only Connery in his prime managed to pull off.
Who Dares Wins is watchable, with a couple of nods to the big screen version of the sitcom Porridge, and much enlivened by having Judy Davis as the possibly terrorist pacifist that Collins is asked to, erm, infiltrate. Some of it is preposterous however, such as how they suspect Collins from the outset, and tail him, yet even after he goes to skilled and sneaky lengths to lose the tail a) He doesn't lose them and b) They still don't find his evasive footrunning conclusive proof that he's a bad 'un!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I saw wdw a few weeks ago and posted here too, loved this movie as a kid. let's not forget that brilliant Roy budd score, a bit reminiscent of enter the dragon to me.
McQ - boring attempt at making John Wayne into Dirty Harry. I really wanted to like this one.
Assault on Precinct 13- Fun LA movie inspired by Rio Bravo. The little girl death is shocking.
2001: Space Odyssey - First time seeing it on Blu Ray. Stunning.
Train to Busan - I'm not that into zombie movies, but this one was quite excellent.
Heathers- I liked the first half better, before the filmmakers decided to get on some moral high ground and drop the dark humor.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK