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Thread: Omnibus movies Q&A thread including trivia

  1. #951
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    All right, here's the Q part of the thread.

    Should one watch Dr. Giggles or Paradox (2017) first?

    Yes, this officially a first-world problem, but it is indeed a question of most importance.

    ETA that's good about the Wizard of Oz! How about a little fire, scarecrow! Poppies will make them sleep! Even if one doesn't like the movie, it's still such a profound influence on norteamericano culture.

    Plus, it's not even a joke: the Pink Floyd thing totally works.

    I wouldn't do it to anybody who wasn't already a little bit 'experienced,' but it is kind of a little trip in itself, just for fun.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 08 Aug 2020 at 02:46 AM.

  2. #952
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    The Pink Floyd thing kinda sorta works, but there are far more ways the movie and the album don't synch up than they do. You might find points of commonality with Birth of a Nation and Star Wars if you watched them as you played the album, too. For more:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia

  3. #953
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    The Pink Floyd thing kinda sorta works, but there are far more ways the movie and the album don't synch up than they do
    Clearly you didn't start the 180g vinyl pressing at 0.05 s after the the third lion roar of the MGM logo.

    Yeah, people mess it up and they just don't get it, man.

    It's very precise.

  4. #954
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    No.

    Under no circumstances watch the "movie" called Dr. Giggles.

    Just, trust me. Don't even try.

    I don't which precise formulation of drugs one has to take to find it amusing. Giggle soup, strong acid, bad weed, uppers, downers, I don't know what, but it would have to be a lot of them, all at once, to find this "movie" amusing.

    That is one bad movie.

    Don't do it.

    And don't let your kids do it.

    And don't even think about it.

    That should be erased from planetary memory.

    So, it's a pretty bad movie, is what the point is.

    Just don't.

    Don't even look at it.

  5. #955
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    Also, don't bother with Paradox (2017) with fight choreography by the great Sammo Hung.

    It's like the others in that series: vast, tedious stretches of sentimental melodrama punctuated by some good fights.

    It's like a soap opera except instead of having somebody's twin brother with an eyepatch screwing his brother's wife, it's just...well, it's like that. With fighting.

  6. #956
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    My five most recent movies:

    Logan's Run
    Cheesy Seventies dystopic sf. Looks like it was filmed inside a mall... because it was. I'd just read the book, which is a lot different, and much better.

    13th
    Documentary about the 13th Amendment, structural racism, mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. Pretty good, but unavoidably grim.

    The Matrix
    Introduced my teenage son to this sf action thriller, and enjoyed it all over again. Great action sequences, a good cast, a nifty if preposterous premise and style out the wazoo.

    An American Pickle
    Disappointing comedy, with Seth Rogen playing both an Eastern European immigrant accidentally preserved in pickle brine for a century, and his struggling slacker great-grandson. A few laughs but it could've been a lot better.

    Air Force One
    Rewatched one of my favorite action thrillers. Harrison Ford is a heroic and badass POTUS, fighting to take back his hijacked plane from murderous Russian ultranationalists led by Gary Oldman (who's surprisingly nuanced in the role).

  7. #957
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    The NIght of the Hunter. It's, each time I see it, a little bit more grim and even profound as a social commentary. Rightfully so, most people probably remember Bob Mitchum's performance, but there's quite a bit to the movie. Although I'm not adept enough to describe such Sachverhalte.

  8. #958
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    Not really a movie. Not a movie at all.

    However, by the middle of the second season, the TV show The High Chaparral seemed to devolve into what some other shows of that rough period did (give or take a few years), like Then Came Bronson or Alias Smith and Jones. Namely a disjointed set of adventures with some kind of weak moral point.

    But Leif Erickson, Linda Crystal, the guy who played Mañuelito, and even the guy who played Blue Boy were pretty capable.

    Cameron Mitchell was the surprise: I didn't know he did anything but bottom-of-the-barrel late-1970s, earl-1980s Z-grade movies. "Buck Cannon" was a super character, and I'm sure was the object of admiration for young kids at the time who thought he was a super-bad, hard-drinking, hard-fighting rogue. Which he definitely was.

    In the season 2 episode "No Irish Need Apply," I don't think they even credited John Vernon, although he was the main guest star, and I don't think he was just a rank beginner at acting by that point. Maybe they did and I missed it. Definitely not in the final credits, and I don't think in the opening credits. That was odd. It was definitely him, though.

    I do not think I'll be watching the third or fourth seasons, after I acquire the rest of season two.

    And, no, don't even ask why I've bothered to seek out the particular TV shows I've mentioned, because I have no idea myself. At various times it seemed like a good diversion at various times.

    ETA Oh, and Mañuelito turned into just comic relief, and Blue Boy needed a good ass-kicking for remaining such a naïve puss, especially after all his previous adventures.


    ////////////////////////////

    Oh, after innumerable times, rewatching the Charles Bronson vehicle directed by Don Siegel, Telefon, about Donald Pleasance being a mad KGB operative or something goes around waking up "sleeper agents" in the US by, you guessed it, telephone.

    That was one time too many. Nothing against Lee Remick, but her performance was just not credible. Or barely credible. Bronson was OK, though. Pretty understated performance, I suppose like his others.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 15 Sep 2020 at 05:34 PM.

  9. #959
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    Telefon has been a movie I've wanted to see for a long time but have just never gotten around to.

  10. #960
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    Sorry about the spoilers, then. Actually I don't think I gave anything away that isn't in the first ten or twenty minutes: it's the whole premise of the movie, and the rest is really about the chase. Other than the premise that 1970s-model Lee Remick isn't a very good actress IMHO. And the "chase" likely had more tension in 1970s Soviet-US Cold War, and I won't say anything about how it ends.

    It's certainly worth seeing, though: some very cool episodes in the movie, and like 1970s-model Don Siegel pictures, it has at least a few themes and snippets that have persisted in film culture to this day.

    It's especially worth it if you fancy seeing middle-aged Sherri North in a hip-hugging housecoat. No spoilers there: Don Siegel in at least one other picture took advantage of the camera to feature her (clothed) backside. She's a super nice lady, and one of the best actresses who ever lived....perhaps only in some aspects, but still.

    Most everyone in the cast was excellent. Of course, Harry Dean Stanton, and Pleasance, and a bunch whose names I can't remember. It's just a neat movie.

    It's no Charley Varrick, but it's right beside it for 1970s-Siegel movies.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 16 Sep 2020 at 10:18 AM.

  11. #961
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    Oh. Update, they did credit John Vernon and several others in the opening credits.

    Like I always say to myself, "fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life." But I wasn't and am not drunk, at least!

  12. #962
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    I've seen it before, but *Terminator Salvation* is one of the worst "blockbuster" type movies I've ever seen. I really do think that McLovin or whatever the fuck the director calls himself by should kill himself.

    Also, the "movie" Gravity is effing stupid. An undergraduate's junior-year idea with a bunch of computer junk. Yes, I've also seen that before, but sometimes one gives a second chance to some "movies" after a certain amount of time and finds one's initial appraisals were correct.

  13. #963
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    I've come to appreciate Laura Dern as an actress, especially in her performance in Inland Empire. She is tremendously capable and she inhabits a role.

    Why is it that in, at least in three places in Wild At Heart and Blue Velvet she's using off-screen cues for her lines?

    It's obviously intentional, on the part of Duwayne Dunham or Lynch.

    I like it, as a bit of the fascination of finding things beneath the surface. It's not paranoia if it's true, and it's on the screen.

  14. #964
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    I haven't posted for a while. Seems like most of the recent movies I've seen were forgetable.

    On HBOMax, I just watched The Witches, a remake of the Roald Dahl story. Stars Octavia Spencer & Anne Hathaway with Stanley Tucci and Chris Rock & Kristin Chenoweth voice acting. It was well done and plenty different from the prior version.

    Onward by Pixar was very forgettable

  15. #965
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    It's been maybe a decade since I've seen Bad Day At Black Rock.

    It's a menacing first dozen or so shots.

    "In the meantime?"

    "In the meantime I crowd him a little. See if he's got any iron in his blood."

  16. #966
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    I saw Bad Day At Black Rock two or three years ago with a friend who loves it. I thought it was meh.

  17. #967
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    Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker.

    That's also been a number of years since I seen that, but that is a portrait of feminine frustration.

    Couldn't make it through The Girlfriend Experience again: once was enough.

    You know what they say. It's the face powder gives a man interest, but it's the bacon powder keeps him coming back.

    Yeah, ad B&C, I'd say, masculine rage and feminine frustration. I would say I know something about it. Not particularly Clyde's "problem," but in abstracto.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 31 Oct 2020 at 10:14 PM.

  18. #968
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    ETA "Well, how old are you, honey? — I'm thirty-three!. Cut to Gene Wilder's face. Priceless.

  19. #969
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    Here's a good double feature.

    Cronenberg's Crash, backed with Naked Lunch.

    Ad the latter? Contrary to my recollection, it's a fairly straightforward chronicle of one man's descent into drugs and madness. Not at all as I remember it.

  20. #970
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    All right, here's a legitimate Movie Question:

    At the beginning of Big Trouble in Little China, why exactly is Jack Burton carrying a saddlebag after his big game with Wang and the others?

    Obviously, it's you know, "This here's Jack Burton Portk Chop Express." Etc.

    But I bet you anything there's some behind the scenes info about that. Like, maybe it was a prop from a Jack Ford movie or something.

    Yeah, nothing. That's one thousand one hundred and forty eight times two, so pay up!

  21. #971
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    The count is in: I finally have a judgment about the movie The Seven-Ups.

    I think it's a terrible movie, right down to the soundtrack/score. If I wanted to live in early-mid 1970s Manhattan, I'd probably be dead by now from an overdose in CBGB's men's room or sitting in Alphabet City squalor.

    I'd vote it as about a tie for "quality" with the early-1980s feature film Alligator, starring Robert Forster and Gazzo.

    Mildly amusing.

    No. Alligator is a better movie.

    I love car-chase movies, but this one, the whole reason for the movie, is just not that good.

  22. #972
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    Actually, about the former in my latter post, the color scheme is effective in the final scene.

    I don't know if it was a deliberate choice of the photographer to use a particular speed of film, but it's very much similar to what Melville did in movies around the same time, like the latter's Un Flic.

    I find it effective, anyway, even if as a deliberate tip of the hat to contemporaries making crime movies.

    I don't know who the editor is, but I'd put the blame squarely at his or her feet: it's almost magnificently inept, almost like a trump card at editing. Just, astonishingly uncoordinated, inept, illiterate.

    The director is a nobody, but a good director would have been in the room with the editor.

    Think about it: who among great directors were also very involved in editing. Welles. Tarantino. Hawks. Polanski. Carpenter. Lynch. Truffaut.

    And then there were delegators. Probably Hawks gets a double mention -- he was inconsistent as an auteur. Allen. Scorsese, after an astonishing triumph in his first few decades. Cortiz. Ford.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 06 Nov 2020 at 06:17 PM.

  23. #973
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    Unhinged.

    It's better than Birdemic, and with a similar social conscience as Death Race 2000.

    Fat Russell Crowe is pretty good. Kind of a cross between an insane, deranged John Goodman and Bob Mitchum's character in Night of the Hunter.

    Never saw the lead actress before. She was OK, I guess: pretty dumb character, with stupid lines, but I suppose she did what she could with that. I was glad Jim**i S**mps** was only in the movie for a short scene: not my favorite actor. The opposite.

    I thought watching Crowe was pretty captivating: I've only seen a few of his movies, but if this was stunt weight-gaining, it was pretty extreme, and he's going to have a hell of a time getting rid of the fat at his age.

    Who knows, but it was a pretty good performance on his part.

  24. #974
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    The Usual Suspects. Yeah, of course seen it before.

    Cute, but it kind of loses its luster after it's one big trick.

    It is a nice little movie with a big surprise. They didn't show us the whole surprise, though. Kind of a cheap, grimy movie, but effective in its way.

  25. #975
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    On revisiting the Ed Wood "classic" Glen or Glenda, in the non-colorized version, I have to say that Ed Wood has done much better.

    On the other hand, the intermediary shadow play without dialogue is...it's...just...not...I wouldn't let any children watch that.

    If I had my way, so to speak, probably no adults either.

  26. #976
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    Ah. I think I've finally understood why all these little whiny baby kids are crapping themselves about "gaslighting."

    Yes, of course there's a movie about it, and there's at least one Hitchcock movie that features this, namely, Notorious...and maybe one more I'm not thinking about.

    But I finally got around to watching Wm Castle's infamous movie called The Tingler.

    Yes, indeed. It rung a few bells with me, namely remembering H-G Clouzot's classic Les diabolioques (I think they remade it with someone like Sharon Stone or something, but it was a real movie first).

    Cute.

    I'm in favor of gaslighting.

  27. #977
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    Police Story. It is still breathtaking, the imagination and capability to do the umbrella-bus scene.

    I've seen a lot of fight/action movies, including this one, but it still took my breath almost literally away for a brief few moments.

    Jackie Chan is the greatest American ever!

    Astonishing.

  28. #978
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    All right, this is going to fucking keep bothering me, on my second try through the The Seven-Ups.

    This time I'm halfway paying attention. Yeah, OK. Same universe as The French Connection, I guess.

    But Question: where in the hell are they fucking shooting this thing, you know, in relation to the real world. I get the first scene with Buddy (Roy Scheider's character) and his rat, north, on the East River. I'm guessing they're looking south to the Brooklyn Bridge.

    I can't remember it clearly. I don't know if there's a lot of continuity involved, in the shooting of this picture. It looks more like up Riverside Park, but on the wrong side, and the bridges say to me that can only be the east side, pretty far uptown.

    A lot of the following scenes, similar, up crossing over into the Bronx, and the Italian scenes, right over, probably up around Spanish Harlem-esque territory.

    That's just guesses: I think most the movie takes place between that little crook in the neck over up by there.

  29. #979
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    Here's an observation of a sort.

    Not especially pleasant, but then again I don't promise that.

    Oh. SPOILERS if you haven't seen CHARLEY VARRICK.

    Don Siegel's Charley Varrick, just when Matthau is getting rid of the corpse of his companion, Nadine.

    Never noticed this before: Nadine is, I believe either fully unconscious or dead.

    Matthau gives Nadine a full kiss on the mouth. Obviously, I observed the scene many times before, but I never before realized Nadine was a corpse at that point.

    You know, I don't know if I could do that IRL.

    Matthau plays it beautifully, the whole scene.

    Very disturbing. Yes, I've seen the movie about a hundred times, so what? Shuddup youse!
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 25 Nov 2020 at 01:07 AM.

  30. #980
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    My latest five:

    John Lewis: Good Trouble
    Inspiring documentary about the great civil rights leader and later Congressman from Georgia. A little sad in that he found himself fighting much the same battles at the end of his life that he thought had been won for good in the Sixties.

    A Fish Called Wanda
    Introduced my sons to this favorite comedy. A great heist movie with lots of laughs; Kevin Kline really earned his Oscar as the impulsive, ultraviolent and incredibly dumb Otto. Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Michael Palin are also very good.

    The Sting
    Rewatched this classic con-game movie and enjoyed it all over again. Great cast, dialogue, costumes, sets and plot.

    Enola Holmes
    A disappointing recent movie about Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes's equally brilliant, very headstrong younger sister. Just too many implausible moments stacked atop each other; my suspension of disbelief finally gave up.

    Planes, Trains & Automobiles
    I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie over the years, but never actually the whole thing from start to finish. Lots of cringeworthy, funny bits. John Candy and Steve Martin have great comic chemistry as they struggle to get home for Thanksgiving.

  31. #981
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    Just watched Almost Famous, such a great movie. Cameron Crowe has made a couple of absolutely awesome movies. This is one.

    Enola Holmes was disappointing, not bad but not good. I think you summed it up well Elendil's Heir.

    Watched My Favorite Year for probably the 20th time recently. Still loved every minute of this perfect movie. Loosely inspired by Mel Brook's time on the Show of Shows and Peter O'Toole channeling Errol Flynn. Who oddly enough Kevin Kline of A Fish Called Wanda looks a lot like and even played him in the movie Chaplin.

  32. #982
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    I have to admit I've never seen Almost Famous. It's one of those films I'd like to see but I just never quite get around to it, and when I have time to watch a movie, there are always others I'd rather see instead.

    My Favorite Year was OK but not great, as I recall. One particularly good O'Toole line stuck with me, though: "I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!"

  33. #983
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    I have to admit I've never seen Almost Famous. It's one of those films I'd like to see but I just never quite get around to it, and when I have time to watch a movie, there are always others I'd rather see instead.

    My Favorite Year was OK but not great, as I recall. One particularly good O'Toole line stuck with me, though: "I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!"
    One of the best lines. I'm a bit of a student of the older comedians from before I was born. I love the Show of Shows and the writing staff that created half of the great comedy of the next 50 years. Also the NYC thing might have helped with me. So a movie about the Show of Shows is absolutely in my wheelhouse. Part of what made The Dick Van Dyke Show was it drew upon Carl Reiner's time on the Show of Shows.




    For Almost Famous, If you like classic rock, this is an awesome soundtrack. It is heavily inspired by Cameron Crowe's experience as a teenage Rock & Roll writer. It is on Amazon Prime for free currently.

  34. #984
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    Hmm. I shall look up My Favorite Year: I like those old buzzards as well.

    I would partly endorse Almost Famous: there are, as WE? says, some very good bits on the soundtrack as heard in the movie, but...it's kind of a sonic panorama, really, rather than a focused or even particularly relevant, diegetically, set of tunes. I'd contrast it to Dazed and Confused, maybe, and it would lose.

    Plus, you have to resist the urge to punch the little kid fake journalist in the nads and face repeatedly: for the "hero" of the story, some shitty, manipulative little dweeb who looks and acts like a muppet doesn't really inspire allegiance or sympathy. IMHO.

    It's like Dazed and Confused without the good music, or even the semblance of a plot. Watch Apocalypse Now if you want to hear good rock music. I think it's a circle-jerk of a movie, but yes, I've seen it several times.

    Still, it's probably worth a watch.

    I'll leave out the truly horrible movies I've seen lately, like Jack-O and so on, and give some credit to 2015's Black Mass. An anti-historical hagiography of James "Whitey" Bulger, his senator brother, the FBI, and all that.

    Still, it's kind of a cute little mob movie

    //////////

    ETA Oh, I finally saw most of Soylent Green for the first time. Yeah, it seems hardly likely, but there are a lot of modern classics I never got around to it.

    Soylent green is indeed made of people. Oh shit, spoiler alert. Time and again I see Chuck Heston in movies and I'm impressed by that he seems a consummate professional, and from what little I know of his personal life, his loyalty to fellow artists like Orson Welles and likely many others is to be commended.

    Yeah, he did some movies which, today, seem absurd in hindsight, even overacted (??!), but he played the roles AFAIC as they were intended.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 09 Dec 2020 at 10:08 PM.

  35. #985
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    EETA, Yes, ad John Lewis, it astounds me that there are three distinct people by that name who have some degree of renown. John Lewis, the consummate bebop pianist, some guy named John Lewis who developed a legacy BIOS replacement for Chromebooks (somewhat outdated, I suppose, but still used, I guess), and it seems there's another John Lewis about whom I knew nothing.

    I'd say that's a good reason to learn more about the latter.

  36. #986
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    Oh, definitely. One of my heroes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis

  37. #987
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    Oh, and if any of you brain geniuses were thinking about watching The Boy In The Plastic Bubble.

    I'd really advise against that. Hell, Rudy Giuliani would probably advise against that, and he's a moron.

    But that's good info about an important thinker, politician, and activist, who happens to share a name with one of the most important musicians in American improvised music.

  38. #988
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    Rustlers' Rhapsody
    After so long waiting to see this, I found it disappointing and only marginally entertaining.

    Return to the 36th Chamber
    Surprising sequel to the classic, made about 1980 or so. Very much a comedy, but with some impressive and clever fight scenes. Gordon Liu stuck with it, but not as the same character.

    ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas
    Excellent documentary about ZZ Top from the perspective of the present day. With some, but not a lot, of vintage footage. Highly recommended for rock and roll partisans.

    What Did Jack Do
    A comic short film by and co-starring David Lynch. It's not exactly Sam Beckett, but it's a cute little short film.

    They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
    A look at the final segment of Orson Welles's life and career. Vintage footage of Welles, John Huston, Bogdanovich as "the kid." Not a very good "slice of life" docudrama, but, it's on TV, so, how good could it be, really, you know?

    Kill The Irishman
    I've only seen the first half of this before, a handful of years ago, but finally the whole thing. I think it's a masterpiece. Linda Cardellini doesn't get much screen time, which is too bad, but it's a beautiful little movie, and not the regular "NY/Boston Hiberno-Italian mob movie." Maybe, but it's set in Cleveland, so, you know.

    Between Two Ferns: The Movie
    Like the Youtube shorts, except longer.

    -------------------------

    Not movies, but TV:

    Norm Macdonald: Hitler's Dogs, Gossip & Trickery
    Yeah, some very fun bits.

    Queen's Gambit
    It was kind of excruciating to get through the first few episodes in this miniseries that dealt with the protagonist as a pre-teen, but I give it a solid 'A.' Yeah, I play chess, but no better than the average person on the street who's read a few books and played a few hundred RL games. It's not about chess, so that's not an issue.

    It's not a very well made miniseries, except for the acting and production design. Incoherently edited, and so forth.

    But I give it an 'A'. Plus, they gave a shout out to Botvinnik, who I think wrote one of the few fascinating autobiographies by a real player. Well, TBH, they mentioned every famous chess player, pretty much, at one time or another. Did people really pronounce it "Alekheyene"? Huh. Everybody I know just says like "Alyekeen."

    Meh, it was cute.

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    Disciples of the 36th Chamber

    Here, Gordon Liu is really supposed to be the same character as in the original. This is not a good movie. 1985, third in I guess you'd call it a trilogy. 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the original, was and is a classic, and not in the stupid chop-sockey way, but, giving some credit as a mainstream Hong Kong kung-fu movie, it has its limitations as well as its pleasures. Not a good movie, but, especially if one has seen many of the true classics, it's of some interest. And it has its moments. I wouldn't say it's for die-hard aficiandos only: it's still a coherent movie with some pretty good fights.

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    My latest five:

    From Russia with Love
    James Bond must escort a Soviet defector, a beautiful cipher clerk, to safety via the Orient Express. Connery is effortlessly cool, there's plenty of scenic Istanbul to see, and Robert Shaw is great as a remorseless SPECTRE killing machine on Bond's tail. One of my favorite 007 films.

    The Trial of the Chicago 7
    Pretty good courtroom drama, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, about the 1968 Democratic National Convention and its aftermath. A terrific cast (standouts: Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman and Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin), a nice mix of courtroom fireworks and rueful laughs, and a timely message about the importance of free speech in a time of national crisis.

    The Untouchables
    Kevin Costner and Sean Connery as a Treasury agent and an honest Chicago cop who team up to take down Al Capone. Great to look at, but a thin and farfetched plot, especially at the end.

    Die Hard
    Terrorists - or are they high-tech thieves? - seize an L.A. office tower, and one scrappy, wisecracking New York cop has to stop them from the inside. Just as much fun as ever - although, for the record, still not a Christmas movie.

    Elf
    Also a lot of fun, and definitely a Christmas movie, but I wanted to smack Will Ferrell's too-often-annoying character harder than I ever have before.

  41. #991
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    One must not watch Sharknado II. It is not licit, according to Ape Law.

    The original is, I'm sure, a minor masterpiece, although I've not seen it. But do not begin down that road.

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    My latest five:

    The Third Man
    Classic British noir, with Joseph Cotten as a hack American writer trying to learn more about the suspicious death of an old friend in ruined, bombed-out post-WWII Vienna. I love this movie: a great cast, remarkable cinematography, a good story and of course the memorable zither score.

    Silence
    Two young Jesuit missionaries try to figure out what happened to their missing mentor in 1630s Japan, when Christianity and its followers were cruelly suppressed by the government. Directed by Martin Scorsese; beautiful, well-done but very slow.

    Lost in Translation
    Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play a has-been actor and a neglected young wife who form an unexpected bond in after-hours modern Tokyo. Quietly charming.

    The Reagan Show
    Recent documentary, created entirely from contemporary news and White House archival footage, on how Ronald Reagan drew on his Hollywood background for the role of a lifetime. Some regrettable omissions, including the AIDS crisis, civil rights and exploding budget deficits, but an interesting look at his years as President.

    Chicken Run
    Pretty funny Aardman Animations film about the inmates of a prison-like British chicken farm plotting to escape and avoid being put into pies.

  43. #993
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    Hush is a very good (maybe pretty good...not sure [I kind of like this woman at work who is deaf, and I'd like to learn American Sign Language by...immersion?...so not totally objective]) thriller about a deaf woman who is antagonized at her isolated remote house.

    The Legend of Bruce Lee: a 50-episode Chinese TV series, edited, I believe into a movie form, but the TV series is kind of a fictionalized account of Lee's upbringing and immigration to the U.S. as a young adult. Pretty silly, but somewhat amusing.

    Unfriended: a thriller about some dumbass kids who are doing some stupid shit on their computers. Entirely cannot and should not be watched. Unappealing in every single way.

    The Naked Gun. I think I saw some of it on TV as a kid, but it's a pretty funny movie. It's no Airplane, but it's pretty funny.

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    Killer Klowns From Outer Space. This is a stupid movie.

    An Easy Girl No, it sucks. I don't really remember much.

    MILF An amusing French comedy about a triad of women in early middle age who go cavorting with young beach bums. One of the women is Virginie Ledoyen, who, maybe twenty years ago, was one of the hottest young sex-symbol actors in France. I completely forgot she existed. She is and was a competent actor, as well. I think the only thing I have seen her in was a kind of crappy loose adaptation of Stendhal's....I don't know what to call it....book...De l'amour.

    Almost Sunny A very worthwhile documentary about a former x-rated movie star, of Indian descent, who has become a very famous legit actor in Bollywood films.

    Blood Feast Herschell Gordon Lewis 1963 (?) movie, considered one of the first splatter/torture-porn movies. It is absolute dogshit.

    Radical Jack Nope. This one is not a good picture. I forgot who stars in it: one of those modern pop-country male singers.

    Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Not as amusing as the first time. Still, it's kind of a cute light-hearted movie with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is definitely a honey of the highest degree.

    Some documentary about Kungfu movies, can't remember the title: good reminiscences about Sammo Hung and people of that generation, and interviews with one the Shaw Brothers people.

    Love a TV original Netflix starring some guy and an actor named Gillian Jacobs, who is probably known for being one of the main people in the show Community (which BTW, I'm finding is kind of amusing as a comedy, I guess). Extremely touching, really. Highly recommended.

  45. #995
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    It's a wonderful Life. Never seen this before. Arguably still haven't, since I watched it with a comedic soundtrack from some of the MST3k guys. No comment.

    Action Jackson. Nope. This is just plain a bad movie. Despite playing the lead, Carl "Action Jackson" Weathers doesn't have much to do except randomly run around.

    Stripes. Sure, it still has its moments.

    Lightning Jack. Stupid Paul Hogan vehicle. It's like a child's movie, really, but even more bland.

    Lucky Luciano (1973). Not good. Italian docudrama about LL. It did feature Gian Maria Volonté, you probably know from spaghetti westerns, Rod Steiger, and Eddie O'Brian, but it's a turgid, difficult to follow movie.

    The Creep Behind The Camera. An absolutely disgusting documentary of a horrible pig of a director who's one claim to fame, besides being an absolute asshole, is having directed one of the worst movies ever made, The Creeping Terror. Very unpleasant to watch.

    The Choppers. Well, it has Arch Hall, Jr. in it, so...it really shouldn't be watched. Oh, and Archie Jr. "treats" everyone to a musical number. I think his father directed it or something. No. Don't watch this.

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    Oh, and Made in Cleveland. Meh, kind of cute series of vignettes. No, Gillian Jacobs didn't get a lot of screen time but I avoided putting my fist through the screen in an uncontrolled rage.

  47. #997
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    I hope you'll watch It's a Wonderful Life without the comedic soundtrack someday. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies.

    I was underwhelmed by Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I have to admit. Did nothing for me. I agree with you about Winstead, though - she was great in the Fargo TV series a few years ago, too.

    My latest five:

    The Inventor
    Not bad, not great 2019 documentary about the Theranos big-bucks, fortune-losing, reputation-destroying corporate scandal. A fascinating story, just not all that fascinatingly told. Could've been much better.

    Groundhog Day
    Rewatched this favorite comedy, as I do every couple of years on the day itself. Funny premise, great cast (with Bill Murray at quite possibly his career best) and a gazillion quotable lines.

    The Queen
    Boring title but a great movie, with Elizabeth II dealing - badly, at first - with the aftermath of the tragic death of Princess Diana. Helen Mirren doesn't look much like Her Majesty but is very good in the role. One of the finest movies about the British monarchy ever made, I'd say, with remarkable Scottish countryside scenes.

    The Grand Budapest Hotel
    One of my favorite movies of the new century, a Ruritanian comedy about the fussy, imperious concierge (Ralph Fiennes, who deserved and should have been given every acting award available for the role) of an elegant Thirties hotel and his friendship and comradeship, there and later while on the run, with his loyal lobby boy.

    Blood Simple
    Hadn't seen the Coen Brothers' first movie in many years, but having just read Barry Sonnenfeld's autobiography (he was their cinematographer for it), I wanted to take another look. Meh. Some memorable images, but it was underwhelming as a bit of latter-day noir.
    Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 04 Mar 2021 at 04:29 PM.

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    My latest five:

    Catwalk
    A Canadian documentary about the national competitive cat-show circuit. A light-hearted look at a very furry subculture, filled with people who (mostly) seem to get how silly it all is.

    Aggie
    An affectionate documentary by her daughter about Agnes Gund, the great Ohio-born art collector and NYC philanthropist, and her shift, late in life, to very generously supporting criminal justice reform. Well worth a look.

    Tenet
    Christopher Nolan's latest mind-bending sf thriller, about reversing the flow of time and trying to stop WWIII. I watched it with closed captioning, because I'd read (correctly) in the movie's SDMB thread that a lot of the dialogue was hard to hear. Not as good as Inception or Interstellar, I'd say, but I liked it.

    My Octopus Teacher
    Documentary about a South African snorkler and wildlife photographer who, over the course of a year, strikes up a curious friendship with a small octopus in an offshore kelp forest. Beautiful undersea footage and a touching story.

    Liar Liar
    One of my favorite lawyer comedies, with Jim Carrey just about as funny as he's ever been, playing a lawyer bound by his son's birthday wish to tell nothing but the truth for an entire day.

  49. #999
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    Titanic (1997). Nope. Never seen it before, never will again. Nope. Kind of a disgusting movie: it's like the *Blood Feast* of maritime disaster movies. Utter garbage.

    Coach (mitigated, somewhat, by a fresh plot and good charismatic actors).
    Scent of a Woman (Meh, not that great when revisited. Hoo-rah!)
    Carlito's Way (see above)
    The House on Sorority Row (Cheap rip-off of Black Christmas. Not worth a watch: a bit of T&A, but very marginally exposed, and there are no characters fully fleshed out, to risk abusing a phrase)
    Journey: Absolution (No. absolutely not.)
    Starship Invasions. Nope.
    The Last Shark. No.
    Vicious Lips. No, but a solid "meh."
    Highlander II: The Quickening (Actually the director's cut is watchable. It's a Highlander movie, so how good can it be? Meh, whatevs).
    Zardoz (WTF? I've seen the above movies, but this one eludes me. Can't really make it more than a few minutes in. There's probably a drug that can fix that, but I wouldn't know).
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) (Eh.....it has its moments, I guess).

  50. #1000
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    Avengers: Endgame.

    I have very seldom known less what is going on in a movie. No, I had no idea what was happening at any point in the movie. I suppose one must have watched some of the recent sequels, I guess, but I'm not going to do that.

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