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Saw "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Good Stuff

 

Saw the next night a horror and cannot even remember the title. This one anyway was about a psycho paperboy who murders people.  What impresses me in these movies is how the female lead keeps staying in the house with murders, break ins, etc. I would have been long gone, myself

Did you see Hollywood version or original Swedish one? I saw both and there is quite a big difference between them - I liked Swedish much more

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1346544153/" rel="nofollow - http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1346544153/

 

Psycho is an absolute classic. I like how Hitchcock shot it when she first takes off with the money. It would not be the same in colour. Raging Bull is another. Black and White films are not appreciated by the youngies today. We had to watch them because everything was black and white on television when I was a kid. Still don't know how I watched sport in black and white. That is one thing that colour improved.

Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard: one of the classics of the French New Wave. The acting is great, it's not very experimental as later Godard films, so I think anyone with a tiny interest in Cinema can enjoy this. Simple plot with great scenes and dialogues. 

That Obscure Object of Desire by Luis Buñuel: I was surprised by how down-to-earth it was, I thought it would be a surreal fest like the movies he did not long before this. It was good, interesting (and innovating) that there are two actresses for one role. Pretty minimalistic in characters and plot, very few social/political/religious criticism.

Yep, Buñuel, Allen and Godard are favourites of mine. I should go on and watch stuff I haven't seen at all haha, like Hitchock, Truffaut, etc. Oh dear.

Did the plane go upside down?!?! 

I was in an airport lobby in Atlanta once and they were showing a movie at the bar that had a plane crashing through the airport and I thought what a weird movie to show people who are about to get on a plane. the bartender agreed with me, but i can't remember if he changed the channel or not.

The Mission.

Simplicity + Essence = Brilliance.

This one is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant in every way. Many ideas in this film are delivered visually and verbally in a very simple, yet thought-out fashion. Now, I don't really know how accurate are the details about the customs of the natives, their appearances, and such in the film, so I don't find myself eligible to discuss this particular part. The rest of the film is just something one cannot pin down. The script is downright-solid, no bulls$%t. I just wish I could quote oh-so-many lines. And it's like as if a couple of characters could read my mind on the issue of cultural conversion. Morricone was definitely the man for the soundtrack job. Of course, De Niro and Irons were the ... (ahem ... I'm not gonna use the word "stars"; I'm gonna go with "excellent lead actors") ... excellent lead actors who really put their effort into the parts they were doing. The camera work was adequate (the sole Oscar-winner for the film, though). The landscapes were simply gorgeous. The battle scene was done with utter sense of humanity, but it's not the only exclamation mark in the whole movie.

Overall, top-notch.  This guy Roland Joffé surely knew how to shoot a good one.

Unbreakable.

A very puzzling affair that might have been intended by the scriptwriter/producer/director of the work M. Night Shyamalan as an attempt to make a very realistic sci-fi-based drama, but, of course, I may be wrong about his intentions. There seem to be somewhat convoluted ideas diluted in what at first thought may seem like filler, whereas those "filler" scenes simply function as links between the more important ones. Also, it appears that the mastermind behind the film wanted to bring out certain issues such as family problems, the presence and the functioning of the mentally ill in our society, and such. But to what end? And if I'm wrong, then, in the end, I have no idea what all this "superhero in the real world" stuff means.

Did I like the movie overall? I thought it was OK, though I want to believe that its quality is beyond my enjoyment.

great concept, could have been a great movie, somehow it gets lost on the way...

another Jim Jarmusch (the director of "Coffee And Cigarettes" among many others) nice small movie - this time about bus driver in small American town Paterson (filmed in real Paterson,NJ). Paterson is not only the name of town but driver's name as well. Meditative story about small place where happens nothing or lot of small things depending on point of view.  And yes - bus driver writes a poetry...

Biggest impression - how modern rural Texas is similar to Texas from half of century ago. By some new trucks and LCD TV sets one can understand that everything happens in XXI century, but small towns, people houses, clothes, way of thinking - all didn't changed at all for decades. Some nice humor scenes too.

 

quite interesting movie about rural America (seriously doubt if someone in the world is still interested in LA/"American dream"/"big city lights" kind of production) with roots,Joan Baez/country music, humor and far not so simply questions/ansvers as it looks from the surface

great music, very intimate story, lot of humor and heart - it works

 

A Quiet Place

Quentin Tarantino new movies don't come too often so every new one is an event (or not). "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" is a long (two and half hour) and it's better then many of his works from last few decades. Dedicated to life around Hollywood in 1969 (at least like it sees Tarantino) contains a lot of great music from that time, but most important - it is quite detailed view on California ca.1969

"The Joker" for me has always been Jack Nicholson in a movie from few decades ago, the times were different all around and what is more important I was much younger. It looked I can't imagine just who could be the another "Joker", better than that.

Yesterday I watched the newest one, didn't expect a lot. I was wrong. New "Joker" is a dark multilayered story rising plenty of questions and offering no answers.

The psycho working as street clown is beaten on the street by black teenagers, and later - by white middle class young guys. He lives with his old and ill mother and he loses the job. He got a gun from his job colleague and he uses it killing three attackers. He finds out by chance from his mother that he's a (secret) son of powerful politician trying to become a city mayor and then he realizes that it's just a her crazy fantasy. As well he finds out that his beloved mother was judged because of torturing him and he isn't really a her son, he's adapted. Than he kills the mother...

There are no POSITIVE characters in a movie, poor people are jealous liars,destroying everything around and enjoying killing others. Rich guys are arrogant,heartless liars too.

Street riots destroyed the city and the Joker finishes in psychiatric clinic. No future at all ...

New experience - watching the movie in cinema at New Year's night. The choice of the film was quite successful - French movie about modern time and even more - their golden age - "La Belle Epoque".

Seasoned spouses are not happy living together. She is a psychologist with private practice and he -  caricaturist, fired from the newspaper which closes physical edition for internet one.

She drives Tesla and enjoys modern technologies and he's all in his younger years, the 70s. Then, he got the chance to participate in reality happening which brings participants to the time they can chose. He asks for 1974 and big part of the movie shows us how great/strange/different the 70s were.

Lot of 70s France atmosphere around - a bit too theatrical, but who cares... Fanny Ardant still looks great after all these decades

Recently I watched "UnderWater"

Wow, Thanks 

But, 

How can I do that, boss? 

I have tried many ways but I can't. Can you show me the trick?  

http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18547&title=how-to-embed-videos-in-a-post-on-jma" rel="nofollow - http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18547&title=how-to-embed-videos-in-a-post-on-jma

I just watched this stuff called  https://dosmovies.com/film/Unhinged_2020#" rel="nofollow - Unhinged

A good thriller about road rage gone wrong with Russell Crowe.

trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EtytOgGj5o

true, renown after last Awards ceremony "Nomadland"

American road movie of sort, by Chinese director Chloe Zhao.  Mix of rural America's saga, Zen meditative storytelling and anti-Holliwood appeal. Surprised it won 3 Oscars 

Quite typical North European movie with slow dynamics, some near-boring dialogs and longer-than-it-should-be in a first half, then it develops to quite involving one. In a rich and socially responsible North European society, probably most socially responsible and supportive in the world, people for decades don't care much about having a job or paying bills for heating. These kind of problems are generally solved long ago, but the growing problem is people lost the interest to live and just exist in quite comfortable and boring life. 

Four school teachers/friends in their mid forties are bored by routine, their own small everyday problems and generally - in living their lives. Alcohol looks like a right stimulator, which helps in short perspective , but destroys their lives finally at the end of the day.  

It is a movie with lot of drinking, some vomiting and super-hit level main musical theme

 

One can hear Blondie "One Way Or Another", Ohio Players "Fire", Stones "Sympathy For The Devil", The Doors "Five To One" among many others...

 

Has anyone seen/recall the one where the family in Mongolia or wherever saves enough money for the young boy to go on journey to city to buy a television? 

The movie was newest Wim Wenders work -"Perfect Days". Unorthodox European master's story, filmed in Japan, about simple life of Tokyo toilet cleaner. Slow, meditative, minimalist - very Japanese movie. The guy drives old Daihatsu (and bicycle), do his job very responsibly, listen old rock from 60s on car's cassette player and reeds books after working day. He use old film-camera making big three's in one of Tokyo's park pictures for years, collecting the history of three's growth. The three is his best friend. The guy is living very simple life, and he is happy - in his own way. He uses same public laundry and, has dinner at the same place and visit same small bar. Asked by two regular drinkers, the bartender sings beautiful Japanese version of "The House Of The Rising Sun". And she says with sadness - "Why everything must change?"

There are more events and more actions in the second movie's half, but the main atmosphere is still same. It's a movie about life, which doesn't exist anymore, about changes and about simple human being life. In a style of a great movies from 60s or 70s, modern work which stay with you for a long time ahead. Lot of good songs too.

I ended up going to the theaters yesterday because my ride told me he'd be quite late picking me up.  We both agreed it would be more convenient for the both of us if I went and saw a movie, so I ended up seeing The Beekeeper.  It's a John Wick knockoff, but it's a fun John Wick knockoff at the very least.  It just didn't live up to its fullest potential.

And two of my regular customers ended up going there ten minutes after I got there, and neither of us knew we were gonna see it.  They even picked the seats next to me at random!  Free-kee.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17024450/" rel="nofollow - The Equalizer 3 (2023)

The Law of Diminishing Returns (but maybe not at the box office?)

Easily the weakest of what is yet but a trilogy although there are murmurs of a planned prequel which explores Robert McCall's past in the US Marines and DIA. That might be interesting but I fear they'll soon need a stunt double for the action scenes as even uber cool Denzel Washington cannot be entirely immune to the ravages of time. Scriptwriter Richard Wenk appears to have abandoned the episodic structure of the 1st two incarnations and instead gone for one long arcing narrative throughout. This may have been designed to allow more nuance and depth to the characters but to be honest, there is very little here apart from Antoine Fuqua's by now very finely homed craft of visceral pay back for bad people to be enjoyed by we ferociously good people. The setting in Italy is quaintly idyllic but the locals are strictly demarcated into those who would tend your garden while you are on vacation and those who would bury you in those same gardens if you don't pay your protection money to the local Camorra mobsters. You can probably guess where this is going. Yes, it's still good fun and certainly entertaining but you feel there's an attempt to draw a line under any anticipated sequel by implying RM just might hang up his gun, knuckleduster and icy stare to retire in this secluded little village on the Amalfi Coast.

Occasionally ridiculous in the dream/hypnotherapy sequences and borderline slapstick bio-pic in others, 'When Nietzsche Wept' somehow remained compelling enough to have me sit right through to the end despite an unconvincing father of psychoanalysis (Jamie Elman as Freud) still having to show ID for the age of consent  and Katheryn Winnick as cigar chomping proto ladette femme fatale Lou Salome.

There is very little exploration of Nietzsche's philosophical ideas here but instead his incredibly prescient innovation in the realm of psychology as seen through the prism of the incipient discipline of psychoanalysis in Vienna circa 1882. Ben Cross is brilliant as the likeable albeit conveniently repressed and commensurately flawed Dr Breuer, adrift in a loveless marriage, a materially successful career but bereft of passion, danger or excitement in his unfailingly dutiful life. Things start to resemble the relationship between poets Verlaine and Rimbaud at this point (see Agnieszka Holland's 'Total Eclipse' from 1995) with Nietzsche advising Breuer to throw off the shackles of his unthinking conformity and embrace his freedom. Nietzsche certainly never did this, having died a virgin (despite being portrayed in a whorehouse) and was an invalid for most of his adult life on a pension paid for by academia. Whether Breuer actually makes this existential plunge is open to debate as the Director would have us believe this whole extended sequence was under Freudian hypnosis. Armand Assante was assigned one of the most thankless casting gigs of all time by being asked to portray the most innovative and radical thinker humankind has produced in over a thousand years. My gut feeling, on a personal level is that when Friedrich Nietzsche entered a room, that room got larger i.e. Assante exudes a cynical but palpable personality consistent with what he sees as his remit but I suspect Nietzsche was silent, inscrutable and withdrawn which is clearly anathema to cinematic portrayals. The movie is based on Irvin D. Yalom's 1992 novel which I haven't read but is purportedly concerned with the idea of limerence which as an idea is about as robust as 'gender' in 2023.

Many 'British' gangster movies come across as cripplingly self conscious and 'GOBT' is no exception. Why this perceived inadequacy should be the case is unclear, given a likeable cast, strong story line, convincing but never gratuitous violence and a decent script. I didn't think Neil Fitzmaurice would provide sufficient gravitas to his role as 'Mark' but he is convincing throughout as a man who becomes a gangster by accident rather than the rest of his dim-witted crew who epitomize opportunistic wannabes. That said, the message that ex cons cannot get jobs when released so are forced to revert back to crime is facile and just seems another lazy shuffle of the victim's own marked card. There are some very adept twists which keep the action moving forward but given the Scouse talent for coruscating sarcasm and that Fitzmaurice is a distinguished comic writer, some of the humour is rather lame and a big disappointment. Bernard Hill is excellent as wily jailbird Murray but Dominic Carter less so as the cretinous Ozzie, a Looney Tunes version of practically anyone below 'Thug #4 in bar', from 'Rise of the Footsoldier' or 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels'. His burgeoning death-wish as evidenced by his mob slaying towards the end just doesn't convince on any appreciable level whatsoever. Bonus points for the film are earned by somehow casting Peter Kay as the Flipper character and you don't want to punch him into paralysis during his few seconds on screen.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11564570/" rel="nofollow">

It starts rather unpromisingly as if we are heading into a US Cluedo franchise somehow deserving of a voice-over by Foghorn Leghorn and starring the cast of Friends to make things more palatable for Hollywood audiences. Daniel Craig is likable enough as southern fried Inspector Benoit Blanc but why not dispense with his Norleans affectations and just be Detective Ben White? I mean, lordy lordy, comedy just may not be his thang' y'all? The talents of Kate Hudson and Kathryn Hahn are completely wasted on merely repeating 'Oh My God' over and over again throughout as if this might at some point provide a comedic denouement. Yep, the laughs are very few and far between hereabouts with Edward Norton (Fight Club) about as convincing as a scamming idiot savant billionaire as Ted Bundy was a feminist. That said, Director and writer Rian Johnson reverses out of this casting cul de sac with a very ingenious and entertaining sequence of flashbacks and POV shift revelations that add depth and nuance to what is, at heart, an Agatha Christie whodunnit? With contemporary influencers and technology gurus as the butt end of many of the gags. I haven't seen the earlier film from 2019 so can't say if this might be the law of diminishing returns setting in or not. The palpable chemistry between Craig and Janelle Monae is judiciously exploited to mask many of the film's worst faults of which the music is exempt (if you like the Beatles) Serena Williams has one of the funniest scenes playing herself from a fitness video. That's correct I am starting to run out of positives...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/" rel="nofollow">