Printed From: JazzMusicArchives.com
Category: Topics not related to music
Forum Name: General discussions
Forum Description: Discuss any topic at all that is not music-related
URL: http://www.JazzMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=193 Printed Date: 31 Aug 2024 at 11:44pm Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 10.16 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Recently Watched FilmsPosted By: The Block
Subject: Recently Watched Films
Date Posted: 09 Apr 2011 at 2:16pm
We have one over at MMA and I figured it would be cool to have one here too. Also I watched a very jazzy movie last night so...
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 09 Apr 2011 at 3:04pm
i know there is a ton of stuff on youtube, and Ive enjoyed watching some Miles Davis interviews there. I might check out Bird, as Ive been trying to move backwards with my jazz listening (I dont have much from before 1950, aside from a Charlie Parker/Miles Davis album)
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm
Posted By: Ovalotus
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2011 at 2:21pm
Recently I saw Friday, which was good, and before that I saw Life Is Beautiful, which was very good.
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2011 at 3:24pm
I saw this the other day:
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2011 at 5:38pm
I just watched "Dinner For Schmucks"
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm
Posted By: Jazz Pianist
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2011 at 6:54pm
OOOOOOOOOOOOOH boy, this was a strange one...
Following on from my Darren Aronofsky phase, The Fountain. Fantastic film actually, I'd recommend it.
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2011 at 7:07pm
Just watched:
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2011 at 7:37pm
I saw that long ago, great movie.
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2011 at 10:22pm
Semi-recently saw The Return by Andrei Zvyagintsev and was gutted at the end. Still a beautiful film, however. Wouldn't call it a Thriller, though it is psychological, but there is probably just as much of the feel of a family Drama too, if a bleak one.
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews...
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 07 Aug 2011 at 8:01am
The Adjustment Bureau -7/10
------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2011 at 7:06am
The Block wrote:
We have one over at MMA and I figured it would be cool to have one here too. Also I watched a very jazzy movie last night so...
from Bertrans Tavernier >>>real jazzmen in that one (Hancock, McL, etc...°
------------- my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: 12 Aug 2011 at 5:32pm
I caught "The Tourist" the other night and it was okay as a light diversion flick. However, Angelina looks like a million bucks in every scene. She's always a knockout but whoever dressed her for this one knew what they were doing. Yowza!
------------- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord...
Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2011 at 5:42pm
Saw Super 8 last night. Must have have been good because I was still awake at the end. Best train crash scene hands down.
------------- Matt
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2011 at 1:04pm
Re-watched Social Network again last night not so much for the plot but for the excellent soundtrack by Trent Reznor. Clever dialogue in that flick is intriguing, as well.
------------- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord...
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2011 at 4:25pm
Gran Torino, enjoyed it
------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2011 at 10:05pm
Just watched:
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 2:15am
Didn't like 'Drive'(Ryan Gosling)
------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 6:19am
Just re-watched Pyscho & Dial M for Murder back to back. Anthony Perkins does do a good job indeed
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews...
Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 5:17pm
"Psycho" what a classic. I love me mum too
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
------------- Matt
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 5:34pm
Matt wrote:
"
Saw "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Good Stuff
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
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 5:43pm
The last movie I watched on big screen (last week) was "Two Days In New York" - Woody Allen-influenced European film about NYC (or how Europeans see it)
Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 8:06pm
snobb wrote:
Matt wrote:
"
Saw "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Good Stuff
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
I got the Hollywood one Slava. I have heard the Swedish is better. Aren't most of the European originals anyway. Hollywood make great movies but they can get a bit generic at times. Still it was good but I would like to see the original.
------------- Matt
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 10:23pm
Matt wrote:
"Psycho" what a classic. I love me mum too
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
I remember that paperboy film I think - it was terrible, right?
Yes, Psycho just has so much in the way of trailblazing too - and not just for showing the toilet flushing - which I think was just as difficult for Hitch to get past the censors as anything else in the film
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews...
Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 6:05pm
dreadpirateroberts wrote:
Matt wrote:
"Psycho" what a classic. I love me mum too
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
I remember that paperboy film I think - it was terrible, right?
Yes, Psycho just has so much in the way of trailblazing too - and not just for showing the toilet flushing - which I think was just as difficult for Hitch to get past the censors as anything else in the film
Shocking to say the least. The best part of the film was when it said "The End". That is the one where the daughter moves into the house after her alcoholic father is found dead at the bottom of the basement steps.
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.
------------- Matt
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2012 at 11:22am
didn't like
anyway, great performance of Natalie Portman
------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2012 at 4:03am
Last weekend watched on big screen Woody Allen's new movie "To Rome With Love". Classic Allen, already usual for him European destination (not Paris but Rome this time), lot of his usual tricks, but film is not boring at all. I like Allen's films even if he started to repeat himself too often
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/06/woody-allen-to-rome-with-love.html#ixzz26FEI0Ml7" rel="nofollow - http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/06/woody-allen-to-rome-with-love.html#ixzz26FEI0Ml7
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2012 at 11:50am
Last films I've watched:
Bananas by Woody Allen: early Allen is pretty fun, more bizarre, very 70's-ish with the music and topics. Recommended.
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.
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2012 at 2:54pm
Also, just watched:
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.
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 7:33pm
I recently saw the film "Flight", it was alright, I like Denzel Washington. Has anyone else seen it?
-------------
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 7:39pm
No, I don't go to many movies these days.
Did the plane go upside down?!?!
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 7:53pm
Yeah, it did. It was pretty neat.
-------------
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:00pm
That would about do it for me and flying, that's quite an image.
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.
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:09pm
That's bizarre, I'm not a huge fan of flying anyway. So seeing that kind of thing would probably send me home.
-------------
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2012 at 1:50am
The last movie I watched was " 7 Psychopaths" (a few weeks ago). Mix of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, one of seven psycho is Tom Waits ( a guy with white rabbit)
Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2013 at 10:24pm
I saw The Hobbit a couple weeks ago. To be honest I was pretty disappointed.
On another note, I saw the Tarantino movie "Django Unchained", and was surprised at how much I liked it. It's certainly not for everybody, though. Lots of blood.
------------- "Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic."
-Jean Sibelius
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2013 at 10:56pm
Amilisom wrote:
I saw The Hobbit a couple weeks ago. To be honest I was pretty disappointed.
On another note, I saw the Tarantino movie "Django Unchained", and was surprised at how much I liked it. It's certainly not for everybody, though. Lots of blood.
That sounds like Tarantino, huh? I'm interested in seeing Django Unchained, absolutely.
I think the Hobbit might be a bit disappointing for me, personally - for one, as I don't think it needs to be a trilogy. But I'll go see it and have a look, what was it specifically that you didn't enjoy, Amilisom? The acting? CGI? Did they change too much?
Curious, as I reckon I'll go see it soon
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews...
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2013 at 2:08am
The two below are from PA:
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.
------------- “… Miles often looked back but he always moved forwards. … Because the only thing you've got is your creative basis, your memory.” – Ian Carr (Miles Davis’ biographer).
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2013 at 2:08am
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.
------------- “… Miles often looked back but he always moved forwards. … Because the only thing you've got is your creative basis, your memory.” – Ian Carr (Miles Davis’ biographer).
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2013 at 2:15am
idlero wrote:
didn't like
anyway, great performance of Natalie Portman
I just hated it ... but yes, Natty did a very good job.
------------- “… Miles often looked back but he always moved forwards. … Because the only thing you've got is your creative basis, your memory.” – Ian Carr (Miles Davis’ biographer).
Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2013 at 3:39am
dreadpirateroberts wrote:
Amilisom wrote:
I saw The Hobbit a couple weeks ago. To be honest I was pretty disappointed.
On another note, I saw the Tarantino movie "Django Unchained", and was surprised at how much I liked it. It's certainly not for everybody, though. Lots of blood.
That sounds like Tarantino, huh? I'm interested in seeing Django Unchained, absolutely. I think the Hobbit might be a bit disappointing for me, personally - for one, as I don't think it needs to be a trilogy. But I'll go see it and have a look, what was it specifically that you didn't enjoy, Amilisom? The acting? CGI? Did they change too much? Curious, as I reckon I'll go see it soon
First of all, they attempted to combine the original light-hearted tone of the Hobbit book with the darker tone of the Lord of the Rings. The result was silly and strange at times, and led to too much unnecessary corny violence (almost slapstick humor, in a way) that wasn't in the book. Also added was a man-to-man conflict between Thorin Oakenshield and some random Ork leader who looks like the character Killface from the show Frisky Dingo. Now, I would be fine with this Ork leader if he were a cool bad guy that actually had substance to him. In this case, he's terribly one-dimensional.
For the sake of making three films, they incorporated extra elements of a side-plot that somebody told me came from Tolkien's unpublished works. I personally felt like it took away from the original simplicity of the original Hobbit story.
Then there's the music. From what I remembered hearing, the music seemed to be just recycled material from the Lord of the Rings. Theme variation is fine by me, but there were specific moments that in my opinion almost ruined the original soundtrack by applying them to less-epic scenes.
But this is just me being a picky critic, and as my signature says at the bottom of every post...
------------- "Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic."
-Jean Sibelius
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2013 at 4:44pm
Watched "Django Unchained" earlier today - great Tarantino work, really better than Kill Bill for example
Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2013 at 3:33pm
Did anyone see the French silent film "The Artist" that came out last year? The movie takes place in California from 1927-1933ish and the soundtrack is really good. Very American sounding, in fact.
------------- "Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic."
-Jean Sibelius
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2013 at 2:53pm
great concept, could have been a great movie, somehow it gets lost on the way...
------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 3:29pm
Watched "Trance" last week - neo-noir thriller, not great but better than you can expect
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 12 Apr 2015 at 12:23pm
Watched Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu "Birdman" earlier today - in small art-cinema with just 70+ seats,no pop-corn and pleasant luxury to take cup of coffee(china,no plastic) with you from inside cafe right to the film. Excellent story about Broadway (and partially Hollywood) backstage with some colorful New York atmosphere. Michael Keaton (who I generally don't like from Batman times) was great, but biggest surprise was a great music - all movie is full of perfectly recorded in 5.1 format Mexican drummer Antonio Sanchez (member of Pat Metheny Group) solos, lyrical,cinematic and very right in place. Sanchez plays himself (or better to say just plays drums when filmed) more than once in different film moments and he/his music is important part of that special Broadway/New Your atmosphere. On return home just find out that movie soundtrack was released last year by Milan Records
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2016 at 1:22am
Miles Ahead
Gorgeous, refreshingly honest tapestry of the grandmaster at his best and worst, lovingly led and directed by Don Cheadle in one of the finest impersonations I've ever seen. Full of the best of Davis' music and frantically paced, Miles Ahead is a deep long drink from a bottle of the hard stuff and will appeal to both jazz lovers and non fans.
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2016 at 11:28pm
Doctor Strange
Benedict Cumberbatch does his best American accent as Stephen Strange, brilliant surgeon who is taught the astrodimensional arts by an ancient mystic after suffering a career-ending accident. Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast as the mysterious Ancient One and Mads Mikkelsen never better as evil Kaecilius. Filled with spectacular Escher-like visuals and a powerful score, Doctor Strange may be forgiven its fairly simple plot and is among a handful of films I would recommend seeing in 3D (if not IMAX). Easily the best fantasy-adventure of the year, maybe the best thing from Marvel Studios so far.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2017 at 1:20am
Watched yesterday night -
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...
"Patterson" received some European nominations and prizes, not sure about American critics/films lovers
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 25 Mar 2017 at 11:29am
American neo-western "Hell Or High Water" as part of annual Vilnius Film Festival program. Two brothers robber banks in small town in nowadays rural Texas. Two Texas rangers (one of them - Jeff Bridges) try to catch them. Classic story, classic movie - fortunately without even trying to look like 60s-70s remake. Great music- country and other Americana, great sound. The movie is really better than it looks on paper.
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.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2017 at 1:52pm
"Free Fire" - C-list movie with Scorsese as executive producer, bold and fun, Tarantino-influenced but far not same class. Nice 70s fashion, great sound, some nice music, from Creedence to free jazz sax improvs
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2018 at 10:34am
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
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2019 at 2:46pm
it looks already everything has been said about racial discrimination in US in last century but "Green Book" is a movie that does it its own way
great music, very intimate story, lot of humor and heart - it works
Posted By: pollcockins
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2019 at 6:47am
I like horror movies, now re-watching this
A Quiet Place
STORYLINE: A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound. https://www2.two-movies.name/watch_movie/A_Quiet_Place" rel="nofollow - source
Totally enjoyed this one and I pray they make a sequel! Very emotional!
Also Halloween (2018) is worth watching if you love horrors.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2019 at 3:15pm
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
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 20 Oct 2019 at 4:12am
"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 ...
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2020 at 7:32am
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
Posted By: madisondaviiss
Date Posted: 12 Apr 2020 at 8:55am
I love to watch horror movies
Recently I watched "UnderWater"
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 12 Apr 2020 at 8:58am
^ I fixed your link.
Posted By: madisondaviiss
Date Posted: 12 Apr 2020 at 9:57am
Wow, Thanks
But,
How can I do that, boss?
I have tried many ways but I can't. Can you show me the trick?
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 15 Apr 2021 at 9:50am
all cinemas were closed here because of COVID for more than half-a -year, it looks will be open again from next week so expecting more impressions soon
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 08 May 2021 at 12:51pm
the cinemas are open again, so - first movie watched on big screen from last November...
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
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 May 2021 at 2:28pm
After watching Chinese-American neo-road movie "Nomadland" yesterday, today was the day for something opposite - Anglo-French movie The Father, with Anthony Hopkins as old father having dementia and living in his daughter's flat. The daughter taking care of him, but he leaves between few different worlds, hurting her all the time even without understanding what happens around. Hopkins is amazing in this drama, probably more fearsome than many horror movies
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 16 May 2021 at 1:12pm
hungry for big screen movies after more than half-year gap because of lock-down restrictions, my this week-end movie was Danish-Swedish-Dutch "Druk", one of this movies dedicated to "normal" people becoming alcoholics.
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
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 29 May 2021 at 3:35pm
not really a fan of Disney movies, their newest "Cruella" attracted me by ....it's atmosphere. Based on same "101 Dalmatians" story (I never liked previous version with Glenn Close), "Cruella" is the movie far not for teenagers. Extremely stylish, with 70s-80s hyperbolized poetic London's fashion and music, perfect Emma Stone and Emma Thompson and LOT of music from that time. To be precise, it doesn't represent exact decade, but extracts some most attractive ingredients from 60s,70s and 80s, and mixes them in one eclectic but catchy mix. Excellent sound too.
One can hear Blondie "One Way Or Another", Ohio Players "Fire", Stones "Sympathy For The Devil", The Doors "Five To One" among many others...
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 07 Aug 2021 at 1:25pm
after summer break, my beloved art movies cinema with small hall and 70s-style cafe started new season with Italian movie "Gli Anni Piu Belli"(Our best years) - the romantic and very Italian story about three friends and a beautiful girl, which in time will become a girlfriend of two of them. The story begins in early 90s, when the boys are still teenagers, and finishes when they are in their 50s. Lot of Italian scenery, Rome & Naples, and Italian music, mostly easy recognizable ital-pop from late 80s. Not a masterpiece for sure, but nice 2 hours of very moody Italian pictures, emotions and sounds.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2021 at 1:03pm
With each new James Bond movie you know what expect - "No Time To Die" you get exactly what you expect. Watched on big screen, than lot of great cars, few interesting women and - the scene in Norway where Bond in Toyota Landcruiser escaping from flock of new Range Rovers is really impressive
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2021 at 1:17pm
in contrast to Bond, next day watched new Pedro Almodovar movie "Madres Paralelas", a story about two women who give birth a same day. Almodovar regulars Penelope Cruz and Rossy De Palma can't save the movie from being too long and a bit boring. Missed usual Almodovar unorthodox humor and a bit disappointed with obvious commercial influence (lesbian love without relation to main movie's line, all Spanish drive Suzuki (!), etc). Even new Bond is better
Posted By: birdtranescoe
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 4:45pm
I've fairly given up movies. I'm very impressionable and do things like take up accordion playing and forro after seeing Bye Bye Brazil. I enjoy independent film/makers. I'll have to read through the thread here to see the recommendations -
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?
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 5:11pm
^ I'm not familiar with that one, but it does sound interesting.
Posted By: birdtranescoe
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 10:12pm
I just went through a list of 670 IFC film titles and couldn't find it. So I'll tell you what happens - the boy brings home the big screen tv on the yak and they all spend all their time transfixed by "professional wrestling." l I used to watch Peter Greenaway films often..
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2021 at 7:25am
^ Ha ha, that does sound good.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2021 at 1:45pm
I try to watch every new Japanese movie when possible, unfortunately, there are not many around. "Drive My Car" is based on Haruki Murakami book and is a typical "slow life" Far East tradition movie lasting 3 hours. Nice music, interesting views and as always knotted Marukami story, when one intrigue open the other with no end.
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2022 at 3:28am
Swedish "Triangle of Sadness" is one of the best movies I watched this year so far. Social satyre on Post-industrial society, tasteful and groteske at the same time. American drunker yacht captain - socialist and Russian post-Soviet capitalist dialogues are really funny, more important - them arenot really much different between each other though. Modern values as equality, people rights, tolerance, women rights all are beautiful on the surface and disappears in a minute when serious problems are coming. Not a new concept at all, the modern touch is in details - Russian tycoon calls the black guy "pirate" just because he's black, black guy attacks him as "racist" even more aggressively. Philippine crew staff female member is silent and behaves as a slave when at work, but taking the situation under her control, she becomes a shameless dictator. Two-and-half hours long, the movie doesn't look as such long, has lot of layers and works as fresh air wave, leaving lot of things to think about in one's head
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 11:41am
waited for the first possibility for watching the "Babylon" - and I wasn't disappointed. After Chazelle's "LA-LA Land" I was wonder what his next step is. "Babylon" is first of all BIG movie, and not only because it lasts longer than 3 hrs. It shows the early Hollywood rise and down, with quite radical pros and cons, perfect main artists and (as usual for Chazelle's movies) great music (and sound). Just don't expect authentic scenes or jazz - it's more philosophic take on epocha, than documentary
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2024 at 3:14am
I was lucky enough to spend two hours of the last day of the year 2023 watching the movie in small cinema close to downtown. The theater (possibly oldest still operating cinema in town) didn't change a lot from my young days - tiny café, around six small tables, offering coffee and tea from old coffee machine, plus few sweets and biscuits in a menu. Just one big room for films, probably 150 seats. True, the picture and sound are both on today's level.
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.
Posted By: Rexorcist
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2024 at 1:49pm
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.
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2024 at 11:51pm
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.
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2024 at 11:54pm
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760188/" rel="nofollow - When Nietzsche Wept (2007)
Fritz forgets his whip
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.
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2024 at 11:57pm
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241492/" rel="nofollow - Going Off Big Time (2000)
Liver Spots
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.
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2024 at 12:01am
Inspector Leghorn and the Case of the Missing Laughs
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...
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2024 at 8:54pm
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30216176/" rel="nofollow - Lady Ballers (2023)
Some Movies are disaster movies, some are just disasters...
I was initially loathe to go in too hard on a movie that has so
many cameos from unwitting conservatives I encounter on a daily basis
but Michael J Knowles, Candace Owens, Ted Cruz, and Ben Shapiro just
don't deserve to be associated with this catastrophic drivel. The
creators must have wished in retrospect they had adopted the documentary
style that succeeded so brilliantly for 'What is a Woman?' from 2022
for this Daily Wire project. Casting the glacially mordant Matt Walsh as
a new age hippie guru is about as wise as having your CEO and founder
Jeremy Boreing, write, star and Direct the whole fiasco as a hapless
cuckold behind on his mortgage repayments. The basic premise for a
comedy is ripe i.e. Should transgender women (read: biological men) be
allowed to compete against biological women at sports? Unfortunately
this never delivers on it's promise and the reasons are not hard to
deduce. To satirise or lampoon a subject effectively, considerable
comedic exaggeration is normally required to make the target look
suitably ridiculous. In this instance however, very little suspension of
belief is required from a transgender lobby that is invariably
humorless, intolerant and resistant to any form of reciprocal dialogue
with its opponents. To be fair, the Daily WIre's Matt Walsh has
acknowledged this in a recent interview. Let's cut to the chase: Apart
from Coach Gibson's daughter Winnie regurgitating (for the benefit of
the bogus 'female' basketball team) the gender ideology she is assailed
with by her school teachers there is not a single funny joke in the way
too overlong 1 hour and 52 stamina sapping minutes. Avoid.
Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2024 at 3:10pm
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/" rel="nofollow - The Gentlemen (2019)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels III
Despite featuring three actors I hitherto believed as being
amongst the most talentless in the anglosphere (Matthew McConaughey,
Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell) 'the Gentlemen' somehow still delivers an
entertaining and at times, visceral and refreshingly unwoke British
crime comedy/drama. This is probably due, in no small measure, to the
brilliantly nuanced and understated performances of Charlie Hunnam,
Jeremy Strong and Eddie Marsan. The dialogue is sharp, often barbed but
always discordantly faithful to the speaker's social class as if it had
been transcribed by Martin Amis at his 'London Fields' peak. Unlike the
late Mr Amis however, neither the film nor its director clearly take
themselves too seriously. Redolent of Woody Allen's 'Broadway Danny
Rose' in as much as the plot is revealed in retrospect by the whisky
fueled anecdotes of an unreliable witness (Hugh Grant) the pace is
unrelenting but never brusque. Now for the negatives. This is the 3rd
time Ritchie has made the same movie so its frankly miraculous that the
law of diminishing returns hasn't set in sooner. There's always room for
a completely unconvincing 'Oirish' accent in a Guy Ritchie film and
Colin Farrell doesn't disappoint here. Imagine Hurricane Higgins
impersonating Brad Pitt from 'Snatch' impersonating Graham Norton and
you're in the ballpark. For those Guardian reading African Trans poetry
enthusiasts out there who think this movie 'racist' here's a spoiler
alert: some of the characters in 'the Gentlemen' say horrid things to
each other just like real people do in real life using language you will
not approve of so go and lobby your MP to outlaw free speech.