I've Been Going to the...MOOOOvies

[redrum]

Just watched 'Witchfinder General' (The Conqueror Worm) with Vincent Price. It was an English horror show. 😬

[Strider]

Two more good ones under my belt this week. One a documentary. One a feature film. Both dealing with human endurance and survival. One stars Mads Mikkelsen, which is always awesome. 

You already know if you like these types of stories, so you don't need me to tell you to go or not. If this is your thing, you have already seen them or made plans to see them.

[Goldilocks]

Who has seen "Glass"?  

 

"Split" freaked me out but I love James McAvoy so want to see "Glass."  

[Strider]

3 hours ago, Goldilocks said:

Who has seen "Glass"?  

 

"Split" freaked me out but I love James McAvoy so want to see "Glass."  

Sorry. I can't stand M. Night Shamalamadingdong.

[Strider]

A common thread among my very best friends is a shared love for this film. I think I took Hal Ashby for granted when I was younger but his films grow in my estimation with every passing year.

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

On 2/12/2019 at 10:53 AM, Strider said:

For the Fallen by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) September 21, 1914

"With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain. "

Saw this in the theatre tonight. Totally unprepared for its impact. Colorizing film often leads to cheesy results but not in this case. Peter Jackson has done us all a service resurrecting this footage from World War I...aka The Great War. Shocked it lost Best Documentary at the BAFTAs last night.

Saw this a couple of weeks ago. Was a fan from the start. Absolutely fascinating to get to see actual footage from a long bygone era. I also loved the fact that the narrators were WWI vets themselves, talking to various interviewers from the 60's/70's (as the case maybe). I have been fortunate enough to have watched with immense interest, amazing shows like The Colour of War on the Discovery Channel. In my heart of hearts, I have always hoped for an equally fascinating exposition of WWI. Hope to get this on DVD, eventually. 

[Strider]

Some Julie Adams films that I have watched these past couple of weeks. Obviously most known for "Creature from the Black Lagoon" but she did an incredible amount of westerns...and an Elvis movie.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Strider

[Strider]

Edited February 21, 2019 by Strider

[badgeholder]

God, the Last Movie, that was so awful, there's two hours you'll never get back, haha

[Strider]

"Royal Wedding". R.I.P. Stanley Donen. 😢 Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling. No cgi folks.

 

[Strider]

Filling out my Oscar ballot for the Oscar pool.

Kind of a blah year for the Oscars. No wonder AMPAS can't find a host. It has been hard to figure out how to fill out my Oscar ballot because I haven't been able to get a fix on any buzz and there is no clear overwhelming favourite. When it comes to Best Picture I don't see many slamdunks...movies that 20, 30, 40 years from now you will gladly rewatch a la "Casablanca", "Singin' in the Rain", "Godfather", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Goodfellas", "Fargo". Going over the list of nominees...

"A Star is Born"...Ummm, NO! This the worst of the five renditions of this story, and all the changes and modernizations to the story are for the worse. Lady Gaga is okay and has a couple of good songs but the direction and cinematography is just plain awful. One of the ugliest movies of the year. Not even Sam Elliot's mustache is enough to save this turkey from oblivion. Mark my words...five years from now it will be forgotten while we remember the 70th anniversary of Judy Garland's unsurpassable version.

"Black Panther"...again, no. I don't care if it is considered the best of the Marvel spandex movies. That is like being the best Rob Schneider movie.

"Bohemian Rhapsody"...lies, lies, lies. Freddie Mercury's story should have been dramatic and interesting enough without having to cheapen it with fallacies, lies and made-up bullshit. And Rami doesn't even do his own singing. Why should he win an award for essentially lip-syncing? This is no better than those Tom Cruise and Mark Wahlberg rock star movies...and when was the last time anyone wanted to suffer through those movies again?

"The Favourite"...a nice period piece about the olde English Royalty but I can name many far better period pieces that did not win Best Picture. 

"Green Book"...this year's "Driving Miss Daisy". Ever listen to Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn"? Same story here. No matter how good Ali and Viggo are I can't take this movie seriously. Yes, I understand the movie was based on the white guy's memoir. So title the movie after him. Don't use "Green Book", which was a significant part of Black America culture and life and then treat it almost as an afterthought in the movie. It struck me as dishonest.

"Vice"...from the guy who brought you "The Big Short" and using the same tropes and style of that movie. But whereas that style fit the financial shenanigans story of "The Big Short", in "Vice" it seemed shallow and mean-spirited. Like a Michael Moore documentary. This is no "All the President's Men" or "Young Mr. Lincoln" or "Patton". Instead, this will fade into oblivion like Oliver Stone's "W" and "Nixon".

That leaves two nominees that left a favourable impression on me..."BlacKkKlansman" and "Roma". Of the two I am definitely partial to "Roma". I can definitely say that I will still want to watch "Roma" in twenty years.

[ZepHead315]

2 hours ago, Strider said:

"Black Panther"...again, no. I don't care if it is considered the best of the Marvel spandex movies. That is like being the best Rob Schneider movie.

LOL! As a Marvel fan who has seen almost all of the Marvel movies, I can tell you that Black Panther is easily one of their most forgettable entries. A perfectly fine popcorn movie that you won't remember at all within a week. It is absolutely laughable that it's been nominated for Best Picture, let alone that it's the first superhero movie ever to have that honor. Something like say, The Dark Knight, would have been far more deserving of that title.

[Strider]

24 minutes ago, ZepHead315 said:

LOL! As a Marvel fan who has seen almost all of the Marvel movies, I can tell you that Black Panther is easily one of their most forgettable entries. A perfectly fine popcorn movie that you won't remember at all within a week. It is absolutely laughable that it's been nominated for Best Picture, let alone that it's the first superhero movie ever to have that honor. Something like say, The Dark Knight, would have been far more deserving of that title.

I thought "Dark Knight" did get a Best Picture nomination? Along with Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor nod, although unlike Heath Ledger, it did not win.

[ZepHead315]

10 minutes ago, Strider said:

I thought "Dark Knight" did get a Best Picture nomination? Along with Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor nod, although unlike Heath Ledger, it did not win.

Nope. It was not nominated for Best Picture. Although it has been speculated that its snub was one of the factors behind the Oscars expanding the number of their best picture nominees to ten as opposed to five:

Quote

 In spite of the film's critical success, the film was noticeably absent from the Best Picture nominee list, prompting controversy and led many to criticize the Academy Awards for "snubbing" the film. There was speculation that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences later changed their number of Best Picture nominees to ten, instead of the traditional five, because of the film's omission. In a question-and-answer session that followed the announcement, the Academy's then president Sidney Ganis said; "I would not be telling you the truth if I said the words Dark Knight did not come up."

 

[Stryder1978]

I finally watched "Roma" this weekend. Actually, I watched it twice since I fell asleep to it the first time.  My first thought when it was over  - "What the hell did I just watch?"  What a boring, pointless waste of celluloid!  I knew I was in trouble when the first 5 minutes of the movie consisted of close-up shots of water splashing on floor tiles and distance shots of little birds fluttering around in three cages.  No beginning, no story line and no ending.....was this co-wriitten by Jussie Smollett?  The acting was stiff and wooden, the cinematography consisted on endless panning and the highlight for me was seeing a horned toad (unless you're into gratuitous shots of some dude's junk. I kept looking for in depth meaning behind it all - the marching band continuously coming up the street, the martial arts segment. the land dispute plot...NOTHING!!  The only analogy I got from the mess of a film was the constant dog crap in the courtyard...which accurately summed up this over-hyped cinematic piece of dog doo!     

[SteveAJones]

Movies? I would need a thread called I Haven't Been Going to the Movies. In fact, on my personal Top 300 Favorite Films there are only three from the last 10 years: Inglorious Basterds,  Skyfall and Seeds of Yesterday (a made for tv movie). Contrast that against 1969 to 1979 (55 films) or 1979 to 1989 (75 films) for example. Generally speaking, I hesitate to comment on or critique films made over the past ten years because I haven't been interested enough to see them, but I do watch the trailers. Based on the trailers, the majority of the films are formula-driven drivel saturated with method acting and product placement. The biopics are the worst! For the life of me I can't understand why someone would pay to watch a reenactment of Queen's Live Aid performance in the cinema when the actual performance is freely available on You Tube or on dvd for less than the cost of a cinema ticket. The annual Oscar Awards are just yawn inducing, now having more to do with virtue signaling and political diatribes than recognizing truly great films. If the Academy were honest, there would be no nominees for most categories.  

[Strider]

Scorsese. DeNiro. Pacino. Keitel. Pesci.

The best thing about the Oscars was seeing the teaser for the new Martin Scorsese movie. Not that I am getting too excited...this is 2019 Marty not 1970s-'80s Marty. It's like the difference between 1970s Page and now. But with that cast...one can hope.

 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Strider

[Strider]

Hey LedZeppfan77, now that it is legal to bet on the Oscars do you wager a bob or two? Olivia Colman closed at 11/2 odds to win Best Actress.

[redrum]

4 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Movies? I would need a thread called I Haven't Been Going to the Movies. In fact, on my personal Top 300 Favorite Films there are only three from the last 10 years: Inglorious Basterds,  Skyfall and Seeds of Yesterday (a made for tv movie). Contrast that against 1969 to 1979 (55 films) or 1979 to 1989 (75 films) for example. Generally speaking, I hesitate to comment on or critique films made over the past ten years because I haven't been interested enough to see them, but I do watch the trailers. Based on the trailers, the majority of the films are formula-driven drivel saturated with method acting and product placement. The biopics are the worst! For the life of me I can't understand why someone would pay to watch a reenactment of Queen's Live Aid performance in the cinema when the actual performance is freely available on You Tube or on dvd for less than the cost of a cinema ticket. The annual Oscar Awards are just yawn inducing, now having more to do with virtue signaling and political diatribes than recognizing truly great films. If the Academy were honest, there would be no nominees for most categories.  

I have to agree.

[PeaceFrogYum]

On ‎2‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 8:35 AM, SteveAJones said:

Movies? I would need a thread called I Haven't Been Going to the Movies. In fact, on my personal Top 300 Favorite Films there are only three from the last 10 years: Inglorious Basterds,  Skyfall and Seeds of Yesterday (a made for tv movie). Contrast that against 1969 to 1979 (55 films) or 1979 to 1989 (75 films) for example. Generally speaking, I hesitate to comment on or critique films made over the past ten years because I haven't been interested enough to see them, but I do watch the trailers. Based on the trailers, the majority of the films are formula-driven drivel saturated with method acting and product placement. The biopics are the worst! For the life of me I can't understand why someone would pay to watch a reenactment of Queen's Live Aid performance in the cinema when the actual performance is freely available on You Tube or on dvd for less than the cost of a cinema ticket. The annual Oscar Awards are just yawn inducing, now having more to do with virtue signaling and political diatribes than recognizing truly great films. If the Academy were honest, there would be no nominees for most categories.  

Are you trying to say movies such as Blazing Saddles or Silver Streak could not be made today? 

Edited February 27, 2019 by PeaceFrogYum

[Strider]

"Casino".

 

[the chase]

On 2/24/2019 at 3:54 PM, Strider said:

 

"Bohemian Rhapsody"...lies, lies, lies. Freddie Mercury's story should have been dramatic and interesting enough without having to cheapen it with fallacies, lies and made-up bullshit. And Rami doesn't even do his own singing. Why should he win an award for essentially lip-syncing? This is no better than those Tom Cruise and Mark Wahlberg rock star movies...and when was the last time anyone wanted to suffer through those movies again?

I liked Rockstar. I know it’s a little cheesy but what the hell.  

I’ll never understand why Brian May and Roger Taylor ok’d some of the inaccuracies in the timeline. Freddie Mercury might have suspected he was sick, but he was not diagnosed with Aids till 1987 and didn’t tell the other members of Queen he was sick until 1988-89 ... during The Miracle  sessions... and well after Live Aid (1985) when he told them in the movie.. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by the chase

[gibsonfan159]

On 2/24/2019 at 3:54 PM, Strider said:

Green Book"...this year's "Driving Miss Daisy". Ever listen to Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn"? Same story here. No matter how good Ali and Viggo are I can't take this movie seriously. Yes, I understand the movie was based on the white guy's memoir. So title the movie after him. Don't use "Green Book", which was a significant part of Black America culture and life and then treat it almost as an afterthought in the movie. It struck me as dishonest.

A good movie, but I can't see it being award worthy. You know, I haven't had many (any) dealings with Italian Americans, but that film seemed to be rife with the stereotypical "Forgetabout it" routines. Why does everyone have to be Joe Pesci?

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Will probably get around to seeing Green Book and BlacKkKlansman shortly. 

[PeaceFrogYum]

8 hours ago, gibsonfan159 said:

A good movie, but I can't see it being award worthy. You know, I haven't had many (any) dealings with Italian Americans, but that film seemed to be rife with the stereotypical "Forgetabout it" routines. Why does everyone have to be Joe Pesci?

Another movie with serious inaccuracies. Doc's family is quite upset at the portrayal he was estranged from his family when he in fact had a normal, strong connection with his family. BTW I know a LOT of Italians, young, old, mobbed up, etc. and none of them ever acted like that.