Looking forward to Fthismoviefest! A couple movies I've seen lately:
Star Trek Generations (1994!!!) I absolutely loved and you can read me gushing about it in the comment section for the podcast.
The Four Feathers (1939, dir. Zoltan Korda) was a fantastic movie about some ruddy faced Englishmen who enlist to go fight in the Sudan. One friend backs out, but later decides to catch up and join them and we follow him on this adventure. Like most movies of that era, it has some problems with the portrayal of anyone who isn't English, but I had a bloody good time watching it. Perhaps my favourite new watch of 2024.
Blast from the Past (1999, dir. Hugh Wilson) was good, but strangely paced. What normally would have been a 7-8 minute intro lasts so long and we don't meet the Alicia Silverstone until close to the halfway point. Fraser is awesome as always.
Moonlight (2018, dir. Barry Jenkins) was fairly underwhelming, but I went in with high expectations. Great first act, weak 2nd act, and then fizzles out. Surprised it won Best Picture. Wish it had worked for as much as it did for the Oscar voters.
Also a bunch of rewatches, Tenet (2020) is still awesome, Silence (2016) is still awesome (but in a different way than Tenet), and did a double feature of Crimson Tide (1995) and Das Boot (1981) with some friends. Is it still a double feature if you watch one movie right before bed, and then the other one immediately upon waking?
Speaking of submarines movie, Shout is releasing K19 on 4k soon. I can't remember if it's good or just okay? Because as my friend once said "you can't make a bad submarine movie"
I'm super duper biased because I love sub movies. But K19 is fantastic. It's all about the dread and fear of nuclear radiation while still being in a position that you have to deal with it. The dichotomy of maintaining the "chain of command" while still looking out for those soldiers below you. AND being trapped in a boat; there's no running away. But it's from the Russian perspective, and so there's no "God bless these American soldiers for their bravery". That would have been an immediate hook for American audiences...but a story about Russians, not so much.
It's all close quarters and people talking to one another so maybe not worth an upgrade if you have it already in another format. Visually, it's not "cinematic" like big broad landscapes. I loved it, but not particularly notable visually.
Shame, because it was at the time the biggest budget movie ever by a woman director. And she kind of didn't get money to make movies after that despite being super talented. She eventually got The Hurt Locker made but on a shoe string budget.
Batman V Superman (2016): i felt like rewatching the movie, so like a dumbass, knowing full well it was bad, i bought the 4k. Not once, but twice. The first once was cheap enough, but i realized they released a fixed version (they corrected the HDR colors) a couple of years after it, so i had to get that one. It's still bad, very bad. But this time, i was able to detect the germs of good ideas of what could've been. Jesse Eisenberg is still a problem in this and there's no redeeming his performance. There's some fighty-fighty and some boom-boom, which i kinda like. Then Batman and Superman make up because their mothers have the same name, and Batman now feels bad for fighting Superman. And now they're friends. It's so dumb. And that's not the only dumb thing, but i won't get into it, everybody knows
Gamer (2009): i like the Neveldine-Taylor movies, all of them. They'll never be considered high-art, but they're nuts and weird and i'm here for it. Michael C. Hall is a great bad guy and Gerard Butler is still awesome. Now i want to watch the ...Has Fallen series, which i always liked
JFK (1991): as they usually do, the Shout 4k set is very overpriced, but as we established earlier, i'm a dumbass. The only difference is, this is an actual good movie. I like a good courtroom drama, so that help for me liking it. I haven't gone through all the extras yet, and only watched the Director's Cut, but it's a good set. Also, Vincent D'Onofrio in a very small cameo near the beginning
MADAME WEB (2024) Definitely an unpolished, unfinished movie. The plan seems to be for us to wait until movie number three (or four or five?) before we get to the good stuff. All I wanted was the B-movie cheesiness of Morbius, and I didn’t even get that.
BOTTOMS (2023) Gave this a rewatch. Still a wonderfully wacky good time.
THE RAVEN (2012) You can tell where the filmmakers tried to do right by Edgar Allen Poe, with so many references to things he said and did in real life. But then they try mapping that onto a stock catch-the-serial-killer narrative, and it doesn’t work. A proper Poe biopic will probably never happen because his life was so very sad, but he deserves better than this.
O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? (2000) Coen brothers goodness!
FRANKENWEENIE (2012) This is really two movies, with the first half being a boy-and-his-dog story, and the second being a monsters-invade-a-small-town movie. I prefer the latter half, but I know lots of folks prefer the cute dog stuff. It is what it is, I guess.
LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024) My first reaction was that this movie’s trying way too hard to be quirky. But since seeing it, I can’t stop mulling it over in my head, thinking and rethinking various scenes. So, I guess I liked it.
(Is Blogger messing w anyone else? It won't work on any of my computer browsers for the past 2 weeks. Weird)
Knight and Day (2011 DVD)
Feels lost in time already but I had lots of fun w this cheezy action flick w Cruise n Diaz in the lead. The movie never takes itself seriously and oft feels more like a looney tunes cartoon. Tons of big set pieces and non stop action.
I'm so sorry to everyone having problems with Blogger. I'm so fed up with the platform. If I knew an easy way to move everything over to Wordpress without losing 14 years of work (or links) I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Thx for reply. I totally know that y'all can't fix the interface issue. And honestly Blogger is SUPER convenient when it works. It's so weirdly inconsistent. My left brain keeps searching for the fix (which if I find I'll share). Thanks sir! Cheers!
It was a slow week of movie watching. There were a lot of hours at the tax office during the week.
NO DOGS OR ITALIANS ALLOWED (2022, dir. Alain Ughetto) – A Frenchman tells the story of his Italian roots in this whimsical stop-motion film. His grandfather, Luigi, left Italy to work on construction projects, mainly in France and Switzerland, in the early 20th century. Through hard work and a bit of luck, he manages to create a new life for himself in a foreign land. This is a brief, charming effort from a director who humorously injects himself in the action, always reminding viewers that everything is based on stories he heard growing up. Although there undoubtedly was a little embellishment involved in some of the events, this a heart-felt tribute to his family.
IMAGES IN A CONVENT (1979, dir. Joe D’Amato) – A re-visit of a borderline a-d-u-l-t nunsploitation flick on the Severin blu-ray. (Another rental.) It was prompted by some intriguing extra footage and a curiosity to see the restoration. It would actually be a better film with many of the scenes that were taken out, but D’Amato had to be D’Amato. The commentary with Kat Ellinger was an intriguing listen, a defense of the filmmaker and his place in the canon of Italian genre cinema. Though I am a long-time fan of his, Joe D’Amato is hard to defend as a “good” director.
It was a week of acquisitions. My order from Vinegar Syndrome's subscription week arrived. I certainly did not subscribe, but the prices for certain titles I had my eye on for a long time were too tempting. The Werewolf vs. Vampire Women (love Paul Naschy) and the Mexican western double feature Hot Snake/Guns and Guts were the main ones. I also took a chance on the new VSA release, Black Cat. It looks fun. While out on Saturday, I picked up a few titles. At the Salvation Army store, I found DVDs of Silent Hill and The Boondock Saints, each only a dollar. Both are in my watch list, so they came home with me. At the local Big Lots store, there were many 4Ks in stock. That is the first time I have seen that, but none of them were of much interest to me. What I did get was the Vestron release of the Patrick Swayze post-apocalyptic film Steel Dawn. I know, from watching it back in the 1980s, that it is a cheesy film, yet the price was just right. I have warmed up to these kind of films over time.
Looking forward to Fthismoviefest! A couple movies I've seen lately:
ReplyDeleteStar Trek Generations (1994!!!) I absolutely loved and you can read me gushing about it in the comment section for the podcast.
The Four Feathers (1939, dir. Zoltan Korda) was a fantastic movie about some ruddy faced Englishmen who enlist to go fight in the Sudan. One friend backs out, but later decides to catch up and join them and we follow him on this adventure. Like most movies of that era, it has some problems with the portrayal of anyone who isn't English, but I had a bloody good time watching it. Perhaps my favourite new watch of 2024.
Blast from the Past (1999, dir. Hugh Wilson) was good, but strangely paced. What normally would have been a 7-8 minute intro lasts so long and we don't meet the Alicia Silverstone until close to the halfway point. Fraser is awesome as always.
Moonlight (2018, dir. Barry Jenkins) was fairly underwhelming, but I went in with high expectations. Great first act, weak 2nd act, and then fizzles out. Surprised it won Best Picture. Wish it had worked for as much as it did for the Oscar voters.
Also a bunch of rewatches, Tenet (2020) is still awesome, Silence (2016) is still awesome (but in a different way than Tenet), and did a double feature of Crimson Tide (1995) and Das Boot (1981) with some friends. Is it still a double feature if you watch one movie right before bed, and then the other one immediately upon waking?
DeleteI'll allow it 😁
DeleteSpeaking of submarines movie, Shout is releasing K19 on 4k soon. I can't remember if it's good or just okay? Because as my friend once said "you can't make a bad submarine movie"
DeleteI'm super duper biased because I love sub movies. But K19 is fantastic. It's all about the dread and fear of nuclear radiation while still being in a position that you have to deal with it. The dichotomy of maintaining the "chain of command" while still looking out for those soldiers below you.
DeleteAND being trapped in a boat; there's no running away. But it's from the Russian perspective, and so there's no "God bless these American soldiers for their bravery". That would have been an immediate hook for American audiences...but a story about Russians, not so much.
It's all close quarters and people talking to one another so maybe not worth an upgrade if you have it already in another format. Visually, it's not "cinematic" like big broad landscapes. I loved it, but not particularly notable visually.
Shame, because it was at the time the biggest budget movie ever by a woman director. And she kind of didn't get money to make movies after that despite being super talented. She eventually got The Hurt Locker made but on a shoe string budget.
I saw Moonlight when it came out in the theaters. I have not thought about since then.
DeleteBatman V Superman (2016): i felt like rewatching the movie, so like a dumbass, knowing full well it was bad, i bought the 4k. Not once, but twice. The first once was cheap enough, but i realized they released a fixed version (they corrected the HDR colors) a couple of years after it, so i had to get that one. It's still bad, very bad. But this time, i was able to detect the germs of good ideas of what could've been. Jesse Eisenberg is still a problem in this and there's no redeeming his performance. There's some fighty-fighty and some boom-boom, which i kinda like. Then Batman and Superman make up because their mothers have the same name, and Batman now feels bad for fighting Superman. And now they're friends. It's so dumb. And that's not the only dumb thing, but i won't get into it, everybody knows
ReplyDeleteGamer (2009): i like the Neveldine-Taylor movies, all of them. They'll never be considered high-art, but they're nuts and weird and i'm here for it. Michael C. Hall is a great bad guy and Gerard Butler is still awesome. Now i want to watch the ...Has Fallen series, which i always liked
JFK (1991): as they usually do, the Shout 4k set is very overpriced, but as we established earlier, i'm a dumbass. The only difference is, this is an actual good movie. I like a good courtroom drama, so that help for me liking it. I haven't gone through all the extras yet, and only watched the Director's Cut, but it's a good set. Also, Vincent D'Onofrio in a very small cameo near the beginning
I mostly like Snyder but less and less. The Batman vs Superman wasn't very good. I'm not going to check out other versions to see if it improves it.
DeleteI've loved every Stone movie I've seen to date, so looking forward to JFK.
MADAME WEB (2024) Definitely an unpolished, unfinished movie. The plan seems to be for us to wait until movie number three (or four or five?) before we get to the good stuff. All I wanted was the B-movie cheesiness of Morbius, and I didn’t even get that.
ReplyDeleteBOTTOMS (2023) Gave this a rewatch. Still a wonderfully wacky good time.
THE RAVEN (2012) You can tell where the filmmakers tried to do right by Edgar Allen Poe, with so many references to things he said and did in real life. But then they try mapping that onto a stock catch-the-serial-killer narrative, and it doesn’t work. A proper Poe biopic will probably never happen because his life was so very sad, but he deserves better than this.
O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? (2000) Coen brothers goodness!
FRANKENWEENIE (2012) This is really two movies, with the first half being a boy-and-his-dog story, and the second being a monsters-invade-a-small-town movie. I prefer the latter half, but I know lots of folks prefer the cute dog stuff. It is what it is, I guess.
LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024) My first reaction was that this movie’s trying way too hard to be quirky. But since seeing it, I can’t stop mulling it over in my head, thinking and rethinking various scenes. So, I guess I liked it.
(Is Blogger messing w anyone else? It won't work on any of my computer browsers for the past 2 weeks. Weird)
ReplyDeleteKnight and Day (2011 DVD)
Feels lost in time already but I had lots of fun w this cheezy action flick w Cruise n Diaz in the lead. The movie never takes itself seriously and oft feels more like a looney tunes cartoon. Tons of big set pieces and non stop action.
I'm so sorry to everyone having problems with Blogger. I'm so fed up with the platform. If I knew an easy way to move everything over to Wordpress without losing 14 years of work (or links) I'd do it in a heartbeat.
DeleteAlso Knight and Day is a ton of fun.
Thx for reply. I totally know that y'all can't fix the interface issue. And honestly Blogger is SUPER convenient when it works. It's so weirdly inconsistent. My left brain keeps searching for the fix (which if I find I'll share). Thanks sir! Cheers!
DeleteI had to switch to Chrome last month in order to post on the site. I still cannot get my Blogger account to be acknowledged in Firefox.
DeleteIt was a slow week of movie watching. There were a lot of hours at the tax office during the week.
ReplyDeleteNO DOGS OR ITALIANS ALLOWED (2022, dir. Alain Ughetto) – A Frenchman tells the story of his Italian roots in this whimsical stop-motion film. His grandfather, Luigi, left Italy to work on construction projects, mainly in France and Switzerland, in the early 20th century. Through hard work and a bit of luck, he manages to create a new life for himself in a foreign land. This is a brief, charming effort from a director who humorously injects himself in the action, always reminding viewers that everything is based on stories he heard growing up. Although there undoubtedly was a little embellishment involved in some of the events, this a heart-felt tribute to his family.
IMAGES IN A CONVENT (1979, dir. Joe D’Amato) – A re-visit of a borderline a-d-u-l-t nunsploitation flick on the Severin blu-ray. (Another rental.) It was prompted by some intriguing extra footage and a curiosity to see the restoration. It would actually be a better film with many of the scenes that were taken out, but D’Amato had to be D’Amato. The commentary with Kat Ellinger was an intriguing listen, a defense of the filmmaker and his place in the canon of Italian genre cinema. Though I am a long-time fan of his, Joe D’Amato is hard to defend as a “good” director.
It was a week of acquisitions. My order from Vinegar Syndrome's subscription week arrived. I certainly did not subscribe, but the prices for certain titles I had my eye on for a long time were too tempting. The Werewolf vs. Vampire Women (love Paul Naschy) and the Mexican western double feature Hot Snake/Guns and Guts were the main ones. I also took a chance on the new VSA release, Black Cat. It looks fun. While out on Saturday, I picked up a few titles. At the Salvation Army store, I found DVDs of Silent Hill and The Boondock Saints, each only a dollar. Both are in my watch list, so they came home with me. At the local Big Lots store, there were many 4Ks in stock. That is the first time I have seen that, but none of them were of much interest to me. What I did get was the Vestron release of the Patrick Swayze post-apocalyptic film Steel Dawn. I know, from watching it back in the 1980s, that it is a cheesy film, yet the price was just right. I have warmed up to these kind of films over time.