John Houston's adaptation of Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano." Albert Finney's performance as a drunk has to be the scariest, most realistic portrayal of alcoholism ever put on film. You can feel him squirming beneath the skin in every scene - barely able to keep his thoughts together. Fascinating and horrifying. "In addition, in the course of his career, Finney earned five Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Awards (from eight nominations) and a BAFTA Award (from nine nominations). His five Oscar noms were for “Tom Jones,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “The Dresser,” “Under the Volcano” and “Erin Brockovich.”
The Art Of Self Defense - Jesse Eisenburg - meek accountant - goes to karate classes to toughen up. Strange, dark, some funny moments - 6.5/10. Not a waste of time but not a strong reco for the general population (there's probably a subset who'll love it).
Dredd- 7/10 Pretty good. Karl Urban was great as the tough-as-nails titular judge/jury/executioner. Olivia Thirlby was annoying as Dredd's psychic partner. Lena Headey was unconvincing but ok as the main villain. Simple, generic, cliche-ridden plot. Plenty of violence and gore, and sufficient action. Recommended but nothing earth-shattering.
FYI: The 100 Best Films of the 90s by Indie Wire Magazine. There're some good films on here. Eyes Wide Shut at #1 is highly questionable and I like Kubrick. I never cared much for Magnolia either--too farfetched for me, or I took it too literally. Many I've not seen. The last movie I watched was Top Gun, no not that one. It was a western starring Sterling Hayden as a gunslinger in black and white. Interesting to see him in this role. I'd say around 7 out of 10.
"The Quiet Girl" had more power and emotion in a single, simple hug than "Top Gun" and "Avatar" could buy with their millions and millions of dollars. "The Quiet Girl" made those tent-poll films seem just big and dumb. 9/10
Homebound. A newly remarried man brings his new wife to met his ex and kids but something’s amiss. Every conceivable aspect was terrible. I want my 70 minutes back. 0/10.
"Babylon" seems to be very divisive. We too liked it. My complaint is that it's too long and even at that length there is too much story crammed in. I think it would have worked better as a 10 part HBO or Netflix series, still absolutely worth watching. Giving up after 10 or 20 minutes does seem weird even though I did the exact same thing with the new "Top Gun" movie. Made it through that one on my second try.
Creed III - 8/10. You obviously need to suspend disbelief anytime you're watching a movie, particularly (for me) boxing movies. With that said, this was an exciting, very well acted and directed flick. I recommend. Now I need to go back and watch the first two Creeds!
Casablanca (1942) - 4K UHD 10/10 An all-time classic and one of my top favorite movies. The 4K UHD is a nice upgrade over the old Blu-ray
Clear and Present Danger- 3/10 Dull as dishwater. Harrison Ford was great though. The worst Jack Ryan film that I've seen.
The thing I don't like about Jack Ryan movies besides the overall dullness of them is that anyone could be Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford, Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Akec Baldwin, Owen Wilson, Micheal Keaton, Art Garfunkel...
Running On Empty (1988) - Blu-ray 7/10 Directed by Sidney Lumet. River Phoenix shines in this story about a fugitive family on the run from the FBI
Luther: The Fallen Sun on Netflix. I enjoyed the series, but this new movie is preposterous and contains plot loopholes that several semi-trucks could drive through. If it weren't for Idris Elba, I would have turned it off after a few minutes. 4/10.
'Legion' (2010). An archangel tries to save the unborn baby of a waitress at a diner in the middle of nowhere while under attack from demons. Made even less sense than this description. 1/10.
Dear Mr. Brody (2021) - Amazon Prime Streaming 6/10 Documentary about Michael Brody, the margarine fortune heir who had a brief flirtation with fame after declaring he was giving his fortune away.
Living. 3.5/5 Bill Nighy plays an elderly lifelong bureaucrat in post-war England who finally finds some purpose in his last months. It's a lovely leisurely-paced character piece. It's also a remake of the Japanese classic Ikiru. When I watched Ikiru about 10 years ago, I recall sobbing for something like the entire second half of the film. This one didn't hit quite as hard, probably because I already knew the basic storyline. But it's a beautiful performance from Nighy, who probably doesn't have many films left in him. The Whale. 4/5 I didn’t realize that Sadie Sink was in this film. She was terrific. (When is she not?) Powerful film. Hard to watch. I fear Brendan Fraser might lose out to the Elvis kid, though. Hollywood loves them some bio pics, and Austin Butler was very very good. But do they love bio pics more than they love comeback stories? (Reminds me of the year Michael Keaton gave a career performance in Birdman — any other year he would’ve won the trophy, but how was anyone going to beat Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking?)