Camille (1936) - Blu-ray 7/10 Romantic drama directed by George Cukor and starring Great Garbo in one of her best roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award.
King Richard - 7/10 Good story and a nice bio on the Williams sisters. Making Richard the centre of the story is a clever device to look at how the Williams attained their greatness.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) - 5.5/10 I mean, a naked Pat Boone falls out of a tree, grabs a sheep to cover his bikini area, and then skulks off with the animal. All of this in front of a group of nuns. Otherwise, the film takes too long to kick off. It's about an hour's worth of dicking around before they begin their journey. The trip is pretty tight, though; I'll give them that. Lots of adventure. It's just a tale of two halves, so it was dull for a while. Best line from the film: "I don't sleep. I hate those little slices of death."
Interstellar 9/10 This was my second watch and knowing how it ended made this fillm so much more fascinating for me. It is a masterpiece of seemless intertwining plotlines. It was very good the first time I watched it but this time around I could put everything together whcih enhanced my experience more. The spacetime science made more sense and I could enjoy the characters more. Christopher Nolan's meticulous attention to scienific details pays off with this film. The blu ray is worth getting for the extras. It's not too expensive. The visuals are excellent and there is at least two hour's worth of explanations around the science and how the film was constructed.
8/10 John Huston directs, Paul Newman stars with a great supporting cast, but it seems forgotten today. I don't even think it's in print these days, but I own an old DVD and I like it a lot.
A few weeks ago I watched Z on TCM. I knew I had seen it as a student when it was in theaters but had no real memory of it, but had an idea as to its subject. Seeing it now after so many years I was enthralled by it's almost documentary-like treatment political issues. One oddity that struck me is that now we associate the use of Z with the Russian invasion! It had a completely different meaning in Greece in the 1960s. I went to watch it a second time today but unfortunately my wife erased it from the DVR just last night Has anyone seen the movie "Z" recently? I wonder how it holds up? | Steve Hoffman Music Forums I hope I will notice if it comes back to TCM.
The Witch: Part 2 - The Other One The Witch: Part 2 - The Other One (2022) - IMDb 9/10 A girl wakes up in a secret laboratory and meets Kyung-hee, who is trying to protect her from a gang. When the gang finally finds the girl, they are overwhelmed by an unexpected power. Sequel to The Witch: Part 1 - Subversion South Korean film. Started out with English audio dubbing...quickly changed that to the original Korean language with English subtitles.
We enjoyed it; wouldn't give it a 10, and no idea why it even got a best picture nomination. The Academy never gives out nominations for films like that.
Rye Lane. A funny, charming film set in southeast London. Excellent performances and great use of Peckham and Brixton locations. 9/10
We saw a cinema premiere of the "Allelujah" a couple of nights ago. Beautiful film with a fine cast (Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Saunders to name but 3) and based on the Alan Bennett play of the same name. This link perfectly sums it up: Allelujah (2022) - IMDb An innately British film, which should travel well to other parts of the globe, beautifully scripted and acted, moving, genuinely funny and with an unexpected twist. The best film I have seen in many a month, highly recommended, 10/10.
Brain On Fire - It gets wildly mixed reviews from IMDB users. 1s, 2s, 3s, intermingled with 8s, 9s, 10s. As someone with several close relatives with difficult to diagnose maladies, I sympathized with the lead and liked it. It had a bit of a movie of the week quality to it and the resolution came quickly with little exposition (I'll have to leave it at that lest I leave a spoiler) but, overall, a reco (6.5/10) Don't now if I posted this but Sunlit At Night was solid (despite a woeful casting decision, i.e., Zak Galifianakis). Bravura performance by Jenny Slate. 7/10 and wife loved it so, there's that....
I’m a tennis guy (12 year old daughter in tennis), and I agree. My big complaint was how poorly the tennis scenes were done. They were terrible.
The Big Trail (1930) - 6.7/10 23-years before the first Cinemascope film, The Robe (1953), hit the big screen, Fox had developed the Fox Grandeur or 70mm Grandeur film, which was a 2:00.1 aspect ratio, making it the first widescreen process in cinema. Only a handful of 1929/30 Fox Grandeur films were made, and The Big Trail is the only full-length picture to survive. In fact, it was shot in two aspect ratios, with different cameras at the same time, and even different takes. The Blu-ray contains both 2:00.1 and 1:33.1 ratios, with the Fox Grandeur running at 122 minutes, while the 35mm is 108 minutes. Have you ever seen a widescreen movie from 1930? It boggles the mind while watching it. It doesn't look like it should be real. The film is also 23-year old John Wayne's first leading role. It's actually a solid film. It doesn't really go anywhere. It's light on plot, yet it seems exceptionally authentic, outside of Wayne's dandy duds. Wayne does a workman-like job in his first staring role. So does Ian Keith. The rest of the actors can be middling, yet they don't sap the strength from a truly unique film. Both versions are worth the bite, but the 70mm version not only appears well-preserved, for its age, but it's also a marvel to look at. The contrast is good and there's no DNR. I think it can be had for $10 on Amazon for what it's worth. Hey, and Raoul Walsh was no slouch director. The Big Trail - Wikipedia
Used Cars (1980) - 4K UHD 8/10 One of my favorite comedies. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Although it tested extremely high with test audiences at Columbia Pictures and got generally good reviews from the critics it was a box office flop. His next two movies, Romancing The Stone and especially Back To The Future did much better.
I don't see a version that's in 1080p, except for the stream from YouTube for $2.99, or buy for $9.99
