I have complaints about RDJ Sherlock, but this is not one of them. Book Holmes boxes, shoots, used disguises, and gets results through action as much as pure logic. Poirot sits down and deploys his brain cells.Túrin Turambar wrote: ↑Mon Aug 07, 2023 1:55 pm It's a common criticism of the Branagh Poirot films (I share it). I like Branagh, but he seems to think audiences need a Poirot who's a James Bond hybrid. So, for that matter, did the RDJ Sherlock Holmes films. Maybe Hollywood doesn't think an eccentric detective is enough.
The last movie you saw Thread
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I tried watching The Death on the Nile and fell asleep after the murder. What I saw was... I don't even know. I think it tries to be several things at once and fails at all of them.
Also saw Dirty Harry for the first time in ages. Long enough that I have forgotten that the "Do you feel lucky?" line is in it twice. I also didn't realize that movie is over 50 years old! And Clint Eastwood was already over 40!
It's very 70s, but I like that it runs all around San Francisco. Films looked better before everything was green screen, I think.
Also saw Dirty Harry for the first time in ages. Long enough that I have forgotten that the "Do you feel lucky?" line is in it twice. I also didn't realize that movie is over 50 years old! And Clint Eastwood was already over 40!
It's very 70s, but I like that it runs all around San Francisco. Films looked better before everything was green screen, I think.
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
We watched Renfield last night. It was very, very, very gory--- but also fairly funny. So it was OK, I suppose. If you don't mind goriness that is over the top into the ridiculous level, you'd probably enjoy this.
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N.E. Brigand
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Saw a bit of Men in Black II on TV last night. I've seen the whole thing before. What I hadn't previously noticed is a brief homage to The Fugitive. In both films, Tommy Lee Jones says "That is a hell of a fish" upon seeing a photograph of a successful angler. (As others have noted here.)
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narya
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I saw Killers of the Flower Moon the other night (actually two nights, we split it up because it was so overwhelming). I'd read the book (a very hard read) so I knew what was happening. That it happened to real people rather than fictional people is all the more devastating. The hubris of those men. I just can't get over the hubris!
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
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Túrin Turambar
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Zone of Interest
Fascinating and original take on horrendous events, would recommend.
Fascinating and original take on horrendous events, would recommend.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
This week we watched 2 movies.
The first one was "Life" which on the list I chose it from was described as "thought provoking" and "thrilling". So we thought we were in for a *good* man meets alien movie. Nope. In no time at all it devolved into a horror movie. The sci fi elements were all well done, and I really wonder if the weightless scenes were filmed in a "vomit comet", they were so well done. But I really didn't like that horror aspect.
The other one was Ghostbusters Afterlife. It's a sequel to the older movies, rather than sequel to the reboot. It was well done and I quite liked it.
The first one was "Life" which on the list I chose it from was described as "thought provoking" and "thrilling". So we thought we were in for a *good* man meets alien movie. Nope. In no time at all it devolved into a horror movie. The sci fi elements were all well done, and I really wonder if the weightless scenes were filmed in a "vomit comet", they were so well done. But I really didn't like that horror aspect.
The other one was Ghostbusters Afterlife. It's a sequel to the older movies, rather than sequel to the reboot. It was well done and I quite liked it.
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N.E. Brigand
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Shane (1953 U.S., dir. George Stevens).
I've seen that movie at least twice before on TV, but this was the first time at the movies. It was screened to a nearly full house tonight at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, the local foreign and revival theater that was founded in 1986 by John Ewing, who is retiring today after 38 years. To commemorate his departure, today he showed his three favorite films, which in ascending order are The Magnificent Ambersons (1942 U.S., dir. Orson Welles), Late Spring (1949 Japan, dir. Yasujiro Ozu), and Shane. Each was preceded by short films that Ewing made as a student at Denison University, circa 1970-72. (The short tonight was a silent, black & white retelling of the story of Narcissus.) Even though I've seen all three features before (including seeing the Ozu film at the Cinematheque some 10-15 years ago), I would gladly have spent the whole day there had time permitted. Ewing spoke before tonight's show as he does at every screening, although his remarks were understandably somewhat longer than usual, and he received a standing ovation.
Shane is a deliberately archetypal Western, set in the 1890s. Alan Ladd stars as the title character, a gunslinger who stops by a homestead where lives a family played by Van Heflin, Jean Arthur (who late in life performed in a show with Melvyn Douglas at the theater where I work), and young Brandon de Wilde. They and other homesteaders in a Wyoming valley are beset by a free-range cattle baron played by Emile Meyer, who brings in a hired gun played by Jack Palance. Other featured performers include Edgar Buchanan, Elisha Cook Jr., and Ben Johnson. The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards, including the acting of de Wilde, and Palance (who would finally win in 1992 for City Slickers) and Stevens's direction, but it won only for cinematography. De Wilde, aged 11, delivers the famous last lines.
The Wikipedia article on Shane doesn't mention this, but many viewers understood Clint Eastwood's 1985 Western Pale Rider to be an homage to Shane, and in parts a remake.
Goodbye, Shane.
I've seen that movie at least twice before on TV, but this was the first time at the movies. It was screened to a nearly full house tonight at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, the local foreign and revival theater that was founded in 1986 by John Ewing, who is retiring today after 38 years. To commemorate his departure, today he showed his three favorite films, which in ascending order are The Magnificent Ambersons (1942 U.S., dir. Orson Welles), Late Spring (1949 Japan, dir. Yasujiro Ozu), and Shane. Each was preceded by short films that Ewing made as a student at Denison University, circa 1970-72. (The short tonight was a silent, black & white retelling of the story of Narcissus.) Even though I've seen all three features before (including seeing the Ozu film at the Cinematheque some 10-15 years ago), I would gladly have spent the whole day there had time permitted. Ewing spoke before tonight's show as he does at every screening, although his remarks were understandably somewhat longer than usual, and he received a standing ovation.
Shane is a deliberately archetypal Western, set in the 1890s. Alan Ladd stars as the title character, a gunslinger who stops by a homestead where lives a family played by Van Heflin, Jean Arthur (who late in life performed in a show with Melvyn Douglas at the theater where I work), and young Brandon de Wilde. They and other homesteaders in a Wyoming valley are beset by a free-range cattle baron played by Emile Meyer, who brings in a hired gun played by Jack Palance. Other featured performers include Edgar Buchanan, Elisha Cook Jr., and Ben Johnson. The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards, including the acting of de Wilde, and Palance (who would finally win in 1992 for City Slickers) and Stevens's direction, but it won only for cinematography. De Wilde, aged 11, delivers the famous last lines.
The Wikipedia article on Shane doesn't mention this, but many viewers understood Clint Eastwood's 1985 Western Pale Rider to be an homage to Shane, and in parts a remake.
Goodbye, Shane.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
The book on which the movie is based is often required reading in High School or even Junior High English classes. It, too, is considered a classic! I recommend reading it, if you haven't. Jack Schaefer was a marvellous writer, much better than Louis L'Amour. His novel, Monte Walsh is in my top 10 list of favourite books.
On to other topics!
My cable provider is obviously making an effort to maintain viewers who are thinking of switching to streaming services from cable. Recently it gave me free access to Disney Plus. I made use of it to catch up on a handful of movies I'd been wanting to watch, but since then have been finding it rather slim pickings.
I'd heard a great deal about WandaVision and The Mandolorian, so gave them a try. WandaVision was definitely NOT my thing. It shows Wanda and Vision living in 1960's type domesticity, a la Lucy and Ricky (I Love Lucy) or Samantha and Darrin (Bewitched). I realized it's supposed to be a comedy satire, but quit part way through the first episode. Ugh.
Mandolorian starts out very violently, but with it being Star Wars, that wasn't altogether unexpected, so I hung in there. It just didn't grab me. The full face masks and robot-like armor was a turn-off, making the characters seem inhuman and hard to relate to. I feel asleep partway through the second episode, and didn't bother going back to watch what I missed. Definite 'meh' for me. Baby Yoda is cute but smacks of an immediate product placement deal, similar to Baby Groot.
Next I decided to give Barbie a try. I really disliked Barbie as a kid, but had heard some things about the movie that made me think it might be worth watching.
Warning: there is a major spoiler at the end of my review! If you haven't seen the movie, you may want to stop reading now.
I remember Barbie as a stick-thin plastic doll with a vacous, painted smile and rigid plastic feet that would only fit into high heels. Even then, the sexism was obvious to me. She was meant to be a sex symbol with a glamourus lifestyle, the sort of lifestyle every young girl was supposed to want when she grew up. Sorry, Mattel, your 'every girl' wasn't me. First, I hate pink. Second, I was always more of a tomboy, a rugged outdoorsy person who had little desire for flashy, sexy clothes and all the toys and bling that go with Barbie's materialistic capitalist lifestyle.
And here was the movie confessing all that. And showing how 'woke' Barbie now was. There were Barbies in wheelchairs, Barbie with hair other than blonde and skin other than white, plus-sized Barbies, Barbie doctors, lawyers, judges and even a Barbie president. It seems like the movie was sweeping under the rug the fact that although Barbie first hit the toy store shelves in 1959, the first Black Barbie didn't debut until 1980, and the first CEO Barbie came along in 1985. Hmmm...was that enough for me to forgive Barbie and Mattel for the previous years? I found myself rolling my eyes.
It went further. It showed how dominated by male chauvinism the company was in the real world, without a single woman in the higher ranks, despite Barbie having been invented by a woman.
Of course, all this gets fixed by the end of the movie, but the REAL surprise was the last scene. Barbie, now a real, live woman, not a doll, walks into a multi-story office building, which I assumed was Mattel headquarters. Much to my shock, at the reception desk, she says she's there to see her gynecologist.
The initial scene of the movie shows young girls smashing their baby dolls once Barbie came on the scene. Of course, I understood why they were doing that - Barbie finally delivered the message that little girls could grow up to be more than just mothers. And throughout her 64 years of existence, never once, that I'm aware, has Barbie been shown in the role of a mother. But here's the movie concluding by confessing yes, being a mother IS an important part of being a woman. And Barbie is more than a jet-setting playgirl. She can be a mom, too. And as Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler, showed Barbie mothers and families are very important.
Yeah, not the message I was expecting from the Barbie movie!
But I still hate pink...
On to other topics!
My cable provider is obviously making an effort to maintain viewers who are thinking of switching to streaming services from cable. Recently it gave me free access to Disney Plus. I made use of it to catch up on a handful of movies I'd been wanting to watch, but since then have been finding it rather slim pickings.
I'd heard a great deal about WandaVision and The Mandolorian, so gave them a try. WandaVision was definitely NOT my thing. It shows Wanda and Vision living in 1960's type domesticity, a la Lucy and Ricky (I Love Lucy) or Samantha and Darrin (Bewitched). I realized it's supposed to be a comedy satire, but quit part way through the first episode. Ugh.
Mandolorian starts out very violently, but with it being Star Wars, that wasn't altogether unexpected, so I hung in there. It just didn't grab me. The full face masks and robot-like armor was a turn-off, making the characters seem inhuman and hard to relate to. I feel asleep partway through the second episode, and didn't bother going back to watch what I missed. Definite 'meh' for me. Baby Yoda is cute but smacks of an immediate product placement deal, similar to Baby Groot.
Next I decided to give Barbie a try. I really disliked Barbie as a kid, but had heard some things about the movie that made me think it might be worth watching.
Warning: there is a major spoiler at the end of my review! If you haven't seen the movie, you may want to stop reading now.
I remember Barbie as a stick-thin plastic doll with a vacous, painted smile and rigid plastic feet that would only fit into high heels. Even then, the sexism was obvious to me. She was meant to be a sex symbol with a glamourus lifestyle, the sort of lifestyle every young girl was supposed to want when she grew up. Sorry, Mattel, your 'every girl' wasn't me. First, I hate pink. Second, I was always more of a tomboy, a rugged outdoorsy person who had little desire for flashy, sexy clothes and all the toys and bling that go with Barbie's materialistic capitalist lifestyle.
And here was the movie confessing all that. And showing how 'woke' Barbie now was. There were Barbies in wheelchairs, Barbie with hair other than blonde and skin other than white, plus-sized Barbies, Barbie doctors, lawyers, judges and even a Barbie president. It seems like the movie was sweeping under the rug the fact that although Barbie first hit the toy store shelves in 1959, the first Black Barbie didn't debut until 1980, and the first CEO Barbie came along in 1985. Hmmm...was that enough for me to forgive Barbie and Mattel for the previous years? I found myself rolling my eyes.
It went further. It showed how dominated by male chauvinism the company was in the real world, without a single woman in the higher ranks, despite Barbie having been invented by a woman.
Of course, all this gets fixed by the end of the movie, but the REAL surprise was the last scene. Barbie, now a real, live woman, not a doll, walks into a multi-story office building, which I assumed was Mattel headquarters. Much to my shock, at the reception desk, she says she's there to see her gynecologist.
The initial scene of the movie shows young girls smashing their baby dolls once Barbie came on the scene. Of course, I understood why they were doing that - Barbie finally delivered the message that little girls could grow up to be more than just mothers. And throughout her 64 years of existence, never once, that I'm aware, has Barbie been shown in the role of a mother. But here's the movie concluding by confessing yes, being a mother IS an important part of being a woman. And Barbie is more than a jet-setting playgirl. She can be a mom, too. And as Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler, showed Barbie mothers and families are very important.
Yeah, not the message I was expecting from the Barbie movie!
But I still hate pink...
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Others commented on how Episode 5 of WandaVision was a real eye-opener. I skipped forward to Episode 4, and am now thoroughly hooked, and feeling a great deal of sympathy for Wanda and Vison. 
Yeah, I know what it's like to lose people you love...
Yeah, I know what it's like to lose people you love...
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Yeah, I was gonna say stick with WandaVision. All is not what it seems.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I haven't finished WandaVision, but that was me, not the show. I should go back.
Sunny, I'm sure you know by now that every episode is in the style of a TV show from a certain decade, and it's all very clever.
Sunny, I'm sure you know by now that every episode is in the style of a TV show from a certain decade, and it's all very clever.
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Yes, I realized that even without watching the episodes!
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
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narya
- chocolate bearer
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- Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:27 am
- Location: Wishing I could be beachcombing, or hiking, or dragon boating
- Contact:
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I just watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Watch it - it's great! This movie is mostly starring strong black women instead of the usual preponderance of white guys, though there is that one token/Tolkien white guy - Martin Freeman. They are acting thoughtfully (usually) and not resorting to violence as the first step (usually) and it is so refreshing! Clearly, everyone in the movie, and the people who made the movie, sorely missed Chadwick Boseman, but the movie gave tribute, then went on without him. It was good space opera. (Well, it has futuristic ships, and lengthy conversations, and it's on the planet Earth, which is, you know, in space, so I can call it space opera. )
)In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Both Black Panther movies were very good. And I love the way both of them featured strong women! Suri is a real hoot, too! I loved her from the moment she gave her older brother the finger in the opening scene of the first movie!
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I am watching the Dial of Destiny. You'd think after all these years, Indy would have figured out that, when he and the Nazis are searching for an ancient artifact of unimaginable power, the best way to keep it out of the Nazi hands is to stop looking. They are never going to find it by themselves.
A nice concept, though - the Nazi wants to go back in time so he can
A nice concept, though - the Nazi wants to go back in time so he can
Hidden text.
. A very silly movie, otherwise.
Last edited by Frelga on Mon Sep 23, 2024 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
When you spend the movie saying "I don't know how this works but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that."
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal