What are you watching (movies)?

[Ceewan]

Watching some older classics lately: Clue one of the funniest and best movie adaptations of any board game. Starring Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, Leslie Ann Warren, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, Michael McKean and Tim Curry. What a cast. There were three different endings to this movie, originally a different one was shown in each theatre (all are shown on the Blueray though).

Watched a couple of Mel Brooks movies, High Anxiety, Spaceballs and Young Frakenstein...all winners. I capped of the movie fest with Cheap Detective, one of Peter Falks lesser known performances and well worth the laughs. Thought I would get these in while I can as life takes a very busy turn and you lucky souls will be seeing less of me for awhile. (no applause you bastards, ya know I got nothing but luv for ya).

 

[Ceewan]

Finally saw Hardcore Henry....a fucking masterpiece. If you like action packed violent movies that is....and I do. Original....it was like being in a video game.

 

[Ceewan]

Finished watching The Nice Guys with Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling and the young Angourie Rice. I didn't know they still made movies like that. Good one. I'd give it two thumbs up but who does that? Try it in the mirror. You look like an idiot don't you? Good movie either way though, thumbs or no thumbs.

 

[Ceewan]

Its' like no one watches movies nowadays....


So I have been plagued with sorting out technical difficulties the last week or so which has left me twiddling my thumbs a bit as I put my life on hold while those issues are resloved. Annoying. So I passed some of my time watching a film or two.

It Follows (2014) was a nicely done indie horror film. Love a good horror film. Starring nobody all that special; Maika Monroe is probably the only name that has done appearances in major movies. If you like horror, give this one a go.

Followed that with the classic Jaws (1975), one of the greatest blockbusters of all time and the one that launched Spielbergs career. Love that movie, worth watching every few years at least. The backstory on the film and script makes for great reading too as much of the script was rewritten pretty much on the day before filming with the main actors involved and adlibs were often adopted as part of the script. Speilberg was pretty much a nobody at the time with mostly just a few tv shows on them with his name as director. He wrote his own ticket after this and went on to direct his next four films "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "1941", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "ET the Extra-Terrestrial" forever marking him a legend as a director.

 

[hawtdawg]

The Face of Marble (1946) w/ the late, great John Carradine. Lots of fun in a campy, B movie vein.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038514/
Pic for great justice.

 

[Ceewan]

Loved John Carradine, he just got better with age. He will be missed.


Been on a movie kick lately, guess I needed a break from anime. Saw what was "probably" Kurt Russells' greatest movie (he had so many greats though); 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001). What an all-star cast that one had. Kevin Costner, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Christian Slater, Ice T, Howie Long, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Pollack and of course.....Kurt Russell. If you have never seen it, then find it, watch it, thank me later.

Kurt Russell was a born actor, starting acting in film when he was 9 years old and appeared in a film with Elvis when he was 10. Thee Walt Disney, the man himself, signed the child known as Kurt Russell to a contract. He has appeared in movies with a who's who of directors and stars. One of the last of the "real men" in hollywood. He also has one of the greatest love stories of all time in Hollwood with his long and endearing relationship with Goldie Hawn (they finally recently got engaged after being together for over 30 years).

 

[Ceewan]

The last two movies I saw (not much time to watch now as life has finally gotten on a roll) were:

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Another of my favorites and I think one his best. In true hollywood fashion they mangled the story derived from the manga but they did do so in spectactular fashion. Cruise amazingly did all his own stunts in the film....at 53 years of age mind you..... the director said: "he could make a living at it" (imagine that). Just a great fast paced action film with moments of good humor (most it very dark but funny). That armor they wear in the movie, not plastic, weighed 85 lbs., Emily Blunt was not thrilled in working in that but she did.


The other movie was 3:10 to Yuma (2007) the last great western that I have seen and a good story to boot. Stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. They don't make many good westerns anymore, they can't, because hollywood doesn't want to be reminded of what makes up a man. In the wild wild west a man could be defined by his grit. It was cold lead and steel balls back then and a skirt was something you chased not something a man wore. I am not hating on gays or women, that is just how things were. A western don't reflect that, it ain't much of a western.

 

[Ceewan]

Finally saw The Hateful Eight and the The Revenant. Poor excuses for westerns, more "period" pieces. Not sure how The Revenant ended up with Oscars but that whole process has been curropt and full of politics for some years now so I stopped following it. Neither movie was all that great and I wouldn't suggest either one. Jeremiah Johnson (1971) was a better movie than either so if you want to watch a period piece you might try that one, (it is also considered a western for some reason), although it didn't win any Oscars it at least deserved some. One of Robert Redfords better efforts too and a fine job by director Sydney Pollack and co-star Will Geer.

 

[EzikialRage]

I saw the Hateful eight the other day. Didn't really care for it.It seems part of the film they were traveling by horse carriage and the rest of it they spent their time in a haberdashery. It didn't seem to have a western vibe to it and I think most of that story could have been done in any time period. Not anywhere near as good as Quentin Tarantino's other western Jango Unchained.


War Dog.It was alright movie. I doubt it's authenticity seeing how it is based on a Rolling Stone article.

Suicide Squad. Pretty good movie. Hopefully there is another sequel. I did like this version of the Joker. Of course its not as good as Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker. That

 

[EzikialRage]

Teenage mutant ninja turtles out of the shadows. I liked it.It sort of had that 1980s TMNT cartoon feel to it with Krang,Bebop and Rocksteady.

X-men Apocalypse. It was okay. One of the things people should remember about Marvel and DC comics is that stories get retconned alot.This probably due to the fact that many of those comic book characters been around since the 1940s. So no one should be alarmed that the films based on those comics are not necessarily faithful to the source material or the films use material from different continuities. So in a way its like watching a new story.

 

[EzikialRage]

The Do-over. I like Adam Sandler movies. I laughed my ass off.

Captain America Civil war. I enjoyed it,but I didn't think it was good as the previous two Captain America movies.

 

[Ceewan]

X-men Apocalypse. It was okay. One of the things people should remember about Marvel and DC comics is that stories get retconned alot.This probably due to the fact that many of those comic book characters been around since the 1940s. So no one should be alarmed that the films based on those comics are not necessarily faithful to the source material or the films use material from different continuities. So in a way its like watching a new story.

That is one way to look at it. Not the way I look at it but the way many do. I am not saying that the X-men or Marvel/DC movies are bad but with me, the way I look at it, you don't fuck with the source material. If it is a new story then create new characters and don't pretend to base it on something that someone else thought up, wrote and made a success of, and then shit all over it. I don't enjoy that when Hollyweird does that to a book I've read and I don't enjoy that when it comes to the comic genre. So I stopped watching those movies because I got tired of someone thinking they had to rewrite something that had already proven itself as a classic storyline. I didn't mind it so much with the Transformer movies awhile back because that was clearly a reimagining right from the start. I am not sure it was necessary but I could stand it. But I still have the first issue where Apocalypse appeared and that story started. It wasn't even a X-men story, it was a X-factor storyline that became so popular it bled into many different Marvel comics. Hollywood is just in it for the money but these were "serials", continually evolvling storylines. The right thing to do would have been to pay homage to them by telling them more or less the way they were first written. No one would have cared if they would have taken a little literary license if they had at least attempted to do that.


All that said, your reviews are much appreciated, thx for your effort and time.

 

[Ceewan]

Saw Close Range (2015) recently. A decent action flick but as a story it was pretty lame. Cute co-star in Madison Lawlor though.

 

[EzikialRage]

The New Ghost Busters movie. I don't think it deserved the hate it got.It was funny.The surviving original cast did make cameo appearances. Its a decent reboot.