a little late but thanks 
_The Virtuoso
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss. _
pretty cool movie. action/thriller around organized crime and assassinations.
Speaking of Steve McQueen, I just received a new blu-ray print of “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968). The movie was a big risk for both McQueen (who had just done “The Cincinnati Kid,” “Nevada Smith,” and “The Sand Pebbles”) and Dunaway (who had just rocketed to stardom in “Bonnie and Clyde”). McQueen’s wife wanted him to be in a film where he wore a suit, and McQueen liked the character, as well as the prospect of working with director Norman Jewison again, after their good working relationship in “The Cincinnati Kid.”
The screenplay was written by a lawyer from Boston named Alan Trustman, who sent his idea for a story to Jewison. Trustman’s law office overlooked the First Bank of Boston, where Trustman had worked for a summer. Trustman used his knowledge of bank procedures to imagine a well-educated Boston multi-millionaire who concocts a scheme to carry out the “perfect crime,” in which a bank is robbed by five men who don’t know each other and don’t meet until the day of the crime. Trustman wanted Sean Connery to play the lead role, but Jewison and the producers had McQueen in mind. Trustman didn’t think McQueen was right for the role, based on his previous film roles, but he spent a week of long days re-writing the script to better suit the strengths and weaknesses of McQueen’s acting abilities. McQueen is reported to have liked the re-write and to have commented on how the screenwriter seemed to know him well. Trustman went on to write the screenplay for “Bullitt,” and also a few other movies.
The music, written by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, is perfect for the film, with the song “Windmills of Your Mind” being featured (sung by Nigel Harrison, Rex Harrison’s son). The combining of multiple scenes shown at the same time on the screen was innovative for the day, even though it seems dated now. All in all, this film is even by today’s standards wonderfully made with a huge emphasis on style and mood that was also uncommon at the time it was released. Jewison has said that the style in the movie was at least as rich as the substance. I much prefer the ending of this version, which was also innovative for the time, to the ending of the later version.
If I did watch Top Gun (1986) from start to finish back in the day it faded from memory. I do recall Jet Fighters being the apex of cool though, and a Jet Fighter Pilot being one of the ultimate careers. Who could forget the soundtrack. The pilots inspired by Top Gun were sadly unlikely to be involved in any honourable military conflicts.
I reconnected with the film first as a fan of Howard Faltermeyer (German synth composer). I knew it would be pro-military as it had their support (as opposed to Platoon). Director Tony Scott was apparently part of a wave of Britons who learned their craft via television commercials. Kelly McGillis comes across as having brains and beauty, it was sad to learn that she was raped a few years before starring in this film and fell victim to alcoholism.
I originally preferred the version of the Top Gun theme with guitar, but now I prefer the atmospherics of the synth-only version.
Top Gun 2 was shelved when Tony Scott died but now I see that they’ve made a Top Gun 2 anyway!
Mainstream (2020)
In this cautionary tale, three people struggle to preserve their identities as they form an eccentric love triangle within the fast-moving internet age.
thought the movie was average, not that great.
Nomadland (2020)
Enjoyed it a lot. Excellent, quiet slice-of-life drama about the lives of people who take to the road for various reasons, living in RV’s and trailers as they move around the western USA hunting for seasonal work. Great performances by Frances McDormand and David Strathairn, as well as all of the real nomads featured in the movie. The direction and cinematography focus the viewer on the details, both beautiful and ugly, at an unhurried pace. Several interesting themes are touched on, including the many reasons people feel uprooted or unmoored in our current world, the nature of companionship and community, the details of what it takes to live on the road, and the nature of loneliness and the limits of independence.
Watching Papillon is exhausting, but it’s oh so good. Great appearance by Anthony Zerbe.
Just watched The Vault.
A heist flick like Oceans 11.
Liked it a lot. Tech bogusity as expected in these things.
Recommend.
All the Best,
Jeff
Haven’t had much free time at all to watch a movie (vs having something on teevee in the background that I probably saw a bunch of times before), but did catch some shorts.
First up was “Yes, God, Yes”, the 2017 short, not the 2019 full-length movie. No wonder nothing made sense goggling for it, as everything was pointing to the full movie.
Anyway, it was cute, a “coming <coff!> of age” flick about the main chickie (Natalia Dyer) discovering naughty pleasure despite all the brainwashing she’d been subjected to at school and probably at home, too (ie, that everything’s a sin).
The priest’s screensaver was a hoot!
Pretty interesting, some good laffs, I’d give it a thumbs-up.
Next up was “Hotel Chevalier”. One word: w…t…f???
Even after goggling it, it makes no sense to me. Apparently it’s a sort of short prequel to “The Darjeeling Limited”. Uhhh, oooookay, never saw it, and if it’s anything like HC, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to. It’s rated 7.3, reviews say it’s a monument to Wes Anderson’s genius, but I’m still all “wtf???”. I’d rather watch something from Wes Craven than Wes Anderson.
I get it, “slice of life” flix don’t always have a beginning, middle, and end, but this was like a 10min SOL that just didn’t make any sense.
On the plus side, you get to kindasorta see Natalie Portman all nuded up, ’though in her “V For Vendetta” ’do somewhat grown-out.
And here she’s covered in bruises. You can see them almost right from her first appearance, moreso when all nekkid, the dewd even asks her about them, she never answers, and that’s the end of that. And apparently in TDU she makes a cameo, so I’m guessing no bruises are explained away in a brief cameo, either. So… why??
Yeah, and we’re back to “wtf??”.
But the crappy song that was playing over and over and over on his Ipod or whatever, loud enough to drown out dialogue, and after about 30sec felt like a worm burrowing through my brain, I really wish I never even heard at all. It was that annoying.
So if you want to see some more of NP than in her other flix, have at it. Just turn down the sound. Or just fast-forward to that part and play it in slo-mo. Otherwise, at least in my opinion, there’s zero reason to watch it.
Ugh.
A shy teenager falls for a spirit who wakes up in the body of a different person every morning.
211 : 211 (2018) - IMDb
I was expecting a fairly brain dead movie, it was, but the ending was extraordinarily stupid.
Just watched “Cosmic Sin” With Bruce Willis.
The title is right on. This movie was a cosmic sin in every sense of the title.
There’s 90m I’m never getting back.
Guess Bruce needs boat payments. Movie starts out with “shaky cam” Which I hate if not done for good effect. And reverts to it at various times during the flick.
I think the most telling part of the movie is when the fighters are in a military base.
Suddenly one of the characters is talking to a little girl in the military base. No idea how she gets there or how she gets found. The lighting for the girl and the actor are different like they were patched together. Like it was edited in as an after thought. A few minutes of dialogue not related to anything. Then never seen again.
It looks like one of the production money folks wanted a granddaughter in the film or they were pulling the plug. And so, there it is.
Best avoid this one…
All the Best,
Jeff
WRATH OF MAN (2021)
The plot follows H, a cold and mysterious character working at a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week.
I really liked this movie, I recommend you watch it if you like action flicks.
Greenland
It was extremely good. Surprisingly well-written and realistic for an epic disaster flick. The characters acted intelligently and realistically and there were no obvious plot holes.
I loved Greenland back when it came out. thought it was one of the better disaster movies, normally they are unrealistic or hilarious. This one was actually good.
Saw that a long time ago, not bad.
She (AP) was the voice of The Grumpy Cat, too.