On Cary Grant - saw ‘Seconds’ recently. Worthwhile.
[My bad - it was Rock Hudson. Dang me!]
Just saw 2014’s Paddington. Very endearing, felt very authentic. While I’m not British, I did grow up reading some Paddington Bear books and the movie was quite wholesome and well done. I heard the sequel was as good/better, so I’m looking forward to seeing that one too.
I can recommend little-known dystopian film Harrison Bergeron with Sam from Lord of the Rings.
Interesting, and I never heard of it before. <gasp!>
I am “borrowing” a copy right now.
That was based on an old SciFi short story from long ago.
The story was excellent. Basically anyone who was above average was fitted with various devices to dumb them down or limit their athletic abilities.
In the end the superior couple was terminated by the government for being too smart and athletic.
Maybe also a short flick staring Brian Dennehy with the same theme at some time or other. No sure if this is a real memory or a CRC error memory.
Shades of things to come here?
All the Best,
Jeff
Boss Level 2021 on Hulu
More fun that Free Guy. There’s some actual creativity at work here and they do some fun things with their core concept. The main character exists in a time loop that resets when bounty hunters kill him for reasons unknown.
It’s hampered by some weird choices:
- Certain visuals suggest the main character is in a videogame. I think the filmmakers just wanted to play with game-like concepts but they thought the audience was too stupid to “get it” without help? Or maybe it was supposed to take place in a game but they changed their minds? I’m interested in hearing other opinions on this.
- There’s a stupid example of swords beating guns. An enemy with a sword runs down an open hall towards the main character who has a fully automatic firearm. She doesn’t use of cover and at all in the scene and there’s no way he would miss given his established marksmanship. I’d have been OK with even a bad explanation (like in Equilibrium) but there is no explanation for why she succeeds. In fact, the main character has to learn to use swords in order to beat the sword master! As if he wouldn’t be able to shoot her even with foreknowledge of her intentions. STUPID
- The movie explicitly clarifies that the swords used are not Katanas but rather Chinese swords. It feels like blatant pandering to the Chinese market. There’s nothing wrong with using something besides a Katana, it’s the weird way they stopped and explained it that’s the problem.
- There’s scene where the movie practically pauses for a moment to say basically “anti-semitism is bad”. It just felt weird, like the writers were trying to speak to someone in the film industry whose good side they wanted to be on—very forced.
If you have Hulu and just need an action-y popcorn flick I’d recommend this film. Might be best to watch with friends/family and a drink in hand. Just don’t expect too much and you probably won’t be disappointed.
Harrison Bergeron…yes, the book beats the movie.
thanks for posting. trip down memory lane.
anyway….
latest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Sun\_(film)
movie implausablity with LOTS of movie STARS.
essentially, it actually is a good movie.
PIG (2021)
This is a quiet little drama. Seems like Nic Cage gave 110% to this one—I forgot I was watching a Nic Cage movie. I think it’s pretty good. :+1:
I’m a fan of the original Matrix trilogy (1st best, diminished after that). I’d seen rather mixed reviews about this “revisit.” Suddenly it popped up for free streaming on HBOMax. Decided to give it a shot.
Well, it’s an interesting premise. As for execution though… I don’t think it’s very good. There’s a LOT of stretching & reaching. Keanu Reeves looks half-asleep throughout the whole thing. “Whaaaaat?” is a common one-liner from him.
I wouldn’t pay to watch this. Not hopeful on a sequel to this alternate-Matrix thing.
watched Master and Commander
.
.
.
.
again.
I liked this one, also.
Recently saw Don’t Look Up.
It’s kind of like Idiocracy (which I enjoy parts of) but the humor isn’t right on the surface.
I’d call it a dark comedy, but the kind that makes you groan instead of laugh because it rings so true about people and their nature.
Just grabbed the uncut version of “Revolver” and plan to rewatch it.
RIP, Ray…
“Make sure you like and subscribe”
Good flick.
RIP Ray…
He was a Goodfella… 
I’m a fairly big fan of Guy Richie but I haven’t seen that one due to bad word-of-mouth. Is it actually decent?
Yes and no. This is confusing…
The version I saw first was apparently butchered, like the entire end (elevator scene, etc.) was COMPLETELY REMOVED, and then it jumped to the end scene just before the credits rolled. My reaction was “wtf?!?”, and thought yeah, the movie sucked.
I only later found snippets of the missing scenes, and from memory pieced it together, and it put a new spin on the movie, and a bunch of things finally clicked into place. “Aaaah, this might’ve been really really goof, with all the loose ends being tied up nicely.”
I used the analogy of watching “The Wizard Of Oz” and having the whole “There’s no place like home” and subsequent bedroom scene and happy ending (okay, that all sounds weird…) being butchered out, and then the credits roll. Like, “wtf??”, right? Then you see the complete end, and it all makes much more sense.
So I looked around for the uncut version out there, and am gonna watch that hopefully tonight.
And apparently, there are at least 2 versions, the “release” version, and the “uncut” version. IMDB lists it as 1:52 or something, no breakdown of, say, “theatrical release”, “director’s cut”, “uncut”, etc., with the different runtimes, as I’ve seen plenty of times for other movies.
Oh interesting. I bet the MPAA vetoed some scenes :person_facepalming: . I’m going to see if I can find a Region A or Region Free Blu-ray with the full cut. Besides Swept Away it’s the only Guy Richie film I haven’t seen—unless you count Operation Fortune which was mysteriously pulled from the release schedule this Spring. (I think it was related to the STX Entertainment acquisition)