Last Movie You Watched.

CRISIS
Decent thriller/social drama with three parallell storylines, of which two merge eventually, with focus on the opioid business, both legal and illegal. Maybe some think the pharmaceutical industry is as corrupt and cynical in reality as in this movie. They are not, they are way worse.

Phantom Commander wrote:

CRISIS
Decent thriller/social drama with three parallell storylines, of which two merge eventually, with focus on the opioid business, both legal and illegal. Maybe some think the pharmaceutical industry is as corrupt and cynical in reality as in this movie. They are not, they are way worse.

Ah. Is it fiction, or is it a documentary?

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

CRISIS
Decent thriller/social drama with three parallell storylines, of which two merge eventually, with focus on the opioid business, both legal and illegal. Maybe some think the pharmaceutical industry is as corrupt and cynical in reality as in this movie. They are not, they are way worse.

Ah. Is it fiction, or is it a documentary?

2021 movie with Gary Oldman and Armie Hammer in two of the main roles.

today:
LARGO WINCH
French action thriller based on the Belgian comics of the same name by Van Hamme and Francq. Well made for sure. Not fantastic, but worth a watch.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: GHOST DIMENSION
Picks up the thread after the previous. Good job with tying everything together while doing something different yet still the same. Of the horror movies in the "found footage" genre, I think this series is the best. And here is a fun video:

Capricorn One - one from maybe what you could call the wilder end of the post-Watergate 70s paranoid/conspiracy thriller 'boom', this concerns the faking of the first manned NASA mission to Mars (to save face (and the space programme in general) ) due to a late-discovered technical fault that would have killed the crew), and then the authorities' efforts to kill the astronauts (and others) to ensure their silence after they go on the run when they've 'returned to Earth'. Great cast including James Brolin, Sam Waterson, Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas and erm, OJ Simpson. Enjoyable Jerry Goldsmith score, too.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Capricorn One - one from maybe what you could call the wilder end of the post-Watergate 70s paranoid/conspiracy thriller 'boom', this concerns the faking of the first manned NASA mission to Mars (to save face (and the space programme in general) ) due to a late-discovered technical fault that would have killed the crew), and then the authorities' efforts to kill the astronauts (and others) to ensure their silence after they go on the run when they've 'returned to Earth'. Great cast including James Brolin, Sam Waterson, Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas and erm, OJ Simpson. Enjoyable Jerry Goldsmith score, too.  

Man, is that absolutely redolent of the 70s, or what? I think I need to see it.

ETERNALS

Not among the worst Marvel movies, and most of those have come out the last few years, but nothing I want to add to my collection either. My reaction to this was mixed. I am not familiar with the Kirby comics, so I cannot comment on how this compares.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Capricorn One - one from maybe what you could call the wilder end of the post-Watergate 70s paranoid/conspiracy thriller 'boom', this concerns the faking of the first manned NASA mission to Mars (to save face (and the space programme in general) ) due to a late-discovered technical fault that would have killed the crew), and then the authorities' efforts to kill the astronauts (and others) to ensure their silence after they go on the run when they've 'returned to Earth'. Great cast including James Brolin, Sam Waterson, Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas and erm, OJ Simpson. Enjoyable Jerry Goldsmith score, too.  

Man, is that absolutely redolent of the 70s, or what? I think I need to see it.

If you can roll with some of its madder plotting I think you'd enjoy it, Khanners.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Capricorn One - one from maybe what you could call the wilder end of the post-Watergate 70s paranoid/conspiracy thriller 'boom', this concerns the faking of the first manned NASA mission to Mars (to save face (and the space programme in general) ) due to a late-discovered technical fault that would have killed the crew), and then the authorities' efforts to kill the astronauts (and others) to ensure their silence after they go on the run when they've 'returned to Earth'. Great cast including James Brolin, Sam Waterson, Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas and erm, OJ Simpson. Enjoyable Jerry Goldsmith score, too.  

Man, is that absolutely redolent of the 70s, or what? I think I need to see it.

If you can roll with some of its madder plotting I think you'd enjoy it, Khanners.

I guess this may define 'guilty pleasure' best for me. I actually saw it on consecutive days the weekend it first came out, so obviously I found it utterly thrilling (that was true for BREAKHEART PASS, BREAKOUT and TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING as well, all featuring Goldsmith scores.) Wasn't till about the third or fourth time that I started noticing that continuity-wise, the film is an utter nightmare, where they use cutaways to constrict or expand time in ways that just don't bear any scrutiny at all. And there are some more overt problems in the storytelling too, and yet for once I didn't care.

I mention them only really as quibbles; this movie is fun Fun FUN, with some really nice stunt flying. Made me into a big Sam Waterston fan decades before he did the 'when the metal ones come for you' on SNL.

An odd memory; A couple years after it came out, a theater opened in Milpitas California and they had a big triple feature playing: LOGAN'S RUN, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and CAPRICORN ONE. I think it is the last time I saw a whole triple bill of anything, but what was really interesting to me was that this heavy SciFi crowd, while alternately cheering and groaning at LOGAN'S RUN (I was mainly still with the groaning) and bored with SPY, were absolutely electrified by CAPRICORN (I assume they managed to miss it first run.) When Brolin breaks into a desperate run at a key moment, the ceiling practically blew off the place, there was wild and sustained applause and cheering. I gotta say, if I were the filmmaker, I couldn't have wished for a better response.

TERNET NINJA 2

Fun, Danish animation. The villain is no less than a child murderer.

To Live And Die In L.A. - William Friedkin co-writes and directs this 80s action thriller with William Petersen and John Pankow on the trail of ruthless counterfeiter Willem Dafoe (must say, him NOT being a coke dealer is a refreshing change for the particular genre and time period). It's kinda like Friedkin doing a West Coast version of The French Connection (even down to its very own heart-in-mouth car chase), retaining that movie's cynicism and toughness ... but it also has an undeniable Miami Vice-esque gloss.

John Turturro and Dean Stockwell also feature in the cast.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

To Live And Die In L.A. - William Friedkin co-writes and directs this 80s action thriller with William Petersen and John Pankow on the trail of ruthless counterfeiter Willem Dafoe (must say, him NOT being a coke dealer is a refreshing change for the particular genre and time period). It's kinda like Friedkin doing a West Coast version of The French Connection (even down to its very own heart-in-mouth car chase), retaining that movie's cynicism and toughness ... but it also has an undeniable Miami Vice-esque gloss.

John Turturro and Dean Stockwell also feature in the cast.

For some reason--God only knows why--I often confuse this film with Less than Zero.

Odd - about the only connection I can fathom is that Robert Downey Sr. is in To Live And Die In L.A. and Jr. is in Less Than Zero.

Master And Commander : The Far Side Of The World - mighty fine Napoleonic Wars seafaring drama drawn from Patrick O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey novels (which, considering there are 20 of them, makes this feel very much like it was meant as a franchise starter but it only being a moderate success put paid to that ... when it came to 'Captain Jacks' in 2003, people preferred Sparrow to Aubrey). The ship battles are thrillingly staged and a long-term 'life on board' is convincingly portrayed, in both its highs and lows. Russell Crowe's gruff charm is put to good use as Aubrey, while Paul Bettany makes for a good foil as his friend and ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. Allegedly a prequel began development in 2021 ... wonder will that ever see the light of day (did find myself reflecting that if Master And Commander had been a 2020s production it being made with a cast made up of predominantly white males would be unlikely, even though same is probably historically accurate).

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Master And Commander : The Far Side Of The World - mighty fine Napoleonic Wars seafaring drama drawn from Patrick O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey novels (which, considering there are 20 of them, makes this feel very much like it was meant as a franchise starter but it only being a moderate success put paid to that ... when it came to 'Captain Jacks' in 2003, people preferred Sparrow to Aubrey). The ship battles are thrillingly staged and a long-term 'life on board' is convincingly portrayed, in both its highs and lows. Russell Crowe's gruff charm is put to good use as Aubrey, while Paul Bettany makes for a good foil as his friend and ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. Allegedly a prequel began development in 2021 ... wonder will that ever see the light of day (did find myself reflecting that if Master And Commander had been a 2020s production it being made with a cast made up of predominantly white males would be unlikely, even though same is probably historically accurate).    

Saw M&C for first time myself just a year or so back and really enjoyed it, despite Crowe looking a bit Elton John like in the face throughout.

Watched the Criterion blu of DEEP COVER last night and it was as fully enjoyable as ever. Color saturation is out of sight (no pun intended), just like original theatrical experience, and I still think it is Goldblum's best work by far. Even watched the interview with Duke and Fish, which was entertaining, though Duke looked very unhealthy, like he'd lost all his muscle or something. Think I may rewatch soon just for commentary, as he seems to be happy to impart how he works with actors as well as the usual 'what lens did we pick here' stuff.

Cocaine Bear - gory comedy-horror loosely based on this real-life story -

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cocaine-bear-true-story-b2287813.html

When an animal that's already an apex predator ingests several pounds of 'the Devil's dandruff' ... well, let's just say things don't end well for most of the people who encounter it. Darkly amusing stuff, directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich and (in one of his last roles) Ray Liotta.

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ

I saw this in a cinema rerun in the 80s and liked it back then. Now however I find it rather poor, cliche-ridden, pointless and uninteresting.

Phantom Commander wrote:

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ

I saw this in a cinema rerun in the 80s and liked it back then. Now however I find it rather poor, cliche-ridden, pointless and uninteresting.

I saw it when the film first opened and found it very lifeless and uninteresting, and the McGoohan casting came off more as a stunt than anything useful. But I watched it a few years back and found the sedate pacing more than okay, and actually really liked it, especially recognizing so many character actors who went on to others things.

Saw the Frankenheimer MANCHURIAN again and still find it very compelling (though the train scene with Janet Leigh still seems like a hugely misleading bit -- which is probably why that character turns out to be a whole different animal in the remake.)

But it got to me thinking about other films of the period, and I started imagining what if Frankenheimer had made a different movie that year, like, say, THE BIRDS? Makes me think there might be a cute clver book that could be called UNHITCHED or WITHOUT A HITCH, where we imagine Hitchcock films made by other directors, like (for perversity's sake) Frank Capra's MARNIE or (more on point) Douglas Sirk's VERTIGO. Would probably need a real Hitchcock scholar to work this out in detail, but a book full of well-researched speculative essays along these lines could be a lot of fun.

trevanian, so we had the opposite changes of view. Interesting.

A TIME TO KILL

These courtroom dramas are a genre of their own. The set-up for this one is really unsettling, and as it went along I was not bored, but sometimes found the dialogue forced and the directing poor. Still better than the Batman films Schumacher did around the time. Maybe he should stick to making shoes.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Master And Commander : The Far Side Of The World - mighty fine Napoleonic Wars seafaring drama drawn from Patrick O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey novels (which, considering there are 20 of them, makes this feel very much like it was meant as a franchise starter but it only being a moderate success put paid to that ... when it came to 'Captain Jacks' in 2003, people preferred Sparrow to Aubrey). The ship battles are thrillingly staged and a long-term 'life on board' is convincingly portrayed, in both its highs and lows. Russell Crowe's gruff charm is put to good use as Aubrey, while Paul Bettany makes for a good foil as his friend and ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. Allegedly a prequel began development in 2021 ... wonder will that ever see the light of day (did find myself reflecting that if Master And Commander had been a 2020s production it being made with a cast made up of predominantly white males would be unlikely, even though same is probably historically accurate).    

One of the most underrated movies of the last quarter-century. Great cast portraying flawed but heroic men. Music, cinematography, writing, action all superb.

Wouldn’t get made today even with a “diverse” cast given it’d still be painted as supporting Bri’ish imperialism innit.

No Way Out - late 80s thriller with Kevin Costner as a 'rising star' in US Naval Intelligence who gets recruited by the Secretary Of Defense (Gene Hackman) as a liasion between his office and the various intelligence agencies. Things get very awkward indeed for Costner when the Secretary accidentally kills his mistress (Sean Young) in a fight, because he was seeing her as well and had left her house shortly before the accident - him and the Secretary spot each other, but Costner's face is obscured by shadows. Seeking to pin his mistress' death on the 'mystery man', the Secretary launches a manhunt for him under the guise of trying to find 'Yuri' (a suspected Soviet mole within the intelligence services).

Well-paced, with a plot that twists and turns but never loses you and with a cast of stalwart supporting actors that includes Fred Dalton Thompson, George Dzunda and (in a great 'slimy little shit' turn as the Secretary's aide) Will Patton, this is a good 'un. It also has a twist ending that knocked me for six the first time I saw it (mind you, I was only about sixteen at the time).

PHANTOM THREAD. This is the first movie from this director I've seen in decades, though I enjoyed HARD 8 and BOOGIE NIGHTS (the thing he did with Sandler really didn't work for me.)

Anyways, on to the musings ... this looks very nice most of the time. The score is 'on' almost constantly, which was a bit annoying, but then I saw how it made the limited use of sound effects alone in one scene that much more impactful. I loved the main character's car (also seen in AN EDUCATION, according to my research.) I think may-be this should be a double bill with SECRETARY, which I also wasn't too sure about the first time through. Am going to give this another go in six months and see if it all clicks into place next time, or if I can firmly declare it is a miss for me.

oh yeah, the camera tests on the extras are actually quite informative if you listen to the commentary version. Yeah, I definitely don't know what to make of this movie yet. Watched about 20 min of MOONRAKER (liftoff and 'lazer' battle) and the climactic 10min of the first V miniseries afterwards, just to sort of give me equilibrium before bed.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

No Way Out - late 80s thriller with Kevin Costner as a 'rising star' in US Naval Intelligence who gets recruited by the Secretary Of Defense (Gene Hackman) as a liasion between his office and the various intelligence agencies. Things get very awkward indeed for Costner when the Secretary accidentally kills his mistress (Sean Young) in a fight, because he was seeing her as well and had left her house shortly before the accident - him and the Secretary spot each other, but Costner's face is obscured by shadows. Seeking to pin his mistress' death on the 'mystery man', the Secretary launches a manhunt for him under the guise of trying to find 'Yuri' (a suspected Soviet mole within the intelligence services).

Well-paced, with a plot that twists and turns but never loses you and with a cast of stalwart supporting actors that includes Fred Dalton Thompson, George Dzunda and (in a great 'slimy little shit' turn as the Secretary's aide) Will Patton, this is a good 'un. It also has a twist ending that knocked me for six the first time I saw it (mind you, I was only about sixteen at the time).

I remember seeing this in the cinema. Have not seen it since, but I remember it as a pretty good one.

KADAVER


Norwegian horror drama set in a post-apocalyptic time. Not bad at all, but maybe a bit too weird.

trevanian wrote:

PHANTOM THREAD. This is the first movie from this director I've seen in decades, though I enjoyed HARD 8 and BOOGIE NIGHTS (the thing he did with Sandler really didn't work for me.)

Anyways, on to the musings ... this looks very nice most of the time. The score is 'on' almost constantly, which was a bit annoying, but then I saw how it made the limited use of sound effects alone in one scene that much more impactful. I loved the main character's car (also seen in AN EDUCATION, according to my research.) I think may-be this should be a double bill with SECRETARY, which I also wasn't too sure about the first time through. Am going to give this another go in six months and see if it all clicks into place next time, or if I can firmly declare it is a miss for me.

oh yeah, the camera tests on the extras are actually quite informative if you listen to the commentary version. Yeah, I definitely don't know what to make of this movie yet. Watched about 20 min of MOONRAKER (liftoff and 'lazer' battle) and the climactic 10min of the first V miniseries afterwards, just to sort of give me equilibrium before bed.  

Saw that in the theater on release.

Remembering thinking it was kinda bland, honestly.

THE WONDER
A bit different, and a good one. An English nurse (Florence Pugh) is sent to Ireland in 1862 to supervise a young girl who has not eaten for four months. The way the story unravels has just the right pace to keep it interesting.