Watched the latest Spiderman tonight, dug it!
The Last Movie You Watched?
- Thread starter TravelingMan82
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Batman, I love batman films, plus of course the Joker movie. Trying to get my partner to come and see the dark phone, but she hates horror movies.
Currently watching “The Halfway House”. A British black and white film from 1944 on the TV.
Spiderhead--I do not recommend.
Just watched this morning. Not a bad movie to fold laundry to.
No Time to Die
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The Gentlemen
In the last 3 days.
Highly recommend all three.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The Gentlemen
In the last 3 days.
Highly recommend all three.
Gave up on that one less than halfway through it. Sounded promising, big fail.
Rewatched the Guardians of the Galaxy movies with the kid. She loved them.
Just saw the new Elvis. Not bad. Luhrman is a bit like Welles on speed and it really only sheds light on those around the king and not the king himself.
I had been thinking of going to see it, but hadn't got around to check reviews or general buzz. After what you said, I checked in on IMDB (their ratings aren't to live or die by, but they are a fair indicator), and it was a 6.0. Ouch. I really hate the 'everything that has been done before, done again' Hollywoodism.
Top Gun, in preparation for Top Gun Maverick, which I'm hoping to see this coming week, presuming my back isn't giving me anymore trouble than it is currently.
I liked the first one a fair bit when it came out. I'm not a huge Cruise fan, but have liked him in a number of things over the years. Was a much bigger Anthony Edwards and Val Kilmer fan, actually. I still love the opening, it makes ground crews look to be the coolest guys alive. I probably wouldn't have bothered with the second one, but heard lots of good things by people that went in not expecting much. Also, going to the larger screen theater experience thingy that I've not gone to before (not IMAX, some other thing), and thought it would be a nice way to see fighter jets.
I liked the first one a fair bit when it came out. I'm not a huge Cruise fan, but have liked him in a number of things over the years. Was a much bigger Anthony Edwards and Val Kilmer fan, actually. I still love the opening, it makes ground crews look to be the coolest guys alive. I probably wouldn't have bothered with the second one, but heard lots of good things by people that went in not expecting much. Also, going to the larger screen theater experience thingy that I've not gone to before (not IMAX, some other thing), and thought it would be a nice way to see fighter jets.
Love and Monsters - pretty good comedy horror/monster film.
Got in a couple over the holiday weekend. Watched the '97 remake of Parent Trap with Lindsey Lohan with the kids and the nieces. The original is better.
Also watched (most) of Finding Dory with my youngest. I gotta hand it to Pixar - they can write a story.
I also started SpiderMan No Way Home. When I say started, I mean about 45minutes before I was called to do other things. That was 3 days ago. WHo knows when I'll get to finish it...
Also watched (most) of Finding Dory with my youngest. I gotta hand it to Pixar - they can write a story.
I also started SpiderMan No Way Home. When I say started, I mean about 45minutes before I was called to do other things. That was 3 days ago. WHo knows when I'll get to finish it...
The Black Phone--a very satisfying movie, nothing earth shattering but a good level of suspense, terror, creeps and some nice use of Pink Floyd in the soundtrack.
Really well done
I've started my run of Vietnam war movies...The Deer Hunter (1978)
Interesting. I really liked the 'slice of life' approach to the characters and their town, and the time they lived in'. I do think that some of the dialogue was a bit opaque. It's a nice change from major Hollywood now days being so ham-fisted and explaining everything, but I feel a bit more character context could be good.
I didn't mind the running time at all (3 hours). I didn't know this going in, and about 2/3rds through the wedding scene, I'm thinking 'but, they haven't even got to Vietnam yet', and then I noticed the running time.
Interesting. I really liked the 'slice of life' approach to the characters and their town, and the time they lived in'. I do think that some of the dialogue was a bit opaque. It's a nice change from major Hollywood now days being so ham-fisted and explaining everything, but I feel a bit more character context could be good.
I didn't mind the running time at all (3 hours). I didn't know this going in, and about 2/3rds through the wedding scene, I'm thinking 'but, they haven't even got to Vietnam yet', and then I noticed the running time.
I read a lot of opinions/criticisms/takes about it afterward, and found I was all over the place in terms of who I agreed with or not. I agree that the Russian Roulette scenes were not true to history, and yet worked very well symbolically, so, I sort of gave it a hand wave.
What bothered me more, was the messed up timeline. If you use the music to date things (which yes, isn't the most accurate way), then when they left, how long they were there, when they got back...doesn't easily add up well.
The music has them leave in 1967 ("I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"), and were there in1973 when Nick gets released from the hospital ("Last Train to Georgia"). Songs aren't reliable, but it is implied they enlisted and weren't drafted, which makes earlier seem to be likelier. Steve's injuries are healed and he has learned some skills, when in the hospital, and he says he has been receiving money from Saigon for months. He obviously was home for at least a few months before Mike. In a movie that doesn't dwell a lot on specific, direct dialogue, one of the times it happens, is when Nick, before their departure, makes Mike promise not to leave him in Vietnam. When Nick gets released from the hospital, he wanders the streets, and gets dragged into a gambling place, where Mike sees him, but Nick leaves before Mike can catch up. There is nothing to hint at Mike trying to find Nick... doesn't go back to the same gambling haunt (which survives months, if not years, after this encounter), is not seen trying to find information out about him from locals or army officials. We know for sure that when Mike goes back to Vietnam it is weeks/days from the fall of Saigon, given the views, probably during. So... no one seems to comment much (I saw one reviewer mention it) about the fact that Mike never tried to find Nick, and that probably at least a number of months, if not longer (year/s?) went by before he went back and found Nick exactly where he last saw him, and Nick had been there pretty much the whole time. Also, to make the times work, they'd have to likely re-upped. A Vietnam tour was around 12 months, and towards the end of the war, I've heard (no certainty) that tours were extended sometimes. So, it seemed suspect to me. Mike sees Nick once, never looks again, goes home, finds out Nick is still alive, and goes back, just as Saigon falls. It can't even be presumed he was dead, Linda knew he was AWOL, and AWOL in Vietnam wasn't always far afield. Sometimes soldiers were is Saigon or other bigger centers, in a 'hiding in plain sight' sort of way (seen accounts, not sure of reliability). Anyway, with all the hoopla surrounding the movies other aspects... Russian Roulette, Wedding scene, whose the father of Angela's baby, and so on, I was just surprised the 'don't leave me there', and being left, isn't mentioned as part of Nick's very much damaged psyche.
I'm not sure how much was intentional, but the director, Chimino seems to be a details kind of guy, but there were some really interesting choices made for the scenes with women, given that there aren't that many, and aren't that long, and it is essentially a movie grounded in the friendships of a handful of men. In particular, Angela in her dress getting ready, with her veil down, and then put up, and she is looking directly in the camera, cradling her belly with her hands. That whole thing of women marrying men that aren't the father of the child (in this case, Steven knows this), marriage for mutliple reasons beyond just 'romantic' love, and shown so well with her happily repeating 'I do, I do, I do', trying it on for size, while her veil is down, versus the soberness of when she lifts it seeing her face in the mirror. Really nice touches. I think they are quiet moments, but speak a lot... the wedding gifts still piled in the corner of Angela's bedroom, with of courses, the doubles of things like a mixer. Details that make it a 'slice of life' of a whole group of people, not just a buddy movie.
Oh yeah, as to whether singing 'God Bless America' was meant as cynical, ironic, earnest, etc... I think it is meant to be all of them. They aren't just putting up a façade, but I think they don't see it the same way, or meaning quite the same things as it once did. It is also sealing the opening of wedding and goodbye stars and stripes banners for the boys... to a funeral and the song.
What bothered me more, was the messed up timeline. If you use the music to date things (which yes, isn't the most accurate way), then when they left, how long they were there, when they got back...doesn't easily add up well.
The music has them leave in 1967 ("I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"), and were there in1973 when Nick gets released from the hospital ("Last Train to Georgia"). Songs aren't reliable, but it is implied they enlisted and weren't drafted, which makes earlier seem to be likelier. Steve's injuries are healed and he has learned some skills, when in the hospital, and he says he has been receiving money from Saigon for months. He obviously was home for at least a few months before Mike. In a movie that doesn't dwell a lot on specific, direct dialogue, one of the times it happens, is when Nick, before their departure, makes Mike promise not to leave him in Vietnam. When Nick gets released from the hospital, he wanders the streets, and gets dragged into a gambling place, where Mike sees him, but Nick leaves before Mike can catch up. There is nothing to hint at Mike trying to find Nick... doesn't go back to the same gambling haunt (which survives months, if not years, after this encounter), is not seen trying to find information out about him from locals or army officials. We know for sure that when Mike goes back to Vietnam it is weeks/days from the fall of Saigon, given the views, probably during. So... no one seems to comment much (I saw one reviewer mention it) about the fact that Mike never tried to find Nick, and that probably at least a number of months, if not longer (year/s?) went by before he went back and found Nick exactly where he last saw him, and Nick had been there pretty much the whole time. Also, to make the times work, they'd have to likely re-upped. A Vietnam tour was around 12 months, and towards the end of the war, I've heard (no certainty) that tours were extended sometimes. So, it seemed suspect to me. Mike sees Nick once, never looks again, goes home, finds out Nick is still alive, and goes back, just as Saigon falls. It can't even be presumed he was dead, Linda knew he was AWOL, and AWOL in Vietnam wasn't always far afield. Sometimes soldiers were is Saigon or other bigger centers, in a 'hiding in plain sight' sort of way (seen accounts, not sure of reliability). Anyway, with all the hoopla surrounding the movies other aspects... Russian Roulette, Wedding scene, whose the father of Angela's baby, and so on, I was just surprised the 'don't leave me there', and being left, isn't mentioned as part of Nick's very much damaged psyche.
I'm not sure how much was intentional, but the director, Chimino seems to be a details kind of guy, but there were some really interesting choices made for the scenes with women, given that there aren't that many, and aren't that long, and it is essentially a movie grounded in the friendships of a handful of men. In particular, Angela in her dress getting ready, with her veil down, and then put up, and she is looking directly in the camera, cradling her belly with her hands. That whole thing of women marrying men that aren't the father of the child (in this case, Steven knows this), marriage for mutliple reasons beyond just 'romantic' love, and shown so well with her happily repeating 'I do, I do, I do', trying it on for size, while her veil is down, versus the soberness of when she lifts it seeing her face in the mirror. Really nice touches. I think they are quiet moments, but speak a lot... the wedding gifts still piled in the corner of Angela's bedroom, with of courses, the doubles of things like a mixer. Details that make it a 'slice of life' of a whole group of people, not just a buddy movie.
Oh yeah, as to whether singing 'God Bless America' was meant as cynical, ironic, earnest, etc... I think it is meant to be all of them. They aren't just putting up a façade, but I think they don't see it the same way, or meaning quite the same things as it once did. It is also sealing the opening of wedding and goodbye stars and stripes banners for the boys... to a funeral and the song.
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007 - No Time to Die
Watched in on a Transatlantic flight. Pretty entertaining.
Watched in on a Transatlantic flight. Pretty entertaining.
Coming Home (1978) John Voight, Jane Fonda
I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned a bit more in discussions of Vietnam war movies. It was interesting contrast to The Deer Hunter, which came out the same year, and which I watched previously. It feels like two different eras, when what it is is two different cultures. Small, poor, steel town Pennsylvania, versus army base, beach front California. Both depicted well and with a nice eye to detail. The last third felt a bit stiff compared to the previous, but it was also trying to cover a lot of ground at the end.
I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned a bit more in discussions of Vietnam war movies. It was interesting contrast to The Deer Hunter, which came out the same year, and which I watched previously. It feels like two different eras, when what it is is two different cultures. Small, poor, steel town Pennsylvania, versus army base, beach front California. Both depicted well and with a nice eye to detail. The last third felt a bit stiff compared to the previous, but it was also trying to cover a lot of ground at the end.
I think this one is a forgotten gem, and a powerhouse performance by Jon Voight.
Gran Torino
