I’m watching this now, pretty blaaahhh
So, scam books CAN make it into film. I mean who cares about ethics? 
And, and, it was cliched and quite crap. 
I actually thought it was Hunter Biden’s biopic after an hour or so.
Laura (1944) - Fuck this movie’s good. Loved everything about it. Gene Tierney was such a goddess and Dana Andrews is my new boyfriend thank you very much. 1944 is such a good movie year.
And the cinematography is unparalleled. Blown away.
3 Likes
Some other movies I saw recently.
Anatomy of a Murder - Like other Preminger films it was simply gorgeously shot and marvelously cast. Jimmy Stewart and George C. Scott were in particular phenomenal. My only qualm with it was that the ending felt very rushed, otherwise it was pretty much faultless.
How Green Was My Valley - I almost couldn’t finish it. It was such a slog to go through. People who complain about Shakespeare in Love winning Best Picture should take a look at this bore.
Heaven Can Wait (1943) - Charming. Cute.
Foreign Correspondent - Like many other Hitchcock films it was just too … Hollywood for my liking (though this one I could see why it had to shout heroism given the backdrop of German invasion), but it was entertaining through and through.
1 Like
You’re going back even farther than me. I’ve been watching movies from the 60s. Fahrenheit 451, The War Lord, Fellini Satyricon, La Piscine (The Swimming Pool), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Blowup and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
I’d seen Satyricon before. Still a great movie. I think Roma might still be my favorite of Fellini’s movies, but Satyricon is up there.
Fahrenheit 451, The War Lord and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum were neither here nor there. Not very good, not very bad either. The War Lord (featuring Charlton Heston as a knight back from the Crusades) is unintentionally funny at times.
La Piscine and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold are genuinely great movies. Both noirish, one about a murder and another about the Cold War. Whoever wrote the script for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold did a masterful job.
I found Blowup somewhat disappointing. I’ve been hearing about that movie for years, and how it inspired other films like The Bird with Crystal Plumage and The Conversation. It made me a little sleepy.
Before those I saw the Scream reboot. Not very good IMO.
1 Like
One of the best I’ve seen in 2021. Perfection.
1 Like
I’d like to see that remade in NYC. Modern, clean and not so dismal to look at. The real grubby filth is underneath anyway.
It could probably work in the hands of a good screenwriter, but I had trouble taking the premise seriously in 2022. So… these guys are riding a red truck around… just so they can burn books?
I was compelled to read the novel in high school. I liked The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, but I always felt like Bradbury was overrated. He was good at thinking up opening chapters and scenes, but there wasn’t much follow through after that. A lot of rocket-centric metaphors.
Maybe if you brought it more into the digital realm, but that’s more William Gibson’s territory. It’d also be a bit similar to movies like Brazil, Dark City or The Matrix.
An update could be done well. It’s so timely it’s cliche.
Did you read something wicked this way comes? I think that’s his crowning achievement really
I watched the Japanese animation movie “In This Corner of the World” on Netflix, which is about a regular girl’s life who marries to the Naval port city of Kure from Hiroshima during World War 2.
I get that it’s supposed to be an “anti-war” movie, however, it felt much less anti-war than say The Wind Rises or even Grave of the Fireflies.
While I get movies like Grave of the Fireflies and In This Corner of the World are trying to tell the war time experiences of regular Japanese citizens, who are women and children, and clueless, powerless and voiceless when it comes to the war, it felt decidedly not anti-war because these movies never mention how Japan was responsible for starting a brutal total war to begin with.
Also, the characters in these movies aren’t completely unrelated to the IJA and IJN. In Grave of the Fireflies, the father of the two children was an naval officer. The protagonist of In This Corner of the World had family members and close friends in the navy, and her father in law works in the naval factory. In The Wind Rises, the main character designed the Zero. I think The Wind Rises does a much better job, since the main character knows his inventions are being used for killing, and he really struggles with that fact.
Neglecting to bring up who started the war, turned it into a civilian killing bloodbath, and just focusing on victim-hood always made me uncomfortable after watching these movies.
“Never get involved in any war no matter the circumstances at all costs” is not the correct message. “Never start an invasion, and always stop invaders, even if they are invading someone else” is a much better message.
They are beautiful movies though.
4 Likes
I don’t recall if I read it but I’ve added it to my near-term reading list.
But is this really relevant though, for a film from the point of view of a regular civilian? Having the “correct message” takes a back seat to making a good film.
In the end, Netflix added a lot of movies last month that I’ve seen but were worth putting on again. June is starting off the same, I just put on Black Hawk Down. This has great rewatch value and is one of those movies that has a ridiculously good cast. Two I’ve just noticed that I don’t remember seeing before are Tig (Sons of Anarchy) and Jamie Lannister (GOT)!
1 Like
I’m about to go see this in a half hour. Love the auto translate of the title.
I’m guessing 媽 is a fucking badass.
2 Likes
I didn’t make it to the end. For some reason Everything Everywhere All At Once melted down into Too Little Going Nowhere Until It All Became Too Much for me for some reason.
1 Like
I totally get that it’s not for everyone.
For myself, maybe because of my own life experience, I was enthralled the entire time. I was simultaneously in laughter and in awe at the bizarreness, yet shed some tears as well. Even now, three hours later, I’m still thinking about the film and reading more about it. That makes it a great movie for me.
4 Likes
Me too. Easily the best movie so far this year.
1 Like
Watched this last night
- I think the only non-Japanese language film by Kurosawa
- simple story
- great cinematography
[Caution: Shows Russian soldiers in a non-negative way…]
2 Likes
Hustle (2022) is a good movie. Pretty much Adam Sandler transferring the credits he earned with Uncut Gems over to the world of basketball, but still good.
Also tried to watch The Lion in Winter (1968) yesterday. Too much like a play. Bored the hell out of me.
2 Likes