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Top Gun:Maverick was fantastic!

Better than the first.

ETA: the original is on Netflix but ends tonight.


jimmurphy said:

Top Gun:Maverick was fantastic!

Better than the first.

ETA: the original is on Netflix but ends tonight.

I agree! the last 30 minutes or so is amazing. Literally edge of your seat movie making.


drummerboy said:

jimmurphy said:

Top Gun:Maverick was fantastic!

Better than the first.

ETA: the original is on Netflix but ends tonight.

I agree! the last 30 minutes or so is amazing. Literally edge of your seat movie making.

I didn't think I'd be interested in this film at all but you're making me reconsider. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I didn't think I'd be interested in this film at all but you're making me reconsider. 

Yeah, I mean it's not a "great" movie. The first 3/4 is fine - definitely a sequel. It helps to have seen Top Gun, of which I wasn't much of a fan, but I like Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise, so it was watchable.

But I tell ya - the last part of Maverick is just exciting as hell. Some false steps, I thought, but not many.

And I thought the Star Wars references were funny.

And some epic Hans Zimmer thrown in for the finale.

And it was fun to see a movie with a full audience, which I hadn't done in a long time. There was cheering and laughing. Fun.


I saw it at the IMAX in Clifton, and that definitely helps the action sequences - except I thought the sound level was way too high - to the point of almost dangerous. Or maybe I'm just an old coot.


Just saw Jerry and Marge Go Large.

Thumbs up

Light entertainment, but very watchable and fun. Cranston and Bening are great in the leads.


Speaking of thumbs up, someone collected all of the David Letterman appearances of Siskel and Ebert. They're in 6 videos on youtube.

Here's number 1. I'm up to number 2, and boy, I forgot how much they didn't like each other in the early days. They real dig into each other sometimes. Though I'm a much bigger fan of Ebert, he could be quite the a-hole.

"Well, I'm the only one who won a Pulitzer!"

actual quote.


I saw Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.

I liked it a lot.  The male lead, Daryl McCormack, is quite good. Very appealing performance. And Emma Thompson is just as good too.

Basically just a two-person movie. Kudos to the screenwriter, Katy Brand. Probable Oscar nod for her.


Saw Official Competition with Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and some other guy I don't know.

Kind of a film within a film.

It was pretty entertaining and original. A lot of twists and turns, though to be honest, I found a lot of the twists predictable. I must have had a good day. Still enjoyable though.

Sometimes laugh out loud funny.  The small audience in the theater had a good time.

Good script.

Lots of clever bits and a few outrageous ones.  Some striking photography but generally the sets were very spare.

Cruz has mounds and mounds of hair. We're talking mounds.

Anyway, recommended. Sub-titled. Playing at the Clairidge.


I just saw Real Genius for the gazillionth time.

One of my favs, obviously.

(spoiler ahead)

But the one detail that has always bugged me is at the end, when the kids are playing in the popcorn, and I can't help but worry about all the glass that might be in the piles of popcorn from the exploded windows.

Taking apart Kent's car was a little silly too.


If yoiu like good action films (fighting, shooting, running, jumping, spitting, blowing sh!t up, revenge, general brutality) I just watched Sentinelle, a French action pic starring Olga Kurylenko. I enjoyed it. 


drummerboy said:

spitting? lol

Yes, it's an action film cliche: our hero is tied up and being questioned by the baddies. The hero spits in the face of the baddie as an act of heroic defiance. (Occasionally the roles are reversed and the hero gets the spit in the face.)


Rewatched The Fighter tonight. (2010, David O. Russell Dir.) What a great film. A very large ensemble cast and everyone is great. Melissa Leo just amazing and Christian Bale gives an acting lesson to one and all.  They both won Oscars for the film, if I remember correctly. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a boxing film with a somewhat standard arc but it’s the acting that sets this one apart.  


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Rewatched The Fighter tonight. (2010, David O. Russell Dir.) What a great film. A very large ensemble cast and everyone is great. Melissa Leo just amazing and Christian Bale gives an acting lesson to one and all.  They both won Oscars for the film, if I remember correctly. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a boxing film with a somewhat standard arc but it’s the acting that sets this one apart.  

will have to check it out. Big Bale fan here.

meanwhile, looking forward to seeing Nope.


drummerboy said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Rewatched The Fighter tonight. (2010, David O. Russell Dir.) What a great film. A very large ensemble cast and everyone is great. Melissa Leo just amazing and Christian Bale gives an acting lesson to one and all.  They both won Oscars for the film, if I remember correctly. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a boxing film with a somewhat standard arc but it’s the acting that sets this one apart.  

will have to check it out. Big Bale fan here.

meanwhile, looking forward to seeing Nope.

it’s on Netflix. 


I watched Stillwater this week, starring Matt Damon.  It was better than I anticipated.

Matt plays a father who travels to Marseille, France to visit his 20-something daughter who has been imprisoned for a crime committed while she was studying overseas.

https://www.focusfeatures.com/stillwater


yahooyahoo said:

I watched Stillwater this week, starring Matt Damon.  It was better than I anticipated.

Matt plays a father who travels to Marseille, France to visit his 20-something daughter who has been imprisoned for a crime committed while she was studying overseas.

https://www.focusfeatures.com/stillwater

I thought it was good. I didn't see that ending coming.


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Rewatched The Fighter tonight. (2010, David O. Russell Dir.) What a great film. A very large ensemble cast and everyone is great. Melissa Leo just amazing and Christian Bale gives an acting lesson to one and all.  They both won Oscars for the film, if I remember correctly. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a boxing film with a somewhat standard arc but it’s the acting that sets this one apart.  

As a fan of boxing films, I loved The Survivor. It was on HBO. Definitely not standard and a true story of a Holocaust survivor.


If you're a fan of the original Predator movie - i loved it - the prequel 'Prey" now streaming on Hulu is worth a look. It's received great reviews.  


I saw Fire of Love the other day. Highly recommended. Very unique story. Only in theaters, I think.


I also saw The Fugitive for the umpteenth time the other day, and was reminded that it contains perhaps the best action scene ever filmed.


Today is John Cazale's birthday. I came across this on Facebook.

==============================================================

From Israel Horovitz's eulogy for John Cazale, published in the Village Voice on March 27, 1978: "John Cazale happens once in a lifetime. He was an invention, a small perfection. It is no wonder his friends feel such anger upon waking from their sleep to discover that Cazale sleeps on with kings and counselors, with Booth and Kean, with Jimmy Dean, with Bernhardt, Guitry, and Duse, with Stanislavsky, with Groucho, Benny, and Allen. He will make fast friends in his new place. He is easy to love."Meryl Streep’s two-year romance with Cazale is detailed in Michael Schulman’s biography "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep."Meeting first during an audition for New York City’s famed Shakespeare in the Park, Streep and Cazale's connection was obvious to their castmates and director Joe Papp. Schulman writes that the pair’s romance was intense – and physical, with Streep’s consistently chapped lips drawing attention from the crew.It was during their work on 1979's "The Deer Hunter" – his final film – that Cazale got sicker and sicker and Streep morphed from lover to nurse. For five months she accompanied him to chemotherapy treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and barely showing her strained resolve. According to author Andy Dougan, director Michael Cimino "rearranged the shooting schedule with Cazale and Streep's consent, so that he could film all his scenes first." “Meryl stayed by his side every single moment," Cimino said “By her devotion to John, I knew she had great courage.”During Cazale’s final days, Streep stood by his bedside in their Manhattan apartment constantly, performing comedic routines and reading from the newspaper in faux voices, according to "Her Again."“She took care of him like there was nobody else on earth,” Joe Papp said of Streep’s commitment to Cazale, Schulman writes. “She never betrayed him in his presence or out of his presence. Never betrayed any notion that he would not survive. He knew he was dying, the way a dying man knows it. She gave him tremendous hope.”Close friend and frequent Cazale collaborator Al Pacino said, "I've hardly ever seen a person so devoted to someone who is falling away like John was. To see her in that act of love for this man was overwhelming."According to the Schulman book, when Cazale passed on March 12, 1978, Streep was so overcome with emotion that she collapsed into him and began pounding on his chest, crying for him to wake up. And for a quick second, Cazale opened his eyes and reassured Streep she would be okay before finally closing his eyes for the final time. (Wikipedia/People)Happy Birthday, John Cazale!

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Because I liked Sterling K. Brown in “This Is Us” on NBC and because it got a quite good review in the Times, i went to see “Honk For Jesus” at a theater last night. G-d, it was the awfullest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I was tempted to walk out more than once but I sat it out. Not funny at all and pretty nasty in it’s depiction of fundamentalist Black churches. Makes everybody seem pretentious, dishonest and stupid.  I’d say avoid this one like long COVID. 

You’re welcome. 


drummerboy said:

I also saw The Fugitive for the umpteenth time the other day, and was reminded that it contains perhaps the best action scene ever filmed.

I’ve seen it many times, too, and always enjoy it. Does the 20th Anniversary edition contain any Director’s Cut stuff or additional footage? 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

drummerboy said:

I also saw The Fugitive for the umpteenth time the other day, and was reminded that it contains perhaps the best action scene ever filmed.

I’ve seen it many times, too, and always enjoy it. Does the 20th Anniversary edition contain any Director’s Cut stuff or additional footage? 

Oh, I don't know. TBH, the movie is pretty perfect as it is.


The other night I watched LITTLE BIG MAN (1970), with Dustin Hoffman, again. What a wonderful movie. So much wit and humor and such a clear-eyed view of native Americans, their culture and their unfortunate destiny. Brutal at times, fun at times. In 2'20" it covers decades of American history as told by 112-year-old Jack Crabb (Hoffman). It's on Prime. Amazing makeup on the 112 y/o Crabb.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous, I watched THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING (2022), also on Prime. A silly but fun family-conflict romcom of sorts. Allison Janney and Kristen Bell are a pleasure to see doing their comedy thing. Not a great movie by any stretch by a fun diversion. 


hmm. Little Big Man. Haven't seen that in a long time. Will have to check it out again.

And The People We Hate at the Wedding sounds promising. I love Janney and Bell.

But for right now, HLN is having a West Wing marathon...


Little Big Man is great!  My film teacher at CHS (Mr. Chase) introduced me to that one.

Has anyone seen The Banshees of Inisherin?  I'm looking forward to seeing this - can't believe it's been 14 years since these guys teamed up for In Bruges.


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