sexton said:

peedub said:

so i recently upgraded to a 55" television and have been rewatching a lot of my favorites...

i watched 'jesus of nazareth' for easter. love it. 5/5

'2001: a space odyssey'...jesus effing christ...get you to a big screen and watch. this. movie. it was like i had never seen it before. an absolute fucking masterpiece; i was completely rapt. 2001/5

I have a 55" OLED 4K TV and I'm trying to hold out until the recent 4K restoration of the movie gets released on disc later this year to watch it again.

well, if there's anything worth waiting for, this would be it...this is probably in my top 5 most watched movies. i've seen it anywhere from a 20" black and white pbs broadcast to a 35mm projection at our once local repertory cinema. this viewing, from standard blu ray on my 55" 4k tv, was BY FAR the most impactful. the detail is amazing...i swear i almost drooled watching that shuttle align with the space station. to be able to watch the characters eyes and faces when dr. floyd meets dr. smyslov and his cronies...you can even see the wrinkles in the rear projection screens in the dawn of man sequence. and the costumes?! jesus...just an astounding film. i'll probably watch it again this weekend.

Grade: A-

Grade: B- like Emma Roberts

kpowers said:

Grade: B- like Emma Roberts

LOL, I thought at first you were grading Emma Roberts a B-.

RodeoSchro said:

kpowers said:

Grade: B- like Emma Roberts

LOL, I thought at first you were grading Emma Roberts a B-.

Oh, I give her an A

kpowers said:

RodeoSchro said:

LOL, I thought at first you were grading Emma Roberts a B-.

Oh, I give her an A

Me, too!

me and you and everyone i know (2005) 4/5

i saw the future, miranda july's 2nd film, a few years back and absolute hated it - an uncommon reaction for me. i rarely hate anything. i'm occasionally bored, very often indifferent, but i very rarely hate. but i hated the future with its wacky talking cat, and was basically poisoned against all things miranda july related.

i now say that was a folly on my part, because me and you... is really terrific, gets all the things that seemed annoying & cloying in the future just right. it's funny, understanding, charming, even moving at times if i can say that without sounding wet. it has a sex scene that ought to be filthy, dirty, offensive to most sensible people perhaps, but actually manages to be weirdly sweet.

i think this is a fairly great movie and i now have to go back and watch the future to see if i actually hate it as much as my memory says i do.


which leads to:

the future (2011) 3/5

maybe middle age is making me soft, or i've developed a worrying taste for whimsy, but i now don't hate this. i don't like it as much as 'me and you...,' but i thought it was fun, perfectly enjoyable.

this movie does feature narration from a cat, & i remember hating it so much the first time around. it didn't bug me much here, but that really just makes me worry that my bs detector has completely failed me and i'll be willing to devour any pretentious, performance art inspired piffle that comes down the pike.


the diving bell & the butterfly (2007) 5/5 - if you were to tell me that diving bell... is the best movie of the century so far, i wouldn't hotly argue with you.

damosuzuki said:

the future (2011) 3/5

maybe middle age is making me soft, or i've developed a worrying taste for whimsy,

Just wait until you watch "Animal House". You're going to LOVE it!

Ready Player One 5/10

What a waste of Steven Speilberg's talent. Insipid and pointless. The CGI stuff of late is just so god-awful and grotesque in many ways. What is there in technical achievement, is lacking in artistry and good taste. Where are the production designers for the CGI era? There is a desperate void waiting to be filled by talented young production designers in the digital age. What we see today is just technology minus true artistic talent. Granted, that criticism is also aimed squarely at SS himself as he should know better.
The music (not the 80's music) but the score by Alan Silvestri is so 80's cheesball that when it plays, I cringed because it feels like a parody of 80's John Williams music. It's really jarring hearing such old-fashioned orchestral music juxtaposed by garish CGI.

[Edited 4/7/18 22:23pm]

I, Tonya. (7.5 of 10)

I am a little late on this one. Just saw it tonight on demand. It surprised me in that it actually was moving in parts. They succeeded in making it seem like a documentary. It also captured the class conflict in America. No doubt who Tonya would have voted for.

RodeoSchro said:

damosuzuki said:

the future (2011) 3/5

maybe middle age is making me soft, or i've developed a worrying taste for whimsy,

Just wait until you watch "Animal House". You're going to LOVE it!

i do have to get to that, and soon, particularly since you were a such a soldier in taking a bullet for the team & watching lady macbeth. it's only fair.

poison (1991) 3.5/5 todd haine's debut film is an oddball experimental affair, cutting across three unconnected stories (crime story told in tabloid style, weird, campy horror, & prison romance drama). it's watchable, always interesting, but maybe a bit too remote & chilly to have any lasting impact.

the baby (1973) 3/5 a social worker investigates a family whose 21 year old son lives as a baby. hahahahahahaha X a billion. as far as decades go, the 70s were pretty out there.

neighborhood food drive (2017) 3.5/5 hipster restaurateurs flail about trying to raise money for charity. satirical comedy that felt like a slightly more surreal portlandia episode at times. pretty enjoyable, often funny, though it's maybe just a bit too heavily mannered in spots, & ultimately a bit too 'one note' for its running time. would have worked better as a short, i bet.

[Edited 4/8/18 9:12am]

Films I watched yesterday:

Good.

Not as good as Rush, but pretty good.

Bloody awful, self-indulgent rubbish.

[Edited 4/9/18 2:57am]

And in the last few days:

Very good.

Clumsy attempt to link the Cloverfield films. Not awful, but not good.

Very good indeed.

Not as bad as I was expecting, but still....

[Edited 4/9/18 8:04am]

damosuzuki said:

Loved it. Big Wes Anderson fan. Watched Fantastic Mr. Fox the night before i saw this, and I might like it a little more than Dogs - Fox was not as dark as Dogs - yet both had wisdom and lots of heart.

It was OK, 3/5 stars! Teh music was really good though.

What's wrong with Cloverfiled Paradox, I really enjoyed it, thoroughly. By the way The Witch as I stated in another version of this series of threads, is a masterpiece of a film.

Brendan said:

I’ve enjoyed your writing for years, partially because you seem to infuse it with the possibility of your own flaws—which we all have in incalculable abundance—getting in the way.

hey, thanks. as i've said before, and as i'm happy to keep repeating, i think you write beautifully, so that really means something to me coming from you.

i always try to be conscious of my own biases & flaws any time i'm reading or watching or evaluating. as richard feynman said, 'the first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.'

the last days of chez nous (1992) 3/5 - middle-aged man falls into an affair with his wife's younger sister. i gave this a shot after having heard quite a few great things about australian director gillian armstrong over the years.

for a film that seemed to be going for a very naturalistic, rambling feel, i thought it felt a bit overwrought at times, particularly in some early scenes and in some of the road trip moments.

this is my first gillian armstrong exposure. i know that there's a lot of love for this film and for this director, but i did find this a bit flat and stilted and ultimately unrewarding. perhaps i'm a little too primed by all the mumblecore-ish stuff i've watched in the past year, but this simply felt too broad, too direct in some way that ultimately struck me as slick & false.

214 said:

What's wrong with Cloverfiled Paradox, I really enjoyed it, thoroughly. By the way The Witch as I stated in another version of this series of threads, is a masterpiece of a film.

Masterpiece? It was a really enjoyable, low key horror movie. Calling it a masterpiece is a stretch.

It's not like it was on par with horror movies like Alien, The Exorcist, Audition or The Shining and all.

JorisE73 said:

214 said:

What's wrong with Cloverfiled Paradox, I really enjoyed it, thoroughly. By the way The Witch as I stated in another version of this series of threads, is a masterpiece of a film.

Masterpiece? It was a really enjoyable, low key horror movie. Calling it a masterpiece is a stretch.

It's not like it was on par with horror movies like Alien, The Exorcist, Audition or The Shining and all.

I said a Masterpiece. Next question...

214 said:

JorisE73 said:

Masterpiece? It was a really enjoyable, low key horror movie. Calling it a masterpiece is a stretch.

It's not like it was on par with horror movies like Alien, The Exorcist, Audition or The Shining and all.

I said a Masterpiece. Next question...

ha, i admire your passion.

i actually don't think it's aggrandizement to call the witch a masterpiece. time will tell, and i certainly am not the final authority on such matters, but i think it has the same kind of low-key, creeps-up-on-you pacing & painstaking attention to detail as alien, and has imagery that's just as creepy. i absolutely could see it occupying that same sort of space in the future as a horror classic.

Saw The Bad News Bears on TV last night. Don't know why I remembered Jody Foster being in it instead of Tatum O'Neal. Why don't they make kid movies like this any more. 5/5

purplethunder3121 said:

Saw The Bad News Bears on TV last night. Don't know why I remembered Jody Foster being in it instead of Tatum O'Neal. Why don't they make kid movies like this any more. 5/5

I saw this movie many years ago (so my recollection is hazy), but wouldn't the PC folk be up in arms if a film like this were made today? Could it even get greenlighted?

damosuzuki said:

Ace said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Saw The Bad News Bears on TV last night. Don't know why I remembered Jody Foster being in it instead of Tatum O'Neal. Why don't they make kid movies like this any more. 5/5

I saw this movie many years ago (so my recollection is hazy), but wouldn't the PC folk be up in arms if a film like this were made today? Could it even get greenlighted?

Probably not--it isn't PC. But it deals with how people actually act, both young and old in a real way. Too bad a film like this wouldn't be made now--unless it was an indie with big backing.

purplethunder3121 said:

Ace said:

I saw this movie many years ago (so my recollection is hazy), but wouldn't the PC folk be up in arms if a film like this were made today? Could it even get greenlighted?

Probably not--it isn't PC. But it deals with how people actually act, both young and old in a real way. Too bad a film like this wouldn't be made now--unless it was an indie with big backing.

It's a real hoot. I saw it again a couple of years ago after seeing it during the original theatrical run. Made me miss Walter Mathieu.

damosuzuki said:

214 said:

I said a Masterpiece. Next question...

ha, i admire your passion.

i actually don't think it's aggrandizement to call the witch a masterpiece. time will tell, and i certainly am not the final authority on such matters, but i think it has the same kind of low-key, creeps-up-on-you pacing & painstaking attention to detail as alien, and has imagery that's just as creepy. i absolutely could see it occupying that same sort of space in the future as a horror classic.

Most likely the time will come for this film to be considered a classic.

purplethunder3121 said:

Saw The Bad News Bears on TV last night. Don't know why I remembered Jody Foster being in it instead of Tatum O'Neal. Why don't they make kid movies like this any more. 5/5

This was a great movie. I remember seeing it at the theatre when I was a kid. They don't make movies like this anymore as kids today would be bored out of their minds. By 5-6 years old, they've already seen so much shit on tv, video games and the internet. Something like Bad News Bears wouldn't interest them much. Very sad indeed. Also, every kid today would make the team because God knows, we can't let anyone feel left out