Rocket Man ( 3 of 4 stars) - I was hesitant and not expecting much, but went to see it after knowing so many people of all stripes who liked it. It was good but not great. It was wonderful to hear the beautiful Elton melodies again, and Egerton did a good job of singing. It definitely is not for those who are expecting an accurate and comprehensive biography of Elton, but it never pretends to be with its obvious flights of fancy. It was derogatorily put down in another post here as being like a broadway musical, which I can see in terms of those jukebox musicals that are popular these days. But Elton has a hell of a jukebox and it nice for once that it doesn't have a tragic ending.

[Edited 6/24/19 21:11pm]

triple threat (2019) 3.5/5 mercenaries battle to protect a billionaire's daughter. features the great iko uwais & a bunch of other people who are apparently fairly big action names, but are unknown to me.

this does not inhabit the same altitude of magnificence as the night comes for us or the raid. it has too much silly plot, and the action is not as brutal or fun or well shot.

but it's still pretty good, & it has at least two moments that made me laugh & say 'holy cow' out loud to myself.

relaxer (2018) 4/5 troubled loner is challenged by his brother to stay on his couch until he completes all 256 levels of pacman.

cycles between being annoying, depressing & incredibly revolting. will almost certainly be despised by most sensible people, i imagine. i kinda loved it.

gandorb said:

Rocket Man ( 3 of 4 stars) - I was hesitant and not expecting much, but went to see it after knowing so many people of all stripes who liked it. It was good but not great. It was wonderful to hear the beautiful Elton melodies again, and Egerton did a good job of singing. It definitely is not for those who are expecting an accurate and comprehensive biography of Elton, but it never pretends to be with its obvious flights of fancy. It was derogatorily put down in another post here as being like a broadway musical, which I can see in terms of those jukebox musicals that are popular these days. But Elton has a hell of a jukebox and it nice for once that it doesn't have a tragic ending.

[Edited 6/24/19 21:11pm]

i liked it too. i personally very much appreciated that it wasn't a standard biopic re-hash. i haven't seen bohemian rhapsody, but my favourite twitter troll, comfortably smug, said it was the film equivalent of reading queen's wikipedia page, & that's the exact kind of thing i personally have no interest in seeing, & i'm glad that was not this film.

& i think most of the numbers were very well done, & a few were really great.

Tomorrow I am going to see "Yesterday". Although there isn't anything I can say about "Yesterday" today, I will review "Yesterday" the day after tomorrow.

RodeoSchro said:

Tomorrow I am going to see "Yesterday". Although there isn't anything I can say about "Yesterday" today, I will review "Yesterday" the day after tomorrow.

Tommow never knows...

....sorry about that

Toy Story 4 (2019) - When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

I can't recall another movie franchise that has been as consistently great as this one. 4.5/5

damosuzuki said:

gandorb said:

Rocket Man ( 3 of 4 stars) - I was hesitant and not expecting much, but went to see it after knowing so many people of all stripes who liked it. It was good but not great. It was wonderful to hear the beautiful Elton melodies again, and Egerton did a good job of singing. It definitely is not for those who are expecting an accurate and comprehensive biography of Elton, but it never pretends to be with its obvious flights of fancy. It was derogatorily put down in another post here as being like a broadway musical, which I can see in terms of those jukebox musicals that are popular these days. But Elton has a hell of a jukebox and it nice for once that it doesn't have a tragic ending.

[Edited 6/24/19 21:11pm]

i liked it too. i personally very much appreciated that it wasn't a standard biopic re-hash. i haven't seen bohemian rhapsody, but my favourite twitter troll, comfortably smug, said it was the film equivalent of reading queen's wikipedia page, & that's the exact kind of thing i personally have no interest in seeing, & i'm glad that was not this film.

& i think most of the numbers were very well done, & a few were really great.

Glad you enjoyed it too. It has gotten me to listen to some of his classic albums again.

sexton said:

Toy Story 4 (2019) - When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

I can't recall another movie franchise that has been as consistently great as this one. 4.5/5

I am glad to here that this keeps up the high standard of the series. I am really wanting to see it but my kids think they are just too cool and old for it at 13. Kind of ridiculous situation . I am going to ditch them to see this and will post the results.

gandorb said:

sexton said:

Toy Story 4 (2019) - When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

I can't recall another movie franchise that has been as consistently great as this one. 4.5/5

I am glad to here that this keeps up the high standard of the series. I am really wanting to see it but my kids think they are just too cool and old for it at 13. Kind of ridiculous situation . I am going to ditch them to see this and will post the results.

My 12 year old loved it. As did we all as adults. Go see it, go on about how great it is to your kids and then you'll maybe get the chance to go and see it all over again.

GO SEE "YESTERDAY" IMMEDIATELY!

It's fantastic!

I loved this movie so much - and I am so sure that you will too - that I'm going to hold off posting my review for one week, so that you all can go see "Yesterday" without the temptation of reading my review first. But I will rate it for you:

Five Ed Sheerans out of five Ed Sheerans!

viy (1967) 4/5 one of the few horror films produced in the soviet union - apparently for a good length of time, it was the only one. and it's great. somewhat plodding for the first half or so, perhaps, but builds to a wonderfully weird climax that actually looked quite beautiful at times & struck me as seeming absolutely revolutionary in style for a film made in 1967, never mind one that came out of soviet-era russia.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

As far as new movies, it’s been a pretty bad year. Interesting how good comic book movies are, well Marvel ones anyway. Interesting how well Disney is doing. Quality wise and financially. They’ve bought up great franchises and have been nurturing those investments well. Used to be a time when you could count on a few independent low budget movies to shine through and show everyone up, but not too many of those lately either.

i've found it to be an oddly sparse year as well, though i know there are things that i missed & that i have great expectations for. birds of passage & her smell in particular. but leaving those aside, there really hasn't been anything that's come along & really blindsided me with its greatness the way 8th grade or the rider did last year.

that said, when i look at most of my favourite releases, they do tend to be lumped into the back half of any given year. likely because prestige films are held back for awards contention, i suppose.

my top 10 of the year so far:

climax

apollo 11

endgame

rolling thunder revue

under the silver lake

dragged across concrete

high life

relaxer

hagazussa

horror noire

damosuzuki said:

Shadow (2018) - Life and intrigue in an ancient Chinese court.

I tend to fall hard for films with lots of style and this one is bursting at the seams with it. Fortunately, there is also some quality cake beneath the delicious icing of the black, white and glorious grey palette. My movie of the year. 5/5

damosuzuki said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

As far as new movies, it’s been a pretty bad year. Interesting how good comic book movies are, well Marvel ones anyway. Interesting how well Disney is doing. Quality wise and financially. They’ve bought up great franchises and have been nurturing those investments well. Used to be a time when you could count on a few independent low budget movies to shine through and show everyone up, but not too many of those lately either.

i've found it to be an oddly sparse year as well, though i know there are things that i missed & that i have great expectations for. birds of passage & her smell in particular. but leaving those aside, there really hasn't been anything that's come along & really blindsided me with its greatness the way 8th grade or the rider did last year.

that said, when i look at most of my favourite releases, they do tend to be lumped into the back half of any given year. likely because prestige films are held back for awards contention, i suppose.

my top 10 of the year so far:

climax

apollo 11

endgame

rolling thunder revue

under the silver lake

dragged across concrete

high life

relaxer

hagazussa

horror noire

I don't see many movies these days as my free time is spent watching more TV series.

I liked Climax and High Life, but would not predict them to make my year-end top ten list.

The only 2019 North American releases I would rate 4.5/5 or higher are:

Shadow - 5/5

Non-Fiction - 4.5/5

Toy Story 4 - 4.5/5

The Souvenir and Her Smell I also consider to be very good 2019 films.

sexton said:

damosuzuki said:

i've found it to be an oddly sparse year as well, though i know there are things that i missed & that i have great expectations for. birds of passage & her smell in particular. but leaving those aside, there really hasn't been anything that's come along & really blindsided me with its greatness the way 8th grade or the rider did last year.

that said, when i look at most of my favourite releases, they do tend to be lumped into the back half of any given year. likely because prestige films are held back for awards contention, i suppose.

my top 10 of the year so far:

climax

apollo 11

endgame

rolling thunder revue

under the silver lake

dragged across concrete

high life

relaxer

hagazussa

horror noire

I don't see many movies these days as my free time is spent watching more TV series.

I liked Climax and High Life, but would not predict them to make my year-end top ten list.

The only 2019 North American releases I would rate 4.5/5 or higher are:

Shadow - 5/5

Non-Fiction - 4.5/5

Toy Story 4 - 4.5/5

The Souvenir and Her Smell I also consider to be very good 2019 films.

I hated Her Smell. It joined the ranks of the very few films I turned off before the end. I felt it was too drawn out and played too much to stereotypes. My husband is an old skool punk so I thought he'd want to stick it out for the music, but he hated it even more than me.

sexton said:

damosuzuki said:

i've found it to be an oddly sparse year as well, though i know there are things that i missed & that i have great expectations for. birds of passage & her smell in particular. but leaving those aside, there really hasn't been anything that's come along & really blindsided me with its greatness the way 8th grade or the rider did last year.

that said, when i look at most of my favourite releases, they do tend to be lumped into the back half of any given year. likely because prestige films are held back for awards contention, i suppose.

my top 10 of the year so far:

climax

apollo 11

endgame

rolling thunder revue

under the silver lake

dragged across concrete

high life

relaxer

hagazussa

horror noire

I don't see many movies these days as my free time is spent watching more TV series.

I liked Climax and High Life, but would not predict them to make my year-end top ten list.

The only 2019 North American releases I would rate 4.5/5 or higher are:

Shadow - 5/5

Non-Fiction - 4.5/5

Toy Story 4 - 4.5/5

The Souvenir and Her Smell I also consider to be very good 2019 films.

I agree that it has been a painfully slow year for good movies so far. I am not able to go near as often as I used to, but at least there would be some regret about missing some good films. I do think that the 2nd half of the year will be better, with new and interesting flilms by Tarantino, Ang Lee, Scorsese, the latest Star Wars, and some others. I saw all of those previews of these when I went to see a movie today.......

Late Night - 4.25 of 5 - I got interested in this when I read a great article on Emma Thompson in the NYT. She is so funny and sharp, and seemed really excited about the role in this movie of being the first female late night talk show host. It was funny and enjoyable, highlighted by her fantastic performance. I imagine she will get a Golden Globe nomination for comedy and possilbe on Oscar nomination. It was refreshing exception to the dreck in the theatres this year.

[Edited 6/30/19 15:12pm]

[Edited 6/30/19 15:21pm]