Watched ST Maude and The Relic since Showtime had a free preview. ST Maude 6/10 not a very original plot but pretty good subject matter and interesting acting with a good ending, psychological thriller. The Relic 5/10 and that's probably a little high, some good creepy stuff like Hereditary but none of it made a lot of sense and the ending was weird for no reason.
watched White Tiger to keep up with the tank movies. Decent film, good tank action, not intended to be realistic but some sort of allegory of war. Weird ending with an odd cut to the German surrender in 1945 and a Hitler monologue on top of that. But still glad I watched it. 7/10
Blithe Spirit, 1945. 8/10, and well deserved. Produced by Noel Coward and directed by the great David Lean. Lean’s 3rd film as director. He also co-wrote the adaptation of Coward’s 1941 play of the same name. Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, and Margaret Rutherford. Hammond and Rutherford recreating their roles on stage. Remastered in color and high definition, it’s streaming in the TCM section of HBO/Max. So if you want something light, funny and entertaining after the intense action lunacy of Kong vs Godzilla, this just might do the trick!
Finally saw Get Out. Fresh concept for a horror movie, well scripted and well acted. Worth most of the hype. 8.5/10.
Finally got around to watching Mudbound on Netflix. A good drama, but sad and disturbing in so many ways. Then again, racism always was, and still is an ugly part of humanity. I hated seeing one of my favorite characters from Breaking Bad and Don't call Saul "Jonathan Banks" play such a rotten cruel racist. I'd give the movie 8.5 of 10
"Notorious" Alfred hitchcock Ingrid bergman is a fine piece of work. its set in rio and miami but everyone wears suits. I would be sweating like a pig especially in 2021 with 2021 bmi. To be fair it is 1946. So no one really talks about war which is weird since it just happened. It was a "world war" after all. Maybe they were jaded by then. The story is flat. Ingrid is very easy too easy she wouldnt be normally and cary grant closes the deal no problem.. the story never really takes off The ending is dumb. This must have been before hitchcock broke out. Nothing much notorious but it is a good name for a movie. Great song too 5/10
"North by northwest" Alfred hitchcock For my money cary grant has the best butt chin in the business. I havent reviewed my list of hollywood butt chins lately but this dude has it going on. Cary grant meets a woman and its pretty much assumed he will bed her. This dude and movie is precursor to james bond with cary grant utilizing that butt chin to make the hoes wet. As for the movie you can see hitchcock expanding his moves from notorious. It also has the right amount of weird. That is great and hitchcock good at this. The story maybe too far fetched and I like the camera shots and close ups. This was useful. The ending is fine and subtle what I might expect. You can tell it was 50s. That is ok too. Ive been meaning to see this for a while and @Deckard i can finally report. Also @Deckard let me know what i should see next? There are other hitchcock titles to explore not sure how many. this one was 7/10
Not Deckard but if you want to stick with Grant I would highly recommend: If you want to stick with Grant and Hitchcock:
Thanks i reviewed notorious ingrid is my girl even with a slight stache. You are a kubrick guy is barry lyndon any good? Any kubrick you recommend besides the standard stuff
It's been probably 20 years since I've seen Barry Lyndon, guess I should watch it again. Highly recommend this early one from Kubrick if you like noir crime/heist movies (helps that I love Sterling Hayden, and Kubrick wrote it with Jim Thompson, probably my favorite old-school crime novelist):
It’s very different from Kubrick’s other films. Just over 3 hours long and it moves slowly, but I really enjoyed it. I’ve always had a great interest in history and loved that aspect of it. Kubrick did something remarkable. All of the interior shots where any light is needed are filmed entirely using candlelight, to recreate how it would have been in the 1750’s. That had never been done before (or since, I’m guessing) and the result is often utterly beautiful. He made this film right after A Clockwork Orange, and it couldn’t be more different. Not a commercial success, possibly turning a small profit, and it didn’t get strong reviews when it came out, but today it’s seen as one of Kubrick’s best. Winner of 4 Academy Awards. I’d call it a beautiful epic, and unlike any other ever made. I certainly hope Ryan O’Neal was well paid. He earned every penny.
I saw it years ago and it’s funny. One of my favorites by Woody is his 1st - What’s Up, Tiger Lily? He takes a serious Japanese spy flick and dubs in a completely different English script. The result is hilarious. It got great reviews, a major interview of Woody in Playboy (immediately becoming one of their favorite directors), and launched Woody’s career as a filmmaker.
Barry Lyndon is amazing. I watched the criterion blu ray recently, and it had jumped up to my favorite Kubrick movie atm. It’s worth buying. It looks so good and has an impressive collection of bonus features.
