I watched News of the World (2020) yesterday on HBO/Max, an unusual western (in a good way) starring Tom Hanks, and really enjoyed it. It takes place in the Texas of 1870, and Hanks was a captain in one of the Texas regiments during the Civil War. He's finally made his way back to the state after spending most of the intervening 5 years staying away for reasons of his own. He makes his living reading the news to folks in the small country towns and villages that predominate in Texas back then, catering to people hungry for whatever sort of news they can get. Thus the "News of the World." Hanks had picked up several newspapers in Galveston on his arrival, some months out of date, but he has a way of making it fascinating. It's a living, but not much of one. At this point, he doesn't particularly care. Just when you're wondering just what the heck kind of movie this is, sort of plodding along (although I found the historical "plodding" fascinating) things start to happen. My significant other's down in Houston visiting her sister, but I plan on watching it again with her at some point. I liked it that much. A suggestion - Don't watch the trailer! It's one of those damn things that essentially shows the entire film in two and a half minutes. Stupid! 8/10
Milius - documentary about the writer/director/iconoclast/semi-lunatic from 60/70/80's Hollywood He wrote Apocalypse Now, first 2 Dirty Harry movies, wrote the Indianapolis scene in Jaws...then Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn... I had no idea he was such good friends with Spielberg and Lucas and others, and wrote some of the best dialogue in their movies. Great interviews with them and Coppola and Scorsese and others... Great documentary about an incredibly interesting person.
He also co-created the great HBO show Rome and wrote the underrated Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.
Both of those are great. There's a couple of his movies talked about in the doc that I'd never heard of and now are on the list to watch soon. The documentary is free on youtube movies right now, I highly recommend it.
Horror/slashers. Knew little going in, but enjoyed them. Don't Breathe (2016) A- Old blind man as bad guy Don't Breathe 2 (2021) A- Old blind man now anti hero Malignant (2021) A Big twist reveal
Sleepers - 7.5/10 All star cast tells the story of four young boys that had one childhood prank go awry and them being shipped off to an all boys academy and the horrors that follow, how they cope and how they settle the score.
Wife and I saw The Eyes of Tammy Faye last night. The film and script itself isn't pretty paint by the numbers for a rise and fall biopic but Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield are both fantastic. Story is unfocused and it tries to cover way too much to really do anything more than a scratching the surface. Its worthwhile just for their performances, Chastain is probably my favorite actress going now. I'm sure they'll both be getting acting noms when the time comes..... B-
Suicide Squad - 0/10 - I thought the first one was bad, figured it had to become good at some point but it didn’t, what a disgusting piece of garbage. It’s literally mocking fans who like DC, there’s no other way to take this insult. Kate - 8/10 - Great film, lots of action, good acting, believable with some plot twists and suspense that made it better than expected. It’s kind of the same old same old w/ a hitman working for an agency so that is why cannot go higher. Also big twist you could kind of see coming. Still very solid!
Reminiscence (C) - this is the love child of Eternal Sunshine and Memento except it's all about memories. I wasn't deeply interested in the mystery hook and the sci fi elements were just there. Wasn't terrible or bad, but you're kind of left expecting a better movie. Bit disappointed in Lisa Joy and not optimistic about how Westworld will properly resolve it's arcs/mysteries, if it ever does. If you like Jackman or a plodding detective movie, give it a shot when you're bored.
Dune: Felt super true to the book and definitely left me wanting more. Even though it's probably been close to 20 years since I read it, the parts that stick in your mind are all accurately portrayed in the movie. Biggest issue probably is that it's incomplete, and it's worrisome that evidently the sequel hasn't even been greenlighted yet. Definitely has an epic feel to it, but I'm not sure how much someone who isn't a fan of the book or into big sci-fi epics in general would feel about it.
Well, I'm not a movie critic, and generally like movies in general. A movie has to be pretty bad, like say Battlefield Earth bad to get me to really dislike something. I would say if you're a fan of the book, or generally big epic sci-fi movies in general, then yes, it's pretty awesome. Special FX, cinematography are all top notch. The spaceship designs are all really unique and interesting as well. In some ways I would compare it to the 1st lord of the rings movie in the sense that it's setting up the overall world of the movies and really true to the book. That said, I would also understand it if some people disliked the movie due to not understanding what was going on, or some may even find it boring. Fwiw, my wife also enjoyed it despite not having any familiarity with the source material. She did mention she felt like falling asleep during a few parts of the movie though.
HBO added a handful of Clint Eastwood movies and I watched unforgiven and good bad ugly for the first time Both 7/10 for me
Well that's just a damn shame. I can't help you children too much. Pale Rider The Wild Bunch Outlaw Josey Wales High Noon Fistfull of Dollars Rio Bravo Get back to us.
