Thirith on 1/3/2022 at 12:39
Fully agree on both of those, rachel.
We just finished the HBO adaptation of Stephen King's The Outsider. The cast is great throughout, the direction is solid, and the series definitely starts well - but my impression is that Richard Price, who also worked on The Wire and who created HBO's The Night Of, doesn't really know how to handle either supernatural horror nor the weaknesses of Stephen King's writing. In its second half, the plotting falls apart, the pacing is all over the place, and while I still enjoyed those actors enough to keep watching, I kept wishing that they had material that's worthy of their talent.
Thirith on 21/4/2022 at 13:30
Last night we faced the daunting task of watching Woodstock, the 1970s documentary in its expanded, almost 4h glory. Since we've had a few very exhausting weeks at work, I wasn't sure if I'd manage a film of that length on a school night, so to speak - but while I did feel rather knackered this morning, the film itself was glorious. It's a wonderful piece of experiential filmmaking, giving the audience as much of a sense as is possible via cinema of what the event must've felt like. I don't have strong feelings or nostalgia towards 1960s counter culture, but I loved how much the film made this feel current and present and alive. And the editing, for which Thelma Schoonmaker was rightly nominated for an Academy Award (was Patton really a better editing job and did it deserve to beat this one?), is sublime. Yes, there were moments when I felt that the film could've been a bit shorter, but I don't think that this is a problem: I'd imagine that an event like this would feel tiresome at times, or overwhelming, or you just wish that you could curl up in a corner that isn't too muddy and sleep for a couple of hours. But I wouldn't have missed seeing Woodstock on a big screen for the world, and by the time Jimi Hendrix started playing and the film cross-cut his performance with the aftermath, I was elated and exhausted.
P.S.: Most likely this was the longest film we've ever seen at the cinema. The Extended Edition of Return of the King is longer, but that one we watched at home and most likely with extended tea/coffee/toilet breaks.
On a totally different note: rachel, did you finish Mare of Easttown, and if so, what did you think of the series as a whole?
rachel on 21/4/2022 at 15:22
Oh right, yes, I did. Excellent series through and through. I liked that if you were really astute you could follow some breadcrumbs foreshadowing the final answer from episode one. I also found the character of Mare so relatably human and raw in her bottled-down grief, and her relationships with the rest of her family. The blowout with her daughter, the snark to snark battles with her mom (played by the great Jean Smart), before the latter drops her shield for a second and tells her she's always been on her side, my goodness. Straight to the heart.
It's not often you come across a show of this caliber.
Thirith on 22/4/2022 at 08:23
Thanks! I also liked it a lot - it's one of my favourite miniseries of the last decade or so. And Jean Smart is an absolute treasure.
EvaUnit02 on 24/4/2022 at 19:37
Ambulance - 2.5/5
Braindead plot full of holes but it's held up by the acting from the leads (Jake Gyllenhaal and the Black Manta guy from Aquaman) and the some old fashioned IRL stunt driving. They wreck a bunch of cop cars in spectacular fashion.
* There's the occasional moments of the usual juvenile Michael Bay humour but they're few and far in-between to be a major issue. Also nothing as egregious as John Turturro's character from the Bayformers movies.
* I don't recommend watching it on too big of a screen because they use late 00s style shaky cam cinematography.
Cipheron on 25/4/2022 at 00:08
Catching up some British comedy shows.
Saw That Mitchell and Webb look. It was ok, had some really funny stuff but in the last seasons the really good stuff felt a little thinner although still with some really good stuff here and there. Overall - not as good as A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Now watching Mitchell and Webb's previous show Peep Show. Edit: the cringe factor is strong here, sometimes I have to turn the show off to deal with it (deliberate cringe mind you). I'm also getting some Déjà vu on a couple of episodes mid season 2. I guess I must have caught a few episodes back in the day and completely forgotten about it.
henke on 26/4/2022 at 16:31
Watched
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia recently, and you can watch it too, (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EClhXGBSvpI) right HERE! On youtube! This version is very good quality, was uploaded 11 months ago and no one's bothered taking it down.
So, this Mexican mob boss's daughter is knocked up and when the boss finds out who the father is he commands BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA! Word is sent out, crooks across the land are looking for this guy. The protagonist is a piano player in some seedy bar who finds out that Alfredo is dead already and buried in the next town over, so he figures he'll drive over there, dig him up, chop off his head and claim the bounty. Easy, right? This is a very ugly movie full of ugly people doing ugly deeds. I liked it. Released in 1974, directed by Sam Peckinpah who was one of the first guys to use a lot of slo-mo in his actionscenes. Both John Woo and Scorsese cite this guy as a big influence. The slo-mo action is nice, tho it doesn't have the choreography of Woo's action of course, but still a lot in this movie feels like proto-Woo.
EvaUnit02 on 28/4/2022 at 08:09
Quote Posted by henke
Watched
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia recently, and you can watch it too, (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EClhXGBSvpI) right HERE! On youtube! This version is very good quality, was uploaded 11 months ago and no one's bothered taking it down.
So, this Mexican mob boss's daughter is knocked up and when the boss finds out who the father is he commands BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA! Word is sent out, crooks across the land are looking for this guy. The protagonist is a piano player in some seedy bar who finds out that Alfredo is dead already and buried in the next town over, so he figures he'll drive over there, dig him up, chop off his head and claim the bounty. Easy, right? This is a very ugly movie full of ugly people doing ugly deeds. I liked it. Released in 1974, directed by Sam Peckinpah who was one of the first guys to use a lot of slo-mo in his actionscenes. Both John Woo and Scorsese cite this guy as a big influence. The slo-mo action is nice, tho it doesn't have the choreography of Woo's action of course, but still a lot in this movie feels like proto-Woo.
Sam Peckinpah is great stuff. I highly recommend Cross of Iron, an anti-war WW2 film which he did after his Hollywood exile. If people dig Red Dead Redemption's stories then Peckinpah should be right up their alley, most of his films dealt with people standing on the precipitous of changing times.
Uncharted (2022) - 3/5Surprisingly fun action-adventure film. The spirit is very much true to the original "games". The Nolan North cameo (Drake's game voice actor) was a nice touch.
Biggest complaint was the usual cringe product placement by Sony Pictures.
[video=youtube;Dh7SZ5xDb00]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh7SZ5xDb00[/video]
demagogue on 28/4/2022 at 08:42
An old professor friend of my parents teaches a class on American cinema, and Sam Peckinpah has always been the high point for him, or anyway he's written lots of essays about his movies. I have to go back and watch some of them. The only one I can recall right now is The Ballad of Cable Hogue from his recommendation, which was funny, but I need to watch his classics. (Not least because I'm writing a Western right now...)
zombe on 5/5/2022 at 22:21
Wait what? ... Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - is not shit. It is actually good.
Just recently watched Picard ep 9 - holy crap. It is the worst garbage i have ever seen. Don't ask why i watched it - i have essentially written off the franchise some time ago. For some reason i can not fathom (read: really bored) - i watched the new one. And it is good (best thing since sliced bread in comparison, but that does not say much ... well, anything).
Am i giving it too much credit by being influenced by the cavalcade of shit preceding it - or is it actually good? Any second opinions?
Best part for me: They TALK! And not just some inane shit, but they actually make sense. I though that TALKING is forbidden nowadays and pew-pew is strictly mandatory substitute of having any actual content.