Amph What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)

2001: A Space Odyssey

Finally saw this film on the big screen yesterday. It was amazing. I can't think of any other film that benefits this much from seeing it at the theater. Although I've probably seen it 10 times before, yesterday was almost like seeing it for the very first time.

There were a lot of people in attendance, I'd say the house was 90% full. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially Hal's dialogue which got a lot of laughs.

The theater I attended played the introductory music before the film started and after the 10 minute intermission, per Kubrick's instructions. They showed an original, unremastered 70 mm print that would have been how the film appeared in 1968. This was one of the best experiences I've ever had the movies.

 

Ghost in the Shell (2017)
I think I may have seen one of the GITS anime movies; so I really can't compare them to the live action Hollywood version. I didn't think it was as terrible as the critics said it was. My biggest gripe was the flashy, futuristic city that kind of took away from the actual story. It kind of reminded me of the colorful futuristic city in Spielberg's AI and to a lesser extent Batman Forever. I could be very wrong, but I don't remember if the city in the original anime was supposed to be so flashy and high tech. Maybe sometime I'll watch the anime movies.

 

Torso (The Bodies show signs of Carnal Violence, 1973) So this was Sergio Martino's last proper giallo until the 90s, though it feels more like a slasher movie (and probably inspired a lot them along with Mario Bava's A Bay of Blood). In fact, the woods-stalking sequence feels like something out of Halloween and that kind of ilk. Those few minutes are very atmospheric and the only good set piece in the entire film.

Jane (Suzy Kndall) and her university pals decide to stay in the villa of a family member, but Dani (Tina Amont) has boy trouble. The creepy Stefano will not leave Dani alone and follows them up there. There's also a murderer who strangles women, removes their eyes and hacks them to pieces. We do not see much hacking thank goodness. (I watched the interview with Sergio on this disc again and the only interesting thing he said in that particular interview is that if he shot this movie now, he'd leave the gore out). So is Stefano the killer? Is it the brooding cute doctor Roberto (Luc Merenda)? Or someone else entirely?

I've always been kind of iffy on this film. I like John Richardson and Luc Merenda, but the ladies are pretty wooden (not that they're given much to do). Perhaps this is was a directorial mandate from Martino since the killer sees all women as dolls? Maybe. Maybe not. After watching this again, I maintain that the first two giallos Martino filmed with Edwige Fenech and Ivan Rassimov are his best thrillers and movies overall. The Violent Professionals comes close to matching the two giallos though, and 2019: After the Fall of New York is the best bad Escape From New York rip off you will ever see, but beyond those four movies, I am starting to wonder just how much I enjoy Sergio's work? It's kind of surprising to read those words, but here I am. He got the best performances from Edwige and Ivan Rassimov. And while Richardson is decent here, he does not quite match his 60s charms.

 

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

 

Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1895) – William K.L. Dickson

In this snippet, a man plays the violin into a large microphone while two men dance beside him. So far, pretty typical, but get this: you can hear the violin. One of the interesting things about looking at these old films is seeing the beginnings of technologies that I had previously thought only developed later. The idea that someone was experimenting with sound films before the 1900s had even rolled around is kind of mind blowing, but this was still an experiment and one that basically failed, though the technology itself was basically solid. Back in these days, people watched these short films by looking into large cabinets. You paid your money (typically a penny) and then watched the film; these cabinets would be furnished in “penny arcades” that weren’t totally unlike our modern video game arcades. The idea here was that the cabinet would feature both the technology for showing the film and also a separate technology (cylinder recordings) to play sounds. The viewer would look into the window, place an earpiece next to his ear and the film and the cylinder would play at the same time. This would have been prohibitively expensive for the Edison company however, so the project was shelved. There were, of course, a number of possible problems. Let’s say the film and the sound got out of sync, which might easily happen while the cabinets were being moved. And having two separate mechanisms meant the cabinet would be twice as likely to break down. And then there’s the fact that it would have been difficult to create cylinder recordings to back a lot of these short films; this one, which features a single violin, is pretty simple, but getting recordings for some films would be nearly impossible. For all of those reasons, and probably others, sound films never got out of the gate in the 1890s, but it’s fascinating to realize that people were already toying with the idea. One last detail. The two men dancing are actually slow dancing as if they were a man and a woman. I was going to make a joke about this being a landmark in Queer Cinema, but upon Googling, I discovered that people have actually made this argument in dead seriousness. Well, it takes all kinds. ½ star.

tl;dr – fascinating early example of sound film experimentation is kind of mind blowing actually. ½ star.

 

I'm watching "Baywatch," knowing what kind of movie it is. I'm trying to put myself in the mind of a modern young person and wonder if this would be perceived the same way as a "Beverly Hills Cop" movie over thirty years ago, or like "Police Academy."
This movie has Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me," the theme song to "White Nights" in 1985, surely inspiring a whole new generation of people to look the song up on YouTube and comment "Baywatch brought me here." The past is replaced.
Somewhat related, Johnson's "Skyscraper" movie is coming out almost exactly thirty years after "Die Hard" and The Rock posted a "nostalgia" poster in the style of Die Hard's poster. It's like it doesn't matter if a movie looks like a blatant rip-off or remake anymore.

 

Superfly (2018)

I never saw the original, so I can't compare it on that grounds. This film is all style and absolutely no substance. The main character of Youngblood Priest is unlikeable, and the limitations of the actor playing him make me care even less. The action sequences are well shot, I suppose, with flashiness all about it. Michael K. Williams stands out and walks away with every scene he's in as Priest's ex-mentor. I enjoyed it, I guess, but again, all style, no substance.

Uncle Drew (2018)

This shattered my expectations going in. I don't know about you, but I had to suffer through that hideously made film trailer after every single film I've seen this summer so far. However, the surprisingly decent reviews (67%, higher than Jurassic World) drew me in, and honestly, I had a great time. It's hysterically funny, touching, and very very sweet. It might be the most wholesome comedy of the year. Not saying it's a 5 star effort mind you, but I'd recommend and immediate Redbox rental.

 

Incredibles 2 for the second time. Great film. Beautiful to watch. Funny. It should be nominated for best original score at the Oscars, along with best animated film of course.

 

I should have known better, but I rented Death Wish. The original is a guilty pleasure, with its old Charles Bronson and it's young Jeff Goldblum. Though Charles Bronson was younger when he made that movie than I am now. Bruce Willis is 10 years older than Bronson was when he starred in the original Death Wish.

The original movie is terrible, but it's not the point by point second amendment wish fulfillment fantasy of the remake. This must have been a passion project of pro gun Willis. A guy from Texas reminds us that when the police show up, the crime has already been committed. He says this as he is shooting at fleeing trespassers who have not threatened him in any way. They are running away. The aggrieved property owner shoots anyway. Of course. Because probably in Texas that's what stand your ground most likely means. They caused property damage, and so their life is forfeit I guess. And then there is the last stand home defense again well-armed intruders. The ultimate second amendment fantasy adventure. The only problems presented in this movie that can't be solved by guns are solved by torture. It's almost the perfect Trumpian movie.

 

Set It Up- Did I like it because we haven’t had a good romantic comedy in sometime? Did I like it because Netflix’s track record is spotty(which is pretty generous) and this was one of its better films? Or did I like it because it was a cute story with two very charming leads?

The answer is yes

 

Flight of the Phoenix (2004) - Plot; The survivors of a plane crash must overcome their differences if they're rebuild their plane and escape their Hellish circumstances.

I've never seen the original, which certainly has a better pedigree and reputation than this lightly regarded remake. The pieces are all here for the combination of tense drama and survival adventure the story promises, but in the hands of a less than accomplished director like John Moore (Max Payne, Die Hard w/a Vengeance), it too often falls flat despite the solid and game cast. Dennis "When they can't get Harrison Ford" Quaid heads an above board cast that includes Miranda Otto, Tyreese Gibson, Hugh Laurie and Giovanni Rabisi, the latter of whom steals the film as the weirdly enigmatic brains behind the plan they desperately cling to.

The original is more highly regarded for sure, though as I said, I've never seen it. But if you're looking for a better executed new millennium film about survival adventure, I suggest The Grey starring Liam Neeson, as this watchable but unremarkable remake never takes flight. - 6/10

 

I've never seen the remake but the original is very good. Worth looking up.

 

Executioner from Shaolin (1977) - This Shaws gets a lot of praise and is well known for Lo Lieh's Priest White Brows Pai Mei. While it's nice to see Chen Kuan-Tai and Lily Li as a kung fu couple (the bedroom scene is adorable), the casting of Wong Yue as their son kicks this down several notches for me. I can never quite buy Wong Yue being so good at kung fu he could whup Lo Lieh's butt. For me, this never earns the praise or love that so many fans to seem to pour on it. I think Wong Yue's best martial performance is Dirty Ho (and he's got Gordon Liu backing him up). That film seems to be one of the very times that WY does not annoy me to the point of shutting off the movie. Unfortunately, it's not the case here and not even Lo Lieh can dismiss my disinterest with this movie.

 

For years I've been watching his films thinking, "thats Indys younger brother right there for the next Indy film".

 

Yes! YES! Back when they were kicking around the notion of Indy 4, my thought was Quaid as Indy's younger brother that he never knew. If I remember my Indy lore, his Mother died when he was young, so perhaps his Father subsequently had a short term relationship that he kept from Indy, and they had a Son. Flash forward, Indy comes across a rival archeologist/treasure hunter who turns out to be his brother. Lots of potential there IMO.

 

Man, Flight would have been so much better with Harrison Ford. Ford is actually a pretty decent successor to Stewart in the role, and could play it pretty similarly. I can really see Ford fitting in the original version.

 

Quaid is certainly solid+, but if Ford is the Beetles, Quaid is The Monkees.

 

Rogue One
Been rewatching this almost monthly. It's an incredible film. Very emotional. Great acting, visuals, and score. One of the best SW films ever, imo.

 

So this would be instead of Clint Eastwood as Indy’s older brother?

 

Princess Ali (1895) – William Heise

Some women do some belly-dancing. The only thing of real interest here is behind-the-scenes. This is the first film I’ve watched that has William Heise as solo director; he was typically credited only as co-director with William K.L. Dickson. In 1895, however, Dickson began to feel that he wasn’t getting sufficient credit for all these so called “Edison Films” that he was typically responsible for actually filming. By 1896, he would leave the Edison film company entirely to start his own film studio, but perhaps tensions were responsible for Heise already getting more responsibility starting in 1895. 0 stars.

tl;dr – behind-the-scenes drama was responsible for one of William Heise’s first solo films, but that’s the most interesting thing about this one. 0 stars.

 

Warcraft (2016). Waste of time. Nonsensical plot, cardboard cutout characters, forgettable CGI fight scenes, but at least the magic CGI was pretty.

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Much like the first Ant-Man film, this was really entertaining with some great humour and fun and clever action. Sadly it wasn’t as good as the prequel, and the trailers pretty much showed everything that happens, so there wasn’t many surprises. Paul Rudd was once again amazing as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lily was also amazing as Wasp. Luis made me laugh a lot again. The villains (Ghost and Burch) were very comic booky and fit the film really well. Ghost was awesome. Visuals were stunning. The first after credits scene sets up some very interesting ideas for Avengers 4. I’ll need to see it again before I can say what I’d rate it, but it’d be between 8.5 and 9/10.

 

Yeah, it looked good, but the story and acting were both kind of meh.

 

Pheeeew. Tough call. You certainly couldn't cast both and have them show up claiming to be Indy's brother w/o also casting Maury Povich to do the requisite paternity tests.

"When it comes to 88 year old Clint, Henry you *are* the Father!"

"I told you, punk."

Not sure which (if any) would have more dramatic gristle; Older Brother he never knew he had or younger Brother he never knew he had.