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

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017)
A Japanese anime about a girl who goes out on the town to experience the local nightlife all the while a classmate is constantly pursuing her as a crush. The illustrations in the film are certainly quirky; giving illusions to metaphors that are typical in many Japanese anime films. I didn't particularly care for this one; I couldn't really feel for any of the characters and even though much of the theme was for mature audiences, it seemed too silly and it was sometimes difficult to even understand what was going on.

 

That title is hard to understand too.

 

The Civil War (1990) - Heavily skewed and romanticized, and brings a very limited portrait of the war to life. We could do with a new one that is more than faux military history and Lost Cause nostalgia.

 

Currently watching The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Not as good as the original.

 

Coma 2012
Actually a 4 hour miniseries. Remake of the late 70's Michael Crichton directed medical thriller, based on the classic Robin Cook novel. I am a big fan of the book and the original Michael Douglas film, so i was a bit surprised I liked this so much. I still prefer the original, but this is a nice alternative. People are being put into comas during routine operations. In the original they were sent to the Jefferson Institute; who was harvesting organs and selling them on the black market. The end game is a little different here but still effective. Very creepy. The remake had some nice supporting parts, such as Richard Dreyfuss, Geena Davis, and James Woods. Forgot what a good actor Woods can be, he's actually a good guy in this.

 

I'm a great fan of Robin Cook's books. I'm surprised more haven't been made into films or TV series.

 

Bat**** politics aside, James Woods is a fantastic actor.

 

Brain was a great book. I'd like to see a movie of that.

 

That's an old one - I know I've read it and probably have it somewhere in my bookcases though.
His recent Pandemic/Genesis/Contagion trilogy was pretty good.

 

I've never read anything by Robin Cook. I always confuse him with Michael Crichton, who I've read everything. Crichton is really hit or miss.

 

Cook is more medically-oriented than Crichton. I like both authors though.

 

Brain was similar to Coma, only they were using people's brains for computers. Yikes. Cook and Crichton were both MDs and pioneered the medical/tech/thriller genre. Cook dealt more with hospital politics and MC with runaway tech. At least early on in their careers.

 

I haven't read it, but the movie version of Outbreak, despite taking some silly Hollywood liberties, was very effective.

 

Outbreak was directed by Wolfgang Peterson of Das Boot fame. I remember a bidding war between the Outbreak and Crisis in the Hot zone stories. Only Outbreak got made.

 

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Directed by: Sean Durkin

"Do you ever have that feeling when you can’t tell if something is a memory if you dreamed it?"

A really great psychological drama/thriller about a young woman struggling to re-adjust to normal life after spending two years under the sway of a Manson-esque cult leader (a chillingly effective John Hawkes). Think this Elizabeth Olsen kid might end up going places.

 

Especially as Hades in Disney's Hercules.

 

On Dangerous Ground. This is an excellent noir from Nicholas Ray. It stars Robert Ryan as a surly, isolated cop, worn down by the ugliness of his job, actively resisting human contact. After one too many incidents of violence, he gets sent upstate to cool down with a manhunt for a killer. He encounters the killer’s blind sister, Ida Lupino, and she brings out his compassion. It’s a really great film. Ryan and Lupino are both great, as is Ward Bond as the absolutely furious father of the murdered girl who turns the posse into a one-man rampage. It’s got great, intense direction from Ray, and an absolutely badass Bernard Herrmann score. It’s a tight film that works whether it’s on the beat with Ryan and his partners, developing a fantastic atmosphere and brilliantly illustrating his depression, or in Lupino’s cabin tenderly making a human connection. Or on a ripping three-way foot chase through snowy hills. A real gem from Ray.

 

The Gunfighter. Don’t let the title fool you; this is a Western with far more regret than gunplay. Gregory Peck plays a legendary gunslinger who’s tired of living with the burden — of being gawked at or treated with fear and deference everywhere he goes, of people trying to run him out of town before there’s trouble, and above all of every would-be tough guy in every town trying to pick a fight and making him add one more soul to his body count. So he goes to see his old love and the son he doesn’t know, hoping he can find a way to settle down. But will she agree to see him? Will the brothers of the last idiot he had to kill catch up with him? Will the town’s sleazy little wannabe badass try to make a name by gunning him down? Will the father who blames him for a lost son get the drop on him? It’s a wonderful film that unfolds slowly, letting Peck’s sorrow sink in as the whole town goes crazy around him. The cast around him is excellent, though except for Karl Malden in an early part as the bartender, they’re mostly lesser-known character actors. The highlight is Millard Mitchell as the town marshal, an old friend of Peck’s, who’s trying to manage the circus his town has turned into and let his old friend down easy over the fact that his hopes for a romantic ending probably won’t turn out the way he wants. It all comes to an excellent ending that puts the perfect bow on a contemplative, mournful Western.

 

edit:nm

 

King Solomon’s Mines. This is a somewhat loose adaptation of the classic adventure novel. Of course, the plot is reworked to feature a love interest, but more significantly the lost-world civilization our protagonists reach is deemphasized in favor of a bunch of safari-adventure wildlife encounters on the way there (and the aforementioned romance). Fortunately, it’s a good bit of fun, with a zippy pace, constant adventure, and a commanding performance from Stewart Granger as Quatermain. Nothing really special, but it’s good old-school fun.

 

Judas and the Black Messiah


In a emoji:

I felt the movie fell flat; that it didn't live up to the hype. Perhaps because I subconsciously compared to The Trial of the Chicago 7 which featured Fred Hampton and I felt this was a spinoff film. I'm more interested in the documentary, Eyes on the Prize, and documentary/interview with William O'Neal that inspired the film.

 

The Great Outdoors

This wasn't as funny as I'd remembered it, but there are some humorous gags. John Hughes wrote the screenplay.

John Candy is terrific. The bits with him skiing, the old 96er, and the bear getting shot in the rear end are pretty funny. Parts of the film dragged a bit notably the awkward and unnecessary teen romance that goes nowhere.

I had forgotten how much of a slime ball Dan Aykroyd's character is in this movie. And he's not very funny either. His wife is played by Annette Benning in her first film role I think.

This picture is alright, but nowhere near as funny as films like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Uncle Buck.

 

Pat and Mike. In this low-key romance-comedy, Katharine Hepburn plays a talented female athlete who loses her mojo around her overbearing, unsupportive fiance. But when she teams up with even more overbearing, but highly supportive sports promoter Spencer Tracy, she finds success. Of course, she also finds romance and self-confidence as she stops getting pushed around by men and starts doing some pushing herself. It’s light fare, not a gut-buster, but enjoyable, and it features several appearances by contemporary athletes playing themselves, including a solid role for women’s sports legend Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

 

Putting Pants on Philip. How can you resist a title like that? This Laurel and Hardy short features Hardy trying to manage his childish, girl-chasing, kilt-wearing Scottish nephew Laurel, who keeps running off, being ridiculous, and drawing crowds that embarrass respectable gentleman Hardy. It’s just as hilarious as you’d expect, full of great physical comedy, and it gets a lot out of its premise in twenty minutes without overstaying its welcome.

 

Soul 2020
Pixar

you know I just could not get into this . There's some inventive graphics when he's in the Before-Life , but there's some terrible voice casting , especialy Graham Norton. Then the story turns into a body-swap comedy and features the ugliest cat ever , doesn't seem like a cat at all really . I was half-way thru and I just thought : I haven't laughed and the story is dragging , I'm out.