Blu-ray thumbs

[Chris Knipp]

Martin McDonagh made his name originally as a playwright and I'm not as convinced by his movies, also not a fan of Frances. I felt he was out of his element here doing a story set outside the UK.

[Johann]

I would never have known he was British-seemed like a U.S. production all the way.
I loved the twists and turns. If a movie is so unpredictable that I can’t see things coming, I’m all for it.

[Chris Knipp]

But you're not American. To me it rang false. He is English-born Irish. I guess I'm an outlander. But to me his plays are far better than his films. People love IN BRUGES. I thought A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE rang false when I saw it too, due to the American setting. You can't just change cultures like turning a switch. (Maybe in absurdist drama, you can.)

He started his career in the Royal National Theatre with The Pillowman in 2003. He has since written many plays which have been produced on the West End and on Broadway. His acclaimed plays include The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996), The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996), The Lonesome West (1997), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), A Behanding in Spokane (2010), and Hangmen (2015).

The first thing I saw was THE LIEUTENANT OF INNISHMORE in London with an English friend attuned to what's going on in the theater. THE PILLOWMAN seems a lot more serious. It's a different kind of thing.

THE PILLOWMAN is brilliant. I saw it on Broadway back then. He's had a hard time maintaining the level of his early plays in what's come later. That's my two cents. He's talented. I'll grant you that. And for me to debunk is films when he got the Oscar for best live action short film in 2004 is going against the facts.

[Johann]

I’d never heard of him.
The acting won Oscars, and his short film SIX SHOOTER is a bonus on the blu-ray.
It stars Brendan Gleason and I didn’t find it that great.

[Chris Knipp]

You'll hear of him now.

[Johann]

I suffered through three of the new JJ Abrams STAR TREK movies.
They were terrible. Not even worth reviewing.

[Johann]

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008)



Enjoyable movie in the vein of The Goonies from Eric Brevig.
Starring Brendan Fraser, this is loosely based on the Jules Verne novel.
Fraser and a kid travel to Iceland, to follow in their relatives' past work at a volcano.
They meet an Icelandic woman who escorts them there when a storm hits and seals them in an old abandoned mineshaft.
From there, they free-fall to the Center of the earth, encountering luminous birds, venus flytraps, and dinosaurs.
Implausible but fun movie.