Blu-ray thumbs

[Johann]

Great! Enjoy the movie!

[Chris Knipp]

In its way it's a thing of beauty, for sure.
To me Forties flicks are nearly all hopelessly dated and film noir is crude and artificial, and that soaring, melodramatic Hollywood movie music annoys me - but the music is essential glue holding things together.

[Johann]

MILK (2008)



Fine film from Gus van Sant, all about the first openly gay man to be elected to public office.
Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk, a gay activist and camera store owner who makes history.
This film covers a lot of ground and elapsed time.
The underlying theme was Milk's philosophy of giving people hope, that gay rights are human rights, and the man made a big difference.
He was up against a corrupt police force in San Francisco who targeted gays, he was up against popular opinion (and the likes of fanatic Anita Bryant), and he was even up against fellow gays who wouldn't come out of the closet for the cause.
Powerful performance from Sean Penn- he totally deserved another Academy Award.
This film shows the power of a movement. And even tho he was martyred, he made a lasting impact.

[Johann]

THE ICE ROAD (2021)




Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, this wasn't very good.
Liam Neeson and Lawrence Fishburne star in this blah thriller about driving on an ice road.
26 miners are trapped in a diamond mine in Manitoba Canada, and in order to get them out, they require pieces of heavy machinery which is not on-site. They have to be trucked in, over frozen rivers and lakes.
Liam is a driver, and he travels with his Iraq war vet brother.
Lawrence Fishburne is the first to die, when his rig falls thru the ice halfway there.
From then on it's predictable peril.
You can only make driving over a frozen lake so terrifying...

[Johann]

EYE IN THE SKY |2015|




Directed by Gavin Hood (Ender's Game), this was a pretty good spy thriller.
Helen Mirren plays a british Colonel who's caught up in the ethics of using drones to kill.
Alan Rickman is fine in his final performance as her underling, pushing using drones to the limit. The technology in the film apparently wasn't even in use by any military, but probably is now. I wasn't aware that top brass took collateraL damage as a consideration.
Here, a young girl halts a strike just by selling bread in Nairobi near the house the perps are in. I suppose this could be more exciting/dramatic, but it's drones...it is what it is.

[Johann]

THE TOWN (2010)




Gripping heist film directed by and starring Ben Affleck.
Boston has the dubious honor of having the most bank robberies per capita.
And the majority of those heists stem from a neighborhood called Charleston.
Ben has a loyal gang who perpetuate these heists, and they are damn good at it.
The FBI has to work triple hard to get close to the perps.
In this movie Ben falls for the bank manager of the first robbery, which leads to compromising situations. He also deals with loyalty on all fronts. I was following this story right to the end, which surprised me. I thought it would end MUCH differently, given what happens.
Two thumbs up.

[Johann]

THE MACHINIST (2004)



Brad Anderson directs an emaciated Christian Bale in this dark psychological thriller.
Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a machine shop worker who hasn't slept in a year.
He weighs 120 pounds, is very gaunt, and his mental state is severely deteriorating.
The only bright lights in his life are a prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a waitress named Maria.
His mindset spirals out of control frequently, and he sees things that aren't there. He lashes out at everyone in his orbit, most of whom see that he's struggling and want to help. The mental breakdown gets more and more intense, leading to him being fired and alienating everyone he knows.
Intense movie, mang.
Hold on while you're watching!!

[Johann]

THE SISTERS BROTHERS (2018)



Directed by Jacques Audiard, this neo-western probably works better as a book than a film.
John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix are Charlie and Eli Sisters, two bumpkins aimlessly making their way through the 1850's.
They're on the trail of a guy named Warm, who's looking to prospect for gold then ultimately create a new society in Dallas. He's paired up with Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), who's with him and against him at the same time.
This movie goes from town to town, scene to scene, without much interesting happening. It's not compelling. It looks great; good cinematography, but the story just doesn't grab you.

[Chris Knipp]

Very disappointing. An example of a French director not transplanting well to the US. You should watch Audiard's great films instead such as his award-winning The Beat My Heart Skipped and A Prophet. The latter won the Grand Prix at Cannes. He was my favorite new French director in the early 2000's. Those two films are incredibly innovative and exciting. Made Romain Duris into a serious actor and Tahar Rahim into a star. Here's a list off The World of Reel of the best French directors of the 21st century. Audiard is on it. I liked him for his mixing of genres and use of noire crime elements with serious drama.

Leos Carax
Bruno Dumont
Claire Denis
Celine Sciamma
Olivier Assayas
Jacques Audiard
Gaspar Noe
Jean-Luc Godard
Arnaud Desplechin
Francois Ozon
Abdelatif Kechiche

Honorary Mentions: Mia Hansen-Løve, Bertrand Bonello, Catherine Breillat, Phillipe Garrel, Xavier Beauvois and Alain Guiraudie.

Claire Denis still ranks high. Ozon is remarkably prolific. Mia Hansen-Love has grown and her latest, ONE FINE DAY/UN BEAU JOUR, is wonderful. Godard is dead, a legend.

TAHAR RAHIM AND NIELS ARESTRUP A PROPHET

[Johann]

I've never heard of Audiard until today.
If the Sisters Brothers is any indication, he's weak as a director.
That film also had a zillion producers- never a good sign.

I love Francois Ozon's films.
I heard there will be a posthumous Godard screened at Cannes this year.

[Chris Knipp]

THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED and A PROPHET are masterful films. Audiard is NOT a weak director. THE SISTERS BROTHERS is just a bad choice to watch.

Undoubtedly his production situation as not the good one he had in France, aside from the language issue making him out of his element.

I saw a movie in a theater yesterday, AIR, directed by Ben Affleck, and he's not a bad director, and the cast includes him and Matt Damon reunited again and some other good actors.

But I don't expected to write about it, because it's basically just an advert for the Nike athletic shoe company. A disappointingly commercial effort by otherwise good people. More like that is coming, e.g. BLACKBERRY - bugt that at least has historical interest.

[Johann]

U-571 (2000)



One of my favorite movies, despite being woefully historically inaccurate.
Jonathan Mostow directs this loud movie (Best Sound Editing Oscar winner!) starring Harvey Keitel, Matthew McConnaughey, Bill Paxton and Jon Bon Jovi.
The story revolves around capturing a german u-boat and seizing it's enigma code machine.
Problem is, this was already done by the British in 1941, before the U.S. entered the war.
The real U-571 was sunk in late January 1944 off the coast of Ireland.
So this movie is rife with inaccuracies.
I like it nonetheless for it's solid acting and verismilitude to the ships, uniforms and battles.
It's not as good as DAS BOOT, the greatest submarine movie ever, but it will test your sound system and subwoofer~!

[Johann]

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (2006)




Damn good film by Kevin Macdonald.
Forest Whitaker won a well-deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
James McAvoy plays a Scottish doctor named Nicolas who goes to Uganda to make a difference. He just so happens to be there during a coup, when Amin becomes President.
After meeting him to bandage his broken hand, Nicolas soon becomes Amin's closest advisor.
This is not good at all, because Amin logarythmically becomes a total madman. His regime ultimately kills 300,000 Ugandans. Powerful movie with a powerhouse performance from Whitaker.

[Chris Knipp]

Indeed it is a damn good movie. I wrote about it here at the time and said while the grainy newsreel look was undistinguished, both Whittiker and McAvoy were outstanding. The portrait of a crazy guy is a bit over the top - and this director previously made docs -

Whitaker usually plays soft spoken, sensitive types. This time he nails a range from fearful to seductive to terrifying, connecting them with a seamlessly explosive energy. One would say Whitaker is this picture, except that it’s unmistakably also young McAvoy’s.

When documentarians embroider the truth, sometimes they go off way too far. But this is not unusual: l: a great performance in a less-than-great movie. We have to take what we can get, and in The Last King of Scotland we get a very wild ride.
http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.p...5980#post15980

I saw this movie while feasting on new films in NYC and had a really memorable time.

[Johann]

Great!

Yes this movie is a wild ride, and a must-see.
Not a dull moment. Whitaker's acting is truly amazing, and yes, he shares billing with McAvoy who holds his own. The movie nails the urgency to get the F out of Uganda during Amin's rule. There are gruesome images here-Nicolas is strung up with meat hooks at one point-you've been warned.