I read, "The White King: Charles the I, Traitor, Murderer, Martyr." Good book. I think it had a fairly sympathetic view towards Charles. I also watched most of Cromwell on Amazon Prime recently... It was ok.. early 70's movie... classic kind of movie where someone pretends to be shot or stabbed by grabbing their chest and screaming and falling down... is what it is.
Uncut Gems - 7/10 It felt too long at times and I don't know if I hated or liked Adam Sandler in the movie. Julia Fox though was
If you ever were so inclined to perform a simple google search you could look up her pictures in a certain men's magazine that owns a mansion in Beverly Hills.
Leave no Trace 8/10 Thought for sure they were both robots and was waiting for the trick ending. And I think, had they been robots, that subtle change would have made the interactions and the entire story really compelling. All these people being so nice, but why damn it. Why. Otherwise a long drawn out movie that is pretty good. But there's nothing to it. The little girl has a future.
Odd Thomas - 8/10 This is one of my favorite 'under the radar' movies. Yelchin is great, And holy smokes, you could just put the Addison Timlin character in this movie on screen for two hours and I would be happy. It kinda-sorta reminds me of The Frighteners, but this one has way more teeth and is quite a bit darker. Spoiler And I don't know of a more gut-punch heartbreaking surprise ending to a movie than this one. Every time I watch it with someone, they never see it coming. It really is a shame that Yelchin is gone, the kid could really bring it.
Once Upon A Time....in Hollywood 7/10 - The first 2 hours were phenomenal, but the last 30 minutes were just silly. I almost turned it off during the flamethrower in the pool scene. Great acting by all involved though. Full disclosure: I'm not a Tarantino fan. The Joker 8/10 - I liked this movie the first time I saw it.....when it was called Taxi Driver. But seriously, this was very well done and of course, Joaquin's performance was just stunning. On a separate note, De Niro really has mailed it in over the last couple of decades or so. Once again disappointed with his performance, although there wasn't much to work with in this particular role.
Sunset Boulevard. Still a great film, hadn't seen this one in 20 or 30 years, holds up remarkably well. 10/10 Gun Crazy. Thought I was on the start of a noir kick, this cured me of it. Sort of a Saturday morning cops and robbers thing. I understand some consider it a classic, I was a bit bored by it in the middle. 7/10 Casablanca. To revive my spirits after Gun Crazy. Still good after all these years. 10/10 Mississippi Burning. I know they took some liberties with the history, and 32 years later it's showing its age, but Hackman's and Defoe's performances are still worth watching. 8.5/10 Mud. Had never seen this. McConaughy in an interesting role. Really enjoyed this, more than I expected. 8/10 The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Hadn't seen this again since it first came out, didn't remember how much of a psychological study this film is. Pitt and Affleck are amazing. 9/10 War Horse. This has been on my amazon 'watchlist' for years, finally watched it last night. I admit I was disappointed, I was expecting something different, something more realistic. This is really just a Disney film, with anthropomorphized animals as the main characters. Still, I'm glad I watched it. 7/10
I watched "Juice" on Netflix's 90s section. 8/10 But I have more questions now than I had when I watched it way back in the day. Does Q have his name cleared? Does "Steel" make it out? The movie that inspired Bishop in Juice to go in that serial killer spree was Cagney's White Heat... But could it be that filming "Juice" led 2pac to spiral out of control in his personal life, life imitating art? I thought about the thread of one of the actors from Boyz In The Hood, college grad, that ended up in a shoot out, also C from Bronx Tale. "Steel" in real life was arrested for attempting to buy 200lbs of weed. Best quote of the film: "Fatness never prospers" -Steel's little brother
A mighty wind - a mockumentary about folk music with essentially the same cast as Best in Show. Not quite as good as Best in show but still pretty funny.
Lincoln Lawyer - 6.5/10. Put this off for awhile cause I was Hey Hey Hey'd out. Then come to find out that Ryan Phillipe was in the movie- I cant stand that guys face and almost turned it off. All in all, pretty good movie, it went by fast for a 2 hr long movie, couldve been longer. It just didnt seem to set up everything in motion and then everything was already concluded. Tomei can still get it.
Sunset Boulevard is tremendous. What can you say about director Billy Wilder? It would be easy to run out of superlatives when describing his work, but Wilder had help from another genius, cinematographer John Seitz, in this classic and in another Billy Wilder film noir, 1944's Double Indemnity. Wilder was able to coax the very best from an array of acting talent during his career. Fred McMurray in Double Indemnity and The Apartment. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment and Some Like It Hot. William Holden in Stalag 17 and Sunset Boulevard. Amazing. Casablanca is a film I turn to as well when I need a lift to my spirits. I lost count of how many times I've seen it long ago. Connected to that film is one of Woody Allen's best, in my opinion, 1972's Play It Again, Sam. Allen's love of Casablanca really shines through, in his own quirky way. Like Casablanca, it has a great ending. ;-)
Bumblebee: 7.211 out of 10 It's on Hulu. I wasn't expecting it to be as fun as it was. The score had everything from the cure to the smiths to all my exes live in Texas. Overlord: 7.9/10 Closest thing to Return to Castle Wolfenstein getting a movie. A special Airborne division has the mission to destroy a radio transmission tower the night before the beach landings. What they encounter is supernatural. Very good action flick.
Knives Out -- fun old school whodunit with a great ensemble of wild over the top characters... good not great 7.2/ 10 (Amazon)
Logan Lucky 8/10 Entertaining Ocean's 11 style robbery done by rednecks from WV. Going to need lots of reviews from you guys. I cracked some ribs and will be anchored to the couch for a little while.
tried watching Stalag 17 again a couple of weeks ago, couldn't get into it. the humor just doesn't seem funny anymore, Hogan's Heroes did it better. And hard to believe it was completed only eight years after the war ended. Stopped watching a third of the way through. I should go back and try it again I suppose.
Watched Da 5 Bloods this weekend, solid Spike Lee film but not as good as some of the reviews have made it out to be. It's overlong, unpolished but still solid because of some great performances and impressive techniques Lee uses throughout. The tone is all over the place, there is even a sequence that borders terribly close to Tropic Thunder territory. It sort of feels like a history lesson wrapped in an 80s Vietnam movie. Definitely worth a watch and it couldn't be anymore timely but don't expect a masterpiece.... B-
