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Dr. Caligari is interestng because the sets and set-ups are so unusual. To modern eyes they look cartoonish and almost amateurish, but they were pretty ground breaking and surreal for the time.

Another silent film that was pushing the ground work of the medium.

Ford v. Ferrari: Good movie. Close to great. Nice acting, nice writing, great film of the cars (something that Rush failed to deliver). It's more a film about Miles than it is about the entire story, though it encompasses it well enough. Doesn't pull many punches. It does suffer a bit making the Ferrari company/team a little too much like twirling-moustachioed evil doers. I'm sure it was a budget consideration, but the story doesn't focus nearly enough on the other cars from the teams during the race. If anything though, it does a great job of showcasing the spirit and mentality of a true car guy, a true driver. Best racing film in a long time for me.

I heard good things about the car film! Sounds good.


Earlier today I heard an amazing thing. On Star Wars VII (the first of the new-new ones) they originally planned to have Mr.Driver's character without the helmet throughout. Only lateron they decided to make his face some sort of reveal one hour in, so they edited the helmet onto his head for the first hour of the film. It's all CG. Craziness.

Me, I haven't watched any films the past days (apart from re-watching Shaun of the Dead [brilliant] and about the first half of the new-ish Peanuts film. Which is really charming.). Somehow also stopped watching DS9 and instead am back on the Frasier train. I'm huge on Frasier, Seinfeld and Friends, and I can't quite decide which one out of them is the best. I suspect it's Frasier, but ask me again when I watch the other ones again. :p

I think that hour of CGI Kylo helmet was animated by the same company who digitally added the "Gullible" tattoo onto Leto-Joker's left biceps.

Knives out.
Very good actors, slightly dark humor, terrible southern accent by the detective (Daniel Craig).

The Road Warrior

Not as over-the-top as I remembered. Still a fun little jaunt into the post-apocalypse.

Or Australia.

Julie and Julia

Some Manhattan blogger decides to make every recipe in Julie Child's cook book in one year.

Julie Childs comes off great along with her husband. I enjoyed this part of the movie immensely.

Julie the Blogger comes off as all the worst New York stereotypes made popular by Woody Allen, but in this they are not funny.

They even manage to slip in the famous Dan Akroyd bit.

It felt like a very long movie when I was watching it.

 Elbows wrote:
Ford v. Ferrari: Good movie. Close to great. Nice acting, nice writing, great film of the cars (something that Rush failed to deliver). It's more a film about Miles than it is about the entire story, though it encompasses it well enough. Doesn't pull many punches. It does suffer a bit making the Ferrari company/team a little too much like twirling-moustachioed evil doers. I'm sure it was a budget consideration, but the story doesn't focus nearly enough on the other cars from the teams during the race. If anything though, it does a great job of showcasing the spirit and mentality of a true car guy, a true driver. Best racing film in a long time for me.

Saw this in theater as well and, for those who know the "full" story, it is a nice film. And, Ferrari were fairly well depicted in the film (The Commendatore was famous for many of the things portrayed on the screen). I will say that, while I've seen the comments online about casting, once you sit down and are actually watching the film in its entirety, I think most of the choices were spot on for the personalities presented.

Personally, am extremely happy to have seen it in theater. The sound system at my local cinema provided a nice and proper car noise during those scenes, making it worth it for that alone.

My wife and I were not feeling great, so we started a fire in the hearth, grabbed some hot beverages, wrapped up in blankets, and watched a Netflix Christmas movie produced and starring Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame.....

The Knight Before Christmas
Pretty much what you expect from the title. A Knight gets sent through time on a quest to find true love by an old crone. He is sent from Narwich, England in 1334 to small-town Ohio in 2019! That is some powerful magic.

Of course, the Knight adjusts to his new live very quickly thanks to a cameo by Amazon's Alexa. The true purpose of the movie revealed as shilling for Amazon, we get a typical love story.

One thing that was off-putting in the movie was that the heroine and her family used to have a winter feast where people with no family or home were invited by her parents to dine with them. The actually underprivileged were invited. Since her parent's death, she decided to keep the tradition going..... by selling tickets and making it a charity. Therefore, no actually underprivileged, poor, or homeless people could actually afford to go anymore! This is portrayed as progress and a good thing! Really?!?

Another fun touch is the "hero" gets enamored watching Netflix on TV. He watches a different Netflix Christmas movie in a brilliant piece of cross-marketing by Netflix! Subtle!

Anyway, I have spent more words on this movie than it probably deserves. However, it felt a bit craven and commercial even for this type of movie. The tropes of a "Holiday" movie are almost all there and this would fit in great on the Hallmark channel.

They also left the ending open for a possible sequel next year! Look out A Christmas Prince!

Ha, I saw this one up on Netflix and have to admit that I got somewhat intrigued. But I guess I'd rather watch Santa's little Helper or something.

had another run at Justice League it's still dreadful

cheered myself up with Muppet Christmas Carol, the version by which nearly all other takes fall short

 Easy E wrote:
My wife and I were not feeling great, so we started a fire in the hearth, grabbed some hot beverages, wrapped up in blankets, and watched a Netflix Christmas movie produced and starring Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame.....

The Knight Before Christmas
Pretty much what you expect from the title. A Knight gets sent through time on a quest to find true love by an old crone. He is sent from Narwich, England in 1334 to small-town Ohio in 2019! That is some powerful magic.

Its a fairly tired trope in Harlequin romance novels (bodice rippers). Its just something witches can do, apparently.

There are things I learned while working in bookstores that I can't unlearn, and time traveling Vikings that become Navy Seals so they can sex up modern ladies is one of those things.

Voss wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
My wife and I were not feeling great, so we started a fire in the hearth, grabbed some hot beverages, wrapped up in blankets, and watched a Netflix Christmas movie produced and starring Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame.....

The Knight Before Christmas
Pretty much what you expect from the title. A Knight gets sent through time on a quest to find true love by an old crone. He is sent from Narwich, England in 1334 to small-town Ohio in 2019! That is some powerful magic.

Its a fairly tired trope in Harlequin romance novels (bodice rippers). Its just something witches can do, apparently.

There are things I learned while working in bookstores that I can't unlearn, and time traveling Vikings that become Navy Seals so they can sex up modern ladies is one of those things.

I would read it.....


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Catwoman

It is as bad as I remember.

Halle Berry, what were you doing? It honestly felt like a DTV release, but I know it went into the theater. How did they get Berry and Stone to sign on to this mess?

You can tell it was made in the "early days" of comic book movies as the tone of the film jumps around about how seriously you should take the whole thing. Plus, any action is sapped of all momentum by jump-cut after jump-cut. The steadiest shots in the film are establishing shots.

Voss wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
My wife and I were not feeling great, so we started a fire in the hearth, grabbed some hot beverages, wrapped up in blankets, and watched a Netflix Christmas movie produced and starring Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame.....

The Knight Before Christmas
Pretty much what you expect from the title. A Knight gets sent through time on a quest to find true love by an old crone. He is sent from Narwich, England in 1334 to small-town Ohio in 2019! That is some powerful magic.

Its a fairly tired trope in Harlequin romance novels (bodice rippers). Its just something witches can do, apparently.

There are things I learned while working in bookstores that I can't unlearn, and time traveling Vikings that become Navy Seals so they can sex up modern ladies is one of those things.

50 shades of conservatism.

Haven't really watched any films lately because I got back into DS9 with the whole Dominion War kicking off in some cracking episodes. And then seasons 6 and 7 roll on, with several really silly filler episodes. When I told a friend of mine that I'm finally catching up on DS9 I was surprised to hear that he's somewhat lukewarm on the show. All he said was that "there's some really, really silly episodes as well". Which now I understand. Not that I generally dislike silly episodes. It's one of the reasons I got a soft spot for Enterprise. But with DS9, which has not only a riveting war angle, but also some great episodes on politics and characters the silly ones just stand out much more and just don't fit.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hey, I thought this movie was about Mr. Rogers!

A world weary and cynical journalist who is having relationship problems with his new family and father is assigned a job to profile Mr. Rogers. His world is changed.

Of course, they make Mr. Rogers seem unearthly and almost alien. However, they do talk a bit about how he copes, and the sub-text of the dialogue hints at interesting things in his own life. For example, troubles as a father, why he swims everyday, etc.

However, the focus is on how Mr. Rogers challenges and channels people to reassess their own feelings through meaningful and considered questioning. The Socratic Method is on full display and it is a text book case of active listening and questioning.

I enjoyed it, but unless you have to see drama in the theater it can wait until Netflix/Video to see.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure:

Two Highschool Stoners (presumably) are in danger of failing their History course, and if they do, one will be sent to Military school. This was the standard procedure, in the 80’s, to get a kid to straighten up and fly right, so normal for the time.

But wait! If they’re separated, their band, the Wild Stallions will never come to be, and in the future, their music establishes an era of peace and tranquility for all humanity. To avoid this calamity, a man from the future returns to give them a time machine, which they use to collect historical figures to participate in their history report. Hyjinx ensue, as they collect these figures from the past.

Analysis: This is a terrible movie, by modern standards, not holding up at all to my childhood memories. That said, I’m glad to have watched it with my kids, to explain why I occasionally will perform a brief air-guitar solo (with sound) when an “excellent” occurrence happens. 30 years after theatrical release, it still plays a part in my day-to-day life... so there is that. Unlike many time travel movies, there was no concern whatsoever for things like paradoxes, causality loops, or anything like that. They even play with the notion of presumed success, when they run into problems. Finding the keys they needed, that their future selves will steal and leave for them, was a bit deus-ex-machina, but I remember at the time this seemed like an incredible super power, and lead to a lifelong interest in “time” as a concept. For such a terrible, virtually plotless movie, it really inspired a lot of interesting thoughts in my younger self. That would be my positive take-away, was that this movie * really* dumbs down time travel to the point a child can grasp and handle the idea, which serves as inspiration for later development.

It’s an ok watch, if you have youngsters to watch with and then talk to about the idea of time travel afterwards. A niche recommendation, but good for what it is.

White Christmas

I watch this with my family every year. Still my favorite Christmas movie.

This time, I noticed Bing lights his matches with his thumb..... tough guy!

Makes my wife cry about 3-4 times during the movie, and she has also seen it many, many, many times.

6 Underground: Michael Bay makes a copy of The Assassin's Bodyguard (a surprisingly fun and enjoyable film)..but makes it worse in every Michael Bay way.

@Greatbigtree: Oh come on. You gotta love Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure! Time travel rarely has been done as well (because I think that time travel plots are always doomed to fail on some level, and the more clever they try to be the worse it gets).

 Easy E wrote:
White Christmas

I watch this with my family every year. Still my favorite Christmas movie.

This time, I noticed Bing lights his matches with his thumb..... tough guy!

Makes my wife cry about 3-4 times during the movie, and she has also seen it many, many, many times.

Woah, I caught a part of that one on TV yesterday! Didn't appreciate the Snoooooooooooooooooow-song, but the film sure managed to get the "Sisters, Sisters" song in my head.



So what other christmas films would we like to see this year?
Never watched Elf, because I'm not a big Will Ferell fan at all, but a lot of people love this film.
I'd love to watch Reindeer Games again. That was a fun one.

Last week I was out for a weekend with "the lads". Each year before christmas we take a trip into the country of lower Austria to have a look at Perchten/Krampus runs and get quite drunk. It's great fun. When we got back to the hotel there was a christmas gangster film on tv starring Geena Davis. I'll have to find out which one that was. I fell asleep immediately, but the 5 minutes of the film I saw looked interesting.

 Sigur wrote:


Last week I was out for a weekend with "the lads". Each year before christmas we take a trip into the country of lower Austria to have a look at Perchten/Krampus runs and get quite drunk. It's great fun. When we got back to the hotel there was a christmas gangster film on tv starring Geena Davis. I'll have to find out which one that was. I fell asleep immediately, but the 5 minutes of the film I saw looked interesting.

I think the Long Kiss Goodnight takes place in winter.......

I watched a strange movie called The Undead....

A man hires a lady of the of the night to perform a mind experiment on to prove to an old professor that..... oh who cares! Some how, they all end up in a Fantasy Middle Ages in a way only low-budget Z-grade B&W flicks can do it!

It was a strange film as it may have been using footage from a failed movie project and stitched it in to make this work. There are some fun bits like the Grave Digger, Lydia the Witch, bad make-up chins, wire bats, Satan himself; but overall it is a slog and feels much longer than 78 minutes or so.

I have no idea why this was called The Undead, as there are no Undead in it. However, there is a spirit dance number in it......

Lydia the Witch


This is probably why this movie got made......

Oh, I love The Undead! Digger Smokin', Nightmare Fuel Imp, Satan (prince of cabaret, Peter Pan - Antichrist, etc.), Lydia ("What art thou supported with?"), STAAAAY!!!. MST3k aside, that one always struck me as a film I'd also quite enjoy without the commentary. Lydia aside (who is a very, very pretty lady), it's got a very interesting vibe to it, doesn't it. Very much like a stage play. Anyway, as an MST3k episode, it sure is one of my all-time favourites.

 Sigur wrote:
Oh, I love The Undead! Digger Smokin', Nightmare Fuel Imp, Satan (prince of cabaret, Peter Pan - Antichrist, etc.), Lydia ("What art thou supported with?"), STAAAAY!!!. MST3k aside, that one always struck me as a film I'd also quite enjoy without the commentary. Lydia aside (who is a very, very pretty lady), it's got a very interesting vibe to it, doesn't it. Very much like a stage play. Anyway, as an MST3k episode, it sure is one of my all-time favourites.

I did not know it was on MST3K. I watched it straight up.... just me and the movie.....

The modern version of Clash of the Titans

I enjoyed it for what it was, a LOTR knock-off. However, I am always disappointed in these movies because the Fellowship is always sundered, typically mortally and in uninspiring ways. At least in LOTR when Boromir leave the Fellowship it is an epic send-off.

Honestly, it is not bad for what it is, and I like the themes it presents. I just wish the main protagonist had a bit of onscreen presence or charisma. His companions were more interesting than him, and Mads Mikkelson rules!

Gallery of Horror

Yawn.... wow, was this thing terrible. Bad acting, no horror, and super low budget. The "zinger" stories don't even make sense and have no punch to them.

I think my favorite bit was when something that was gory was going to happen, they put in a 1960's Batman-esque screen pop.


Not even laughably bad, just bad.

Whilst having a difference of opinion with the BBC Iplayer I noticed BFG was on

now there's a fizzwallop of tellipikture (I suspect it being one of the first books I can remember reading on my own helped)

What We Do In The Shadows

Vampires and Werewolves in New Zealand.

9/10

Captain Marvel:

First time viewing. Summary: A woman with amnesia struggles to control her super powers, so that she can fight in a war (between aliens). She finds out that her superior officers are up to no good, and along the way meets members of an (Earth) government security force. She teams up with the security force, the plot takes her out of the picture for 20-some years... the good guys come out on top.

Analysis: I'd read a lot of bad press about this movie. Having no particular background knowledge of this character, I can say the movie handles the origin story in a fairly quick way. The sound track does *justice* to the 90's. That may have been my favourite part. It does well as a popcorn action movie with tons of nods to nostalgia and the "future" of the MCU. It has lots of quippy one-liners. If John Maclean had photon blasts that came out of his hands, and a space suit, I think he'd be right at home with Captain Marvel.

It's not a great movie. I don't think I'd pay to watch it a second time but it's not as though I feel ripped off for spending time with it.

It suffers a bit from Superman Syndrome. When your character is powerful enough to single handedly stop a continent-crushing orbital bombardment, and then single handedly destroy the space ship that dropped said bombs... and she then flies back down to Earth to have a fist-fight with her old teacher? I mean... really? He's a dude, and you're now *at least* a starship equivalent entity. I know how this fight is going to go.

But up until that point, that is the end of the movie, it's entertaining enough for what it is. I'd recommend watching if you've never seen it, though I wouldn't suggest paying "full price" for it.

Legion

God decides he is "sick ofthe Bulls**t" on Earth and decides to end us. The Archangel Michael disagrees and comes down to earth to protect a woman who is pregnant with the "Chosen One". Bad things come after them and we have a stand-off in a remote location.

It is a like a combination of The Prophecy, Assault on Precinct 13, and The Terminator all mixed together and ultimately not that good.

I love Legion, but I tend to skip right to the scenes with Gabriel. It’s the kind of fun movie you’d find late at night on Tv and wonder why you never heard of it.

As for the eternal debate: I enjoyed Alita more than Captain Marvel.

 greatbigtree wrote:
Captain Marvel:

First time viewing. Summary: A woman with amnesia struggles to control her super powers, so that she can fight in a war (between aliens). She finds out that her superior officers are up to no good, and along the way meets members of an (Earth) government security force. She teams up with the security force, the plot takes her out of the picture for 20-some years... the good guys come out on top.

Analysis: I'd read a lot of bad press about this movie. Having no particular background knowledge of this character, I can say the movie handles the origin story in a fairly quick way. The sound track does *justice* to the 90's. That may have been my favourite part. It does well as a popcorn action movie with tons of nods to nostalgia and the "future" of the MCU. It has lots of quippy one-liners. If John Maclean had photon blasts that came out of his hands, and a space suit, I think he'd be right at home with Captain Marvel.

It's not a great movie. I don't think I'd pay to watch it a second time but it's not as though I feel ripped off for spending time with it.

It suffers a bit from Superman Syndrome. When your character is powerful enough to single handedly stop a continent-crushing orbital bombardment, and then single handedly destroy the space ship that dropped said bombs... and she then flies back down to Earth to have a fist-fight with her old teacher? I mean... really? He's a dude, and you're now *at least* a starship equivalent entity. I know how this fight is going to go.

That's... actually the point of the 'fight.' Seriously, that is the stance the film is taking and trying to tell you. Its why she doesn't get into a fist-fight with him, and simply dismisses his attempts to try. And goes into space to deal with bigger problems on multiple worlds rather than hanging out on Earth and collaring pick-pockets.
It deals with Superman syndrome by sending her off into space to deal with galaxy-scale problems. With the Kree Supreme Intelligence on the list of things she intends to deal with, which is actually an ambitious challenge for her power.

Personally, I think its one of the best Marvel films. It doesn't spend the first half hour rehashing mundane stuff that's functionally pop culture/external memory now, or a lot of time navel gazing about trivia. Its a fun, coherent story.
It has a few problems (handling the Skrulls the way it does kills a lot of options later, or requires nonsense), but its one of the most solid stories in the MCU.

My wife and I watched The Lighthouse.

It's interesting but most would probably find it disturbing and/or off-putting. I'd say I recommend it, but only if you aren't squeamish, aren't terribly interested in closure, and not bothered by not getting answers.