The Movie Preview, Review, & Recommendation Thread pt. II

[ter1413]

A few from over the last week+:

This docu tells the story of young ladies disappearing in Cleveland and how there really was no police action taken until......

Survivors, family members and locals recount what they saw/noticed and even smelled in the neighborhood!

Good watch. I would go 3.75/5.

Contrary to the movie poster above, Denzel is not the star of this flick.

James Farentino plays a father overjoyed that his daughter has just graduated high school and is headed off to college. His wife and their other daughter also are very happy and the youngster has already claimed dibs on the older's room.

Older daughter heads out to meet up with her boyfriend on his birthday. Local businessman is leaving the club after several drinks. You guessed it....he crashed into the girl and she is killed.

Was he drunk? Well....the father wants justice and that's where Denzel comes in. He plays a young DA trying to maneuver around in the courthouse vs an experienced defense lawyer.

The dad of the teen is furious that it is taking so long to find out if his family will get justice. Will they? Not a bad watch.

3/5.

A brand new Canada World Airways plane takes off from Montreal headed to Edmonton. W Devane plays the lead pilot and is told by the pilot who just flew the plane in that there are a few tech issues.

Devane and his co-pilot head out on the runway and speak to the ground staff. They can't seem to figure out how to measure how much fuel is needed for the flight.

Ok......shortly after takeoff....$hit hits the fan. Computers are beeping.....lights are blinking and they realize that they have nowhere enough fuel to reach Edmonton.

They reach air traffic and ask to be diverted to a closer airport......when they realize that they are out of fuel and they are basically gliding trying to put the plane down somewhere.

Much of this was filmed from the cockpit and I actually did like as the tension builds. This is based on a true story and the pilot on the original CWA flight has a small role at the beginning of this flick.

3/5.

*********************

I caught all of these on Youtube. The last 2 are not groundbreaking flicks, but I felt that they were worth a watch.

 

[ter1413]

A few more:

American Murder: The Family Next Door

I caught this earlier in the week. I had seen the police body cam videos and interrogation vids previously as there is so much content on Youtube about this case.

Basically....Chris Watts is called home by the police and his wife's friend after the friend can't get in tough with her. The 2 young girls are also missing.

This docu takes you into some of the text's and e-mails that were never really seen to paint a story of what was really happening in the marriage. The body cam and interrogation vids are also a part of the story.

I must say this and I am IN NO WAY blaming the wife, but it would drive me crazy if I had a partner that basically wanted to put everything about our life on social media!

3.5/5

Also on Netflix.

The lead character is a...you guessed it...a paramedic. He lives with his girlfriend and she is talking about having a baby, etc. He is sorta not ready for that.

While out on a job, the ambulance is hit and the main character is paralyzed from the waist down. He is back home with his girlfriend and things start to fall apart.

She is out more and more and he is now is open for the baby talk, etc. He is suspicious of his GF and puts a tracking device on her phone. Bad move!

After following her a few times, she gets hip and leaves. But he isn't ready to let her go and has a plan to keep her "forever"!

I mean, this is a stretch but I made it to the end.

2/5

 

[ter1413]

A wife and her lover hatch a plan to kill her husband. How? He is taking a road trip for work and she asks her husband to give a lift to her "cousin" aka lover. While at a stop on the drive, the lover/cuz will sabotage one of the car tires and when they stop to fix it, he will kill the husband.

Simple.

Things go wrong! The husband survives a hit on his head and toss down a cliff. The lover/cuz jumps in the car and crashes in a fiery explosion and dies. Everyone thinks the husband is dead!

What happens next is a tale of the husband realizing what went down and his wife getting found out by the police...at first.

What happens after...watch this and see.

Solid sorta film noir.

3.9/5

 

[Grand Potentate]

Regal shutting down all their theatres

 

[ter1413]

Regal shutting down all their theatres

I haven't been to a movie in a theatre since appr 2005(Montreal Film Festival.) Too much effort/people talking/etc. My home setup is fine and I don't need to see flicks as soon as they come out.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

I haven't been to a movie in a theatre since appr 2005(Montreal Film Festival.) Too much effort/people talking/etc. My home setup is fine and I don't need to see flicks as soon as they come out.

There's a chain in the UK gone as well, 250 cinemas will close. They're building a new multiplex cinema near me. Not sure how viable that's going to be, but should be ready in time for the next Bond in April next year. Last film I saw at the cinema was the Elton one and the Queen one before that. I enjoyed the big screen experience. A few new Disney films going straight to streaming. Some of those old films out of copyright on Youtube, its best to watch on a laptop as a screen any bigger and the image artefacts become too noticeable.

My home set-up has gone on the blink. The Loewe television screen has gone blank. Thought we bought it 4 years ago, it was actually 6. They say life of these new televisions is 8 years. So will see if it is fixable for reasonable price. But with televisions the HD technology is moving so fast, probably best to factor in a change every couple of years.

 

[Dropbear]

The Outpost, new on Netflix. First half is cliched bullshit. Second half is decent and somewhat realist prolonged battle scene.

Blackhawk Down again. The Russian Afghan War film 9 Rota is much better.

6.5/10

 

[ter1413]

The Outpost, new on Netflix. First half is cliched bullshit. Second half is decent and somewhat realist prolonged battle scene.

Blackhawk Down again. The Russian Afghan War film 9 Rota is much better.

6.5/10

I actually started that on Fri/Sat night and fell asleep. Not because of the movie, I was just tired. Maybe I will revisit this week.

 

[Kingstonian]

A few more:

American Murder: The Family Next Door

I caught this earlier in the week. I had seen the police body cam videos and interrogation vids previously as there is so much content on Youtube about this case.

Basically....Chris Watts is called home by the police and his wife's friend after the friend can't get in tough with her. The 2 young girls are also missing.

This docu takes you into some of the text's and e-mails that were never really seen to paint a story of what was really happening in the marriage. The body cam and interrogation vids are also a part of the story.

I must say this and I am IN NO WAY blaming the wife, but it would drive me crazy if I had a partner that basically wanted to put everything about our life on social media!

3.5/5

Also on Netflix.

The lead character is a...you guessed it...a paramedic. He lives with his girlfriend and she is talking about having a baby, etc. He is sorta not ready for that.

While out on a job, the ambulance is hit and the main character is paralyzed from the waist down. He is back home with his girlfriend and things start to fall apart.

She is out more and more and he is now is open for the baby talk, etc. He is suspicious of his GF and puts a tracking device on her phone. Bad move!

After following her a few times, she gets hip and leaves. But he isn't ready to let her go and has a plan to keep her "forever"!

I mean, this is a stretch but I made it to the end.

2/5

Saw the murder film. Wife was the dominant partner. Then hubby (lost a lot of weight/went to the gym) got a new bird and was looking for a way out. Surprised he would kill the kids though. They were sweet.

Neighbour twigged early on that something not right. He got a proper ‘life means life’ sentence as an alternative to execution - unlike the joke sentences handed out in the UK.

 

[ter1413]

Saw the murder film. Wife was the dominant partner. Then hubby (lost a lot of weight/went to the gym) got a new bird and was looking for a way out. Surprised he would kill the kids though. They were sweet.

Neighbour twigged early on that something not right. He got a proper ‘life means life’ sentence as an alternative to execution - unlike the joke sentences handed out in the UK.

He sure did!

 

[ter1413]

Based on a true story...this tells the tale of Daniel Ellsberg's quest to publish a set of top secret documents that details the Defense Department's fugazy push to initiate and expand the Vietnam War.

He(Spader) starts out as an analyst at the Rand Corp and then goes to work at the Pentagon. He is sent to Vietnam to gather intel for his boss and his eyes open when he sees firsthand what is NOT happening which is being portrayed to the American people.

He comes back and teams with a former colleague at Rand(Paul Giamatti), his Vietnam fling turned wife(Claire Forlani) and a reporter, to risk his life and copy/publish the docs while dodging the FBI!

This is Snowdon before Snowdon!

I really liked this flick. Spader is always good. Likkewise Alan Arkin who plays his boss at Rand. The supporting cast holds their own and the movie is a good watch.

I had never head of it prior to last night. I caught it on Youtube.

4/5.

 

[ter1413]

More Spader.....this time he is teamed with a fellow 80's-90's leading man, Rob Lowe.

Spader is one of the top analysts at his firm(he wants to be THE top analyst), he is engaged(he is scared $hitless of getting married) and is basically a workaholic not having any fun in life.

Lowe steps in on his behalf during a confrontation at a bar...and then disappears.

They randomly reconnect and Lowe starts to turn Spader's life upside down. What Spader wants...Lowe says he can deliver...though people will get hurt along the way!

When Spader has had enough, Lowe, sets him up and lets him know why.

Spader calls upon his weed smoking older brother to help him weave his way out of the setup and get some payback!

I had seen this many times prior...but after watching The Pentagon Papers, I thought I would revisit. Good stuff!

3.9/5.

 

[Dropbear]

Next you’re going to have to watch Tuff Turf (a criminally under-rated 80s classic with a cameo from Jim Carroll) and Less Than Zero (Brett Easton Ellis’ best novel)

 

[Fwiffo]

My father received a free subscription to Apple TV and asked me to come watch the Greyhound movie with Tom Hanks. Cameo from Thomas Kretschmann. Not sure if the British captains were really that calm and collected at sea.

"It’s a bad afternoon, sir."

"How seaworthy are you?"

"We have a five-degree list at starboard,
and we’re down at the stern, but we’ll tow all right up to five knots. We have a flap of plate sticking up, scooping in the sea. The list gets worse if we make any speed."

"We must keep you afloat, Eagle."

"We’ll do all the sea allows, sir."

 

[Fwiffo]

More Spader.....this time he is teamed with a fellow 80's-90's leading man, Rob Lowe.

Rob Lowe is 4 years younger than James Spader. Some people just don’t age well.

 

[ter1413]

The gorgeous Naomi Watts plays real life CIA operative Valerie Plame. Penn plays her hubby.

While she is involved in covert ops, her husband is involved in confirming if there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Oh....the CIA recruited him to do a sort of down low investigation.

He returns home doubtful, but everything he reads and sees on TV says otherwise. He decides to write an op-ed piece in the NY Times calling BS on the Bush administration. Ok. No harm no foul....right?

Not when you are playing with the CIA/US Govt. They release his wife's name(of course, CIA officers don't SAY they work for the CIA) and manure hits the fan! She approaches her bosses and asks them to help out. You know the response:

Spoiler

The press comes knocking. Her assets around the world are in jeopardy. Their marriage falls apart with all the stress!

Several good actors in this one. As stated, this was based on a true story.

I had seen it several years ago so it seemed fresh when I caught it again last night.

Solid 3.9/5. Easily could be a 4!

 

[ter1413]

This happened to pop up on my Youtube recs and I thought I would give it a go.

Hands down one of the best flicks that I have seen in a while!

The outstanding Britt Robertson plays Charlie...a 10 year old living with her cancer stricken mom(Natascha McElhone). Her mom's ex dude contracts Mr. Church(Eddie) to cook for them for appr 6 months...as that is the time frame that everyone thinks that she has to live.

Eddie is a great cook/caregiver. 6 months turns into several years and Mr. Church becomes part of the family.

It's hard not to spoil what happens going fwd...but I will just say that this flick will make you laugh and cry! Charlie grows up and Mr. Church is the one person she can always count on(I stole that from the movie poster above!)

Absolutely amazing!

4.75/5!

 

[fxh]

When you say Youtube you mean old free YouTube or pay?

 

[ter1413]

When you say Youtube you mean old free YouTube or pay?

Free.

 

[fxh]

Ta mate
But

The uploader has not made this video available in your country

 

[Fwiffo]

In addition to the Aussies, Canadians are prohibited from watching that YouTube upload.

 

[ter1413]

A small town Florida sheriff(Denzel) is banging a local woman while dealing with an impending divorce with his wife(Eva Mendes). The local woman and her husband are found dead in the rubble of their house that went kaboom one evening!

Oh....Eva's character is a homicide detective(in another jurisdiction) and she rides along to investigate.

Signs start to point to Denzel as the culprit. Then there is $400+K missing money that was seized from a fed case that Denzel was holding on to. There is goofy but smart medical examiner loyal to Denzel. There is Denzel running around in the Florida heat trying to cover his a$$...or is he?

I had seen this several times and just thought I would check it out again last night.

It starts slow, but does pick up.

Bonus for seeing Eva M in a tight skirt for a good part of the flick:

Spoiler

3/5.

 

[ter1413]

This VERY underrated mob flick tells the story of how Benjamin "Busgy" Siegel, a NY gangster, helps to start the build out of what is now Las Vegas.

Warren Beatty plays Siegel. He is teamed with fellow gangsters Meyer Lansky and Charlie "Lucky" Luciano.....and they have a firm grip on NY.

When Siegel takes a trip to LA, and then to what is a dusty town called Las Vegas to check on a small gambling parlor, he gets an idea they he feels could transform the area and make his organization rich.

Along the way, he falls for Virginia Hill(played by Annette Bening....who Beatty would go on to marry in real life), and that just complicates his vision/his relationship with his organization/his judgement.

What starts as a $1 million dollar project to build The Flamingo casino/resort balloons to over $6 mil(remember, we are talking 1930's-1940's $$....when LA mansions went for $50K!)

Siegel is torn between getting The Flamingo built, dealing with Virginia Hill and satisfying his partners back east.

I love Annette Bening in this role! Her voice always does it for me and she holds her own against Beatty. Add Harvey Kietel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould and Joe Mantegna, and you have a 2 hour flick that is worth the watch.

I have seen this many times and revisited it today.

4/5.

 

[Fwiffo]

Bonus for seeing Eva M in a tight skirt for a good part of the flick:

Can’t believe she scored Ryan Gosling who is 6 years younger than her.

 

[ter1413]

Michael Fassbender's character decides to take his girlfriend, Kelly Reilly's character, away for a long weekend. Where to? An old quarry adjacent to a beautiful lake outside of town.

He has been there before and has plans for some R&R and to propose. Little did they know that the local teen hoodlums would decide to also hang down by the lake during the wknd!

What starts as a disagreement over loud music and an off the leash dog turns into an adventure of life and death! Michael and Kelly try to evade the teens and make it back to town but are outnumbered and unfamiliar with their surroundings.

The teens pursue the couple and the need for revenge turns into a chilling pursuit and a fight to survive.

I may have seen this appr 10 years ago. Still pretty good. I have liked Kelly Reilly since Above Suspicion....but in this flick, her sexiness will be camouflaged!

3.5/5.

 

[Dropbear]

To the Lake. Relatively big budget Russian zombie series dubbed into English. Super cliched, with a caste of unlikable characters. I couldn’t make it through the first ep. 1.5/5.

 

[ter1413]

x-post....

Miss going to the movies? AMC will rent you a theater for $99. Here’s what to know

Available movies are a mix of new blockbusters and old favorites.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Journeyman]

^That's pretty awesome, although it would be good if they had a wider variety of movies on offer.

 

[Fwiffo]

I don't know how that will work here. We are capped at 10 people. Don't you need to have at least one spot reserved for the staff member putting on the movie?

 

[ter1413]

Burt Reynolds plays an ex NLF quarterback who gets himself into trouble and is sent to prison.

The warden approaches him and asks if he can coach his "semi pro" football composed of the guards. Apparently, the warden wants to win the "semi pro" title that has eluded him/the team. Burt isn't interested. He just wants to do his time and rejoin society.

The warden persists. He asks Burt what the team can do to prepare for the upcoming season. Simple: play a "pre-season" game and work out the kinks. The warden strongly suggests that Burt put a team together to play the guards.

Reluctantly(with the warden holding his parole against him), Burt agrees. He sets out to put together a team composed of killers, rapists, robbers and the like.

The "cons" have one thing in common: they hate the guards and relish the opportunity to hit them!

What starts out as a simple...."protect the QB" and let's not get anyone hurt game, turns into a game of good vs evil. Are the cons good or are they evil? Are the guards?

This is a classic 70's film. Loads of cursing/humor/non-politically correct language!

Def still holds up.

3/5.

 

[ter1413]

The setting is 1968 during the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago against the backdrop of the Vietnam war.

Many head there from different parts of the US to protest. No permits are granted, but that doesn't stop several groups including the Students for a Democratic Society led by Eddie Redmayne's character/the Yippies led by Sacha Baron Choen's and Jeremy Strong's characters/etc.....and Bobby Seale(Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) of the Black Panthers from wanting to let their voices be heard.

The local police aren't having it and violent confrontations break out. The seven "ringleaders" are charged with conspiracy and brought to trial.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a reluctant US Attorney who is tasked with prosecuting the case....one he initially doesn't feel can be won. The incompetent judge(Frank Langella) doesn't help the main attorney for the defense(Mark Rylance aka William Kunstler) make his case.

What you get is a riveting 2 hour movie about injustice, political ideas, and in the end..."justice"! Very good performances by all!

Well worth a watch! 2 hours flows by.

4.25/5.

 

[ter1413]

Starting in 1992 and going back to 1981, there have been three brilliant femme fatale flicks(all with 2 words in the title) which really showcased the female lead:

1992 brought us Basic Instinct...1987 brought us Fatal Attraction....and 1981 brought us this gem, Body Heat.

William Hurt plays a small town Florida lawyer who is content to take on so-so clients and bang the local females. During a simmering heat wave, he meets the sultry Kathleen Turner at a local fair. He is smitten. She is married....and scheming!

The sex is wonderful. They fall in "love".

But wait....a femme fatal flick can't be that...without a conniving broad! Kathleen fits that bill! See, her wealthy husband only comes home every weekend, so that gives both her and William enough time to plan and plot to rid themselves of him.

William comes up with the plan....or does he? Kathleen is working behind the scenes! A Fred Astaire wannabe dancer slash prosecutor...played by Ted Danson....starts to suspect his friend(William) after stuff starts to go down.

Will William get out before he gets pulled in? Will Ted figure out what is going down and save his friend. Or will Kathleen outwit them all?

Do watch!

4/5.

 

[ter1413]

I was on a roll with Netflix picks until I selected this today!

Jesse E(businessman hustler) and cousin Alexander S(geeky brains) both work the trading desk/operations at a financial firm run by Salma H.

They have an idea to run high speed cable from Kansas City to NYC which will allow any firm that they sell it to to have an edge, and make serious bucks. They in turn would make millions granting those firms access.

They resign from Salma's firm and head out on their own, with backing, and attempt to build this dream. Along the way the encounter obstacles: state parks/land owners who are hesitant to grant access/an Amish group who wants no part of the money that is offered them.

Along the way, Salma tries to block what they went around her to do.

This was just under 2 hours. Not sure why! Though I didn't fall asleep(started watching at 4pm), I would say that I have no reason to ever revisit this flick.

1.75/5!

 

[Fwiffo]

The setting is 1968 during the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago against the backdrop of the Vietnam war.

My father was raving about this at dinner the other weekend. Of course that spurred my mother to start saying democratic societies have been corrupt from the beginning and how dare they lecture the world.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

This has been getting slagged-off as having no music of Bowie in the film and the actor sounding more like Kenneth Williams, it doesn't look that bad to me:

 

[Fwiffo]

Alternative news for the day.

 

[Dropbear]

I watched that last Terminator film earlier this week. 7/10

The Prospect was a very watchable low low budget sci fi film with the voice of The Mandalorian. 8/10.

 

[Dropbear]

Underwater. 7.5/10. Alien underwater. That cute sulky chick from the teen vamp movies going all Sigorny Weaver.

 

[Dropbear]

Anyone watched that new Bill Murray Jim Jarmusch zombie thing?

 

[Arnathor]

Lol, just watched Stargate - So more James Spader. Not even Kurt Russell could save the movie.
Who has watched Soldier (1998)? Supposedly it is the spiritual successor to Blade Runner.