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

Kingstonian said:
‘I Dolours’ Netflix a series of interviews and film re-enactments with Dolours Price the IRA woman who was sent to prison for the Old Bailey bombing.

Very interesting if you are interested in The Troubles. She was from an old Republican family and thought The Good Friday Agreement was a sell out. The prison scenes are an insight into force feeding and how that affects a persons subsequent attitude to food.
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I'll watch that. Thanks.
 
This is worth watching on YouTube from 2006 on the Moors Murders, but to get the most out of it you need to know the gaps on how they kidnapped and killed and particularly the knowledge of that tape, but do not ever listen to that tape, the contents will bear a terribly weight on your soul not for hours, days, or months it will impact you forever. Where they did fail in the dramatization was in picking an actress who failed to capture the cruel hardness of Myra's face:




David Smith is right here, the police mugshot captured Myra's evilness incarnate:

 
Pimpernel Smith said:
This is worth watching on YouTube from 2006 on the Moors Murders, but to get the most out of it you need to know the gaps on how they kidnapped and killed and particularly the knowledge of that tape, but do not ever listen to that tape, the contents will bear a terribly weight on your soul not for hours, days, or months it will impact you forever. Where they did fail in the dramatization was in picking an actress who failed to capture the cruel hardness of Myra's face:




David Smith is right here, the police mugshot captured Myra's evilness incarnate:

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Watched a little bit so far. I did not expect Brady to have a Glasgow accent. They just escaped the death penalty which would have been an appropriate sentence. Another film where you find yourself searching the internet for further details.

The two policeman are familiar actors. The portly one always plays down to earth types, pub landlords, trade unionists etc.
 
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Pimpernel Smith said:
Watched two English films over the weekend: The Lady in the Van and The Dig.

The Lady in the Van is about the homeless lady who took up residency in the playwright's Alan Bennett's driveway. It's supposed to be a comedy drama. It's not that funny, but Maggie Smith is good and Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett is his doppelganger. It was new on Netflix and my missus spotted it for some reason, it came out in 2015. I'm not a fan of Alan Bennett, I respect his work and genius, but I was able to get this film as did the missus who doesn't know who he is. The youngest got up and walked out half an hour in.

The Dig is a dramatization of a book about the excavation of the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon burial site in 1939. Very good throughout, worth watching, unless you're looking for some pornography of violence which you won't find here. Or indeed in the above film.
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Just watched The Dig. Fiennes was convincing as a self-taught man of Suffolk who left school at an early age. I suspect he would have older clothes for any digging work though.Good cast generally. Monica Dolan was good as Fiennes wife. Very enjoyable though the fictional love affair between the young geologist and the chap who was joining the RAF was contrived

It reminded me that Sutton Hoo exhibits were not on display at The British Museum between lockdowns, as they are upstairs and only the ground floor was open. Last time I saw them I was doing ‘100 objects that shaped the world’ in my lunchtimes - a few exhibits at a time.
 
Lily James is in it. Minor bit. But always lovely.
 
The Squeeze, a gritty kidnap/gangster film from 1977 with Stacy Keach giving a fine English accent and the last film of Stephen Boyd:

 
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One of Rock Hudson's lesser known 60s rom-coms. Funny although in my opinion, like other romantic comedies of the 60s, the ending fizzles and doesn't feel completely satisfactory. Nevertheless, it's filled with laughs for a good hour or so.
 
Mortal. Norwegian Marvel comic book dross. Not my thing, but Rambo might like it.
 
Buster the Phil Collins and Julie Walters film about Buster Edwards, one of the Great Train robbers, there's no Italian subtitles by the way and it's taken from a video and screened in television format:



I've not seen it since it first came out back in 1988, it was controversial at the time for the perceived glorifying of crime and Prince Charles and Princess Diana cancelled their attendance at the premiere of the film. I remember it as a very good film.

Looking at it now, I find Phil Collins from the smarmy cod-cockney school of acting. Cringe worthy. Julie Walters accents I can't stand anymore, they grate and so obviously lifted and made for the stage. Whether scouse of cockney.

Acting very dated, as regards those two. The rest of it, especially the mise en scene stood up very well.
 
Let the Right One In.

9/10. Swedish vampire and coming of age in the 1980s.
 
Swinging Safari: resonates with those of us who grew-up in Oz in the 70s

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Dropbear said:
Swinging Safari: resonates with those of us who grew-up in Oz in the 70s
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Would you recommend? It's got a great cast of Australian actors (with the possible exception of Kylie Minogue, although I'm not sure of her acting ability as I never watched her in Neighbours).
 
Journeyman said:
Would you recommend? It's got a great cast of Australian actors (with the possible exception of Kylie Minogue, although I'm not sure of her acting ability as I never watched her in Neighbours).
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Honestly, I thought it missed its mark with the coming-of-age story and the humor was a bit cringey. I still enjoyed it for the onslaught of slang from that era and a million old pop culture references.

It’s fun, but very forgettable.
 
The Guest (2014). I watched this mostly for the awesome soundtrack, but it was a blast. Absolutely the best B Grade action/horror film in forever. The story is a pure pastiche of cliches but that doesn’t stop it being a riot of fun. 8/10
 
Somehow I managed to find a copy of Bulldog Drummond and the Black Gang in the public library. I am not sure how it escaped the censors.

Drummond is an old-fashioned type living on a private income with a butler and a Bentley but looking for excitement in his life. He cannot stand foreigners, who seem to be responsible for most of the troubles in world including spreading Bolshevism - in particular his nemesis Carl Peterson and his girlfriend Irma.

www.goodreads.com

The Black Gang (Bulldog Drummond, #2)

Although the First World War is over, it seems that the…
www.goodreads.com www.goodreads.com
 
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Dropbear said:
Honestly, I thought it missed its mark with the coming-of-age story and the humor was a bit cringey. I still enjoyed it for the onslaught of slang from that era and a million old pop culture references.

It’s fun, but very forgettable.
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Got pretty much panned here as either too kitchy to be good but not enough kitchy to be good
 
We got around to watch Nowhere Boy (2009) the film about John Lennon's childhood. Those troubled and complex family situations were not unheard of at that time and I think every family has references to kids born out of wedlock and affairs during the war. Kristen Scott Thomas was excellent as his Aunt Mimi. As too was Anne-Marie Duff as Lennon's mother.
 
Re-watched L.A. Confidential for the first time since it came out. Superb acting throughout with a very young looking Russell Crowe.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
Re-watched L.A. Confidential for the first time since it came out. Superb acting throughout with a very young looking Russell Crowe.
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Crowe did seem to age suddenly. A great film. James Ellroy is one of the great American crime writers. He had a troubled childhood though; his mother was raped and murdered when he was 10.
 
Watched The Travelling Players by Theo Angelopoulos. Couldn't make sense of what was happening for a while, but the blocking kept me glued to the screen. Once I got a sense of what was going on, I realized one of the great aspects of film vs. literature is that you can tell certain 'stories' much better visually than literally. This was one of those stories that visually made a lot of sense but probably would be horrible literature. Great natural acting too by the actors. Will be checking out another film of his soon.
 
Kingstonian said:
Crowe did seem to age suddenly. A great film. James Ellroy is one of the great American crime writers. He had a troubled childhood though; his mother was raped and murdered when he was 10.
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American Tabloid probably the Great American Novel of recent times.
 
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Rewatching a classic B film of the 1980s. 8/10.

Not as good as Tuff Turf, which was criminally underrated IMO.
 
Eli: American horror film with a few good jump scares and some genuinely surprising plot twists. 8/10
 
Scorsese's Gangs of New York, for the first time. Tried to watch it in the past, but couldn't get around Daniel Day Lewis's weird accent as supposedly not an Irish American. Enjoyed it, some very bold plaids and tartans going on, which I know from Walt Whitman was the fashion during those war years.

Motherless Brooklyn, screenplay, produced and directed by Edward Norton, first rate detective story set in New York in the 50s.
 
True History of the Kelly Gang. 9/10 for breathing new life into an old story. Wonderful production.
 
A film I could not finish and probably a very good one, but so disquieting I wish I could forget he 3/4s I did see. Black & white with just two characters (fairly large names giving outstanding performances), from maybe two years ago, a peripd piece. And the film is...?
 
Peak said:
A film I could not finish and probably a very good one, but so disquieting I wish I could forget he 3/4s I did see. Black & white with just two characters (fairly large names giving outstanding performances), from maybe two years ago, a peripd piece. And the film is...?
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If it had been in colour, I would have suggested that over earnest The Two Popes Netflix outing.
 
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