Just when you think you've reached the very depth of bad movie-making after seeing Fast and Furious 6, you watch Nash Bridges.
Curiously, in 2021 I watched more French-language films directed by Poles than French-language movies directed by Frenchmen. I think I have Solidarity to thank for that.
Another dull night so I decided to see what Netflix had an offer. I settled on Don’t Look Up (because I like DiCaprio) and loved every second of it. Sometimes it doesn’t do to analyse a film too deeply, but even though the message of this one can hardly be missed, it didn’t stop the film snob critics pulling it to pieces. Ignore them and just enjoy the ride. It manages to take a scenario that could very well become a reality, and make it very funny. It’s also a damming indictment on modern society, particularly that of the US, that will make no difference to the real world whatsoever.
Comrade! I made very similar sentiments on the preceding page! I thought it was a brilliant and scathing satire of both distracted society, and (most especially) the "manufacturing indifference" media.
Ah, sorry. Missed that. Jennifer Lawrence’s character’s outburst was indeed a fist-pump moment, but DiCaprio’s, later in the film, is even better
Found another film on Netflix tonight, and watched it sort of by accident. I really had no intention of watching a film but the blurb of one got my attention; Cargo, an Australian set apocalypse film starring Martin Freeman. I half-heartedly started and was sufficiently intrigued to stay with it till the end. It’s rather bleak and very anti-Hollywood, but a good watch all the same.
Watermelon Man (1970) A trailer didn't came up, so this one is full of spoilers. Film is worth watching.
Sully last night. Not the most taxing role Tom Hanks has ever had to play but it was okay, if a little lacking in life (pardon the irony).
I saw Homeless To Harvard (2003) recently. The appeal of this movie is that it’s based on true life events about a little girl from a very dysfunctional family who live in the bronx. All her childhood, she had to take care of her drug-addicted mother, then gets sent to a home because neither of her parents can take care of her properly and she often misses school. Afterward her mother dies of aids and isn’t given much of a funeral and no one else shows up for it beside the girl. She gets a 'slap in the face' by her mother's death and begins her work to finish high school, which she amazingly completes in two years, rather than the usual four. She becomes a star student and earns a scholarship to Harvard through an essay contest sponsored by The New York Times. But the best thing about this movie is that it is based on a true life events, so I recommend.
Watched Weird Science - the only John Hughes movie I missed watching in the 80s. I didn't care for it. Though it felt like his most ironic fourth-wall break movie ever. Kinda behaves like a metaphor for the writer getting chewed out by his own creations - ala daffy duck in Duck Amuck - and Hughes sends in the dream girl Lisa to behave as author/genie to give them everything they wished for. Maybe even addressing his critics at the same time as most of the adults get temporarily 'awakened' to teenage 'truths' and then memory blitzed when they can't handle it. He thinks he's doing Frankenstein, Valley-girl style but it's more I dream of Genie. Kelly Lebrock was hot, thebest thing in the movie. Most of the scenes had bad pacing, the comedy felt forced and it seemed a waste to keep Robert Downey jr as sidekick/baddie when he had more charisma than the leads. Babes in Toyland 1961 - I think this was a Disney flop. Felt like it. They made the mistake of presenting it like a stage play rather than letting it simply exist in it's own dream world of musical fantasy like Mary Poppins. Annette was beautiful though and they ballad scene in the garden was adorable, the rest felt a bit desperate and long winded.
I was six when it came out. It may have been the first movie I ever saw in a theater. I adored it, organized the other children in the neighborhood to act it out time after time after time. Several decades later, my own child was six and we visited a friend who had the movie. I was charmed at the idea of seeing it again, but it was so awful that I gave up watching fifteen minutes into the thing. My six year old self would've nominated it for Movie of the Century. My forty year old self realized that it flopped because parents were keeling over from boredom in theaters everywhere.
I have vague memories of seeing it in a theater. I think I liked it, but I was six. What did I know? (I looked up the release date.)
Six-year-olds are entitled to think their favorite movies are the greatest, and you have to admire Disney for knowing his demographic for the movie.
Lethal Weapon 3. I have a real love/hate relationship with these films. Love... well I’m not really sure why, but the hate comes from the way Richard Donner handles dialogue. Nothing of any real importance or significance is ever said in his films. It’s all made up of mumbling banter and actors talking over each other. That and screaming saxophones, along with Danny Glover shouting “H-H-H-Hey, R-Rigs!!” every 10 minutes.
Just watched the trailer. That guy from the LotR films (played the dad of Liv Tyler’s character) doesn’t appear to have aged any. Have they used un-ageing effects on him?
They are a bunch of flashbacks in it so you may be confused by archival footage. But maybe you should watch the movie and find out!
That Cargo trailer reminds me of this long forgotten gem that, while it has tonnes of issues including a cheesy, melodramatic opening scene added at the last minute to give 'backstory', some of the other scenes and the story in general is praiseworthy. It's got some genuinely upsetting and powerful scenes. It's also based on a true story. Savior.
Worst movie I ever tried to watch. Barbarella. About ten minutes then I hit rewind and took it back. (1980something.)
That might be one of the movies that needed to be watched when it came out to properly appreciate it. Planet of the Apes was released the same year but is timeless. Just pretend that without Barbarella, Duran Duran would have used a lackluster name and never achieved rock stardom, so you can at least credit it for something.
