What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[Starkos]

Originally Posted by Oh hi Mark!

The Room



I've reviewed the movie before on this forum, I'm pretty sure I went over the plot...or lack thereof. June 27, 2003 was the release day of this movie, ran for 2 weeks in an LA theater so it would be eligible for submission to the Academy. 15 years later, a yearly tradition for me is to watch the movie on June 27, it's also my first viewing of the film in 2018, and my 10th overall viewing. Keep in mind that I first watched this masterpiece in January 2015. 10 viewings, 3 years, in my consumption of movies that is simply unheard of, though I have watched Die Hard about 10 times in the last 2 years, but it's different. I still like The Room more than Die Hard, but it's a preference thing, by no means I'm saying The Room is a better cinematic piece than Die Hard. This is how I'll end the review.



HAHAHA!7/10

[Brecht]

True Stories (1986)



Trailer

An unnamed, cowboy-hat-wearing stranger (David Byrne) visits the fictional town of Virgil, Texas, that is about to mark its 150th anniversary. The stranger meets a number of oddballs like Louis Fyne (John Goodman), a lonely clean room technician who is looking for the woman of his life. Many of the events are related to the local computer manufacturing plant Varicorp Corporation where Louis works, too. Among other characters the stranger encounters are Miss Rollings (Swoosie Kurtz), a rich woman who never leaves her bed, Ramon (Tito Larriva from Tiro & Tarantula), another Varicorp employee and a guy who claims to experience synesthesia, or "The Lying Woman" (Jo Harvey Allen), a tattletale who bends everyone's ears with made-up stories from her life.

True Stories was directed by David Byrne who's best known as the founder of the band Talking Heads. According to his own words, most of the film is based on "true stories" from various tabloids. And naturally, the soundtrack was delivered by Byrne and the Talking Heads.

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by Brecht

True Stories (1986)

Thanks. I'll watch it this afternoon.

[Meini Again]

I found a website about a month ago. I thought it was French, but all it's collateral is Russian. However, using terms, like 'Repackage' and calling themselves 'Brothel Airlines'....YEP ... I was bemused.
But it had No Viruses etc, when I realised it was Russian... and did a full Scan Bodycheck.

I doubt you'll find it under "Brothel Airways"... that's Google Translate for you... something like Lupaners Airways ????

Why I'm mentioning it, is that they have the most BRILL HD films, FREE to DL.
60% zombie/gore/ action...OK ..... but also, really long lost Belmondo /Delon/US Noir/ Giallo / Bardot / Loren etc.

ALL HD

My last suggestion here ~ 'The Lady Vanishes' ~ came from that site.
I watched it in HD as I did my suggestion for today...

The Day of the Jackal aka Chacal ~ Dir: Zinnemann ~ 1973

It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion have made repeated attempts to kill DeGaulle. The result is that he is the most closely guarded man in the world. As a desperate act, they hire The Jackal, the code name for a hired killer who agrees to kill French President De Gaulle for half a million dollars. We watch his preparations which are so thorough we wonder how he could possibly fail even as we watch the French police attempt to pick up his trail. The situation is historically accurate. There were many such attempts and the film closely follows the plot of the book.

It's an absolute joy to watch it in HD on me PC.... and Delphine Seyrig

I'm not allowed to do links to outside places, like I wasn't allowed to do links to the free PB Archives. But, there you go....

[Reclaimedwg]

Watching a 1956 World War 2 film featuring a 26 year old young Robert Wagner.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049004/





To me he will always be the guy in the TV series Hart To Hart and Number Two in the Austin Powers movie trilogy.

[neo2008]

Sicario: Day of the Soldado



CIA operative Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and his “asset,” hitman Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro),return to take on Mexican cartels that are now committing terrorist acts.So the two raise the game with the backing of an oily politician and kidnap the daughter of a cartel leader to turn the cartels against each other.Mayhem follows and a lot of bullets fly.

Brolin and Del Toro bring their A game once again with intense,laser focused performances,characters drenched in world weary disdain.
As a cartel kingpin’s daughter named Isabel Isabela Moner does a fine job,especially in her scenes with Del Toro.
The action is jarring,disturbing and intense.
The film offers up some good suspense, i liked how some of the suspense was shaped around what a character was stating instead of actually seeing it.

After watching the trailer for this film,i had a bad feeling that some of the story would go down a path of contradiction and it does here and there unfortunately.
Their is a side story that was semi involving but it felt like it was mainly there as a set up for a third movie.

SDOTS is definitely not as entrancing or edge of your seat intense as the first film,but definitely worth the price of a theatre ticket.

Scale of 1-10 a 7½

[scoundrel]

A long way short of doing full justice to its subject matter, The Scarlet and the Black is still a very interesting film. It has numerous flaws, some of them very serious flaws; but it is saved from mediocrity and worse by several notable acting turns and by the dark fascination of the story, most of which is historically accurate.

The drama is set in Rome during its appalling months of occupation by German forces between August 1943 and June 1944. The principal characters in the drama are:

• Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, an Irish priest serving in the Vatican administration ~ played by Gregory Peck.
• OberSturmbahnfuerer Herbert Kappler, a middle ranking officer in the Gestapo and chief of the Gestapo's new Rome bureau ~ played by Christopher Plummer.
• Pope Pius XII - the reigning pontiff in WW2 ~ played by John Gielgud.

The title refers to the colours of Monsignor O'Flaherty's clerical regalia; to the insignia of the Nazi armband worn by the Gestapo generally and Colonel Kappler in particular; and to the theme of elemental conflict central to the film.

Although the story is focused on the extraordinary double life lived by Father O'Flaherty as he led the initiative to rescue thousands of assorted potential victims out from under the gaze of their lead persecutor, Colonel Kappler, the real strength of the film lies in the very personal conflict between Father O'Flaherty and Colonel Kappler, which embodies the wider conflict of good and evil within the story. Much as they detest one another, the Gestapo commander and the priest also respect one another as very high class opponents. O'Flaherty is a master of deception and disguise who even succeeds in fooling Kappler into signing a document, whereupon the signature becomes the basis of many forgeries of official papers used to frustrate the Gestapo. Kappler, on the other hand, is something of an evil genius in psychology, whose assessment of character and motivation is deadly in its accuracy.

Kappler's ice hearted indifference to considerations of normal humanity is accurately played by Plummer in what is actually a very clever and insightful acting performance. The incident of the "Jewish ransom" is true - it happened in September 1943. Plummer's character "invites" the Chief Rabbi and other senior Jewish community leaders to his office and waxes lyrical about how nice the SS have been to Rome's Jews...so far. But he just cannot guarantee that this desirable situation will continue unless they stump up 100lbs by weight of gold, and in exactly 36 hours. Thanks in part to contributions from Rome's non-Jewish citizens, who are decently horrified and revolted by the crudeness of the ultimatum, the 100lbs of gold is produced in 36 hours and we get to see Kappler good humouredly correcting his junior officers, who think they have been thwarted and whould have demanded twice the amount. Kappler deliberately set the ransom at a figure he judged to be extremely difficult, but achievable. Far from being upset, he is delighted, because he knows very well that a sudden mass raid and deportation would never have released this much gold to the Nazi cause. Also, though the irritated junior Gestapo officers do not yet know it, Kappler is already planning to initiate mass deportations; after receiving the ransom in full he intends to murder the hostages anyway. This is a true story and tells us pretty much who Herbert Kappler was; had he fallen into my hands in 1945 he would have had more time than he would have liked to savour the experience of dying - just for the ransom episode, not even counting his legion of other squalid and odious crimes.

One of the weaknesses of the film is that we don't get the full SP on just how wicked Kappler is; but we do get to see how clever and how subtle he is, and appreciate the excellence of his mind, pitted against the equally first class intelligence of Father O'Flaherty. In the event, nearly 10,000 Jews are successfully harboured in Rome and Kappler, for all his efforts, does not capture and deport more than 4,000 to certain death. Most of the 10,000 are concealed by the Catholic Church inside and outside the Vatican, and most of those protected by the Catholic Church are directly gathered in by Father O'Flaherty. He also conceals thousands of escaped Allied POWs from Kappler and his men. Kappler is well aware of what is happening and who his enemy is, but is frustrated by the Vatican's sovereignty. Even Himmler sternly orders Kappler to break the escape line without violating Vatican territory, which of course is a silly order, not possible.

The best part of the film is the last 20 minutes, which features a deliciously ironic resolution of the character-conflict between Kappler and Father O'Flaherty. The city of Rome is imminently going to be liberated by Allied forces and so sudden has been the reversal of fortune that mere German civilians, including Kappler's wife and two infant children will not be evacuated, but will either escape on their own initiative or fall into Partisan hands. He honestly isn't much concerned that he himself will probably be captured - dying is part of his trade. But when it comes to his wife and kids, this is one sacrifice he ain't gonna make. Not even when the only way to avoid it lies in the bare possibility that his arch-enemy, Father O'Flaherty, might agree to rescue Frau Kappler and the children.

The small hours conversation in the dark and deserted Colosseum, only hours to go before the Americans enter Rome, is really well done. Father Flaherty agrees to meet Coloner Kappler alone only because he is "invited" at midnight by a Gestapo man who could easily have cut his throat but refrains, explaining that the Colonel wants to meet him and promises safe passage. The fact that he is not already dead is convincing proof that Kappler won't kill him at the meeting, so Father O'Flaherty goes there; he couldn't live with not finding out and not knowing what Kappler wants. Discovering that Kappler wants to save his own family [though not himself], Father O'Flaherty boils with rage at the apparent hypocrisy of it, but Kappler has an extremely valid answer for every point O'Flaherty makes. Given the principles of neutrality and common humanity O'Flaherty has professed throughout, unless he is prepared to save and rescue innocent German civilians, there is only one hypocrite in the Colosseum that night, and it ain't Kappler.

At first it seems that Father O'Flaherty has chosen to be that hypocrite, and Colonel Kappler's righteous anger is at once ridiculous and bizarrely justified; but he still allows Father Flaherty to go in peace because he said he would. It would not be the right end to their private war for Kappler to murder O'Flaherty unofficially and also, Rome is falling and Kappler was all about enforcing Nazi dominion, so killing O'Flaherty no longer makes sense to Kappler's own system of thought. we get to see that Kappler, no matter how evil, was in his own way a public servant, obeying orders and not driven by private malice. In a really weird way, Kappler genuinely believes in himself and in the rightness of his cause, and he isn't in it for himself at all. Private revenge is not his thing. I would argue that this makes him even worse; but I note the point on his motivation and am intrigued by it.

There is one last even more ironic twist in the story. We see Kappler as a prisoner, being interrogated by the US forces. The Americans are openly furious that Kappler's family and many other German civilians have escaped to Switzerland and seethe with contempt and indignation when Kappler truthfully comments that he did not know until they told him and is very pleased to hear it. They explain that Kappler is looking at either death by hanging or whole of life, but that if he will assist in finding the naughty bad collaborators who helped his family to get away, he will get a much lesser sentence. Once again, Kappler denies knowledge, but this time Plummer's darkly saturnine smile perfectly captures the truth that the joke is on Kappler and Kappler knows it. He will either serve whole of life or go to the gallows to protect his worst enemy in the whole world, because his own code of right conduct makes it impossible for him to grass on Father O'Flaherty after Father O'Flaherty has saved the lives of his family. Not even to save his own neck would he ever do that - yet he is still a very evil man. It is merely that, to his own surprise, he has lived to find the line he will refuse to cross, the act so low that even he would die first rather than do it.

As a drama of characters and of good versus evil, this film works rather well.

[CARLTON BROWN]

Originally Posted by neo2008

Sicario: Day of the Soldado



CIA operative Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and his “asset,” hitman Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro),return to take on Mexican cartels that are now committing terrorist acts.So the two raise the game with the backing of an oily politician and kidnap the daughter of a cartel leader to turn the cartels against each other.Mayhem follows and a lot of bullets fly.

Brolin and Del Toro bring their A game once again with intense,laser focused performances,characters drenched in world weary disdain.
As a cartel kingpin’s daughter named Isabel Isabela Moner does a fine job,especially in her scenes with Del Toro.
The action is jarring,disturbing and intense.
The film offers up some good suspense, i liked how some of the suspense was shaped around what a character was stating instead of actually seeing it.

After watching the trailer for this film,i had a bad feeling that some of the story would go down a path of contradiction and it does here and there unfortunately.
Their is a side story that was semi involving but it felt like it was mainly there as a set up for a third movie.

SDOTS is definitely not as entrancing or edge of your seat intense as the first film,but definitely worth the price of a theatre ticket.

Scale of 1-10 a 7½

Really enjoyed the first film and am looking forward to this one.

[Rogerbh]

Watched "War Horse" (2011) film about a horse raised in England who survives WWI. An unrealistic film to say the least. When I think about horses in war, I think of Falaise Gap, where the American troops who passed thru that area later commented on the sheer number of dead horses, the smell, the flies, etc. Slaughter on a grand scale that would make any animal lover cry.

The film has a cavalry charge into machine gun fire and it doesn't show the wounded horses, trailing their guts, screaming as they die a slow death. Wouldn't do to make the audience sick with a realistic sight of horses in World War 1.

Did have Benedict Cumberbatch as an idiot cavalry leader and Ser Davos Seaworth as a doctor.

Not really sure why people like this movie - 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, guess they love horses and don't want realism.

[Mal Hombre]

Someone did say that "Warhorse" made Lassie Come Home look like Hellraiser..