What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[diamelsx]

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Originally Posted by IMDB

Zack Mayo (Richard Gere), a new member of the U.S. Navy, has a bad attitude. When he signs up for the Aviation Academy, he is met with the strict leadership of Sgt. Emil Foley (Louis Gossett Jr.), who gives Zack a rude awakening in terms of relating with other people. Through Foley's guidance -- and an unexpected romance with Paula (Debra Winger), an outsider who hangs around the naval base -- Zack learns some tough lessons and discovers what he truly wants out of life.

[jehuty34]

Saw this the other day.Really liked it. Gal Gadot was great as Wonder Woman. She kicked a lot of ass and looked amazing doing it. The story had some nice emotional depth, too. Reminded me a little of the first captain america movie.

[trailmaster]

This was the last film I saw from from Netflix a few days ago."Bleed for This" an American biographical sports film about former world champion boxer Vinny Pazienza. The movie opens showing him fighting in the World Light Welterweight division. He loses this fight and then gets a new coach played by Aaron Eckhardt, who coaches him to victory in a slight heavier division and he becomes the new champion of the WBA World Light Middleweight Title. Carrying his winning belt Vinny celebrates his victory for a few days and then hears his next fight will be against the undefeated boxer Roberto Duran, but he gets into one of his friend's new sports car and there is a terrible accident that almost kills him. His neck is broken, but he is not paralyzed. His head is fitted with this steel contraption called a "halo" which supports his neck and immobilizes it. His doctor says he will probably never be able to fight again. Vinny though is very determined and he starts this grueling exercise program to build himself up for the next six months while he wears this halo device. Vinny is determined to fight again. I liked the film, and both the critics and movie goers liked the film, but it earned less than 1 million more dollars that it took to make the film.

[scoundrel]

I would place this one as a sort of "coming of age" comedy/romance. It also belongs firmly to the "Hollywood England" genre in which everyone in "England" (meaning mainly the touristy bits of London) either has servants or is a servant. Forget Socialist Realism, this is an American eye view of Little England as a sort of Ruritanian theme park.

But what the Hell. The basic idea is fairytale anyway so why not check out your brain at the door and go along for the ride? It isn't a bad ride actually, as such things go. The film is very sentimental but quite charming and has some moments which are genuinely funny and clever. The main pluses are:

• 20 year old Amanda Byrne as the 17 year old ingenue heroine Daphne Reynolds, who has finally plucked up the courage to ignore her mother's passive resistance and go to London to meet her father, Lord Dashwood, from whom her mother parted company before Daphne was born. I am not absolutely clear how she is financing this expensive project but hey. Daphne is brave, resourceful and determined and a fun heroine whose adventures are rather droll. Amanda Byrne gives a good performance as she must if this film were to have any chance. I liked her performance and found it entertaining in the right ways.
• Colin Firth as Amanda's father: he is very good and is adept at playing both the serious and the comic sides of the story. The scene where he finds out and absorbs the reality that he has a natural dughter, almost fully grown up, whom he never even knew existed is extremely well played. One senses the incredulity, then the shock, then the pain and mortification that this girl never had a father and how much he would give now to have known about her when there was still time to be her father; then the rage as he contemplates the fact that Amanda's mother did not tell him; then the compassion and pity when he realises how difficult the meeting is and has already been for Daphne. Colin Firth can play this through without needing explanatory dialogue to help him.

Most of it is very cliched stuff, with social conflict between Daphne and various relatives and friends of her father, mainly Anna Chancellor as her father's displeased fiance, Glynnis Payne and Jonathan Pryce (rather wasted) as Lord Dashwood's campaign manager, in a forthcoming by-election, and father of Anna Chancellor's social climbing character. There are however some pleasing side-scenes, such as when Clarissa Payne, daughter of Glynnis, (played by Christina Cole) is vexed by Daphne seeing through her attempt to make her dress unsuitably for a social event and turns up looking prettier than Clarissa:

Clarissa: l can't believe that little imposter is going to ruin my summer.
Fiona: She may be a lot of things, but l can't believe imposter is one. [pause] Technically, she's 39th in line to the throne.
Clarissa: Really, Fiona, 38 people would have to die for her to be queen.
Fiona: Well, darling, it's far less than the 72 you'd need.

The way the story works is by contrasting real against fake. Naturally, (this being Hollywood) our American girl heroine represents the genuine, the Payne family represents the fake, and in essence Lord Dashwood has to decide where his priorities truly lie. There is a nice little moment when he resigns his political candidacy because he needs to go to America and reconcile with his daughter and her mother and in the vexation of his disappointment the Jonathan Pryce character lets slip than he knew Daphne's mother was pregnant and never told Lord Dashwood the truth in case he re-affirmed the unsuitable relationship in order to stand by Daphne and her mother; which of course is what Lord Dashwood would give three fingers to have had the opportunity to do. Lord Dashwood has already decked him with one punch before anyone even realises this is the only possible thing that can happen next.

Meanwhile of course, Daphne has found and lost love of her own, unable to reconcile Lord Dashwood's world with her own world and unable to fit in, losing at both ends from falling in between. This is why she returns to the USA and why Lord Dashwood is forced to make his own choice, finding that the daughter he never knew he had is now central to his own existence.

Mainly worth watching for the acting, which is often rather good.

[Silicone Carne]

In the near future, a charismatic leader summons the street gangs of New York City in a bid to take it over. When he is killed, The Warriors are falsely blamed and now must fight their way home while every other gang is hunting them down.

Just watched the Director's Cut. Not a big fan of the comic book inserts and the ancient greek introduction, actually. I prefer the original version. Still, the film's one of my favorites. Powerful direction, memorable characters, ruthless and intense action. A classic.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080120/

[Sir Honkers]

Wonder Woman....just WOW! and nearly two and a half hours flew by.
My good lady is disgruntled because that's three superhero films this year she has enjoyed. She thinks I'm putting something in her tea.

[diamelsx]

Uptown Saturday Night (1974)

Originally Posted by Rotten Tomatoes

Uptown Saturday Night is a delightful comedy directed by and starring Sidney Poitier. Steve Jackson (Sidney Poitier) is a factory worker. One evening, when boredom gets the best of him, Steve and his pal Wardell (Bill Cosby) decide to go to an underground gambling club to have some fun. While they are there the place is held-up and Steve's wallet is stolen. When Steve and Wardell learn that the wallet contains a winning lottery ticket, the friends go on a desperate search to find it. Shape Eye Washington (Richard Prior), an incompetent private eye, is enlisted to aid them in their search through the criminal underworld where they come up against Geechie Dan Beauford (Harry Belafonte) the mobster who runs the town. Belafonte, in a hilarious parody of Marlon Brando in The Godfather, steals the show. The movie was a huge success and led to two sequels, Let's Do It Again and A Piece of the Action, both also directed by Poitier.

[neo2008]

WONDER WOMAN






Whether she was in Comic Book,animated, or Television form Wonder Woman has always been the personification of strength,courage,intelligence and beauty.
All of the aforementioned has been carried over to the movie Wonder Woman,thanks to the very good portrayal of the iconic character by Gal Gadot,a very good script by Allan Heinberg,and the direction of Patty Jenkins

This is an origin story that is thankfully not dwelling ,not rushed,but gave me enough of WW's growing up on Themyscira/Paradise Island,all of the strengths of and different races of the Amazon's that live there. High praise to Robin Wright as General Antiope: Hippolyta's sister and WW's aunt and mentor & Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta WW's mother.
Also kudo's to the women portraying The Amazon's

Chris Pine continues to prove himself as an actor.The chemistry between him and Gadot is off the charts.They hit all the right notes together,whether its a humorous,dramatic or romantic scene.
Kudos to the actor's that make up WW's World War I team:Saïd Taghmaoui as Sameer
Ewen Bremner as Charlie and Eugene Brave Rock as Chief
This movie works so well as a Comic Book film actually reminding me of The All Star Squadron comic books,a fish out of water story and a war film.Nothing is passed over and the messages throughout the movie are clear

My only gripes are the villains.There was a cheesy campy moment that made me cringe and gave me flashbacks of 1997's Batman & Robin movie
The finale is a CGI fest that was a bit over done,but i liked what was said during it.

Im looking forward to Justice League and a second film featuring the Goddess of Truth


Scale of 1-10 an 8½


Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales







Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is not as bad as i thought it would be.
Jack Sparrow is being pursued by the vengeful ghoul Captain Armando Salazar due to Sparrow causing his undead status. Henry Turner The son of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann also pursues Sparrow hoping he knows the way to a powerful Trident that will reverse his father's curse and Carina who wants the trident for personal reasons.

There are some rousing and fun moments in the film,i got several laughs from the stupidity of the pirates,and the over the top mumbling and swagger of Sparrow.
There is some impressive SFX sprinkled throughout the film,the flirtation between Henry and Carina was cute here and there.

Some of the CGI was a bit choppy and the film has way to many characters that were disposable.
By now i thought there would be more depth to the Sparrow character but at this point it likely wont happen and judging by the box office take for this movie fans like Sparrow just the way he is.

Scale of 1-10 a 7

[Brecht]

Der Aufenthalt (1983)



At the end of WWII, the 19-year-old German soldier Mark Niebuhr (Sylvester Groth) is held as a prisoner of war by the Polish army. While at a train station in Warsaw with other prisoners, Niebuhr is (wrongly) accused by a Polish woman who believes that he's the SS officer who killed her daughter in Lublin. Niebuhr is singled out and transferred to a prison where he's incarcerated in a single cell and repeatedly interrogated by a Polish officer who tells him to write down his biography and reveal his true identity. But the young soldier asserts that he is Mark Niebuhr and maintains his innocence, not even knowing why he's being questioned. He's transferred to another cell that he has to share with other German POWs. They maintain a strict military discipline in accordance with their former ranks and are led by General Eisensteck (Fred Düren) and Major Lundenbroich (Klaus Piontek). Although all the men claim they're innocent, Niebuhr soon realizes that he was thrown into a cell with actual war criminals.

Der Aufenthalt (English title: The Turning Point) is an East German production based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Hermann Kant about his own experience as a German prisoner of war in Poland. Highly recommended and well-performed.

[Hertz]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311429/