Saturday Evening Movie Thread 03-27-2021 [TheJamesMadison]

A Martin Scorsese Film

When one describes the work of a given filmmaker, it's often easy enough to explain what movies within that filmography are going to entail. A Federico Fellini film is circus. An Ingmar Bergman film is a dour exploration of deep meaning. A Terry Gilliam film is a fantastical movie with great production design. A Stanley Kubrick movie is a coolly calculating film of exact precision. A Christopher Nolan movie is a Stanley Kubrick movie but with wider mass appeal. An Alfred Hitchcock movie is a tension filled mystery.

But what is a Martin Scorsese movie?

It's Goodfellas. If you were to ask most people what a Martin Scorsese movie was, you'd get a description that matches Goodfellas and little else. It would be a rip-roaring look at the underworld of gangsters with an awesome rock and roll soundtrack and Robert de Niro starring. The irony is for all of the filmmakers above, while most of them have exceptions to the rule (Fellini's early films were neo-realist, Bergman had the delightful The Magic Flute among others, Gilliam's The Fisher King is surprisingly grounded, etc.), their public perception rather closely matches a very large bulk of their output. However, when it comes to Scorsese, the perception is off. No, it's outright wrong.

Martin Scorsese has made twenty-five movies since he began work in the nascent independent scene in New York in the late 60s. Of those twenty-five, three are like Goodfellas, and one of those is Goodfellas, the other two being Casino and The Wolf of Wall Street. That's as many movies about religious figures that he's made. All three are the stories of men working in a certain element of the underworld (gangsters for the first two, and Wall Street for the third), rising and falling while edited together to give a relentless pace and set to a great soundtrack. The other twenty-two movies he's made aren't that similar in style, but that's not to say that Scorsese doesn't have attributes that weave through all of his work or that these three films are missing those elements. What weaves through his work just isn't what defines his work to the mass audience.

Interconnection

What ties all of Scorsese's films together isn't gangsters, or a raucous pacing, or even Robert de Niro. Having just gone through his entire body of work, I've come up with three major elements that define a Scorsese movie, that make his films instantly recognizable as his and no one else's. They are a central theme of identity, a vigorous and active use of the camera to help tell the story, and the totality of his soundtrack. There are other smaller elements, one could call them motifs, but they don't arise frequently enough to define him. For instance, New York is a very common setting in his films, but only twelve of his twenty-five films take place there.

Identity

From his very first picture, Who's That Knocking at My Door through his most recent, The Irishman, almost every film in Scorsese's body of work has the central character concerned with who they are, specifically in relation to the world around them. JR, the main character of Knocking, falls in love with a girl but can't commit to her because she becomes unclean in his eyes after he tells her a former boyfriend raped her. She no longer fits what he imagines to be the model of a marrying girl, and it has to do with his Catholic upbringing. He can mess around with one type of girl, but he can't marry her. When the girl becomes that other type of girl, he has to struggle with himself to accept her, but he ends up doing it in a way that just angers her ending everything about the relationship.

In Mean Streets, Charlie struggles to find a way to behave in a way that he finds good in between the Church, his uncle, a figure in the local mob, and his childhood friend Johnny Boy, and he ultimately chooses wrong. Goodfellas's Henry Hill has to find a way to survive in a mob life, living up to it in the beginning and working against it in the end. In Kundun, the Dalai Lama struggles with his place as the living embodiment of Tibetan religion in the face of Chinese aggression. The splashiest version of this comes with The Departed where the two main characters live lives in opposition to their natures, one a mob kid who becomes a cop and the other a cop who becomes a mobster. In nearly every film, even some you may not expect, this question is just under the surface.

The Camera

From the very beginning of his very first movie, Scorsese has been playing with his camera, flying it around in order to help provide energy and help tell the story. Below is the opening of Who's That Knocking at My Door with an impossibly young Harvey Keitel:

Here is the ending gunfight from his second movie, the Roger Corman production Boxcar Bertha. He throws his camera around with every gunshot to provide some of the movie's sole charm, an embrace of exploitation that the rest of the movie can't really replicate or rise above:

In a more refined aspect, here is Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy giving his jokes to a wall display of an audience as the camera steadily pulls back to help reveal the inner madness of the character:

Most famously is, of course, Goodfellas when Henry Hill takes his date and future wife, Karen, to the Copacabana Club through the back entrance. Going down through the kitchen and out into the floor where he gets a primo seat instantly provided for him, along with a bottle of champagne, it's a microcosm of the life he leads: consequence free and expensive, and you can see Karen loving every second this guy in construction is doing it.

He didn't stop there with notable examples in The Aviator, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed, and The Irishman. Scorsese understands how to use his camera, flowingly, to help tell the story of who people are, their relationships to each other, and even to simply thrill.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is much more than just musical selections, but I'm going to focus on both the music and Scorsese's use of voiceover to tell his stories. Voiceover is a tool of storytelling, and like any tool it can be used well and it can be used poorly. It mostly gets used poorly to explain things that should have been shown in other ways in the script or with the camera, however the way that Scorsese mainly uses it comes to a different point. It's about setting the scene originally (similarly to how Billy Wilder used voiceover extensively at the beginning of his movies) and then painting in the edges.

Look at Taxi Driver, for instance. In that film, Travis Bickle has a certain kind of narration through recitation of the character's journal entries and letters back to his parents. If you were to completely cut the voiceover from the film, it'd still be eminently possible to understand Bickle's descent into madness brought on by loneliness and rejection as well as the filth of 1970s New York that surrounds him. It comes out through his interactions with other characters and, of course, how the camera treats him like when it pulls away from him as he's being rejected by his idol of a woman, Molly. What the voiceover does is provide greater detail into the character's mind through such things as his outright lies to his parents about what he's doing and who he's working for. His journal entries underline his obsession with Molly, emphasizing how no one should ever be able to touch her, elevating her above being a woman into being some sort of goddess (perhaps a Madonna, even). It helps to frame the action, never defining it.

In The Irishman, Frank Sheeran narrates his life from a retirement home where he mostly sits alone, providing his personal perspective on events we see occurring on screen. His softening of his own image as we watch him perform terrible things helps to illustrate his own blindness to his faults in his character. His opinions of Russell Bufalino, the mobster, are at odds with the man we see, especially as we can tell from the perspective of Frank's daughter, the nearly silent Peggy. His voiceover acts as an ironic counterpoint to the life we're seeing play out, highlighting for the audience the choices that Frank made that led him to being left alone by his family instead of surrounded by them in his final days.

Music is the other side of this equation, and Scorsese is widely renowned for his ability to needle drop rock and roll music into scenes to help frame them in particular, and often, unexpected ways. "Jumping Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones is our introduction to Robert de Niro's Johnny Boy in Mean Streets. It's told from Harvey Keitel's Charlie's perspective, and it's a demonstration of just how damn cool Charlie sees this complete screw up of a person, despite Charlie's efforts to help him straighten out:

In Shutter Island Scorsese and his musical collaborator Robbie Robertson of The Band chose to use Gustav Mahler's "Quartet for Strings and Piano in A Minor" in a key scene. The action moves back and forth in time as the main character, Teddy, speaks with a German psychologist and Teddy recalls events from the Second World War where Teddy helped liberate Dachau. The Romantic composer's work, which was banned by the Nazi regime but played by the death camp's commandant in preparation for his suicide, creates a link between past and present with a haunting movement of an abandoned piece that helps illuminate the fractured nature of the main character's experiences. Warning, this contains some gore.

Even when he doesn't use sourced or diagetic music, instead using a composer, the music isn't just window dressing to fill auditory space. There's a specific intent at play. Howard Shore's score for Hugo feels very much of the movie, feeling like it belongs in 1930s Paris. It also helps underscore the emotional aspect of the film, like in the below scene where Georges, the owner of the toy shop at the train station, flips through a notebook that has connections to his past ("ghosts", as he says). The music crescendos with mysterious anticipation and then ends conclusively when the image of the automaton in the book stares directly at him. It enhances the moment in a specific way, giving us the same kind of pause that Georges has in that moment.

The Martin Scorsese Film

Is it that Goodfellas is missing any of these elements? No, not in the least. Goodfellas, Casino, and The Wolf of Wall Street contain them all. The thing is that they contain elements that the rest of his movies don't share in such great amount that they become unrepresentative of the rest of the body of work. They fully occupy one pocket of the filmography, and because he has such a varied filmography there are many pockets. There's the religious pocket, the gangster pocket, the Goodfellas pocket, the movies about movies pocket, a feminist film pocket, and even a children's movie pocket.

So, looking through his entire filmography what movie exemplifies his greatest qualities as a director? The one movie that you could boil his entire filmography down to? I think that's easy.

It's The Age of Innocence.

Every major elements that makes a Scorsese movie a Scorsese movie is here. Adapted from the Edith Wharton novel, it's about a man and a woman striving to be together against the wishes of the society around them. She is a married woman, married to a count an ocean away that treats her horribly, and he's engaged to her cousin. His heart wants to advise her to divorce her husband so that they can be together, but he works against his own wishes and helps convince her to stay, ultimately remaining in a marriage he knows is less happy than the one he could have had. Scorsese has called it his most violent film, not because there is gore but because the emotional violence is so acute and powerful that it transcends the physical harm visited in others of his films.

Look at the clip below. It exemplifies both of the other two elements perfectly. First, watch it with the sound off, and you see a roving camera over a party scene in late 19th century New York City's high society. We see Winona Ryder's May way to the camera, Newland Archer's perspective, but the camera moves away from her instantly to try and follow the conversation of Countess Olenska, his wished to be lover, before following the others in the room and then suddenly focusing back on May. There's a story being told simply by whom the camera is looking at.

Turning the sound on, we hear the voiceover providing the context that we can gather from watching the whole movie but provides the emotional punch in the scene specifically. The whole room is not talking about Newland and the Countess, meaning that they all know about the love affair that has never even been consummated, including May, Newland's wife. Everything gains a new aspect, and the punch is real.

Is The Age of Innocence Scorsese's best movie? I don't think so, but I do consider it one of his best. However I do think it is the most perfect example of Scorsese's strengths as a filmmaker in one package. This, more so than Goodfellas, is what I think of when I think of a Scorsese film.

Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:

Nobody

Movies I Saw This Fortnight:

Terminator Genisys (Rating 1/4) Full Review "Then the movie gets really dumb." [Library]

Terminator Dark Fate (Rating 2/4) Full Review "It's not the worst of the franchise, but it's very far from the best." [Library]

Freaky (Rating 1.5/4) Full Review "I was disappointed in the fractured, unfocused storytelling that marred an entertaining genre mashup." [Redbox]

Zack Snyder's Justice League (Rating 3/4) Full Review "For all of my problems about the jagged nature of this movie's first half, that first half becomes necessary in order to create the emotional investment for the final two hours. This is a marked improvement over the original, though it's far from perfect." [HBOMax]

Kundun (Rating 3/4) Full Review "The movie's intelligent in its subject matter, but remote emotionally. This is something to be admired from a distance rather than engaged with fervently." [Personal Collection]

The Departed (Rating 4/4) Full Review "The Departed is the work of a screenwriter providing concrete settings and intelligent character work to an existing plot while an incredibly talented director builds performances that fill out the characters and pulls all of the other disparate elements into a complete package." [Personal Collection]

Hugo (Rating 4/4) Full Review "I loved this movie. It really is one of my favorite Scorsese's." [Personal Collection]

Silence (Rating 4/4) Full Review "I adore this film." [Personal Collection]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
Follow me on Twitter.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:50 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Popcorntime

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 07:53 PM (Cxk7w)

2 Too bad Martin Scorsese is such a dick.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 27, 2021 07:54 PM (fLVm1)

3 hiya

Posted by: JT at March 27, 2021 07:56 PM (arJlL)

4 I came to the conclusion ranking comedy movies is the hardest category to complete.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 07:58 PM (2DOZq)

5 watched a couple of newish movies:

Love and Monsters - a teen post apocalyptic coming of age adventure - silly and fun and touching, I liked it

Possesor - scifi/ horror - intriguing concept but bleh characters and way too slow

Posted by: vmom super straight stabby stabber stabalot at March 27, 2021 07:58 PM (GBZnB)

6 So I mentioned earlier today that I saw the trailer to Dune and the special effects and cinematography look awesome. I also said it seemed like they were going to make it Woke. Anyone know if that's the case?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:01 PM (2DOZq)

7 Finally saw the new Midway. Gotta say it was infinitely better than the original.

Whoever said it was a stinker was FOS.

Posted by: Somewhere east of I-25 at March 27, 2021 08:01 PM (uxUoN)

8 Hi, everybody! Mr. April indulged me last night with two of my favorites: Grand Budapest Hotel, and Moonrise Kingdom. I was in the mood for quirky and sweet, with minimal explosions. Went to bed with heart warmed.

*Not that I am opposed to explosions, just tired of the action genre right now.

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 08:02 PM (OX9vb)

9 Whoever said it was a stinker was FOS.
Posted by: Somewhere east of I-25 at March 27, 2021 08:01 PM (uxUoN)

I haven't seen it but I can't get past Woody being Admiral Nimitz. I heard he did a good job though.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:03 PM (2DOZq)

10 Hey there movie fags.

I'm watching the Special Edition extended play dance version of Alien3 for the first time, and I quite like it.

Once you put aside the fact that this is the sequel nobody wanted or asked for, and take it on its own merits, it's a good movie.

If you scroll down to "alternate versions" on the IMDB listing, it shows all the new inserts.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103644/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:04 PM (Dc2NZ)

11 Hiya Eris !

Posted by: JT at March 27, 2021 08:06 PM (arJlL)

12 "Mean Streets" was always a favorite.

Violent, dirty and everyone in it was a sack of shit.

The fat guy who punches the Mook in the pool hall fight was a classic.

"We don't pay mooks".

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 27, 2021 08:06 PM (R/m4+)

13 I rewatched "The Age of Innocence" recently and my opinion of it improved dramatically.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:06 PM (Dc2NZ)

14 Got through the content and some clips

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:07 PM (Cxk7w)

15 You've seen Silence haven't you TJM?

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (lgiXo)

16 Saw the Snyder Cut, really excellent.
Very Epicy.
And light years better than that piece of shit pedophile Joss Whedon version

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (Q37aU)

17 Just watched the Heath Ledger version of The Four Feathers, the classic tale of cowardice and redemption. Meh. Kate Hudson was gorgeous, but then, when isn't she?

I survived my 4.5 day train trip from NE FL to LA, arriving home at 8 this morning. So I'm giving myself a break and watching movies the rest of the weekend. Next up: Training Day.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (i4CI5)

18 15 You've seen Silence haven't you TJM?
Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (lgiXo)

========

Yes, I have.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:09 PM (LvTSG)

19 McCoy just gave Kirk some Romulan ale and vintage reading glasses for his birthday, that's sweet.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (Q37aU)

20 I will give Scorsese credit for making a great sequel of The Hustler . Making a good sequel of a classic is very rare.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (2DOZq)

21 I always liked Harvey Keitel in pretty much whatever he was in.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (Y20wq)

22 Freaky....much of it good enough for today, but then we have old guy kissing high school senior guy.

It is part of the effort to push for homosexual pedophilia. Yeah, I know its not that, but its part of the effort. We know where this slippery slope goes.

If Kim nuked Hollywood, he'd be doing us a favor.

Posted by: Eric R. Ashley at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (7YZdA)

23 Terminator Genisys (Rating 1/4) Full Review "Then the movie gets really dumb." [Library]

Terminator Dark Fate (Rating 2/4) Full Review "It's not the worst of the franchise, but it's very far from the best." [Library]

Genisys is just the worst. Dark Fate feels like the writers say Tom Cruise's The Mummy and was inspired as it has some of the worst feelings in common with that. I tuned out at the plane crashing scene and never managed to reconnect. Spectacle can turn wrong, and it did there.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:12 PM (Ojki1)

24 Only saw Our Own, a 2007 Russian WWII movie on YouTube. English subtitles. 3 Russians, sniper peasant, Jew and a NKVD Major get captured but escape together. Very well acted I thought.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:12 PM (Cxk7w)

25 Winona Ryder as May, such a sweet, angelic-seeming monster!

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:12 PM (bDqIh)

26 Harvey Keitel does seem to get fun parts to play

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:13 PM (Cxk7w)

27 Scorsese's great. I like the way he puts his mom in the movie sometimes. And the way he uses music is rivaled only by Tarantino, imo.
I'm oddly fascinated by Taxi Driver. I try not to watch it too often.

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:13 PM (iTXRQ)

28 Scorsese is just a mobbed up version of Oliver Stone.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (03n3v)

29 I'm oddly fascinated by Taxi Driver. I try not to watch it too often.
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:13 PM (iTXRQ)

Read the real life story of the guy who played Easy Andy. Very interesting.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (2DOZq)

30 In case anyone is interested the NAACP Image Awards are on like 12 channels right now. Enjoy!

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (hlKab)

31 "Victim" (1961) Noirish, frank examination of the dilemmas of British homosexuals, back when limey ghey was illegal. Worth a watch.

"The United States vs Billie Holiday" (2021) Tries to make much of Anslinger's vendetta, but the title really ought to be "Billie Holiday vs Her Very Bad Habits." I'm a jazz fan, have heard probably most of her recordings, but didn't know she was that dissolute. The lead actress Andra Day apparently sang her own part, and does well all around. Rated B for Boobies!

"Cleopatra" (1934) Claudette Colbert is enough reason to watch this slightly tepid DeMille extravaganza. Two years earlier, she took an unforgettable pre-code milk bath in the more lascivious and better movie, "The Sign of The Cross."

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (qpX6U)

32 Scorcese has two gears, Masterpieces and good films.
He may have two bad films in his entire filmography, but only two.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (Q37aU)

33 Tried watching The Irishman, hubs and I got about 40 minutes or so in and decided we liked this movie better when it was called Goodfellas and stopped it and put in Goodfellas.

Neither of us could get past the ridiculous decision to cast "young" De Niro with current De Niro. He looked pathetic and sad, like the broads from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

Posted by: ravenmother at March 27, 2021 08:16 PM (U2d3g)

34 I saw Turbo Kid this week. Pretty good lighthearted apocalypse movie. Entertaining.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 27, 2021 08:16 PM (H5knJ)

35 I think it's interesting that Scorsese himself said that "Age of Innocence" was meant to be paired with "Gangs of New York". Age of Inn. focuses on the life of the upper classes in NYC in the 19th century, GoNY on the lower classes.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 08:16 PM (bxPTJ)

36 27 Scorsese's great. I like the way he puts his mom in the movie sometimes. And the way he uses music is rivaled only by Tarantino, imo.
I'm oddly fascinated by Taxi Driver. I try not to watch it too often.
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:13 PM (iTXRQ)

========

My favorite role of hers is in Casino. The mother of a small cog in the Kansas City mob, she listens in horror at the foul language coming out of his mouth. Her reactions are priceless.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:17 PM (LvTSG)

37 "Murder Among the Mormons" (2021) Three-episode documentary examines 1985 case of bombings in SLC. Bizarre bibliophilic crime with a highly skilled perp.

"One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich" (1970) The book's better.

"Nomadland" (2020) Poverty, but not destitution. Solitude, but not sadness. Rootlessness, but no regrets. These nomads have my respect.

"Judas and the Black Messiah" (2021) Fascinating story, well told. Search "Jimmy Palmer" for a list of reviews which evaluate the historical accuracy of the movie. Recommended.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at March 27, 2021 08:17 PM (qpX6U)

38 32 Scorcese has two gears, Masterpieces and good films.
He may have two bad films in his entire filmography, but only two.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:15 PM (Q37aU)

========

I'd say one: Boxcar Bertha. New York, New York is okay.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (LvTSG)

39 10 Hey there movie fags.

I'm watching the Special Edition extended play dance version of Alien3 for the first time, and I quite like it.
Once you put aside the fact that this is the sequel nobody wanted or asked for, and take it on its own merits, it's a good movie.
If you scroll down to "alternate versions" on the IMDB listing, it shows all the new inserts.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:04 PM (Dc2NZ)

Love how they had to do a "Special Edition" as there wasn't enough money (maybe anywhere) to get David Fincher to come back so they could slap "Director's Cut" on it.

Saw Psycho Goreman recently. It's OK, could have used either a total camp approach maybe or a mostly straight approach, but the lead actress being so super smarmy and clever just felt like a script wanting to draw attention to how smart some lines could be, even if they undercut the whole effort. So like Steven Moffat had been an inspiration, crossed with the South Park guys.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (Ojki1)

40 "The Marksman" (2021); "Honest Thief" (2020) No sir. I don't like it.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs, Guest-Hosted by Mr. Horse at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (qpX6U)

41 As with any moie series that gies on long enough, the big bad from the first film eventually becomes the good guy. Terminator Genisys made John Connor the bad guy.

I suspect Dark Fate is what;s to come with moie series and reboots: the hero is replaced with a plucky [insert Intersectional box-checking Mary Sue]. They freakin' kill off John Connor in the first few minutes -- not even worthy of being the bad guy -- and make a 'Dreamer' girl the hero. Gag!

And they're doing something similar with the Disney+ tv series based on National Treasure -- Nick Cage is replaced by 'Dreamer' boy.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (bDqIh)

42 Underrated mob movie.

State of Grace

Of course Gary Oldman is brilliant.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (2DOZq)

43 I have Silence on blu-ray but have not watched it yet. I have no strong opinions about Scorsese. I like some of his movies.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (H5knJ)

44 35 I think it's interesting that Scorsese himself said that "Age of Innocence" was meant to be paired with "Gangs of New York". Age of Inn. focuses on the life of the upper classes in NYC in the 19th century, GoNY on the lower classes.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 08:16 PM (bxPTJ)

=========

Also separated by the Civil War, but yeah, generally from the same era and viewing the two crusts of society in each film. The stuff with the Schermerhorns in Gangs of New York is almost a prequel to The Age of Innocence.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (LvTSG)

45 >My favorite role of hers is in Casino. ...
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

yes!

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (iTXRQ)

46 Saw a color(!) silent film the other night, "The Vikings". Loads of fun but not historically accurate in the least. The lead gal's costume looked like Art Deco Wagnerian, and Leif Erickson had a Lemmy mustache. But I loved it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (Dc2NZ)

47 I always liked Harvey Keitel in pretty much whatever he was in.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (Y20wq)

Yup....He was great in "Blue Collar" with Richard Pryor.

The ending pretty much sums up politics now and then.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (R/m4+)

48 The Color of Money is one of my favorites. Paul Newman and that little midget were great.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:20 PM (Y20wq)

49 39 Love how they had to do a "Special Edition" as there wasn't enough money (maybe anywhere) to get David Fincher to come back so they could slap "Director's Cut" on it.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (Ojki1)

==========

Yeah, no money in the world would bring him back to that. I think it's technically called an Editor's Cut.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:20 PM (LvTSG)

50 I found Silence the book, gripping but emotionally hard. I assume the movie would be the same

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at March 27, 2021 08:20 PM (lgiXo)

51 Thanks Skip, gonna check out "Svoi" (Our Own). Just watched the opening credits to get to the title, love the guy cleaning/reassembling the Mosin-Nagant.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (OTzUX)

52 44 35 I think it's interesting that Scorsese himself said that "Age of Innocence" was meant to be paired with "Gangs of New York". Age of Inn. focuses on the life of the upper classes in NYC in the 19th century, GoNY on the lower classes.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 08:16 PM (bxPTJ)

=========

Also separated by the Civil War, but yeah, generally from the same era and viewing the two crusts of society in each film. The stuff with the Schermerhorns in Gangs of New York is almost a prequel to The Age of Innocence.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:19 PM (LvTSG)
--

It was interesting that the grandmother, from a previous, looser era, was much more tolerant than her proper progeny.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (Dc2NZ)

53 I've become so used to not watching movies. How does one rekindle interest in a faded interest?

Posted by: Pete Bog at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (Jzz++)

54 53 I've become so used to not watching movies. How does one rekindle interest in a faded interest?
Posted by: Pete Bog at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (Jzz++)

========

Cocaine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (LvTSG)

55
Too bad Martin Scorsese is such a dick.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43)

I have to agree with this, because when he finally got his Oscar for The Departed, he thanked frickin' everyone in Hollywood... and never mentioned the Hong Kong guys who wrote and made the original film, Infernal Affairs. In fact, the only person who even mentioned them was William Monahan who won the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay.

That always stuck in my craw, especially since a lot of the scenes are directly copied from the original film.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 27, 2021 08:22 PM (n+4am)

56 Whoever said it was a stinker was FOS.

Posted by: Somewhere east of I-25

I loved that movie no matter the criticisms of it.

And I liked that the main character was the one pilot who managed to hit both the Akagi as well as the Hiryu on his two missions. Talk about hitting 1.000 for your team.

The man portrayed, Richard "Dick" Halsey Best was correctly shown to have never flown again after that battle, having had his lungs badly damaged by chemicals in his oxygen breathing apparatus.

Dick Best is a US Navy legend and was a badass, earning the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his two missions on June 4, 1942.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:22 PM (i4CI5)

57 TJM,, I read the content and Thank You. Well done.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:22 PM (Q/68A)

58 Had never seen "Emperor", saw it on UToob. Not bad. Pretty faithful to history as far as I could tell, though I'm sure there was much more to Fellers' investigation of Hirohito's role than they could present. Shocker (for me) at the end, the note about Kido being charged with war crimes, somehow I didn't know that. He was the key guy as far as knowing the full story, that's for sure.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (OTzUX)

59 Anybody seeing "The Ten Commandments" tomorrow?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (Dc2NZ)

60 57 TJM,, I read the content and Thank You. Well done.
Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:22 PM (Q/68A)

========

Thank you. That's very kind.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (LvTSG)

61 I just watch movies. Any analysis is merely of the plot.*

That said, "Casino" is one the few films that demand I watch it no matter what point I come across it. Love the skimming scenes.

* After "Toy Story 4," the TS world strikes me as bleak.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (J9wig)

62 41 As with any moie series that gies on long enough, the big bad from the first film eventually becomes the good guy. Terminator Genisys made John Connor the bad guy.

I suspect Dark Fate is what;s to come with moie series and reboots: the hero is replaced with a plucky [insert Intersectional box-checking Mary Sue]. They freakin' kill off John Connor in the first few minutes -- not even worthy of being the bad guy -- and make a 'Dreamer' girl the hero. Gag!

And they're doing something similar with the Disney+ tv series based on National Treasure -- Nick Cage is replaced by 'Dreamer' boy.
Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:18 PM (bDqIh)

Thing is killing John Connor was about the only shocking and interesting thing the franchise could do. Then they screwed it up by saying this uncharismatic moppet is just going to be the new him (but better of course) rather than really going of the rails and exploring what the death of one of 4 (him, mom, dad and Miles Dyson) now means to everything.

But that would be creative, and Whoreywood doesn't like to do that in general and hates trying that in cookie cutter franchises.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (Ojki1)

63 I've become so used to not watching movies. How does one rekindle interest in a faded interest?
Posted by: Pete Bog
---

*shrugs*

Posted by: SMH at March 27, 2021 08:24 PM (q1yRW)

64 Recently re-watched Bringing Out the Dead. Dazzling.

Scorsese always has great lighting in his films.

Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 08:25 PM (b6ZIV)

65 On all other nights we discuss any movie TJM wants to discuss. Why on this night are we not discussing "The Ten Commandments"?

Posted by: SFGoth at March 27, 2021 08:25 PM (KAi1n)

66 Scorsese believes in the auteur theory. It's HIS movie. Only exceeded by Kubrick.

Why many of his flicks have flashy tricks. Sometimes overdone.

That said, don't forget Thelma Schoonmaker, who's edited nearly all his films from the beginning.

Many of his flicks are about religion, and good v bad. He once wanted to be a priest. In his crime movies, everyone has a great time but then they don't. It's like the frickin Hays Code.

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 27, 2021 08:25 PM (ZHVt1)

67 I find it interesting that I have not seen a single one of any of the above movies.

I must have plebian tastes.

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (oHd/0)

68 Anybody seeing "The Ten Commandments" tomorrow?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:23 PM (Dc2NZ)

Yep. Yvonne DeCarlo.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (Y20wq)

69 Evenin' Horde.

Haven't seen many movies lately. Been mostly watching TV shows. The wife and I are currently watching The Irregulars - a show centered around Sherlock Holmes's homeless network.

Well, my wife is watching. I'm mostly in the room picking up bits and pieces. I don't think fans of Sherlock Holmes are going to enjoy it much (at least, I don't enjoy it). It suffers from two big issues. (1) The stories are all supernatural in nature; and (2) Holmes, Watson, Lestrade, and even Mrs. Hudson are basically assholes.

It seems they wanted to tell a particular type of story, and decided to do it as a "re-imagining" of Sherlock Holmes.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (CAJOC)

70 All Hail Eris, I watched it just now. I have Exodus Gods and Kings in and am dusting off The Passion of the Christ.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (Q/68A)

71 >> Next up: Training Day.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (i4CI5)

I just re-watched that a couple of weeks ago, I have seen it multiple times and love it every time.

Posted by: DJ at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (O3/K+)

72 I recently watched The Greatest Story Ever Told. I thought it was great, a sweeping epic like Lawrence Of Arabia. My only gripe was some of the Utah locations were a bit jarring. Jesus delivering his Sermon on the Mount at the Green River Overlook in Canyonlands NP? It just looked odd.

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (iTXRQ)

73 Watched "Becky" (2020) - It may be Kevin James' first serious role? It's about escaped prisoners capturing a family at their weekend home in the woods to retrieve something of value, and the psycho teen daughter is Jhn McClane-like in picking them off. It's dark.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (bDqIh)

74 Martin Scorsese loves The Ten Commandments. He pointed out the creeping death scene as genius.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:27 PM (Dc2NZ)

75 65 On all other nights we discuss any movie TJM wants to discuss. Why on this night are we not discussing "The Ten Commandments"?
Posted by: SFGoth at March 27, 2021 08:25 PM (KAi1n)

Hmmm,,, I have seen that one.

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:27 PM (oHd/0)

76 I am watching the Barrens on Tubi. It is about hikers being stalked by the Jersey Devil. So far, no Devil. Asshoes!

Posted by: Jmel at March 27, 2021 08:27 PM (bVhJi)

77 >Yep. Yvonne DeCarlo.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory

I see your Yvonne DeCarlo and raise you Anne Baxter.

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:27 PM (iTXRQ)

78 Yep. Yvonne DeCarlo.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (Y20wq)

I'm in it for Yul Brynner.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (Dc2NZ)

79 @53
That's easy, start with the films you liked as teenager or young adult.
You'll either get an appreciation for how good or how bad it was.
And from there you can start dipping your feet into films you had wanted to see but for whatever reason didn't.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (Q37aU)

80 I was disappointed in Midway, thought it was OK but the truly implausible good fortune that made it turn out the way it did didn't come through, the "miracle" part. There are just true and important stories that are much better than any fiction that should be told pretty straight, but that is almost unknown, probably egos plus limited understanding of those making decisions in the movie biz.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (OTzUX)

81 Cocaine.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:21 PM (LvTSG)

Well. I do enjoy Clapton, but I've never seen Scarface. Maybe I'll try that.

Posted by: Pete Bog at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (Jzz++)

82 "Taxi Driver" is great. "Mean Streets" is good. Everything else needs an editor.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (8HvsU)

83 Next up: Training Day.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (i4CI5)

I just re-watched that a couple of weeks ago, I have seen it multiple times and love it every time.
Posted by: DJ at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (O3/K+

I've got my own list of best movie scenes . Ethan Hawke being left with the gang bangers to be killed is on the list.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (2DOZq)

84 Hey Movie Thread! Hey TJM!

TJM, again, great subject for a movie thread. In my personal movie collection, the top three most-appearing directors are Hitchcock, Kubrick and Scorsese.

Also I very much enjoyed Silence as well, much more than I thought I would. And although I'm probably wrong, I took it as Martin's apology (or at least, an olive branch) to all the Christian believers who were annoyed and/or angered by The Last Temptation Of Christ.

In fact, outside of Scorsese, it's hard for me to think of another director who actually has so much respect for Christian and Catholic followers. Maybe Eastwood? (Spielberg also doesn't seem to spit on religious belief, but his vision of it is very non-specific.)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:29 PM (L2ZTs)

85 78 Yep. Yvonne DeCarlo.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (Y20wq)

I'm in it for Yul Brynner.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (Dc2NZ)

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:29 PM (oHd/0)

86 Taxi Driver" is great. "Mean Streets" is good. Everything else needs an editor.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (8HvsU)

I thought Color of Money was perfect.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:29 PM (2DOZq)

87 I haven't seen it but I can't get past Woody being Admiral Nimitz. I heard he did a good job though.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:03 PM (2DOZq)

Harrelson was a bit player in the movie. At least he isn't a freaking fonda.

Posted by: Somewhere east of I-25 at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (uxUoN)

88 I see your Yvonne DeCarlo and raise you Anne Baxter.
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:27 PM (iTXRQ)

A man of fine taste.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (Y20wq)

89 Critical Drinker has a new video up on the genius that is "Tremors".

I love that it is both an homage to, and fine example of, the 50's monster movie. And that small town Americans come together to outwit the critters. These days the prepper couple would be killed off in some humiliating fashion.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (Dc2NZ)

90 Sebastian, I didn't realize Color Of Money was a Scorsese flick *or* a sequel to The Hustler until when I actually watched it.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (L2ZTs)

91 rhomboid even if your just into weapons the first 10 minutes are awesome. But really liked the movie though wasn't sure where it was going after the beginning action.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (Cxk7w)

92 Also, I don't know if anyone here cares (and I don't blame you if you don't), but it turns out that Woody Allen's autobiography is available for purchase. Saw it at Amazon (spit; just had a really bad experience with Jeffy) last night.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (L2ZTs)

93 >>Critical Drinker has a new video up on the genius that is "Tremors".

Such a fun movie!

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (bDqIh)

94 Sharkman - where are you now? Rolling between KS and the coast?

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (OTzUX)

95 >> I've got my own list of best movie scenes . Ethan Hawke being left with the gang bangers to be killed is on the list.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:28 PM (2DOZq)

Oh yes. That and every minute of Denzel's performance. I really think this is him at his best. It's so good.

Posted by: DJ at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (O3/K+)

96 I need to add to my collection ASAP:

- What's Up, Doc?
- The Departed
- Training Day
- The Truman Show

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:32 PM (L2ZTs)

97 Actually, and ironically, I think Harrelson was a very, very good Nimitz. Captured him well, from what I have read of Nimitz's personality and style.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:32 PM (OTzUX)

98 Oops, plus I recently found out that Twilight Time's edition of The Hot Rock is *still* available!

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:33 PM (L2ZTs)

99 Goodfellas is best Godfather movie.
Galaxy Quest id best Star Trek movie.
Spaceballs is best Star Wars movie.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Skwerls Clog Dancing on My Roof at March 27, 2021 08:33 PM (4l77G)

100 Bravo TJM, very thorough.

I took Mrs. F to see Goodfellas when we were dating.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 27, 2021 08:33 PM (EZebt)

101 Watching through the Shout Factory Critters boxset. Amazing how a disappointing second film can kill one potential franchise, yet the studio that made it (New Line) was able to course correct with Nightmare on Elm Street with the 3rd one (though it then derailed again). Sometimes it is all just lightning in a bottle.

Oh, and any long running franchise that suddenly decides to go to space (Friday 13th, Critters, Leprechaun) should just burn the money instead.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:33 PM (Ojki1)

102 Another great flick of Scorsese's is an early one: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which spawned the sitcom Alice on CBS (and which was great for its first several seasons).

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:33 PM (L2ZTs)

103 >A man of fine taste.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory

I swear a time-traveling Scarlett Johansson is in the opening scene:

"What is it Bithia? What did you find?"

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:34 PM (iTXRQ)

104 Also, I don't know if anyone here cares (and I don't blame you if you don't), but it turns out that Woody Allen's autobiography is available for purchase. Saw it at Amazon (spit; just had a really bad experience with Jeffy) last night.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (L2ZTs)

Unfunny, creepy little man that makes shitty movies and bangs his step-daughter. The end.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:34 PM (Y20wq)

105 MrAspirin, understood.
He narrated the audiobook himself, btw.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:34 PM (L2ZTs)

106 Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:32 PM (OTzUX)

I was REALLY surprised that the movie came out of modern hollywerid...

And played it pretty straight.

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (oHd/0)

107 Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:32 PM (OTzU

That's what I heard. I have a hang up on casting that I need to let go. I haven't attempted to watch American Assassin , one of my all time favorite books, because of the casting.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (2DOZq)

108
anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (r4bSV)

109 HBO is currently premiering a self documentary, "Tina". It's pretty good so far IMO. They should keep repeating it, first day out.

Posted by: Farmer at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (55Qr6)

110 93 >>Critical Drinker has a new video up on the genius that is "Tremors".

Such a fun movie!
Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:31 PM (bDqIh)

There is a fantastic movie that I have avoided (but sometimes only narrowly as I almost bought the boxset this weekend) seeing any of the sequels.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (Ojki1)

111 89 Critical Drinker has a new video up on the genius that is "Tremors".

I love that it is both an homage to, and fine example of, the 50's monster movie. And that small town Americans come together to outwit the critters. These days the prepper couple would be killed off in some humiliating fashion.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (Dc2NZ)

-----------------------

I love that movie. The sequels are great, campy fun (and most of them center around Burt Gummer).

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (CAJOC)

112 Farmer, it's not about Tina Turner is it?

I would love to see a biopic of Tina Turner.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:36 PM (L2ZTs)

113 108
anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (r4bSV)

When is it so I can go turn more lights ON?

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:36 PM (oHd/0)

114 If appears the Virginia Beach shootings were minority gang shit, so we will never hear about dem again

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:36 PM (85Gof)

115
That's what I heard. I have a hang up on casting that I need to let go. I haven't attempted to watch American Assassin , one of my all time favorite books, because of the casting.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (2DOZq)

I watched for Michael Keaton.

Meh.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:37 PM (Ojki1)

116 anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (r4bSV)

*sets fire to a pile of tires*

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:37 PM (Y20wq)

117 Raisinettes!

Posted by: Joe Joe Biden at March 27, 2021 08:37 PM (b6ZIV)

118 MrAspirin, don't forget to light that fire with leaded gasoline!

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (L2ZTs)

119 That's what I heard. I have a hang up on casting that I need to let go. I haven't attempted to watch American Assassin , one of my all time favorite books, because of the casting.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:35 PM (2DOZq)

Nothing wrong with that at all. There are certain creatures that I just plain loathe and will not watch anything they are in. No matter what.

Posted by: Somewhere east of I-25 at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (uxUoN)

120 Denzel with the corrupt cop splayed on the hood of the car, explaining a charger and a detonator. I can watch Man on Fire 50 more times.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (Q/68A)

121 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that. There's murder, betrayal, drugs, more murder, etc. and if you're lucky, you don't wind up being beaten and buried alive in a corn field. IMO, these movies don't glorify anything.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (kTF2Z)

122 I watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and it sucks. In my opinion, a great movie should be eye popping, mind blowing, and heart tugging. Valerian is eye popping. Incredible visuals, many stunningly beautiful. Mind blowing? Nope. It's not credible, it's not logical, and not consistent. Stupidity does not mind blowing make. Heart tugging? Nope. The characters are not believable or likeable. (And the villain is not particularly hateable.) The plot is OK, I guess, but I, for one, am sick of white male humans are violent and dishonest. Those visuals must have cost a shit load of money but then the movie just sits there like a turd in the punch bowl.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (VVEnO)

123 Looked around to see if the 10 Commandments was on tonight but didn't see it on anywhere.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (Cxk7w)

124 Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:37 PM (Ojki1)

It wasn't his casting though I would have had JK Simmons play Stan Hurly.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (2DOZq)

125 Movie loving Horde, if you're in the mood for dark humor, check out "In Order of Disappearance."

The Skarsgard patriarch plays the lead. Criminals mess with his son...then its time for Scandi justice.

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (5YKb3)

126 MrAspirin, don't forget to light that fire with leaded gasoline!
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (L2ZTs)

Thanks!

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (Y20wq)

127 Unfunny, creepy little man that makes shitty movies and bangs his step-daughter. The end.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:34 PM (Y20wq)

Yup....I did like "Broadway Danny Rose".

It was so bad it was funny. Who was the fat wop singer?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (R/m4+)

128 "and never mentioned the Hong Kong guys who wrote and made the original film, Infernal Affairs."

No one ever recognized Thomas Keneally for writing the fact-based novel Schindler's List either. They shot the book to make the movie, even down to the Girl in the Red Dress.

Many of Keneally's other novels deal with ordinary people dropped into difficult moral challenges.

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (ZHVt1)

129 121 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that. There's murder, betrayal, drugs, more murder, etc. and if you're lucky, you don't wind up being beaten and buried alive in a corn field. IMO, these movies don't glorify anything.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (kTF2Z)

===========

It's because the first half or so is portrayed as so much fun. Gangsters and wannabes love the movies not because Henry Hill and Ace Rothestein barely escape the live with their lives, but because the life looks like so much fun. It's the same with Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street.

The fall is a key, important part of all three films, but for many it gets overwhelmed by the much more scandalous rise.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:40 PM (LvTSG)

130 My overarching theme for Scorsese films is that I don't much care. He's made some fine films, I don't argue that, I just can't be made to care about his films, because they're mostly about scumbags. I don't ever finish one of his films thinking "now there's a good ending," because there doesn't seem to be any point, other than to show scumbags doing scumbaggery things.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 08:40 PM (9qhLe)

131 123 Looked around to see if the 10 Commandments was on tonight but didn't see it on anywhere.
Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (Cxk7w)

========

It's coming to theaters from Fathom Events.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:40 PM (LvTSG)

132 When is earth hour?
I would like to haved a bon fire returnuing earth carbon back to planet.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:41 PM (Cxk7w)

133 I have avoided (but sometimes only narrowly as I almost bought the boxset this weekend) seeing any of the sequels.
Posted by: Bete

This is wisdom.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 08:41 PM (VVEnO)

134 TheJamesMadison, thank you for the great content.

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 27, 2021 08:41 PM (5YKb3)

135 120 Denzel with the corrupt cop splayed on the hood of the car, explaining a charger and a detonator. I can watch Man on Fire 50 more times.
Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (Q/68A)

Same. I love Man on Fire.

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (OX9vb)

136 134 TheJamesMadison, thank you for the great content.
Posted by: callsign claymore at March 27, 2021 08:41 PM (5YKb3)

=======

You're welcome.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (LvTSG)

137 122 I watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and it sucks. In my opinion, a great movie should be eye popping, mind blowing, and heart tugging. Valerian is eye popping. Incredible visuals, many stunningly beautiful. Mind blowing? Nope. It's not credible, it's not logical, and not consistent. Stupidity does not mind blowing make. Heart tugging? Nope. The characters are not believable or likeable. (And the villain is not particularly hateable.) The plot is OK, I guess, but I, for one, am sick of white male humans are violent and dishonest. Those visuals must have cost a shit load of money but then the movie just sits there like a turd in the punch bowl.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (VVEnO)

Add in neither lead has any charisma what so ever. Movie could have had puppets as the leads and the voice actors would have brought more screen presence.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (Ojki1)

138 >I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that.

Like The Godfather, those movies take you inside a world that has its own good guys and bad guys.

But no one gets out alive. Well, some, but you know what I mean.

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (iTXRQ)

139 anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:35

When is this nonsense? I'll remind those pissant lefties that I was a cub scout recycling newspapers, glass and cans back in the 60s. So they can keep their dictates to their clan because I'm ignoring them.

Posted by: Farmer at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (55Qr6)

140 anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??

***

Dumbasses gave up on Earth day, huh?

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 08:43 PM (bm04m)

141 >> I can watch Man on Fire 50 more times.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (Q/68A)

The Denzel greatest hits thread would be very, very long...

Posted by: DJ at March 27, 2021 08:43 PM (O3/K+)

142 It's coming to theaters from Fathom Events.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:40 PM (LvTSG)

Getting a 4K disc release as well.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:43 PM (Ojki1)

143 138 But no one gets out alive. Well, some, but you know what I mean.
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 08:42 PM (iTXRQ)

=========

If you were to forget that Goodfellas was based on a real guy's life, you could say that in the end Henry Hill dies and his life in suburbia is his own personal Hell.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:43 PM (LvTSG)

144 Just ordered The Hot Rock.
Something tells me the blu-ray will be worth something in a few years...

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (L2ZTs)

145 That was one heck of an article. It could easily be published in my opinion. Considering the elements you mentioned, I have two things to offer off the top of my head, but they are pretty standard . One was that in Goodfellas, Scorsese used the soundtrack not only to indicate the time period through the years, but also to show how frenetic Henry's life was becoming at the end. The music helped tell the story and advance the plot.

The other is the movie The Color of Money. In that film, Scorsese himself narrates the opening scene, and for sure it was not wasted information. As I recall, it then switches to Newman discussing whiskey, but at first it sounds like a narration as well until you see he is a character in a conversation with another.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (mP2It)

146 Yup....I did like "Broadway Danny Rose".

It was so bad it was funny. Who was the fat wop singer?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 27, 2021 08:39 PM (R/m4+)

Nicola Antonio Forte. Had to look it up. Died last year.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (Y20wq)

147 The Denzel greatest hits thread would be very, very long...

Posted by: DJ

Fallen.

Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (b6ZIV)

148 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that. There's murder, betrayal, drugs, more murder, etc. and if you're lucky, you don't wind up being beaten and buried alive in a corn field. IMO, these movies don't glorify anything.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:38 PM (kTF2Z)

***

I remember liking A Bronx Tale for that reason. I'm reluctant to watch it again because I remember enjoying it immensely. I'd rather keep that memory.

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (bm04m)

149
My Blue Heaven is a mob movie with Steve Martin, which was sorta funny

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (r4bSV)

150 Discovered Hulk Hogan's Suburban Commando is not available on Blu Ray. Maybe if the RLM guys roast it Shout Factory will release it.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (Ojki1)

151 145 That was one heck of an article. It could easily be published in my opinion. Considering the elements you mentioned, I have two things to offer off the top of my head, but they are pretty standard . One was that in Goodfellas, Scorsese used the soundtrack not only to indicate the time period through the years, but also to show how frenetic Henry's life was becoming at the end. The music helped tell the story and advance the plot.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (mP2It)

==========

Thanks, and I pulled a bit from this video a little bit about needle drops in movies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O8DHdJ8U6E

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (LvTSG)

152 >>Add in neither lead has any charisma what so ever. Movie could have had puppets as the leads and the voice actors would have brought more screen presence.

Ugh, yes. They both sem to be bored, snotty early twenty-somethings yet they're supposed to be the best soldiers, bossing around everyone else including Clive Owens' character. Does not work.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:46 PM (bDqIh)

153 @53 --

Start with porn.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 08:46 PM (J9wig)

154 Been meaning to share this:

For everyone who thought Susanna Hoffs (of the Bangles) was pretty hot back in the day... turns out she made at least one movie, and you'll at least enjoy the cover art. :-)

The Allnighter

https://tinyurl.com/cx64cz6w

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:46 PM (L2ZTs)

155 The fall is a key, important part of all three films, but for many it gets overwhelmed by the much more scandalous rise.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:40 PM (LvTSG)

--------

Yeah, I get that, but look at Vito Corleone. There wasn't anything fun about his life. His oldest was gunned down. He was shot and almost died. His youngest was exiled to Sicily where he saw his new wife blown sky high. Vito himself died alone in a backyard garden. IMO, The Godfather is a dark movie. It's also one of my all time favorites.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:46 PM (kTF2Z)

156 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and
Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that. There's murder,
betrayal, drugs, more murder, etc. and if you're lucky, you don't wind
up being beaten and buried alive in a corn field. IMO, these movies
don't glorify anything.

Tell them to watch "The Long Good Friday" about an English mob that blunders itself into a war with the IRA. One of the best gangster movies ever made that nobody's ever heard of.

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (hlKab)

157 133 I have avoided (but sometimes only narrowly as I almost bought the boxset this weekend) seeing any of the sequels.
Posted by: Bete

This is wisdom.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 08:41 PM (VVEnO)

--------------------

Disagree. Granted the sequels aren't as good as the original, but they are still fun. My personal favorite is "Tremors: The Legend Begins"

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (CAJOC)

158 "I always liked Harvey Keitel in pretty much whatever he was in."
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (Y20wq)

I'm just the opposite, I tend to avoid any movie he's in. Which isn't good when it comes to Scorsese movies. He plays the same character since 1968 apparently and he never comes off as a believable human.

Posted by: Barrett & Kavanaugh at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (4thlk)

159 121 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob.

For me, it's something like that, but more that the Mob glorifies the Mob. And it feeeels like (yeah, I know) people who love Mob movies are impressed with the Mob, same as those who are impressed with biker gangs, and even the tv series Justified.

Like BurtTC, all I can see are scumbags who thrive on harming others, and it's hard for me to appreciate the stories and dynamics.

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (OX9vb)

160 My Blue Heaven is a mob movie with Steve Martin, which was sorta funny
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (r4bSV)

Love that movie LOL

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (85Gof)

161 149
My Blue Heaven is a mob movie with Steve Martin, which was sorta funny
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (r4bSV)

==========

Written by Nicholas Pileggi's wife after she overheard a bunch of the conversations her husband had with the real life Henry Hill over the phone for his book Wise Guys, which became Goodfellas.

They were released a month apart.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (LvTSG)

162 Farmer, it's not about Tina Turner is it?

I would love to see a biopic of Tina Turner.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:36

Yes, the one and only. I never was a huge fan or anything, but looking back she was f'ing AMAZING. You wil like this show as she did herself, think it finished last year. Good thing too, isn't she is the hospital in bad shape?

Posted by: Farmer at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (55Qr6)

163 Nicola Antonio Forte. Had to look it up. Died last year.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:44 PM (Y20wq)

Thanks Mr Aspirin!

He always reminded me of Jerry Vale.

But Jerry Vale could sing.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (R/m4+)

164 NGU - on the OT/VA Beach festivities, looking at the police statement this morning, I snarked that it looked like it was spring break for one of the Mexican cartels - 3 shooting incidents in a brief period, blocks apart. I'm assuming I can't inquire as to any pattern to the ethnicity of the gangs involved, and further assume I don't need to? Gun control surely would have averted all this.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (OTzUX)

165 Off SCOTUS socks.

Posted by: lowandslow at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (4thlk)

166 I don't really like mob movies but not because of the killings , etc but because I hate bullies . The Godfather didn't really emphasize that aspect which is why I didn't hate it. In fact, they made The Godfather an anti bully in many ways. ( so not real life)

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (2DOZq)

167 150 Discovered Hulk Hogan's Suburban Commando is not available on Blu Ray. Maybe if the RLM guys roast it Shout Factory will release it.
Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (Ojki1)

------------------------

I wonder how many movies have enjoyed a revival because RLM ripped them to shreds.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (CAJOC)

168 155 Yeah, I get that, but look at Vito Corleone. There wasn't anything fun about his life. His oldest was gunned down. He was shot and almost died. His youngest was exiled to Sicily where he saw his new wife blown sky high. Vito himself died alone in a backyard garden. IMO, The Godfather is a dark movie. It's also one of my all time favorites.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:46 PM (kTF2Z)

=========

The Godfather is about the fall of Michael Corleone and his inability to walk away from the mob life at several stages of his young adult life. By the end of Part II, he's become a monster, a worse man than his father ever was.

Just because the movie doesn't end in Michael's blood doesn't mean that it doesn't condemn him.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (LvTSG)

169 I've started watching the Zack Snieder cut of Justice League.

First off, it is better, but so sloooooow. We are getting the backstory that got cut out of the theatrical release. Which is good. Some things are explained that made little sense in the previous movie. Though having a timer on a bomb that you just intend to detonate and not escape from is still in this one.

But so sloooow. I'm one hour in and it's four hours long, and did I mention that it is so slooow.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (yQpMk)

170 Also, for anyone who loves John Hughes but doesn't want to pay a ton for his flicks:

John Hughes 5-Movie Collection - $19.99

https://tinyurl.com/dhmt6jwj

(contains:
- Planes Trains and Automobiles
- Pretty In Pink
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
- She's Having A Baby
- Some Kind Of Wonderful)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (L2ZTs)

171 Also why I liked State of Grace.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (2DOZq)

172 >>The Denzel greatest hits thread would be very, very long.

He's good in everything, so much on-screen charisma.

(Also likely helps that he keeps his personal life and politics to himself).

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (bDqIh)

173 NGU - on the OT/VA Beach festivities, looking at the police statement this morning, I snarked that it looked like it was spring break for one of the Mexican cartels - 3 shooting incidents in a brief period, blocks apart. I'm assuming I can't inquire as to any pattern to the ethnicity of the gangs involved, and further assume I don't need to? Gun control surely would have averted all this.
Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (OTzUX)

They have published the names of the suspects and one of the fatalities, and it is what you would expect

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (85Gof)

174 Farmer, I'll check that out thanks!

I hope Tina's doing okay. If anyone deserves to live to 100, it's her. She is/was amazing, yes!

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:50 PM (L2ZTs)

175 121 I've seen people say that they don't like Mob movies like Goodfellas and Casino because it glorifies the Mob. I don't get that. There's murder, betrayal, drugs, more murder, etc. and if you're lucky, you don't wind up being beaten and buried alive in a corn field. IMO, these movies don't glorify anything.
Posted by: Duke Lowell

The same idiots think "Trainspotting" glorifies heroin use. Maybe early on it did (maybe) but after one particularly awful scene, it turned on a dime and got real dark real fast. Hard movie to watch.

Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 08:50 PM (QTx2x)

176 167 150 Discovered Hulk Hogan's Suburban Commando is not available on Blu Ray. Maybe if the RLM guys roast it Shout Factory will release it.
Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:45 PM (Ojki1)

------------------------

I wonder how many movies have enjoyed a revival because RLM ripped them to shreds.
Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:48 PM (CAJOC)

One wonders if they couldn't have their own sub label with one of these companies to promote/trash them MST3K style.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:50 PM (Ojki1)

177 We must got to the mattresses, Little Fredo.

Posted by: Sonny Coronaleon at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (W4eKo)

178 I find it interesting that I have not seen a single one of any of the above movies.

I must have plebian tastes.

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 27, 2021 08:26 PM (oHd/0)

I don't see that many movies and certainly have seen very few over the last decade or so. But I have probably seen more movies by Scorsese than any other director.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (mP2It)

179 Rapper Lil Nas X has unveiled "Satan Shoes," which contain human blood, and will be limited to 666 pairs that are individually numbered. The sneakers start at $1,018, and are a collaboration with Nike.
---

Come soon, Jesus.

Posted by: SMH at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (q1yRW)

180 TCM had "Man in the Wilderness" (1971) on a while back. A fur trapper on an expedition in the Pacific Northwest in the 1820's is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his party. He slowly recuperates and drags his broken body back through Indian country to seek revenge. Sound familiar? It's based on the same incident as "The Revenant".

They're both very good films. This one is the more thoughtful and moody. Richard Harris's character, who had a harsh childhood with stifling religious schooling, starts out filled with anger but slowly comes to see his place in the world at large and gets redemption of a sort.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (Dc2NZ)

181 Now review the 1986 ABC TV movie "The Right Of The People" written and directed by Jeff Bloom.

Posted by: The 9th Circuit at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (wP4fA)

182 Farmer, it's not about Tina Turner is it?

I would love to see a biopic of Tina Turner.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:36

What's Love Got to Do with It

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (2DOZq)

183 Just because the movie doesn't end in Michael's blood doesn't mean that it doesn't condemn him.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (LvTSG)

---------

True and thank you for not mentioning the third movie which doesn't exist.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (kTF2Z)

184 G'rump, yup.

I believe Snyder's cut is something like *4 hours* long.
What, is he channeling Michael Cimino?

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (L2ZTs)

185 For me, it's something like that, but more that the Mob glorifies the Mob. And it feeeels like (yeah, I know) people who love Mob movies are impressed with the Mob, same as those who are impressed with biker gangs, and even the tv series Justified.

Like BurtTC, all I can see are scumbags who thrive on harming others, and it's hard for me to appreciate the stories and dynamics.
Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (OX9vb)

Even if you take the flawed character, and you put him or her through a series of events that have consequences of one sort or another, I can accept that, but I need some reason to want to care. Most of these Scorsese films, I just don't.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (9qhLe)

186 Sebastian, whoops! Thanks. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (L2ZTs)

187 Okay, check out this young lady on the upright bass:

https://youtu.be/Zrmp7j5dcl4

That's the Living Dead playing with Danny B. Harvey on "Living Dead Boogie".

Can't go wrong with an upright bass.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (i4CI5)

188
They have published the names of the suspects and one of the fatalities, and it is what you would expect
Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (85Gof)

***

Tragic victims of white supremacy.

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (bm04m)

189 184 G'rump, yup.

I believe Snyder's cut is something like *4 hours* long.
What, is he channeling Michael Cimino?
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (L2ZTs)

=========

He had to fully establish three new heroes from scratch while telling a large story with world ending implications.

He uses the time well enough in doing that.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:52 PM (LvTSG)

190 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (Dc2NZ)

I thought MITW was much better.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:53 PM (2DOZq)

191 The Godfather is about the fall of Michael Corleone and his inability to walk away from the mob life at several stages of his young adult life. By the end of Part II, he's become a monster, a worse man than his father ever was.

Just because the movie doesn't end in Michael's blood doesn't mean that it doesn't condemn him.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (LvTSG)

Yeah, the Godfather films are such that if you expect a violent end for everyone you will be disappointed but if you watch as the characters live they all pretty much descend into their own personal hell on Earth, whether realizing it or not. godfather 3 is Michael trying to find redemption (on his terms) and discovering it will not happen.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (Ojki1)

192 Yup, Snyder's cut runs 242 minutes
Good grief. Me thinks it shoulda been released as a 3-part miniseries instead.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (L2ZTs)

193 89 Critical Drinker has a new video up on the genius that is "Tremors".

I love that it is both an homage to, and fine example of, the 50's monster movie. And that small town Americans come together to outwit the critters. These days the prepper couple would be killed off in some humiliating fashion.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:30 PM (Dc2NZ)

I follow the Drinker and saw that review. That is a movie I went into thinking that I wouldn't like it, but wound up loving it. The chemistry between Mr. Bacon and Mr. Ward is insane.

It is very difficult to combine comedic elements into a horror movie but this does and it is GENIUS.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (49Dnm)

194 zomg now Amaxon prime has a stoopid "we stand against Asian hate" message on its home screen

Posted by: vmom super straight stabby stabber stabalot at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (GBZnB)

195 121 but yet the movies do glorify the mob. Even if you're only rich and at the top for a while, it looks good to some who might never get there at all. Plus you don't need a lot of education.

Posted by: CN at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (ONvIw)

196 I would love to see a biopic of Tina Turner.

-
Mrs. Wrecks is on spring break and likes to watch the morning "news" shows. I think it was on The Today Show they had a segment on a new Tina biopic.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (VVEnO)

197 The Godfather and Goodfellas are two ends of the same coin. They are talking about the highest level of the mob, and really the lowest. Mean Streets was lower I guess but I haven't seen it in a while. There is no question which movie was a more accurate portrayal. Well i wont go that far, but really The Godfather seems more cinematic if you will.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (mP2It)

198 The Allnighter, never heard of that one

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (Cxk7w)

199 179 Rapper Lil Nas X has unveiled "Satan Shoes," which contain human blood, and will be limited to 666 pairs that are individually numbered. The sneakers start at $1,018, and are a collaboration with Nike.
---

Come soon, Jesus.
Posted by: SMH at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (q1yRW)

--------------------

What? Didn't want to sell them for $666? Apparently, commitment to the bit only goes so far.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:55 PM (CAJOC)

200 Come soon, Jesus.
Posted by: SMH at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (q1yRW)

Jesus is JUST all right.

Posted by: Doobie Brothers at March 27, 2021 08:55 PM (49Dnm)

201 TJM, fair enough.

Thinking he could have done what I said above, made a 3-part miniseries; OR he could have gone the route of Francis Ford Coppola with The Godfather, and made two fantastic theatrical films.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:55 PM (L2ZTs)

202 IMO, these movies don't glorify anything.
Posted by: Duke Lowell
------
The same idiots think "Trainspotting" glorifies heroin use. Maybe early on it did (maybe) but after one particularly awful scene, it turned on a dime and got real dark real fast. Hard movie to watch.
Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 08:50 PM (QTx2x)

You guys are setting up a strawman. How many people who don't like these films, or won't watch them, say it's about "glorifying" anything? I'm just not interested in the subject matter, I don't care if it's being glorified or not.

I've seen enough heroin addiction in real life. A movie about heroin addicts isn't going to be hard for me to watch, because I'm just not going to watch it. Period.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 08:55 PM (9qhLe)

203 you look at Goodfellas, and of the main characters, only one was an actual made mob member, Paulie. There were other made guys in the film, but they were not the main characters.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:56 PM (mP2It)

204 He had to fully establish three new heroes from scratch while telling a large story with world ending implications.

They completely cut out the Darkseid character in the first release, and he's the Big Bad Thanos character. Steppenwolf is much more interesting now as the disgraced vassal of Darkseid trying to redeem himself.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 08:56 PM (yQpMk)

205 And why $1018?

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 08:56 PM (Y20wq)

206 NGU yep I checked out a news story and the names didn't surprise, nor the idiotic (though common, in terms of young men being idiots around young women) behavior. Pathetic.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:56 PM (OTzUX)

207 179 Rapper Lil Nas X has unveiled "Satan Shoes," which contain human blood, and will be limited to 666 pairs that are individually numbered. The sneakers start at $1,018, and are a collaboration with Nike.
---

Come soon, Jesus.
Posted by: SMH at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (q1yRW)

KISS made a comic once where they mixed some of the band members blood into the printer ink. One would think screams of "Bio Hazard!" would prevent such things today.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:56 PM (Ojki1)

208 197 The Godfather and Goodfellas are two ends of the same coin. They are talking about the highest level of the mob, and really the lowest. Mean Streets was lower I guess but I haven't seen it in a while. There is no question which movie was a more accurate portrayal. Well i wont go that far, but really The Godfather seems more cinematic if you will.
Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (mP2It)

=========

Mean Streets isn't a mob movie. The mob is in it. Charlie, Harvey Keitel's character, is a very low level cog in the mob machine, but it's not about his life in the mob. It's about a young man choosing how to live with three major external pressures on him at the same time (the Church, his uncle [the mob], and his friends). It's much closer to Fellini's I Vitelloni than any mob movie.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (LvTSG)

209 zomg now Amaxon prime has a stoopid "we stand against Asian hate" message on its home screen

**

It's fascinating in a way. Same as Epstein not killing himself and putting a decrepit alzheimers patient in office as president, the Asian Hate is entirely an op because of the Chinese connection to Democrats and the election.

They hate us and they want to do everything they can to rub our noses in the poop *they* left on the rug.

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (bm04m)

210 Don't like mob movies but love prison movies. Go figure.

Cool Hand Luke
Brubaker
An Innocent Man
Papillon
Shawshank Redemption

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (2DOZq)

211 Regardless of subject, here is what I require. Take me away from my shitty existence for a while. Take me to a world which I do not inhabit. That can be the Mob, ancient Aztecs, or medieval Scotland. Don't try to teach me a lesson or raise my awareness. Just tell me a story.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (kTF2Z)

212

Where's Your Messiah Now?

https://youtu.be/D0Qcv3YV4aA

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (63Dwl)

213 Mob movies like the Godfather and Goodfellas are at least movies that don't preach a left wing ideology to me.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (85Gof)

214 Of those Scorsese movies, the one I have seen, and the one I shockingly enjoyed, is Casino.

I say that because mob movies aren't my thing. The odds that I see Goodfellas is VERY low. But, my best friend, my brother of another mother, now in the DFW area, saw it and then put the thing on a loop for weeks on end at his place! I saw it there and enjoyed it, even though I haven't seen it since (this must have been about 2003 or so).

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (49Dnm)

215 You look at Goodfellas, and of the main characters, only one was an
actual made mob member, Paulie. There were other made guys in the film,
but they were not the main characters.

Billy Batts was a made guy. Not that it did him any good.

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (hlKab)

216 194 zomg now Amaxon prime has a stoopid "we stand against Asian hate" message on its home screen
Posted by: vmom super straight stabby stabber stabalot at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (GBZnB)

--------------------------

I've been casually looking for another job, and use Indeed as my goto job board. They've got one of those banners on their main page, too.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (CAJOC)

217 Forgot

Escape from Alcatraz

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (2DOZq)

218 If what I've read is correct, and I have zero interest in entertainers, Denzel is a scary iconoclast in the business. Doesn't live in LA, normal family life. Best of all, if true, the story he wrote a check for $500K (or more?) on the spot for a donation after touring a Fisher House near a military hospital.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (OTzUX)

219 192 Yup, Snyder's cut runs 242 minutes
Good grief. Me thinks it shoulda been released as a 3-part miniseries instead.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (L2ZTs)

They do have part separated into chapters, so you are free to do that with the film and not feel you have to go all 4 hours at once.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (Ojki1)

220 201 TJM, fair enough.

Thinking he could have done what I said above, made a 3-part miniseries; OR he could have gone the route of Francis Ford Coppola with The Godfather, and made two fantastic theatrical films.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:55 PM (L2ZTs)

==========

I've read about the negotiations that were going on before Snyder left the project in 2016/17. The studio was demanding a cut no longer than two hours and twenty minutes, which Snyder delivered and everyone hated. With the suicide of his daughter, he just didn't have the fight in him anymore so he left (letting Whedon take over).

One of the ideas floated was a two-parter. I think Snyder was aiming for a 3 hour cut. Warner Brothers ultimately got a 2 hour cut from Whedon.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (LvTSG)

221 Regardless of subject, here is what I require. Take me away from my shitty existence for a while. Take me to a world which I do not inhabit. That can be the Mob, ancient Aztecs, or medieval Scotland. Don't try to teach me a lesson or raise my awareness. Just tell me a story.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (kTF2Z)

Bingo

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (85Gof)

222 >>Okay, check out this young lady on the upright bass:

Tiny skirt!
See: the bassist for Luna, Britta Phillips.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (bDqIh)

223 210 Don't like mob movies but love prison movies. Go figure.
--

I like gladiator movies!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:59 PM (Dc2NZ)

224 Yup, Snyder's cut runs 242 minutes
Good grief. Me thinks it shoulda been released as a 3-part miniseries instead.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:54 PM (L2ZTs)

If it was being started today, it would probably be a six part (at minimum) miniseries.

Why would anyone with a big concept movie subject themselves to studio hackery these days.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 08:59 PM (9qhLe)

225 I like gladiator movies!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:59 PM (Dc2NZ)

Do you prefer oysters or snails?

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:00 PM (yQpMk)

226 My golfing buddy had a couple of parts in Casino. He played a FBI agent and part of a couple having dinner.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:00 PM (2DOZq)

227 The Godfather is about the fall of Michael Corleone and his inability to
walk away from the mob life at several stages of his young adult life.
By the end of Part II, he's become a monster, a worse man than his
father ever was.

Just because the movie doesn't end in Michael's blood doesn't mean that it doesn't condemn him.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:49 PM (LvTSG)

Do they ever show Michael becoming a made mafia member? I think he went from a civilian to the head of a major family without actually joining officially. I could be wrong about that but I don't recall the scene where he does so. I haven't seen Godfather 2 in a long time, so maybe it was in there. And it is interesting that the "family" is an actual family. That is very different than the mob structure that I have heard about through other films.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:00 PM (mP2It)

228 >> Of those Scorsese movies, the one I have seen, and the one I shockingly enjoyed, is Casino.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33

After watching Casino, (as I do with every movie supposedly based on real events) I checked how true it was, and it was very close to reality, even the craziest parts. Very interesting.

Posted by: DJ at March 27, 2021 09:01 PM (O3/K+)

229

attica? that was a prison movie

last castle is also a prison movie

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:01 PM (r4bSV)

230 156: I don't think the mob is glorified in film. That's not my objection to mob movies (though I have heard that and for the reasons you outlined that's just silly). To me, they are just uninteresting. I've just found nothing compelling about watching the underworld in action.

(Although oddly enough, I enjoyed Casino, and one of my top 5 of all time is Pupl Fiction.)

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:01 PM (49Dnm)

231 223 210 Don't like mob movies but love prison movies. Go figure.
--

I like gladiator movies!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 08:59 PM (Dc2NZ)

---------------------

How *you* doin'?

Posted by: Captain Oveur at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (CAJOC)

232 Alien3 is a prison movie, in a sense. A prison with a killer xenomorph.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (Dc2NZ)

233 General Tso has no home here! Wait, wut? *hic*

Posted by: Suburban Wine Moms at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (W4eKo)

234 TJM, understood and I'm not angry with Snyder. I'm glad he got his chance to shine in the end. The fact that Whedon has since been exposed as a screaming leftist hypocrite is delicious, delicious gravy as well.

Re Casino: the way Joe Pesci ends up on that film, is one of the most violent (and kind of disturbing) things I've ever seen in any film. It's literally right out of A Clockwork Orange.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (L2ZTs)

235 Nice picture of Robbie. He sure has made a lot of money off Scorcese...starting with The Last Waltz.

Posted by: Garth Hudson at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (3dehA)

236 Regardless of subject, here is what I require. Take
me away from my shitty existence for a while. Take me to a world which I
do not inhabit. That can be the Mob, ancient Aztecs, or medieval
Scotland. Don't try to teach me a lesson or raise my awareness. Just
tell me a story.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 08:57 PM (kTF2Z)

Bingo

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (85Gof)

and that is exactly what Goodfellas did in a way very few films do. It did not glorify anything in my opinion. What it did was give you insight into a different world, a world far from our normal existence, at least I hope that is the case for everyone.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (mP2It)

237 227 Do they ever show Michael becoming a made mafia member? I think he went from a civilian to the head of a major family without actually joining officially. I could be wrong about that but I don't recall the scene where he does so. I haven't seen Godfather 2 in a long time, so maybe it was in there. And it is interesting that the "family" is an actual family. That is very different than the mob structure that I have heard about through other films.
Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:00 PM (mP2It)

==========

Set in the 40s, there doesn't seem to be that kind of established process. He's the don's son, and being in the right place at the right time with the right ideas, he simply takes control.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (LvTSG)

238 Don't like mob movies but love prison movies. Go figure.
--

I like gladiator movies!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread)

Your name's not Joey !

Posted by: JT at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (arJlL)

239 Lockout is also a prison movie, IN SPACE!

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (yQpMk)

240 To TJM, who yet again put together another genius thread that makes me think: (I'll be reading it deep into the night) have you forgotten that there are ONLY two Terminator movies?

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (49Dnm)

241 Do they ever show Michael becoming a made mafia member? I think he went from a civilian to the head of a major family without actually joining officially. I could be wrong about that but I don't recall the scene where he does so. I haven't seen Godfather 2 in a long time, so maybe it was in there. And it is interesting that the "family" is an actual family. That is very different than the mob structure that I have heard about through other films.
Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:00 PM (mP2It)

I thought he proved himself when he killed the mob boss and his cop friend in the Italian restaurant, and had to go hide out in Italy for a while.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (bxPTJ)

242 In case anyone is interested the NAACP Image Awards are on like 12 channels right now. Enjoy!

Posted by: Shooter McGavin

Are they giving an award to the 13 and 15 year old black girls who murdered the 66 year old UberEats driver in DC on Tuesday?

I mean, those girls definitely fit the image the NAACP now seems to think is great for black kids. One of them was screaming that she wanted her phone out of the dead guy's car as he was expiring on the sidewalk right in front of her.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (i4CI5)

243 240 To TJM, who yet again put together another genius thread that makes me think: (I'll be reading it deep into the night) have you forgotten that there are ONLY two Terminator movies?
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (49Dnm)

=========

3. Can't forget the best of them, Rise of the Machines.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (LvTSG)

244 One of the ideas floated was a two-parter. I think Snyder was aiming for a 3 hour cut. Warner Brothers ultimately got a 2 hour cut from Whedon.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (LvTSG)

Everyone seems to be saying the same thing now. It's understandable the studio wanted a shorter version, what's not understandable is giving it to Whedon and letting him put in stupid crep that REPLACED Snyder material that made more sense in the context of the overall story.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (9qhLe)

245 Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (L2ZT

Right out of real life actually.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (2DOZq)

246 I've read about the negotiations that were going on before Snyder left the project in 2016/17. The studio was demanding a cut no longer than two hours and twenty minutes, which Snyder delivered and everyone hated. With the suicide of his daughter, he just didn't have the fight in him anymore so he left (letting Whedon take over).

One of the ideas floated was a two-parter. I think Snyder was aiming for a 3 hour cut. Warner Brothers ultimately got a 2 hour cut from Whedon.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (LvTSG)

The studio is a bunch of idiots. "We want our own Avengers!" Then you have to build it. And accept some of your character's films may not make a billion dollars- such as the first 2 Thor movies- but that is how you make a character known without having to make a movie 4 hours long to intro him and a couple others. And they seem to have no control over Paterson's choice not to work out for The Batman, cause any scrawny person could swing from roof tops naturally.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (Ojki1)

247 I thought he proved himself when he killed the mob boss and his cop friend in the Italian restaurant, and had to go hide out in Italy for a while.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (bxPTJ)

Made his bones

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (85Gof)

248 Sebastian, yup.

If you ever see a cornfield by the road in the middle of the desert... *do not stop* to see what's going on. Ever. :-P

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (L2ZTs)

249 Re: multi part series

Did streaming kill made-for-TV movies? I don't watch much TV anymore, but I remember up until the mid 2000s or so that you'd have some special TV movie events occasionally. Are those still happening or are they used as a way for the studios to try to get you to sign up for a $10/month streaming service now instead?

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (bm04m)

250 The Hill is a prisoner movie.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (Cxk7w)

251 "I think he went from a civilian to the head of a major family without actually joining officially."

The MOB is subject to the UCMJ?

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (49Dnm)

252 244 One of the ideas floated was a two-parter. I think Snyder was aiming for a 3 hour cut. Warner Brothers ultimately got a 2 hour cut from Whedon.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (LvTSG)

Everyone seems to be saying the same thing now. It's understandable the studio wanted a shorter version, what's not understandable is giving it to Whedon and letting him put in stupid crep that REPLACED Snyder material that made more sense in the context of the overall story.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (9qhLe)

========

There was no 2 hour cut of this movie that would work that well. There's just way too much story that needs to be told for the movie to work without it.

I've heard that WB execs were pushing for a 2 hour cut because of some bonus situation for them.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (LvTSG)

253 Even if you're only rich and at the top for a while, it looks good to some who might never get there at all.

-
John Dullinger's career: 13 months

Bonnie and Clyde's carrer: 25 months

At least the James/Younger gang had some staying power.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 09:06 PM (VVEnO)

254 239 Lockout is also a prison movie, IN SPACE!
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:03 PM (yQpMk)

Every three or four months, my husband wants to watch that again, and somehow, we can never remember the name of it. We wrack our brains for weeks--"what is the name of that, dammit?"

Finally, once we remembered, we had to write it down. It's a bitch getting old.

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 09:06 PM (OX9vb)

255 The MOB is subject to the UCMJ?
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (49Dnm)

The DOD made them an offer they can't refuse

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 09:06 PM (85Gof)

256 Re Casino: the way Joe Pesci ends up on that film, is one of the most violent (and kind of disturbing) things I've ever seen in any film. It's literally right out of A Clockwork Orange.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:02 PM (L2ZTs)

Yep. Has to watch his brother get beat to death, too.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 09:06 PM (Y20wq)

257 Re The Godfather, as I understand it, Michael is proving himself all the way through the film.

I still love it but IMHO Michael seems a little too perfect as a mafioso, plus if you add in Part II, Fredo is a little bit too much of an incompetent bumbler a la Frank Burns. I would have tried to make both character a little more three-dimensional, but in fairness, the films are already as good as they could possibly ever bee.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:06 PM (L2ZTs)

258 250 The Hill is a prisoner movie.
Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 09:05 PM (Cxk7w)

And a great one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (Dc2NZ)

259 234:Re Casino: the way Joe Pesci ends up on that film, is one of the most violent (and kind of disturbing) things I've ever seen in any film.

And in real life they did indeed find the Santoro (Spilotro actually) brothers in a hole in the ground on a farm. They were beaten to death.

Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (QTx2x)

260 Finally, once we remembered, we had to write it down. It's a bitch getting old.

***

You're looking at it the wrong way.

You can read all your favorite books and watch tons of movies over and over again now.

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (bm04m)

261 my favorite line from My Blue Heaven: "Those shoes are TRAGIC!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (bxPTJ)

262 I haven't seen The Irishman. Is it any good? The only scene I saw of it was DeNiro curb stomping some guy like he was afraid he was gonna break a hip. That didn't look promising.

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (hlKab)

263 The remake of the Magnificent Seven with Denzel as the leader is way better if you're familiar with Bass Reeves.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (2DOZq)

264 >Re Casino: the way Joe Pesci ends up on that film, is one of the most violent (and kind of disturbing) things I've ever seen in any film.

web search Anthony Spilotro, the real life wiseguy Pesci's character is based on

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (iTXRQ)

265 I've downloaded Platform which appears to be some kind of prison movie, but I haven't watched it yet.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (yQpMk)

266 3. Can't forget the best of them, Rise of the Machines.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (LvTSG)

Garbage movie, and it turned the Terminator movies into a "choose your own ending" book. (Remember the "choose your own ending" books in school?) And the ending destroyed the premise on offer: T2 ended with the future laying ahead and being something to look forward to for a change. T3: "Nah, you're fucked regardless, Judgment Day is coming no matter what you do".

Therefore I ignore everything after T2.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (49Dnm)

267 244 One of the ideas floated was a two-parter. I think Snyder was aiming for a 3 hour cut. Warner Brothers ultimately got a 2 hour cut from Whedon.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 08:58 PM (LvTSG)

Everyone seems to be saying the same thing now. It's understandable the studio wanted a shorter version, what's not understandable is giving it to Whedon and letting him put in stupid crep that REPLACED Snyder material that made more sense in the context of the overall story.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 09:04 PM (9qhLe)

The studio wanted their own Avengers, so they got the guy who did the first 2 (though how much control he had over the second seems to be murky as rumors have him miserable as Feige basically dictated everything in that film). And if you only see "Action!" "Humor!" as a reason a movie succeeds and miss the stuff comes from knowing and caring about the characters, well welcome to the cinematic DCU.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (Ojki1)

268 With the exception of special effects the new Midway wasn't that good. Like Pearl Harbor and a few other WWII movies its hard to get past the shitty acting. The "stars" (males) do not pull off being men or manly like my relatives that served in WWII nor the MEN that starred in the original Midway most of whom served in theater.
Todays portrayal of that generation that served is always cheesy AF fake exaggerated type of rough and tumble. The Eastwood WWII films the actors at least pulled it off and the actors in Band Of Brothers other than those I cant think of any recently that stand out. Even Saving Private Ryan had a cheesiness to it. Ted Danson opining on Montgomery....give me a f'ing break.

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:09 PM (0jZnq)

269
she is not young, she will be 27 in 4 more years ...

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:09 PM (r4bSV)

270 I'm gonna go finish watching The Commancheros.

The Duke is goin' to meet Tully Crow. (Lee Marvin)

Posted by: JT at March 27, 2021 09:09 PM (arJlL)

271 I haven't seen The Irishman. Is it any good? The only scene I saw of it was DeNiro curb stomping some guy like he was afraid he was gonna break a hip. That didn't look promising.
Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (hlKab)

It's a 2nd or 3rd rate version of Goodfellas

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 27, 2021 09:09 PM (85Gof)

272 > my favorite line from My Blue Heaven: "Those shoes are TRAGIC!"
Posted by: Tom Servo

mine: "Cuz you might melt all this stuff."

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 09:09 PM (iTXRQ)

273 Everyone, yup, thanks. I'll look up the Spilotros.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:10 PM (L2ZTs)

274 "Bringing Out the Dead" is Scorcese's most underrated film. I was one of the few people to see it in crnemas, and I still adore it today.

Posted by: Rusty Nail at March 27, 2021 09:10 PM (I99aF)

275 You can read all your favorite books and watch tons of movies over and over again now.
Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (bm04m)

Well, yeah, provided I can remember what they're called!

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 09:10 PM (OX9vb)

276 262 I haven't seen The Irishman. Is it any good? The only scene I saw of it was DeNiro curb stomping some guy like he was afraid he was gonna break a hip. That didn't look promising.
Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 09:08 PM (hlKab)

==========

The CGI faces look good, not great. They also can't hide the fact that de Niro is in a 70 year old body when he's playing a 20 year old.

But that's a very small part of the film. It's the tale of a man left with nothing after having chosen to be loyal to two men at war with each other (Russell Bufalino and Jimmy Hoffa) to the detriment of his family (represented by his daughter Peggy). It's a great, elegiac film about lost time.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:10 PM (LvTSG)

277 I've read that The Irishman is way too long and unfortunately tends to show that Scorsese may be losing his touch a bit.

I've also heard there isn't much violence in it; lots of arguments, but it's no GoodFellas or Casino.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (L2ZTs)

278 The RLM guys did a breakdown of the Snyder Cut, and both were amazed that not only was good film already in the can cut, but new and inferior shots and insipid "funny" MCU-style dialog were added. Cyborg was pared down to a few scenes (no wonder the actor was pissed) and the best segment, with Flash slowing down time to save a girl, was deleted.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (Dc2NZ)

279 my favorite line from My Blue Heaven: "Those shoes are TRAGIC!"
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:07 PM (bxPTJ)

--------

And there, under the tree, was my uncle. Shot behind the ear. Plus, no bicycle.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (kTF2Z)

280 Rusty Nail: Marty meets Nic Cage. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (L2ZTs)

281 I did like Donnie Brasco

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (2DOZq)

282 Teen Titans Go Cyborg is the only Cyborg.

Posted by: Lysenko -Official dot gov Wyoming COVID vaccination card link, should be 4.25x3.5 at March 27, 2021 09:12 PM (bm04m)

283 zomg now Amaxon prime has a stoopid "we stand against Asian hate" message on its home screen
Posted by: vmom super straight stabby stabber stabalot

Didja see this?

Asian Woman Running For NYC Council Attacked In Hate Crime By Black Woman, Didn't Want To Report It Because Attacker Wasn't White

https://bit.ly/3tZLbzR

Damn white people can't do anything right!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 09:12 PM (VVEnO)

284 anyone going to turn off the lights for an hour for earth hour??

Oh, LOL! Thanks for the reminder! 8:30-9:30 local time, sez teh intertubes.

There's baking, dishes and laundry to be done. Will leave porchlights on too, in case we get visitors. Should probably also start up the old truck, circulate the oil ya know...

Hmm, haven't started the lawnmower yet this year either. Should probably make sure it'll run.

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:12 PM (09wCi)

285 277 I've read that The Irishman is way too long and unfortunately tends to show that Scorsese may be losing his touch a bit.

I've also heard there isn't much violence in it; lots of arguments, but it's no GoodFellas or Casino.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (L2ZTs)

=========

It's not meant to be like Goodfellas or Casino.

If I had to draw a comparison to other Scorsese films, it's like Kundun and Raging Bull combined to a certain degree.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:12 PM (LvTSG)

286 Tell them to watch "The Long Good Friday" about an
English mob that blunders itself into a war with the IRA. One of the
best gangster movies ever made that nobody's ever heard of.

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 08:47 PM (hlKab)

I am definitely going to look out for that one. And also State of Grace as mentioned by another commenter.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:13 PM (mP2It)

287 Amazon Prime has become sentient.

Posted by: Cyberdyne Systems at March 27, 2021 09:13 PM (W4eKo)

288 Didn't Cuomo threaten an Asian politician?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:13 PM (2DOZq)

289 I hated "Goodfellas." Perhaps I loved Henry Hill's wife, who was seduced by that scene. Only for him to break her heart later.

Fucking scum. Stop celebrating the scum!

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:14 PM (2BZBZ)

290 TJM, fair enough, and I don't mean to imply Marty should keep repeating himself. :-)

Also I personally appreciate that Scorsese tried making a family film, Hugo. Many reviewers and film writers (such as Jeff Wells) look *way* down their nose at kid-friendly flicks.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:14 PM (L2ZTs)

291 Good news, everybody!

Paramount Plus Thinks People Would Pay To See An Interview With Woody Allen

-
Now, the hanging of Woody Allen . . .

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 09:14 PM (VVEnO)

292 290 TJM, fair enough, and I don't mean to imply Marty should keep repeating himself. :-)

Also I personally appreciate that Scorsese tried making a family film, Hugo. Many reviewers and film writers (such as Jeff Wells) look *way* down their nose at kid-friendly flicks.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:14 PM (L2ZTs)

==========

It's #4 in my list of his movies. I love that movie.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:15 PM (LvTSG)

293 You got any arugula?

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:15 PM (2BZBZ)

294 TJM, understood.

I'd have to say that of all today's filmmakers, only Scorsese and Spielberg don't seem to look down on middle-class America and its values that much. (Not sure about Nolan however, and the Coens' POV on the subject seems to vary from film to film.)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:16 PM (L2ZTs)

295 Kino Lorber is having a disc sale on their site, with most of their titles at 10 bucks or less. I got about 16 titles, including some blind buys.

I'm most looking forward to "Harry in Your Pocket". I dig James Coburn and I'm a sucker for crime/caper movies.

Posted by: Rusty Nail at March 27, 2021 09:17 PM (I99aF)

296 it's a veg et a bull

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 09:18 PM (iTXRQ)

297 Oh, yes-- ON topic:

Hubby and I can watch our movies at the same time, using 2 tv's, 2 players...

We celebrate the Hour Of Power!

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:18 PM (09wCi)

298 Rusty Nail, thanks for that tip! There's a ton of Kino flicks I want including Trapeze, Mephisto and Kotch.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:18 PM (L2ZTs)

299 295 Kino Lorber is having a disc sale on their site, with most of their titles at 10 bucks or less. I got about 16 titles, including some blind buys.

I'm most looking forward to "Harry in Your Pocket". I dig James Coburn and I'm a sucker for crime/caper movies.
Posted by: Rusty Nail at March 27, 2021 09:17 PM (I99aF)

=========

I bought six a couple of weeks ago. It was a good sale, but I gotta limit myself.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:18 PM (LvTSG)

300 It's been Jason Statham week here. Yes, I'm shallow and yes I like looking at him. Sue me.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:19 PM (nxdel)

301 It's almost Earth Day? Dammit, I don't have enough tires for my tire fire! Freakin Covid.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:19 PM (kTF2Z)

302 I did like Donnie Brasco

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:11 PM (2DOZq)

it was an incredible film. I still don't get why people think these movies glorify the mob. Maybe some have, as there have been many mob movies. But certainly Donnie Brasco does not glorify it. It shows the real truth when it comes down to it, they are thieves. The entire thing is about stealing money in some shape or form. The rest is making money on the sly, and keeping other people from doing likewise.
Look at Goodfellas, all they did was steal stuff.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:19 PM (mP2It)

303 On YouTube there is a 14 minute extended clip of The All nighter.
Susanna was a hottie

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2021 09:20 PM (Cxk7w)

304 Watched Reign of Fire last night, free YouTube.

The dragons were well done.

Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 09:20 PM (b6ZIV)

305 -Susanna was a hottie-

is, is a hottie

she looks nice at 58 or 9 whatever she is currently

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (r4bSV)

306 Jewells, I like Jason Statham, too. I like listening to him, too.

Posted by: April at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (OX9vb)

307 Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:19 PM

No no no-- tonight is merely "erf hour" just an hour in the dark for true believers.

Erf Day is what, Lenin's birthday? April 22nd.

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (09wCi)

308 t's #4 in my list of his movies. I love that movie.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:15 PM (LvTSG)

I haven't seen that one. But I have seen Kundun, Mean Streets, and The Age of Innocence. So I guess that makes me more than a Goodfellas groupie. You know, like those people who say they love Anthony Hopkins, but have only seen him in that one film.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (mP2It)

309 Watched Reign of Fire last night, free YouTube.

The dragons were well done.
Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 09:20 PM (b6ZIV)

I liked the Mumbles role. Sorry he got eaten in his dammit all hero scene.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (yQpMk)

310 Walking the Scorcese streets indeed.

If I had to summarize his body of work in a single phrase I'd go with "deeply personal." Not only because many of the tales have their roots in his heritage, but also because a Scorcese film is--as you allude to--fundamentally about the interplay between several very strong personalities that both exist in and transcend the world around them.

Posted by: CppThis at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (zcf1k)

311 I think the next big body of work I'm going to tackle is Howard Hawks.

47 credits with a handful of lost films from his early career, so I won't be able to watch everything.

First I'll watch Lynch's stuff, though. 11 movies, two of which I've recently watched, and I already own 6.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG)

312 Rusty, Kino also just came out with a 4k disc of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

If I get it, that'll be the *third* edition I have of that film...

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (L2ZTs)

313 Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG)

Have you done Eastwood yet?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (2DOZq)

314 308
I haven't seen that one. But I have seen Kundun, Mean Streets, and The Age of Innocence. So I guess that makes me more than a Goodfellas groupie. You know, like those people who say they love Anthony Hopkins, but have only seen him in that one film.
Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (mP2It)

==========

*nods sagaciously*

The Lion in Winter.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG)

315 310 Walking the Scorcese streets indeed.

If I had to summarize his body of work in a single phrase I'd go with "deeply personal." Not only because many of the tales have their roots in his heritage, but also because a Scorcese film is--as you allude to--fundamentally about the interplay between several very strong personalities that both exist in and transcend the world around them.
Posted by: CppThis at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (zcf1k)

=========

That's a good way to put it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (LvTSG)

316 Skip and will choose, oh yeah re Susanna. :-)
I didn't know she had ever starred in any movies.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (L2ZTs)

317 Damn white people can't do anything right!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 09:12

The unspoken truth is that most crimes on Asians are done by blacks, statistics show. Funny that lecturin whites about racism doesn't seem to accomplish anything.

Posted by: Farmer at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (55Qr6)

318 The founder of Erf Day, it will be recalled, brutally murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her body in a trunk in his apartment. It was discovered when the apartment dwellers immediately below his apartment complained of foul smelling liquids leaking from the ceiling.

He was arrested, and then fled the country.

Posted by: Common Tater at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (3N/o1)

319 >>It's been Jason Statham week here. Yes, I'm shallow and yes I like looking at him. Sue me.

*fistbumps Jewells*

I'll watch any Jason Statham movie, so I guess I'm shallow, too.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (bDqIh)

320 I like Hugo a lot as well. A wonderful homage to the early movie makers.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (bxPTJ)

321 nods sagaciously*

The Lion in Winter.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG

I was going to say The Human Stain

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:24 PM (2DOZq)

322 No no no-- tonight is merely "erf hour" just an hour in the dark for true believers.
Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (09wCi)

-------------

Ok, cool. I still have time to get the tire fire going and some baby seals for my famous club sandwiches.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (kTF2Z)

323 I love The Lion in Winter. It reminds me of my inlaws, if my inlaws were feudal lords. The family dynamic is the same.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (yQpMk)

324 313 Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG)

Have you done Eastwood yet?
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (2DOZq)

========

Nope, not yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to find with him. My impression is that he's more of a technician than a filmmaker with a strong voice. He makes very good movies, but not always.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (LvTSG)

325 "First I'll watch Lynch's stuff, though. 11 movies, two of which I've recently watched, and I already own 6."

Keep the Thorazine handy.

Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 09:26 PM (b6ZIV)

326 Scorcese is very skilled and a great director but sometimes what fascinates him and the stories he loves do not connect well with an audience, or at least with me. Sometimes he takes too much for granted that others who didn't grow up in his life do not understand or connect with either.

But when he's on, he really knocks it out of the park.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:26 PM (KZzsI)

327 Even to them pulling knives on each other.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:26 PM (yQpMk)

328 314 308
I haven't seen that one. But I have seen Kundun, Mean Streets, and The Age of Innocence. So I guess that makes me more than a Goodfellas groupie. You know, like those people who say they love Anthony Hopkins, but have only seen him in that one film.
Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:22 PM (mP2It)

==========

*nods sagaciously*

The Lion in Winter.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (LvTSG)

Transformers 5

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 09:26 PM (Ojki1)

329 Nope, not yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to find with him. My impression is that he's more of a technician than a filmmaker with a strong voice. He makes very good movies, but not always.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (LvTSG)

You'll definitely get some discussion with that viewpoint.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:26 PM (2DOZq)

330 Just found a flick at Kino that I think we could all appreciate:

"Schoolgirls In Chains"

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (L2ZTs)

331 The Lion in Winter is one of the best films ever, its in my top 100, probably top 50. It helps that the cast is incredible, there's such a wealth of talent in there, several at the very beginning of their careers.

Plus its a great story.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (KZzsI)

332 330 Just found a flick at Kino that I think we could all appreciate:

"Schoolgirls In Chains"
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (L2ZTs)

========

Education is important.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (LvTSG)

333 300 It's been Jason Statham week here. Yes, I'm shallow and yes I like looking at him. Sue me.
Posted by: Jewells45

The Bank Job is a pretty good flick. He was just a plain ole ordinary thief who got in way over his head after a job.

Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (QTx2x)

334 The unspoken truth is that most crimes on Asians are done by blacks, statistics show. Funny that lecturin whites about racism doesn't seem to accomplish anything.

Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. The spoken lies are very effective at getting everyone fighting amongst themselves. Asians, and everyone concerned for that matter, know damn well whitey ain't the problem.

Proof positive, as if any were needed, is the goal here is to make things worse, not better.

Posted by: Common Tater at March 27, 2021 09:27 PM (3N/o1)

335 We have some Jason Statham fans among the ettes! I mean what's not to like for crissakes??

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:28 PM (nxdel)

336
The late great Jessica Walter starred in "Women in Chains", 1972.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at March 27, 2021 09:28 PM (f1Vqw)

337 Goodfellas and Casino are great. Wolf of Wall St is da bomb. Gangs of New York very is good.

The Irishman blows chunks.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (uMrfV)

338 Really good post TJM. I was also enjoying the commentary on your webzone.

Scorsese is someone who, like me, takes movies way too seriously. But he's perhaps too dogmatic about what the plebs should be allowed to enjoy. In that, he's like David Lynch. He does know his cinema, but it's also a bit insufferable.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (uxJPn)

339 Jason Statham as James Bond?

discuss

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (iTXRQ)

340 323 I love The Lion in Winter. It reminds me of my inlaws, if my inlaws were feudal lords. The family dynamic is the same.
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (yQpMk)

That is one of my all time favorites - a great script, and perfectly cast. Peter O'Toole eats up the scenery and tries to steal every scene, but Katherine Hepburn matches and parry's him at every step. The constant competition between them (in which they overshadow all the other great actors around them) seems to me a pretty good depiction of what it must have been like to have been around the real Henry and Eleanor, two larger than life characters throughout their lives.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (bxPTJ)

341 What I'd like to know about Clint Eastwood is how he learned what he learned. Because he didn't exactly work with the finest directors Hollywood had to offer, and was in a bunch of kind of cheesy action flicks and cheap westerns. But he really learned his craft as a director from somewhere.

Watching biopics and background stuff of him setting up shots, how he designed his movies etc, its a class in how to direct.

Maybe he was just talented that way, and picked up good stuff from even the lower end guys he tended to work with. I mean he did have some good directors, too, and maybe he learned a lot from them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (KZzsI)

342 301 It's almost Earth Day? Dammit, I don't have enough tires for my tire fire! Freakin Covid.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:19 PM (kTF2Z)

Ulyanov's 151st birthday.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:30 PM (49Dnm)

343 338 Really good post TJM. I was also enjoying the commentary on your webzone.

Scorsese is someone who, like me, takes movies way too seriously. But he's perhaps too dogmatic about what the plebs should be allowed to enjoy. In that, he's like David Lynch. He does know his cinema, but it's also a bit insufferable.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (uxJPn)

========

Thanks for that.

I like to listen to him talking about movies. I started on the Scorsese line because I watched an interview (on Charlie Rose) with him about Fellini immediately after Fellini's death.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:30 PM (LvTSG)

344 TJM and publius, I think we can all agree that all the fine films in the "...In Chains" franchise are worthwhile! ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:30 PM (L2ZTs)

345 The Bank Job is fun, so is the remake of the Italian Job

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (r4bSV)

346 339 Jason Statham as James Bond?

discuss
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (iTXRQ)

I'm thinking he's too old at this point for the role. But couldn you imagine if they had gotten him instead of Daniel Craig?

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (49Dnm)

347 Have you done Eastwood yet?
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:23 PM (2DOZq)

========

Nope, not yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to find with him. My impression is that he's more of a technician than a filmmaker with a strong voice. He makes very good movies, but not always.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM (LvTSG)

You'll find good flicks, bad ones and Great Cinema. He, far more than most directors, matured like fine wine as he kept working.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (uxJPn)

348 341 What I'd like to know about Clint Eastwood is how he learned what he learned. Because he didn't exactly work with the finest directors Hollywood had to offer, and was in a bunch of kind of cheesy action flicks and cheap westerns. But he really learned his craft as a director from somewhere.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (KZzsI)

=========

From what I understand, it was largely Don Siegel that he learned directing from.

The Beguiled and Dirty Harry often feel like Eastwood directed films.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (LvTSG)

349 Christopher, Eastwood worked with both Don Siegel and Sergio Leone early on.

I imagine he was able to learn quite a bit from both of them, although as I recall, he thought Leone had kind of an oversized/ridiculous personality.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (L2ZTs)

350 I've got no problem with Statham. I liked him in Snatch, and I enjoyed the car with him co-starring in the Transporter. I'm not sure what else I've seen him in but I'm glad he's hit the big time.

Posted by: Lysenko - Click here for COVID vaccination document, print on card stock at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (hsOar)

351 Jason Statham as James Bond?

I think he would be good but Bond never pulled moves like Statham does in his movies. So.. IDK.. maybe? I think he could pull it off.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (nxdel)

352 341: I am not a fan of Mr. Eastwood's direction. (Ducks to avoid the projectiles that will be thrown)

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (49Dnm)

353 Jason Statham as James Bond?

Statham being debonair would be great acting.

Posted by: davidt at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (b6ZIV)

354 Bond is brains not brawn.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (yQpMk)

355 James Bond should have stopped at the end of the cold war.

or start a new series with China as the new Soviet Union

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (r4bSV)

356 It's been Jason Statham week here. Yes, I'm shallow and yes I like looking at him. Sue me.

But he's also good at his job. I mean he's no Robert Duvall but he's always entertaining, convincing, and interesting to watch. And he has been in some great stuff.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (KZzsI)

357 Since you mentioned the Snyder Cut, they've also just released The Suicide Squad trailer. And it just looks like Guardians of the Galaxy with different character. It really is amazing how Warner Brothers cannot seem to get the live action comic book movies even a little right ( I doubt the Snyder Cut is "right" but just merely better than Josstice League) and yet at the same time their animated features seem to get them right consistently. They even do Superman properly. Even his death and return they got right.

Posted by: Buzzion at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (zd+V8)

358 >> Jason Statham as James Bond?

He seems better suited for Guy Ritchie movies.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (bDqIh)

359 Who turned the lights out?
Erf! Erf! Erf!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (VVEnO)

360 Josstice League

Heh. Nice

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (yQpMk)

361 I'm thinking he's too old at this point for the role. But couldn you imagine if they had gotten him instead of Daniel Craig?

It would have been brillaint. We'll never know.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (nxdel)

362 358 >> Jason Statham as James Bond?

He seems better suited for Guy Ritchie movies.
Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (bDqIh)

=======

Guy Ritchie directs Jason Statham as James Bond.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (LvTSG)

363 @Jewells45 & Lizzy-Jason Statham is a solid actor in the action flick genre. Always entertaining. Watched that movie Spy with Melissa McCarthy the other day with my aunt. LMAO, his comedy acting skills are pretty good too.

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (0jZnq)

364 But couldn you imagine if they had gotten him instead of Daniel Craig?

I like Statham in a way I don't like Daniel Craig, but neither really feel right for Bond to me. Craig pulled it off in Casino Royale but a lot of that was because it was so literally pulled from the novel, almost word for word, updated to modern day.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:34 PM (KZzsI)

365 I was disappointed in Midway, thought it was OK but the truly implausible good fortune that made it turn out the way it did didn't come through, the "miracle" part.

Posted by: rhomboid

I've never really ascribed to the "miracle" theory of why we won the battle. We won the battle because the crews of 41 torpedo planes attacked without any air cover, losing 34 aircraft in the process. They attacked even though they knew that would be the result.

Their sacrifice allowed the dive bombers to arrive and attack without warning and without being menaced by fighters. As originally conceived, all the squadrons should have arrived at the same time. A simple hour delay by the dive bombers arriving was all it took.

To me it wasn't a miracle or luck. It was just suicidal courage that won.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:34 PM (i4CI5)

366 What do you think about Once Upon A Time In America?

Posted by: Mikey at March 27, 2021 09:34 PM (24yCd)

367 I'm thinking he's too old at this point for the role. But couldn you imagine if they had gotten him instead of Daniel Craig?
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:31 PM (49Dnm)

Speaking of never gonna happen, how about Lawrence Fox as Bond.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (9qhLe)

368
I can not think of any Stathem movie I have seen that I did not like

Transporter 2 with the hot red head even

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (r4bSV)

369 Eastwood directed 42 films.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (2DOZq)

370 368
I can not think of any Stathem movie I have seen that I did not like

Transporter 2 with the hot red head even
Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (r4bSV)

========

The Bank Job is good stuff.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (LvTSG)

371 But he's also good at his job. I mean he's no Robert Duvall but he's always entertaining, convincing, and interesting to watch. And he has been in some great stuff.

Agreed. He knows what he's good at and keeps making entertaining stuff. He'll never win as Oscar but I don't care. I like him.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:35 PM (nxdel)

372 I am not even sure what the last Bond movie I watched was, maybe OHMSS, so I think I've missed the last three Bond actors.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:36 PM (yQpMk)

373 and yet at the same time their animated features seem to get them right consistently.

Yeah its long been a complaint at how they get the animated stuff so right and so rarely get anything on film worth a damn. But then the best stuff put out for Star Wars since the original trilogy was the animated series.

I think studios care too much what the films are going to be, and screw everything up with contrary and stupid demands. The animated stuff they leave to its own devices figuring it isn't anything to worry about.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:36 PM (KZzsI)

374 To me it wasn't a miracle or luck. It was just suicidal courage that won.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:34 PM (i4CI5)

---------

This is wisdom.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:36 PM (kTF2Z)

375 I think I mentioned earlier this week how much I enjoyed watching the movie "Tolkien", which came out I think last year.

Extremely well acted and written, I deemed it "beautiful". The story of how JRR found his muse, as well as the love of his life, his wife Edith. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (i4CI5)

376 Mikey, OUATIA was Sergio Leone's flick. :-)

From what I understand it's an earlier example of what happened with Justice League; the studio butchered it when it first came out, then people got to see the full cut on video, and loved it.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (L2ZTs)

377 19 McCoy just gave Kirk some Romulan ale and vintage reading glasses for his birthday, that's sweet.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 27, 2021 08:11 PM (Q37aU)

I'm not much for the Star Trek movies (though I rather enjoyed IV), but on a YT clip, I saw a great scene, I believe, from III (haven't seen that since I was subject to it in 2003-2004 time frame on night shift). It was the scene where the Excelsior tries to pursue the Enterprise but does...nothing. Scotty hands parts from the transwarp drive to McCoy. McCoy scowls at Kirk, and says "Nice of you to tell me in advance!" Kirk, not missing a beat, says "That's what you get for missing staff meetings, doctor. Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding. I intend to recommend you all for promotion...in whatever fleet we end up serving. Best speed to Genesis!"

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (49Dnm)

378 I saw an interview with Eli Wallach in which he related how he was still pissed as hell at Sergio Leone after all these years. Remember the scene where Tuco has to cut his handcuffs off by putting them on a train track and letting a train run over them? Sergio told him it would be no problem, perfectly safe, and then Wallach almost was killed in that stunt. Sergio just laughed and said it looked great on film - Wallach never forgave him!

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (bxPTJ)

379 "Play Misty for me."

This one is for Evelyn.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (2BZBZ)

380 Statham too short to play Bond.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (2DOZq)

381 JROD, I didn't know he was in that! Well, shit.. tomorrow nights entertainment is lined up. Although McCarthy is annoying as hell.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (nxdel)

382 360 Josstice League
Heh. Nice
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:33 PM (yQpMk)

Oh I wish I had come up with it. I watched a Nerdrotic video where he called it that.

Posted by: Buzzion at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (zd+V8)

383 375 I think I mentioned earlier this week how much I enjoyed watching the movie "Tolkien", which came out I think last year.

Extremely well acted and written, I deemed it "beautiful". The story of how JRR found his muse, as well as the love of his life, his wife Edith. Highly recommended.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (i4CI5)

=========

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed that film.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (LvTSG)

384 The Bank Job is good stuff.

It's my favorite Stathem movie. It's unlike a lot of his roles he has had. Good story too.

Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (QTx2x)

385
In Women in Chains, Ida Lupino played the sadistic prison guard. Lois Nettleton is the good girl, a parole officer who gets suspicious when one of her cases is killed in prison.

She then goes undercover as a convict herself to find out what's going on. Only one other person knows who Lois really is, and, you guessed it, that person gets killed, trapping Lois in her prisoner identity.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (f1Vqw)

386 I really like that the Jumpin Jack Flash clip could just as easily be from a Wes Anderson movie if the camera was moved slightly left or right to change the framing a bit.

Posted by: Lysenko - Click here for COVID vaccination document, print on card stock at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (hsOar)

387 378 I saw an interview with Eli Wallach in which he related how he was still pissed as hell at Sergio Leone after all these years. Remember the scene where Tuco has to cut his handcuffs off by putting them on a train track and letting a train run over them? Sergio told him it would be no problem, perfectly safe, and then Wallach almost was killed in that stunt. Sergio just laughed and said it looked great on film - Wallach never forgave him!
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:37 PM (bxPTJ)

=========

Pain is temporary. Film is forever.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (LvTSG)

388 Dillon: We're all gonna die, the only question is when. This is as good a place as any to take your first steps to heaven. The only question is how you check out. Do you wanna go on your feet? Or on your fucking knees, begging? I ain't much for begging! Nobody ever gave me nothin! So I say fuck that thing! Let's fight it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (Dc2NZ)

389 Which reminds me that Tom Cruise way too short to play Jack Reacher.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (2DOZq)

390 >>Guy Ritchie directs Jason Statham as James Bond.

Heh, why not?
Couldn't be worse than a couple of the cartoonish Bond movies with Pierce Brosnan.

Statham also gets silly in the Fast and Furious movie spinoff, and in the Expendables movies.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (bDqIh)

391 357 Since you mentioned the Snyder Cut, they've also just released The Suicide Squad trailer. And it just looks like Guardians of the Galaxy with different character. It really is amazing how Warner Brothers cannot seem to get the live action comic book movies even a little right ( I doubt the Snyder Cut is "right" but just merely better than Josstice League) and yet at the same time their animated features seem to get them right consistently. They even do Superman properly. Even his death and return they got right.
Posted by: Buzzion at March 27, 2021 09:32 PM (zd+V

I think it is about expectations. There aren't many on the animated front so they let people who like comics do the films for comics fans (presuming someone wanted that Bruce Timm Harley Quinn movie). But live action they want to be on par with Marvel without putting in the work Marvel did to get there. Not having 1 person in charge with a creative vision/direction is a major misstep as well, and having franchise killer J.J. Abrams try to do it will make Batman as cinematically relevant as The Shadow.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (Ojki1)

392 Idris Elba should be the next James Bond 007. The Bond girl would be a hot blonde chick named SnowBunny.

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (0jZnq)

393 Borgia or La Familia Borgia 2006, just finished it.
Good cinematography, costumes and sets.
Helps one bone up on his Spanish too.

Posted by: Braenyard, starving the beast at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (phoAb)

394 Maybe he was just talented that way, and picked up
good stuff from even the lower end guys he tended to work with. I mean
he did have some good directors, too, and maybe he learned a lot from
them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:29 PM (KZzsI)

well he had Leone. So I would say he had some good direction. Sure he was in some really bad stuff in the 80s, but not all of it was bad. Bronco Billy and Firefox were probably two of the worst as I recall. No offense to Firefox fans.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (mP2It)

395 Yeah and ... is way to dumb to play ...

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (2BZBZ)

396 Its probably not true, but I get the same feeling off Jason Statham as I get off Harrison Ford: that he was just a regular guy who walked onto the set and happened to get the job. They don't feel like actors, they don't feel like they are playing a part, they just seem like a guy who happens to be in that situation at the time.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (KZzsI)

397 Sharkman - where are you now? Rolling between KS and the coast?

Posted by: rhomboid

Finally arrived in LA at 8 this morning. I'm exhausted but I stayed up to watch Oregon State win again to put them into the Elite 8, and for the Movie Thread.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (i4CI5)

398 365: at Midway, our boys ground it out, and did what they had to do, which all led up to the Fatal Five Minutes that decided the battle, and the war. Some say it was luck. I say luck is what the late, great Mr. Limbaugh said it was: the point where preparation meets opportunity.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (49Dnm)

399 I've never really ascribed to the "miracle" theory of why we won the battle. We won the battle because the crews of 41 torpedo planes attacked without any air cover, losing 34 aircraft in the process. They attacked even though they knew that would be the result.

Their sacrifice allowed the dive bombers to arrive and attack without warning and without being menaced by fighters. As originally conceived, all the squadrons should have arrived at the same time. A simple hour delay by the dive bombers arriving was all it took.

To me it wasn't a miracle or luck. It was just suicidal courage that won.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:34 PM (i4CI5)

There's a little...something in there. Breaking the JP code wasn't luck, using that info wasn't luck, arranging forces wasn't luck, JP design flaws weren't quite luck. BUT...after failure after failure to damage the flatops, the final attacks being so lethal, including Akagi that was hit with a single bomb but one that killed it.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (uxJPn)

400 I survived my 4.5 day train trip from NE FL to LA, arriving home at 8 this morning. So I'm giving myself a break and watching movies the rest of the weekend. Next up: Training Day.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 08:08 PM (i4CI5)

Is AMTRAK still broken between NOLA and Mobile? I've heard they're trying to restart service, but the freight railroad isn't playing nice. Kind of like UP and the Chief, only they claim there's too much traffic on the line, instead of none.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (qyH+l)

401 I watched a good documentary if you're into the music of the 60's. Echo in Laurel Canyon. Very good and Jakob Dylan does a fantastic job. They mingle interviews and music from the 60's with performances by him and other playing the same 60's music. Loved it.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:40 PM (nxdel)

402 389 Which reminds me that Tom Cruise way too short to play Jack Reacher.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:38 PM (2DOZq)

Tom is too short to play Bilbo Baggins.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 27, 2021 09:41 PM (Dc2NZ)

403 stathem did good in the Italian Job remake

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:41 PM (r4bSV)

404 392 Idris Elba should be the next James Bond 007. The Bond girl would be a hot blonde chick named SnowBunny.
Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (0jZnq)

Mr. Elba is what, 50 at this point?

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 27, 2021 09:41 PM (49Dnm)

405 Idris Elba should be the next James Bond 007. The Bond girl would be a hot blonde chick named SnowBunny.
Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:39 PM (0jZnq)

eh. 007, maybe. James Bond, no. Bond is a specific type, Elba would be as bad as making Bond an American CIA agent.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (uxJPn)

406 I just realized that I have seen at least some of the Smokey and Bandit Bond film, so I've seen Roger Moore as bond, at least some.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (yQpMk)

407 Extremely well acted and written, I deemed it "beautiful". The story of how JRR found his muse, as well as the love of his life, his wife Edith. Highly recommended.

A similar kind of movie is Shadowlands, with Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis meeting his wife Joy, and her tragic death. Beautiful and well filmed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (KZzsI)

408 Ok, cool. I still have time to get the tire fire going and some baby seals for my famous club sandwiches.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:25 PM

Haha!

Charcoal briquets are my favorite "toxic substance" for that day. Mmmmmm... BBQ...

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (09wCi)

409 Gumball Ralley and Cannonball Run for some old car race movies

Rush also with Helmsworth

Posted by: will choose a nic later at March 27, 2021 09:44 PM (r4bSV)

410
I just realized that I have seen at least some of the Smokey and Bandit
Bond film, so I've seen Roger Moore as bond, at least some.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (yQpMk)
Cannon Ball Run? I actually like Roger Moore. He was Bond to yutes in the 80s. Sure he plays Roger Moore, but that is ok.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:44 PM (mP2It)

411 407 A similar kind of movie is Shadowlands, with Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis meeting his wife Joy, and her tragic death. Beautiful and well filmed.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (KZzsI)

==========

Just looked it up, there are two Shadowlands films.

The Anthony Hopkins one, and another from 85 where CS Lewis is played by Joss Ackland.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:45 PM (LvTSG)

412 Rush is a fine racing movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Follow it up with Ford vs. Ferrari and you have a pretty good racing movie double feature. (As modern racing movies goes. Hard to beat Grand Prix and LeMans).

Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 09:45 PM (QTx2x)

413 I looked into Amtrak a while ago.

The link between Jacksonville and NOLA is discontinued. Get to NOLA and you can go to LA.

In addition to the tracks, a shitload of stations were damaged by Katrina. Nobody wants to pay to rebuild the stations.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:45 PM (2BZBZ)

414 Cannon Ball Run?

Live and Let Die. I had to look it up as I had no idea what the title was.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 09:46 PM (yQpMk)

415 Is it 'threadjacking' if thread is over 200 comments? (I thought it was only 100)

My apologies to TJM if I'm out of line on the Erf Hour stuff...

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:46 PM (09wCi)

416 Even before he was cast, I always saw Pierce Bronson as Bond. I guess I wouldn't make a good casting agent.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:47 PM (2DOZq)

417 The next Bond should be a Chinese woman.

Posted by: Lysenko - Click here for COVID vaccination document, print on card stock at March 27, 2021 09:47 PM (hsOar)

418 Bond is awful. It's almost always been a bad joke. Rowan Atkinson was the actor the franchise deserved.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 27, 2021 09:47 PM (H5knJ)

419 In addition to the tracks, a shitload of stations were damaged by Katrina. Nobody wants to pay to rebuild the stations.

Amtrack is hella slow getting things done too. It took them a decade to fix up the tiny little station in Salem. It looks like one of those ones in a western out in the middle of nowhere. I think the huge Seattle station took even longer to renovate.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:47 PM (KZzsI)

420 A similar kind of movie is Shadowlands, with Anthony
Hopkins as CS Lewis meeting his wife Joy, and her tragic death.
Beautiful and well filmed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:42 PM (KZzsI)

Seconded. Remains of the Day and Howard's End are also must sees for anyone interested in Anthony Hopkins. There are many others of different genres, but I don't see how anyone can fully appreciate his work without viewing those films.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:47 PM (mP2It)

421 And she works for MI Xi.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (2BZBZ)

422 I kinda liked Bronco Billy - people just have too high of expectations for it. It's just a simple sweet little story about a traveling rodeo, and it doesn't really go anywhere, but it's not nearly as bad as most of the stuff made these days.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (bxPTJ)

423 @405 Mark Andrew Edwards- Was actually just trying to work in the SnowBunny thing, but c'mon, we've had to suffer Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig is ok but is to much of a weasel at times in the movies.
Idris Elba I think could have pulled it off though he's long in the tooth now.
Think Sean Connery with a dark tan.

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (0jZnq)

424 415 Is it 'threadjacking' if thread is over 200 comments? (I thought it was only 100)

My apologies to TJM if I'm out of line on the Erf Hour stuff...
Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:46 PM (09wCi)

=========

It's times like this I wish we could post gifs here. I'd use this:

https://tinyurl.com/s7h4v5z4

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (LvTSG)

425 Even before he was cast, I always saw Pierce Bronson as Bond. I guess I wouldn't make a good casting agent.

I was kind of surprised at how good he was in the part, although he convince me he could do the job in Fourth Protocol. Timothy Dalton was even better, though.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (KZzsI)

426 The Hill is a prisoner movie.

Posted by: Skip

With Sean Connery? That is an outstanding movie. Love it.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (i4CI5)

427 Okay TJM

Out

Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:49 PM (09wCi)

428 The Keep is kind of a prison movie

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:49 PM (KZzsI)

429 Was actually just trying to work in the SnowBunny thing, but c'mon, we've had to suffer Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig is ok but is to much of a weasel at times in the movies.
Idris Elba I think could have pulled it off though he's long in the tooth now.
Think Sean Connery with a dark tan.
Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (0jZnq)

Elba is a charming MoFo, no doubt. And he can have good physicality. But...it'd be like making 007 a chick.

I like the Snowbunny joke

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (uxJPn)

430 427 Okay TJM

Out
Posted by: JQ at March 27, 2021 09:49 PM (09wCi)

=========

It was a joke, but okay.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (LvTSG)

431 Oh wow!
There's gonna be a 4k edition released of Smokey & The Bandit. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (L2ZTs)

432 I'm watching It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Just had the scene with Milton Berle and the British guy engaging in fisticuffs.

Posted by: Jordan61 at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (OED7z)

433 429 Elba is a charming MoFo, no doubt. And he can have good physicality. But...it'd be like making 007 a chick.

I like the Snowbunny joke
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (uxJPn)

==========

James Bond should be as much of a codename as 007.

Then you can recast however you want.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:51 PM (LvTSG)

434 Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (bxPTJ)

Out of 42 directed films probably only 2 or 3 I'd consider bad. There are a few that are just okay . I think he's got a higher batting average than most other directors.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:51 PM (2DOZq)

435 Eh, most of the recent problems with the Bond franchise have been coming from the writers, not the star, so a Statham Bond would've still been mopey and bleak.

Posted by: CppThis at March 27, 2021 09:51 PM (zcf1k)

436 So another movie thread that neglects to even mention the greatness that is Lone Wolf McQuade.

Fine.

FINE!

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:52 PM (kTF2Z)

437 Kundun, haha

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at March 27, 2021 09:53 PM (8ceaY)

438 Even before he was cast, I always saw Pierce Bronson as Bond. I guess I wouldn't make a good casting agent.

I was kind of surprised at how good he was in the part, although he
convince me he could do the job in Fourth Protocol. Timothy Dalton was
even better, though.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:48 PM (KZzsI)

A lot of people never took him seriously for some reason. I guess that comes from his tv show Remmington Steele. I didn't watch it enough to critique it, but that is how most saw him as I recall. A lot of people gave him newfound respect after the film, The Matador. It was like to him what Pulp Fiction was to John Travolta.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:53 PM (mP2It)

439 432 I'm watching It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Just had the scene with Milton Berle and the British guy engaging in fisticuffs.
Posted by: Jordan61 at March 27, 2021 09:50 PM (OED7z)

"Rat Race" (2001) was a quasi-remake of Mad Mad World, and it wasn't very good. BUT the scene where Jon Lovits and family visit the Barbie Museum is one of the drop-dead funniest scenes in any film!

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 27, 2021 09:53 PM (bxPTJ)

440 James Bond should be as much of a codename as 007.

Then you can recast however you want.

If they would deliberately and openly state that's how it works I think everyone would nod and be fine with that, then they can cast whoever they want.

But the stories... since they left behind even trying to make them based on Fleming stories (I mean, aside from how other than the title The Spy Who Loved Me was utterly different from the great book)... they haven't been good.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:53 PM (KZzsI)

441 James Bond should be as much of a codename as 007.

Then you can recast however you want.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:51 PM (LvTSG)

This is incorrect.

I know what you're saying but you have a character and creation and deviating too far from what was created just cheapens it.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:54 PM (uxJPn)

442 A lot of people gave him newfound respect after the film, The Matador.

Great movie.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 27, 2021 09:54 PM (nxdel)

443 So another movie thread that neglects to even mention the greatness that is Lone Wolf McQuade.

I liked Silent Rage better. And Code of Silence was damned good too. Chuck Norris has actually done some solid films in addition to his fun goofy martial arts stuff.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 09:54 PM (KZzsI)

444 PIERCE BROSNAN? (looks at Sebastian Melmoth sideways)

.....oh, and Timothy Dalton!?! No, no, no..... : )

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 09:55 PM (0jZnq)

445 So another movie thread that neglects to even mention the greatness that is Lone Wolf McQuade.

Fine.

FINE!
Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:52 PM (kTF2Z)

That's the one with the MAC-11 right?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:55 PM (uxJPn)

446 So another movie thread that neglects to even mention the greatness that is Lone Wolf McQuade.

Fine.

FINE!

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 09:52 PM (kTF2Z)

drink another Pearl beer and wait. The time will come when the magnificence of that film will be made manifest. I am holding out for Uncommon Valor.

Posted by: Quint at March 27, 2021 09:55 PM (mP2It)

447 ....wait, I'm thinking of McQ...

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (uxJPn)

448 441
This is incorrect.

I know what you're saying but you have a character and creation and deviating too far from what was created just cheapens it.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:54 PM (uxJPn)

=========

Connery's character was born James Bond and became the first 007.

Lazenby took on both the Bond name and 007 when Connery retired. Lazenby committed suicide after his wife's death, bringing Connery back to work. He retired again, and the name went to Roger Moore.

The only in movie thing that works against is is Craig's parents' gravestones in Skyfall. They were named Bond.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (LvTSG)

449 TJM, you heard that Criterion is releasing Fast Times At Ridgemont High on blu-ray, right?

Also, what do you think of the original The Omen? In fact I've hoped you would do a piece on week on the best (and worst) occult horror flicks. (Exorcist, Omen, Amityville, Conjuring/Annabelle...)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (L2ZTs)

450 The machines ... took over. The Terminator revealed that. ...

OK, just trying to be movie relevant. The other day I made a big deal of Bannon saying "the machines had nothing to do with it". -- Not sure if he is now backtracking or I misunderstood, or he "mis-spoke". .. but he now has a guy on War Room talking about the machines. --

Bannon does say "we were not really machines guys, and focused on the other ...". And he says he thinks people are disappointed with the recent Sidney Powell proceedings (which I think are misinterpreted) ... But at least Bannon is (forced to be?) admitting to some machine malfeasance ... (maybe because he is making ad money off Mike Lindell, whom he praises while trashinbg Sidney) ... still not clear Bannon is not just in it for the marketing revenue, his own "mini Fox fake conservative news" ... or worse, "controlled resistance".) .. But good people are appearing on War Room (like they did on Fox?)

Posted by: illiniwek at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (Cus5s)

451 >> I'm watching It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

One of the funniest movies ever made. The first time I saw it, I was literally rolling in the floor. I mean really, I slid out of the chair on the floor rolling rolling around.

Sid Caesar trying to escape from the hardware store and Jonathan Winters destroying the gas station nearly made me pee my pants.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at March 27, 2021 09:57 PM (f1Vqw)

452 Yeah, the Matador is pretty near the top of my favorite movies. It's a lot of fun.

Posted by: Lysenko - Click here for COVID vaccination document, print on card stock at March 27, 2021 09:57 PM (hsOar)

453 449 TJM, you heard that Criterion is releasing Fast Times At Ridgemont High on blu-ray, right?

Also, what do you think of the original The Omen? In fact I've hoped you would do a piece on week on the best (and worst) occult horror flicks. (Exorcist, Omen, Amityville, Conjuring/Annabelle...)
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (L2ZTs)

===========

I love The Omen, but I haven't seen it in years.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:57 PM (LvTSG)

454 I was surprised at how much I enjoyed that film.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers

Tolkien's life story is just as interesting as LotR. Parents die early. Falls in love but has to stay away from her for years. Wonderful friends who end up butchered young in WW1. Staying married to the same woman for 50 years. The Hobbit/LotR starting out as a tale he told his kids. As I said: Beautiful.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 09:57 PM (i4CI5)

455 >>> 182 Farmer, it's not about Tina Turner is it?

I would love to see a biopic of Tina Turner.
Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 08:36

What's Love Got to Do with It
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 08:51 PM (2DOZq)

In which Tina is played by Angela Bassett.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at March 27, 2021 09:58 PM (b8eqQ)

456 One of the most interesting things about It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, is that they shot on actual streets and locations in Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage at a time when nothing was there. Now those areas are built up.

Same with Long Beach Blvd and Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach. They don't look like they did in the film any more.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:58 PM (L2ZTs)

457 The November Man was good.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 09:58 PM (2DOZq)

458 445 MAC-11, MAC-12, whatever it takes.

(with apologies to Michael Keaton)

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 27, 2021 09:58 PM (5YKb3)

459 TJM, of all the occult horro flicks, The Omen is the only one I think I'd feel personally comfortable watching.

The impression I have is that it didn't take itself too seriously. Plus, David Seltzer, who wrote it, has always seemed like a decent guy. (He later made Lucas and Punch Line.)

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (L2ZTs)

460 Connery's character was born James Bond and became the first 007.

Lazenby took on both the Bond name and 007 when Connery retired. Lazenby committed suicide after his wife's death, bringing Connery back to work. He retired again, and the name went to Roger Moore.

The only in movie thing that works against is is Craig's parents' gravestones in Skyfall. They were named Bond.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 09:56 PM (LvTSG)

I'm not talking about the actor changing. I'm talking about the fictional character being changed from what was written by Fleming.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (uxJPn)

461 That's the one with the MAC-11 right?
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:55 PM (uxJPn)

------------

Eleven, twelve. Whatever it takes.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (kTF2Z)

462 >>Bond is awful. It's almost always been a bad joke. Rowan Atkinson was the actor the franchise deserved.

No: Jean Dujardin!
He's in a French Bond spoof movie (or two, I think), "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies," and he is perfection.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (bDqIh)

463 Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (L2ZT

Just the opposite. It was very serious.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (2DOZq)

464
Eh, Scorsese's alright.

Also: The Keitel character isn't impossibly young. He's the right age for the role. A kid fucking somebody up for fucking around with his friends, trying to figure shit out.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (Uh2oA)

465 Sebastian, really? Hmmm.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (L2ZTs)

466 All for you, Damien!

Still gives me chills...

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 10:01 PM (uxJPn)

467 Posted by: callsign claymore at March 27, 2021 09:58 PM (5YKb3)

-------

Heh. Horde mind.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 10:01 PM (kTF2Z)

468 There were a ton of Bond spoofs and takeoffs in the 60s.

In Like Flynt, The Pink Panther, Modesty Blaise...

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 10:01 PM (L2ZTs)

469 460 I'm not talking about the actor changing. I'm talking about the fictional character being changed from what was written by Fleming.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (uxJPn)

=========

Yeah, I knew. I was coming up with a series of events that could have been in universe explanations for the changes, including Lazenby's character's suicide. You retain the original background of the character as manifested by Connery's take, and then everything else follows as different people taking on the name.

It would explain why Moore's Bond is so different from Connery's, and Lazenby's is so different from Brosnan.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 10:01 PM (LvTSG)

470 >I'm not talking about the actor changing. I'm talking about the fictional character being changed from what was written by Fleming.

maybe the next 'Bond' will be gay or a tranny

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (iTXRQ)

471 I'm not talking about the actor changing. I'm talking about the fictional character being changed from what was written by Fleming.

Well, they have two choices at this point on what to do with James Bond. They've exhausted every short story, novel, and title idea that Fleming ever wrote, and have just started making crap up. The franchise has gone on longer than anyone ever thought possible for a movie franchise to go; over 50 years and still going.

So they can either go back and redo the rest of the books Casino Royale style, following Fleming's original storyline and ideas closely (which is good for a couple decades of movies),

Or they can chuck it all and make it meta: "well its just a role, a title, and we've had many people in that position over the years" Then they can make any story they want.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (KZzsI)

472 464 Also: The Keitel character isn't impossibly young. He's the right age for the role. A kid fucking somebody up for fucking around with his friends, trying to figure shit out.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (Uh2oA)

=========

He looks like a baby.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (LvTSG)

473 Eventually Bond will be played by a carrot.

Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (L2ZTs)

474 maybe the next 'Bond' will be gay or a tranny
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (iTXRQ

In real life it would probably be necessary.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (2DOZq)

475 I'm not talking about the actor changing. I'm talking about the fictional character being changed from what was written by Fleming.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (uxJPn)

At that point you're just doing The Kingsmen.

Posted by: Buzzion at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (zd+V8)

476 471 Or they can chuck it all and make it meta: "well its just a role, a title, and we've had many people in that position over the years" Then they can make any story they want.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (KZzsI)

=========

I've always liked the idea of them taking it period, but the producers are obsessed with advanced gadgets so it'll never happen.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 10:03 PM (LvTSG)

477 Oh, that reminds me. Watched 'The Rapture' with the wife last night. For a zero budget movie, it's ok. Not enough conflict and the conversion of Mimi Rogers wasn't given enough time. But it treated both Christianity, Faith and The Rapture seriously, which is freaking rare. Hard to believe the same guy also wrote 'Deep Impact' and 'The Player'.

Also Mimi has impossibly great tits.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 10:03 PM (uxJPn)

478 hey there's an ONT

Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 10:04 PM (iTXRQ)

479 maybe the next 'Bond' will be gay or a tranny
Posted by: DB- just DB at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (iTXRQ

The remake of Octopussy should be a hoot.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 27, 2021 10:04 PM (Y20wq)

480 I'll settle the Bond thing. It should be Gina Carano. More masculine than the last few.

Posted by: JROD at March 27, 2021 10:04 PM (0jZnq)

481 Also Mimi has impossibly great tits.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, shotguns solve problems at March 27, 2021 10:03 PM (uxJPn)

One of Cruise's best beards.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 10:04 PM (2DOZq)

482 The Rapture is a great movie, and not only for Mimi's cruise missile nose cones.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2021 10:05 PM (i4CI5)

483 I've always liked the idea of them taking it period, but the producers are obsessed with advanced gadgets so it'll never happen

That's what I personally would do were I in charge. And I'd make them more gritty and serious movies. The Bond books are witty and has Fleming's sense of humor, but its serious business in a dangerous and deadly world.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 10:05 PM (KZzsI)

484 He looks like a baby.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, now with mutant superpowers at March 27, 2021 10:02 PM (LvTSG)

-------

Didn't we all?

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 27, 2021 10:05 PM (Uh2oA)

485 I thought Pierce Brosnan was really good in Seraphim Falls with Liam Neeson. I like survival films.

Posted by: dartist at March 27, 2021 10:08 PM (+ya+t)

486 >>A lot of people gave him newfound respect after the film, The Matador.

Yes, Brosnan was great in that.

I thought he would be a good Bond, but a few of them were just too silly? There was one where he surfs a huge wave on a car door after the ice hotel he was in melts. . . or something? Even for Bond it was ridiculous.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2021 10:08 PM (bDqIh)

487 I think the fascination with mob movies has to do with the secrecy that surrounds their activities. In that regard,, it's like underground movements -- or -- I'll say it -- "Hogan's Heroes." A guy disappears and is found two weeks later in a car trunk; a bridge is bombed. Every time, the question: How did that happen?

Mob activities seem so banal. It's a lifetime job, not "pull a big score and retire." And only a few guys hit it big.

Where is organized crime really glorified? 1970s TV. The "Syndicate" consists of bosses in mansions and professional hit men who pop on the scene, pop their quarry, and pop out. Never any middle managers.

From what I've read, there are no "professional killers." A shlub is told to knock off somebody. He recruits other shrubs for the job, and sometimes, they screw it up.

When a hit is solved and the details are made public, the mystery is how that ever was a mystery.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 10:08 PM (pa0Tm)

488 463 Posted by: qdpsteve at March 27, 2021 09:59 PM (L2ZT

Just the opposite. It was very serious.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 27, 2021 10:00 PM (2DOZq)

Also evil wins.
Wins in the second one as well.
Third has a lot of uncomfortable ideas presented as to when God will step in while Satan (or his son) is running amuck as well.

Posted by: Bete at March 27, 2021 10:09 PM (Ojki1)

489 I've always liked the idea of them taking it period, but the producers are obsessed with advanced gadgets so it'll never happen

***

Sadly it has nothing to do with the gadgets or storytelling. It has everything to do with new automobile manufacturers' releases, watches, sunglasses, raincoats, and other advertising and product placement.

The story is just the vessel (excuse?) for those things.

Posted by: Lysenko - Click here for COVID vaccination document, print on card stock at March 27, 2021 10:10 PM (hsOar)

490 here was one where he surfs a huge wave on a car door after the ice hotel he was in melts. . . or something? Even for Bond it was ridiculous.

That was his last Bond film and other than the pre-credits section was godawful in a way not seen since Moonraker.

From what I've read, there are no "professional killers." A shlub is told to knock off somebody. He recruits other shrubs for the job, and sometimes, they screw it up.

There were a few originally with Murder, Inc, like three or four really top-end hitters, but those guys eventually got killed, caught, or flipped and there was never an elite cadre to replace them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 27, 2021 10:10 PM (KZzsI)

491 The next Bond should be a Chinese woman.

Queen Latifah. Oh. wait? She's booked?

Posted by: Shooter McGavin at March 27, 2021 10:10 PM (hlKab)

492 "shlub," not "shrub"!

This confounded phone kept fouling up my typing. The previous post took more than half an hour.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 10:12 PM (pa0Tm)

493 "Even before he was cast, I always saw Pierce Bronson as Bond."
"I guess I wouldn't make a good casting agent.A lot of people never took him seriously for some reason."

They tried to do it right at the time the TV to movie snobbery was at it's height.

Posted by: lowandslow at March 27, 2021 10:15 PM (4thlk)

494 This was a good thread. Thanks for a couple of hours, TJM!

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2021 10:15 PM (kTF2Z)

495 LOL. I agree. Gina Cararo SHOULD be Jamie Bond.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 10:18 PM (2BZBZ)

496 Because he was Remington Steele.

Btw, whatever happened to Stephanie Zimbalist?

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 27, 2021 10:20 PM (2BZBZ)

497 I liked "Remington Steele"!

First season, anyway. I abandoned the show when Doris Roberts came aboard. (No disrespect to Ms. Roberts, who was great in "Angie." Yeah, I'm 29.)

Then I graduated and had to give up nighttime TV.

I thought Brosnan was great in "Steele," but I never could see him as Bond. Too Irish.

I may have seen one Brosnan Bond.

I have more to say on Bond, but it's more appropriate for the Book Thread.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 10:48 PM (3L1VV)

498 Correction: A Christopher Nolan movie is a wannabe Stanley Kubrick movie but with wider mass appeal.

Posted by: Dagwood at March 27, 2021 10:57 PM (K3bk4)

499 So now two hours into Justice League. So slooooow, but way better.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at March 27, 2021 10:58 PM (yQpMk)

500 Meant to quit the thread, but I looked up Stephanie Zimbalist on IMDB.

Wow, she's stayed busy, in film, TV, and stage.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 27, 2021 11:04 PM (2r3P8)

501 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWA5BNIz7dM

Cross and the Switchblade (1970) | Full Movie

Posted by: Corner Stone at March 27, 2021 11:12 PM (+BbRO)

502 Rush is a fine racing movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Follow it up with Ford vs. Ferrari and you have a pretty good racing movie double feature. (As modern racing movies goes. Hard to beat Grand Prix and LeMans).
Posted by: Puddleglum at March 27, 2021 09:45 PM (QTx2x)

Umm...LeMans was awful. Great racing scenes but no plot whatsoever. Grand Prix is probably the best racing movie made IMHO. So add The Gumball Rally to the list already mentioned and that is near "car-guy" movie perfection.

Posted by: WinLinBSDAdmin at March 28, 2021 12:10 AM (0jT23)

503 The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (195

The lady the film was based on.

Gladys Aylward: The Small Woman With A Great God (2010) | Full Movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jX09pOlolE

Posted by: Corner Stone at March 28, 2021 01:20 AM (+BbRO)

504 Another vote for the newer Midway here. I have seen many people pick and complain about tiny historical misses right down to the formation of Japanese ships. I thought it was the best visual movie I have ever seen...it's a movie! The original Midway had to use film and planes on a mission would change TYPES while cutting between flying and cockpit shots. It really does help to know the history when you see it as it moves really fast and covers a lot. I thought the depiction of the conflict prewar between the Japanese admirals and generals was brilliant. And they did a great job showing how Pearl Harbor was truly personal for the early war Navy, which was much smaller so most of the officers lost personal friends. The real Dick Best certainly didn't have the personality of the movie Dick Best, once again though it's a movie and I love the end where they morph the pics of the actors into the pics of the real people and tell you what happened to them. I hope the movie ended up making enough that perhaps the same production team gets to do Leyte Gulf someday.

Posted by: azjaeger at March 28, 2021 01:53 AM (3/XaG)

505 Really appreciate your overview of Scorsese's body of work. Can't help but wish you would have said more about Silence, though. While I adore the book, I can't help but feel the movie fails because Scorsese can't sympathize with the plight of Rodriguez, whose breakdown under psychological torture is presented entirely too clinically.

Posted by: Ernst Schreiber at March 28, 2021 02:20 AM (GA8EQ)

506 very late to this thread, sorry. but FYI my dad knew Scorsese slightly. He said Marty was a sickly kid, didn't hang out much, and his dad took him to movies all the time to get him out of the apartment.

Posted by: vivi at March 28, 2021 10:22 AM (USW1s)

Processing 0.08, elapsed 0.0974 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0277 seconds, 515 records returned.
Page size 292 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.