rexinnih

American Sniper

Paul_SD

Rebel Without a Cause from


Dated to the point of almost being a fantasy set in another dimension. But at the same time, there are definitely some bits of business that are not only timeless, but relevant to more than just angst-ridden teenagers. And beyond all that, Dean remains magnetic to watch.
The massive $125 Laserdisc boxed set was one of my favorite releases on that format. Everything associated with this set soundly trumped that at less than half the price (retail). That's why you'll rarely see me complaining about prices with this stuff.

rexinnih

Blackhat

Paul_SD

Steered clear of this fill up till now because it looked like it was going to be stupid dumb in a tedious way.
It turns out it is dumb of course, but in a great and very entertaining way . The only time the film slipped for me and stopped being fun was in the extended dirt bike/ cop cars chase which goes on for what seems like 15 minutes. Other than that I was honestly a little impressed.



Another bad movie that I found sufficiently entertaining in a very lowered expectations way. Connery is always fun to watch and the rest of the performers give it a good effort, especially Brian Keith. Hampered by a relatively lower budget which translates into a lot of dodgey optical composites, I would still watch this again any day over Armageddon or even Deep Impact.



"cow flesh, girl flesh, it's all the same to me. What they're buying, I'm selling"
My favorite 70's gangster film (yes, even over Godfathers and Mean Streets) and one of my favorite 70's films in general. Supremely unique take on the genre, transplanting an enforcer showdown from the usual urban backdrop to a middle America of county fairs, fields of wheat, and slaughter houses.
Sounds like the upcoming US disc will look very similar to this German one, which for the most part looks excellent. I do like key art used on the Kino cover much better though.

JimRochester

2.5/5

hanshotfirst1138

I am really, really getting spoiled by current Blu-rays and now take lossless audio as a given. 128 KBPS? Really? What is this DVD . That aside, the it does at least look great-the VistaVision cinematography is pretty stunning after all of these years, and the increased resolution really shows in high def, though apparently there's some controversy about the coloring.

JimRochester

Crazy over the top cartoon violence. Saw it in the theater and my son got it for me for my birthday and father's day

PhantomStranger

The Pyramid

It's not a movie made for repeat viewing but I liked it enough given the state of R-rated Hollywood horror these days. Surprisingly tame with the gore for an R-rated feature. Without giving anything away, they would have been much better off going with practical effects for one character instead of CGI.

JeffTheAlpaca

I have that set but I have not opened it yet.

The Cobbler. It started out ok but then lost interest when Method Man and his crew became one of the primary characters in the story.


The Loft. Lame. Karl Urban would fit right in perfectly on a CW series or Lifetime movie. The guy can't act.

Ghostbusters II

rexinnih

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

JeffTheAlpaca

Welcome to Me

OldBoy

Avatar 3D...fantastic, but still the magic from the theater is lost, slightly, with home theater.

JeffTheAlpaca

Still don't understand how Avatar become one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

It had some OK special effects but not the movie you would see over and over again.

JimRochester

I didn't see it in the theater and though the exact same thing. Probably 3D in the theater was great but as a regular presentation, the movie was unoriginal and even boring at times.

Paul_SD

You make more money selling the sizzle, not the steak. For years I remember reading about the development of it. It was getting hyped to hilt with on set quotes from people like Lucas showing up during production coverage. IIRC he said something like it was going to change cinema or that the technology Cameron was employing was mind blowing...or something like that.
I enjoyed it at the theater. One of my friends who is a big movie buff hated it and had a big list of reasons why. Never understood that. But the last time I watched it (in 3D at home) I was more disappointed in the story/characters. It's slick, but standard.

Didn't it usher in the entire new wave of 3D ( and 3D upsell ticket pricing)?

JimRochester

Not a good sign when an hour into a movie, you're checking to see how much longer until the end. And just like my wife when we have sex, you keep asking isn't it over yet? I answer "but honey, I'm in the bathroom, we haven't started yet." Then she'll reply, "I know, I'm just practicing." But I digress.

Some people like the "slow burn". For me I found it boring, miscast, and lacking chemistry. For as glad as I am that I didn't waste $9 at the movies, I'm just as pissed I wasted $3 on a rental.

rexinnih

Nightcrawler

E Unit

Let me know when this is it on blu, I'll pick this up. Probably more entertaining than Blackhat.

Actually, I liked Blackhat, I'm a fan of the slow burn. Not a great movie, and even a good Mann movie, but it was okay.

JimRochester

Really like this movie. This second viewing I got more of a sense of his PTSD. In the theater the closing scene of the funeral really got me emotional. Was surprised this viewing did it again.

rexinnih

Life of Brian - "Always look on the bright side of life (whistle, whistle, whistle)"

JeffTheAlpaca

Agree and funny how it got oscar noms too.

Blackhat was terrible. I dusted my TV and the coffee table and kept the movie on as background noise since it was so boring lol.

Hemsworth will be making direct to video movies once his run as Thor ends.

Was Collateral the last good Mann movie? Miami Vice was another boring Mann movie and Public Enemies was ok but had the potential to be pretty good with Bale and Depp.

That movie was kind of boring too.

Seventh Son.

I don't know what Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore were thinking when they agreed to do this movie.


Planet of the Apes (1968)

I still like this version the best and it is better than the 2 recent Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movies.

Maybe the should have figured out they landed on Earth since it looked like they landed near Monument Valley.

JimRochester

Can't remember how many years I've come home from fireworks and watched this movie but its been a whole lot.

JeffTheAlpaca

Focus

Entertaining but the ending seemed kind of ridiculous.

Paul_SD

Tuesday

Haven't seen any stage versions of it so I can't nit-pick director Hunt's choices as other fans do.
All I know is, I love the film and that feeling grows stronger with each viewing. Unique structure. Fun performances. Witty and ribald dialogue. This last viewing I was struck by the thematic similarities between this and 12 Angry Men. In the latter a possibly innocent boys life is on the line, whereas here it's all the angry congressmen who are potentially sticking their own necks in the noose. It was this film that made me realize that John Hancock wasn't being an egotist with his large bold signature. He was stepping out in front to be first in line for the hangman if the revolution didn't pan out.
I try to put a lot of distance between viewings of favorite movies at this stage of my life, but I could easily see making this an annual watch pre 7/4.
It seemed to be an interminable wait for this to hit Bd, but so worth it now seeing the effort Sony expended on it.

Wednesday

First time I've ever seen it. Good adventure, solid cast, staggeringly good Bd quality. Though I gotta say that the ultra fine sheen of grain has less an organic feel and more of an electronic signature on my set up. It's almost too well resolved and seems to disappear completely during optical transitions (which is when I would think it would be even more pronounced). Still, the level of fine detail on display is incredible.
Not blown away, but I did enjoy it.

Thursday

OK. Now this one turned out to be a huge, pleasant surprise to me.
It also seems to be a film that will have much more replay-ability than I expected thanks to a well cast roster of entertaining supporting players/characters. Carol Lynley was rock solid as the frantic, possibly delusional, mother- easily the best performance I've seen her give. Noel Coward is amusing as hell as a drunken, pervy letch of a landlord. And Laurence Olivier also gives one of the best, most restrained performances I've ever seen him give. He almost seems to be channeling Alastair Sim in Green For Danger.
Another brilliant A/V release from Sony via Twilight Time.


Didn't realize it had been 9 years already since I originally watched this.
Enjoyed it significantly more this second time around, after being well prepared for what a hodge podge, Frankensteined effort it is. Going in, knowing it won't be dramatically satisfying as a whole, allowed me to concentrate on things like the early Kidder scenes (I still think she was a pitch perfect Lois) and the core Brando scenes, both of which I realize now are some of my favorite Donner Supes material from both films.
Lesters film had always been a huge disappointment to me. Though it offers smoother transitions and a feeling of being more complete, I think that for me, the sparse virtues contained in the Donner cut trump just about anything Lester contributed in his finished film- save for the fairytale kiss which is weak, but still a huge step up from a second world spinning reset.

Friday

One of my favorite paranoid thrillers from my favorite paranoid thriller decade. Crichton's medical background helps him shade the casual interactions and hospital goings on in ways that feel honest and authentic which in turn really helps ratchet up the suspense. No matter how often I see it, I still find it a tense ride. Unfortunately the smart and resourceful protagonist does make a couple bonehead moves for plots sake (though TBH, Hitchcocks films were all filled with even worse glaring contrivances).
For a somewhat nondescript catalog release, I was pleasantly surprised with just how nice this one looks. I would be thrilled if most catalog could hit this basic level of quality.

Saturday

Two NYC cops come to the conclusion that the authority of their badges can easily be exploited to enrich their lives. Gritty quasi-heist movie (written by Donald Westlake) that is never laugh out loud funny, but fitfully amusing-albeit in a very cynical way.
The film looks ragged and rough. Definitely not demo material. Though it's punctuated by shots that are also near pristine so I have to assume this is exactly the way the film has always been. Worth a rental if you ever run across it.


Perfect throwback viewing to cap off a summer holiday. Stunningly attractive image, full of sharply resolved detail and a wide range of colors. Next to Cops & Robbers, this looked like it came from a 4K remaster.
Was surprised to find I didn't remember any plot points from this film from the several times I must have seen it as a kid. Now if Universal can just get around to releasing Ghost & Mr Chicken...

OldBoy

The Theory of Everything...pretty well done. not as good as i was hoping though.