dom56

Halloween (2018) - Meh, didn't think this was very good. Jamie Lee Curtis was pretty annoying. I always prefer the original classic. 2/5

JeffTheAlpaca

TheMovieman

Sister Street Fighter (1974) — Okay spin-off with some good action and Etsuko Shihomi was nice in the lead for all four movies, also nice to see Sonny Chiba albeit in a small role (and not playing Tsurugi). Still entertaining enough. 3.5/5

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (1974) — This sequel was alright with some decent fight scenes and Etsuko Shihomi held her own. 3.0/5

The Return of the Sister Street Fighter (1975) — This third entry had some okay moments but, and maybe I was just tired, but found this one to be a bit on the dull side. 2.5/5

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (1976) — This "fourth" movie is a sequel in-name-only though Etsuko Shihomi is still the lead, just playing a character with a different name. Guess I can understand, how many more times does she need to go from Hong Kong to Japan to find a missing girl? 3.0/5

Hstrybuff1

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Couldn't get into this low-budget film about a bayou child trying to come to terms with her world. Was nominated for 4 Oscars, including the youngest ever Best Actor nominee (then 9-year-old Quenzhané Wallis) so perhaps I need to re-watch someday.
*

Hstrybuff1

The Florida Project (2017)

Smiled frequently at the "adventures" and precocious behavior of the 6-year-olds living in a motel somewhere near Disney World, but not one I'd re-watch. Some insights into the lives of people living on the fringes of society who are one weekly rent payment away from homelessness. One thing that struck me was the very different attitudes of the mothers whose children set fire to an abandoned townhouse project: the troubled demeanor of the one who was trying to make ends meet by waitressing at a pancake house vs. the flippant attitude of the other who was turning tricks and engaging in cons -- wondered if that might portend some differences in how the children turn out as adults.

Hstrybuff1

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Film was nominated for 10 Oscars (winning two) but didn't care for it when I first saw it on video and still don't. Perhaps as suggested in the notes of this Digibook edition the film's popularity was partly due to the anti-establishment views in vogue at the time it was released. Liked the History Channel doc about the real Bonnie & Clyde that's included on the disc more than the film.

Hstrybuff1

Yes, Cousteau and engineer Émile Gagnan invented the device for regulating pressurized air supply and patented it way back in 1945. The Aqua-Lung trademark was used when selling the product in English speaking countries. Apparently Gagnan and his family emigrated to Montréal in 1947 where Gagnan continued to engineer, prototype, and patent various pieces of SCUBA gear.

Is the film you mentioned perhaps l'odyssée (2016), the biopic of Jacques Cousteau's life? If so, that was apparently only released with French audio and likely didn't play here. Hopefully someday I'll come across the DVD (avec sous-titres anglais!).

Hstrybuff1

Headhunters (2011)
I once commented that Trainspotting's "Worst Toilet in Scotland" scene was one of the grossest I'd come across. A scene in this one had me repeating "Oh Yuck!" for almost as long.

According to imdb trivia Summit Entertainment bought the rights to produce an American remake even before the original was released, so we may see a remake someday.

Hstrybuff1

Cosmopolis (2012)
Will have to check out Dangerous Method and Map to the Stars someday. Thx for mentioning those.

The lovely Patrica McKenzie (born in les Îles-de-la-Madeleine) has a short semi-nude scene. Worthwhile checking that out imo.

JeffTheAlpaca

Dafoe should have gotten a Oscar for that.

JeffTheAlpaca

TheMovieman

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) — Ultra dull but I guess harmless follow-up to the classic... which I have not seen in ages and thus don't really hold all that dear to my heart. Emily Blunt was fine though oddly the Poppins role didn't seem very well fleshed out. Maybe if I had recently seen the original I might've had some connection with this but I found it at times boring and even the songs were rather bland and forgettable, with musical numbers that seemed too long. 2.5/5

inri222

Blade Runner 2049 - 4/5

Continue doing what you do Denis Villeneuve.

Norm de Plume

Let's hope not. The original was good. A watered-down, dumbed-down Hollywood remake is not desired.


I saw Desierto (2015) a couple of nights ago, which is much more relevant now than when it was made. It's an economical thriller about Mexican border-crossers being stalked by a psychopathic American redneck. It doesn't have much at all to say politically, though its sympathies clearly lie with the desperate illegals. It's just a fine, but basic and predictable, desert-set thriller.

dom56

Excellent film on a true story. It like a cross between Bad News Bears and Karate Kid. I thought the little girl on the team stole the movie. 4..5/5

rogerrobert69

L'immeuble Yacoubian (2006)
Interesting and strange Egyptian film. Tells the modern-day stories of the residents of a once-prestigious Cairo appartment building (including the poorer residents living on the rooftop in what were once storage shacks for the tennants). Interesting interweaving of stories and the various fauna living in the building. Nice to see a modern-day arab film adressing issues like political corruption, infidelity, homosexuality, terrorism, etc.
Sometimes plays a bit like a soap opera but still a good insight into the various facets of modern day Egypt. I read somewhere it was so successful that they turned it into a TV series. But they lost the 'gay' characters for censorship reasons. So, modern Cairo, but still a ways to go!

rogerrobert69

Nope. It's a documentary released this year. My father saw it on the big screen and sais it was fabulous. The biopic that was released a couple of years ago was so-so critics said. I'm still curious to see it if I ever get my hands on a copy.If I do,* I'll let you know if it has english s-t. I'll try and find the link to the recent Cousteau documenatry (by his grand-son I would think).



*

rogerrobert69

Stand by Me (1986)

My choice for this month's Ciné-Club at my son's school. I didn't remember that there's almost no action in this one. It's just mostly 4 kids talking and being friends. I thought the students I showed it to were going to leave (some did) but I was surprised to see that most came back for the second part on the next day's lunc break. Beautiful story about friendship. Very straightforward but nice writing and efficient directing.

Which brings me to this: does anyone have suggestions for films I could show the students at lunch for my next sessions? I have quite a number of criteria though that makes it hard to find suitable candidates for the Ciné-Club. But I'm curius to hear your ideas if you ever want to write me.

Criterias:
1- Must have a cinematographic/artistic value and a minimal social content
2- Must be under 110 minutes (It's hard to get kids on threee consecutive lunch breaks, they always have other activities) So Sergio Leone films are OUT!
3- Must not be a blockbuster nor easy entertainment that they are likely to have seen (Avengers are OUT!). Must pique the teens' curiosity a bit.
4- Must be accessible to all kinds of cinema-goers. These are young people without* necesarily great film experience. They can be a bit challenging but not oscure even if they are classics. So Bergman and Tarkovsky are OUT!
5- Kids are 12-17, with more younger ones than 16-17 ones.

There are a lot of kids from haitian families so it would be nice to have a film with some black heroes or characters. All the classics about Luther King or Mandela or Glory are all too long though. Also I show them in french and when the film is set in a street talking 'hood' the french (from bloody France) slang translation is awful. Watching Stand by Me in french from France irritated me almost throughout. It doesn't work as French kids have a different lingo than Québécois kids. For you guys it would be like watching 'Boys 'n' the Hood' or 'Mean Streets' dubbed in London Cockney! It just wouldn't work.
So any ideas are welcome.
*

rogerrobert69

To conclude. So far this year I've shown:

Psycho, Run Lola Run, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Planet of the Apes, Stand by Me, Edward Scissorhands.

TheMovieman

Man on a Ledge (2012) — Doesn't make a whole lot of sense at times (not sure how an inmate could get away with having explosive schematics in his cell) but still somewhat entertaining overall. 3.25/5

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) — Half baked crime-thriller from Ridley Scott where the two leads really didn't share very much chemistry, thus I couldn't have cared less about either one of them. Lorraine Bracco at least was decent. 2.5/5

JeffTheAlpaca

The 4K Blu-ray has better artwork.


It was ok but way too long

JeffTheAlpaca

I remember watching that on HBO in the 80's and my mom got pissed with all the cursing at the beginning of the movie.

JeffTheAlpaca

I could maybe do his adventures for a week or two but eventually I would want to go back to civilization.

Still a good movie to own.

Emile Hirsch's career probably peaked with this role.

Hstrybuff1

Into the Wild (2007)
Loved the Jon Krakauer book and thought Sean Penn did amazing work in adapting it to film -- so many of the scenes were as I had visualized while reading.
Was surprised by Emile Hirsch'e strong resemblance to photos of Christopher McCandless.

Hstrybuff1

Love the film. Nice to read that big city kids were able to relate to a story of friendship among 4 small town kids in a 1950s setting.

If you'd like to spur some reading along with film, 'Stand by Me' is based on a Stephen King novella (The Body) in his 1986 book Différent Saisons. Two other novellas in the book were also adapted to film: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil.