DWilson

Annihilation Paramount 4K
Natalie Portman. Directed by Alex Garland. 2018
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don't apply.

"Annihilation" is an off-putting and occasionally obscure SF/Horror film that reminded me a lot of Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival". The film takes an Adult approach to its story and doesn't feel the need to give its characters smart-ass banter to make the audience more comfortable. At times, though, the film is deliberately confusing and more interested in creating an unsettling mood than providing answers. The picture quality of Paramount's disc is quite good.

DWilson

The Killer Elite Twilight Time Blu-Ray
James Caan, Robert Duvall. Directed by Sam Peckinpah. 1975
Mike Locken is one of the principal members of a group of freelance spies, and while he's on a case for the CIA, one of his friends turns on him and shoots him in the elbow and knee. He is nearly crippled, but with braces is able to become mobile again. For revenge as much as anything else, Mike takes an assignment that sends him after his ex-friend.

"The Killer Elite" is a lesser-regarded Sam Peckinpah film, but I was entertained by it, despite its flaws. The first hour is a slower-paced "Rehabilitation Drama" as James Caan struggles to overcome his physical disabilities, while the second half of the film becomes a conventional Action Thriller. Unfortunately, for a film that deals with Martial Arts and Ninja Assassins, there's damn little of either and neither is given a lot of respect. I mean, this is a film where "Loveable Mook" Burt Young (of "Rocky") is able to rough up a skilled ninja. However, in addition to James Caan and Robert Duvall, you have a great supporting cast including Bo Hopkins, Arthur Hill, Gig Young and Mako, and all of them definitely carry the picture.

OldBoy

Weird: the Al Yankovic Story…just a fun movie all the way around Radcliffe was perfect if not a little too buff for the role. The man was chiseled.

The Sting…classic. Their pairing in this and Sundance were just magical. Redford and Newman had great chemistry.

Cellar Door

Sukiyaki Western Django - a tribute to spaghetti westerns, with an all Japanese cast (except for the terrible Tarantino scenes). It's okay, but it's just one cliche after another.

Mike86

Reservoir Dogs- watched the Blu-ray last night. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched it. Still a solid movie and a good debut from Tarantino.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)- saw the re-release in the theater tonight. I didn’t watch any of them in theaters until a few years back. I’ve now seen both cuts of The Fellowship of the Ring in the theater.

JeffTheAlpaca

Hulu

Looking at Nicky Whelan was the only entertainment

DWilson

Lawrence of Arabia Sony 4K
Peter O'Toole. Directed by David Lean. 1962
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

I've had this disc for a while, but I just got around to watching it. It's a daunting task to watch "Lawrence of Arabia", -it's a Classic and it's damn near four hours long. Honestly, I'm wondering now if I ever watched it all the way through before, -there's an awful lot that I didn't remember.

It's a powerful film, a genuine Epic that's amazing in its scale and yet very focused on Lawrence and his spiritual evolution. The 4K presentation is a real stunner.

DWilson

Ennio TCM
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. 2021
A documentary on the life and art of legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.

Excellent tribute to Ennio Morricone, beginning with his life as a young musical prodigy and then following his transition to film composer, featuring story after story of the creation of some of the greatest film scores ever. It's a long documentary and it's mostly subtitled, but it's filled with lush, beautiful music, as well as interviews with a lot of the directors he worked with. Ennio was an amazing talent, and the stories of his compositions and how they evolved are fascinating. As I watched the film it was surprising how many of the tunes I recognized from being sampled in commercials.

DWilson

In The Land of Saints and Sinners Samuel Goldwyn Films
Liam Neeson. Directed by Robert Lorenz. 2023
Passing a quiet existence in a small Irish village, World War II veteran and widower Finbar Murphy leads a double life as a hitman working for an underworld boss, but "The Troubles" in Ireland have come to his town and pull him back into the world of vigilante justice.

It's nice to see Liam Neeson on his home turf, working with old pal Ciarin Hinds (both worked together in "Excalibur", and off-screen both competed for co-star Helen Mirren), as well as other Irish actors including Colm Meany and Kerry Condon. Unfortunately, the film meanders and frustrates for the first two acts, but eventually picks up some much-needed tension in the final third. Though it's a sincere effort, I really can't recommend it.

Mike86

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)- night two of the extended trilogy marathon. I’ve only seen the first two movies (and all three movies in The Hobbit trilogy).

My second time seeing The Two Towers. I like it pretty well. Feels a bit like there’s a lot of setup to get to the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but there is some cool stuff along the way.

I’m excited to see Return of the King tomorrow. Especially since I get to experience it the first time on the big screen.

TheMovieman

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) — Not great but ultimately satisfying, if not mindless, sci-fi actioner and addition to the Monsterverse. There was never a moment I was bored so that has a one-up over the previous film, Godzilla vs. Kong, and they kept the human actors to a minimum with only four characters taking focus. The visual effects were passable enough and I did like the continued characterization given to Kong and to some extent, Godzilla. In the end, it's an entertaining time-waster and doesn't overstay its welcome showing you these movies can be under two hours. ***¼/***** (4K Ultra HD)

DWilson

Intruder Synapse Films Blu-Ray
Liz Kern. Directed by Scott Spiegel. 1989
The overnight stock crew of a local supermarket find themselves being stalked and slashed by a mysterious maniac.

A fairly typical low-budget "80s Slasher Film that doesn't add anything new to the genre, but it's more than competently directed and very watchable for fans of this kind of film. KNB provides the make-up effects, which become increasingly gruesome and inventive as the film rolls along. Synapse provides a nice package for "Intruder" that really enhanced my appreciation of the film.

JeffTheAlpaca

There is a regular 4K release that is not a Steelbook?

That must be hard to find since it is not for sale at Amazon.

JeffTheAlpaca

Netflix

2017

"Matt Ocre, (Nicholas Hoult) a young soldier in the United States Army, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is inspired by Roessner's experience as a soldier in the Iraq War"

I never heard of this or even knew it existed

It was not bad and Glen Powell is getting a lot of buzz lately and he had a small role in this as this ultra tough macho army dude and Henry Cavill with a Southern accent.

Nice to hear "Roots Bloody Roots" by Sepultura in the soundtrack.

DWilson

This was part of the Columbia Classics Collection Volume 1.

DWilson

Founders Day MPI
William Russ. Directed by Erik Bloomquist. 2023
A small town is shaken by a series of ominous killings in the days leading up to a heated mayoral election.

Superficially, "Founders Day" feels a lot like "Thanksgiving" from last Fall. They are both Slasher Films set in a small town, but "Thanksgiving" was a bit more tongue-in-cheek, while "Founders Day" is more sincere than I expected. First up, "Founders Day" is a good-looking film despite its obvious low budget. The first hour works well, but the story eventually becomes so convoluted that it takes a good ten minutes of exposition to sort out the "Who Dunnit" and how they did it. I liked where the story ended up, -the film at least appears to have something on its mind, -but the getting there is occasionally confusing.

DWilson

Blueberry Samuel Goldwyn Films Blu-Ray
Vincent Cassel. Directed by Jan Kounen. 2004
In 1870, after a brutal run-in with an outlaw in a brothel, Mike Blueberry becomes marshal in Arizona where he keeps the peace between whites and Apaches, but an influx of gold-hunters threatens to lead to violence.

Honestly, I barely remember seeing this on DVD 18 years ago under the title "Renegade". I was anxious to watch it because it (loosely) adapted the renowned Western comics series drawn by legendary French Comics artist Jean Giraud aka "Moebius". Re-visiting the film, I realize why I had forgotten so much of it.

I generally enjoy seeing Vincent Cassel, but here he's badly miscast as lawman Mike Blueberry; in the film, Blueberry is from Louisianna, thus explaining his very French persona. It's a great cast, otherwise, with Michael Madsen, Colm Meany, Djimon Hounsou, Ernest Borgnine, Geoffery Lewis, and his daughter Juliette Lewis. Sadly, while they lend the film some texture, other than Juliette, they're not given much to do.

It's filled with arty, hallucinatory scenes that add nothing to the narrative. There are several lengthy scenes in French or Apache (I'm assuming) that are not subtitled. It's an awful film, and damn near unwatchable.

Cellar Door

Needed something fun so I rewatched Top Gun: Maverick

Vipper II

The more I watch this movie the harder I kick myself for completely writing it off and not seeing it in the theaters.

DWilson

No One Will Save You Hulu via Disney+ 4K
Kaitlyn Dever. Directed by Brian Duffield. 2023
An isolated young woman, living apart from her community because of a past trauma, finds her home invaded by alien beings.

I tried watching this when it first dropped last Fall. Unfortunately, I fell asleep about ten minutes in (not the movie's fault), but I knew I'd get back to it one day.

A good, efficient SF/Horror film. Even though the gimmick is that there's only maybe three words of dialogue, it all flowed very naturally. Kaitlyn Dever gives an excellent physical and emotional performance and Brian Duffield squeezes a lot of tension out of his CGI "Grays". I watched it in 4K on Disney+, and as always, the HDR on the dark scenes was muddier than the 4K on other services. After it was over, I did some comparisons to the HD stream on Hulu, and the dark scenes were somewhat brightened but better detailed, and I kind of wished I had watched it there.

gerrythedon

Go this last week, companion to Criterion Edition I already have.

JeffTheAlpaca

2023

Netflix

Nothing really original here and full of cliches

Maybe since I am old I have seen these movies before and if I was a kid I might have liked it.

It was a nice story based on a real life.

DWilson

Grand Piano Magnolia Pictures Blu-Ray
Elijah Wood. Directed by Eugenio Mira. 2013
A pianist with stage fright endures a performance under the eyes of a mysterious sniper, who will shoot and kill him if a wrong note is played.

The filmmakers make an interesting choice that won't work for the impatient, -the first 25 minutes of the film are a fairly straightforward, routinely filmed building Elijah Wood's character and the situation he finds himself in. Not a hint of danger, except for the pianist's crippling self-doubt. At about 25 minutes in, the film suddenly becomes a tense "Real Time" Thriller with a lot of flashy camera moves and breathless pacing. The script was written by Damien Chazelle (Writer/Director of "LaLa Land") and it certainly feels like he's seen his fair share of Brian DePalma films. Like many of those films, the villain's motive, -what he's after, - is not as clear or important as the threat he represents. You can call "Grand Piano" contrived, perhaps even ridiculous, but for the most part it works. It's a short film, -90 minutes, and ten of those are credits.

OldBoy

St. Elmo’s Fire…great Brat pack coming of age drama.

And, now The Breakfast Club.

DWilson

Inside Out Disney 4K
Amy Poehler. Directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen. 2015
After young Riley is uprooted from her life in Minnesota and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.

With "Inside Out 2" being released Thursday, I thought I should re-visit the original. I was surprised to find that while I remembered the characters, I had forgotten a lot of the story.
Pixar made a terrific film. It's both clever and at times genuinely touching. It's a great-looking disc and the 4K really highlights the colors and gives the animation a more tactile quality than the blu-ray. Charming score by Michael Giacchino.