rogerrobert69

Viva Cuba (2005)

Feels more like a special order from the communist party than a proper film. Although not badly done, there are too much little "we love Fidel", "Cuba is great' moments to make it heart warming. The kids are also not spectacularly charismatic. Cutesy but one can live without it.

rogerrobert69

A Second Chance (2014)

Danish Susanne Bier is one of the most consistently interesting filmakers of this era I think. Here Jamie Lannister the Kingslayer stars as a cop who after personal drama strikes his little family will commit a senseless (but seemingly intelligent) act which will unravel a series of disastrous events. Sad and heavy but masterfully built.

inri222

Maybe I have to see more of her films.
I liked Brothers, but hated In a Better World and Serena.

rogerrobert69

After the Wedding is good too. But it's all a question of tastes really....

rogerrobert69

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Found this Herzog doc a bit boring. Plus his strong accent doesn't make for a very pleasing narration. I visited Lascaux (well, the "film set" version since the real cave is now sealed to the public) so all this info about another similar cave was a bit redundant for me. Though the bones and some of the paintings are quite impressive, the minute details of the film are just too much for my liking. Would have made a great short subject.

rogerrobert69

Ultraman Gaia: Battle in Hyperspace (1998)

I didn't know there was more than one Ultraman. Here Gaia is joined by two fellows to battle monsters from space. Japanese kids' cheese. I read on wiki that Ultraman is really big in Japan and that in the 90s it was one of the biggest seller of side products like dolls, posters, tshirts etc.

rogerrobert69

Escape Room (2017)

I was really surprised when I found this in my local library since I thought it was still in the theaters and was doing ok. But of course it's a different movie with the same title (and same premisse I assume). This one was rather stupid and not scary nor interesting.

rogerrobert69

Astérix et le secret de la potion magique (2018)

Not very good new entry in the classic 'Astérix' universe. Since the death of main creator René Goscinny (who ironically had a stroke while having a check up at his cardiologist!), decades ago, all the best films were the ones adapting existing stories. When they try and write new material within the same framework, as it is the case here,* it never works too well. Well, kids in the theater seemed to like it so that's enough I guess.

rogerrobert69

Re-Cycle (2006)

Bizarre and watchable (but not much more) story of writer stuck in 'ghost world' where all the characters artists create and then erase during the creative process en up. From the Pang Brothers (of The Eye fame).

rogerrobert69

Rush Hour 1 & 2 (1998 & 2001)

I'm sorry to say that Chris Tucker didn't bring anything to these films. It would have been a regular Jackie Chan thing if (I guess) the Hong Kong producers didn't need a big american name to sell the idea to the Hollywood studios and shoot it in the US.

rogerrobert69

Death Wish 2 (1982)

Motre awful acting from vigilante Bronson. I remembered just the one scene from seing it in the 80s where his daughter dies impaled on a fence. I guess it's because it really did happen in real life to austrian actress Romy Schneider's kid at roughly the same time.

Goonies85

Finally got around to watching the DVD of Jean-Pierre Melvilles Le flic. While the image quality of the DVD wss pretty abysmal, the storyline is just enormously compelling. Basically a heist movie with some amazingly entertaining heist sequences. The music was also pretty subtle, but good, and I've always like Alain Delon, and movie is no exception (my favourite role of his remains the incomparable Le smourai, but I also thought Richard Crenna was great in this (I think he playing Rambo's former commander in First Blood. It also helps that the length of the movie is perfect; it doesn't overstay its welcome. Highly, highly recommend. The other two best movie Melville did (although almost all his films are well-worth watching) were Le circle rouge and Army of Shadows​​​​​​​.

inri222

I remember watching this one about 2 years ago. It has an interesting premise and some strong visuals, but the execution is not good.

Norm de Plume

I watched Rust Creek, a fairly blah and implausible woman-in-peril item.

Hstrybuff1

From Here to Eternity (1953)

James Jones' debut novel, based on his experiences while serving at Oahu's Schofield Barracks in the days before the Pearl Harbor attack won the US National Book Award for Fiction. The B&W film adaptation directed by Fred Zinnemann was also well received, garnering 8 Oscars including Best Picture and a Best Actor for Frank Sinatra (which apparently revived his career). Unlike many American films of that era this one does not have the proverbial happy ending.

JimRochester

I was a little surprised I didn't like this more. Levi was great. The ending redeemed it. But the kid was a douche, his brother was a bit douchy and his mom was a douche. Then add the villain and the bully and there just a few too many unlikeable characters. Probably B-

Hstrybuff1

The Thin Red Line (1998)

James Jones' second novel in his From Here to Eternity trilogy was based on his experience in the 6-month Battle of Guadalcanal, the Allies' first major offensive against the Japanese Empire, which cost the lives of 7,000+ Allied and 19,000+ Japanese servicemen. Saw this on DVD years ago and imo the film looks and sounds even better on blu. Liked the way director Terrence Malick juxtaposes scenes of the beauty & serenity of nature with scenes of the carnage happening nearby.

Has anyone seen the 1964 version directed by Andrew Marton? Worthwhile?

JeffTheAlpaca

It premiered on HBO last weekend

It has Ashton Sanders from Moonlight, Bill Camp, and Nick Robinson (Love, Simon).

JeffTheAlpaca

The first time I saw it I was impressed (Maybe it was a hot day or I was expecting his usual brand of humor?) but the second time I loved it.

I wonder how he survived living outdoors in the AZ heat?

His character might be me in the future

asianxcore

Dragged Across Concrete (2019)

Oddly enough, I enjoyed this film a bit more than S. Craig Zahler's previous film, even with all of its incredibly awkward stereotyping.

Goonies85

I LOVED this movie. I think it was based on a Raymond Carver story...

rogerrobert69

Black Mass (2015)

Pretty straightforward and unimaginatively directed biopic of 70s/80s Boston Irish criminal lord. Interesting story and watchable film in the genre. Johnny Depp was scary with his lenses and bald cap.

rogerrobert69

Mother of Mine (2005)

Fine dramatic finno-swede film about "war kids" who were finnish children placed in the safety of swedish families during WW2's invasion of Finland by the Red Army and then Nazi Germany. We follow the story of one such boy who years later confronts his mother for having left him there longer than necessary. Nice exotic and historic drama.

rogerrobert69

Alita, Battle Angel (2019)

Teen-oriented manga story. Nice sets but pretty thin script with unresolved conflict at the end ("sequel sequel what have ye done")

rogerrobert69

Westworld S1 (2017)

Although a big scifi fan, I always find TV series to drag on and on. I said this before, I always feel that there's only so much interesting material story-wise in the whole thing but they need to stretch this 13 episodes (or 10) and even more for othjer seasons so they fill all that "character develpment" which a lot of the time feels like and expensively disguised 'soap' to me. I know TV is more popular than cinema these days but I still think the later is a better form of storytelling.
Not that WW S1 was bad. I quite enjoyed it, but it would have been a perfect 3-4 hours film or mini-series. Instead it dragged on with numerous subplots for 10 episodes. Granted we get to see more of Thandie Newton naked but is it worth the extra 6-7 hours?