Hstrybuff1

Was pleasantly surprised by that one. The place where I occasionally buy DVDs & blu-rays has a "buy 5 get 1 free" deal. I took The Next Three Days as the free one and enjoyed it more than some of the five I had selected for purchase.

Hstrybuff1

A Night to Remember (1958) 3.0/5

British film about the maiden voyage of a luxury liner from Southampton to NYC in April 1912.

(Spoiler Alert) The ship sinks with the tragic loss of thousands of bottles of premium beers, ethereal wines, and exquisite liquors as well as the lives of 123 of her 325 First Class passengers. Oh, and also 1,391 of her 1,899 Lower Class passengers and crew.

Apparently the most expensive suite for the Titanic's 7-day maiden voyage was $4,350, roughly equivalent to $115,000 today. Ah, the good ol' days.


Titanic (1997) 4.0/5

Chick flick that won 11 Academy Awards. Just kidding. A well-done James Cameron film that went badly over budget but more than recouped its costs due to its broad appeal to worldwide audiences.



Titanic (2012) 3.0/5

TV mini-series that takes viewers through to ship abandonment in the first episode and then provides more depth on some of the characters in subsequent episodes. Not great, but OK for a production subsidized by European and Canadian taxpayers.



Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) 4.0/5

Walt Disney Pictures film with some magnificent footage taken during James Cameron's & Bill Paxton's 2001 trips to the remains of the Titanic. The wreck lies at a depth of ~ 12,500 feet where water pressure is roughly 380 atmospheres, or about 5500 PSI.

Hstrybuff1

Nosferatu (1922) 4.0/5

Early German screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula directed by F.W. Murnau. Also an early case of copyright infringement - all known prints and negatives were ordered destroyed under the settlement terms of a lawsuit brought by Bram Stoker's widow.

Don't think I've seen a creepier-looking vampire than the one portrayed by Max Schreck in this film.

TheMovieman

That is true. Been a long time since I saw those first three. I own all of them, might revisit some time.

TheMovieman

Toy Story (1995) — Decided to revisit this after many years and still holds up so well. Great movie for both kids and adults with wonderful teachable moments. Just a groundbreaking animated movie all around. 4.5/5

Night Hunter (2018) — Pretty stunning how this film managed to get the cast it did. The pacing was terrible thanks to some dreadful editing, where it seems random scenes were cobbled together to churn out some half-baked crime-thriller, a genre I generally enjoy. This was just a chore to sit through. 1.5/5

Cellar Door

Spider-man: Far From Home - I liked this a lot, especially the way it references (directly and indirectly) Peter's relationship with Tony Stark and whether he can step up when it matters. I also really love Zendaya as MJ in these movies. A totally different take on the character, but it works.

In the Tall Grass - a Netflix adaptation of a Stephen King novella. This is pretty good. I haven't read the original story, but this did 'feel' like a King story. The ending leaves a lot unexplained--which is kind of to be expected in a story like this--but I would have liked to have known more about how certain characters were able to do certain things.

rogerrobert69

I also like a bizarre little fictitious film from a few decades back called 'Shadow of the Vampire' about the shooting of Nosferatu. Willem Dafoe played the actor who played the vampire but he's intensely into it, to the point where he thinks he is actually a vampire. Not everyone enjoyed this film but I loved it

rogerrobert69

The Gorgon (1964)

Not Hammer's best. We see little of the creature. More of a suspense than actual horror film. Still, I'm sold to Hammer with their ambiance, lighting, art direction and of course Cushing and Lee...
In a remote village in central Europe, there are rumours of a gorgon (the three monstrous sisters - including Medusa - with snake hair that turn those who gaze at their eyes to stone) of greek mythology who might still be alive and hiding in a deserted 'haunted' castle nearby. Some village girls disappear and some professors start to wonder if myth might be reality...

MR Round

Cool Hand Luke - 4/5
Escape From New York - 3/5
Death Proof - 3.5/5

JeffTheAlpaca

Carl Reiner directed this?

I remember watching this in the theater back in 1987.

Not LOL funny but ok for a weekday evening viewing.


The Italian exchange student

MR Round

The Bridge On The River Kwai - 4/5 - I loved in until the end, seem ed like it was all for nothing then.
The Road To Singapore - 3/5 - Some of this is very dated for the times so the jokes are hit and miss but I still enjoyed it.
Rocketman - 5/5. Second time viewing this and I loved it as much as I did the first time
Flashback - 4/5 - Not an award winner but its alot of fun. Keifer Sutherland and Dennis Hopper play of great on one another and its underrated.
A Man Apart - 2.5/5 - Its a predictable action movie but Vin Diesel does more acting in this then the Fast And Furious flicks. It was okay

rogerrobert69

Vampyr (1932)

Danish filmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer directed this privately payed (by a french nobleman, Baron something or other, who paid in exchange for the lead role) tale of vampire based on two of Sheridan LeFanu's short stories. It was shot simultaneously in 3 languages (french, english, german) so actors had to redo all the takes for the three versions. Which is why there is very little dialogue in it. But ironically, all the original prints and sound reels were lost over time so they had to rebuild the dialogues ffrom bits and pieces found in various cinémathèques and museums.
Very eery and ambiancy (!) with great and imaginative camera work and lighting (by Rudolph Maté). Not the best Dreyer film, nor the best vampire one but certainly worth it as a piece of art.

A young man finds his way into a countryside village and notices strange doings that might be surnatural. As he becomes more and more involved it appears clear that a malevolent being is at work in the town...

rogerrobert69

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

I remember seeing it when it came out but had no recollection of it apart from a flash here or there. Couldn't remember if I had liked it or not. On second viewing I understood why I had forgotten all about it. They did try something but it just doesn't work. It's not bizarre enough nor funny enough to make it work as a cult item and the choices in scriptwriting and direction are sometimes appaling. The end credits mention "Buckaroo will return in Buckaroo Banzai against the World Conspiracy" or something. He never did as this flopped totally and with good reasons.
It had an impressive cast though: Peter Weller, Christopher Lloyd, John Lightgow, Ellen BArkin, Jeff Goldblum.

A genious boy turned man who is a doctor, brilliant scientist, rock star, etc must fight an evil invasion of renegade extra-terrestrials.

rogerrobert69

The Lost Patrol (1934)

Not the greatest John Ford film. Nor a very good performance by Boris Karloff as the Jesus-freak member of the patrol.

During WW1, a patrol on a mission in the mesopotamian desert loses its officer and must take refuge in an oasis. Where they get shot one by one by invisible arab snipers.

TheMovieman

Crawl (2019) — Simple but entertaining enough, and quickly paced (running time around 80-minutes w/o credits), thriller that has just enough character development for me to care about their predicament. Not sure how much replay value this has but it's at least worth a rental. 3.5/5

JeffTheAlpaca

Maybe second time in 10 years I have seen this and one of the few good Clooney movies that hold up.

WIsh Anna Kendrick would get more roles like the one she had in this movie and which probably jump-started her career.

JoeySeven

Still holds up after all these years. 9/10

MR Round

Benny and Joon - 5/5 still lots of fun and enjoyable
Island In The Sky 4/5 good John Wayne film but predictable
American Gigolo 4/5 - this was a bit slow to start then got pretty good and interesting

JeffTheAlpaca

The first one was ok but the sequel was a waste of time

The only scene that got my attention

MR Round

The Forbidden Kingdom - 2.5/5 - It was cool to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same movie but it was too comedic for my taste. A good serious movie could have been had if things were changed a bit
The Land That Time Forgot 3/5 - Its cheesy and dated but that's part of the fun of it.
My Cousin Vinny - 5/5 - I loved this. it was very enjoyable. I don't think Tomei deserved the Oscar though.

3nthebag

Just watched Zombieland 2: Double Tap. Save your coin and wait for the digital release.

rogerrobert69

The idiots (1998)

Third time watching this Lars Von Trier film. One of the early "dogma 95" danish films. So it's all natural light, hand-held camera, barely any music (unless played on set), etc. Apart from that it's got a nice human questioning about our role in society, and how treatment of the handicapped. I still can't believe in the USA they had to blur a few shots of naked penises to avoid NC-17. While at the same time you get action movies at 8h on US TV with people mowing down others with machine guns and blowing their heads off with all sorts of explosive devices. And that's ok for our kids to watch! I'll never get that misplaced puritanism in which nudity is more offensive than killing your neighbours!

rogerrobert69

Syngenor (1990)

Awful cheezy 90s cheapy B-movie scifi/horror/exploitation. Always fun to watch!

An evil company builds genetically modified creatures for the Ministry of Defence to be the next invincible army troopers. When a bunch go amok in the complex and kill all the elite troops sent after them, a journalist and a secretary are left to save the world from the invasion! Hurrah!

rogerrobert69

Scrooge (1970)

I hate Christmas movies especially in autumn! But since I'd sold it on my online store and wanted to watch it before shipping it, I gave it a try. It has Albert Finney and was directed by Ronald Neame from Dicken's well-loved tale so it wasn't all bad. Apart from the boring songs and the obvious studio sets, the ghosts (including Alec Guiness) were fun and the spirit of the whole thing was almost catchy.

rogerrobert69

La vie est un miracle (2004) - Life is a miracle

Another typical Emir Kusturica film from his Serbia/Bosnia war period. It has all the usual elements - the gypsy fanfare music, the imaginative storytelling, the corrupt politicians, the mountain villlage setting and the beautiful lead actress. It all works well except its rather similar to a lot of his other films (Black Cat, White Cat, Underground, Time of the Gypsies, etc.)

When war is declared between Bosnia and Serbia, a village train station employee whose station sits on the border sees his life going to pieces. His son is called to war and made prisonner, his wife leaves him and some of his friends are now 'enemies'. All will get better when he is asked to baby sit a muslim prisoner in the train station to be exchanged later for hostages. Especially since she's a wildly beautiful blonde girl!