Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
It's Tuesday. The only day of the week where I'm not sure who it's named after.
More importantly, it's the day of the week when - if it's the second half of the month - we collide once more with the feature that could fill a month of Sundays and still not be exhausted.
That's right. It's the one in which you, and you alone, get to decide just what the topic of debate shall. be.
That topic may be almost anything under the sun or even over the moon. Therefore, hesitate ye not and make sure to register that topic below, before it's too late.
Posts
33 comments:
What's a] the best new or recent film you've seen this year?
b] the best old film you've watched for the first time recently?
c] the old film you've recently re-watched and enjoyed?
Tuesday is named after the Norse/Germanic war god Tyr (Tiw in Old English) Steve.
-sean
Because Ms. Charlie is not a fan of video, Charlie seldom watches movies. Yet he saw 2 in the past month which is all he’s seen in a few years now. So that will be his contribution.
“AND GOD CREATED WOMAN” which is BRIGETTE BARDOT’s first film. 1956. Very glad I finally saw it. Left me rather speechless. Same with Ms. Charlie, “Well they don’t make films like that anymore!”
“MAD MAX” which I never completely saw, just bits and pieces. I was sufficiently captivated to not turn it off but not much more. Ms. Charlie did occasionally glance up from her book and mumble “Wth…”
Fairly recent - the Batman movie, starring that skinny actor ( previously in some movie series for girls? ) It was rubbish, anyway. Avengers Endgame - okay - but not as good as the previous one ( Infinity War? ), which was actually good.
The Edge of the World - A good film, based on James Brooke's experiences in Borneo ( an inspiration for Conrad. ) The decapitation scene's a bit disturbing.
Humphrey Bogart in 'The Big Sleep' - I watch it whenever it's repeated, and it's always top class!
Phillip
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thor_Vol_1_312?file=Thor_Vol_1_312.jpg
Phillip
Recent film- probably the most recent that I really enjoyed was "Wicked". Loved the book, loved the stage play. Thought the film was pretty solid, and look forward to the upcoming conclusion.
First viewed old film- Recently watched "Midnight Cowboy". My parents would never have allowed me to see that back in the day, and I never got around to seeing it until a couple months ago. Good film, but uncomfortable in some ways.
Re-watched old film- "From Russia With Love". Always a sucker for a Bond movie, and that's one of the best. Pedro Armenderiz' Ali Karim Bey absolutely makes the film!
A)— I don’t know about “best” but POOR THINGS is a recent movie that I’ve enjoyed
B) — I finally got around to watching ZODIAC, and thought it was riveting
C) — I recently re-watched NORTH BY NORTHWEST and SHADOW OF A DOUBT, my two favorite Hitchcock movies, both of which I’ve seen many, many times and never get tired of
b.t.
Matthew, thanks for the topic.
A) I must confess I've not seen any new films, this year.
B) Off the top of my head, I can't think of one.
C) Night of the Demon. Still a thing of style and beauty, after all these years.
Sean, I feel like they should have named the day after a more famous god.
Best new/recent film 28 Years later.
Like b.t. I also watched Zodiac for the first time and found it fascinating.
I recently watched "Up" again, it was still fresh, funny and sad all at the same time . A great animated film
a] I liked 'The Brutalist' and 'Weapons', which both seem to be water-cooler [or whatever the digital equivalent is] movies. And I really liked 'Sorry Baby'.
But I LOVED 'Flow', the animated movie. It's about a black cat, so I was sold immediately [we have two black cats, and are still mourning one we lost a couple of years ago]. But I wasn't expecting to feel the way I did by the end.
b] 'The Wolf House', an amazing stop-motion film from Chile - spellbinding.
'Streetwise', the 1984 doc about street kids in Seattle.
And as those are both quite arty choices, I have to balance them with 'Slade In Flame' which I finally got round to watching.
c] I really enjoyed showing a friend of mine 'Arrival' and 'The Phantom Thread' for the first time.
BT & McScotty: 'Zodiac' is great - I think it's Fincher's best film.
Phillip: was it 'The Batman' you saw? I went to see that in IMAX on my birthday a couple of years ago and it was so boring I was actually getting angry.
Matthew - Yes - That was the one!
Phillip
I recently re-watched THE HAUNTING (1963) which I hadn't seen for over a decade and it was so good I watched it again a few days later (both times on BBC iPlayer). I also re-watched JAILHOUSE ROCK which is one of Elvis's better films and thanks to Wikipedia I discovered that Elvis's co-star and love interest in the film was killed in a car crash only a few days after shooting had ended.
Coincidentally enough, Phillip, the first appearance of Tyr in Thor - #240 - was cover dated Oct '75, which is due to be covered in this very blog in the next 50 Years Ago post.
Matthew -
a) Not having been to the cinema much for a while - or a believer in paying for extra TV channels - I haven't seen many current films. The most recent would be from late last year, 'Kneecap', a fictionalized take on the Irish hip-hop trio. Which I enjoyed a lot. Loved the Gerry Adams cameo (;
Also - even though it came out a few years ago now - special shout for the documentary 'Attica'. Gripping, with some amazing contemporary footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=talw4hTxRr4
b) 'Seven Days In May'
"What is Ecomcon?"
c) Oliver Stone's 'Alexander'
I should stress it was the later director cut, which is much better than the original (I saw it in the cinema on release, and it was disappointing).
Not seen that last Batman flick. Fwiw I recently saw the one with Bane, and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman; it was as overrated as the other Nolan ones.
I keep meaning to catch the new Superman, but still haven't yet. Anyone here seen it, and care to report back?
-sean
A pedant writes (replying to his own comment) -
Oops, apparently Tyr first appeared (briefly) in the Journey Into Mystery era.
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/tyrthor.htm
I knew I should have looked that up before posting a comment.
-sean
Sean - I can't remember who said it, but Gerry Adams looks ( looked? ) like a Deputy Head! My brother watched the new Superman, a few weeks ago. He said the cinema admission was £15.99, down south, and the film definitely wasn't worth it! For more specific details, I'd have to ask further, during his weekly 'phone call, on Sunday.
Phillip
You might be the only one who clicked on my Pollard Thor link anyway, Sean - so nobody'll notice if Tyr appeared twice previously ; )
Phillip
Gerry Adams has always looked like a deputy head, Phillip (and he certainly schooled the BBC recently).
Yeah, cinemas are a bit pricey these days. It's still the best way to see a film though... but you want to get your money's worth, and the quality of superhero films makes me wary. I watched James Gunn's 'Suicide Squad' recently, which was enjoyable enough. But not 15 quids worth of enjoyable.
Btw, have you been watching 'King and Conqueror' on TV? I gave up after the second episode. That was nearly two hours of my life I won't get back...
-sean
I thought Zodiac was a good movie.
Also, in memory of the great Terence Stamp, I wanna say I loved The Limey.
And I'm not saying that just because a lotta you guys are from the U.K,
it's actually an American crime movie directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Check it out!
One line in it that kills me. Peter Fonda's character says something about the 60's, "It was just '66 and early 67'. That's all it was."
M.P.
Sean - I too was tempted by King & Conqueror, but the dialogue was terrible...not to mention the rest of it!
M.P. - Yes, Terence Stamp stole movies uttering lines which, from other actors, would sound ordinary. Telly Savalas did that too - but Stamp was even better at it.
Phillip
Yeah, the Limey is pretty good, M.P. Iirc it used 60s footage of Stamp from an old Ken Loach film. For something that sounded like a gimmick it worked really well. But then Soderbergh seems to be good at what he does. I even liked 'Ocean's Eleven'.
Phillip, a historical drama in the style of 'Game of Thrones' wasn't a bad idea. But if you're just going to make stuff up like in 'King and Conqueror', you might as well go all the way and do it as a fantasy.
Maybe they'll have dragons at the Battle of Hastings...
-sean
Well… after all the talk about the rapture yesterday, Charlie recalled seeing a third movie 3 years ago that was actually reasonably entertaining: “LEFT BEHIND “.
It was entertaining to see in the sense that an old AVENGERS by Don HECK is entertaining to see.
It’s about those left behind on earth after the rapture.
By the way, the rapture did not happen yesterday because Jesus came back to America, first. Regrettably for him someone reported a brown-skinned woke dude with a Spanish name - Jesus - wandering around and ICE grabbed him and stuck him in a detention center. There is no further information available at this time.
Sean -
If you liked ‘The Suicide Squad’ you might like ‘Superman’. As per all Gunn movies, it’s loud and brash and entertaining, but a bit all over the place. And full of exhausting long fight scenes done in one fake CGI shot. Oh, and really crap music.
I’m also a ‘Limey’ fan - but we watched it last year. We’re lining up the sorely underrated ‘The Candidate’ as a Redford tribute.
I should flag up, I get to see a lot of movies because Three are my mobile provider and they do £3 Picturehouse and Cineworld tickets every week for Fri-Sun use.
a) 2025 I liked Novocaine, I wanted to like Fantastic Four (Jack Kirby fan), but I didn't like the pacing and the direction of the film. But the team had great chemistry and I liked the 60s flair.
b) On the Waterfront (1954)
c) I recently rewatched the Mission Impossible series and I am also looking forward to rewatch North by Northwest again many times in the future :) This is one of my all time favorites.
I seem to be watching Jaws a lot at the moment. Always seems to be on when Mrs Mash announces she's off to bed and hands me t(e remote control. It's just as much a film about office politics as it is about a shark that plays the 'cello.
On the boat you have:
- Hooper, the academic guy who knows all the theory but who everybody keeps ignoring
- Quint, the old, experienced guy who does have some valuable knowledge but thinks he knows more than he does and is impossible to work with
- Brodie, the poor sod who's not a specialist at anything but is determined to do the right thing and has to somehow get everyone to work together and keep all the stakeholders happy
I was a Hooper. I worked with loads of Hoopers, Brodies and Quints over the years and every time a Quint said the equivalent of "So how does this cage of yours work Mr Hooper?", I chalked it up as a win.
But let's not forget the fourth main character: the Mayor of Amityville. Only interested in maximising profits, even if that means doing dumb things, because that's what he's rewarded for. I came across far too many mayors in my career.
Matthew:
‘Loud, brash, entertaining but a bit all over the place’ pretty much covers my reaction to the new Superman movie as well. I think I liked it more than I disliked it.
Haven’t seen the FF movie yet, waiting for it to turn up on Disney+. Speaking of which, I watched the Thunderbolts movie a few weeks ago, and thought it was ‘Kinda Okay’. Not as good as BLACK WIDOW, but better than CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD.
b.t.
I did see a review the other day that pointed out how much ‘Superman’ was like picking up an unfamiliar comic book when you were a kid. That’s true. It’s refreshing to come to something in mid-continuity.
I recently stepped out with the Missus to catch the Downtown Abbey Finale. When you're watching British Films on the Big Screen, the theater, or theatre, won't let you turn the CC on... so there's that.
We also caught to recent showing of "Jaws". I've seen it before but it was the first time for the Missus! She really enjoyed it! I know! Right?
We also caught "Project X" with Matthew Broderick and Helen Hunt. And speaking of finally seeing a movie, it's not an old one but I did just watch "Bohemian Rhapsody"! Got a few others waiting in the pipeline...
You've seen Thunderbolts, Black Widow AND Cap: Brave New World, b.t...?!?
I take it cinema tickets are more reasonably priced in the US (;
Actually, for all I know they may be very good films irrespective of the Marvel movie backlash. Hey, I liked Captain Marvel (the way it unexpectedly flipped the Skrulls as sympathetic held my interest more than any CGI fight scene in a superhero film. And Brie Larsen seemed nice).
Thanks for the feedback on Superman. You too, Matthew.
And Chim for an opinion on the new FF, which I had also been thinking about going to see.
-sean
Doing dumb things, dangermash? Funnily enough, a certain disgraced ex-prime minister of the UK admired the Mayor of Amityville...
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/13/boris-johnson-coronavirus-hero-mayor-larry-vaughn-jaws
-sean
Oh no, I watched em all on Disney+ — last movie I saw in a theatre was SINNERS (I thought it was kinda over-rated). Before that, I can’t even remember what previous movie I saw in a theatre, or when…
b.t.
Two other recent movies that I watched (streaming, of course) and DIDN’T like : THE SUBSTANCE and the remake of NOSFERATU. SUBSTANCE was loaded with audacious and insane body horror FX (mostly practical, not CG, from what I gather) but story-wise it was a mess. NOSFERATU had really impressive visuals and SPOOOOKY atmosphere, but ultimately it was all way too heavy-handed. Half an hour into it, I was desperate for a breather, a single ray of hope or lightness, anything to counter-balance the relentless atmosphere of oppressive gloom and dread.
b.t.
@Anonymous The FF movie is not bad, but since I grew up with Jack Kirby's 1960s FF I wanted it to be really good. And the visuals and the team is really good. It's just the feeling that could have been a lot better. Probably the longer cut would have been much better, but they shortened the movie from 2h to 1.5h a few weeks before release. And I think this 30 minutes are really missing. We never had a "Director's cut" for an MCU movie (which is really strange. They are too restrictive her for my opinion). This one needs a "Director's cut".
I am a little sceptical for the big upcoming Avengers Doomsday. Way too many characters in it. I do not think a second "Endgame" will work. They should focus more on precise story-telling and smaller group of key characters.
Nice find Sean. There are Mayors throughout the House of Commons, on both sides.
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