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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 1, 2017 18:52:54 GMT
Watched slightly under an hour of various shorts today. Yes, they had films in the 1890s, albeit extremely brief ones.
The Seaspeed Express (1980, 15 minutes) - 7.5/10. Despite the low production values and horrible film stock, I enjoyed this short, which is about the Seaspeed hovercraft.
Wisdom of the Wild (1940, 12 minutes) - 7.5/10. For the first 8 minutes or so, this appears to be a nature film, but it's actually a WW2 propaganda short about food rationing. Strangely it is very entertaining.
The Miller's Daughter (1905, 13 minutes) - 5/10. A lot of the earliest silent dramas were of works familiar to viewers of the period, and would have made sense to them, but modern viewers unfamiliar with those works will have a hard time understanding them. This is an example of that, and I admit I couldn't follow the story, but there are some nice touches to the filmmaking technique.
Train Wreckers (1905, 11 minutes) - 7.5/10. Action-packed drama that is still entertaining.
Women Fetching Water from the Nile (1897, 1 minute) - 7/10. You either love or hate 19th century cinema. I love it! Here, we have some women walking past a wall in Egypt, to fetch some water using the pots on their heads. Maybe not entertaining in the usual sense, but it captures a time long gone, which is what makes it interesting.
Fishermen and Boat at Port Said (1897, under 1 minute) - 6/10. Fish being thrown out of a boat, in Egypt. Not among the better shorts of this period.
Cupid at the Washtub (1897, about 30 seconds!!) - 7/10. Amusing comedy. It did provide a laugh.
Canoeing on the Charles River, Boston, Mass. (1904, 2 minutes) - 6.5/10. This short depicts a bunch of people, going down the river on canoes. It's not bad, but goes on for far too long.
Dance, Franchonetti Sisters (1897. under 30 seconds) - 7/10. It's amazing just to watch a dance by actual vaudeville entertainers of the 19th century.
Ameta (1903, about 30 seconds) - 8/10. One of those "serpentine dance" films, a kind of film that was once extremely popular.
A Trip to Berkeley, Cal (1906, 3 minutes) - 7.5/10. A simple film, depicting the view from a tram as it travels down a road. Quite fascinating little slice of life from 1906.
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Post by eplay on Jun 1, 2017 20:38:33 GMT
Get Out - While engaging enough, I expected a bit more from the rave reviews. The alternate ending is far more believable, rather than the audience-pleasing ending they chose.
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Post by brownstones on Jun 3, 2017 19:24:28 GMT
Wonder Woman
it's a great origin of Diana, the action is on point, the chemistry between Diana and Steve is........hot.......hot........hot.....*swoon* it's well paced, the supporting cast is extremely endearing, I honestly probably welled up 5-6 times......granted I've also been bizarrely emotional recently
only gripe is ares, I wish he had more of a presence and looked cooler, I mean...........his toy looked f-ing glorious and here? not so much.
8.7/10
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Post by brownstones on Jun 3, 2017 19:26:17 GMT
Storks
pretty darn funny, and touching as well. sometimes it goes a bit too much into the pure kid territory....with that pigeon detective, but aside from that it's very pleasant.
7.6
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Post by koskiewicz on Jun 3, 2017 21:05:40 GMT
Jim Jarmusch's "Down By Law"
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Post by eplay on Jun 5, 2017 21:36:33 GMT
Results - I love Guy Pearce, but this film doesn't have much else going for it. It's quirky, not funny. Didn't care for Cobie Smulders' character at all.
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies - This was a pretty fun spoof of the 60's spy films. Cast apparently had a lot of fun, judging by the outtakes (unfortunately, those were not subtitled on this French blu-ray).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2017 22:13:26 GMT
Terror By Night. One of the hoary old Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone that I find so comforting. Standard fare, but this one perhaps had a bit more humor than the average one.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 6, 2017 14:15:20 GMT
Royal Visit Tasmania (1954, Australia, 45 minutes) - 7/10. It is a documentary about the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband to Tasmania in 1954, filmed in colour. The problems with the film are the poor narration and rough editing, and the film runs too long for the subject matter. Nevertheless, it is interesting to watch, and serves a purpose as a document of a particular event. The copyright holder has uploaded it to YouTube in case anyone is interested.
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Post by Jerk on Jun 6, 2017 14:25:27 GMT
I just saw Get Out. It was pretty good.
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Post by brownstones on Jun 7, 2017 4:12:31 GMT
Beauty and Beast (2017)
Well............I want to begin with saying that I'm still watching it.....Belle is about to return back to her father after witnessing him in the mirror.
anyways........it's okay. our human leads are fine (Stevens, Watson, Evans and even Gad), pretty good to be honest (but Watson isn't a very strong singer when compared to the others), but the animated ones.....aren't right. Lumiere is miscast, as is Cogsworth....I would have switched Ewan and Ian, and probably would have asked Emma Thompson to stop that weird cockney accent (also would have redesigned her).
the songs......well "Gaston," "Be our Guest," "Beauty and the Beast," are pretty misguided and lack charm, that new song "Evermore" is pretty good though.
I feel Condon was the wrong choice as director, I would have gone with whoever directed "Le Miserables," there are some odd cuts between scenes, and well..........sounds like I dislike the film.........but I don't it's just okay.
and now we're at the point here Gaston has shot the beast.
6.3/10
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Post by Sulla on Jun 7, 2017 4:48:26 GMT
Snowden (2016) - an interesting story and also a spooky reminder of what modern governments are capable of doing. It should make you think twice about what you text or post on the internet. From what I can tell it appears to be fairly accurate. 8/10
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 12, 2017 3:03:10 GMT
Live a Little, Love a Little (1968, USA, 85 minutes) - 7.5/10. Pleasant comedy starring Elvis Presley. Nothing outstanding about it, but it is entertaining.
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Post by brownstones on Jun 12, 2017 3:28:03 GMT
miss peregrine's home for peculiar children
.....I liked it.........and I haven't liked a Burton movie this much since...........Sweeny Todd (but big eyes was okay)
while it is a bit ill paced and loses focus.....and just kind of ends....there is a natural charm to it and feels fairly tangible, something I feel Burton has been lacking for years.
I liked the kids (for the most part) and Eva Green is such a treat, fantastic actress.
edit: also.......it's really not for kids below the age of 7 or 8 (imo).
7/10
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 5:23:10 GMT
Playing It Cool - I watched it on Netflix last night looking for a comedy and came across this because of it's cast. Never heard of the movie before but the top two billed were Chris Evans (who I've been a fan of since Cellular) and Michelle Monaghan (who I've liked for many years and have had just a massive crush on since I can't remember). The film was really entertaining because of the story that was told. It's not so much of a "ha ha that was hilarious" type of comedy so don't go into it expecting that. It has it's funny moments but really it's just a great story that plays on a stereotypical romantic comedy. It's pretty well done as Evans' character is a screen writer set to write a rom com for Ashley Tisdale and Matthew Morrison who I feel like pretty funny cameo's. Evans is a guy who has never fell in love before and quite frankly thinks the idea of it is a joke which stemmed from his childhood. He is the narrator of the story and what's brilliant about it is he tells the whole story from his perspective. I don't believe his character was named once. I may be mistaken but looking at the cast on imdb he's listed only as "me". I noticed that Michelle's character was never named (until the end so I might of missed Evans' characters name coming up) as she's listed as 'Her' which she was referred to during 99% of the film. It just told a great narrative on a non traditional love story. You have all of that and to top it all off you have an amazing surrounding cast. Topher Grace, Aubry Plaza, Martin Starr, Luke Wilson, Anthony Mackie, Philip Baker Hall, Ioan Gruffudd, Patrick Warburton (who had a small part but damn it I loved basically everything he does). I went into this film expecting just a cheap mediocre comedy but I ended up left with a film that while not hilarious had a great plot and had a lot of heart to it. Also Michelle and Chris has great chemistry together. That's something I've always loved about Michelle is she tends to have great chemistry with her love interests on screen. I'd give this film a solid 7/10.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 19, 2017 20:07:00 GMT
I watched two films today, both spun-off from a TV series:
Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959, UK, 83 minutes) - 7.5/10. This film was based on the popular TV soap opera "Emergency Ward 10" (1957–1967), a series for which most episodes are lost. The soap origins of the film are pretty obvious, but it's still entertaining (the show itself, based on surviving episodes, was also quite good), and it's all rather genteel compared to modern soaps.
Head (1968, USA, 85 minutes) - 8/10. Starring rock group the Monkees, nearly 50 years later this is still one of the strangest films ever produced!
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Post by sdm3 on Jun 20, 2017 4:52:23 GMT
Transformers (2007). Plan to watch Ratatouille (2007) sometime this week.
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Post by Popeye Doyle on Jun 20, 2017 4:55:41 GMT
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 21, 2017 14:37:26 GMT
Are You Being Served? (1977, UK, 92 minutes) - 6/10. In the 1970s it was common to make feature films based on British TV sitcoms. Unfortunately, a lot of the time the resulting film was nowhere near as good as the show it was based on. This film is mildly amusing but the original TV series is much better.
I cannot recommend the film.
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Post by louise on Jun 21, 2017 17:04:15 GMT
Are You Being Served? (1977, UK, 92 minutes) - 6/10. In the 1970s it was common to make feature films based on British TV sitcoms. Unfortunately, a lot of the time the resulting film was nowhere near as good as the show it was based on. This film is mildly amusing but the original TV series is much better. I cannot recommend the film. agree it's not a very good film, but i have a certain affection for it because it was the last appearance of mr grainger.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2017 17:25:52 GMT
Dirty Harry
It's a cartoonish ode to right wing views on law and order and unashamedly so. Polished sleaze. Nice soundtrack.
Ok I did see Transformers: Age of Extinction since then.
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