What classics did you see last week, Feb 28 to Mar 6?
Mar 6, 2021 19:36:24 GMT
spiderwort, teleadm, and 4 more like this
Post by mikef6 on Mar 6, 2021 19:36:24 GMT
Dark City / Alex Proyas (1998). “Dark City” was Roger Ebert’s Best Movie of 1998. It is an imaginative science fiction mind bender. A man (Rufus Sewell) wakes up naked in a bathtub. He has no memory of who he is or what has happened. Across the room is a dead body who has been stabbed to death. He goes on the run from some strange people who want to capture or kill him. He is helped by a mysterious doctor (Kiefer Sutherland) and a woman who claims she is his wife (Jennifer Connelly). The city certainly is dark. Even most of the rooms are dimly lighted. One thing the man notices that others don’t is that whole days past with no day, no sun coming out. It is always night. I watched the director’s cut which is about 20 minutes longer than the runtime on the database but it is impossible to know what was cut and then put back in. William Hurt also stars as the police detective investigating the serial murders of hookers (the body in the opening scene was one) and starts to come to believe in the unreality of the city. I’m not sure at this point if I liked it, loved it, or just thought it an interesting experience that I’m glad I saw. Based on a graphic novel
San Ging Chaat Goo Si (New Police Story) / Benny Chan (2004). Nearing the end of his action movie era, Jacky Chan is still performing stunts that make me dizzy just thinking about them, e.g. sliding down the side of a building on a rope, 20-stories up. Chan plays Inspector Chan, a former detective who had a mission go wrong, losing six of his crew to a gang of violent bank robbers who just set up situations to ambush cops. For a year, Chan descends into a bottle until his new partner, young Frank Cheng (Nicholas Tse), wakes him up and gets him back on the job. We learn early on that the gang members are sons and daughters of the very rich in Hong Kong but are viciously rebelling. The leader, Joe (U.S. born and educated Daniel Wu) is the abused son of a Hong Kong police chief. A few surprises pop up along the way including in a final short epilogue. There is more gunplay than there is Chan’s patented acrobatic martial arts but still a recommended flick for fans of Jackie Chan and Hong Kong action.
The King / David Michôd (2019). Based on Shakespeare’s Henriad (the six plays covering the reigns of Kings Henry IV, V, and VI – but the story of this film charts its own way through the story. It begins with Prince Hal (Henry, Prince of Wales) (Timothée Chalamet), heir to the throne of England in the early 15th century. He is estranged from his father and usually hangs out in taverns in Eastcheap with his friend and father figure, the fallen, drunk knight Sir John Falstaff (Joel Edgerton). With his father very ill and rebellion brewing, Hal has to take some responsibility. Eventually, he rises to the throne as Henry V and must earn the loyalty of a skeptical nobility who are wary of the young King’s carousing past. A new and interesting tale is told that, for one thing, provides a completely different destiny for Falstaff from the one laid out by Shakespeare. Sean Harris plays the new King’s major advisor and supporter, Ben Mendelsohn is the tyrannical Henry IV, Lily-Rose Depp as the Princess of France, and Robert Pattison absolutely stealing a couple of scenes as the Dauphin of France. Michôd and Edgerton co-wrote the script. Brad Pitt was part of the producing team.
Bill And Ted Face The Music / Dean Parisot (2020). As one close family member commented when this movie was released in August, in the darkest days of the pandemic, it was not the best movie ever made but was the perfect movie we needed for the times. He was right. This sweet-natured comedy/farce about saving the universe with music is really a funny and uplifting experience (that “uplifting” is in the best sense, without heavy sentimentality and manipulation). We encounter William "Bill" S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan in middle-age, still searching for that song that will unite everything and, of course, being inseparable friends even though both are married and each has a daughter. They are visited by another visitor from the future who tells them they only have a few hours to write that song because the whole universe is collapsing. While the two dads head to the future to find their “future us-es,” the daughters take a trip through history to gather the greatest band ever to play it. Ted’s daughter is named “Billy” (a good performance by Brigette Lundy-Paine who has caught all of young Ted’s body language and vocal mannerisms) and Bill’s daughter “Thea” (Samara Weaving). The Grim Reaper (a totally hilarious William Sadler) is also back. It is the movie you want to see right now. Be excellent to each other, dudes.
San Ging Chaat Goo Si (New Police Story) / Benny Chan (2004). Nearing the end of his action movie era, Jacky Chan is still performing stunts that make me dizzy just thinking about them, e.g. sliding down the side of a building on a rope, 20-stories up. Chan plays Inspector Chan, a former detective who had a mission go wrong, losing six of his crew to a gang of violent bank robbers who just set up situations to ambush cops. For a year, Chan descends into a bottle until his new partner, young Frank Cheng (Nicholas Tse), wakes him up and gets him back on the job. We learn early on that the gang members are sons and daughters of the very rich in Hong Kong but are viciously rebelling. The leader, Joe (U.S. born and educated Daniel Wu) is the abused son of a Hong Kong police chief. A few surprises pop up along the way including in a final short epilogue. There is more gunplay than there is Chan’s patented acrobatic martial arts but still a recommended flick for fans of Jackie Chan and Hong Kong action.
The King / David Michôd (2019). Based on Shakespeare’s Henriad (the six plays covering the reigns of Kings Henry IV, V, and VI – but the story of this film charts its own way through the story. It begins with Prince Hal (Henry, Prince of Wales) (Timothée Chalamet), heir to the throne of England in the early 15th century. He is estranged from his father and usually hangs out in taverns in Eastcheap with his friend and father figure, the fallen, drunk knight Sir John Falstaff (Joel Edgerton). With his father very ill and rebellion brewing, Hal has to take some responsibility. Eventually, he rises to the throne as Henry V and must earn the loyalty of a skeptical nobility who are wary of the young King’s carousing past. A new and interesting tale is told that, for one thing, provides a completely different destiny for Falstaff from the one laid out by Shakespeare. Sean Harris plays the new King’s major advisor and supporter, Ben Mendelsohn is the tyrannical Henry IV, Lily-Rose Depp as the Princess of France, and Robert Pattison absolutely stealing a couple of scenes as the Dauphin of France. Michôd and Edgerton co-wrote the script. Brad Pitt was part of the producing team.
Bill And Ted Face The Music / Dean Parisot (2020). As one close family member commented when this movie was released in August, in the darkest days of the pandemic, it was not the best movie ever made but was the perfect movie we needed for the times. He was right. This sweet-natured comedy/farce about saving the universe with music is really a funny and uplifting experience (that “uplifting” is in the best sense, without heavy sentimentality and manipulation). We encounter William "Bill" S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan in middle-age, still searching for that song that will unite everything and, of course, being inseparable friends even though both are married and each has a daughter. They are visited by another visitor from the future who tells them they only have a few hours to write that song because the whole universe is collapsing. While the two dads head to the future to find their “future us-es,” the daughters take a trip through history to gather the greatest band ever to play it. Ted’s daughter is named “Billy” (a good performance by Brigette Lundy-Paine who has caught all of young Ted’s body language and vocal mannerisms) and Bill’s daughter “Thea” (Samara Weaving). The Grim Reaper (a totally hilarious William Sadler) is also back. It is the movie you want to see right now. Be excellent to each other, dudes.