Post by mikef6 on Dec 26, 2017 2:53:15 GMT
Yours:
The Negotiator. Saw this way back. Don't remember much detail at all but I have the impression that I didn't dislike it, whatever that means.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Agree with absolutely everything you said about it. One of the greats. I saw it in 1966. It is one of that rare breed, the Instant Classic, that actually turned out to be one.
Jack Reacher I liked it, too. The book is even better. Titled "One Shot" it may be the best Reacher novel.
Mine:
The Hunters / Dick Powell (1958). This Deluxe Color Cinemascope war film about combat jet pilots begins with a military march over the titles and the usual acknowledgement of the technical advise of the U.S. Air Force. Although it starts out like a flag waver, the setting is the forgotten war, the Korean War (1950 to 1953) which resulted in about 1.2 million total deaths on both sides, with the U.S. losing 33,500 lives. I was surprised by several lines of dialog (written by Wendell Mayes, “Death Wish,” “The Poseidon Adventure”) that sounded like they would fit a war film of 10 years later with observations like it is a “dirty war” in which the goals and reasons for it are never clear. However, the pilots are there to do their duty regardless. Robert Mitchum plays Major Cleve Saville, a WWII Ace sent back to combat duty. In Japan, on his way to South Korea, he helps get a drunk Lt. Abbott (Lee Philips) home safe. There, he meets Kris Abbott (Swedish actress May Britt), the Lieutenant’s wife and immediately falls in love with her. In Korea, Abbott becomes a member of Saville’s wing along with a maverick hotdogger named Ed Pell (Robert Wagner). Snap decisions need to be made when Abbott has to bail out over Chinese held territory. An always interesting study in heroics as the “Iceman,” Maj. Saville, shows his true colors and the young daredevil proves himself. Mitch gives another of his laconic, laid-back performances that from moment to moment looks like he isn’t doing anything but by the end of the story you know his character very well. Mitchum chose this picture instead of “The Defiant Ones " (his role went to Tony Curtis) and this was the last movie directed by Dick Powell. Two years after this film, May Britt rocked the world with an interracial marriage to Sammy Davis, Jr. In 1960, this was against the law in about one-third of the states in the U. S. A very interesting war film that has been even more neglected than the conflict it portrays.
Lady Macbeth / William Oldroyd (2016). Not based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth but on an 1865 Russian novella, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Nikolai Leskov. This work also inspired a 1934 opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. The film sticks pretty close to the source material, actually. In 19th century Cornwall, teenager Katherine (Florence Pugh) marries an older man, Alexander (Paul Hilton). She has become his bride as part of a real estate deal. She is there to have a baby and is blamed for failing in that task even though her husband will not have sex with her, instead masturbating as she stands naked facing a wall. Katherine is confined to the house, not allowed even to walk outside, watched every second by her husband and father-in-law, Boris (Christopher Fairbank). She is bored out of her mind. Her only confidant is her maid, Anna, who is of African heritage. When her husband is called away on business, she uses the opportunity to head out of doors. Soon, she is having a wild affair with a rough stable hand, Sabastian (Cosmo Jarvis). When Boris finds out about the affair, he beats Sabastian unmercifully and has him confined. The next day, Katherine poisons her father-in-law with mushrooms. This begins a descent into ever more brutal and cruel murder. Pugh shines as the increasingly murderous Katherine. The film is an impressive first directorial debut by stage director Oldroyd.
The Age Of Shadows / Jee-woon Kim (2016). Overlong but otherwise fine historical spy drama that takes place in Korea in the 1920s during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945). The main character is Lee Jung-Chool (Kang-ho Song, “Snowpiercer”), a Korean, formally a Resistance leader, now a higher-up in the Japanese Police Force. Who knows where his loyalties really lie? Kim Woo-Jin (Yoo Gong, “Train To Busan”) is second to the leader of the Resistance and head of planning. Yeon (Ji-min Han) is his lover and partner in espionage. The Korean underground first tries to raise money for weapons and explosives. Once that has been accomplished (in a sequence that takes us to Shanghai), the munitions must be smuggled back to Korea in a very tense train ride. “Age Of Shadows” was South Korea’s submission to the Oscars for Best Foreign Film Consideration. Feelings must still run high in Korea concerning this time in history because they continue to produce action films that are also compelling in their emotional content. Also recommended is 2015’s “Amsal” (Assassination), set a decade later in the same period.
…Continuing a watch straight through the 10 seasons of Doctor Who: The New Series in anticipation of next year’s introduction of the 13th Doctor.
S. 6, Ep. 3 “The Curse Of The Black Spot” May 7, 2011. The TARDIS crew follows a distress signal but land on an 18th century pirate ship. The ship is becalmed and is being terrorized by a siren, a mysterious woman, who, if anyone gets so much as a scrape on his hand, will rise out of the sea, singing, and destroy the sailor. Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) plays the pirate captain.
S. 6, Ep 4 “The Doctor’s Wife” May 14, 2011. In a bubble outside of the universe, The Doctor discovers an asteroid with the crypt of several Time Lords like himself. When a young woman is sacrificed to the asteroid (which is a living being) the TARDIS matrix inhabits her body.
S. 6, Ep. 5, 6, & 7 “The Rebel Flesh,” “The Almost People,” and “A Good Man Goes To War” May 21, 28, and June 4, 2011. In the Earth’s future, the technology is developed to create replicas of humans using an artificial flesh with software to form itself. As these Gangers (short for “doppelgangers”) begin to feel more human, they rebel at the slavery they are being put to. This propels Amy and Rory into a family crisis in the third part. Also, River Song’s identity is revealed. This is also the first appearance of the so-called Paternoster Gang: Madame Vastra, a Silurian; Jenny Flint, human and married to Vastra; and Strax, a Sontaran.
The Negotiator. Saw this way back. Don't remember much detail at all but I have the impression that I didn't dislike it, whatever that means.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Agree with absolutely everything you said about it. One of the greats. I saw it in 1966. It is one of that rare breed, the Instant Classic, that actually turned out to be one.
Jack Reacher I liked it, too. The book is even better. Titled "One Shot" it may be the best Reacher novel.
Mine:
The Hunters / Dick Powell (1958). This Deluxe Color Cinemascope war film about combat jet pilots begins with a military march over the titles and the usual acknowledgement of the technical advise of the U.S. Air Force. Although it starts out like a flag waver, the setting is the forgotten war, the Korean War (1950 to 1953) which resulted in about 1.2 million total deaths on both sides, with the U.S. losing 33,500 lives. I was surprised by several lines of dialog (written by Wendell Mayes, “Death Wish,” “The Poseidon Adventure”) that sounded like they would fit a war film of 10 years later with observations like it is a “dirty war” in which the goals and reasons for it are never clear. However, the pilots are there to do their duty regardless. Robert Mitchum plays Major Cleve Saville, a WWII Ace sent back to combat duty. In Japan, on his way to South Korea, he helps get a drunk Lt. Abbott (Lee Philips) home safe. There, he meets Kris Abbott (Swedish actress May Britt), the Lieutenant’s wife and immediately falls in love with her. In Korea, Abbott becomes a member of Saville’s wing along with a maverick hotdogger named Ed Pell (Robert Wagner). Snap decisions need to be made when Abbott has to bail out over Chinese held territory. An always interesting study in heroics as the “Iceman,” Maj. Saville, shows his true colors and the young daredevil proves himself. Mitch gives another of his laconic, laid-back performances that from moment to moment looks like he isn’t doing anything but by the end of the story you know his character very well. Mitchum chose this picture instead of “The Defiant Ones " (his role went to Tony Curtis) and this was the last movie directed by Dick Powell. Two years after this film, May Britt rocked the world with an interracial marriage to Sammy Davis, Jr. In 1960, this was against the law in about one-third of the states in the U. S. A very interesting war film that has been even more neglected than the conflict it portrays.
Lady Macbeth / William Oldroyd (2016). Not based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth but on an 1865 Russian novella, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Nikolai Leskov. This work also inspired a 1934 opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. The film sticks pretty close to the source material, actually. In 19th century Cornwall, teenager Katherine (Florence Pugh) marries an older man, Alexander (Paul Hilton). She has become his bride as part of a real estate deal. She is there to have a baby and is blamed for failing in that task even though her husband will not have sex with her, instead masturbating as she stands naked facing a wall. Katherine is confined to the house, not allowed even to walk outside, watched every second by her husband and father-in-law, Boris (Christopher Fairbank). She is bored out of her mind. Her only confidant is her maid, Anna, who is of African heritage. When her husband is called away on business, she uses the opportunity to head out of doors. Soon, she is having a wild affair with a rough stable hand, Sabastian (Cosmo Jarvis). When Boris finds out about the affair, he beats Sabastian unmercifully and has him confined. The next day, Katherine poisons her father-in-law with mushrooms. This begins a descent into ever more brutal and cruel murder. Pugh shines as the increasingly murderous Katherine. The film is an impressive first directorial debut by stage director Oldroyd.
The Age Of Shadows / Jee-woon Kim (2016). Overlong but otherwise fine historical spy drama that takes place in Korea in the 1920s during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945). The main character is Lee Jung-Chool (Kang-ho Song, “Snowpiercer”), a Korean, formally a Resistance leader, now a higher-up in the Japanese Police Force. Who knows where his loyalties really lie? Kim Woo-Jin (Yoo Gong, “Train To Busan”) is second to the leader of the Resistance and head of planning. Yeon (Ji-min Han) is his lover and partner in espionage. The Korean underground first tries to raise money for weapons and explosives. Once that has been accomplished (in a sequence that takes us to Shanghai), the munitions must be smuggled back to Korea in a very tense train ride. “Age Of Shadows” was South Korea’s submission to the Oscars for Best Foreign Film Consideration. Feelings must still run high in Korea concerning this time in history because they continue to produce action films that are also compelling in their emotional content. Also recommended is 2015’s “Amsal” (Assassination), set a decade later in the same period.
…Continuing a watch straight through the 10 seasons of Doctor Who: The New Series in anticipation of next year’s introduction of the 13th Doctor.
S. 6, Ep. 3 “The Curse Of The Black Spot” May 7, 2011. The TARDIS crew follows a distress signal but land on an 18th century pirate ship. The ship is becalmed and is being terrorized by a siren, a mysterious woman, who, if anyone gets so much as a scrape on his hand, will rise out of the sea, singing, and destroy the sailor. Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) plays the pirate captain.
S. 6, Ep 4 “The Doctor’s Wife” May 14, 2011. In a bubble outside of the universe, The Doctor discovers an asteroid with the crypt of several Time Lords like himself. When a young woman is sacrificed to the asteroid (which is a living being) the TARDIS matrix inhabits her body.
S. 6, Ep. 5, 6, & 7 “The Rebel Flesh,” “The Almost People,” and “A Good Man Goes To War” May 21, 28, and June 4, 2011. In the Earth’s future, the technology is developed to create replicas of humans using an artificial flesh with software to form itself. As these Gangers (short for “doppelgangers”) begin to feel more human, they rebel at the slavery they are being put to. This propels Amy and Rory into a family crisis in the third part. Also, River Song’s identity is revealed. This is also the first appearance of the so-called Paternoster Gang: Madame Vastra, a Silurian; Jenny Flint, human and married to Vastra; and Strax, a Sontaran.