[Death_Block]

There will be blood - 10/10

 

[tdockweiler]

Breakdown - 10/10

One of my all time favorite movies. I still remember when I first saw this in the theater.
I really can't think of anything bad about this movie or something I would change.

One of the very few suspense/thrillers that doesn't have much blood/violence.
What makes it slightly disturbing is just what your brain comes up with about it's characters.

BTW This is the first time I saw this with TV only sound and not my full home theater system (which I had to sell).
Something is really missing without it!

 

[SilverEars]

Did you watch a new mastering of Cliffhanger on UHD? I recently got Cliffhanger on UHD disc when there was a discount. I've also gotten most the Die Hard movies in UHD. Can add a new level of experience to films to watch them in their full potential (where with given scenes, studios are now siding with showing film grain vs totally softening detail). Also amazing to see how many movies are being remixed to Atmos or DTS:X. With that and improved dynamic range, I'm double dipping quite a few movies...even ones I had on blu-ray. It's also a given that I'll get some classic movies as soon as they're released on 4K: for me, especially Stanley Kubrick movies (he was a photographer himself, and always has good cinematography).

Cliffhanger is a childhood favorite of mine, so I'm biased to it. I'm sure it's a not favorite of critics.

Others movies from the era that were similar to me were:

Speed, Die Hard, Long kiss Goodnight, Rocky 4, Rambo 3

Some were released by Carolco and I like the way they were shot, the cinematography. Works well for action or blockbusters.

John Mctiernan, Jan de Bont, Renny Harlin had similar styles in the way thet were shooting the pictures

I wish more action movies were shot in similar style.

All these old movies were scanned in 4K, but the picture quality isn't as good as newest picturrs shot with the newest cameras. Biggest problem is film noise, and some UHD remaster film makers tried to fix it by smoothjng out the noise, but the pictures lost details from it.

 

[keepitsimple]

THE JOKER.
Blown away 8.5/10

 

[bryceu]

Knives Out : 7.0/10

 

[moriez]

The Martian 4.75/10 - Has going for it Matt Damon doing his science and absolutely beautiful CGI. Planet earth and the Hermes crews is where the problem (boredom) lies. Don't know how to describe, except my dislike for J.Chastain.

The American 6.5/10 - Slow movie which works reasonably well for me. Moody and maybe because not the most suspenseful it has a peaceful flow. Clooney starring is semi auto shortlisting. No obvious shortcomings like in above.

Capernaum 8.75/10 - Now this is something else entirely. Very likely the most impressive film I've seen all year and possibly deserves a 9 rating. Know that I never rate 10. Still digesting from yesterday so all I want to say is: go see it.

 

[wuwhere]

Fast Color, 2019 - 4.88

 

[SilverEars]

Spoiler

I didn't think the beginning was gratuitous. I viewed the Manson family as being secondary to the overall plot: which was life in Hollywood (for example, Tarantino decided to leave out the character of Charles Manson). Instead the primary characters are an actor coming to grips with him being typecast and "washed out"....along with his stunt double who also relives older days (his recollection with Bruce Lee might be considered unnecessary, but it still puts an amusing slant on a Hollywood icon). Scenes with Sharon Tate are a contrast in which she's young and having lust at being a movie star. There's also enough interaction with the Manson family, that Pitt's character goes to an old ranch that served as sets for westerns that he had worked on years before.....and him having a connection with George Spahn (a real life person). I think his use of typecast being westerns is from his great respect of Sergio Leone. Ironically, I watched Once Upon a Time in the West last night. I can see analogies to the movie in other Tarantino movies that aren't related to westerns: I heard quite a bit of music themes that Tarantino recreates. I think it's also an interesting artistic choice to spend more time on main characters that are mostly fictional to add more credence of the ending being an alternate history.

I think the problem this movie faces especially with the current generation is lack of knowlege of the events of the era.

After going though the analysis and backgrounds of the movie, I understand the reasons behind the contents in the movie.

The main point is what redcarmoose pointed out, the transition of the times, and holleywood. The two characters were used as examples of actors going through times of changes in hollywood, and same for the hippies, which were showing in a more broad view how times were changing.

So you guys were right. One has to be able to relate to the events in the movie, or it would be received as bunch of random things going on.

Personally for me, the issues raised in the movie isn't a topic of interest still.

 

[tdockweiler]

An Elephant Sitting Still - 9/10

Probably one of the best experiences I've had watching a movie in quite awhile.
Despite being 4 hours of mostly talking and extremely long takes, it's never boring at all.
I watched it in one sitting somehow. It's a hard movie to suggest due to it's length and very slow pace.

Towards the end it actually starts getting better and better and slightly less slow.
If you liked the Japanese film "Eureka" or maybe Edward Yang's "Yi Yi", maybe check this one out.
I rented this on Amazon and it's a new release. Totally worth the $5 if you can manage to watch it during the rental period!

PS the trailer makes it seem a little more dramatic than it really is.





The Aeronauts - 4.5/10

Almost forgot I had seen this in the span of maybe a day or so. Any story they had here in this movie is pretty much dumbed down and told in flashbacks. Might as well be a silent film.

Only good thing about this is that the CGI is pretty good and convincing. It's a nice looking movie at least. Eddie Redmayne does a pretty good job. Felicity Jones? Not so much...

Despite the rating, it's not totally terrible. I would be kind of mad though if I paid $11 to see this in the theater or subscribed to Amazon Prime for it.

BTW it took me 3 sittings to finish this.

 

[oqvist]

Rise of Skywalker

7/10. Playing safe nothing new here. There is no need for Disney to produce more movies. Give it back to Lucas.

 

[tdockweiler]

Rise of Skywalker

7/10. Playing safe nothing new here. There is no need for Disney to produce more movies. Give it back to Lucas.

I wonder if by now they have a sort of script template where they are almost can guarantee a huge return on their investment at the box office.
Maybe these days they try to play it safe too much to please the fans. This is why Pixar films sort of annoy me now.

They should hire a new director and give him total creative control to do whatever he wants. Probably won't happen in a million years.

I refuse to see it because I can't stand JJ Abrams movies, especially his terrible "Star Trek" movies.

The only recent Stars Wars film I remember liking was "The Last Jedi". Think I gave it an 8.
Previous one was painful to sit through if I remember right (same with "The Phantom Menace").


BTW I'm looking forward to the Matt Reeves directed Batman movie! Somehow he managed to make three really impressive Planet of the Apes movies right in a row.

Part 3 was good enough to see 5 times in the theater.

The Christopher Nolan Batman movies were not much fun and kind of boring. Sorry, but it's true!

Also, it's too bad there will no longer be a Neil Blomkamp Aliens movie.
Hopefully someday we'll see a sequel to his "District 9".

 

[nraymond]

Rise of Skywalker

7/10. Playing safe nothing new here. There is no need for Disney to produce more movies. Give it back to Lucas.

Star Wars was great because George Lucas took Akira Kurosawa's movie The Hidden Fortress and set it in space, and had his first wife Marcia Lou Lucas (an amazing editor) to edit it into something good, and assembled the talent of Industrial Light and Magic to do the terrific design and special effects, and later brought in people like Irvin Kershner to direct movies like Empire Strikes Back. He made the mistake of being too obsessed with the pop mythologist Joseph Campbell and his Hero's Journey which has infected writing workshops for decade's now and lowered the average creative output of cinema. In 1988 he was smart enough to go before Congress and passionately and eloquently defend why films should not be altered after their release (there was rampant colorizing of black and white films at the time), and later he was foolish enough to claim that he had destroyed his original films when he revised them into his special editions. George Lucas has brought me equal parts joy and sadness in my life... right now I am ambivalent about him.

 

[oqvist]

Yes surely made his misstakes but Disney movies lacks soul. Its just a other step in capitalism they dont dare risking amything.

 

[wuwhere]

Gemini Man, 2019 - 6.78

 

[DamageInc77]

The Lighthouse - 9/10

Top 3 of the year for me.