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What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

The Amazing Mr. Williams

Melvyn Douglas is an ace detective in 1939 New York who just can't find the time to marry his girl. If you liked the Thin Man you'll like this.

Ninotchka

Garbo is Soviet trade delegate in 30s Paris, where she is seduced by Paris fashions and an aristocratic gigolo (played by Melvyn Douglas). I'd never seen this one before - deserves every inch of its classic status.
 
We watched the 4 episodes of "Chimp Crazy" on Sky Docs. Basically a tale of of people who think its ok to keep Chimps in concrete facilities or tiny basement rooms or roaming around their houses & PeTA trying to rescue them & take them to a much, much larger outdoor facility. Also included some footage & the calls to police for the woman who had her face bitten off by a friends Chimp. FFS, what is wrong with some people!
 
Lusitania: Murder on the Atlantic

John Hannah and Kenneth Cranham do their best in this average docudrama from 2007, concerning the sinking of the great ship off the coast of Ireland.

It has something to say about governments, war, ruthlessness and cover ups but it doesn't quite hit the mark.
 
Sirocco

One for the don't bother file, which is a shame because it's Humphrey Bogart in an exotic locale, Damascus.

From 1951, they must have been trying to capture some of that Casablanca magic with this story of the 1925 Syrian revolt. But Bogie phones it in, and in fairness they didn't give him much to work with.
 
Woman of the Hour. Anne Kendrick’s directorial debut, a crime drama/ thriller based on the real story of a serial killer who in the middle of his spree actually appeared in a dating TV show.

Obviously dark themes, but a well written and executed film, and an impressive first directing work by Kendrick. Daniel Zovatto is great as the main antagonist.
 
Steamboat Bill, Jr

Buster Keaton stars in the classic from 1928.

Bill comes down from Boston to meet his dad for the first time in years. Dad operates a riverboat which has seen better days, and is up against a fancy rich rival with a bigger boat.

Will Bill Jr step up to the challenges of an estranged parent, and river etiquette?

Watch out for the storm sequence, it's spectacular and apparently most of the budget went on it.
 
Over the weekend we watched Sisu, which has already been discussed here. Was pretty good.

We also watched Monos, a Colombian film about a group of teenage guerillas keeping an eye on a kidnapped American. It went from mountains to the jungle, had a very 'Lord of the Flies' vibe and like Sisu, was also pretty good.
 
starfish said:
Over the weekend we watched Sisu, which has already been discussed here. Was pretty good.

We also watched Monos, a Colombian film about a group of teenage guerillas keeping an eye on a kidnapped American. It went from mountains to the jungle, had a very 'Lord of the Flies' vibe and like Sisu, was also pretty good.
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I saw the original Lord of the flies at a screening last week and the guy introducing it name checked Monos.
 
Appaloosa (2008). Watched this on Tubi ( if you use an American VPN you can sign up and watch the US version which is far better than the UK one). Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons are cast in a Western tale of two hired killers appointed Marshalls after a local businessman killer. Normal stuff with violence and a court scene held in a saloon however this is interwoven with a triangle of competing affections ostensively between Harris and Mortenson over Zellweger but underneath between Mortenson and Zellweger over Harris. There's probably some metaphor for Harris and Zellweger settling down and the Wild West becoming civilised, I don't know. These themes could have been more developed, I found The Sisters Brother a little more poignant, but this isn't a bad film at all and Irons as the baddie reminded me of Jim Ratcliffe at Man Utd.
 
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I absolutely loved the original, and have a lot of time for Tim Burton in general so I’m always happy to cut him extra slack for lesser flicks many others have rated in a distinctly unflattering way.

So I am sorry to say that I found this very disappointing. As well as his best, unmissable work Burton has delivered some underwhelming/ just-about-mediocre films in his career, but at least the latter still benefited from his unique, distinctive style and don’t-give-a-fuck attitude to pleasing studios and wider audiences alike. But this felt like your typical by-the-numbers sequel that gets commissioned by the Studio within three years of the original film after it unexpectedly turned out to be a hit.

The script is all over the place at times, the pace uneven, and the main antagonist’s contribution to the storytelling so underwhelming and poorly written, you could do away with the character altogether and wouldn’t miss it.

And whereas one can’t control which actors from the original film several decades ago might be willing or able to appear in a sequel after all those years, the one-line ‘explanation’ about the absence of the two main characters from the first movie is so dismissive and lazy, it almost feels like Tim Burton having a strop and snubbing them on purpose.
 
T & P said:
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I absolutely loved the original, and have a lot of time for Tim Burton in general so I’m always happy to cut him extra slack for lesser flicks many others have rated in a distinctly unflattering way.

So I am sorry to say that I found this very disappointing. As well as his best, unmissable work Burton has delivered some underwhelming/ just-about-mediocre films in his career, but at least the latter still benefited from his unique, distinctive style and don’t-give-a-fuck attitude to pleasing studios and wider audiences alike. But this felt like your typical by-the-numbers sequel that gets commissioned by the Studio within three years of the original film after it unexpectedly turned out to be a hit.

The script is all over the place at times, the pace uneven, and the main antagonist’s contribution to the storytelling so underwhelming and poorly written, you could do away with the character altogether and wouldn’t miss it.

And whereas one can’t control which actors from the original film several decades ago might be willing or able to appear in a sequel after all those years, the one-line ‘explanation’ about the absence of the two main characters from the first movie is so dismissive and lazy, it almost feels like Tim Burton having a strop and snubbing them on purpose.
Click to expand...
In the case of Jeffrey Jones, I can fully get behind the snubbing.

Will probably watch, all the same because of love for the original.
 
krtek a houby said:
In the case of Jeffrey Jones, I can fully get behind the snubbing.

Will probably watch, all the same because of love for the original.
Click to expand...
Curious, why do you say that? Was he mistreated or underpaid by Burton for the original? I had assumed he was too old/ ill to work anymore so they had to write him out.

Come to think of my previous post, given recent events involving Alec Baldwin, it is most likely that he did not snub this film but was unable to participate due to the horrific circumstances of the last couple of years. Which I guess would have made the casting of Geena Davis’s character all by herself absurd and irrelevant to the story. So I retract that particular negative comment. Their absence could still have been explained away a little better in the story, though.

To be fair, it is not terrible, and it has some great cameos and new supporting characters by actors you will love. So do watch it, but if you don’t use naughty streams, do wait at least until it’s available to rent for a fiver, unlike paying £15 for a premium rental as we did.
 
I found it fun enough fluff. It's not a classic like the original, but it was never going to be. There are worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon.
 
The Exorcist (director's cut), watched with my son. Obviously still terrific. He didnt find it scary (fair enough) but enjoyed it as a film.

I Saw The TV Glow, watched with my daughter. Gorgeous colours and well made, but I found it all far too much like watching a drama school end of year production.
 
Justice League - Zack Snyder Cut (2021)

Can barely remember the 2017 original but a couple of mates kept droning on about how awesome this is, so we watched all 4 hours last night.

On the plus side, it's mindlessly watchable, nice to give a bit more background to Cyborg, the team feels closer and Leto's Joker is a massive improvement on his Suicide Squad appearance.

On the negative side, this is clearly DCs attempt to do Avengers Infinity War and Endgame and Darkseid doesn't have the charisma of Thanos. Even if the former was created before the latter (in the comics).

Also, it takes itself very seriously and so icons like Superman become meh. Super-meh. Nothing against Cavil, but he's lacking the depth Reeve had in the room.

And the slo-mo adds nothing to the story or visuals and I don't get Snyder's obsession with using it in every film.

Still, it's better than Rebel Moon.
 
Pork Chop Hill (1959) - right from the Cold War, a typically conflicted Hollywood take on a famously disastrous (for the US) battle during the Korean war, mixing fairly rabid anti-Commie stereotypes and racism (!those evil, inscrutable, coldhearted, chainsmoking Chinese bastids plotting to kill Our Brave Boys and not negotiating for peace in good faith!) and more liberal tropes of the WW2 "platoon as microcosm of America's ills" with Gregory Peck doing anguished stoical leadership, a chaotic American chain of command, and an unusual amount of intra-US tensiond epicted between the country hayseeds, hellraisin' good ol' boys, wise-guy big city types from Jewish and Italian backgrounds, and justifiably embittered Black troops on the American side. Also an unusually sympathetic and nuanced role for a Japanese-American character who's a quiet hero. No Korean civilians or perspectives anywhere in sight of course. But interesting for the way it delves into the usual poor grunts on the ground vs out-of-touch command divide, and frankly pretty bleak in its 'war is hell and nobody wins' overview. Not half as much of a propaganda piece as the US Army would have wanted, probably, (no outstanding acts of gallantry, or gory bang-bang-bang brutality) but hardly a searing anti-imperialist critique either. Overall: a bit timid, but not a waste of time.
 
Still of the Night - 1982, Hithcock-ian thriller with Meryl Streep and Roy Scheider. I enjoyed it, my partner didn't. Pace and atmosphere you don't get nowadays - slower and more thoughtful - but with some nice little jumps and twists in the story. Predictable and slightly unbelievable at times but did the job for me. quite a New York film as well, with scenes in the park.
 
I watched an episode of Rivals and a couple of Life on Mars. Rivals was bloody awful, which will make for an awkward conversation with my sister who had strongly recommended it.

Life on Mars is flawed (some non sequiturs and too simple at times) but I found it very enjoyable - a cop in 00's gets a concussion and wakes up in the 70s. It's suggested he might be in a coma but it's not clear what is "reality". The recreation of the time period is very impressive, and time travel always supplies a lot of rich material for screen writers. It's fun watching him working as a DI in 1973 with a background in 2006. Sexism, white dog turds, the lot.
 
Men - Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear star in an Alex Garland folk horror from 2022. Beautiful cinematography and soundscapes courtesy of Geoff Barrow and a satisfying slow burn until the bonkers third act.

Not for everyone, but always time for an Alex Garland excursion. A solid 3/5.

Shin Godzilla - shit things happened in 2016. This wasn't one of them. A monster has come ashore in Tokyo and it's up to the bureaucrats and boffins to save the day.

Hammy in parts, with cheese on top and some questionable acting, it's nevertheless a fun addition to the series. Also 3/5.
 
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