westendboy Posted June 15, 2020 Author Posted June 15, 2020 This is the Thai remake of the Korean classic called The Classic (2003) and it just dropped on Netflix. Don’t waste your time with this. It doesn’t hold a candle next to the original movie. Of course, if you have not seen the Korean one you may actually like this, but my advice is to seek out the 2003 movie. Truth be told, I couldn’t remember much of the movie except the cafe scene in the last act. I cried my eyes out and it’s an ending that will stay with me for life. Here, on this windy night, not a single rivulet of tear rolled down. Likewise with Choo. As I watched this, I started to remember the same scenes in the original, so this is a very faithful remake. Perhaps too faithful. Trust me, go find the 2003 movie and see it with your significant other. Make sure you get ready a box of tissues and Son Ye-Jin played the girl. She was in something called Crash Landing On You. You may have heard of it. A joke... I don’t think Choo would mind. There is a scene where the guy and gal are at an island with the haunted house. She was running and fell, spraining her ankle. The guy then carried her. Choo turned to me and asked whether I would do that. I said most definitely and without hesitation, and I would even walk in slow-motion so everyone around us would see. Choo LOL. I think it’s a good joke. Guys, if you are in a relationship long enough this question will always come up. You can use my joke. I give you permission [emoji41] Anyway, Choo made a special request to see the original over the weekend even though she has seen it once (me twice). Oh... one more interesting tid-bit... I have a friend who used the Korean movie to sieve out the girls whom he would like to know more. Like me, my friend is very serious about movies. Our movie weekend started with My Darling Clementine, a 1946 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral. It is regarded by many film critics as one of the best Westerns ever made. I am slowly finishing off all the great Westerns and this is a great one. Usually, the gunfights and fisticuffs are the highlights of a Western, but not here. This is a gentle love story and about a man learning about love. It’s also about nobility. What I like about this one is the way it says so much without doing much and you will get it. Watch out for the scene where Doc Holliday challenges Wyatt Earp to draw in a saloon. I love how Earp basically tells him it’s a gunfight he can’t win and yet give him face. The tone of the movie is idyllic, like a love letter to the Wild West. Gulabo Sitabo is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Shoojit Sircar. Set in Lucknow, it stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana as warring men. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was not released theatrically, but was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 12 June 2020. Any movie that stars Bachchan is a treat because you know he brings his A game. His superb acting not withstanding, this is a huge disappointment. It’s the 101 of storytelling failed. One of the most important aspects of a narrative is theme. In my writing classes, I usually use a simple analogy to illustrate what themes are - imagine your fave t-shirt lying in a heap on the bed; you can’t see the design because of all the haphazard folds, but once you hang it on a hanger, you see everything. Theme is the hanger; it is what gives the story shape and Gulabo Sitabo has no idea what its theme or themes are. Is it a little people against the unscrupulous government story? Is it a story of solidarity and flashing a middle finger against the government? Is it a comedy of two persons up-manship against each other? Is it a story of retribution? I think this is a semblance of all of these themes in the story but it just didn’t know what to focus on. The other huge mistake is that the two thespians are absolutely unsympathetic characters. What a waste of a premise. Then I suggested taking a break from Reply 1988 to try something fast and furious. Nope the franchise, but the Harlan Coben’s Netflix miniseries. The thriller writer signed a 14-series contract with Netflix and I believe 4 of them are already up on Netflix. I googled for the most highly rated one and it turned out to be The Stranger... A mysterious stranger tells a man a secret that has a devastating impact on his seemingly perfect life. This Stranger is a woman in her 20s with a baseball cap, and is learned to be correlated with more secrets as the series progresses. This secret affects the man's wife who goes missing as a result. Holy molly... we blitzed through 8 episodes over the weekend and it’s a blast. I mean it isn’t award-winning stuff but it succeeded in being part of our minds and souls for a while. The plot is twist-and-turny and it probably draws inspiration from Shakespeare’s Othello; how one secret learned will basically consume one’s entire life. Choo had trouble with the narrative and kept saying “I don’t like this... it keeps dropping mysteries without any explanation”. I told her it’s Harlan Coben and you just have to trust the storyteller. But I know why she said that because this one has more intricate gears and cogs like a Swiss watch. Then, with the last 2 episodes all the disparate narrative threads start dovetailing together and we were completely satisfied with the ending. You want something binge-worthy, here it is. Makes me want to check out another Coben mini-series, maybe The Woods, heard some good things about it.  Then we ended the weekend with Choo’s request, The Classic (2003). This is hands down the better film than the Thai remake. The humour is so unforced and natural, unlike the Thai remake which had sound effects to punctuate the funny scenes. The casting is spot-on and the use of music is sublime, unlike the Thai one. With its focus on letter writing, it was a movie after my heart. Surprisingly, I wasn’t moved at all the heart wrenching scenes, probably because my mind was busy looking at the differences between the two movies, but Choo was tearing up at all the sad scenes. This is a gem and Son Ye-jin was only 21 here. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted June 24, 2020 Author Posted June 24, 2020 I have two weekends more before I go back to work. As much as I am looking forward to going back, I am so going to miss the weekend movie marathons I have with the missus. On the TV series front, we are have finished Upload and started on Hospital Playlist. On my own, I have just finished Good Omens, Neil Gaiman is a genius and I have two more episodes of The Americans to go. The Circus is a 1928 silent film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker, George Davis and Henry Bergman. The ringmaster of an impoverished circus hires Chaplin's Little Tramp as a clown, but discovers that he can only be funny unintentionally. The production of the film was the most difficult experience in Chaplin's career. Numerous problems and delays occurred, including a studio fire, the death of Chaplin's mother, as well as Chaplin's bitter divorce from his second wife Lita Grey, and the Internal Revenue Service's claims of Chaplin's owed back taxes, all of which culminated in filming being stalled for eight months. The Circus was the seventh highest grossing silent film in cinema history taking in more than $3.8 million in 1928. The film continues to receive high praise. This is probably the final Chaplin film I wanted to see and it is a great one. Knowing the film’s troubled history including the knowledge that this was released during the onset of silent cinema’s obsolescence will give you new eyes and ears to appreciate it. The Circus had to compete with The Jazz Singer, the first sound film, which just opened and it would herald the most fundamental periods of change for the film industry. The movie is a helluva of fun to watch and it has some of Chaplin’s most sublime gags and slapstick comedy. These days if something is difficult to shoot, CGI and special effects will come in, but watching The Circus will provide you a sense of wonder because your mind will scream “how the hell did Chaplin do that?” Just look at the climatic tightrope sequence, the scene with the monkeys, lion and many more. The man was a genius and he added a sublime melancholic tone throughout. It’s like he had a tap line on the duality of circus performers - in the rink they thrill you and make you laugh, but once the show is over the joy is erased. On top of everything, Chaplin’s defiance of sound cinema shone through... “I would as soon rouge marble cheeks. Pictures are pantomime art.” It all culminated in a profoundly philosophical and poignant ending. Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood. The film was a groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and explore the differences and conflicts between generations. Over the years, the film has achieved landmark status for the acting of cultural icon Dean, fresh from his Oscar nominated role in East of Eden and who died before the film's release, in his most celebrated role. This was the only film during Dean's lifetime in which he received top billing. This is an extraordinary film, filled with the fervent fire of the disenchanted youth and lifted up by James Dean’s seminal and iconic performance. Dean disappeared into his role. Nicolas Ray’s use of light and space to bring out the characters’ troubled emotions is also exemplary. Sometimes an actor can come along and steal every scene he or she is in, Dean did that here. His portrayal of the loneliness and frustration of a post-war teen is up there in the stratosphere; it is so amazing that anybody who comes along and does something a little different will be compared to Dean’s powerful performance and I don’t envy that actor. La Vérité (occasionally released under its English translation The Truth) is a 1960 French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, and starring Brigitte Bardot. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Unconventional, troubled, and suicidal, the beautiful small-town girl and the family's black sheep, Dominique Marceau, moves into a cramped Parisian apartment with her violin student sister, Annie, to flee from a suffocating life in the province. However, instead of finding liberty in the bohemian city of light, the liberated Dominique will find herself accused of a hideous and shocking crime: the gruesome murder of her young lover and hopeful conductor, Gilbert Tellier--Annie's soon-to-be husband. Little by little, as both judge and jury delve deeper and deeper into Dominique's lifestyle and her past, a provocative social kaleidoscope starts taking shape. Was Tellier's killing premeditated or was this a crime of passion? On my goodness... Clouzout once said that he was going to make Brigitte Bardot a star and he did that many times over. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Bardot. Her wide-eyed gaze and her wild abandon, was a force of nature. It didn’t start out that way but soon Bardot’s Dominique knows she can weaponised her sexuality and make men spin like tops all around her. If I can throw myself into the movie, I would want her to spin me like a record and I want to make music with her. If you are a dude and proclaim you can resist her feminine wiles, you are so full of shite. I adore Clouzout’s choice of narrative framework to tell the story of a misunderstood and mistreated girl which is intricately constructed. It is an uncompromising character study and it also served up a harsh verdict against a hypocritical and moralistic society. It might be a portrayal of a society in 1960, but you tell me if things have changed now when we can judge someone we don’t even know so harshly from a photograph and a sensationalised headline.   Salem's Lot is a 1979 American miniseries television adaptation of the 1975 horror novel of the same name by Stephen King. Directed by Tobe Hooper and starring David Soul and James Mason, the plot concerns a writer who returns to his hometown and discovers that its citizens are turning into vampires. Salem's Lot combines elements of both the vampire film and haunted house subgenres of horror. This one does have atmosphere but it just felt a little dated for it to be truly scary. I remember watching this way back in the 80s and it scared the living daylights out of me, but watching it again only managed to serve as a window to storytelling techniques of the past. My wife is usually frightened by horror flicks, but this one only managed to tickle her. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1
westendboy Posted June 30, 2020 Author Posted June 30, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/tv-series-hospital-playlist-2020/ Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted July 8, 2020 Author Posted July 8, 2020 Since my last movie post, we have seen Lords of Dogtown (2005), The Naked Kiss (1964), Rumble Fish (1983), Stuber (2019), 7500 (Amazon Prime Video), Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Netflix) and these... The Sword of Doom is a 1966 jidaigeki film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. It was based on the serial novel of the same title by Kaizan Nakazato. This film boasts some of the most impressive swordplay of samurai epics. Visceral and violent, yet gorgeously choreographed to the tempo of exquisite death. Ever wonder what happens if the most immoral person becomes a politician or a psychopath becomes a police officer (wait a minute... there are examples of this in real life!) or a sociopath becomes a samurai? Phew... the last example has not happened in reality. I love how Tatsuya Nakadai plays his character Ryunosuke with a sickening smile as he dispatched the umpteenth samurai. He literally looks like he gets off on it. At one point the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade. Ryunosuke accepts her offer, but still kills her husband in the match. This guy is looking to get the Scumbag of the Century award. The fella just goes around amassing vendettas like nobody’s business but he finally meets his match in Toshiro Mifune’s Shimada, a sword master. The climax is already deliriously teased out because Shimada is coaching a samurai on the technique to slay Ryunosuke to exact revenge for killing his brother and destroying his family. Oh man... I was rubbing my hands in glee with the prospect of a bloody finale. But in an extremely odd choice of narrative cop-outs, we do not get to see that climax. The movie literally ends with a freeze like a slap on my face, an unnecessary subplot diversion not withstanding. It almost feels like since Ryunosuke is such a scumbag that nobody cares about him and I too do not care what happens to him. From 5 stars, this became a 3 star movie in a split second. Heathers is a 1989 American black comedy teen film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. It stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four teenage girls — three of whom are named Heather — in a clique at an Ohio high school, whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides. This dark satire was a hoot to watch. A brilliant and subversive screenplay, the very anti-thesis of a John Hughes movie about teenagers. It’s a movie that takes risks and scores. If it wasn’t done well, I am pretty sure there would have been many bodies of folks up in arms proclaiming that the movie promotes suicides in teenagers, but you will never get the feeling here. It’s audacious and outrageously funny. It’s no wonder it’s a cult classic. Then we decided to watch a bunch of old monster classics from Universal Pictures... So far we have seen The Invisible Man (1933), Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). These days you probably won’t blink your eyes at visual effects on screen because everything can be achieved by the computers, limited only by the imagination of the filmmaker. I think the last few times my jaw dropped ogling at the big screen were Avatar, Jaws, Star Wars and Alien. But when you watch these old classics from the 1930s, I am sure you will be amazed by the visual effects thought up by the filmmakers. How did they make a man disappear? How did they create the giant sets? Wow look at the makeup for Frankenstein. The details with the humongous sets was also quite something. At an average runtime of 84min these movies never felt bloated, except perhaps Dracula which was quite prodding at times and a rubber bat that bounced on wire was hardly scary. Out of this lot, I would highly recommend The Bride of Frankenstein, but you will need to see Frankenstein first to get the clever references, one of which is Mary Shelley herself, the author of Frankenstein. This one is an undeniable masterpiece - the satire, the self-parody, the makeup, the acting, the writing, the visual effects, all up there. And it’s funny too and the humour never undercuts the horror. The subtext of our mankind’s fear and disdain of the outsider is palpable. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1
westendboy Posted August 5, 2020 Author Posted August 5, 2020 It has been quite a while since I last posted on movies we have seen at home. I didn’t keep track of everything we have seen, but I do remember watching Pixar’s Onward (it’s probably awesome if another studio did this, but with Pixar’s reputation this one just doesn’t cut it. Choo even said: “this is by Pixar? No way.” That probably sums it up), The Gentlemen (this is Guy Ritchie back to his rambunctious characters-talking-like-spitfires roots but the narrative framework used to tell the story grew tiresome), The Killing (1956), M (1931), The Way Back (2020), Police Story (1985), Police Story 2 (1988) and these... The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists. It was inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War. The story was adapted from the memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton who co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman. At the time of its initial release, The General, an action-adventure-comedy made toward the end of the silent era, was not well received by critics and audiences, resulting in mediocre box office returns (about half a million dollars domestically, and approximately one million worldwide). Because of its then-huge budget ($750,000 supplied by Metro chief Joseph Schenck) and failure to turn a significant profit, Keaton lost his independence as a filmmaker and was forced into a restrictive deal with MGM. The General has since been reevaluated, and is now often ranked among the greatest American films ever made. I lifted the above from wiki... damn, I just don’t understand why the people didn’t adore The General in 1926. This is one of the greatest films I have seen. There are so many gags, all executed with verve and gusto. So many scenes stand out with a halo of authenticity. My fave is the one where he was rejected by his girl and he sits disconsolately on the drive rod of the locomotive engine; the train moves, moving him up and down, but he doesn’t notice it because his mind is still on his girl. This is a story of one man against an army, and the dude went on to change the course of history. Sometimes when you watch a movie you will have a skyscraper huge of a feeling that decades from now there will be people who will still marvel at the movie. This is one of those rare movies. It’s interesting why I took it down for a watch. It was all because of Police Story 1 & 2. I was going through the special features and one of it mentioned how Jackie Chan failed to find his niche in Hollywood and decided to come back to Hong Kong to make the movies he wanted to make. He went for broke with Police Story doing his own stunts. One of the stressed points for him was studios wanted him to be the next Bruce Lee, but he knew he didn’t cut it. If Bruce Lee fights, he wants to run; if Bruce Lee kicks, he wants to block; if Bruce Lee is a hero, he wants to be a reluctant one. So he channeled Buster Keaton and a little of Chaplin into all his roles. When Choo and I were watching The General, we would exclaim “OMG! That’s totally Jackie Chan’s style” and Chan modelled so many of his persona after Buster Keaton. I have just acquired The Cameraman (1928) and I can’t wait to see it. The Hunt is a 2020 American horror thriller film directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Both Zobel and Lindelof have said that the film serves as a satire on the profound political divide between the American left and right. Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted, Crystal, turns the tables on her pursuers. The American left and right wing politics is lost on me, but that didn’t stop me from having a blast. It skewers the wealth and class divide in hilarious ways and it had some great ideas. The first 15 minutes totally subverted my expectations - what I thought was going to be the main protagonist was gone in a jiffy and my mind went “wait a minute. What just happened?” I don’t think it succeed as a satire, but it definitely worked as a fun ride. Movies that can make guffaw like a nutcase when I see a dude explode are few. The Outsider is an American horror crime drama miniseries based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Stephen King. It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, Jason Bateman (who also directed the first 2 episodes) and Cynthia Erivo. We read the novel which was voted the Best Thriller on goodreads. Never one to shy away from film adaptations, we checked this out. It stays faithful to the novel, and even adheres to King’s narrative structure, especially with the first episode. The first two episodes are exactly as I imagined and sometimes even more - how can a person exist in two realities simultaneously? But after that the series plateaued and remained that way all the way to the end. I can’t say it’s terrible because there are a lot of great moments and the acting is great; Mendelsohn definitely put in a lived in performance of a truth seeker going from doubter to believer. For me, one of the reasons it didn’t scale the heights is because of Jason Bateman’s character who is gone by the end of ep2, so it felt like the series went on a slip road that is less interesting than Bateman’s character. What worked in print may not necessarily work on film; it also doesn’t help that Bateman is awesome in his role. The other reason it didn’t work is because it meanders too much with a huge plethora of characters spouting euphemisms. There is one episode which basically featured all characters in different cars going to different places talking and talking. This gravely needed to pare down its 10-episode laborious runtime. 3 seasons, 26 mind-melting episodes. We are done. Seriously, I don’t know how to write a review; words elude me. Dark is a Netflix Original. I always find Netflix tagging the word “original” to its namesake tacky because there aren’t many shows that are original in terms of ideas or scope. IMHO Dark is truly the only show that is original on Netflix. This one leaves a high watermark for sci-fi, particularly time-travel, shows. Remember the time honoured adage that says the present self can never meet the past or future self because the space-time continuum will be messed up? Remember the theory of bootstrap paradox where time loops will cause more time loops and the origin can never be determined? Dark rubbishes everything you know about time travel in the most profound ways. There are scenes in S3 where three different versions of the same person at different ages work together. The atmosphere is foreboding and each season and episode builds on it. The suspense is spellbinding. The information and revelations are jaw-dropping. The acting is sublime. The storyteller never for once dumbs down the story just so a 10 year old will understand it. This one demands your absolute attention - no checking your social media, no looking out of your window and no fooling around with your significant other. “What we know is a drop. What we don’t know is an ocean.” This quote kind of sums it up very well. I can’t profess to understand all the inner-working of the plot, but I think I get the whole picture. It’s like multiple time-lines of the characters interweaving with each other. Everything they do has repercussions. Pain drives them, brands them, propels them. The whole ensemble resembles hamsters running endlessly on wheels - they can’t stop running because they know they will cease to exist if they do. To live they have to kill themselves. Dark ends on one of the most bittersweet extended gracenote moments I have ever experienced. This one takes star-crossed romance to a whole different dimension. Dark is definitely one of the best and most intelligent series on Netflix. I can’t say it’s for everyone and definitely not for Choo who asked me tonight during the final episode “when is this going to end?” So you are warned.  Not wanting to read subtitles, we decided to try Servant on Apple TV+. This only took us 2 days to finish because each episode is only 30min. It really made us wonder why some TV series need to do 90min per episode. A Philadelphia couple is in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home. I lifted the above vague synopsis from IMDb. The genre is psychological horror and it does a damn good job in creating a creepy and intense atmosphere. The weird camera angles, drab lighting, pregnant pauses, vacant stares and characters sometimes speaking in double entendres, all lend to a gripping experience. There are shades of Rosemary’s Baby and Fatal Attraction, but it surprises me by going to unusual places. As these types of genre go, it throws up more questions than answers, but there are enough revelations to make you want to stay glued to it. Oh... it does have some disturbing culinary scenes. One about an eel comes to mind. The scene falls just a notch below that skinning of a live rabbit scene in Nekromantik (1997) in terms of stomach churning potency, and I meant it as a huge compliment. 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westendboy Posted August 13, 2020 Author Posted August 13, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/08/12/pulse-2001/ Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted August 19, 2020 Author Posted August 19, 2020 Since my last movie post we have seen My Brilliant Friend (S2), The Songs We Sang (...again. Still hit us in the feels), The Old Guard and these... The reason we have not been checking out more movies is because we are rooted with Itaewon Class. Les Misérables is a 2019 French drama film directed by Ladj Ly in his full-length feature directorial debut. The film, set in the commune of Montfermeil in the aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is based on a real-life occurrence of police violence which took place in the city on 14 October 2008, and was observed and filmed by Ly. The story follows several characters within the commune, as a theft from a teenager spirals into the threat of a large crisis. The film's title is a reference to the Victor Hugo 1862 novel of the same name, written in Montfermeil and partially set in it; in the novel, Montfermeil is also the setting of the meeting of Jean Valjean and Cosette, a girl abused by her adoptive parents. The film depicts abuses against poor citizens, especially teenagers of sub-Saharan African or Maghrebi ethnicities, thus stressing the continuity in the fate of the poor in Montfermeil. It had its world premiere on 15 May 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It was released in France on 20 November 2019 and received critical acclaim, earning twelve nominations at the César Awards and winning four including Best Film. Among other honors, it was selected as the French entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, eventually achieving the nomination. This is one crackerjack of a movie, like seeing the ignition of an explosion in slow motion. So much tragedy could have been prevented by all parties doing the right thing, but no, because of pride, arrogance, and racism, they let everything snowballed to a huge mess. You will watch the movie but I have no doubt your mind will harken back to the 2005 riots in Paris which lasted 3 weeks. Every big cataclysmic event happens because of small innocuous events. Choo didn’t like it and half an hour in she declared, “Hey! What is this about?” I told her to be patient and everything will collide. She didn’t complain after that. Black Orpheus is a 1959 romantic tragedy film made in Brazil by French director Marcel Camus and starring Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello. It is based on the play Orfeu da Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes, which is itself an adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in the modern context of a favela ("slum") in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. The film is particularly noted for its soundtrack by two Brazilian composers: Antônio Carlos Jobim, whose song "A felicidade" opens the film; and Luiz Bonfá, whose "Manhã de Carnaval" and "Samba de Orfeu" have become classics of bossa nova. My first encounter with the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice was through Neil Gaiman’s retelling in The Sandman called The Song of Orpheus. It was so painfully tragic. It is one of those rare stories that is instantly memorable. Interestingly, Marcel Camus’ approach to the Ancient Greek myth isn’t straight forward. He juxtaposes their doomed romance with the gaiety of the carnival; the madness and unbridled joy is an extension of their romance. The tragedy only came in the final half hour and even though what will transpire I still feel sad for them. Winner of both the Academy Award for best foreign language film and the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, the movie is also famous for introducing the world to Bossa Nova and the craze started from here. Sweet Bean is a 2015 Japanese drama film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was selected to open the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film centres primarily around the themes of freedom and joy, suggesting that by embracing our sensory experiences we may attain richer, more rewarding lives. The manager of a pancake stall finds himself confronted with an odd but sympathetic elderly woman looking for work. A taste of her homemade red bean paste convinces him to hire her, which starts a relationship that is about much more than just street food. The food depicted here is dorayaki, Doraemon’s fave food; it’s two honeyed pancake “embracing” red bean paste. It’s something simple but the art in making it is anything but. I swear we watch this with a huge smile plastered on our faces. So Zen and downright therapeutic. This one will give you a booster shot for living your life to the fullest. I like how it’s about people living on the periphery of Japanese society, and how they all have a spot in the world after some soul-searching. The photography is gorgeous and the central message of learning from nature and enjoy the wonder of life moment by moment is earned manifolds, amplified by a lovely tone and rhythm. So many wonderful scenes that will stay with me for life. Like all great films about food, it starts with attention on food but it gradually extends its embrace to so many things about life. If I were to create a list of great movies about food, Sweet Bean will be in the Top 10. Oh God... I so want to get me some dorayaki now. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted August 23, 2020 Author Posted August 23, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/08/21/sky-castle-2018/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted September 14, 2020 Author Posted September 14, 2020 Since my last post on movies seen at home, we have checked out #Alive, Indian Matchmaking, Raat Akeli Hai, Shakuntala Devi, Bringing Up Baby, Mystic Pop-up Bar, The Legacy of the Bones, Project Power, Ordinary People, The Raging Bull, but I will say a little more of these... The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges which stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con-artist Jean Harrington on a ship. They fall in love, but a misunderstanding causes them to split on bad terms. To get back at him, Jean disguises herself as an English lady, and comes back to tease and torment him. If you want to know what great writing is all about, you can’t do better than The Lady Eve. This is one of those rare films you can actually close your eyes and just listen to the rambunctious dialogue and I swear you will be giggling. So many quotable lines, so many sharp turns and the best part is through just plain dialogue you are already forming opinions about the two main protagonists. There is a scene very early on where we see Jean basically laying on lines and thoughts of women trying to catch Charles’ attention that is just incredible. You are already salivating at the prospect of her in action and action here she comes... oh my goodness. Somewhere past the 20th minute you will see her twirl Charles up into a sexual frenzy in one continuous take. This has got to be one of the best scenes in a rom-com ever. All through it, you wouldn’t feel Charles is a poor sod because he is a genuine man, but he also has his faults. You know what? Hollywood just don’t do this type of movies anymore - sweet and full of heart, and the writing is stellar. Come and See is a 1985 Soviet anti-war film. Directed by Elem Klimov and starring Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova. The film's plot focuses on the Nazi German occupation of Belarus, and the events as witnessed by a young Belarusian partisan teenager named Flyora, who—against his mother's wishes—joins the Belarusian resistance movement, and thereafter depicts the Nazi atrocities and human suffering inflicted upon the Eastern European villages' populace. The film mixes hyper-realism with an underlying surrealism, and philosophical existentialism with poetical, psychological, political and apocalyptic themes. I made the mistake of watching this after we saw Tenet in the morning. One hour in, Choo was losing interest and I don’t blame her. The tone was weird and uneven, and I suggested I watch the rest on my own. I should have asked her to hang on because just after a scene where the boy and girl ran out the back door and the girl looked back as she ran out the door, we see her reaction first and then we see what she saw. It is a scene that is seared into my brain. There are many memorable scenes that are haunting and immediately become soul-shattering like the tracer bullets cutting through the night sky and most definitely the scene where the Germans obliterated a village that will break your heart into a thousand pieces. Love the use of close-ups that shows how the boy aged in just days; anybody would in those dire circumstances. This is a great anti-war film, no it isn’t great, it’s a masterpiece. If I am still with MOE I would urge schools to screen this for kids but probably from JC level onwards. The Way of the Dragon is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Bruce Lee, who also stars in the lead role. This is Lee's only complete directorial film. The film co-stars Nora Miao, Robert Wall, and Wei Ping-ou, with Chuck Norris playing his debut screen role. Way of the Dragon was released in Hong Kong on 30 December 1972. The film went on to gross an estimated US$130 million worldwide (equivalent to over $700 million adjusted for inflation), against a tight budget of $130,000, earning a thousand times its budget. It was the highest-grossing Hong Kong film up until Lee's next film, Enter the Dragon (1973). I recently acquired the Criterion box set and have been itching to watch it but it was tough to watch it with Choo because she has already seen them all. She doesn’t have the inkling to revisit movies like me. I think I was a very good boy one night and she finally relented and immediately cued up The Way of the Dragon. This seriously isn’t Lee’s best film but it is his only directorial debut where he had total artistic control. I have special love for this because I saw it at the cinema, of course I didn’t see it in 1972. There was a special Bruce Lee film festival in the late 1980s and a friend called me one night, one hour before it was to be screened at the now defunct Odeon-Katong and I just threw on some clothes and rushed there. I remember it was just less than 10 in the whole cinema, f*cking criminal, but it didn’t matter. Right from the cool music credits roll we became little boys watching our first Bruce Lee Kungfu movie. Seeing it again, it really isn’t a great movie except for the 10-minute fight scene between Lee and his student, Chuck Norris. If I were to compile a list of Top 10 fight scenes, this one may be in the Top 3. From the set-up at the Coliseum to the warm-up to the ebb and flow of the fight to the mutual respect between pugilistic opponents, this is just incredible. The idea of using a kitten as counterpoint and a “referee/observer” and slow-mo shots are also inspired. What I love most is the idea of the Tao of the fight communicated not with bombastic words, but with action. Brilliant. And Criterion did an amazing job. Mirage is a 2018 mystery-drama film co-written and directed by Oriol Paulo and starring Adriana Ugarte. Two storms separated by 25 years. A woman murdered. A daughter missed. Only 72 hours to discover the truth. This is what Tenet should have done - not try to explain the time travel concept so assiduously. This one trusts the audience to connect the dots and also to tell us the mechanics of it isn’t important; what’s important is the emotional stakes. So far I have seen Oriol Pauli’s The Body (2012) and The Invisible Guest (2016), and this dude doesn’t miss with these genre movies. The twists and turns are delirious and he knows how to hit you emotionally with a sledgehammer. In Adriana Ugarte, Paulo has found the perfect actress to carry the movie and she is wonderful. Within a few minutes, you will be focused on her all the way to the final scene. But this one gave Choo a sleepless night because she was trying to figure out all the time travel machinations. I slept like a baby... I told her the next morning “don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted September 28, 2020 Author Posted September 28, 2020 A friend on FB was Kon Mari-ing his movie collection and his Japanese pile caught my eye. He was kind enough to offer them to me. So I thought since we can’t go Japan, we let Japan come to us with a mini-Japanese film festival, complete with Chef Choo’s udon. Udon (2006). The first half was on steroids. It almost felt like whatever the director could think of, he just threw it on the screen. The second half slipped into a traditional father-and-son story arc that I have a soft spot for. Those scenes on the making of a bowl of udon are amazing. Soul food indeed. One of the quirkiest movies on food. This one will go on a list of top 20 movies on food easily. Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005). I don’t read Japanese but I am sure the back cover of the DVD says 270 million people have cried watching this. They can add 2 more to that number. The story is set in post-war Japan and it drips of nostalgia of a time when people were kinder. It feels episodic at first but it gently grew on me with its great sense of time and place. The final denouements to all the character arcs really warmed my heart. The otaku in Train Man (2005) is a train wreck, but he is my train wreck. I can see a bit of me in him and it’s quite euphoric to see him get braver and eventually getting the gal. Love how he constantly asks for advice on the Internet Relay Chat and how the director showcases the intense discussion on an empty train platform. In the end, he not only gets the needed encouragement, he intrinsically helped everyone. A gem of a movie and it’s definitely for all the geeks and nerds out there. Swing Girls (2004) is no Whiplash but it sure knows how to put the fun in jazz. It goes through the usual paces with a bevy of lazy girls, but as they discover their love for jazz they found themselves. It has its faults but the winsome last act is feet tappingly awesome. Umizaru (2004) is Top Gun in deep waters with coast guards. It moves in familiar beats but it doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining. The players are the usual crew - you have the act tough one, the blur one, the weak one, and the one who thinks he is the best. Throw in a romance angle, and you have Top Gun and An Officer and a Gentleman all rolled into one. The no nonsense trainer kept saying “you have 30 bars of oxygen and your buddy has run out of his. The oxygen is only enough for one person. What will you do?” Somehow you know that lesson will happen right at the end. Love all the training sequences and the tough love scenes. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted September 28, 2020 Author Posted September 28, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/09/28/im-livin-it-2020/ Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted October 7, 2020 Author Posted October 7, 2020 Since the last I posted on movies seen, we have seen Enola Holmes, The Devil All the Time, Knife in the Water (1962), La Jeune Fille Sans Mains, Klute, Greyhound, Gretel & Hansel, Ordinary People, Silent Witness, Law with Two Phases, Mystic Pizza, Crimson Peak, Let the Sun Shine In, The Last Station, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, Impetigore, and I will just say more about these... Bacurau is a fantastic movie that defies easy pigeonholing into a specific genre. At times it is not even coherent but I dare you to feel bored. There is some pointed discussion about social class but most of the time is a delicate exercise in playing with your expectations. It starts off in outer space then it lands up in a rural village called Bacurau in Brazil that soon will disappear from the face of the planet. You will see lots of coffins, antique weapons, savagery and oh... there’s a f*cking UFO. Let’s just say this is one solid portrayal of the true kampung spirit. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film written for the screen and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Based on Mitchell's and Stephen Trask's 1998 stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it accompanies Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German rock singer. Hedwig subsequently develops a relationship with a younger man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal her music and become a rock star. The film follows Hedwig and her backing band, the Angry Inch, as they shadow Tommy's tour, while exploring Hedwig's past and complex gender identity. Mitchell reprises his role as Hedwig from the original production. Despite largely positive reviews from critics and audiences, the film was a box office bomb, grossing only $3.6 million from an estimated $6 million budget. The musical has since developed a devoted cult following. This movie came on my radar because a fellow movie lover gave me the heads up on it. It came up because we were talking about great musicals and I shared my all-time fave Once (2007). He saw it; he didn’t like it and he said Hedwig and the Angry Inch is his fave. I forgave him for not loving Once (not that he cares) and gave this a shot. I love it from the get-go. How to not love it when it has a nonsensical line with some weird sexual innuendo that roars out “six inches forward, five inches back and I GOT AN ANGRY INCH!” This is a barnstorming musical that doesn’t obey storytelling rules involving clarity and feels like a salute to the power of rock and roll. Some scenes are even sad without being manipulative. But I have say that Choo hated it and she couldn’t understand why I was laughing. Beasts Clawing at Straws is about eight strangers who are financially struggling becoming involved with each other after a bag of money is found in a sauna. The film is separated into six chapters: Debt, Sucker, Food Chain, Shark, Lucky Strike and Money Bag. This one resembles a Coen brothers film, following a bag of money but the concept is to showcase the greedy nature of human beings. There is not one likeable character but I found myself being engaged with all the shenanigans and all the backstabbing. It is a little frustrating at first because none of the stories are linked and the timeline of all the stories are all over the shop, but sometime at the hour mark... holy shite! You will see how everything is linked. Jeon Do-yeon only appears at the halfway mark and she practically stole the movie. Limelight is a 1952 comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, based on a novella by Chaplin titled Footlights. The film stars Chaplin as a washed-up comedian who saves a suicidal dancer, played by Claire Bloom, from killing herself, and both try to get through life. Upon the film's release, critics' reception was divided; it was heavily boycotted in the United States and failed commercially. However, the film was re-released in the United States in 1972, which included its first screening in Los Angeles. This allowed the decades-old film to be in contention for the 45th Academy Awards where Chaplin won his only competitive Oscar. Today, the film is sometimes regarded as one of Chaplin's best and most personal works, and has attained a cult following. This isn’t Chaplin’s final film but this masterful film embodies everything in a swan song where Chaplin shares poignantly the passing of a golden age and says goodbye to a brilliant legacy. There are a couple of scenes where Chaplin was dialling up the histrionics and drumming in his ideas, but I can easily forgive him because the sum total of the film is sheer brilliance. On top of being Chaplin’s most personal film, it is also the only time Chaplin and Buster Keaton performed together. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
westendboy Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/mini-series-the-haunting-of-bly-manor-2020/
westendboy Posted November 5, 2020 Author Posted November 5, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/number-1-2020/
westendboy Posted November 17, 2020 Author Posted November 17, 2020 https://reelthoughtsfromageek.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/voice-of-silence-2020/
westendboy Posted November 20, 2020 Author Posted November 20, 2020 Thanks for years of reading my posts and I am ever grateful to the previous forum for making so many great friends. I have learned so much about hifi, music and movies from so many of you. This thread has become my personal blog and it has been lovely to see it grow so much, and a lot of my heart and soul are in these words. It is also a wonder to see how my writing has evolved from the first post to the last one. I will keep the reasons for leaving to myself. It’s no biggie really... can’t be stretching myself on so many platforms. I will just leave this here... my baby and perhaps occasionally I will visit this thread and say ‘hi’. That’s it from me... thanks for all the great times. 1
Nugor Posted December 1, 2020 Posted December 1, 2020 On 9/13/2017 at 3:09 AM, westendboy said: Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Pretty enjoyable in a modern sort of way. Charlie Hunnam looks like he never left his iconic role in Sons of Anarchy. It feels like he took a time machine back to medieval times and he still sprouts the same modern street lingo laden speech. All the usual Ritchie's bag of visual and narrative tricks are here, which makes the time period feels incongruous with the modern cues. But you couldn't say it wasn't fun. Sometimes it is good to watch something that doesn't require much thinking. I heard there is a plan to make this a 6-movie franchise. The studios must be on drugs. Better quit while they are ahead. (3 / 5) I am a big fan of Guy Ritchie, his movies are always dynamic and the way they are filmed is very unique. Tonight when I get to my property in Spain I will watch again "Gentlemen", one of his latest creations. I love this movie 1
westendboy47 Posted September 23, 2022 Posted September 23, 2022 This a selection of movies and TV shows we have seen recently… The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) has been on my must-see list for a long time. Senator Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) returns to the city of Shinbone in the Wild West, to go to the funeral of his friend Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). To a journalist, who’s wondering what the senator is doing in Shinbone, he tells how his career started as “the man who shot Liberty Valance”. As a lawyer he came to Shinbone to bring law and order to the West by means of law books. When the stagecoach is held up by outlaws, he is savagely beaten by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). He survives the attack and is nursed by his future wife, Hallie (Vera Miles). Hallie is being wooed by local rancher Tom Doniphon. Ranse teaches the people of Shinbone to read and write, all the while trying to find a way of bringing Valance to justice. He finally takes up a gun and faces Valance in a menacing shootout. I enjoyed this tremendously. This is John Ford in poetic contemplative mode making a chamber Western piece. He isn’t quite keen on showcasing heroism and isn’t trying to romanticise the Wild West with the huge panoramic shots. Here, he looks at how the marauding wheels of progress have no place for man with old souls. That is one way to read the film but in the last act I started seeing this as a melodramatic love triangle and the notion hits home resoundingly. We get three big stars in this and all of them brought their A game. The story is beautifully told. I thought I have seen all the great Westerns, apparently not. This one belongs in the pantheon of the great ones. Deep Cover (1992) is an action thriller starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum and Charles Martin Smith, and directed by veteran actor Bill Duke in his third directorial outing. Fishburne plays a police officer who goes undercover in a sting operation in Los Angeles to bring down a drug cartel. I put this on because it’s not long and after that we could dive into our usual TV shows, but I was so impressed with the movie that while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were singing over the end credits, the wifey and I got to chatting about the cool things about it. The movie is rough around the edges, but it has a cool modern film noir vibe about it and there are so many original touches without sinking down into the usual undercover clichés. Some of the lines are so good and instantly memorable like this dialogue: John Hull: Gerry, what’s the difference between a black man and a ******? Carver: What? [John Hull punches Gerald Carver in the stomach] John Hull: The ******’s the one that would even think about telling you. I love the clever use of voice-over narration which I usually dislike. If you want an actor to do that it’s got to be either “Darth Vader” or Morgan Freeman, but Fishburne’s rich timbre ain’t no slough. I love the constant tussle between good and evil in his character which is a joy to watch. A very underrated gem. If you are in a mood for a crime thriller, give this a shot. Pachinko is a drama TV series based on the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee. It is directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon. The historical sequences are helmed by the former, the modern sequences by the latter. It stars Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Min-Ho, Kim Min-ha and Jin Ha. This sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive. We wanted so much to love this because we love the novel, but the series stops short of being great because it is mired in the quicksand of melodrama and the editing feels erratic. Unlike the novel which tells the story chronologically, the TV show sees fit to flit the narrative from the past to the present and vice versa with no rhyme or reason. If done cleverly, the past can inform the present and the present can make you look at the past with reverence. But here the editing isn’t well thought out and I can’t see the purpose most of the time. That said, I still enjoyed many aspects of this show. The acting by the ensemble cast is absolutely stellar and the two actresses who play the main female protagonist are amazing. The pain and struggle etched on their mien is palpable. The cinematography is also brilliant especially in the historical sequences. That’s Kogonada for you, a director whose storytelling is in the framing of his shots. Here’s hoping season two will be much better. We enjoyed the gritty storytelling of Delhi Crime (2019) and never in my wildest dreams would I think there will be a season two because the story was complete. So we were excited to see this drop in Netflix and dived in with great excitement which was pretty much short-lived. The first season was based on an actual atrocious crime (thinking about it still made my skin crawl) and this new season is about criminals targeting the elderly, by that I mean bludgeoning them to death in their homes before having a party there. There are only 5 episodes and the first three are devoted to bureaucracy, red tape and questionable policing tactics, which is a waste of time. By the time the police come to their senses, they do lightning quick investigative work and zero in on the criminals by the last two episodes. They tried to flesh out the bad guys in two episodes but it was a hopeless case. This season really needed to cook longer and it tarnished the legacy of the first season. I was teaching kids writing and taught them how from a solid “what-if” situation they can weave an awesome story around it. As an example I told them the premise of Bron/Broen (2011-2018) which I was watching at that time. A dead body is found in the middle of the Oresund Bridge, the bridge connecting Copenhagen in Denmark with Malmo in Sweden. The location forces the Copenhagen and Malmo police to collaborate to find the murderer. This brings together Saga Noren and Martin Rohde, who could not be less similar. When the paramedics lift the body it crumbles into two halves and later during the autopsy it will be revealed the two separate halves belong to different bodies. How’s that for a premise? The kids went nuts and all wanted to find out what happens after that. We only took three evenings to finish season one which is a complete story. After the first night, Choo said we will finish it the next night. I felt her enthusiasm but I knew we couldn’t and counted the hours for her. Her disappointment felt real. This is solid stuff, twisty and dark, it is not afraid to show you the dark side of human nature and how far the villain will go to make someone suffer. There was an American remake which I saw but I would suggest to you to stay away from that. This Scandinavian crime series is the one to watch. I first try reading Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and hit the halfway mark before I gave up. It was just not for me because the plot moves so slow while Herron doubles down on pages and pages of back stories of the huge cast of characters. I switched to the TV series and it made me regret not finishing the novel. I shall give it another go down the road. The story: Slough House is a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who’ve screwed up: left a service file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They’re the service’s poor relations. The slow horses and most bitter among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile-phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But is the victim who he first appears to be? And what’s the kidnappers’ connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda. This is so fun to watch and at times it’s so funny… I know the next time I listen to Coldplay’s The Scientist I will wear a silly smile. A story of down and out intelligent service officers having a one last romp in the sun to redeem themselves is one cool premise. The kidnapping case is also complex with many twists. But the strongest asset here is the casting of Gary Oldman which is a riot, a sickening but lovable curmudgeon who always throwing sarcasm like arrows at his loser-subjects. As it turns out, all of it is just a front for a high functioning brain that has worked out all the angles. To see how everything unfolds is unbridled joy. It ends with a preview of season two. Holy cow! I hope season two begins tomorrow. 1
westendboy47 Posted October 13, 2022 Posted October 13, 2022 Another selection of 6 we have seen recently… Blonde (2022) reimagines the life of one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons, Marilyn Monroe. From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, ‘Blonde’ blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves. The internet got this one right – it’s exploitative and even bland but it’s like a train wreck you can’t avert your eyes from. A female actress being commodified by Hollywood to earn the studios millions and paying her pittance is nothing new. Did I learn anything new? Is there a new way to make a biopic? Nada. The poor girl has been exploited when she was alive and now she is being poked and skewered one more time for our pleasure. You know what… cancelled that last bit on “pleasure”. The movie just chews up 3 hours of your time without any fun to be had. If seeing the world through Monroe’s ****** is your type of fun, then perhaps there is fun to be had. But I for one was shocked and the scene serves no purpose by doing that outrageous shot. This is no Pedro Almodóvar who knows how to use the female genitalia as a statement. In Blonde, Andrew Dominik constantly flits from different lighting, aspect ratios, grades of black and white and colours like he is on drugs to mirror the drugged state of Monroe. The movie doesn’t just make Monroe turn in her grave, I think John F. Kennedy is probably doing a disco in his. The scene in question is Monroe giving JFK a BJ while secret service agents are outside the opened door. OMG… did this even happen? It is so disrespectful. It is also a dreary movie and feels so one-note with the note jackhammering into your consciousness for 3 solid hours. Is this a movie that you should watch? I don’t know but I already know some of you have just put it on your Netflix list. It’s a shame… Ana de Armas went over and above in a fearless performance in a thankless movie. Come award season I doubt anyone wants to remember this torrid 3 hours again. Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019) was a recommendation by a friend and I always treat his recommendations seriously. This is a supernatural procedural in the vein of The Wailing (2016). Pastor Park (Lee Jung-jae just before his star exploded in Squid Game) works to expose suspicious religious groups. He’s hired to look into the cult group Deer Mount. The plot is very dense and convoluted but it is never hard to follow. The atmosphere and tone is so intense that you will be paying attention at all the twists and turns. The subtext that religion is a business is palpable, especially when you see monks get driven in limousines, donning Gucci scarves and drinking coffee from a Nespresso machine. This is a very busy movie in that you are watching 4 interlacing stories – the investigating pastor, a police detective investigating a murder, juveniles being subsumed under the care of a nefarious abbot and a macabre story of twin sisters, one of which just might be the devil incarnate. The movie is far from perfect and thankfully doesn’t crumble under the weight of all the narratives. It is one of those rare movies you would want to discuss with a person immediately after it ends. Watch this gem on Netflix. Choo has never seen a Jackass movie so I decided to give her a dose. Jackass Forever (2022) celebrates the joy of being back together with your best friends and a perfectly executed shot of the penis. The original jackass crew return for another round of hilarious, wildly absurd and often dangerous displays of comedy with a little help from some exciting new cast. Choo really enjoyed this one but it does grate on the nerves after the hour mark and started getting repetitive. Our heartiest laughter was for the opening sequence which was so hilarious and it got even crazier when it was revealed that a penis and scrotum are disguised as props. We laughed so hard that I am sure anyone who walked past could hear us. The pranks are not only hilarious, they are downright painful. Johnny Knoxville had to go to the hospital for some serious injuries. I don’t know… I actually find the guys’ friendship so wonderfully endearing so I have never missed a Jackass movie and I am already looking forward to the next installment and this time I have a partner who will watch the nutty antics with me. There were two sold-out movies at the recently concluded HK Film Festival and sadly I couldn’t score tickets to the one I wanted to see. That’s when I found out director Kearen Pang’s previous effort 29+1 is on Disney+ so I cued it up for a watch and the movie put us in such an ebullient mood. The story is about two women on the cusp of turning 30 and their different approach to life. Christy Lam is coping with the same struggles shared by most women of the same age: unbearable stress at work, aging parents and a stagnant relationship with her partner. Sharing the same birthday as Christy is Wong Tim-Lok who lives a vastly different life. She has never been in love and her job is taking nowhere, but her optimism is her super power and she packs her bags to realise a childhood dream. The two women have never met and their personalities are polar opposites, but fate brings them together. Christy makes a temporary move into Wong’s apartment and through reading Wong’s diary Christy’s outlook begins to change. I love this tremendously and it is a very life-affirming movie. My favourite scene is the cute one where Wong confesses to her best friend she has never been touched and asks him if he could touch her breasts and make love to her. The scene is so endearing and poignant. You will have to watch it to find out what happens. The two leading actresses are wonderfully cast, but not everything about the movie works. Kearen Pang adapted her stage play into a movie but not all the theatrical stylistics work on film. If you are in a whimsical mood for a “second chance” movie, this is a good one. While watching The Green Mile on 4K (which is gorgeous BTW), we were treated to a short snippet of a movie that featured Fred Astaire doing song and dance number called Cheek to Cheek. I found out that the movie is Top Hat (1935) and I have the blu-ray languishing on my shelf and in it went. Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace’s hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace. It’s the type of 1930s rom-com where everything is based on a case of mistaken identity. We know it, the characters don’t and you can see the ending from a mile away. The chemistry between Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is sizzling and their dancing is spectacular. It looks so effortless and so joyous when they dance that your spirits will be uplifted to cloud nine. The story and plot might not be sophisticated, but the song and dance numbers are something to behold. Roger Dodger (2202) is an exciting debut and it skewers the New York singles scene so well. In Manhattan, the arrogant, cynical and witty Roger Swanson (Campbell Scott) is a publicist of an advertisement agency owned by Joyce (Isabella Rossellini), who is also his lover. Joyce breaks their relationship due to the lack of maturity and manipulative behavior of Roger. Meanwhile, his sixteen years old nephew from Ohio Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) unexpectedly arrives in his office asking Roger to teach him how to seduce women. Along the night, Roger drags Nick into New York nightlife providing directions about women. The dialogue is clever with so much smarts that I found myself trying to remember as many as I could before another clever line ploughs in. The character of Roger is fascinating – a rampaging womaniser, a pitiless man, brimming with over-flowing confidence, impervious to rejections, Roger is portrayed as a tragic figure and his arc’s conclusion really hits home. Throughout the movie he dons endless masks until the final scene in his apartment when the mask is finally off and he is no longer funny. Jesse Eisenberg in his first major role is magnificent. The interplay between uncle and nephew is sizzling. A wonderful gem of a movie.
BLAH BLAH Posted October 21, 2022 Posted October 21, 2022 (edited) Groundhog Day Le Bal Ryans Daughter Wake in Fright *edit... Crimes and Misdemeanors No Country for old men Apocalypto Magnolia Stagecoach White Chicks Edited November 2, 2022 by BLAH BLAH
Tweaky Posted October 31, 2022 Posted October 31, 2022 On 23/09/2022 at 5:40 PM, westendboy47 said: This a selection of movies and TV shows we have seen recently… The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) has been on my must-see list for a long time. Senator Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) returns to the city of Shinbone in the Wild West, to go to the funeral of his friend Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). To a journalist, who’s wondering what the senator is doing in Shinbone, he tells how his career started as “the man who shot Liberty Valance”. As a lawyer he came to Shinbone to bring law and order to the West by means of law books. When the stagecoach is held up by outlaws, he is savagely beaten by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). He survives the attack and is nursed by his future wife, Hallie (Vera Miles). Hallie is being wooed by local rancher Tom Doniphon. Ranse teaches the people of Shinbone to read and write, all the while trying to find a way of bringing Valance to justice. He finally takes up a gun and faces Valance in a menacing shootout. I enjoyed this tremendously. This is John Ford in poetic contemplative mode making a chamber Western piece. He isn’t quite keen on showcasing heroism and isn’t trying to romanticise the Wild West with the huge panoramic shots. Here, he looks at how the marauding wheels of progress have no place for man with old souls. That is one way to read the film but in the last act I started seeing this as a melodramatic love triangle and the notion hits home resoundingly. We get three big stars in this and all of them brought their A game. The story is beautifully told. I thought I have seen all the great Westerns, apparently not. This one belongs in the pantheon of the great ones. Deep Cover (1992) is an action thriller starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum and Charles Martin Smith, and directed by veteran actor Bill Duke in his third directorial outing. Fishburne plays a police officer who goes undercover in a sting operation in Los Angeles to bring down a drug cartel. I put this on because it’s not long and after that we could dive into our usual TV shows, but I was so impressed with the movie that while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were singing over the end credits, the wifey and I got to chatting about the cool things about it. The movie is rough around the edges, but it has a cool modern film noir vibe about it and there are so many original touches without sinking down into the usual undercover clichés. Some of the lines are so good and instantly memorable like this dialogue: John Hull: Gerry, what’s the difference between a black man and a ******? Carver: What? [John Hull punches Gerald Carver in the stomach] John Hull: The ******’s the one that would even think about telling you. I love the clever use of voice-over narration which I usually dislike. If you want an actor to do that it’s got to be either “Darth Vader” or Morgan Freeman, but Fishburne’s rich timbre ain’t no slough. I love the constant tussle between good and evil in his character which is a joy to watch. A very underrated gem. If you are in a mood for a crime thriller, give this a shot. Pachinko is a drama TV series based on the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee. It is directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon. The historical sequences are helmed by the former, the modern sequences by the latter. It stars Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Min-Ho, Kim Min-ha and Jin Ha. This sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive. We wanted so much to love this because we love the novel, but the series stops short of being great because it is mired in the quicksand of melodrama and the editing feels erratic. Unlike the novel which tells the story chronologically, the TV show sees fit to flit the narrative from the past to the present and vice versa with no rhyme or reason. If done cleverly, the past can inform the present and the present can make you look at the past with reverence. But here the editing isn’t well thought out and I can’t see the purpose most of the time. That said, I still enjoyed many aspects of this show. The acting by the ensemble cast is absolutely stellar and the two actresses who play the main female protagonist are amazing. The pain and struggle etched on their mien is palpable. The cinematography is also brilliant especially in the historical sequences. That’s Kogonada for you, a director whose storytelling is in the framing of his shots. Here’s hoping season two will be much better. We enjoyed the gritty storytelling of Delhi Crime (2019) and never in my wildest dreams would I think there will be a season two because the story was complete. So we were excited to see this drop in Netflix and dived in with great excitement which was pretty much short-lived. The first season was based on an actual atrocious crime (thinking about it still made my skin crawl) and this new season is about criminals targeting the elderly, by that I mean bludgeoning them to death in their homes before having a party there. There are only 5 episodes and the first three are devoted to bureaucracy, red tape and questionable policing tactics, which is a waste of time. By the time the police come to their senses, they do lightning quick investigative work and zero in on the criminals by the last two episodes. They tried to flesh out the bad guys in two episodes but it was a hopeless case. This season really needed to cook longer and it tarnished the legacy of the first season. I was teaching kids writing and taught them how from a solid “what-if” situation they can weave an awesome story around it. As an example I told them the premise of Bron/Broen (2011-2018) which I was watching at that time. A dead body is found in the middle of the Oresund Bridge, the bridge connecting Copenhagen in Denmark with Malmo in Sweden. The location forces the Copenhagen and Malmo police to collaborate to find the murderer. This brings together Saga Noren and Martin Rohde, who could not be less similar. When the paramedics lift the body it crumbles into two halves and later during the autopsy it will be revealed the two separate halves belong to different bodies. How’s that for a premise? The kids went nuts and all wanted to find out what happens after that. We only took three evenings to finish season one which is a complete story. After the first night, Choo said we will finish it the next night. I felt her enthusiasm but I knew we couldn’t and counted the hours for her. Her disappointment felt real. This is solid stuff, twisty and dark, it is not afraid to show you the dark side of human nature and how far the villain will go to make someone suffer. There was an American remake which I saw but I would suggest to you to stay away from that. This Scandinavian crime series is the one to watch. I first try reading Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and hit the halfway mark before I gave up. It was just not for me because the plot moves so slow while Herron doubles down on pages and pages of back stories of the huge cast of characters. I switched to the TV series and it made me regret not finishing the novel. I shall give it another go down the road. The story: Slough House is a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who’ve screwed up: left a service file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They’re the service’s poor relations. The slow horses and most bitter among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile-phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But is the victim who he first appears to be? And what’s the kidnappers’ connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda. This is so fun to watch and at times it’s so funny… I know the next time I listen to Coldplay’s The Scientist I will wear a silly smile. A story of down and out intelligent service officers having a one last romp in the sun to redeem themselves is one cool premise. The kidnapping case is also complex with many twists. But the strongest asset here is the casting of Gary Oldman which is a riot, a sickening but lovable curmudgeon who always throwing sarcasm like arrows at his loser-subjects. As it turns out, all of it is just a front for a high functioning brain that has worked out all the angles. To see how everything unfolds is unbridled joy. It ends with a preview of season two. Holy cow! I hope season two begins tomorrow. Season 2 of Slow Horses starts tonight November 1st on Apple TV, not sure if they are going to have all episodes put up at the same time like they did for the first series. The most enjoyable TV series I've seen for a LONG time. I watched the new 6 part series The Devils Hour on Amazon Prime over the last few days, starring Peter Capaldi , so I was hoping for good things. TBH I found it too confusing to follow the plot, and still unsure of the ending. The new series, The Peripheral on Amazon Prime has been pretty good so far [3 episodes in], worth a watch.
Kristian Kristiansen Posted November 1, 2022 Posted November 1, 2022 Great thread - kudos Here's my list - not in order - Das Boot - a masterpiece of authentic tension - and Jurgen Prochnow is magnificent as the Captain. Blade Runner - The finest sci-fi ever made - in my opinion - I have watched this countless times since it's release. Final Cut is best but the theatrical release with the voice over has a certain Chandleresque charm. Haters be damned Network - Exceptional and prescient. Perfect writing. Ned Beatty's speech about capitalism is one of the high points in cinema. Incredible cast. Everyone is on fire. The only thing better than Sydney Lumets' direction is Paddy Chayevsky's screenplay. Once Upon a Time in the West- Most would gravitate to The Good the Bad & The Ugly / Man with no name trilogy, but OUATITW is Leone's masterpiece in my books. First and only time Henry Fonda played a bad guy, and oh boy is he great. The opening title sequence where they're waiting for the train - is better than most entire films. The cinematography is astounding and everyone is brilliant. Bronson, Robards, Fonda, and the stunning Claudia Cardinale. Night of The Hunter - Hard to pick a Bob Mitchum film because he's had so many great roles - Cape Fear, Friends of Eddie Coyle, Thunder Road, Out of the Past and the list goes on... but it's his turn as the evil Southern Gothic preacher that offers up one of the best villains in cinema Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - I could add many Sam Peckinpah films to the list as I'm an unashamed fanboy - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Straw Dogs, Wild Bunch, Ballad of Cable Hogue... but Warren Oates is just so captivating to watch in Garcia. Sunset Boulevard - flawless noir... nothing else needs to be said Withnail & I - when you realise you can basically recite the entire script from start to finish because you've watched it so many times... then it should probably be on your list. 24 Hour Party People - I think every list needs a guilty pleasure - this is mine... I came of age during that era. These are my people and this is my music. I far prefer this to Control, which looked nice but felt one dimensional and empty. Suspiria - (Argento, of course, because GOBLIN) I could just as easily have chosen Profondo Rosso, Phenomena, Tenebre etc but 'The Maestro' will always have a spot on a list like this. Cross of Iron - see above re: Peckinpah. God I love James Coburn Nosferatu (Herzog) - Like an animated painting - with an incredible score by Popol Vuh. Klaus Kinski is otherworldly and Isabella Adjani looks too perfect to be real. Excalibur - a thunderously entertaining and fun ride The Long Good Friday - Helen Mirren appears twice in my list! This is far and away Bob Hoskins' finest performance with one of the best endings in cinema. The original geezer gangsta film. (shout out to The Hit and Get Carter tho) Glengarry Glen Ross - because this watch cost more than your car. Rashomon - Man, hard call only picking one Kurosawa... could just as easily have Hidden Fortress, High and Low, Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai... but this film is magical. Wake in Fright - terrifyingly excellent - my favourite Aussie film (notable mentions, Odd Angry Shot, The Boys, Don's Party, Mad Max 1 & 2, Animal Kingdom, Ghosts of the Civil Dead) Oldboy (Park Chan Wook's original - not the abominable remake.) Forget Marvel - this is a comic come to life. Choi Min Sik is like a South Korean Lee Marvin. Best fight sequence in cinema - in my opinion. The entire vengeance trilogy is great. The Killers (equal tie both the Robert Siodmak and Don Siegel versions) Both based on a Hemingway short story of the same name. The first stars Burt Lancaster as the protagonist - a former boxer in exile - tracked down by a couple of hitmen. He is waiting for them. He wants to die. The question is why? Edmond O'Brien is the insurance investigator trying to find out. The 'dame' is Ava Gardner. She's stunning. The second version is told from the Hitmen's point of view. Lee Marvin in one of his best and uber coolest roles and Clu Gulager. John Cassavetes is the guy waiting to die. This time he's a former race car driver. The 'dame' is Angie Dickinson. Like Fonda above - this is the only film where Ronald Reagan plays a bad guy.. Double Indemnity. Pure hardboiled noir. Billy Wilder gets another spot on the list. This is probably the best Chandler adaptation, though Farewell my Lovely, Lady in the Lake, Murder my Sweet and The Long Goodbye are all great. aaaand as soon as I post this I know I will think of 80 other films that I could swap out for some of these... 1
westendboy47 Posted November 2, 2022 Posted November 2, 2022 On 1/11/2022 at 8:58 AM, Kristian Kristiansen said: Great thread - kudos Here's my list - not in order - Das Boot - a masterpiece of authentic tension - and Jurgen Prochnow is magnificent as the Captain. Blade Runner - The finest sci-fi ever made - in my opinion - I have watched this countless times since it's release. Final Cut is best but the theatrical release with the voice over has a certain Chandleresque charm. Haters be damned Network - Exceptional and prescient. Perfect writing. Ned Beatty's speech about capitalism is one of the high points in cinema. Incredible cast. Everyone is on fire. The only thing better than Sydney Lumets' direction is Paddy Chayevsky's screenplay. Once Upon a Time in the West- Most would gravitate to The Good the Bad & The Ugly / Man with no name trilogy, but OUATITW is Leone's masterpiece in my books. First and only time Henry Fonda played a bad guy, and oh boy is he great. The opening title sequence where they're waiting for the train - is better than most entire films. The cinematography is astounding and everyone is brilliant. Bronson, Robards, Fonda, and the stunning Claudia Cardinale. Night of The Hunter - Hard to pick a Bob Mitchum film because he's had so many great roles - Cape Fear, Friends of Eddie Coyle, Thunder Road, Out of the Past and the list goes on... but it's his turn as the evil Southern Gothic preacher that offers up one of the best villains in cinema Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - I could add many Sam Peckinpah films to the list as I'm an unashamed fanboy - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Straw Dogs, Wild Bunch, Ballad of Cable Hogue... but Warren Oates is just so captivating to watch in Garcia. Sunset Boulevard - flawless noir... nothing else needs to be said Withnail & I - when you realise you can basically recite the entire script from start to finish because you've watched it so many times... then it should probably be on your list. 24 Hour Party People - I think every list needs a guilty pleasure - this is mine... I came of age during that era. These are my people and this is my music. I far prefer this to Control, which looked nice but felt one dimensional and empty. Suspiria - (Argento, of course, because GOBLIN) I could just as easily have chosen Profondo Rosso, Phenomena, Tenebre etc but 'The Maestro' will always have a spot on a list like this. Cross of Iron - see above re: Peckinpah. God I love James Coburn Nosferatu (Herzog) - Like an animated painting - with an incredible score by Popol Vuh. Klaus Kinski is otherworldly and Isabella Adjani looks too perfect to be real. Excalibur - a thunderously entertaining and fun ride The Long Good Friday - Helen Mirren appears twice in my list! This is far and away Bob Hoskins' finest performance with one of the best endings in cinema. The original geezer gangsta film. (shout out to The Hit and Get Carter tho) Glengarry Glen Ross - because this watch cost more than your car. Rashomon - Man, hard call only picking one Kurosawa... could just as easily have Hidden Fortress, High and Low, Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai... but this film is magical. Wake in Fright - terrifyingly excellent - my favourite Aussie film (notable mentions, Odd Angry Shot, The Boys, Don's Party, Mad Max 1 & 2, Animal Kingdom, Ghosts of the Civil Dead) Oldboy (Park Chan Wook's original - not the abominable remake.) Forget Marvel - this is a comic come to life. Choi Min Sik is like a South Korean Lee Marvin. Best fight sequence in cinema - in my opinion. The entire vengeance trilogy is great. The Killers (equal tie both the Robert Siodmak and Don Siegel versions) Both based on a Hemingway short story of the same name. The first stars Burt Lancaster as the protagonist - a former boxer in exile - tracked down by a couple of hitmen. He is waiting for them. He wants to die. The question is why? Edmond O'Brien is the insurance investigator trying to find out. The 'dame' is Ava Gardner. She's stunning. The second version is told from the Hitmen's point of view. Lee Marvin in one of his best and uber coolest roles and Clu Gulager. John Cassavetes is the guy waiting to die. This time he's a former race car driver. The 'dame' is Angie Dickinson. Like Fonda above - this is the only film where Ronald Reagan plays a bad guy.. Double Indemnity. Pure hardboiled noir. Billy Wilder gets another spot on the list. This is probably the best Chandler adaptation, though Farewell my Lovely, Lady in the Lake, Murder my Sweet and The Long Goodbye are all great. aaaand as soon as I post this I know I will think of 80 other films that I could swap out for some of these... A great list and I have all of them except Wake in Fright, Cross of Iron and 24 Hour Party People. Will definitely keep a lookout for them 1
westendboy47 Posted November 2, 2022 Posted November 2, 2022 This is a quick musing on six shows we have seen or are currently watching, but I know this one will probably rub some of you the wrong way. Let me just say it’s all subjective and I am a “nobody”. My words count for crap and let’s just agree to disagree. Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power arrived dead to us, massacred by pretentious and languorous expositions. I am quite forgiving when it comes to shows especially when this is Prime’s most expensive baby and you can see the millions that go into every scene. But my wifey Choo doesn’t care and she can smell bullshit from afar. She could only get through 30min of each of the later episodes and would beg me to let her watch something else. At almost 70min for each episode, due care wasn’t given to pacing and structuring - it’s a bad move to set up plot threads for 70min with no meaningful culminations. At times I could see it from Choo’s point of view, a case in point would be the scene Galadriel has Adar chained up. Then comes one of the most ridiculous dialogues ever: Galadriel talks big and says he will be the last one she kills so he can see the destruction of his species. That sounded like a speech from a villain but that’s not the worse. Then Adar talks big and lo and behold Galadriel takes a knife to his throat and would have slitted it if not for the intervention of the dude who looks like Aragon. I turned to Choo and she turned to me and she said “see, see, absolute bullshit”. She is right… there are lots of these scenes where dialogue doesn’t fit the character’s arc. But the show has problems from the get go… it takes too long to set up all the plot threads and if you want to do multiple cross-cutting between disparate plot lines, every main character in every plot thread needs to be engagingly written so much so that when it stays on one you can’t wait to see what happens to the others. That doesn’t happen here, at least for us. I couldn’t care for any character here till the point I hope the good guys get wiped out. Oh… and the opening music is so weak and unmemorable unlike the Peter Jackson’s films which I can still remember the main refrain. Will we see S2? A definite yes for me (when the time comes I will need to convince Choo) because I hope the writing and pacing can improve. HBO’s House of the Dragon fares a tad better. The problem with this is that it will always be compared to Game of Thrones which is a hard act to follow. I am of the belief that if you want to do a prequel or a sequel from a successful show, you have to retain a familiarity from the original (thumbs up) and eventually move out of its shadow (thumbs down). It needs to create meaningful stakes and nail-biting tension in a story trajectory to which all of us know the ending (iffy jazz hands). This is a smorgasbord of nefarious characters with even more questionable intentions. Incest and jaw-drop sexual liaisons rule the day. It is dysfunctional family dynamics drive up to crazy levels. All that is fine because it is a GoT show, but the characters are so unlikable and I couldn’t root for anyone. Unlike GoT the dragons here have zero identity because they are so many. What made GoT amazing is the water cooler moments the next day because everyone would be talking about the huge moments and you better pray you have seen the episode last night or else you will need put on ear plugs the whole day. There are none of that in HofD. There are a few great moments of battle and jaw-dropping revelations, but there are too few and far in between and none of that rivalled that of GoT. Netflix’s Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story is unbingable, at least for me. It is uncomfortable to watch and something I can never crunch on popcorn while watching because I feel it is so disrespectful to the victims. The show is unsentimental, uncompromising and unapologetic in its portrayal of one of America’s most notorious serial killers, largely told from the point of view of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims, and dives deeply into the police incompetence and apathy that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a multiyear killing spree. The series dramatizes at least 10 instances where Dahmer was almost apprehended but ultimately let go. The series also touch on how, Dahmer, a cleancut, good-looking guy, was repeatedly given a free pass by cops as well as by judges who were lenient when he had been charged with petty crimes. I like how it uses a non-linear plot to tell the Dahmer’s story and it asks some potent questions like are serial killers a product of nature or nurture. The show doesn’t give a conclusive answer and makes you think twice the next time you have a huge row with your significant other with your kid close by. This is a calling card performance for Evan Peters as Jeffery Dahmer. Killing Eve (S4) was something Choo didn’t want to see but I told her: “don’t you want to see how it ends?” So we finished this over two nights not because it was good but because we just want to rip off the plaster that was stuck to a wound that had healed. No point pulling it off slowly to lessen the pain; one quick rip and we can forget about it. There are some cool ideas in S4 like Villanelle seeking redemption by turning to God. We all know a leopard can’t change its spots even if Jesus Villanelle appears. That idea is fun but in the huge scheme of things feels illogical. It felt like padding to air. Eve’s arc also feels like the scrapping of the bottom of the barrel - one moment she incarcerates Villanelle and in the next moment she wants to save her. Make a decision woman! All the build-up about The Twelve goes to waste in the final act with zero cathartic release but the writers saved the worst for the final scene which felt like a slap to the my face. For me, Killing Eve essentially ended with S2 when Phoebe Waller-Bridge left the project. Veronica Mars S4, I had no idea existed. I thought everything ended with S3 and the movie, so I was so surprised to see it pop up on Prime. I love Veronica Mars and Kristen Bell is such a babe. The plot goes like this: Panic spreads through Neptune when a bomb goes off during spring break. Veronica and Keith are hired by the wealthy family of one victim injured in the bombing to find out who is responsible. This 2019 8-episode series brings back all the characters from the initial seasons in unmanipulative ways and also introduces some new characters. It’s a breeze to watch especially if like me you love the original series. The red herrings and sleight of hands are all here and the lovely banter between Veronica and her dad is so good. I swear if I have a kid this will be how I would mirror our relationship. It was going like clockwork until the ending that doesn’t sit down well with me. Why why why does Rob Thomas see fit to kill off Veronica’s dream ending. No no no…. Disney+’s Andor has not ended but sometimes I see a need to give everyone a heads up on something amazing. This one is indeed that amazing. As a prequel to Rogue One, it works superbly. The series will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor's journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It's an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero. It is all the more a profound experience watching this because we all know what happens to Cassian in Rogue One and it puts a lump in my throat. The world building is slow and meticulous. The tech is not revolutionary yet because this is still pre- Star Wars: A New Hope but for me the beauty of Andor is the tone. It’s dark and gritty unlike the vividness of other Star Wars series. It takes time to build every aspect as if it is trying to weed out the viewers ween on quick action and lightning fast stories. If you are patient, right at ep3 is when the rewards drop and you will suddenly realise what this is about. Then in ep4 to 5 you will have the rug pulled from under your feet because you thought you have it figured out and then ep6 will put a big smile on your face. It was literally Mission Impossible in space and then it goes off in another unpredictable tangent. Even the villains are wonderfully drawn, none of the usual world conquering ones. This is superb storytelling but patience is required and you will be rewarded, manifolds.
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