You know you could probably buy a bluray player for that.
Is there a bluray of Until the End of the World? Don’t forget the high probability of needing to play an out of region disc.
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I have at long last seen the Seventh Seal. I was luckily able to see it on a Monday afternoon and avoid any crowds.
Not a bad movie. Which is good, because I was more than a little disappointed by the previous six.
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I just got back from They Shall Not Grow Old.
The restored footage while not perfect is still breathtaking and does not pull any punches on how awful the conditions were. The narration is just veterans telling their stories and nothing else.
There is now another theater showing on the 27th. GO SEE THIS MOVIE.
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The footage I saw in the NYTimes was stunning.
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honestly this is one of my favorite films. i love how the story keeps opening up new doors till the very end. and all of them reflecting on our own obsession with ourselves.
( ive never understood the other wenders movies. but until the end of the world really stands out for me. )
!!!
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Since today was December 25th I had the day off and I decided to see a movie: “La Femme du Boulanger,” or “The Baker’s Wife.”
The trailer, which I include below, was misleading. To me, it made the movie look like it would be a wide-ranging, satyrical comedy, showing the ever-widening disruption to French society caused by an interruption to their bread supply. That plot would have been fine with me, but what the movie actually was surprised me in few ways.
First, most of the movie took place in one day — from sunrise to sunset. Second, the story is contained completely in one small, rural town in Provence. Thirdly, religion plays a significant roll in the story. Catholic viewers especially will probably find its analysis of pervasive, if not always welcome, religion interesting.
The movie is a character study. By seeing how the characters interact with each other, and how they deal with this situation, I learned everything about everyone in town by the end of the movie. And there is a lot of talking, which the French do very well. This is a very dialogue-driven movie. If you don’t speak French, be prepared to do a lot of reading. This film could be easily adapted for the stage.
Yes, I know there is a musical version. No, I will not be looking into it.
What can I say about Raimu? He is perfect as the central character.
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John “Rappin’” Hood (Mario Van Peebles) is released from jail, returns home, discovers that his girl has left him for a rival and that his neighborhood is being foreclosed by a greedy developer.
It’s no Beat Street (Beat Street had grit) and no Breakin’ 2 (where the filmmakers seemed to realize when they were being campy), but it’s still a fun journey back in time, with Mario Van Peebles repeatedly resolving conflicts through his rap skills. Seriously. (Well, if you can keep a straight face throughout then you’re made of sterner stuff than I.)
With cameos from the Force M.D.’s (first time that I think I’ve heard them rap) and Ice-T (returning from the two Breakin’ films).
I guess I need to see Krush Groove next:
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There is a movie that has been making a resurgence in reasent years, and it needs to be stopped. There was a time in past decades when this particular movie had the justifiable reputation as being a failure. A big-budget follow-up to more modest film that was better-made and better-loved. Yes, I am talking about “White Christmas.” It is a bad, bad movie and we must not forget that.
The movie does has some good points, I cannot deny: It was the first film to feature Vista Vision, personally my favouite wide-screen system. The “Sisters” number — both versions. The song “Love You Didn’t Do Right by Me,” arguably the last good song from Irving Berlin’s long career. And of course Danny Kaye pretending to have a twisted ankle is the only truly funny moment in the whole thing.
But that’s not enough!
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I saw Aquaman today. In a lot of ways, it’s the ultimate popcorn movie: little tasty bits puffed up bigger than they are, filled with nothing.
Now don’t get me wrong. I quite enjoyed myself. It’s just there’s not a lot of there there.
I mean, there’s tonnes of stuff about the environment and human rights and feminism the nature of war and… but it’s like the film isn’t fully aware it’s there.
So well worth seeing, in a subversive kind of way. But treat yourself to a big bag of popcorn.
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Not really underrated, but if you can see They Shall Not Grow Old right now, run do not walk. It is amazing. Right now for the early audiences they are running a special 30 minute documentary with Peter Jackson showing how they restored and edited the footage.
I saw it in 3D, which I recommend.
I knew I was going to see actual, realistic war footage - they did a nice job of leveling it with humor - but it is hard to watch some of it. As the film became more and more realistic I suddenly felt in the pit of my stomach how disturbing it would be. Just a trigger warning in case you are sensitive about war and death.
Although I was interested in the war, I mainly was interested in the tech and the possibilities of it. All was pretty low tech but just so much time and love went into it. I def recommend to stay for the documentary and try to see that in the theater.
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Argh, I’ve been trying to find this somewhere, anywhere, but apparently it only had two screenings in TO, and the second one was yesterday.
I think the distributors are underestimating the demand. Given that it was released on the BBC in the UK, I’m hoping I can find a stream of it somewhere.
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I think they are trying to generate demand by doing a limited release and getting it an Oscar. It is exactly the kind of movie The Academy loves and it really deserves one. Then they will rerelease it nationwide. It’s a distribution strategy that has been used for a long time, usually for lower budget sleeper hits. They did it with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Which was one of or the top grossing movies the year it was released.
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True Stories (1986) starring David Byrne, a very young John Goodman, Jo Harvey Allen, and Spalding Gray.
A nostalgic and evocative ride to early to mid-80’s. If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, you should love it. The acting isn’t great, and it tends to be a little campy (especially the fashion show), but the soundtrack is equally great to listen to.
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Love this one, and I’ll defend the acting. A lot of the acting is not the most nuanced, but it mostly perfectly suits the arche/stereotypes Byrne is going for.
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it’s a great one. I saw it in the theater with my mom!
and the fashion show is dope. all those suits like Greek collumns? it’s dope, man.
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So while perusing the DVD selection at the library I found a 5 disc set from Criterion for all the Lone Wolf And Cub films. 6 if you count Shogun Assassin which is the first two films edited together for North American release.
So far I have only seen the first Sword Of Vengeance. It is fun, bloody, and upsetting in the right ways. The script was by the author of the manga series and at least the origin part of the story pretty much used the comic for a storyboard.
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Listen out for Sandra Bernhardt on Shogun Assassin!
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I have yet to see that for some crazy reason. It even has one of my favorite bands (who played for David Byrne’s wedding) in a scene .
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