What films are you watching right now?

I caught this movie 20 minutes in, after Scream had finished, which was based on a true story.

Not only had I not/never heard of it, I was equally surprised that it had been Directed by Michael Bay… he of the Transformers movie franchise.

949D8374-967D-435D-A9BC-243AD7FF65C7.jpegPain & Gain
2013 ‧ Crime/Drama ‧ 2h 9m

Play trailer on YouTube

Danny Lupo (Mark Wahlberg), manager of the Sun Gym in 1990s Miami, decides that there is only one way to achieve his version of the American dream: extortion. To achieve his goal, he recruits musclemen Paul (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian (Anthony Mackie) as accomplices. After several failed attempts, they abduct rich businessman Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) and convince him to sign over all his assets to them. But when Kershaw makes it out alive, authorities are reluctant to believe his story.

Release date: 30 August 2013 (United Kingdom)

Director: Michael Bay

Based on: Pain & Gain; by Pete Collins

Box office: 86.2 million USD

Budget: $26-$35 million

I have bought a lot of old Westerns recently, some of which I’ve seen before (a long time ago) e.g. The Magnificent Seven, and others I have not. In general, I find that they have far more humour than I expected or even remembered. They have very good photography, and are filmed in some fantastic scenery.

The Western I am watching right now is Red Sun (Toshiro Mifune, Charles Bronson, Ursula Andress). Mifune is dressed in full samurai garb and is accompanying Charles Bronson in the hunt for a man called Gauche (Alain Delon) who knows the whereabouts of a treasure - this being of special interest to Bronson - as well as a ceremonial katana - of interest primarily to Mifune. Mifune has been charged with retrieving the katana by the man he is guarding, the Japanese ambassador to the US. He has to complete the task within 5 days. Failing to do so means he and his boss will be obliged to commit ritual suicide. With only one more day to go, the pressure is on for Mifune………………

I watched this movie in the 70s as a child, and it still hasn’t dated… in my eyes.


The Vikings
1958 ‧ Drama/Action ‧ 1h 56m

Play trailer on Youtube

Viking Prince Einar (Kirk Douglas) doesn’t know it, but his most fearsome enemy, the slave Eric (Tony Curtis), is actually his half brother. Their feud only intensifies when Einar kidnaps Princess Morgana (Janet Leigh), the intended bride of the brutal King Aella (Frank Thring). Einar intends to make the beautiful girl his own. Unfortunately for him, Morgana has eyes only for Eric – leading to much bloodshed and the capture of their father, King Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine).

Release date: 3 August 1958 (United Kingdom)

Director: Richard Fleischer

Music composed by: Mario Nascimbene

Box office: $6.2 million (US and Canada rentals) $7 million (overseas rentals)

Language: English

That’s certainly a trip down memory lane for me. I used to like that movie a lot, too.

I only watch films, not broadcast tv, so I get through a few in a week. Today I just finished Kiss of the Spider Woman (William Hurt, Raoal Julio: 1985?), a film I have seen before a long time ago. I liked it then and I still do.

Oh, and I watched an early Mel Gibson film, Tim, on YouTube the other day too. Generally I really like Australian cinema. I also remember I used to like films by the National Film Board of Canada, although I cannot now remember any names - except for one film with Oliver Reed as a trapper, I think, and Rita Tushingham as his wife. Must have been made in the 60s or 70s. Canadian films have a totally different feel to them than US films.

Tin Tin

Probably read the book in English-Lit, and have previously watched this movie, but without recall… it is not disappointing, and the issues the characters deal with and face, make sense in their pertinence through personal experiences had.

73AABF57-CC6E-4CA6-814A-BDF5A98C0632.jpeg
Great Expectations
1946 ‧ Mystery/Romance ‧ 1h 58m

7.8/10 IMDb 4/4 Roger Ebert 5/5 Empire
87% liked this film: Google users

Great Expectations is a 1946 British film directed by David Lean, based on the novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness and Valerie Hobson. It won two Academy Awards and was nominated for three others.
Wikipedia

Release date: 26 December 1946 (United Kingdom)

Director: David Lean

Adapted from: Great Expectations

Box office: 2 million USD (US rentals)

Awards: Academy Awards in 1947 for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

wow holy fuck that’s deep.

That novel is great and a canon of South American literature. Charmingly, it is itself written as a screen play. South Americans like writing literature like that. Sometimes it works gloriously, like with this very excellent novel, sometimes not so much.

Cortazar was a genious, but his genious quite often overtook him. That’s why short stories tended to be his best work.

shortstoryproject.com/story … aken-over/

Incidentally, that is why Garcia Marquez is viewed as the undisputed greatest by far. Because he managed never to let his genious get ahead of him, and it was considerable genious. For that reason as well he is even less translatable than Cortazar.

newyorker.com/magazine/1976 … -patriarch

‘Dark Waters’

Now playing

Dr. Sleep

I watched The Magnificent Seven yesterday… I have to admit I was swooning over 6 of them, and dismayed that the 4 who were killed, died from their own stupidity.

My kinda movie… made me wanna be MI5 or NASA, until people started getting killed.

Operation Avalanche
2016 ‧ Mystery/Thriller ‧ 1h 34m

Play trailer on YouTube

Two young CIA agents are sent to NASA, under the false pretence of making a documentary, to investigate reports of a mole. But once there, they become entangled in a much bigger conspiracy involving the Apollo 11 mission.

Initial release: 16 September 2016 (USA)

Director: Matthew Johnson

Production company: XYZ Films

Nominations: Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Visual Effects, MORE

Cinematography: Jared Raab, Andrew Appelle

Budget: $1,250,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $31,585

What’s wrong with Helen?

youtu.be/RPAcL0IsnF4

outstanding! portman delivers a spectacular performance and really demonstrates her character range in this one. so the deal is, after going to space, portman is so blown away by the experience that everything back on earf becomes mundane by comparison. stupid little trivialities like marriage, picking the kids up from school, eating at denny’s, and whatever else you do on earf, start to feel small and meaningless. that’s the basic premise, and throughout the movie we see a general malaise overcome portman which serves to fuel her desire to get back up there where the shit’s real. eventually she’s betrayed by this other astronaut guy who gets her kicked off the list for the next mission, and this totally enrages her. i mean this chick is ALL ABOUT SPACE. she lives and breathes the shit. supposed to be based on true events and i remember vaguely something about it.

hey yo but you think about that. you think the banal routine of your little life is lame now, go to space and then come back. that’ll put your whole miserable existence into perspective. and don’t try to tell me it wouldn’t effect you because there’s plenty going on here on earf. no. you say that now only because you haven’t been to space. just look at portman’s face… look at her eyes. she’ll never be the same. you can’t unsee that shit, people.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3MbL8uxoA[/youtube]

youtu.be/Hzm8UJeLls8

? Jean Luc Gorard

youtu.be/3e1dVeAow80

youtu.be/er4ab2RzaEo

richard ‘the iceman’ kuklinski

youtu.be/hxxs7mPQquo

36:40. Undercover agent wearing a wire talks with Richey about taking contracts. Tells the story of Richey once poisoning the hit’s hamburger with cyanide. The guy comes out and starts eating the burger. Richey waits. Any second now. But the guy keeps on eating the fuckin thing and doesn’t die. Lol.