Provided one does not think about all those innocent people Neo and his pals slaughter.
This is probably the last Nolan film that I truly enjoyed. Good performances, especially from Michael Caine, help.
Denzel Washington in a gripping variant on time travel—that completely unravels in the last act. Oh, well!!
The trailers had me jazzed, but the actual movie is too much HERBIE on steroids.
Disjointed and unashamedly biased, but given the subject it’s hard to imagine how it could be anything else.
Never thought I'd see you watch a Transformers movie, JB!
I'm still looking to see it mainly for the depiction of the bots as they were created. Michael Bay claimed that he went with the indiscernible-shards-of-metal look because he felt going with the original design would make them look too much like giant toys running around (uhh....). So I do wonder how well this movie pulled it off.
They're still mostly "indisernable-shards-of-metal"--with no sense of actual scale. When Bumblebee transforms into his humanoid form, the animators seem to forget that a Volkswagen, like all cars, is mostly empty space. He becomes a ten foot tall robot that looks solid all the way thru.
Perhaps he's channeling material from the Auto Parts Dimension.
Hah! I suppose that's something that fans just expect and accept. In the cartoons, Megatron transformed into a handgun to be used by another Decepticon, and he'd have to clearly shrink every time in order to do so. Plus, Optimus Prime's trailer would always mysteriously disappear every time he transformed from his truck form.
I thought that could have been the appeal of Bumblebee, though - realistically, he should be the size of a tall human.
Not being terribly familiar with Transformers mythology, I was surprised to see Bumblebee assuming multiple forms. Something that looks like a Ferrari on his homeworld, briefly a Jeep upon arriving on Earth, and ultimately the Beetle.
I played with the toys as a kid and watched the old cartoons and they couldn't do change to multiple forms then, either. They had a form on the home planet but once they came to Earth they were reconfigured to one Earthly vehicle.
It's possible they could do that in the Bay movies, but I haven't seen any of them.
There's a moment in the movie that made me chuckle, tho not in a good way.
A couple of the bad guys arrive on Earth and introduce themselves to the American military--as "Decepticons". Later one of the humans expresses concern over the name, but it struck me as shades of Sinestro.
To Catch A Thief (1955).
Great locations, though as was the wont in those days they chose to shoot most (all?) of the dialogue scenes on a sound stage. The stars are charismatic and nice to watch, but the film overall is second-tier Hitchcock for me, despite a brilliant opening that consists of purely visual storytelling.
Greta Garbo, John Gilbert. Extraordinary cinematography, a rousing orchestral score, and surprisingly low key performances. Predictable, but eminently watchable.
I was watching that too. Amazing how a modern TV with HD capabilities can make a movie nine decades old look so good.
"The Highwaymen" - a Netflix movie that says to be the real story of the cops who tracked and killed Bonnie and Clyde.
Of course, the history is mostly nonsense - irritatingly so for someone like me who knows the story pretty well - but, even ignoring that, it's kind of a bore to get through, although Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson are good with what they're given.
Oh, I enjoyed THE HIGHWAYMEN. There are inconsistencies in the historical narrative, but far less than the much more well known BONNIE AND CLYDE which, for some, is a historical document not to be touched. It was a slow film, carefully building it's narrative, and it also didn't feature the titular characters for whom the search was all about except for glances at Bonnie committing horrendous murders. But I thought it captured the spirit of the manhunt, a subject I'm also well versed in. It also didn't shy away from the less-than-honorable personalities that finally caught up with B&C.
Bonnie and Clyde are romanticized to this day. They are mythical Robin Hood figures when, in actuality, they were cold-blooded killers who didn't give two shits about anyone but themselves and their family. That's the truth. That a movie finally paints them in the light that they actually deserve is, to me, welcomed.
Looking forward to catching it.
films. IRON MAN last night. Forgot how great that movie was.
Melissa McCarthy goes from playing every role that would have once been offered to Rosie O'Donnell to trying for those that would have once been offered to Kathy Bates. The film achieves a strange sort of shabby nobility for characters who are consistently reprehensible in really low-level petty ways. There is also a genuine respect for the written word and those who are capable of working with it. Overall, I wound up enjoying it a great deal, something I was not expecting at the outset.
A remarkable film by Ingmar Bergman. There's a long section in the middle where the two main characters, Harry and Monika, are largely by themselves in the country, and it feels years ahead of its time, like something from the French New Wave. At the end Harry has grown up, and Monika hasn't and possibly she never will, but the film doesn't blame either of them.
On the one hand, a solid case could be made that this is one of the silliest, dopiest, most lunkheaded & outlandish big-budget superhero films ever made. This is one goofy movie.
On the other hand, another solid case could be made that it's also the most colorful, good-naturedly bonkers and stylishly-directed big-budget superhero films ever made. This is one glorious-looking movie.
It may not be great, but I loved watching every single minute of it. Listening to the tin-eared dialogue and spotty acting? Not so much. Probably a grade-C movie overall, but with A+ visuals and direction.
I, like Matt, enjoyed the HIGHWAYMEN. I liked the slow build & especially that they barely showed the faces of Bonnie & Clyde.
I watched this the week of the New Zealand shootings & found that that decision aligned well with the NZ Prime Minister’s comments about not naming the shooter.
The film also made me think of an episode of CRACKER when Cracker had a rant about the original film, going nuts about how it romanticised two cold blooded killers & ignored the victims pain.
Along with the gorgeous Angie Dickinson, and Walter Brennan in one of his best roles... Like stepping into a warm, comfortable brown shoe of a Western. I love this one more & more, each time I see it. Sharp-witted, easygoing and charming, and a heck of a lot of fun.
Inspired by my recent viewing of FLESH AND THE DEVIL, I picked up a Greta Garbo three-pack. This was one, a kind of "happy ending" turn on the Mata Hari mythology. The print was unfortunately in terrible shape--at one point, during a rainstorm, the scratches made it look like it was pouring down indoors!--but the story was entertaining.
The scene where Garbo is seductively lighting candles... great stuff!
Again. Adding to my overall experience are voices that I enjoy listening to no matter what words are coming out of their mouths; Scott, Hayden, Jones and of course Slim Pickens.
BTW, when I first saw this title, decades ago, my eye saw it as Dr. Strange-glove (and still does), which was perpetuated by that single glove he wears.