Movies/Films/TV - Opinions

[winkywanky]

I’ll give John Wayne that, he had screen presence. Which is important.
Connery admits himself that he only has only one voice. He doesn’t do accents. Watch The Hunt for Red October to prove that. A Scottish Russian sub commander. Still a good movie though.

Acting is a funny thing. You raise a good point there, looking at his performance in the cold light of day, there's no way he would be convincing as a Russian Sub commander.

Yet for most, he is totally convincing, with the sheer power of his performance, his sheer presence. And even though it's the same voice he used for Bond, there's no way you'd see him as Bond in a Russian Sub commander's outfit.

Just goes to show, although character actors (good ones anyway) are quite rare in Hollywood, the top stars can just pull it off somehow  .

[mr.bluesky]

I’ll give John Wayne that, he had screen presence. Which is important.
Connery admits himself that he only has only one voice. He doesn’t do accents. Watch The Hunt for Red October to prove that. A Scottish Russian sub commander. Still a good movie though.

Not half as puzzling as the part he played in the Highlander films. He played the part of Ramirez (an Egyptian with a Scottish accent and a French actor ( Christopher Lambert) playing the part of a Scotsmen with a French accent. 

[Ghost89]

Not half as puzzling as the part he played in the Highlander films. He played the part of Ramirez (an Egyptian with a Scottish accent and a French actor ( Christopher Lambert) playing the part of a Scotsmen with a French accent. 

I think Connery was Spanish if memory serves. But yes I forgot about that! Indeed a strange choice. Probably more so with lambert. Och aye le noo!

[Ghost89]

Acting is a funny thing. You raise a good point there, looking at his performance in the cold light of day, there's no way he would be convincing as a Russian Sub commander.

Yet for most, he is totally convincing, with the sheer power of his performance, his sheer presence. And even though it's the same voice he used for Bond, there's no way you'd see him as Bond in a Russian Sub commander's outfit.

Just goes to show, although character actors (good ones anyway) are quite rare in Hollywood, the top stars can just pull it off somehow  .

He is convincing. And looks very intimidating which is what he should be. He does speak some Russian but there’s a clear Scottish twang.

[winkywanky]

He is convincing. And looks very intimidating which is what he should be. He does speak some Russian but there’s a clear Scottish twang.

It's fine, he's just from that part of Russia which is near the Scottish border 

[Davey Dykes]

If we're going down the Hollywood Star of yesteryear with limited ability but screen presence then I nominate Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson to sit right on top of that steaming pile of turds. And I like then both actually along with Marion.

[winkywanky]

Marion is big leggy.

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it somehow.

[mr.bluesky]

I think Connery was Spanish if memory serves. But yes I forgot about that! Indeed a strange choice. Probably more so with lambert. Och aye le noo!

Yes your right he played the part of a Spanish swordsman ( with a Scottish accent )

[mr.bluesky]

If we're going down the Hollywood Star of yesteryear with limited ability but screen presence then I nominate Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson to sit right on top of that steaming pile of turds. And I like then both actually along with Marion.

I wouldn't put Burt Lancaster in that category myself I thought he was quite an accomplished actor 

[Londonpunter30]

Yes your right he played the part of a Spanish swordsman ( with a Scottish accent )

No he was Egyptian, but served in the court of the king of Spain.

External Link/Members Onlyánchez-Villalobos_Ram%C3%ADrez

He’s also played in Irish man with a Scottish accent in The Untouchables.

[mr.bluesky]

No he was Egyptian, but served in the court of the king of Spain.

External Link/Members Onlyánchez-Villalobos_Ram%C3%ADrez

He’s also played in Irish man with a Scottish accent in The Untouchables.

Who ever he was he played the part with his usual Scottish accent 

[sparkus]

Yes your right he played the part of a Spanish swordsman ( with a Scottish accent )

And in the Italy set The Name of the Rose too ("He mussht be a very uggly monk.")

[tantric talents]

And in the Italy set The Name of the Rose too ("He mussht be a very uggly monk.")

One of my favourite Umberto Eco books and a great movie!
Definitely a must see 

[Chorley]

Not half as puzzling as the part he played in the Highlander films. He played the part of Ramirez (an Egyptian with a Scottish accent and a French actor ( Christopher Lambert) playing the part of a Scotsmen with a French accent. 

To be fair that's the least bonkers and random thing about that whole film    I still absolutely love it even though its a load of camp, crazy nonsense . 

[Ghost89]

Well In my opinion whatever dross he was in especially in his later career he brought a bit of class to it.

[sparkus]

One of my favourite Umberto Eco books and a great movie!
Definitely a must see 

I'd give scraps of monestery grub to that peasant girl for sexual favours any day of the week.

[The Film Director]

If we're going down the Hollywood Star of yesteryear with limited ability but screen presence then I nominate Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson to sit right on top of that steaming pile of turds. And I like then both actually along with Marion.

Like most big Hollywood actors he was in a lot of dross, but also made some classic films .... Sweet Smell of Success and Atlantic City being two of the best.

[Ali Katt]

Like most big Hollywood actors he was in a lot of dross, but also made some classic films .... Sweet Smell of Success and Atlantic City being two of the best.

We always ignore the shit and the flops. Look at Ray Liotta and some the dodgy straight to video stuff he's been in, but he was Goodfellas or De Niro and his shit comedies, but we don't remember the bad ones. Harvey Kietel is a good one been in some dull crime films, but in my opinion steals the scenes in Taxi Driver, is great fun in Tarrantino movies and gave an absolute powerhouse of a performance in Bad Lieutenant which is a fucking great film.

[The Film Director]

We always ignore the shit and the flops. Look at Ray Liotta and some the dodgy straight to video stuff he's been in, but he was Goodfellas or De Niro and his shit comedies, but we don't remember the bad ones. Harvey Kietel is a good one been in some dull crime films, but in my opinion steals the scenes in Taxi Driver, is great fun in Tarrantino movies and gave an absolute powerhouse of a performance in Bad Lieutenant which is a fucking great film.

...same with Mitchum (as above) Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter and The Friends of Eddie Coyle being cases in point.

[Ali Katt]

...same with Mitchum (as above) Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter and The Friends of Eddie Coyle being cases in point.

Arguably some of the best films ever made.

[catweazle]

Spilt - Netflix. Man with 24 identities, kidnaps 3 teenage girls.  Tour de force acting from James McAvoy, switching personality every few minutes. Decent film from the stable of M. Night Shalayaman, follow on from an earlier film ( no real link between them until the last few minutes). Worth a couple of hours.

[The0neAnd0nly]

Spilt - Netflix. Man with 24 identities, kidnaps 3 teenage girls.  Tour de force acting from James McAvoy, switching personality every few minutes. Decent film from the stable of M. Night Shalayaman, follow on from an earlier film ( no real link between them until the last few minutes). Worth a couple of hours.

Shame the final movie in the "trilogy" Glass was absolutely rubbish. Unbreakable and Split were quality movies.

M. Night Shalayaman movies get a lot of stick but I enjoy them. His new one "Old" released today looks amazing too (people stranded on a island start aging 4 years every hour.)

[ulstersubbie]

Like most big Hollywood actors he was in a lot of dross, but also made some classic films .... Sweet Smell of Success and Atlantic City being two of the best.

Spot on FD. Atlantic City gave Burt his last great screen performance, an Oscar winning role I thought.

[ulstersubbie]

...same with Mitchum (as above) Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter and The Friends of Eddie Coyle being cases in point.

Mitchum had a very nonchalant approach to acting, almost tongue in cheek at times. A great actor when he wanted to be, his Eddie Coyle is a tremendous portrayal of a man on his last legs, a world weary small time criminal who knows the game is up.

[Gordon Bennett]

I do enjoy these Screen Rant "movie pitch meetings" skits on YouTube - they really crease me up and they're normally bang on.

The one below for that pile of shit Tomorrow War film is spot on. I knew the film was a stinker but when this guy breaks it down its hilarious.

External Link/Members Only

Oh, spoiler alert obviously.

[RogerBoner]

Harvey Kietel is a good one been in some dull crime films, but in my opinion steals the scenes in Taxi Driver, is great fun in Tarrantino movies and gave an absolute powerhouse of a performance in Bad Lieutenant which is a fucking great film.

It's so powerful that I had to throw the DVD in the bin, same with Edge Of Sanity starring Anthony Perkins. I had to hide from the forces of evil.

[Ghost89]

Mitchum had a very nonchalant approach to acting, almost tongue in cheek at times. A great actor when he wanted to be, his Eddie Coyle is a tremendous portrayal of a man on his last legs, a world weary small time criminal who knows the game is up.

Robert Mitchum was good in The Yakuza. Ken Takakura was also excellent.

[tantric talents]

Robert Mitchum was good in The Yakuza. Ken Takakura was also excellent.

Indeed and don’t forget the original Cape Fear

[standardpostage]

Blood Red Sky. Netflix. Horror / drama / action / thriller.
Stars Peri Baumeister. 2 hours.
Above average vampire movie. 2021 movie.
Peri plays a good part, although you wouldn't want a love bite from her   

[ulstersubbie]

Classic Double Bill:

Bicycle Thieves (1948). Man and his young son search in vain for a stolen bicycle in post war Rome. A simply told tale that exudes incredible power and emotion, Vittoria De Sica's neo realist masterpiece still resonates after all this time.

Point Blank (1967). " What do you really want Walker?". "I want my money". One of the brightest stylized thrillers that Hollywood ever produced, courtesy of British director John Boorman. Lee Marvin in a career defining performance, hard boiled villains take note!

[The Film Director]

Classic Double Bill:

Bicycle Thieves (1948). Man and his young son search in vain for a stolen bicycle in post war Rome. A simply told tale that exudes incredible power and emotion, Vittoria De Sica's neo realist masterpiece still resonates after all this time.

Point Blank (1967). " What do you really want Walker?". "I want my money". One of the brightest stylized thrillers that Hollywood ever produced, courtesy of British director John Boorman. Lee Marvin in a career defining performance, hard boiled villains take note!

Definitely that, US and a brilliant film to boot. 

[PunterNumber69]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo  - finally got around to watching it. It was good

American Pickers - it's amazing seeing all the stuff these people have collected.

[paulub45]

Talking Movies channel(Sky328) tonight at 10pm Personal Services if anyone is interested

[WDFORTE]

JOLT - 9/10 Prime.

Kate Beckinsale is a mentally deranged woman who is ultra violent and her path to her salvation is via an electrified body suit that gives her a JOLT to bring her back to a normal train of thought.  A good supporting cast and an entertaining story.

External Link/Members Only

[PunterNumber69]

Next on Netflix - standard Nick Cage movie. Okayish.

[Rick2468]

Killing Escobar (2021) was on BBC last week so currently on iPlayer. It's a documentary about some British mercs who were hired by a rival drug cartel to assassinate Pablo Escobar. I have to say, these guys have balls are steel. They are thugs and murderers but oh boy I also have some respect for them. They tried to justify their thuggary by blaming a tough and loveless childhood and they said they were killing a criminal but nah I wasn't convinced. Just shocked me that some people live their lives like that. The attempt was made in 1989 and one of the mercs had a video camera so they had some good footage. I recommend this.

On the books front I'm reading Exhalation by Ted Chiang at the moment which is a collection of sci-fi short stories. He wrote the short story that was adapted into the film Arrival. Exhalation is good, the stories have a very Black Mirror / Twilight Zone vibe to them.

On PS4 I am playing Tokyo Olympics as it was given away on PS+. It's one of those games where you can play a number of sports but the game has not made any of them particularly well. Even though it is certainly shit I can't say I hate it as I have put quite a few hours into it! Just seems a good game to play and button mash after work.

[standardpostage]

Cousins. Netflix. 2021 movie. Maori and English language. 2 hrs 22 min.
Set in New Zealand. Family drama. Very good reviews "but" I thought it was average.
I think maybe more of a chick flick, than a man flick. Based on a novel.
Stars Rachael House.

[LLPunting]

I do enjoy these Screen Rant "movie pitch meetings" skits on YouTube - they really crease me up and they're normally bang on.

The one below for that pile of shit Tomorrow War film is spot on. I knew the film was a stinker but when this guy breaks it down its hilarious.

External Link/Members Only

Oh, spoiler alert obviously.

Thanks for this, tears down Black Widow quite nicely too.  Will have to catch up on some other takedowns.


Saw Korean movie "Pawn" about a couple of incompetent loanshark enforcers who take a child as "pawn" for the debt her mother owes, surprisingly emotional and amusing albeit with a helping of saccharine.

Also finally got round to seeing "The Boy who harnessed the Wind" which tried a bit too hard to make its points and throw its emotional punches but the child star played it well and Chiwetel did his worthy thing.  Not to mention the supposedly starved mother had a stupendous rack that was kept hidden throughout by a buttoned-up shirt, despite the drought heat...

Have Mads Mikkelsen in "Riders for Justice" lined up to watch for a bit of amusement in the next few days.

[Dickled]

Just watched snowfall on the bbc iPlayer 4series 10 episodes per series,set in America in the 80’s and a young black lad becomes the biggest drug dealer in the world as he battles the Columbians and Mexicans as well as doing dodgy deals with the CIA and they are bringing in weapons to the  terrorist.
Fantastic series and I seriously recommend it and there is a 5th series coming soon it has you on the Edge of your seat guns,drug dealing gone wrong oh and a bit of sex thrown in.
Anyone else seen it? I’d like to hear what other people thought of it.

I've just got to the end of the second season, and am enjoying it. It was interesting seeing the lead character's experience of prison, and I was reminded a little of the Sean Bean/Stephen Graham drama, "Time".
One thing I'm unhappy about though is the almost cursory exclusion of one of my favorite characters in the series, Lucia. We're just told by her boyfriend, Gustavo, that she's gone and he hasn't seen her for months.
This, after such a dramatic episode featuring the two towards the end of season two. It just seems so throwaway and superficial, not satisfactory at all.

[Gordon Bennett]

Watched a film called Bigger on Amazn Prime.

It's the biopic of Joe Weider who sort of shaped/developed bodybuilding into a worldwide business of gyms, weights and publishing. Its okay, quite entertaining seeing his vying with rivals to become the dominant player and establishing his IFBB and Mr Olympia contest as the premier end of bodybuilding.
Funny bloke though, seems to be very clearly on the spectrum of autism without anyone really noticing or caring. 6.3 out of 10.

[cotton]

Killing Escobar (2021) was on BBC last week so currently on iPlayer. It's a documentary about some British mercs who were hired by a rival drug cartel to assassinate Pablo Escobar. I have to say, these guys have balls are steel. They are thugs and murderers but oh boy I also have some respect for them. They tried to justify their thuggary by blaming a tough and loveless childhood and they said they were killing a criminal but nah I wasn't convinced. Just shocked me that some people live their lives like that. The attempt was made in 1989 and one of the mercs had a video camera so they had some good footage. I recommend this.

I thought it was ultimately a damp squid , just a load of talking and build up leading to a big zero.  It would have been more interesting to hear about the mercenary participation in the war in Angola.

[The Film Director]

One thing I'm unhappy about though is the almost cursory exclusion of one of my favorite characters in the series, Lucia. We're just told by her boyfriend, Gustavo, that she's gone and he hasn't seen her for months.

Yep, she was excellent (and it's not just that my favourite SP of all time had the same name  ).

Slight spoiler alert ..... and she doesn't reappear IIRC.  But I would not let that put you off as series 3 and 4 are also excellent.

[winkywanky]

I thought it was ultimately a damp squid , just a load of talking and build up leading to a big zero.  It would have been more interesting to hear about the mercenary participation in the war in Angola.

Squid are always somewhat damp, they live in the sea.

Squibs on the other hand...

[Punterperson1971]

Squid are always somewhat damp, they live in the sea.

Squibs on the other hand...

 

[ulstersubbie]

Classic Double Bill:

A Canterbury Tale (1944). Towards the end of WW2, women in an English village are attacked by an assailant known as the glue man. Mystery/fantasy with a dash of patriotism thrown in for good measure. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger directed some of the most colourful and imaginative films of any era, their contribution to British cinema is significant.

Le Boucher (1970). A repressed schoolteacher embarks on a relationship with the local butcher, a series of brutal murders has profound consequences for both of them. Claude Chabrol's psychological masterpiece, regarded by many as his finest film.

[lostandfound]

Watched some of Grand Tour Lochdown - got a bit bored towards the end and stopped watching.

Not bad - much better than most of their previous efforts IMO. Bit of a return to Top Gear tropes. Given time elapsed figure they think their safe, or don't give a fuck working for a trillion $ corporation.

[Ali Katt]

Classic Double Bill:

A Canterbury Tale (1944). Towards the end of WW2, women in an English village are attacked by an assailant known as the glue man. Mystery/fantasy with a dash of patriotism thrown in for good measure. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger directed some of the most colourful and imaginative films of any era, their contribution to British cinema is significant.

Le Boucher (1970). A repressed schoolteacher embarks on a relationship with the local butcher, a series of brutal murders has profound consequences for both of them. Claude Chabrol's psychological masterpiece, regarded by many as his finest film.

Both great films. Le Boucher is a Hitchcockian French film.

[winkywanky]

Like the sound of Le Boucher (also a big fan of Le Diaboliques).

Any idea where I can see Le Boucher?

[Ali Katt]

Like the sound of Le Boucher (also a big fan of Le Diaboliques).

Any idea where I can see Le Boucher?

Bfi player? Mubi?

[winkywanky]

British Film Institute player?

Will check that out  .