thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Sept 13, 2022 10:36:48 GMT -5
Hope everything's OK Coop. Sorry for your loss
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Sept 14, 2022 19:23:09 GMT -5
Enter The Dragon (1973)
On its surface, Enter The Dragon may seem like a straightforward martial arts movie, but when you get into it...it's kind of weird, actually. Weird in the sense that it combines the martial arts genre with the blueprint for a Bondian spy adventure and apparently a blaxploitation movie, and the result is an interesting cocktail, to say the least. And one that I mostly liked. The movie is undoubtedly at its best when it's focused more on Bruce Lee's main character and the fight scenes he engages in. Said scenes are energetic and entertaining (if maybe not filmed in the most invigorating or flattering style in terms of the fight choreography), and the style of the film as a whole works in its favor, compensating for some fairly cheesy touches in the rest of the film. I mean, the cheesiness IS a big part of this movie's charm, but a particularly well-written script this is not. Neither did it NEED to be; I'm just saying that this is a film that's largely able to coast by and succeed due to its style and energy, which are both quite high here. The movie perhaps gives a little too much attention to a lot of the side characters when, as I said, it would've been better-served to focus in more on Bruce Lee's character, but when it works, Enter The Dragon works enough to qualify as a success.
***/****
(Sorry this one's pretty short, but...a lot of my thoughts on the film were fairly straightforward, just like the movie itself.)
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Sept 15, 2022 8:42:20 GMT -5
On its surface, Enter The Dragon may seem like a straightforward martial arts movie, but when you get into it...it's kind of weird, actually. Weird in the sense that it combines the martial arts genre with the blueprint for a Bondian spy adventure and apparently a blaxploitation movie God bless the 70s. |
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 15, 2022 18:33:14 GMT -5
When we get one or two more reviews in I'll start assembling the next round.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Sept 15, 2022 19:02:23 GMT -5
I'm at my parents house in the aftermath of my aunt's funeral. I spoke "Open Water" into the micof the remote, and there it is, chilling on Tubi. So I'm watching that now.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 15, 2022 19:57:43 GMT -5
Take your time, I’ll put you in for next round unless you say otherwise.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Sept 16, 2022 22:32:17 GMT -5
Watched Oliver! tonight however many months late. It's dope. I'll put up a review. Unlike Neverending on Zombie Ass, I keep my promises |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Sept 18, 2022 9:50:06 GMT -5
Woman at War (2018)
Before watching Woman at War I’d only seen two Icelandic films and both of them were about sheep farming. Woman at War breaks the trend by not being about sheep farming… but there is at least one sheep farmer in it. The film is instead about a middle aged woman who’s a bit of a hippie and has begun covertly engaging in environmental terrorism by causing disruptions to area power lines in hopes that this will somehow get a mining operation nearby shut down. Needless to say I think this plan is flawed. Climate change is not going to be fought with neo-pastoralism, that’s an approach that will never get a critical mass of political support. Instead we need to adopt an approach where gas is minimized as much as possible while transitioning electricity from coal burning to renewables and, when necessary, nuclear power… and that’s an approach that’s going to require more powerlines rather than fewer. But to be fair, the movie doesn’t view her methods as overly effective either. The government just freaks out about it, public opinion doesn’t really swing to her side even within her upper-middle class hippie-ish circles, and it mostly leads to pain and suffering for her. But the film’s focus isn’t entirely on her criminal activities as there’s also stuff about her personal life, specifically an adoption that she’s finally and unexpectedly approved for, forcing her to decide whether her anti-electricity crusade is worth giving up the domestic life she’s interested in. It’s an odd movie that mixes some kind of quirky stylistic tendencies with some kind of real questions of environmentalism and political violence, which is a pretty odd stew but not one I regretted sampling.
*** out of Five
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Sept 18, 2022 12:48:17 GMT -5
Oliver! (1968) Based on Lionel Bart’s award-winning 1960 West End musical version of Dickens’s Oliver Twist, Carol Reed’s Oliver! has not one, but two reputations to live up to. The London production featured Ron Moody, who reprises his role here as a toned-down Fagin, and the Broadway production was nominated for 10 Tonys winning 3: Best Scenic Design, Best Original Score and Best Music Direction. The novel had been considered a classic for over a century prior to the play. Not that my opinion really matters much—the film did win Best Picture at the Oscars after all—but I can happily report that this film lives up to its predecessors.
I think the thing that blew me away first and foremost was how effective the film was at injecting livelihood into the Victorian setting that could easily be cold and dreary. The costuming is injected with little bits of color (ex. Fagin’s green coat, or Alice’s glowing red dress), and the set design is wonderfully janky, with the working-class slums cobbled together with wood so rickety you could practically sense the wobbliness before the inevitable collapse towards the end. Reed makes effective use of space, with forced perspective to make Fagin’s hideout seem larger, or a soaring camera during “Consider Yourself” that shows the sheer size of the underclass neighborhood. When the action cuts to Mr. Brownlow’s townhouse in Bloombury Square, the immaculate whiteness of the buildings and shock of color within the vendors lends even more pop to the second-best number of the movie, “Who Will Buy?”
Not knowing the full awards resume of this movie, I was impressed by Ron Moody’s performance as Fagin, and pleased to see he was nominated for Best Actor. He and Oliver Reed really steal every scene that they’re in. While a musical in every sense, the film is very British and pre-occupied with different things than Hollywood musicals of the time—namely, a faith and adoration for the source material. Yes, Moody’s performance downplays a lot the novel’s antisemitic caricatures (partly because he was Jewish himself), the film really nails the overall dynamic between Fagin, Sikes, Alice, and the kids. The songs are off-kilter from our normal expectations. Roger Ebert really nails it that the movie never insults our intelligence: side characters are given much to do, and the kids feel hardened by their life of pickpocketing. Much like the best musical adaptations, the director adeptly keeps the camera moving during the musical numbers/dances, and even employs some fun zooms and dutch angles in the closing half hour to show the characters’ increasing distress.
Really enjoyed this one. 9/10
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 18, 2022 14:25:27 GMT -5
That's close enough. Who's in for next round? IanTheCool you want in on this one? Or do you want to take a break? |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Sept 18, 2022 15:29:07 GMT -5
in
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Sept 18, 2022 15:40:21 GMT -5
That's close enough. Who's in for next round? IanTheCool you want in on this one? Or do you want to take a break? No, i'm gonna have to sit out a while. Life is crazy right now. |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Sept 18, 2022 15:50:01 GMT -5
I'm in again.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Sept 18, 2022 16:23:26 GMT -5
In.
Also, Open Water was good. Took a bit to win me over but eventually did. Ending goes a long way. Longer review soon.
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donny
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Post by donny on Sept 18, 2022 17:28:27 GMT -5
In
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 19, 2022 19:56:30 GMT -5
How about it thebtskink? You game for another roll in the hay? |
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Sept 19, 2022 20:45:37 GMT -5
I'll likely be late in turning in my review, but sure.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 19, 2022 22:20:14 GMT -5
I'll likely be late in turning in my review, but sure. |
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 20, 2022 15:24:00 GMT -5
We've got a couple more reviews incoming from the previous round but let's kick off the new one while I'm at my computer. Round 223PG Cooper - Doomsday Dracula - PhantomKnight donny - thebtskink Let's aim for October 17th as the due date. |
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 20, 2022 16:19:10 GMT -5
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Sept 20, 2022 17:15:06 GMT -5
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Sept 20, 2022 18:14:35 GMT -5
BTW, you might want to update your post in the "Blind Spots" thread Is yours up to date? |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Sept 20, 2022 18:16:39 GMT -5
BTW, you might want to update your post in the "Blind Spots" thread Is yours up to date? Yes |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Sept 20, 2022 18:38:42 GMT -5
Gonna go with Night of the Kings. Also, for the future, I just went ahead and updated my Blind Spots.
For you:
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Sept 20, 2022 18:56:13 GMT -5
Gonna go with Night of the Kings. Also, for the future, I just went ahead and updated my Blind Spots.
For you:
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