New Movie Review

Nobody with Bob Odenkirk 2021. Lots of action and some laughs thrown in. The Better Call Saul star doesn’t appear to be an action hero but he pulls it off. One of the better movies that I’ve seen in a dismal time for movies 

I watched Encanto tonight. 

It's been on Disney+ for a while, but it just didn't interest me, but tonight I finally decided, "Why not? What else do you have to do, you bum? What—you're going to start laundry at this hour? I don't think so. Aaah, watch a movie, it's not going to kill you."

Anyway: "Encanto." It's cute. It's fun. A little busy. A few too many characters. I was pretty sure I recognized Lin-Manuel Miranda's style from the songs, and sure enough, I saw in the credits he wrote them. The whole message of the film—and these recent Disney films always have some message—was a little convoluted. "Be yourself?" "Everyone has their own gift?" I'm still not sure. But it was...cute. Very colorful. Pre-teen girl tries to find her place among a boisterous family of very (magically) gifted relatives.

It was no "Coco," though. Still, I give this "Encanto" a (none-too-enthusiastic) thumbs-up.

Last week, I watched God's Little Acre.

This was one of those films that I'd heard the title of for the years, and I had some vague idea what it was about...  But then I watched it and it was completely different than what I expected.

Widowed yokel farmer is obsessed with buried treasure he's sure is somewhere on his property, so he digs a lot of holes looking for it. He's got five adult kids of various levels of intelligence and moral fiber, and none of them are geniuses nor angels. 

The movie came out in 1958, and evidently was considered pretty racy then. But the book that it was based on was much more explicit and had been banned and/or the subject of some controversy when it was published twenty-five years earlier.

Watching this film today, it was more of a curiosity to me than anything else. I enjoyed the ridiculous Hollywood ending which made me laugh and sent me to the internet. "There's no way the book this thing was based on ends this way!" I thought. Sure enough...it don't!

Thumbs up from me on this one, though, if for no other reason than we get to see a young Michael Landon...as an albino. Why, I didn't even recognize Little Joe Cartwright / Pa Ingalls / Highway to Heaven guy!

A few weeks ago, I watched Plene Soleil (1960).  This was the first adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel "The Talented Mr. Ripley." It's in French but is subtitled. I don't normally go in for your highbrow, fancy-schmancy artsy foreign movies, with the words on the bottom of the screen what ya gotta read, but this was a great film.

Thumbs up! 

My only problem was the ending—no spoilers but I will say I will agree with what Highsmith herself said about it. However, the scenery— Italy circa 1960—why, it's like looking at a vintage postcard come to life. Interestingly, Jude Law, who plays Dickie Greenleaf in the 1999 version bears a bit of a resemblance to the actor who played the role (here called Philippe Greenleaf) in this earlier version.

And before that I watched My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). Independent film about a young Pakistani man who takes over managing his uncle's laundromat, and he has a vaguely-defined relationship with a somewhat reformed street thug, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. I don't think time has been kind to this movie! It was evidently a much-lauded, landmark film about classism in London in the 1980s when it came out. And there's the whole gay cinema angle. But it's just not good! The dialogue is awful; the situations are contrived and/or not really explained. Maybe if I saw it in 1985, I'd be more forgiving. But looking at it in 2022...  Eh. Not good. Thumbs down.

I watched "God's Little Acre," "Plene Soleil," and "My Beautiful Laundrette" on "kanopy." I can't recommend this streaming service enough. If your local library is part of this program, it's well worth the cost of joining...which is free—you sign up with your library card and are given credits to watch X number of titles per month. (Here in Los Angeles, as part of the LA Public Library it's 8; your monthly credits may vary based on your local library.)

You'll find tons of stuff that you won't see on any of the other streaming services, including a lot of older movies and foreign films.

The King's Man - is a 2021 spy action film directed by Matthew Vaughn - the third of a set. This would be the prequel to the first and best 'The Kingsman: The Secret Service' I would rate this prequel as just average fare.

If you've never seen any of the Kingsman movies I would recommend the first the - Kingsman: the Secret Service - as the one to watch first; the other sequels Kingsman: The Golden Circle and this one The King's Man are  just average; they don't have the style, humor and pizzazz like the The Kingsman: The Secret Service.

--->   The King's Man - Wikipedia - just average fare. 2021 (seen on Row8)

---->  Kingsman: The Secret Service - Wikipedia - best of the lot. 2014  👍

( warning - extreme violence and cheeky ending  😉 )

----> Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Wikipedia - just average fare; 2017

😎   "Manners maketh man."

Dune 2021 - Part One  Is the second feature film interpretation of Frank Hebert's Dune novels. .

----> Dune (2021 film) - Wikipedia   This will be probably the first of a trilogy directed by  Denis Villeneuve.       2 hours 36 min         

As it stands Dune 2021 - Part One - doesn't stand up well by itself; you can tell there is more to tell. You can say this is part one - act one of a sci-fi tale that will need parts 2 and 3 - which can take two to three more years to complete. So you may want to wait until Part 2 is released next year before watching Part One and  Part Two together.

Seen thru my local library's 'free' DVD rental program.

The first film interpretation was Dune  (1984) ---->  Dune (1984 film) - Wikipedia   2 hours/ 17 Min.- 137 Min. - Theatrical Version - David Lynch.

Back in 1988 there was a two day over-the-air broadcast of an 'extended version' which I had the privilege of viewing. Dune - T.V. Extended Version - Alan Smithee version - which I believe is a more entertaining and better science-fiction movie over the regular theatrical 1984 and this new 2021 version, thus far. The Extended version fleshes out the background of the Dune universe for the general audience who haven't read any of the Dune novels. ( I haven't read any of the novels).  ---->Lynch Announced a 4-hour Version of "Dune” in '86 | Fanfare (medium.com)

If you are not familiar with Dune novels or the Dune 1984 - I would highly recommend viewing the older 1984 extended version before viewing this new Dune 2021.

And here is a small Vimeo version ------> https://film-book.com/watch-dune-1984-3-hour-version-theater-extended-cut-deleted-scenes/

------   If you wish you may apply into Internet Archive for free; to expand your universe

------>   https://archive.org/details/DuneTheCompleteSagaVimeo

😎  The Spice Must Flow

No Time to Die is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the James Bond series, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent, James Bond..---->  No Time to Die - Wikipedia

Although not being a Daniel Craig bond fan I would have to give this film a  👍 . 

Running at 163 minutes the pace is balanced with action and some personal/ moral melodramas. Seen on DVD from my local library for free.

The new question will be - who will be the new James Bond? 🤔

😎

Recently seen A Man Called Otto,  Another Tom Hanks movie filmed in greater Pittsburgh (ala Mr. Rogers)  A comedy about a Grumpy old man living in a "condo" development.  How many of us can identify with his Character in this?  Probably not many here, but watching can give one that doesn't identify something to be thankful for.         

Ticket To Paradise - George Clooney, Julia Roberts

Romantic comedy, 2022 This was streaming on Prime video a while back. It was fun to watch Clooney and Roberts team up again for this movie. The plot line wasn’t anything special, it was the way they delivered it that made it work.

Barbie - OK I get these free at the Library, though looking at the DVD cover, I wondered if I could stomach it. 

Actually liked it more than I thought I would.  A bit of trivia in it for the girls that had these dolls growing up. 

Not exactly a new movie so chastise me if you must, but there aren't alot of Movie Topics since the Movies & TV board disappeared.

Just a general question about interpretation:

  Does anybody else see Zombie Apcolypse movies and/or tv as allegories for how psychopaths see the rest of humanity? 

It's always a small group of people against 99.9% of the population. The zombies are convenietly dehumanized.  The protagonists are usually spared from becoming zombies by some act of providence beyond their control.  Interpersonal power struggles amongst the 'survivors' usually turn out to be a greater threat than the zombies.  And characters of a more moderate ilk who want to study and understand what's going on are often portrayed as weak or indecisive and killed off early (sometimes betrayed by a kill-all-zombies character) unless they are trying to gain control of the zombies for their own purposes.

....like I said...not alot of other places to bring this up.

Watched Strays (Jamie Fox, Will Ferrell) this past week.  Not a kids movie, but glad I seen it, Animated Dogs, wish they would make more like this.