Movies you have seen recently

[Mr. Calderon]

I tried to watch once upon a time in hollywood. I thought it was boring. I decided to stop because my "watch hour" is too expensive these days.

 

Where are the good vice movies these days...mmm

[Jack Gretsky]

I rewatched Carlito's Way for the first time in years the other day, and who did I see dancing with Pacino? None other than Gina, Saundra Santiago, herself - and yet she's unbilled.  

[Dadrian]

7 minutes ago, Jack Gretsky said:

I rewatched Carlito's Way for the first time in years the other day, and who did I see dancing with Pacino? None other than Gina, Saundra Santiago, herself - and yet she's unbilled.  

Yes sir. Quite a few MV folk in that film. 

[Jack Gretsky]

3 minutes ago, Dadrian said:

Yes sir. Quite a few MV folk in that film. 

Indeed.  Viggo, Luis Guzman, Leguizamo.  I'm sure there are others. 

[Dadrian]

4 minutes ago, Jack Gretsky said:

Indeed.  Viggo, Luis Guzman, Leguizamo.  I'm sure there are others. 

Pacino would have been a great MV guest star, but I guess Rivers from Phil the Shill was as close as they could get.  

[jpaul1]

Paul, apostle of the Christ. amazing movie

Le samouraï. great movie equally (recommended original subtitled if you're not fluent in french)

[Vicefan7777]

Re watched a film from 1984.  This movie I saw in the theater during it's original run.  The film was The Terminator.  A film I reviewed on IMDB as, "One hell of a thrill ride!". I remember coming out of the theater physically exhausted.  I still feel that way today.  I will never grow tired of repeat viewings. 

[RedDragon86]

"The Many Saints of Newark"

This is terrible, all it did was reference the mannerisms and saying from the show and it was boring and didn't really expand on anything. 

David Chase needs to retire from writing, based on all the beginnings he didn't even understand his own show. In my opinion it was Terence Winter who was the real backbone and wrote the magic in "The Sopranos"

4/10.

[Dadrian]

1 hour ago, RedDragon86 said:

"The Many Saints of Newark"

This is terrible, all it did was reference the mannerisms and saying from the show and it was boring and didn't really expand on anything. 

David Chase needs to retire from writing, based on all the beginnings he didn't even understand his own show. In my opinion it was Terence Winter who was the real backbone and wrote the magic in "The Sopranos"

4/10.

Geez…

Thanks for the heads up. I was so excited by the trailer, but based on your review, I will at least not spend theater seat money on this one. 

The wife and I LOVED The Sopranos, so we were gonna do a date night. I guess we’ll pick a different movie.  

[ViceFanMan]

I’ve said it before...one movie genre I absolutely love & am fascinated by is film noir. They didn’t need bizarre settings or characters, wild special effects, or computer generated images...they were/are dark yet beautiful, raw little slices of life, with “real” plots/storylines & with “real” characters dealing with real problems & conflict we can all relate to! As much as I do like some superhero & the original 3 Star Wars movies...I’m sci-fied & fantasied out!!  It seems like that’s all we make anymore!

However, I believe in December an awesome looking re-make of the 1947 noir-thriller Nightmare Alley will hit theaters! I’m really looking forward to a good ‘ol dark psychological thriller.  Until then, I’m viewing some others. I’ve recently acquired the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of the 1945 noir Detour. I’ve seen an old, choppy, and very poor quality version several years ago...but this all new digitally remastered & restored version from Criterion is superb! 

This film is just amazing...the beautiful simplicity of the plot, yet the deep, dark & sizzling performances of Tom Neal & Ann Savage captivate & draw you into their dysfunctional lives, poor choices, downfall & eventual destruction. If there ever was an angry, miserable, harpy that you couldn’t wait to get-it...yet you couldn’t wait to find out what she’d do next, Vera (Savage) is it! 

If you love film noir, and haven’t seen this one...definitely check Detour out!! 

Edited October 8, 2021 by ViceFanMan

[RedDragon86]

16 hours ago, Dadrian said:

Geez…

Thanks for the heads up. I was so excited by the trailer, but based on your review, I will at least not spend theater seat money on this one. 

The wife and I LOVED The Sopranos, so we were gonna do a date night. I guess we’ll pick a different movie.  

Anthony Cumia is a huge fan of "The Sopranos" he basically summed it up and like you was excited by the trailer. 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by RedDragon86

[Augusta]

9 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

I’ve said it before...one movie genre I absolutely love & am fascinated by is film noir. They didn’t need bizarre settings or characters, wild special effects, or computer generated images...they were/are dark yet beautiful, raw little slices of life, with “real” plots/storylines & with “real” characters dealing with real problems & conflict we can all relate to! As much as I do like some superhero & the original 3 Star Wars movies...I’m sci-fied & fantasied out!!  It seems like that’s all we make anymore!

However, I believe in December an awesome looking re-make of the 1947 noir-thriller Nightmare Alley will hit theaters! I’m really looking forward to a good ‘ol dark psychological thriller.  Until then, I’m viewing some others. I’ve recently acquired the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of the 1945 noir Detour. I’ve seen an old, choppy, and very poor quality version several years ago...but this all new digitally remastered & restored version from Criterion is superb! 

This film is just amazing...the beautiful simplicity of the plot, yet the deep, dark & sizzling performances of Tom Neal & Ann Savage captivate & draw you into their dysfunctional lives, poor choices, downfall & eventual destruction. If there ever was an angry, miserable, harpy that you couldn’t wait to get-it...yet you couldn’t wait to find out what she’d do next, Vera (Savage) is it! 

If you love film noir, and haven’t seen this one...definitely check Detour out!! 

ViceFanMan! 

If you have NOT seen these Film Niors yet:

Ride the Pink Horse

Brute Force

THEM!  (Not kidding, this is the only sci-fi flick that is put together and filmed like an A+ "Law Enforcement hunts down mystery crime ring operation, while doing their best to keep the innocent city completely unaware".  Almost classic film noir, I was delighted!).  

[ViceFanMan]

17 minutes ago, Augusta said:

ViceFanMan! 

If you have NOT seen these Film Niors yet:

Ride the Pink Horse

Brute Force

THEM!  (Not kidding, this is the only sci-fi flick that is put together and filmed like an A+ "Law Enforcement hunts down mystery crime ring operation, while doing their best to keep the innocent city completely unaware".  Almost classic film noir, I was delighted!).  

I might have to check them out sometime.  

[Augusta]

John Wick.  (Just John Wick, the first film---I wouldn't bother with the others).

I'm not into ultra-violent film art.  I wasn't even aware there was such a genre, or a population that collects those films as a separate entity from "just plain graphic-action movies" (???).  But I saw Keanu's name in the credits on the Optimum cable guide, and decided to record and watch this.  
This film is NOT a bloody-graphic violent piece (I say again, it's NOT---believe me if you see what my friend has on his list from that ultra-violent genre, John Wick just cannot fit into that category),  And although it IS a film about how many levels up violence can get, and although they have already made two sequels with Keanu's character, THIS one and first film, John Wick, is the ONLY one I can recommend as a fully shaped out, fully expressed film.  

Many of you have not wanted to see such a picture.  It's "a shoot-em up, blow everybody up and shoot them crawling away" nonsense flick, "it's a boy's entertainment movie", just "guns and stuff for those beer-drinking men we live with and put up with in our lives" etc.  
But shockingly, John Wick was NOT that to me.  And, heck, it even made the woman who dared to watch it with me, ARGUE with me about what Keanu's character should do, and whether there's a right or wrong in that man's heart anymore,...stuff that you would not be debating with your girlfriend about if this was "just a gun and bullets flick for the boys".  

Can I explain WHY it's a recommended film for female as well as male audiences, without telling the story details?  
A man we don't know anything about, has just lost his wife.  It was a terminal illness, so they knew this ending was coming, and she had time to prepare him and nurture him, and place their love (which is about to be lost by her dying) on such a level of maturity and grace, that if I ever have to lose a loved one to cancer or illness, I want the person to guide me and hold my hand with the forethought that THIS woman shows in this movie.  It's just well-done, and Keanu brings the perfect amount of gentleness out of his natural personality to fit his part in this film perfectly.  It's a HUGE level of love-lost that the film has to get across to you in a VERY short span of time (because the rest of the film takes a horrific toll on you--toll on you, on the villains, on the city, on Smith and Wesson Gun company, JEEZUS, you aren't prepared for the rest of the movie).  And the actor and the director SUCCEED in pumping this honorable breath of love into you at first, and making you believe it without corny, bubbly, syrup.  You love someone, you've prepped for their death--you stiffen your back and you're hardcore mature about the pain that is gonna come in your heart.  You even spot this one very brief moment in there where Keanu ALMOST went for a way to kill himself using his car---and I found myself saying, "no guy, just haaang on.  There are some places Love goes that we cannot follow--don't choose that, just to try to be with her."

His wife has thought of EVERYTHING in this eventuality of her death, and to his surprise, she's even found a way to give him ONE last loving kiss even AFTER she's died. Like a kiss from the darn grave, Holy Cow!  I want to marry THAT woman!

And the along comes somebody's stinking, aimless, malicious passing deed and brings harm to grief.  It establishes a tragic triangle relationship between the young hood who did the deed (who by just bad coincidence is the son of a mobster), the mobster father (who has risen high in his russian-style crime world and doesn't appreciate this collateral nuisance his son regularly brings to his business, and Keanu's character (who the mobster by just bad coincidence unfortunately knows will be a severe problem).  
It's the HORROR and shear MAGNITUDE of the problem that erupts from Keanu's decisions that I refer to as "how many levels up can violence go",... I could not fathom Keanu Reeves unloading this much blank, bleached, unending disregard for ending lives, and no one in my living room watching this film was prepared for how MANY persons once breathing and alive, can be INDIVIDUALLY killed so quickly---mouths are just left open when you watch the BEGINNING of the violence.  And it's not filmed like some Stallone Rambo-flick, or Steven Segal operative-movie, or Arnold making muscles and avenging his family, or Vin with his cars wiping dudes out to rescue his wife.  Even John Woo fans have NOT seen people with guns spill away one another's lives like this.  Not like THIS.   And the only reason the violence WORKS and is accepted in your mind as far above some dumb gun-flick, is BECAUSE we felt the incredibly mature, unpretentious well-filmed "Love comforts after Death" part of the movie that came first, that we got seduced, and so the violence that follows,... is somehow "not dumb gun violence"---it feels like something else, shocking, hurtful, but something you just are glued to keep watching in this movie.  

"That stupid son committed a sin against love, and didn't even know it---if someone  transgresses this last loving kiss for me from my dead wife, the way he did for Keanu's character,... I'd incinerate half the world as retaliation!!!"  In my HEART I would feel and say that.  In my heart.  But, half the whole world?  Kill that many?  For real?  Should Keanu be doing this?  1/3 of the way through the film, his character nearly has me feeling sympathy for russian hitmen.  RUSSIAN-MOB hitmen.  

Their world is violence.  A  crime lord who built his success on that knows this is true.  Your son did a needless, stupid spiteful thing, but it meant WAY more and hurt someone WAY more than the son could realize.  To balance it out, YOUR SON probably needs to be KILLED.  To honor this component of MY wife's death, YOUR son's death is a forfeit. (In my heart, watching what Love was depicted between John Wick and his wife, I have to confess I WOULD want your son killed, ritually in front of me--and I'm NOT a violent man).  
At some point in the movie, I had to open my mouth and said to the tv screen "You can solve the problem---just give your son over to be killed".  It was an inhumane suggestion to make, and that's what caused the debate right there on the spot in my living room.  
How can I suggest a man give his son to be put to death, as an end to what by now has reached an UBER-NORMOUS body count!?  That's the man's son, right?  How could I be so cruel to say that?

But, if you're a mobster who brags about your mob-style violence, how should you have the right to have a loving wife, and produce a child, and enjoy the family life that NON-violent people deserve?  How is that right?  Where do you have any right to have a son in the first place?

You're a businessman, a callous crime lord who conquers with his callousness for human life.  Prove it, by sacrificing your son for your business.  The waves of violence that are all attributed to Keanu's actions are worse than Satan stomping around your neighborhood!  ...Just give him your son,... and  he'll  go  away...!"

As I mentioned, there are sequels already, but those ARE gun-flick entertainment pieces for the guys.  You can tell the film makers are just having fun, portraying an alternate world of assassins and underworld organizations, etc.  
But only this first film, IS what film is about.  Establish a character for the audience, sink that character under the audience's skin through some kind of emotional investment (NOT an easy thing to do anymore, since countless movies have use all sorts of corny sympathy tools to make the audience sympathize with the character----"Love" is the most over-used and abused tool in the story-telling business), then SHOCK the audience with something that jumps the tracks from what they could ever be prepared for (also a seriously hard thing to do, since we've become such a superficial, non-believing, ready for a surprise trick, culture), and squeeze the maximum value out of your actor (Keanu is more riveting in this violent story, than even the actor who played that hitman in No Country for Old Men,.. and for the same reason, their genuine gentleness in real life).

Get your wife or long-time girlfriend in a sofa, and watch this.  Her heart will ache from the first 20 minutes of love, then she'll beg Keanu in tears to stop defending that love, after about the 165 bodyguard is shot---just make it stop! 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Augusta

[Mr. Calderon]

Sorry don, i tried knives out...i didnt finish too.

[Vicefan7777]

It is Spooktober time and I watched what I consider to be a B-movie.  From 1977 the movie I remember seeing at my small town's  Drive Inn is The CAR.  This film is about a driverless car terrorizing a small desert town. It is a low budget film that I really enjoyed.  

[ViceFanMan]

Just went and saw the new James Bond 007 movie...No Time To Die. After almost 2 years of delays, it’s finally out. I’m not going to give anything away about the plot and/or what happens, as it’s just been released as of yesterday. However, I will say that, although we all knew it was Daniel Craig’s last one, I was not impressed.   As a huge 007 fan, I miss the days of Sean Connery & Roger Moore...Pierce Brosnan was awesome, too. But, that’s just me. 

[jpaul1]

i have one question about this if you agree. are there ridiculous moments like Brosnan jumping off the iceberg, or Craig trying to stop cars by crashing a plane into trees. these things ruin it all for me. even if i know Bonds are more kids aimed, i love to watch one from time to time. it reminds me of my childhood. especially the Moore era. which is one of the best IMO. But i hate when it breaks the line with reality

[jpaul1]

On 10/8/2021 at 8:03 AM, ViceFanMan said:

I’m really looking forward to a good ‘ol dark psychological thriller.

as i mentioned Le samouraÏ has been praised worldwide. and is considered by many as a film noir masterpiece. But again not the english version. the french with subtitles. according to what i read the english dubbing is very poor

[Mr. Calderon]

13 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

Just went and saw the new James Bond 007 movie...No Time To Die. After almost 2 years of delays, it’s finally out. I’m not going to give anything away about the plot and/or what happens, as it’s just been released as of yesterday. However, I will say that, although we all knew it was Daniel Craig’s last one, I was not impressed.   As a huge 007 fan, I miss the days of Sean Connery & Roger Moore...Pierce Brosnan was awesome, too. But, that’s just me. 

Looks much more a kgb agent.

[ViceFanMan]

1 hour ago, Mr. Calderon said:

Looks much more a kgb agent.

The whole thing was pretty convoluted & depressing. 

[miamijimf]

Just saw No Time to Die.  I always see James Bond movies, it's kind of a tradition.  Not bad but will not be one of my favorites.  Highlight for me was seeing Lea Seydoux as the Bond girl.  I think this is the first time they have used the same Bond girl in two different Bond films.  She was in Spector also.

[ViceFanMan]

1 hour ago, miamijimf said:

Just saw No Time to Die.  I always see James Bond movies, it's kind of a tradition.  Not bad but will not be one of my favorites.  Highlight for me was seeing Lea Seydoux as the Bond girl.  I think this is the first time they have used the same Bond girl in two different Bond films.  She was in Spector also.

Definitely not one of my favorites!  Actress Maud Adams, for decades, was known as the only girl to appear in more than one Bond film...however, she didn’t play the same character. She was first in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), but was killed off part way into the film (she should have been the bond-girl...as she was more beautiful than & and a much better actress than Britt Ekland). She later was the main Bond-girl in Octopussy (1983). Both of these were Roger Moore films. 

Also, I’m really tired of people who write online articles about things, and they don’t bother to check facts or info before posting.  Several keep saying Daniel Craig is the longest running Bond with this last one his 5th & final. That’s all great-n-dandy...but Roger Moore did 7 Bond films! He is officially the longest running 007 (Connery did 6, George Lazenby 1, Timothy Dalton 2, and Pierce Brosnan 4)!! 

Edited October 10, 2021 by ViceFanMan

[Kladdagh]

Saw No Time To Die yesterday ... It was a good movie ... Audacious I would say 

[Augusta]

20 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

Definitely not one of my favorites!  Actress Maud Adams, for decades, was known as the only girl to appear in more than one Bond film...however, she didn’t play the same character. She was first in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), but was killed off part way into the film (she should have been the bond-girl...as she was more beautiful than & and a much better actress than Britt Ekland). She later was the main Bond-girl in Octopussy (1983). Both of these were Roger Moore films. 

Also, I’m really tired of people who write online articles about things, and they don’t bother to check facts or info before posting.  Several keep saying Daniel Craig is the longest running Bond with this last one his 5th & final. That’s all great-n-dandy...but Roger Moore did 7 Bond films! He is officially the longest running 007 (Connery did 6, George Lazenby 1, Timothy Dalton 2, and Pierce Brosnan 4)!! 

LOL!  Hang in there, ViceFanMan.  As long as we're in a forum, it can be more fun getting facts wrong than right, like when you're in your favorite pub, and someone's singing your favorite song with ALL THE  WRONG words cuz he should have shopped drinking three hours ago and he didn't.  

I've got to wonder, what certifies the actress as a Bond-Girl in the movie anyway.  Is it that Bond gets to bed her that makes her a Bond Girl?  Or is it that she's the "most beautiful" actress in that installment that makes her the Bond Girl (and the 2nd most beautiful in that movie does not get to be called a Bond Girl)?  
Didn't Miss Moneypenny actress pose in a Playboy magazine feature---but she didn't get to score with Bond... so she's not a Bond Girl?  
There was a brunette casino-playing woman (Eunice somebody.... I don't feel like googling it) who "played some golf" with Bond in Dr No, who returned in From Russia With Love--- to "picnic" with Bond---SHE is the first "playtime" character to be in the series twice, so does she count as a Bond Girl?

Thunderball is the top favorite of mine, and has three actresses I flip over (can't decide which gal wins most with me)---all three get studded by Bond, but does that make all three of them Bond Girls?