Run (2020) - somewhere in the state of washington, a teenage girl is kept indoors by her mother all the time. she's a science nerd and takes remote courses at university. when she learns that her mother is shielding her from the world outside, she starts to ask questions, but the more she pushes, the more restrictions are put on her. until one day she uncovers the terrible secret of her past, and her true identity. a solid thriller, not overproduced, with great acting. the ideal movie to send as a gift to your clingy mother-in-law.
Portrait of a lady on fire (2019) - somewhere in 19th century france, a paintress is ordered to a house inhabited by nobility. her job is to finish a portrait that is pretty much done, only the head is missing. the portrait will be the wedding gift for the bride, who will take it to her wedding in milan, italy. the last woman who had the "honor" preferred suicide, but this time, the new candidate explores her sensual side with the paintress instead. the cast for this film is almost exclusively female.
2001 A Space Odyssey (1968) - a timeless masterpiece that still holds up 50 years after its making. a space traveller of the near future is on a mission to jupiter, where an all-knowing computer goes rogue, which poses a problem, since most people onboard the ship are hibernating, with only two crew awake, they have to make some tough decisions. movie starts out very slow and scenic. with beautiful futuristic shots. the middle section has some more dialogue, the end is just plain crazy, with lots of occult and kabbalistic symbology. not sure what he smoked to give the movie such an ending, but altogether very worth watching.
Little Rita Nel West - a spaghetti western, free to watch on youtube. the plot is spun around little rita (rita pavone), a stagecoach full of gold, a tribe of dancing, singing indians and their chief. there are also a few shootouts and saloon scenes. not to forget the "holy hand grenade", which in this case, is golden and appears twice in the movie. if you like rita pavone or wanna brush up on your italian, watch this movie.
Mystic River (2003) - Sean Penn in his usual role as a whiner, this time, alas, he's a small-scale neighborhood allstar, and his pretty young daughter got killed. So he tries to play cop, while the actual cops do the same. He just isn't satisfied with the progress they make, and so, everything unfolds.. top notch cast, carefully woven plot, and a surprise ending. everything a good crime drama needs. recommended.
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) - portrayal of smalltown america. a very tough, street-smart lady is taking on the police department, that after a year still has not found the man who raped and killed her daughter. she puts up three huge signs just outside town, which cause a storm of controversy that soon engulfs the whole community. the plot is carefully spun, the characters are believeable, and Peter Dinklage has a candlelight dinner in a fine restaurant. moderate violence only. very recommended for all viewers.
the Duke of Burgundy (2014) - another nihilistic piece of pseudo-avant-garde filmmaking, glorifying two strange middle-aged women as they explore a weird master-slave relationship, where it is never clear who is slave and who is master. no men are seen in the movie. some strange moths and fat butterflies whirl around, yet nobody knows why. lots of leg and pantyhose is shown, posh english manners and accent is applied, but nobody gets properly spanked or belted. there also is manifold occult symbology hidden in these 104 minutes that you just wasted by actually watching this. the male director who made this glorious piece of nothing, deserves the "mangina of the year" award. and a pay raise by the jew. i can't really recommend this movie to anyone. it should have never been made in the first place.
Outbreak (1995) - in a smalltown somewhere in the United States, a monkey that was ordered from Africa by an animal lover, is spreading an unknown disease. Virologists and the US government are trying to contain the outbreak. each in their own way, and each have their own ulterior motives. With Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan 'Voice of God' Freeman, Cuba Gooding Junior, Patrick Dempsey and Donald Sutherland.The movie still holds up well, even after 25 years. I remember seeing this movie on the big screen (cinema), when it came out.
The Fifth Element (1997) - a taxi driver of future New York City (Bruce Willis) gets a surprise payload, a young woman (Milla Jovovich), hunted down by the police, a sci-fi villain (Gary Oldman), and the mysterious priest Cornelius (Ian Holm). She needs his help to go in hiding. Little does he know that under her smooth skin, she is virtually a ticking time bomb, holding the key to make or break the whole known universe. I watched this movie the summer it came out, at the Soul Survivor Festival in Bath, England, on the big screen. Watching it 23 yrs later, it defo looks a bit dated. but the costumes are still top notch (tailored exclusively for the movie by Jean Paul Gaultier).
Sahara (2005) - a female scientist of the World Health Organization (Penelope Cruz), and a former Navy Seal with his sidekick that now run a salvage company, cross paths in Mali, where the former is looking for the source of contaminated water, and the latter is hoping to find a US secession-war-era battleship, in what now is the Sahara Desert. They fight a super-rich african warlord and his crookish french business partner. Kinda 'meh' movie for my taste (a Breck Eisner Production, meaning Disneyland, aka Hitlerland, so what can you expect but eye candy and explosions) but ok for lovers of desert culture, the Touareg people, and the broad jawline of Matthew McConaughey.
Friends with Benefits (2011) - a typical chickflic. tried to give it a fair go, but each time gave up after like five or ten minutes. So i kinda just dozed off and did something else, just to convince myself i actually finished the movie. not sure if it was time wisely spent. PLOT: a dashing young NYC executive (Justin Timberlake) runs into a girl from LA (Mila Kunis). both just broke up with their significant other, and try to build a new "just friends" relationship, that goes beyond the realm of sex and nagging. they succeed at first, then kinda ruin it, then succeed again. Verdict: definitely a chick-flic.
Gidget (1959) - finally i understand what the word Gidget means. it's the two endearing terms 'girl' and 'midget' morphed into one. this movie (and later the TV show of the same name) pretty much started the surf craze of the 60s, which then gave birth to surf culture as we know it. PLOT: a petite but quirky california teen (Sandra Dee)is coming of age, trying to find meaning and love in befriending a group of surfers. she will employ all her female ruse to get the attention of her crush "moondoggie".
King of California (2007) - a single father (Michael Douglas) returns from the mental ward to his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), who is barely making a living, working at McDonalds. His outlandish habits and dreams to find a hidden gold stash, are complicating things even more. He will go to incredible lengths to follow the smell of gold. pursuing many semi-legal activities, in which he also embeds his friends, he finally makes one final push to hit the paydirt. good acting on all parts, no violence, just total kookyness. recommended for all audiences. but especially the metal detecting community.
King Solomons Mines (2003) - an immersive 3-hour-long TV production with Alison Doody and Patrick Swayze. recommended for all Africa lovers.
News of the World (2020) - Captain Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a veteran of the US War of secession, travels across the frontier, reading newspaper stories to simple townfolk. He used to own a printshop, but the war took it. Braving duststorms, tricksters and bandits, he wants to return home to his wife, but instead runs into a young orphaned girl with blonde hair, and the features of a kiowa native. as he tries to find her a foster family, the two slowly learn to bridge the language gap, and grow closer to each other. recommended for all audiences young and old, with beautiful cinematography of the wild prairies of north america. tom hanks delivers as usual, and some outstanding acting from young helena zengel.
Into the Blue (2005) - somewhere in Florida, broke dive instructor Jared (Paul Walker) who is living on a barely floating mess of a boat, and his love Sam (Jessica Alba), who works at the dolphinarium, spend a weekend with their happy-go-lucky lawyer friend Bryce (Scott Caan), who makes a good living defending the Miami drug barons. His blonde leggy girlfriend Amanda (Ashley Scott) turns out to be a coke aficionado herself. They spend some days snorkeling in the beautiful blue waters offshore, and discover a plane wreck full of cocaine, easily worth millions of dollars. Bryce immediately goes into harvesting mode, but Jared objects, and they leave the wreck alone, focusing on prospecting for treasure instead. But lacking the funds to afford proper equipment, they have to make tough decisions, and get in the way of some very powerful and ruthless people. Captain Bates (Josh Brolin), who runs an outfit of 100 people, owning a big salvage company, and a ship with all the bells and whistles, doesn't exactly make their job easyer. Beautiful underwater cinematography, solid plot and great acting. There are few truly beautiful water movies ever made. this is one of them.
#############################
this list might get extended..
No comments:
Post a Comment