Film you recently watched: part 3

Babylon. The biggest pile of **** since the opening scene of the same film when an elephant opens its bowels and ***** on someone immediately below them who inexplicably chooses to stay there in the line of fire. No discernible storyline, each pointless scene of debauchery trying to outdo the preceding one. Utter tripe, walked out after an hour and a half of a three hour film.

 

AI Artificial Intelligence (2001) - I was expecting this to be quite good seeing as how it was a Spielberg film.

The first half hour or so was really boring. Nobody thinks USA kids are 'cute' apart from USA people I suppose.

Then there was quite a good bit where some robots got shot out of cannons and minced through a big fan thing. That was OK.

I was fed up with the whiny kid by then. Why didn't we hear from the Teddy more? He was just as much a robot with a heart as the kid.

I had hoped that the kid would get shot through a fan or have acid dropped on him, but it didn't happen unfortunately. Just went on to an unsatisfactory and boring ending.

PARP! Fin. Disappointing. 4/10

 

Two from the BBC Horizon 'strand': the first is their dramatisation of Crick & Watson's 'discovery' of the structure of DNA:



The second is Simon Singh's frankly amazing account of the life of Andrew Wiles and his obsession to prove Fermat's Last Theorem (the book's very good too):

 

Watched Mr Jones last night on BBC2 last night. About pre ww2 Soviet Union and how Stalin caused a man made famine in Ukraine, the bread basket of Europe. Very good although harrowing in parts. Really brought home how it must have been to live in a totalitarian state and how the elite thrive and the poor suffer even in a communist utopia. (Sorry Clive).

 

Watched that yesterday - happened upon it by chance but really enjoyed it

 

Finally got around to watching Scorsese's Silence. It was billed to me as "...you Darth Vader and his grandson in the same film...." but I found it to be a very interesting meditation of the concept of belief. Liam Neeson was suprisingly non-**** in this. I knew nothing about the film before watching and I am very surprised to see, from wiki, that it was a box-office bomb.

 

Just watched "The Fog" again - for the first time in many years. Just shows it can be a mistake to go back to a film.

 

Yeah they were just jumping on the bandwagon of the runaway success of the collaboration between Ben Foster and Jackie Collins

 

Review of the new 'blockbuster' 65:

 

Went to see Rye Lane last night. Well acted jolly rom-com set in sarf London. Would be better if it had a few car chases, shoot outs, explosions etc but enjoyable nonetheless

 

The Boston Strangler. This was the first 'adult' film I ever watched and, B'wood favourite (he was one of those rare actors who was beloved by the studios' crews) Tony Curtis gave a career defining performance. I was conflicted to catch the new version of the tale because of its two 'breathtaking' stars: the breathtakingly awful Keira Knightley and the breathtakingly wonderful (looks and talent - she was amazing in the, frankly, astonishing "The Leftovers") Carrie Coon. My fascination with Coon won (who sadly plays a very minor role in the film). The film focusses on the work of the two journalists who did much to to turn the case into a cause célèbre. It's a very pacey tale, with a good script and some very atmospheric scenes. It was so well made that after 5 minutes I forgot I was watching the dreadful Knightley (and stopped egging-on her 'performance' with cries of "Act dear girl.... Act!!!") and, surprisingly, got immersed in this new retelling of the whole sordid affair. I would recommend it.

 

I haven't seen this film yet, but will pirate it soon.

An Irish-made take on the case of the Miami 5 - the brave men of the Wasp network who infiltrated the darkest corners of the wormery of Miami to find out information about their terrorist attacks on Cuba.

I will give a full review after I have seen the film. I don't like the title much, but I suppose it has to be dramatic to attract viewers. Why is 'Castro' always just the insulting 'Castro'? Why not President Castro? Why not even 'Fidel'? You often hear on the news about how "President Biden" is standing up to "Putin" or "Castro" or "Gadaffi" or whoever.

 

@Clive_ofthe_Kremlin do you know if this has picked-up by the BBC's 'Storyville' strand?

 

Nooo...I've heard nothing about any bbc film about it.

There was a very good book recently published and that claimed it was going to be made into a film. I'm not sure if this is it. The Miami wormery were *extremely* unhappy about the book I know, so I don't suppose Hollywood or any US film maker would dare touch it.

It's impossible to avoid saying that the reason the 'spies' were there, was because of all the terrorist attacks and bombings of Cuban hotels and tourist locations.

All planned, financed and organised by the 'gran exilio' in Miami of course and with the US authorities turning their usual blind eye.


"Through the 1980s and 1990s, violent anti-Castro groups based in Florida carried out hundreds of military attacks on Cuba, bombing hotels and shooting up Cuban beaches with machine guns. The Cuban government struck back with the Wasp Network—a dozen men and two women—sent to infiltrate those organizations. The Last Soldiers of the Cold War tells the story of those unlikely Cuban spies and their eventual unmasking and prosecution by US authorities. Five of the Cubans received long or life prison terms on charges of espionage and murder. Global best-selling Brazilian author Fernando Morais narrates the riveting tale of the Cuban Five in vivid, page-turning detail, delving into the decades-long conflict between Cuba and the US, the growth of the powerful Cuban exile community in Florida, and a trial that eight Nobel Prize winners condemned as a travesty of justice. The Last Soldiers of the Cold War is both a real-life spy thriller and a searching examination of the Cold War’s legacy."

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Soldiers-Cold-War-Story/dp/1781688761

 

One other thing to say is that I had a letter correspondence with Gerardo during the time he was in prison in the United States. Of course they treated them very badly with isolation and no visits. They would not even allow their family to visit them.

Also I was interpreter for some of the UK meetings of the tour of the wives and families of the Five. They were very moving in their speeches. As you can suppose though, there were just the usual handful of people at the meetings.

When you try to talk to people about these things they have no idea what you are telling them really. No comprehension.

 

What are you going on about, now?

 

It's not a film - it's the Beeb's strand for showing (very, very good) documentaries from around the world.

 

New 4K print of "The Wicker Man" (nb that's a very pi$$-poor article).

I saw the first re-cut re-release of this film in 2006 (followed by a Q&A with the director, Robin Hardy, at the Phoenix in Finchley). The bits/cuts that had been added were cleaned up and the film was re-packaged as the final-cut in 2013 (with a special appearance by Christopher Lee at the Phoenix waxing lyrically about how it was the best 'thing' he's ever been in and he only went into the project because, after reading the script, he thought that it would win a bagful of Oscars).

It's a fantastic film - the only thing holding me back calling it a masterpiece is the fairly ropey/variable film quality in the movie. I really urge everyone to see this on the big screen when it come out.

 

Phoenix holding a special event on the solstice.

 

Finchley central.

 

On Netflix in the last month I watched both "Knives Out" films starring Daniel Craig, very enjoyable who dunnit films. I understand they're writing a third film in the series currently.

Also I watched Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk, also worth watching.

 

Mornington Crescent.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3

Absolutely loved it. I am a marvel fan, but this series in particular has always shone particularly bright. Since Endgame I have really struggled with a lot of the marvel movies, Thor love and thunder was good but everything else has been meh or worse.

This one however deserves a place in the pantheon of the greats. It’s packed full of laughs, but also a whole lot of heart. There are some genuinely heart rending moments, and the film touches on some incredibly dark themes but deals with them well.

A very good 8.5/10 for me.

 

The New Year's film for the majority of the ex-USSR:



Two masterpieces by Tarkovsky:





Absolutely any of the Soviet era WWII films, but this one's spectacularly good:

 

He's been crap for Everton this season, though