Testy Area 51 (5 Viewers)

[Dennis Nicholls]

I must be psychic, or at least psycho. Back on 8 December I posted (#34006) a tasteless joke about Natalie Wood. This was almost immediately followed by discussion of Pink Panther music.

Now the LA sheriff's office has announced that Robert Wagner is a person of interest in the suspicious Wood drowning. Wagner starred in the original Pink Panther.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-natalie-wood-robert-wagner-20180201-story.html

 

[Ruz-El]

I must be psychic, or at least psycho. Back on 8 December I posted (#34006) a tasteless joke about Natalie Wood. This was almost immediately followed by discussion of Pink Panther music.

Now the LA sheriff's office has announced that Robert Wagner is a person of interest in the suspicious Wood drowning. Wagner starred in the original Pink Panther.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-natalie-wood-robert-wagner-20180201-story.html

WITCH! HE'S A WITCH! THROW HIM THE RIVER!

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[Steve Christou]

Dwayne Johnson's a busy action hero. Jumanji is a huge success and he has two more blockbuster's coming up this year.

 

[Ruz-El]

Jumanji number one? Huh! I was never big on the original film, that I think got a sequel? Who know's anymore!! Everything is a reboot now! Rampage is based on the monster city smashing game that's fun for about 5 minutes on the Nintendo, I'm sure it will be a fun movie. Provided they SHOW THE MONSTERS SMASHING STUFF FOR THE ENTIRE MOVIE! None of this "less is more" twaddle, MONSTERS AND THE ROCK! THREE HOURS WORTH!

Friends, I've been watching Oscar noms! Here's my current standing:

Get Out: Loved it! would be happy if it won!

Call Me By My Name: it was okay, not sure about their serving suggestion for apricots though...

Darkest Hour: good performances in a movie that had me come to the conclusion that all politicians could be eliminated from the earth and we would all be better off. Probably not the goal of the film? Wathcing it, I kept thinking "I should watch DUNKIRK, I bet it's better." I'll watch Dunkirk by the end of the week. Anyway, this one is precious Oscar bait that I don't care about.

The Post: Really loved this one. Low key, timely, wonderful performances and a Mr. Show with Bob and David Reunion. Spielberg really is one of the greats, eh? I'd be happy if this won.

I think that's as far down the list as I have gotten.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Besides all this, Peg and I have been on a Scandinavian film jag. Coming up next, Pelle the Conqueror!

Read through your thread, Mike. I've seen and enjoyed some of those films, like "A Man Called Ove", "Kitchen Stories", "My Life as a Dog".

Unfortunately, most of my favorite Scandinavian films would fall into the dark drama or thriller categories.

Russell, yes, the South Koreans make excellent action films!! They're beating Hong Kong nowadays. You're doing well with your Oscar noms viewing. For me, I've probably seen the least number of nommed films this year compared to usual.

Recently watched "In Her Hands", which was quite interesting. Hadn't seen a Daniel Auteuil film in a while.

 

[Ruz-El]

Read through your thread, Mike. I've seen and enjoyed some of those films, like "A Man Called Ove", "Kitchen Stories", "My Life as a Dog".

Unfortunately, most of my favorite Scandinavian films would fall into the dark drama or thriller categories.

Russell, yes, the South Koreans make excellent action films!! They're beating Hong Kong nowadays. You're doing well with your Oscar noms viewing. For me, I've probably seen the least number of nommed films this year compared to usual.

Recently watched "In Her Hands", which was quite interesting. Hadn't seen a Daniel Auteuil film in a while.

See?!?! Liz knows! South Korean films, they're the good ones now! I've also seen "My Life As A Dog", a movie about a little boy who gets his penis stuck in a bottle. We watched it in school!!!!

Friends, I have watched nearly all of the Oscar nominated best picture films and I declare them all very good for a change! Except for Darkest Hour, that one can shove a hanky up it's bottom. Only one's I'm missing are PHANTOM THREAD, which I'll just go ahead and buy since I've loved all of Paul Anderson's films, from BOOGIE NIGHTS to DEATH RACE, from EVENT HORIZON to THE MASTER, he's always great! Not nominates was I TONYA, which was a hell of a lot of fun. I've not watched that Denzil Washington film either. I mean, who heard of it prior to the Oscars? NO ONE! FAKE MOVIE FAKE MOVIE!

Last night was DUNKIRK. LOVED IT! I think you guys where snearing at the score, and if you were I would agree. more of a sound effect than a proper score, but it worked for the movie. I declare it 1 million times better than DARKEST HOUR.

 

[Elizabeth S]

So of what you've seen, Russell, which is your pick for Best Picture?

I went to see "15:17 to Paris" this weekend. I think the critical drubbing is extremely harsh. I was interested in any background on the three men, as well as the minutiae of their vacation days which led up to the incident. The fact that they played themselves just gave it that much more weight to me.

Saw that trailer for Dwayne Johnson's "Skyscraper". He knows how to pick his popcorn movies. Looks like "Towering Inferno" meets "Die Hard".

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just read your comment about 15:17 to Paris in that movie's thread, Elizabeth. Cool beans.

Now I'm a bit more enthused about my future purchase of the disc.

 

[Ruz-El]

My pick for best picture? In my heart of hearts, I have to root for GET OUT and SHAPE OF WATER. I have to root for the horror and monster movies, I love the genre so much! I love it too much! MONSTERS! That said, I wouldn't mind if Lady Bird or Three Billboards won either, both took me by surprise and rattled around in my brain.THE POST was fantastic too. You know, honestly, any of the films other than DARKEST HOUR and CALL ME BY MY NAME would please me, those were the only two that left me flat.

(but I would love it if GET OUT or SHAPE OF WATER won )

Happy valentines day! I'm not have a good one, so here's Yvonne De Carlo to make it all better:

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yvonne DeCarlo...a GREAT choice, Russ!

And to add to your Valentine's Day cheer...how about some Julie Newmar, too?!?

 

[Steve Christou]

Whoa ho! a flurry of posts... brings back memories... [wipes tear] ....10 years ago I was telling you guys to slow down because I couldn't keep up with all the posts.... pages were flitting by at ludicrous speed... aah halcyon days....

I have to watch Get Out again, honestly I still can't believe it's one of the favorites to win Best Picture.

Jack Hawkins and Joan Collins in Land of the Pharaohs (1955).

 

[Ruz-El]

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS! The best film about the trials of being an architect in olden times! I recall it being a bit dull. I also seemed to think James Mason was in it. how the hell did I confuse Mason with Hawkins?!?!?

Joan Collins! Forever known for Dynasty! I remember dad bringing home The Stud to watch, but I wasn't allowed to see it. Still haven't! Is it any good?

someone posted the very cassette on ebay!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I remember dad bringing home The Stud to watch, but I wasn't allowed to see it.

Damn parents! They should want their kids to have a good education.

 

[Steve Christou]

I must have seen The Bitch and The Stud back in my video renting days but I can't remember them. I recently did a video on Joan Collins but I didn't include those two films, their scores were just too low.

Land of the Pharaohs was a rare misfire for Howard Hawks, good to look at but dull as Russ says. The ending was memorable though.

I'm currently watching a Netflix series called Altered Carbon, set in a Blade Runnerish future, flying cars and neon lit cities. It's a lot more violent than the recent Blade Runner sequel and has plenty of nudity, men and women. Definitely worth a look.

 

[Ruz-El]

I'm currently watching a Netflix series called Altered Carbon, set in a Blade Runnerish future, flying cars and neon lit cities. It's a lot more violent than the recent Blade Runner sequel and has plenty of nudity, men and women. Definitely worth a look.

While Steve looks at boobs and wieners, I'm going through my unwatched Criterion Collection. This week I've been watching Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger! It's a good one, but a terrible one to put on before bed. Sooths you right to dreamland. Taken me three nights. I made it halfway through co-feature DOWNHILL last night. Also silent, I have to be honest, I'm going to have to reacquaint myself with the plot on IMDB or something. It's no Lodger, and even more sleep inducing at bedtime! Otherwise watching some Winter Olympics. Anything featuring leaping about, Snowboarding, figure skating. Not following it really, just like watching people risk their life and limb for gold.

 

[Steve Christou]

You don't want to see James Purefoy's dick Russ? What's wrong with you dude?

The oldest film I've bought on blu-ray in recent months was Able Gance's Napoleon, 3 discs, 332mins... [bites fist]

A wide range of blu-ray companies are releasing old movies in HD which is great news for collectors. Criterion have been releasing their titles in the UK. But are we supposed to buy them again in 4K eventually? Will triple and quadriple dipping on movies ever end?

 

[Ruz-El]

You don't want to see James Purefoy's dick Russ? What's wrong with you dude?

The oldest film I've bought on blu-ray in recent months was Able Gance's Napoleon, 3 discs, 332mins... [bites fist]

A wide range of blu-ray companies are releasing old movies in HD which is great news for collectors. Criterion have been releasing their titles in the UK. But are we supposed to buy them again in 4K eventually? Will triple and quadriple dipping on movies ever end?

Steve talked me into his dirty show!

Over in the colonies we're still waiting for a legit release of Napoleon. I'll buy it if it ever appears. I know, I know, I can go region free for cheap. My problem is space. I don't have endless amounts of inputs for disc players!

Criterion in the UK, Arrow in the USA, It's a good time for classic film fans. I wont be upgrading anything to 4K if I own the blu. My eyes are going to s**t, blu is enough for me. DVD to 4K may happen if it's something I really like, but not me blu's. 2K PUREFOY FOR LIFE!

I'm thinking of ripping all my DVDs to files and setting up a plex network to watch them on. Seeing as DVDs are not garbage apparently?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The real reason to upgrade for density is for color fidelity. I really don't think that upgrading a lot is all that worthwhile for B&W films. I recently bought the Bluray for the WWII Why We Fight series, and it's really not noticeably better than the old DVDs I own. Color films are of course another matter altogether.

 

[Steve Christou]

I think 4K works best if you have a very large screen and you can see the difference in clarity. I still own a 42 inch LG 3D TV, I've had it for nearly 6 years now and I'm very pleased with the picture quality. I sit about 7 or 8 feet from the screen. I'm worried that when I do eventually upgrade to a bigger screen there won't be 3D TVs available and I own over 200 3D films. 3D blu-ray players are already scarce. And I don't want the battery operated glasses, they have to be the light 'passive' glasses you wear at the cinema.

Mamie Van Doren and hairy colleague in Sex Kittens Go To College.