Testy Area 51 (3 Viewers)

[Steve Christou]

I'm looking forward to the Oscars Russ,. Might even watch it live. Remember when we had a running commentary on one of the Oscar shows here in this thread about 10 years ago? Those posts are still somewhere in this tome of a thread. Heck a large slice of HTF history is buried in these pages. [wipes tear]

I watched Blackkklansman recently, it was entertaining, funny too, but Best Picture of the Year? Not for me. I also enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody. I might not bother with A Star is Born, I haven't even seen the Streisand version. I'm interested in seeing Vice and The Favorite, Green Book too. Roma looks like a giant bore, which means it'll probably win.

I'm fine with a hostless Oscar. The glory days are over anyway.

 

[Steve Christou]

This short film is well worth a look. Might even bring a tear to the eye.

 

[Ruz-El]

I preferred A Star Is Born to Bohemian Rhapsody. The guy playing Mercury is great despite sounding like he's talking through Dracula teeth, but I found the movie lacking and that ending was just plain weird. It should have been a documentary if they were going to basically do a jukebox musical on the life of Freddie Mercury and some other guys that played in Queen. Star Is Born is the better film, though I'll still take the Garland one over it. I haven't seen the Streisand one either.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Bang.

Speaking of Bohemians....

Was reading about the Purkinje fibers. They are conductors in the heart. I presumed they were named for some Indian guy named Purkinje but instead they were named after a Czech doctor named Jan Purkyne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Evangelista_Purkyně

 

[Ruz-El]

 

[Elizabeth S]

I preferred A Star Is Born to Bohemian Rhapsody. The guy playing Mercury is great despite sounding like he's talking through Dracula teeth, but I found the movie lacking and that ending was just plain weird. It should have been a documentary if they were going to basically do a jukebox musical on the life of Freddie Mercury and some other guys that played in Queen. Star Is Born is the better film, though I'll still take the Garland one over it. I haven't seen the Streisand one either.

I preferred "Bohemian Rhapsody" by far -- in fact, I plan to buy it tomorrow. "A Star is Born" irked me in a lot of ways, but I'm such a fan of the Streisand version. I think its only going to win Best Song for that kind of annoying song. (I'll give it another watch someday, maybe.)

This Saturday, I went to see "Cold Pursuit". Saw a handful of trailers, then the electricity went out. So the entire multi-screen complex got readmission tickets for another time. At least it wasn't in the middle of our film! The next day, the power went out at my apartment while I was watching TV. That's Hawaiian Electric for you -- windy weather always brings a power outage. Anyway, "Cold Pursuit" is a remake of "In Order of Disappearance", which I love, by the same director. Liam is in the Stellan Skarsgard role.

 

[Ruz-El]

Happy Valentines Day all! Even Liz who wrongly prefers Bohemian Rhapsody over A Star Is Born!

Thinking about it, COLD WAR was probably the better musical over Star as well. One day I'll see the Kristofferson version!

 

[Elizabeth S]

And Rami is going to win Best Actor for that superior film.

 

[Ruz-El]

And Rami is going to win Best Actor for that superior film.

I would argue that Rami is the reason to watch the film, and totally deserves a win!

Otherwise, I found it weirdly empty. A jukebox musical as opposed to a proper biopic. That said, can't hate on it, the music and recreations certainly hold your attention. This might be the only case were actors, and not cinematography and editing saved the movie!

the performance that least deserves it is Viggo Mortensen who managed to play an Italian stereotype so broad that it's crazy he didn't say "MAMA MIA! That's a spicy meatball!" GREEN BOOK was probably my least liked film, but Ali was great in it despite a mostly thankless roll.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hey Russ...

I remember a while back you were headphone shopping (IIRC, for music listening on your PONO during your commute).

Did you ever settle on something? I'm shopping for headphones now...but for TV/movie watching.

 

[Ruz-El]

Hey Russ...

I remember a while back you were headphone shopping (IIRC, for music listening on your PONO during your commute).

Did you ever settle on something? I'm shopping for headphones now...but for TV/movie watching.

I did! I found some balanced IEM ear monitors fom Infinity (through a kickstarter) for being out and about, but the company went broke and vanished from the internet, so no help at all!

For regular headphones I have the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear head phones. They have a cable since the PONO doesn't do wireless. I love them, they sound great and being on-ear instead of over-ear I find them more comfortable to wear since I have glasses, though obviously not as sound-cancelling as other options when you're travelling. I found that the Sennheisers had a real nice, warm, analogue sound without boosting the bass to harshly like some other brands. I have watched the odd movie with them late at night and thought they sounded great. I'd recommend checking them out if you can locally, I would imagine the cordless ones would sound just as good if you're looking for that option.

Sadly, for my IEM's, the custom cables for the PONO are crappy quality, I have one working pair left and when it craps out I'll be using these Momentums full time unless I can find a reasonable repair place.

 

[Elizabeth S]

the performance that least deserves it is Viggo Mortensen who managed to play an Italian stereotype so broad that it's crazy he didn't say "MAMA MIA! That's a spicy meatball!" GREEN BOOK was probably my least liked film, but Ali was great in it despite a mostly thankless roll.

I really liked "Green Book" and both Viggo and Mahershala in it. However, your comment about Viggo is funny.

And about Mahershala -- it took me ages to realize he is the actor I used to watch in "The 4400"!! (Not always informed of all the actors' names in these large cast shows.)

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

 

[Steve Christou]

I'm trying to decipher Dennis's photo, wondering why a squirrel or gopher is holding a sign saying 'I lied' ...now I'm thinking it might be a groundhog...

I really enjoyed Green Book, both actors were superb in it, apparently the characters weren't that close in real life but who cares the movie worked for me and I had a good time with it. A twist on Driving Miss Daisy.

Still on the fence about watching A Star is Born, critic Rex Reed liked the film and hated the music -

"The music is indescribably horrible; anyone who knows anything about real music—or cares—is advised to return immediately to the lush soundtrack of the Judy Garland version and listen to historic vocal on “The Man That Got Away.” Then you get the true understanding of how an unknown can become a star through sheer supersonic talent."



I will recommend Bad Times at the El Royale with reservations, the film is too far long, a sprawling mess, and the writer/director must be a Tarantino fanatic, but if you can sit thru it without fidgeting the finale is rewarding, plus you get to see Chris Hemsworth do his mad-eyed Charles Manson impersonation, bare chested of course.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Being something of a Tarantino-file, I have been considering a blind blu-ray purchase of Bad Times at the El Royale. Most days I usually wait for cable and have really curtailed my disc budget; but this one (BTatER) has something about it that says "Buy me."

-Walter.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I guess there's no Groundhog Day in the UK. Being at the end of the Gulf Stream, Britain doesn't really get severe winter weather.

This past month parts of central US and Canada saw record low temps, such as -30 degrees. That's where the F and C scales meet.

Last week parts of the Sierra Nevada got 10 feet (3 meters) of snow in 24 hours.

EDIT London at 51* 30' North is much farther north than Boise at 43* 37' North (about the same as Florence). .

 

[Ruz-El]

It's been -30C overnight all month up here, I'm DONE talking about weather.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I guess there's no Groundhog Day in the UK. Being at the end of the Gulf Stream, Britain doesn't really get severe winter weather.

I think it's more likely they just don't have quality weather-predicting rodents.

I never thought about that before, though. I suppose Groundhog Day (one of my all-time favorite movies) probably didn't do too well outside the U.S., huh?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Apparently it comes from Germany where the European Badger stands in for the groundhog - hence "Dachs Tag". Germans may also use a bear. German immigrants in PA brought the idea with them. It actually started earlier with "Candlemas" a Catholic holiday IIUC.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

By coincidence Edmonton and Manchester have almost the same latitude: 53* 32' and 53* 28', respectively.