What's on your Daily Viewing List? (4 Viewers)

[Mike Frezon]

Peg and I watched Dream Horse the other night.

This is a film that really caught our eye when its trailer ran on network TV during its theatrical release. This 2020 film features Toni Collette and Damian Lewis and a panoply of wonderful Welsh character actors.

I purchased the DVD upon its immediate release and now that I've watched it, I truly regret that it did not get an HD release. The landscape shots of Wales would be beautifully rendered on a Blu-ray.

While a rather by-the-numbers plot of a racehorse film in which a bored grocery store employee convinces a number of fellow townspeople to join funds to finance the horse venture, the film is an engaging work rich with the culture of the Welsh (My Delilah anyone?!? )

Peg agrees that the film was rather predictable and without much conflict. But made up for it with the bits of Welsh culture.

There is a post-credits scene in which we "meet" the actual characters upon whom the film is based. What fun!

There was another scene in the film in which the Welsh national anthem is sung (by none other than Katherine Jenkins) at an over-crowded racetrack. It portrayed such a sense of national pride that I watched it twice I was so filled with joy for the participants.

Peg wants me to add that anyone who watches should look for her favorite line in the film, "Daisy's got his teeth in."

 

[HawksFord]

We had a Raoul Walsh week here:

High Sierra (1941)
Pursued (1947)
Colorado Territory (1949)

I remember seeing High Sierra for the first time when I was in high school some 45 years ago. This would have been on a small television and almost certainly with commercial breaks. I loved it, and it was probably the first noir I ever saw. We watched the Criterion release for a much better viewing experience than the first time I saw the film. Pursued we watched on the Olive blu-ray. The Criterion disc includes Colorado Territory along with a bunch of other extras.

There's nothing I can add to what's already been said about High Sierra. It's a classic for good reason. Pursued is a terrific psychological western with Robert Mitchum playing a man haunted by a childhood memory he has tried to suppress. I'd not seen Colorado Territory before and didn't really warm to it. I think it was a mistake to watch it right after watching High Sierra with which it shares a plot. I need to come back to that one another time.

 

[dana martin]

This Weeks Feature Presentations

Monday - Finally broke down and joined Disney's damn club, as soon as those 5 are done it's out time.

Rest of the Week - Arrow Videos Mega Box Set

Tuesday
- Five Shaolin Masters

Wednesday
- Shaolin Temple

Friday
- Mighty Peking Man

Saturday
- Challenge of the Masters
- Executioners from Shaolin
- The Chinatown Kid: International Version
- The Five Venoms



this set is so perfect, that I cant wait to see what is instore for Vol 2

 

[Mike Frezon]

Peg and I greatly enjoyed our first-ever viewing of 1949's The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland.

What a joy. Besides de Havilland (Best Actress winner), there's Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift and Miriam Hopkins. William Wyler did a masterful job in telling the tale without overplaying his hand.

All three leads played their parts with such perfection that the audience is left guessing how things will turn out. I actually found it comparable to one of my all-time favorite films Doubt. From me, that's great praise.

 

[Dave Moritz]

January 29th, 2022 Saturday


Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl
HD Blu-ray
English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)

The Book Of Boba Fett
4K Digital / Dolby Vision / Disney +
Dolby 5.1 upmixed to Auro 7.1

Episode 5: Return Of The Mandalorian

 

[Robert Crawford]

Peg and I greatly enjoyed our first-ever viewing of 1949's The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland.

What a joy. Besides de Havilland (Best Actress winner), there's Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift and Miriam Hopkins. William Wyler did a masterful job in telling the tale without overplaying his hand.

All three leads played their parts with such perfection that the audience is left guessing how things will turn out. I actually found it comparable to one of my all-time favorite films Doubt. From me, that's great praise.

Besides the acting, there is some great written dialogue in this movie with some very quotable lines. The closing shot of de Havilland’s face as she ascends the stairs is classic cinema.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Black Bear
Originally Released: 12/04/2020
Watched: 01/30/2022
1080P HD digital streaming on Hulu, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

I sought this one out because it was filmed entirely in Long Lake, a town in the Adirondacks that I know well. The entire film, in all its various layers of meta, is set at an expansive, luxurious lakeside camp.

Recommended?

On What? Whether the movie's ambiguity is intriguing or frustrating, and when the unconventionality of its form and its often searing performances are enough to compensate for an overly familiar core premise. The bulk of the running time is split between two parallel stories, each centered around the same central trio and exploring the same general themes. The first narrative plays the concept straight, and lost my engagement well before its emotional and dramatic apex. The second narrative worked a lot better for me, layering in knowing satire that occasionally made me laugh out loud, and made the more dramatic moments go down easier. There are a few interpretations available for what is going on, with the final scene offering another clue but providing no firm answers.

 

[bujaki]

Peg and I greatly enjoyed our first-ever viewing of 1949's The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland.

What a joy. Besides de Havilland (Best Actress winner), there's Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift and Miriam Hopkins. William Wyler did a masterful job in telling the tale without overplaying his hand.

All three leads played their parts with such perfection that the audience is left guessing how things will turn out. I actually found it comparable to one of my all-time favorite films Doubt. From me, that's great praise.

Richardson pockets the film. Everyone is great, I'll admit. excellent film.

 

[Toronto Argonauts]

Tonight:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The Fallout
Originally Released: 01/27/2022
Watched: 01/30/2022
4K digital streaming on HBO Max via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? An incredibly moving portrayal of one teenage girl's journey to process having survived a school shooting, and the way her grief, anxiety, and guilt build, shape, and alter her relationships with her family and friends. A staggeringly great performance from Jenna Ortega, backed up by a really strong supporting cast. While the subject matter is unavoidably heavy, there were a number of unexpected laughs and some real growth and beauty amongst all of the wreckage.

My thoughts (which may contain spoilers) are available here.

* * *​

10 jours sans maman (Ten days without mom; released in US as 10 Days With Dad)
Originally Released: 02/19/2020
Watched: 01/30/2022
1080P HD digital streaming on Apple TV app, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra; French with English subtitles

This French movie is the third European remake of an Argentine film from a few years back, which in turn shares a lot of DNA with Mr. Mom from 1983, which in turn relied on stereotypes that were common in earlier sitcoms.

Recommended?

Why? It's not poorly made or poorly acted, but the premise is so stale that it isn't really until the final act that the movie starts to come to life in any interesting way. I wondered at first if there were cultural differences at play; perhaps men in France were less likely to be involved in their children's lives? But the statistics don't seem to bear that out. If anything, it's the fact that the movie's protagonist is a corporate executive that is at the root of his cluelessness about his own children. Just about everything that goes wrong for him is a retread of a similar plot point in something else I've seen, and usually not something very good. It's only when the movie begins to shift its sympathies from the father, our hapless protagonist, and evolved into more of an indictment of his personal failures that I sat up and took notice. Even there, though, the ending felt a bit too pat.

Apparently a sequel has been announced, Ten More Days Without Mom. Despite my frustrations with this one, I might check it out. The father at the end of this film is a more complex character than the father at the beginning of the movie, and I'd be mildly interested to see whether he's allowed to apply what he's learned.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Rewatching the Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (today Prince Caspian). These are big studio productions but there has always been something unsatisfying about them. Perhaps the material needed a filmmaker like Guillermo del Toro to do it justice. Although the blu ray's are excellent, I would upgrade to 4k if released (although probably unlikely).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Rust Creek
Originally Released: 01/04/2019
Watched: 01/31/2022
1080P HD digital streaming on Netflix, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? It sounds like a well-worn horror movie premise: An unsuspecting college student on a roadtrip finds herself lost in a sparsely populated and desolate and is soon running for her life, terrorized by lustful, murderous rednecks. But this one quickly evolves into something more interesting: a character study about people from vastly different walks of life, and the things they will and won't do to survive in extreme circumstances. English actress Hermione Corfield is in nearly every frame of the movie, and so much of the story is told without dialog. When our heroine Sawyer does speak, she has a western Kentucky drawl that is a reminder she -- like her pursuers -- is a product of the South. She is tall and athletic, which makes some of the physicality of the more violent encounters more plausible, but she's not superhuman. Infection and the elements are at least as much of a threat as the human baddies. Jay Paulson is also stellar, as a backwoods meth cooker who challenges Sawyer's preconceptions, and ours.

 

[Robin9]

I re-watched The Scar (aka Hollow Triumph) yesterday. My response to this film never changes: the whole bit about the scar plays no part in what happens and is therefore irrelevant. Apart from that, it's a pretty good suspense thriller.

I also found time to watch an acceptable YouTube presentation of Crime Against Joe which my father took me to see when it first came out. I'd never seen it since and I'd always wanted to because I like Julie London. I'm sorry to say it's a really bad movie and I'm not surprised that it's fallen by the wayside.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Watching the Avengers quartet on 4k disc for the first time. It occurs to me that although Spider-Man has been recast a couple of times, it would be harder to accept anyone other than Robert Downey and Scarlett Johansson playing Iron Man and Black Widow.

 

[John Sparks]

The $10 DVD version. Couldn't see spending any more than that...and I'm glad I did!

 

[Robin9]

Yesterday I watched The Odessa File, a formulaic film relying heavily on a very strong background premise.

I might watch Sweet Charity today.

 

[Matt Hough]

After watching Michael Caine in Gambit yesterday, I think I might revisit The Ipcress File today.

 

[Robin9]

Last night I watched The General's Daughter, a film which has aroused mixed reactions. I didn't like it much for several reasons. First, the central premise is implausible, second, the whole screenplay is so slick and shallow and third, it's filmed the modern way with bad editing, lousy music and several action scenes incompetently staged.

I couldn't help thinking that if this film had been made in the 1960s with a less sensationalistic screenplay, with someone like Richard Fleischer or Sidney Lumet directing, and with a good cinematographer and good composer, the result would have been far better.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Today I watched Murder by Decree (one of a few DVDs I haven't got around to upgrading). Wonderful, atmospheric, period film, with the best Holmes & Watson characterisations after Rathbone & Bruce.

 

[Robin9]

Yesterday, thanks to advice given in this forum, I managed to watch Blonde Ice, a film which has a similar story arc to Too Late For Tears. In both films an outwardly normal woman is seized by a determination to be rich and becomes ever more frenzied in chasing her goal. The totally amoral fortune hunter in Blonde Ice is played by the normally very bland Leslie Brooks.