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

[Adam Lenhardt]

Seven
Originally Released: 09/22/1995
Watched: 04/30/2022
1080P HD digital streaming on Apple TV app, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."​

Recommended?

Why? This one probably would have had more impact for me if I hadn't seen The Batman so recently. That movie borrowed very, very liberally from this one. Still, a well constructed thriller. A lot of Kevin Spacey movies I can't watch anymore, but somehow knowing the truth about him makes his role here even creepier. With Brad Pitt at a 10 for basically the entire movie, his underplaying of every moment is all the more effective. By the end, all of the pieces fit together like a Swiss watch.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Broken Flowers - it's been a while since I watched this film, an extraordinary performance from Bill Murray on a road trip to reconnect with his old girlfriends.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Years ago, we watched Grand Hotel and Peg was a HUGE fan. So we spin up Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight on a regular basis.

 

[Robin9]

I at last got around to watching Bedtime Story yesterday, one of the last stragglers in my backlog. I don't know why I took so long because it's a movie I've wanted to watch again for ages. Anyway, I still love the film which still makes me laugh out loud in places. I think it provides David Niven with one of his best roles, a foretaste of his part in The Pink Panther, and for me he was perfect. So was Shirley Jones. Brando was pretty good but a bit heavy both in acting and in appearance.

The transfer used for the Blu-ray disc is mediocre. I wish it had been better but I'm very, very pleased now to have this film in my collection..

 

[Keith Cobby]

Stoker - a great film that stands on it's own, but is also a wonderful homage to Hitchcock. Magnificent cinematography which should make it a candidate for 4k release.

 

[Robin9]

Yesterday I was browsing through my Blu-ray collection and I noticed Sudden Fear and I couldn't remember anything about it! So I watched that last night and really enjoyed it. It's a good exercise in suspense but there's one eccentric plot point. The married couple, Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, sleep in different rooms even though, ostensibly, they're blissfully happy together!

 

[Thomas T]

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yesterday I was browsing through my Blu-ray collection and I noticed Sudden Fear and I couldn't remember anything about it! So I watched that last night and really enjoyed it. It's a good exercise in suspense but there's one eccentric plot point. The married couple, Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, sleep in different rooms even though, ostensibly, they're blissfully happy together!

Good film noir with one of Crawford’s better acting performances. I need to revisit my Cohen Media Blu-ray as it’s been several years since I last watched it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Last night:


I'm sure nobody will have any idea why I decided to pull this particular MCU title off my shelf this week.

 

[Thomas T]

Yesterday I was browsing through my Blu-ray collection and I noticed Sudden Fear and I couldn't remember anything about it! So I watched that last night and really enjoyed it. It's a good exercise in suspense but there's one eccentric plot point. The married couple, Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, sleep in different rooms even though, ostensibly, they're blissfully happy together!

Not that anyone asked but this is what I wrote about it when I reviewed it 4 years ago:

A wealthy and successful playwright and heiress (Joan Crawford) has an actor (Jack Palance) fired from her newest Broadway show. On her way home to San Francisco, they meet up on the train and a romance develops and they are married. But shortly after their marriage, she discovers a diabolical plot with her as the victim! Based on the novel by Edna Sherry and directed by David Miller (MIDNIGHT LACE). This is an excellent "woman in peril" thriller or film noir if you prefer. It's near irresistible in its cleverness. Palance and Gloria Grahame as his mistress are so perfectly cast that it's eerie in its accuracy. Ironically (or perhaps not), the film's major asset is also the film's one liability. Yes, I'm talking about Crawford. The role needs a real movie star like her in the part to take command and she takes center stage and not even Palance and Grahame can upstage her. But her actual acting is ..... awful. She simply can't resist the histrionics and making faces. It's as if someone were calling out the emotions to her from the sideline, "fear", "puzzlement", "love", "rage", "irony" and she dutifully trots out the faces from her repertoire. She's simply awful in the long scene when she discovers the plot against her! The B&W cinematography by Charles Lang is first rate and the film features a very early score by Elmer Bernstein. With Mike Connors, Bruce Bennett and Virginia Huston.

 

[Robin9]

Good film noir with one of Crawford’s better acting performances. I need to revisit my Cohen Media Blu-ray as it’s been several years since I last watched it.

It's a good disc and, I discovered last night, Zone free.

Not that anyone asked but this is what I wrote about it when I reviewed it 4 years ago:

A wealthy and successful playwright and heiress (Joan Crawford) has an actor (Jack Palance) fired from her newest Broadway show. On her way home to San Francisco, they meet up on the train and a romance develops and they are married. But shortly after their marriage, she discovers a diabolical plot with her as the victim! Based on the novel by Edna Sherry and directed by David Miller (MIDNIGHT LACE). This is an excellent "woman in peril" thriller or film noir if you prefer. It's near irresistible in its cleverness. Palance and Gloria Grahame as his mistress are so perfectly cast that it's eerie in its accuracy. Ironically (or perhaps not), the film's major asset is also the film's one liability. Yes, I'm talking about Crawford. The role needs a real movie star like her in the part to take command and she takes center stage and not even Palance and Grahame can upstage her. But her actual acting is ..... awful. She simply can't resist the histrionics and making faces. It's as if someone were calling out the emotions to her from the sideline, "fear", "puzzlement", "love", "rage", "irony" and she dutifully trots out the faces from her repertoire. She's simply awful in the long scene when she discovers the plot against her! The B&W cinematography by Charles Lang is first rate and the film features a very early score by Elmer Bernstein. With Mike Connors, Bruce Bennett and Virginia Huston.

I'm no Joan Crawford fan but I didn't think she was as bad as that! Mike Connors is billed under his idiotic original name Touch Connors. It was good to see Virginia Huston again.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Where Eagles Dare - always wanted to see this theatrically, I was 8 when it was released and remember my parents going out to watch it. Majestic score by Ron Goodwin. Hope there's a 4k disc in the pipeline.

 

[Thomas T]

 

[Robert Crawford]

Where Eagles Dare - always wanted to see this theatrically, I was 8 when it was released and remember my parents going out to watch it. Majestic score by Ron Goodwin. Hope there's a 4k disc in the pipeline.

I watched "Where Eagles Dare" in a movie theater at least twice during its theatrical run. One of the best action movies from that era.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I watched "Where Eagles Dare" in a movie theater at least twice during its theatrical run. One of the best action movies from that era.

You have been very fortunate. I think it still holds up really well, and watch it at least annually. The blu ray isn't very good, I am sure there's scope for improving the image. The sound is great though, needs to be played very loud. It should be polished up, given a theatrical run and released on 4k disc.

 

[dana martin]

haven't posted her in a while
Today's Feature Presentations
Mae the 4 Pre-Codes be with You

 

[HawksFord]

We're digging into some Robert Aldrich directed films this week starting with two westerns staring Burt Lancaster. We watched these on the Kino Lorber blu-rays.

Apache (1954)
Vera Cruz (1954)

Apache has Lancaster in brown-face playing the Apache warrior Massai, a follower of Geronimo until Geronimo's surrender. Lancaster does a good job and the film is sympathetic to Apache, but it's not a great look and the story is fairly predictable. Worth watching once, but I don't think this is one we'll come back to.

Vera Cruz, on the other hand, is excellent. Lancaster plays a psychopathic gunfighter in Mexico to fight for whoever will pay. Gary Cooper costars as a former Confederate officer who lost everything in the war. They form an unlikely pair and, if I have any criticism of this film, it is that I didn't get quite enough to explain their relationship. The influence on The Wild Bunch is striking, and in his commentary Alex Cox makes a strong case for its influence on the Eurowesterns that came after. A film well worth revisiting.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Originally Released: 05/06/2022
Watched: 05/06/2022
In theaters: 5:30 PM showing on Screen 12 at Regal Crossgates & IMAX

Recommended?

Why? Not one of Marvel's top-tier movies, and no where near as fun nor as heartfelt as No Way Home. But Sam Raimi brings enough inventiveness to the picture that it still felt like a step up from the first movie for me. I recommend audiences watch "WandaVision" before watching this, as it leans far more heavily on the events of that picture than on the events of No Way Home.

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

 

[Thomas T]

 

[Keith Cobby]

First viewing of The Peking Medallion aka The Corrupt Ones aka Die Holle Von Macao. I really liked this Bondesque adventure with Robert Stack, Elke Sommer and Nancy Kwan. Pleasantly surprised by the quality of the German blu ray.