What's on your Daily Viewing List? (1 Viewer)

[Capt D McMars]

Currently binging the TV series Person of Interest. it was dropped from most streaming services, so I grabbed the dvd box set for a song!!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Fantastic Four
Originally Released: 08/07/2015
Watched: 07/28/2024
1080P digital streaming on HBO Max, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why Not? What starts out as a bold if controversial reinvention of one of Fox's core Marvel IPs degenerates in its final act into an extravaganza of empty CG-driven action that is neither involving nor pulse-pounding in any way.

More of my thoughts (which may contain spoilers) are available here.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The Limey
Originally Released: 10/08/1999
Watched: 07/29/2024
4K UHD digital streaming on Apple TV app via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? Sandwiched between Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich, this was made when Steven Soderbergh was firing on all cylinders. In many ways, it feels like a throwback to the revenge thrillers of the 1970s in both style and execution. But it's set apart by the dreamy, arthouse editing that puts you inside the head of the title character. Terrence Stamp and Luis Guzmán make for a compelling odd couple pairing, while Peter Fonda feels vaguely reptilian as the shady but well-connected Terry Valentine. Melissa George hangs over the picture like a ghost as the Limey's recently deceased daughter, while Lesley Ann Warren has a small but impactful role as the acting coach of the Limey's late daughter. Soderbergh effectively utilizes footage of Stamp and Carol White from Ken Loach's 1967 film Poor Cow to provide glimpses into the Limey's life prior to incarceration.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Limey
Originally Released: 10/08/1999
Watched: 07/29/2024
4K UHD digital streaming on Apple TV app via Roku Ultra

View attachment 227698

Recommended?

Why? Sandwiched between Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich, this was made when Steven Soderbergh was firing on all cylinders. In many ways, it feels like a throwback to the revenge thrillers of the 1970s in both style and execution. But it's set apart by the dreamy, arthouse editing that puts you inside the head of the title character. Terrence Stamp and Luis Guzmán make for a compelling odd couple pairing, while Peter Fonda feels vaguely reptilian as the shady but well-connected Terry Valentine. Melissa George hangs over the picture like a ghost as the Limey's recently deceased daughter, while Lesley Ann Warren has a small but impactful role as the acting coach of the Limey's late daughter. Soderbergh effectively utilizes footage of Stamp and Carol White from Ken Loach's 1967 film Poor Cow to provide glimpses into the Limey's life prior to incarceration.

Great movie!

 

[Noir Norn]

WB's Blu Ray edition of
The Thin Man

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Zero Effect
Originally Released: 01/30/1998
Watched: 07/31/2024
1080P HD digital streaming on Apple TV app, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Jake Kasdan, son of the great Lawrence Kasdan, made his directorial debut with this feature which takes Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" and transplants the action to late twentieth century America.

Recommended?

Why? Bill Pullman's Daryl Zero is one of the best modernizations/Americanizations of Sherlock Holmes I've yet encountered, and laid the groundwork for later onscreen detectives like Monk and House, MD. All of the core traits are there, for better and for worse: brilliant, incredibly observant, widely (though unevenly) read, and tenacious, but also socially inept and prone to substance abuse and musical misadventures at odd hours. Zero wishes that Ben Stiller's Steve Arlo was as impressed with him as Watson is by Holmes, or displayed any eagerness to chronicle Zero's exploits. The mystery at first seems incredibly low stakes: Ryan O'Neil's character has lost his keys. But of course there's a whole lot more to it than that. The movie works on multiple levels: as a character piece, as a whodunnit, as a cat and mouse game, and as a romantic comedy. If they had made more of these, I would watch them.

* * *​

Missing
Originally Released: 01/20/2023
Watched: 07/31/2024
4K UHD digital streaming on Fandango at Home (Vudu) via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? A spiritual successor to Searching, set in the same universe and with the same conceit of a story told entirely through screens, manages to capture lightning in a bottle a second time. As with the first film, it balances a moving parent-child story with a twisty turny whodunnit that has some genuinely shocking reveals. But it flips the script, with the parent missing this time, and the child desperate to figure out what happened. These films are a masterclass in editing, so it's not a huge surprise that the editors of Searching have stepped up to write and direct this one, from a story by the writers of Searching. Storm Reid has a tough act to follow after John Cho in the first movie, and she is more than up to the challenge. Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida is terrific too in a supporting role.

 

[Robin9]

I watched Act Of Violence last night, a marvellous film I hadn't seen for a long time. The Warner Archive disc is superb.

 

[Noir Norn]

Twilight Time's Blu Ray edition of Don Siegel's Edge of Eternity

 

[Keith Cobby]

Twilight Time's Blu Ray edition of Don Siegel's Edge of Eternity
View attachment 228038

Lovely film.

 

[Noir Norn]

Lovely film.

Gorgeous restoration & transfer, along with a copious supplemental commentary track, by Twilight Time.

 

[Noir Norn]

Don Siegel's
The Lineup

 

[Dave Moritz]

August 3rd, 2024 Saturday

Twister
4K Blu-ray / HDR10
Dolby Atmos to Auro 3D 7.1.4

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Joker
Originally Released: 10/04/2019
Watched: 08/03/2024
4K UHD digital streaming on Fandango at Home (Vudu) via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? This deconstruction of the Batman mythos begins with a Travis Bickle-esque delusional loner in a mid-seventies Gotham City very reminiscent of the Beame-era New York City of Taxi Driver, and gradually becomes a captivating exploration of what can happen when the social contract frays.

More of my thoughts (which may contain spoilers) are available here.

 

[Noir Norn]

Melville's
Un Flic
(a Cop)

via Kino Lorber's Blu Ray edition

 

[Dave Moritz]

August 4th, 2024 Sunday

Lawrence Of Arabia
4K Blu-ray / Dolby Vision
Dolby Atmos to Auro 3D 7.1.4

 

[Toronto Argonauts]

Tonight:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Originally Released: 06/02/2023
Watched: 08/05/2024
4K UHD disc via Panasonic DP-UB820

Recommended?

Why? When I saw this in theaters, my experience was overshadowed by feeling cheated by the abrupt ending halfway through the story being told. But tonight, revisiting the movie on UHD disc, I knew what I was in for. That allowed me to appreciate the tremendous artistry on display here, which is many multiples more ambitious than the groundbreaking Into the Spider-Verse. For all of the multiverse shenanigans, and a plot that interrogates the formula for comic book storytelling itself, it never loses sight of the characters. If the first movie was about Miles Morales learning from other Spider-People, this movie is about other Spider-People learning from Miles. That ending still really pisses me off, though.

More thoughts from my previous viewing (which may contain spoilers) are available here and here.

* * *​

Jubilee
Originally Released: 02/03/1978
Watched: 08/05/2024
1080P digital streaming on HBO Max, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why Not? Derek Jarman's second narrative film features an early Brian Eno film score and starts with an audacious premise: Queen Elizabeth I, at the dawn of the British Empire, implores her occultist advisor to summon Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) who in turn transports the queen, her advisor, and her lady in waiting to a near future England shattered by lawlessness, economic collapse, and the nefarious influence of media baron Borgia Ginz (“BBC, TUC, ITV, ABC, ATV, MGM, KGB, C. of E. You name it, I bought them all… and rearranged the alphabet.”). The film makes effective use of areas of London that had still not been rebuilt from the Blitz to create its dystopian England. What ensues is lots of sucking, fucking, nihilistic monologues, and senseless violence. There are flashes of genuine life, like Amyl Nitrate's Eurovision-ready pastiche of "Rule Britannia", but these are too few and far between. Once my delight at the core concept had faded, the film badly wore out its welcome and became boring with its repetitive variations on the same themes. And despite featuring a number of recognizable figures from the UK's punk scene at the time, I don't think the movie has a clear grasp of what punk is supposed to be about -- it's hard to be anti-establishment when the establishment (as we know it) has lost all control.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

OtherLife
Originally Released: 06/16/2017
Watched: 08/06/2024
HD digital streaming on Peacock, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Programmer Ren Amari's father deciphered the chemical processes for creating and storing memories in the human brain. After a tragic accident left her brother brain dead, Ren becomes obsessed with building upon her father's discovery to wake him up. But such cutting edge research is time consuming and expensive, so broadens the scope of her project to include more commercial applications. But after another tragic accident leaves her and her business partner desperate and without options, Ren finds herself the test subject for a use she never would have condoned...

Recommended?

Why? This Australian science fiction head trip looks a lot more expensive than its limited budget. It's far from the first movie to explore what happens when technology blurs the line between simulation and reality, but it does a better job than most of confronting what happens when the Mark Zuckerberg "move fast and break things" ethos of technological advancement collides with the cutthroat realities of modern day capitalism. Jessica De Gouw is effective as Ren, the film's Alice who goes down the rabbit hole.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out
Originally Released: 08/18/2023
Watched: 08/07/2024
HD digital streaming on Peacock, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra

Recommended?

Why? This feels like a throwback to the kind of family adventure films that got made in the eighties, like The Goonies or Flight of the Navigator, where there is a lot of extraordinary stuff happening on the margins but the focus is on the relatable problems of kids growing up in small town America. The humor is often more cutesy than funny, and you can see all of the high school plot beats coming a mile away. But every time it starts feeling a little too formulaic, it takes a swerve into the weirder and more interesting. It's anchored by an excellent central performance from Emma Tremblay, who makes many scenes feel more natural and authentic than they have any right to given the dialogue and staging. She first came onto my radar playing Robert Downey Jr.'s young daughter in The Judge, and since then has unfortunately often been better than the projects she's in. Jacob Buster is suitably committed as the weirdest kid at school, who also happens to handsome and kind. Will Forte and Elizabeth Mitchell elevate their limited screen time as the titular parents. Director Jake Van Wagoner started in commercials, and it's a beautifully shot movie that takes advantage of the vast vistas that rural Utah has to offer. All in all, I think there's still a place for movies like this that the whole family can watch together, even if I'd like the level of execution to be higher.

 

[Jake Lipson]