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Post by Kao on Nov 13, 2020 16:53:10 GMT
I watched a film a month ago that is still very much on my mind. I don't know how quite to describe it...it is an art film? Surrealist masterpiece? Or just the directors way of having dialogue about religion, exploitation and colonialism in certain countries, and other things? It's called A Holy Mountain by director Alejandro Jodorowsky. It was my first time seeing one of his films and I heard he was greatly influenced by the surrealist artist Brunel, which you can see in this movie. The imagery in this film is both beautiful, grotesque, and downright disturbing at times; some of it is hard to watch but it's hard to look away.
The plot is...extremely strange, and really doesn't make sense until the middle of the film? A Christlike figure meets up with a dwarf (and they wander around in increasing disturbing scenarios that somehow hit home today even though this movie was made in the 70s) until the Christlike figure meets up with a character called The Alchemist. He introduces him to 9 people; each person is corrupt and greedy and involved in politics, war or mass marketing. Each has their own planet and a weakness. They divest themselves of all their worldly belongings, cleanse themselves, and go on a quest to ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe. The core message seems to be a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth.
I'll not spoil the ending but will say that it makes you think, and it's one of the earliest examples of "breaking the 4th wall" in film. I've posted a youtube clip here about the film, and if it piques your interest it's available for viewing for free on archive.org (which is where I watched it) or Amazon Prime.
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Post by acookertv on Nov 15, 2020 17:42:29 GMT
Last night I finally got around to watching The King of Staten Island. I liked it, but didn’t love it. As with most things Judd Apatow directs I think it could have been a half hour shorter. It definitely requires one to really like Pete Davidson, which I do. Many of the supporting performances, including Bill Burr, were great
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Post by razorbacker on Nov 17, 2020 11:35:48 GMT
I watched a movie called A Simple Favor. Anna Kendrick is asked by Blake Lively to babysit her kid for a day & then she just disappears. I really enjoyed the movie & am a big fan of Anna, she seems to have that certain spark. I recommend it to you, for what that is worth! HA!
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Post by acookertv on Nov 17, 2020 11:46:18 GMT
That was one of those movies that was a pleasant surprise for me when I watched it Razorbacker!
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Post by Arielflies on Nov 17, 2020 15:26:10 GMT
Does it stream somewhere?
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Post by razorbacker on Nov 17, 2020 18:19:29 GMT
Does it stream somewhere? Hulu
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Post by MissScarlet on Nov 21, 2020 20:47:11 GMT
I was nosing around Disney + this morning & found Maleficent Mistress of Evil, so I figured I'd give it a try. I assumed this was the first Maleficent movie. I know there were 2. Something was definitely off though. References were made to things that had happened in the movie's past, but not shown. Weird references, as if I should know them. Plus, I couldn't help but wonder why Aurora was living with Maleficent & referred to her as her mother. Things like that. They just kept coming up.
Somewhere around half way through, I realized that this had to be the Part 2, and I hadn't seen Part 1. Other than the odd references, this was very much a stand alone movie. I was able to follow it's story & characters just fine. I liked it more than I expected to. It had a good ending too, and some good messages. Special Effects seemed a little overwhelming at first, but I got used to them. I give it a Very Good rating. Not Great, but Very Good if you like this kind of thing, and I do.
I plan to go back to Disney + & see if I can find Maleficent (#1), and watch that one now.
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Post by MissScarlet on Nov 24, 2020 1:01:50 GMT
I went nosing around & did a few searches on Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime for the first Maleficent movie. It was available I think on Prime only, but I'd have to pay a rental fee. I hate it when they do that. Disney has #2, but not #1. That should be illegal.
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Post by libgirl2 on Nov 24, 2020 2:12:05 GMT
That was one of those movies that was a pleasant surprise for me when I watched it Razorbacker! For me too. A real neat surprise.
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Post by libgirl2 on Nov 24, 2020 2:13:10 GMT
We saw Unhinged with Russell Crowe. Predictable but it kept me entertained.
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Post by Arielflies on Nov 24, 2020 6:09:32 GMT
I went nosing around & did a few searches on Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime for the first Maleficent movie. It was available I think on Prime only, but I'd have to pay a rental fee. I hate it when they do that. Disney has #2, but not #1. That should be illegal. I agree. I wonder why they haven't placed that on the service yet. Luckily I had watched #1 when it made the rounds on regular TV. While I remember the basics, it took me awhile to sew it together with #2
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ccl
FORT Regular
Posts: 438
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Post by ccl on Nov 24, 2020 18:01:20 GMT
The airing rights to some Disney movies, including the first Maleficent, are with other providers in the US so Disney+ has to wait for those agreements to end before they can air those movies on their platform.
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Post by AZChristian on Nov 27, 2020 14:44:50 GMT
A more recent tradition to our holiday traditions it to watch The Santa Chronicles on Netflix. Kurt Russell is the BEST movie Santa EVER. We watched it last night after cleaning up the kitchen from Thanksgiving, and thoroughly enjoyed it . . . again.
There's now a Santa Chronicles 2, but I've already heard that the first one is better. No surprise. It would be hard to top it.
ETA: We watched Santa Chronicles 2 last night. Totally different plot, but we love the characters so much that it was still a fun Christmas story. Glad they were able to keep the same kid characters, but have allowed them to age appropriately. And the computerized characters are SO fun!!!
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Post by MissScarlet on Nov 29, 2020 22:33:25 GMT
I watched a show on Netflix called 47 Meters Down. The preview shows a shark with his mouth open attacking. That pretty much tells the whole movie right there. Some teenage girls, 3 or 4 of them, go diving to explore some underwater Mayan ruins in a place they knew darned well they shouldn't have been. They knew it's shark feeding ground. Sharks attack. They're trapped. Lots of screaming into diving equipment. People die. Definitely gets a from me. Totally predictable. Not very interesting. Dumb characters. Waste of 1 1/2 hours.
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Post by acookertv on Nov 30, 2020 1:59:22 GMT
Finally got around to watching The Peanut Butter Falcon last night. It was totally delightful!
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Post by MissScarlet on Nov 30, 2020 20:16:42 GMT
A more recent tradition to our holiday traditions it to watch The Santa Chronicles on Netflix. Kurt Russell is the BEST movie Santa EVER. We watched it last night after cleaning up the kitchen from Thanksgiving, and thoroughly enjoyed it . . . again. There's now a Santa Chronicles 2, but I've already heard that the first one is better. No surprise. It would be hard to top it. ETA: We watched Santa Chronicles 2 last night. Totally different plot, but we love the characters so much that it was still a fun Christmas story. Glad they were able to keep the same kid characters, but have allowed them to age appropriately. And the computerized characters are SO fun!!! I watched that last year & loved it. I plan to watch Part 2 sometime this Christmas Season.
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Post by razorbacker on Dec 1, 2020 11:09:30 GMT
Watched Bombshell last night. All the actors were really good & the makeup was pretty phenomenal, it let them completely disappear from who they are into who they were portraying.
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Post by combatcutie on Dec 1, 2020 14:42:01 GMT
We watched Homefront and Unhinged this weekend. Both were great movies and kept our attention the whole way through
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Post by waywyrd on Dec 4, 2020 14:31:08 GMT
Call of the Wild - way more of a feel-good Disney adventure than anything to do with Jack London's novel. But once I got used to the CGI animals, it was a perfectly watchable family kind of film. The Dead Don't Die - a satire/dark comedy with a fantastic cast. I liked it, my husband hated it.
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Post by Kao on Dec 6, 2020 8:32:41 GMT
Went on a John Wick kick today and watched parts 2 and 3 again. I really love the Wick universe and it sucks we have to wait until 2022 for part 4.
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Post by MissScarlet on Dec 7, 2020 0:33:38 GMT
The ION Channel's Christmas movies are back in full swing on Saturday & Sunday. They are on all day here on those 2 days from 10:00am to about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. I'm not really sure exactly when they end because every time I try to watch to the end I fall asleep in the recliner. I'm watching as many as I can. Many I already saw last year, but I enjoy watching the good ones again. There are a number of new ones too. I make sure to watch those. I'm finding my favorites are the ones starring Vivica A Fox. I just love her in these. The acting seems to be a step up from the others & have known actors in them, thus the improved acting. The stories & storytelling are noticably better too. Maybe it's because she plays a youngish middle aged woman, confident career woman, woman who has it all together, who's not desperately looking for love but finds it at Christmas in realistic ways. Her movies seem a bit more realistic with realistic fun. Anyhow, today is the A Very Vivica Christmas marathon. I've been looking forward to this. They're all featuring her one after the other with a new one tonight during Prime Time. Right before it is another one I haven't seen. Maybe it's new also. Vivica does Christmas movies right. I get very invested in hers.
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Post by Critical on Dec 12, 2020 19:31:34 GMT
My mom and I watched the lovely Getting to the Nutcracker last night on Prime Video. It follows the LA-based Marat Daukayev (he, formerly of the Kirov) School of Ballet as it prepares for its annual production of The Nutcracker. IMO, in ballet, there's just no equal to Russian training and it shows in these dancers. Just incredible technique and a HUGE company. I've never seen so many children in any Nutcracker production. The doc was released in 2014, so I spent time looking up various dancers to see what they're doing now and quite a few are now in professional companies. Definitely and a must-see for ballet fans AND fans of The Nutcracker.
My mom and I are already planning to get tickets to see the school's production next year! Hopefully, everything will be back to normal-ish in a year and we can actually see a live performance!
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Post by MissScarlet on Dec 12, 2020 22:23:23 GMT
I just got done watching A Miracle on Christmas Lake on TV. I thought "A Christmas movie with a miracle in it. What could go wrong?" With Miracle in the title I'll at least get a happy ending. Wrong! What a depressing dragging movie it was. One of those movies where the main characters have so much going wrong with their lives. And it just kept coming. Nobody happy. All bad news. etc. I watched to the end figuring there would be a Christmas miracle & everything would go right again. Wrong again! Even the ending was depressing: The family wasn't getting back together. Dead people weren't miraculously coming back to life. The family was losing their home & had to find a new place to live. Everybody was morbid. I suppose the so called "happy ending" was that there was a Christmas Dinner with some of them there. That's it! A waste of 2 hours I could have used watching a good Christmas movie on Netflix, or doing something else. Anything else. Rating:
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Post by Cootie on Dec 14, 2020 6:25:10 GMT
The Holiday with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet & Jack Black. My daughter and I watch this movie every year at Christmas and have since it was published in DVD. I listened to the soundtrack today before viewing the movie and realized that one of the things I love the most about this film is the soundtrack. It was fun to have a bit of an escape today into this romantic comedy. I even teared up a bit when Arthur attended his award ceremony! I've seen this movie at least 10 times but much to my surprise I see new things each year.
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Post by Arielflies on Dec 14, 2020 15:31:18 GMT
Oohhh, thanks for reminding me. I love that movie!
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Post by acookertv on Dec 14, 2020 15:45:59 GMT
It is a great movie! Though I admit, I always forget it's considered a Holiday movie. I feel the same way about Love Actually. Both take place around Christmas, but I don't think of them as Christmas movies. I guess if you don't throw Santa in my face I'm dense! Apparently though Jack Black is the same way. I just read that he was asked about his favorite holiday movie, said Elf, and when the interviewer said he could have mentioned his own movie, he asked what Christmas movie he was in! And I do not remember where I read that, so if it was at FORT I apologize to the person who posted what i"m repeating!
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Post by Cootie on Dec 14, 2020 16:50:59 GMT
It is a great movie! Though I admit, I always forget it's considered a Holiday movie. I feel the same way about Love Actually. Both take place around Christmas, but I don't think of them as Christmas movies. I guess if you don't throw Santa in my face I'm dense! Apparently though Jack Black is the same way. I just read that he was asked about his favorite holiday movie, said Elf, and when the interviewer said he could have mentioned his own movie, he asked what Christmas movie he was in! And I do not remember where I read that, so if it was at FORT I apologize to the person who posted what i"m repeating! I like it as a holiday movie just because it's set at this time of year but not all about Christmas. There are two other movies that are traditional viewing for me. One is Elf, so I'm with Jack Black on that one! We saw it in a theater on Christmas Eve the first year it was released which was a fun thing to do with my husband and adult daughter.
The third movie we like is Little Women and now there are two versions so I guess we now actually have 4 movies to watch! This one is like The Holiday in that it has a Christmas part but that's a minor part of the plot. I may watch one of them today while I write Christmas cards. I like both the 2019 version: And the 1994 version:
I saw the 2019 version twice last year in that same theater where we saw Elf. Once with a friend and a second time with my daughter. Both movies are good and even though I've seen them more than once I don't think I'll tire of repeat viewings.
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Post by AZChristian on Dec 17, 2020 3:34:02 GMT
We watched "Swimming With Men" on Amazon Prime today. It cost $3.99, but we got a LOT more worth of laughs out of it. No deep messages (other than finding friends in strange places), but just delightful fun.
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Post by Kao on Dec 17, 2020 15:08:08 GMT
I've been on a real art film kick lately and discovered this weird free channel on Sling called Shout Tv. Watched Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life, which was directed by the Brothers Quay. I've heard about them in school but never seen their work. It was interesting and strange and I really wish I'd watched it from the beginning because it probably would had made more sense.
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Post by AZChristian on Dec 19, 2020 21:44:33 GMT
I had not heard of the FX version of "A Christmas Carol." When I saw it on my TV guide the other day, I set my DVR to record it. It was originally referred to as a "mini-series," but they now show all 3 episodes back to back, and refer to it is a "movie." That's why I'm mentioning it here.
Folks, this is NOT another reworking of the Dickens tale. The characters are named the same, but - wow - it is NOT anything like the earlier versions.
There are some raw scenes that help to explain WHY Ebenezer Scrooge is cold and uncaring. Guy Pearce plays a younger-than-we-usually-see Scrooge. He just seems to want to hurt and denigrate everyone.
This isn't my usual cup of tea . . . but I found it to be well done and actually clarifies some of the major themes in A Christmas Carol in a way that I'd not seen before.
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