The Cinema Thread

[Vrede too]

Guess I should go in to say that I haven't followed this thing at all either other than headlines.

For whatever it's worth, it did cost Lively her Swifty bestie.

Did it, or is there just a hiatus? Wiki doesn't say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ends_w ... ylor_Swift

[O Really]

Guess I should go in to say that I haven't followed this thing at all either other than headlines.

For whatever it's worth, it did cost Lively her Swifty bestie.

Did it, or is there just a hiatus? Wiki doesn't say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ends_w ... ylor_Swift

I think it's probably just that Taylor doesn't want to be involved with the drama. Public scandal and lawsuits aren't really her thing.

[GoCubsGo]

Guess I should go in to say that I haven't followed this thing at all either other than headlines.

For whatever it's worth, it did cost Lively her Swifty bestie.

Did it, or is there just a hiatus? Wiki doesn't say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ends_w ... ylor_Swift

TaTa was also subpoenaed for the lawsuit.

She don't want nothing to do with that.

[Vrede too]

Guess I should go in to say that I haven't followed this thing at all either other than headlines.

For whatever it's worth, it did cost Lively her Swifty bestie.

Did it, or is there just a hiatus? Wiki doesn't say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ends_w ... ylor_Swift

TaTa was also subpoenaed for the lawsuit.

She don't want nothing to do with that.
https://media.tenor.com/5J6llTTihBAAAAA ... geller.gif

Yep, according to the link, "Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni's attorney as a witness in the case."

... Judge "Liman also warned Baldoni's team that they will receive sanctions if the court is misused any further. Baldoni subsequently withdrew his request to subpoena Swift."

That's reason for TayTay to back off, as O Really says, but not necessarily to end the friendship with Blake . Otoh, if she does have inside info on the dispute . . .

[Whack9]

Eddington

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31176520/?ref_=ext_shr

Eddington is a 2025 American neo-Western thriller film written and directed by Ari Aster, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Luke Grimes, among others.
Set in May 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, the film centers on the escalating conflict between Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal).
Their political and personal tensions intensify as they find themselves on opposing sides of public health mandates, particularly mask requirements and lockdowns, which ignite social unrest in the town.

One of the best movies I've seen as far as current events is concerned. Check it out!

[Vrede too]

Masterpiece on PBS, so should be streaming:

The Great Escaper is a 2023 British biographical comedy-drama film directed by Oliver Parker, written by William Ivory, and starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson. It is based on the true story of 90-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan who "broke out" of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France in June 2014.

The Great Escaper had its world premiere in London at BFI Southbank on 20 September 2023, and was released in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film marked the final performances for both lead actors: Jackson died in June 2023 (aged 87, life imitates art), nine months after filming finished; Caine announced his retirement from acting in October 2023 (now 92)....

A caption tells us that Bernie died six months after his "great escape", and Rene died seven days later.

... On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 39 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sweet without straying into sentimentality, The Great Escaper gains added resonance thanks to a pair of stellar performances from Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Catherine Shoard of The Guardian called the film "brilliant" and "flintier than you might think, and very moving". Peter Bradshaw, also in The Guardian, gave the film 4 stars out of 5, saying "Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson bring their A games to this true-life heartwarmer ... their ineffable class give this film some real grit: it's a wonderful last hurrah for Jackson and there is something moving and even awe-inspiring in seeing these two British icons together". Lou Thomas of Empire magazine gave the film 4 stars out of 5, stating "A moving and surprisingly nuanced drama offering far more than flag-waving nostalgia. Superb performances from Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson ensure the latter's final screen role is fittingly dignified". Kevin Maher of The Times also gave the film 4 stars out of 5, saying "Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson are remarkable as a D-Day veteran and his wife in a charming tale".

... Mark Kermode gave the film a very positive review on his Kermode and Mayo's Take podcast with Simon Mayo, saying "Michael Caine is always watchable, Glenda Jackson has never been [...] anything less than brilliant, and it is one of the most lovely portrayals of a married couple who have been together forever and absolutely adore each other." Tori Brazier of Metro gave the film 4 out of 5, calling it an "unexpectedly complex and unflinching film".

Caine announced his retirement from acting in October 2023 in a BBC Today radio programme interview with Martha Kearney. Referring to The Great Escaper, he said "I keep saying I'm going to retire, well I am now, because I figured, I've had a picture which is, I played the lead and it's got incredible reviews. The only parts I'm liable to get now are old men, 90-year-old men, well, maybe 85, and I thought well I might as well leave with all this. I've got wonderful reviews. What am I going to do to beat this?"

I agree with them. Keep some tissues handy for your tears.

[Whack9]

The Apprentice

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8368368/

1970s New York: determined to emerge from his powerful father's shadow and make a name for himself in Manhattan real estate, aspiring mogul Donald Trump is in the earliest days of his career when he encounters the man who will become one of the most important figures in his life: political fixer Roy M. Cohn. Seeing promise in young Donald, the influential attorney--who secured espionage convictions against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and investigated suspected Communists alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy--teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation, and media manipulation. The rest is history.

This movie was really good. Really humanizes him early in the movie while slowly shifting more towards a feeling of ick as the movie progresses.

If you liked the movie Nightcrawler (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/), you'll like this one.

[Vrede too]

The Apprentice

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8368368/



This movie was really good. Really humanizes him early in the movie while slowly shifting more towards a feeling of ick as the movie progresses.

If you liked the movie Nightcrawler (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/), you'll like this one.

Thanks, I saw other similar positive reviews. I started watching it but I couldn't get past my revulsion with the subject. I don't even like the SNL cold opens with an impersonator who is mocking DonOLD.


Old one, very good:

The Client is a 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, and starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis, and features the film debut of Brad Renfro. It is based on the 1993 novel by John Grisham....

Killer cast, and they showed it!

Critical response

The Client received generally positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 80% from 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: "The Client may not reinvent the tenets of the legal drama, but Joel Schumacher's sturdy directorial hand and a high-caliber cast bring John Grisham's page-turner to life with engrossing suspense." The film received a 65 rating on Metacritic. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F....

Awards and honors

For her work in the film, Susan Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress at the 67th Academy Awards and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 48th British Academy Film Awards. For his work in the film, Renfro won a Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film at the 16th Youth in Film Awards. and was nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor.

Brilliant.

[Whack9]

The Apprentice

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8368368/



This movie was really good. Really humanizes him early in the movie while slowly shifting more towards a feeling of ick as the movie progresses.

If you liked the movie Nightcrawler (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/), you'll like this one.

Thanks, I saw other similar positive reviews. I started watching it but I couldn't get past my revulsion with the subject. I don't even like the SNL cold opens with an impersonator who is mocking DonOLD.


Old one, very good:

The Client is a 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, and starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis, and features the film debut of Brad Renfro. It is based on the 1993 novel by John Grisham....

Killer cast, and they showed it!

Critical response

The Client received generally positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 80% from 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: "The Client may not reinvent the tenets of the legal drama, but Joel Schumacher's sturdy directorial hand and a high-caliber cast bring John Grisham's page-turner to life with engrossing suspense." The film received a 65 rating on Metacritic. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F....

Awards and honors

For her work in the film, Susan Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress at the 67th Academy Awards and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 48th British Academy Film Awards. For his work in the film, Renfro won a Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film at the 16th Youth in Film Awards. and was nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor.

Brilliant.

I sort of felt the same. But I watched it going on expecting to feel grossed out and wasn't left disappointed in that regard. Subject matter aside, if this movie was about an entirely fictional character it still would've been just as good. More of a character study of a morally bankrupt, vapid, group of people grasping for power and money through any means necessary.

[Vrede too]

The Apprentice

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8368368/



This movie was really good. Really humanizes him early in the movie while slowly shifting more towards a feeling of ick as the movie progresses.

If you liked the movie Nightcrawler (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/), you'll like this one.

Thanks, I saw other similar positive reviews. I started watching it but I couldn't get past my revulsion with the subject. I don't even like the SNL cold opens with an impersonator who is mocking DonOLD.

I sort of felt the same. But I watched it going on expecting to feel grossed out and wasn't left disappointed in that regard. Subject matter aside, if this movie was about an entirely fictional character it still would've been just as good. More of a character study of a morally bankrupt, vapid, group of people grasping for power and money through any means necessary.

I would watch that movie. It's just the representation of the irl DonOld that makes me ill. Speaking of assholes who I don't watch,

Contact FOX Carolina

I am disappointed that WHNSDT4 is regularly showing Steven Seagal movies like Exit Wounds. The man is a traitor, real Americans would not assist him in earning residuals, and there are thousands of mediocre action movies you can show, instead.

(Vrede too)

[Whack9]

This was a really good documentary.

2000 Meters to Andrivka

Journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko follow a Ukrainian platoon on a mission to liberate Russian-occupied Andriivka in 2023, during the second year of the Russo-Ukrainian war.[4]

The film is largely composed of body-cam footage recorded by Ukrainian soldiers in combat, recording in real-time the battlefield confronts and aerial attacks, the bloodbath caused by it, and the Russian advance through the Donetsk Oblast.[5]

As a result of the war, the village was completely destroyed and its population fully displaced.

You can watch the entire thing here:

https://youtu.be/Nf4Cgy56slU?si=bzGsN7wj_5-Hs0fW

I feel so bad for Ukraine. Especially now that they're being thrown to the wolves by the United States solely so Trump can have a shot at getting a stupid award.

[Vrede too]

This was a really good documentary.

2000 Meters to Andrivka



You can watch the entire thing here:

https://youtu.be/Nf4Cgy56slU?si=bzGsN7wj_5-Hs0fW

I feel so bad for Ukraine. Especially now that they're being thrown to the wolves by the United States solely so Trump can have a shot at getting a stupid award.

Thanks for the link.

It's spelled Andriivka.

Nov 26:
https://www.blueridgedebate.com/viewtop ... 36#p221536
You even made the next post . Anyhow, great minds appreciate the same docs, and hate that DonOLD is a Putin stooge.

[Whack9]

This was a really good documentary.

2000 Meters to Andrivka



You can watch the entire thing here:

https://youtu.be/Nf4Cgy56slU?si=bzGsN7wj_5-Hs0fW

I feel so bad for Ukraine. Especially now that they're being thrown to the wolves by the United States solely so Trump can have a shot at getting a stupid award.

Thanks for the link.

It's spelled Andriivka.

Nov 26:
https://www.blueridgedebate.com/viewtop ... 36#p221536
You even made the next post . Anyhow, great minds appreciate the same docs, and hate that DonOLD is a Putin stooge.

Oh shit I didn't even see that . Or maybe I did and that's how it entered my subconscious. Attention span of a gnat, apparently.

[Vrede too]

Nightmare Alley is a 2021 neo-noir psychological thriller film co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, and based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. It is the second feature film adaptation of Gresham's novel, following the 1947 film. A co-production between Searchlight Pictures and Double Dare You Productions, the film stars Bradley Cooper as a charming and ambitious carnival worker with a mysterious past who takes big risks to boost his career. Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, and David Strathairn also star.

Killer cast!

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 349 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "While it may not hit quite as hard as the original, Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley is a modern noir thriller with a pleasantly pulpy spin." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 72% positive score, with 49% saying they would definitely recommend it.

... Linda Marric of The Jewish Chronicle also gave 5 out of 5, writing: "Del Toro employs a mixture of stylish old Hollywood sensibilities with B movie tropes to bring us an engaging and gorgeously acted psychological thriller." Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent also gave the film 5 out of 5, writing: "Del Toro can do worldbuilding in his sleep, but you might also find Cooper's brittle performance, filled with such elemental sadness, hard to shake off. Nightmare Alley is the shadow that lingers." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5, praising it as "a spectacular noir melodrama boasting gruesomely enjoyable performances and freaky twists." ...

I agree and whoa, pretty freaky.

[Whack9]

Ivan The Terrible

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt13523738/

An introspective look at Ivan IV's tumultuous reign as he chronicled his life's journey from a promising ruler to the notorious exploring the complex layers of his psyche that shaped the course of Russian history.

Really good 8 part series if you don't mind having to read subtitles

[Vrede too]

Anna and the Apocalypse
R, 2018, 1h 32m, Holiday/ Musical/ Comedy/ Horror

Tomatometer 77%, Popcornmeter 63%

A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven - at Christmas - forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.

Critics Consensus
Anna and the Apocalypse finds fresh brains and a lot of heart in the crowded zombie genre - not to mention a fun genre mashup populated by rootable characters.

Yep it's another British Zombie High School Musical Comedy Christmas movie. Don't worry about the 37% of the audience who didn't like it, they're all MAGAts. It's gory, but zombie gore is okay, right? Past that it's touching, silly, action packed and hilarious, with some great songs along the way.

Wiki

[Vrede too]

The Woman King is a 2022 American historical action-adventure film about the Agojie, the all-female warrior regiment that protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries. Set in the 1820s, the film stars Viola Davis as a general who trains the next generation of female warriors to fight their enemies. It is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Dana Stevens, based on a story she wrote with Maria Bello....

A bare handful of White men and zero White women in this female-driven film.

Bello conceived the idea for The Woman King in 2015 after visiting Benin, where the kingdom used to be located, and learning the history of the Agojie.

Good on her.

... the film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards Davis's performance and the action choreography. However, it received criticism for historical distortion of slavery. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. At the 28th Critics' Choice Awards the film received nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director, and Best Actress for Davis. Furthermore, Davis also earned Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA Film Awards, and NAACP Image Awards.

Tomatometer 94%, Popcornmeter 99%

Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "A crowd-pleasing epic—think Braveheart with Black women."

True, but ironic choice given Mel Gibson's racism.

The warrior women of Black Panther were based in part on the Agojie.

Some are justifiably alarmed that the history of the Dahomey tribe, who sold other Africans into slavery, has been whitewashed. With some suspension of disbelief I was quite entertained.



More:
Dahomey Amazons
Battle of Paouingnan

[Whack9]

Hatred - 2016

About the Volhynia Massacre of the Poles during WW2. A very rough movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres ... rn_Galicia

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6068960/?ref_=ext_shr

Despite being in love with a Ukrainian boy from the same village, Polish girl named Zosia is forced into marrying a wealthy widower. Soon World War II begins and ethnic tensions arise. Amidst the war chaos Zosia tries to survive.

[Vrede too]

Hatred - 2016

About the Volhynia Massacre of the Poles during WW2. A very rough movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres ... rn_Galicia

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6068960/

Despite being in love with a Ukrainian boy from the same village, Polish girl named Zosia is forced into marrying a wealthy widower. Soon World War II begins and ethnic tensions arise. Amidst the war chaos Zosia tries to survive.

A little seasonal viewing?

In 1990 a friend and I went to see Misery on xmas day. We had the theater to ourselves. Fine actor Kathy Bates (Oscar and Golden Globe for the film) still creeps me out 35 years later.

[Whack9]

Hatred - 2016

About the Volhynia Massacre of the Poles during WW2. A very rough movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres ... rn_Galicia

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6068960/

Despite being in love with a Ukrainian boy from the same village, Polish girl named Zosia is forced into marrying a wealthy widower. Soon World War II begins and ethnic tensions arise. Amidst the war chaos Zosia tries to survive.

A little seasonal viewing?

In 1990 a friend and I went to see Misery on xmas day. We had the theater to ourselves. Fine actor Kathy Bates (Oscar and Golden Globe for the film) still creeps me out 35 years later.

Time to watch a shitty Hallmark movie to bleach my mind