The Movie Reel

[Jelenafan]

Just rewatched “Strangers on a train” ( thank you TCM) and the plotline is so clever it still holds up well. Robert Walker’s Bruno has to be one of the most fascinating Hitchcock villains ever, which makes up for Farley Granger character (Guy) as the victim protagonist who’s not all that interesting.

The tennis “match” at Forest Hills is a hoot to watch, grass court tennis indeed. His opponent had no idea that extending the match could cost Guy his freedom! Probably the best best movie ever using a tennis player as a lead character. Not that there’s that many....

 

[Horsa]

I had to watch the new version of Jumanji last night when I went to my Sister's to help her with the trick-or-treater's. I prefer the old version which I watched when I was baby-sitting for my cousin when I was 14. My Sister is a big fan of Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson though & spent a lot of time gawping at him. Her favourite animals are elephants so she liked when they came on too. I'm scared of snakes & squirm when I just see them on T.V. I must say that I found it fascinating when the zoologist character came on talking about animals though as I think zoology is fascinating. Has anyone else seen the new Jumanji? If so, what do they think about it? If they've seen both which 1 do they think is best?

 

[britbox]

I saw A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga a few days ago.

Best movie I've seen in a while. Excellent acting from both. I think these should both be nominated for Oscars with this one.

 

[britbox]

Seeing Bohemian Rhapsody today, a movie based on the career of Queen and Freddie Mercury.

 

[Horsa]

Seeing Bohemian Rhapsody today, a movie based on the career of Queen and Freddie Mercury.

That sounds good. Enjoy & tell us all about it later, please.

 

[britbox]

That sounds good. Enjoy & tell us all about it later, please.

Pretty good movie. Not quite on the same level as A Star is Born... but enjoyable. I think the music helps a lot... and I love Queen's stuff.

There are a lot of historical errors on the facts/timeline but I don't worry about that too much since a movie is only an adaptation.



Cameo by Mike Myers... I had no idea it was him until I saw the end credits.

 

[Horsa]

Pretty good movie. Not quite on the same level as A Star is Born... but enjoyable. I think the music helps a lot... and I love Queen's stuff.

There are a lot of historical errors on the facts/timeline but I don't worry about that too much since a movie is only an adaptation.



Cameo by Mike Myers... I had no idea it was him until I saw the end credits.

Thank you very much for your opinion. I might go to see it then. I like Queen

As my knowledge of history is mostly 1945 or earlier I might not notice the historical inaccuracies to even mention them. Most of the time it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of a film but when I've no one to discuss historical inaccuracies with, the person I'm having a discussion with just shouts at me all the time or I have to stay silent it's different. Musicals are different though. I expect them to be a bit unrealistic. Everything is about the music & dancing. I can give a good example. Read Oliver Twist. Watch the old Oliver Twist film. See how the old film more-or-less follows the story-line in the book. Then watch the musical "Oliver" which is based on it but not as realistic as they wanted to get all the music & dancing in. (I do like "Oliver". I was just giving an example of how different musicals could be to other films & how unrealistic they could be.)

 

[Moxie]

I really want to see Bohemian Rhapsody. You liked it, BB? Also, you liked A Star is Born? Me, not so much, but I've decided I never liked that story, so that's my problem.

 

[britbox]

I really want to see Bohemian Rhapsody. You liked it, BB? Also, you liked A Star is Born? Me, not so much, but I've decided I never liked that story, so that's my problem.

Yeah, it was good. Anything with Queen songs in the movie will always give it a jump start, to begin with... but the acting was pretty good. I liked it. I'm surprised you didn't like A Star is Born?

 

[Moxie]

Yeah, it was good. Anything with Queen songs in the movie will always give it a jump start, to begin with... but the acting was pretty good. I liked it. I'm surprised you didn't like A Star is Born?

I agree on the Queen music, which is why I want to see it. And I heard the lead actor is good. I re-watched the Judy Garland/James Mason "A Star is Born" last week, in anticipation of the new one, and I realized why I've never re-watched any of them: I don't like the story. It's a swirling down the drain of the destruction of a man's life, and it's not fun to watch. No amount of decorating it with songs by divas makes it any more palatable to me. That's my personal opinion. I thought Gaga was great. I liked Cooper. It seemed to me I could read the 3x5 cards on his wall when he wanted to hit plot points, but it's not a big niggle for me. As I said, I've realized I don't like the story. **SPOILER ALERT** I spent the last 45 minutes hoping this one would end differently, but, alas....

 

[britbox]

I agree on the Queen music, which is why I want to see it. And I heard the lead actor is good. I re-watched the Judy Garland/James Mason "A Star is Born" last week, in anticipation of the new one, and I realized why I've never re-watched any of them: I don't like the story. It's a swirling down the drain of the destruction of a man's life, and it's not fun to watch. No amount of decorating it with songs by divas makes it any more palatable to me. That's my personal opinion. I thought Gaga was great. I liked Cooper. It seemed to me I could read the 3x5 cards on his wall when he wanted to hit plot points, but it's not a big niggle for me. As I said, I've realized I don't like the story. **SPOILER ALERT** I spent the last 45 minutes hoping this one would end differently, but, alas....

I didn't see the original and wasn't aware of the storyline... I was actually a reluctant attendee initially - Mrs Britbox wanted to watch it and I tagged along... I came out thinking What a cracking movie... I actually enjoyed the music too... Cooper's songs. I believe Cooper actually sang those tunes himself.

 

[britbox]

I just watched "The Apostle" on Netflix. This had mixed reviews on Imdb and Rotten Tomatoes - basically, it was either a 1 or 2 out of 10, or an 8 or 9 out of 10. A love it or loathe it film based on reviews.

The storyline is based on a guy going to bring his sister home from an Island where the inhabitants are all part of some sort of pagan cult. A bit "Wicker Man" in a way. The trailer looked good and the story sounded interesting... I didn't really enjoy it to be honest. The acting was OK but the way the story developed was pretty lame. I'd give it a 3 or 4.

 

[Moxie]

I didn't see the original and wasn't aware of the storyline... I was actually a reluctant attendee initially - Mrs Britbox wanted to watch it and I tagged along... I came out thinking What a cracking movie... I actually enjoyed the music too... Cooper's songs. I believe Cooper actually sang those tunes himself.

I did really like the music. And I'm glad you liked it. Not surprised it was the missus that dragged you, though.

 

[britbox]

I watched Highlander again at the weekend... told the kids it was a legendary movie and they'd love it.

It hasn't aged well! The action sequences look really lame by today's standards. It felt old, looked old and was pretty crap. The makeup on the Highlanders girlfriend to make her look old was cringeworthy and bought about a bit of laughter.

I hadn't watched it for at least 20 years. The kids drifted off after about an hour.

Any old movies you revisited with fond memories and concluded that they were pretty crap in this day and age?

 

[britbox]

This movie has aged well. Goodfellas is a top movie.

 

[Horsa]

I watched Highlander again at the weekend... told the kids it was a legendary movie and they'd love it.

It hasn't aged well! The action sequences look really lame by today's standards. It felt old, looked old and was pretty crap. The makeup on the Highlanders girlfriend to make her look old was cringeworthy and bought about a bit of laughter.

I hadn't watched it for at least 20 years. The kids drifted off after about an hour.

Any old movies you revisited with fond memories and concluded that they were pretty crap in this day and age?

The last time I watched that film I was on a coach in the Highlands of Scotland on my way home from Fort William where I'd been for the week. We were on a posh coach with video & the driver put videos on for us. We'd just watched a video about who William Wallace really was (nothing like he was depicted by Mel Gibson on Braveheart) & we went on to do a bit of looking out of the window deer-spotting. There was a who can see a deer 1st competition as they blended into the mountains. It was hard. I didn't see any deer.

Not really old films but Analyse this & Analyse that. I loved them the 1st time I saw them but can't bear to watch them now.

 

[Moxie]

This movie has aged well. Goodfellas is a top movie.

Agreed. Along with the Godfather films, 1&2. My sister-in-law avoided them for years, insisting that she didn't like "violent" films, even though our whole family quoted them all the time. We finally got her to watch Godfather 1 last year, and now she acts like she invented it. "That's a really good film!" she says. Uh huh, we say, nodding our heads, condescendingly. Now she's all about Godfather Pt. 2. I'm going to give Pt. 3 another look and see if it aged any better. Didn't love it when it first came out.

 

[Front242]

Just watched Searching (2018) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[britbox]

Agreed. Along with the Godfather films, 1&2. My sister-in-law avoided them for years, insisting that she didn't like "violent" films, even though our whole family quoted them all the time. We finally got her to watch Godfather 1 last year, and now she acts like she invented it. "That's a really good film!" she says. Uh huh, we say, nodding our heads, condescendingly. Now she's all about Godfather Pt. 2. I'm going to give Pt. 3 another look and see if it aged any better. Didn't love it when it first came out.

I watched Godfather III again last year. I actually think it's better than I remembered. I think it fails because everyone is comparing it to the first two - which were two of the greatest films of all time. On that basis, I'd upgrade from crap to OK.

 

[britbox]

Just watched Searching (2018) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good ratings mate. Will watch.