#iwatched — Public Fediverse posts

#Iwatched The Mummy (1999) for the first time. As expected it was a fun classic adventure time. The film obviously owes a lot to the Indiana Jones series but more interestingly it is elevated by the performance of the charming and witty #RachelWeisz. I'll have to check out other projects of hers.

#Iwatched #TheApartment (1960) again. #BillyWilder had already sympathized with the role of women in #SomeLikeItHot. This classic looks at their bleak modern work situation. Like that of elevator girl #ShirleyMacLaine who falls for a company boss that cynically uses her for sex. #JackLemmon provides the apartment for such rendezvous. And he delivers his erratic brand of slapstick that barely allows to call this a comedy. In truth it is more of a grim social study that appeals for being a mensch.

#Iwatched #TheApartment (1960) again. #BillyWilder had already sympathized with the role of women in #SomeLikeItHot. This classic looks at their bleak modern work situation. Like that of elevator girl #ShirleyMacLaine who falls for a company boss that cynically uses her for sex. #JackLemmon provides the apartment for such rendezvous. And he delivers his erratic brand of slapstick that barely allows to call this a comedy. In truth it is more of a grim social study that appeals for being a mensch.

#Iwatched #TheApartment (1960) again. #BillyWilder had already sympathized with the role of women in #SomeLikeItHot. This classic looks at their bleak modern work situation. Like that of elevator girl #ShirleyMacLaine who falls for a company boss that cynically uses her for sex. #JackLemmon provides the apartment for such rendezvous. And he delivers his erratic brand of slapstick that barely allows to call this a comedy. In truth it is more of a grim social study that appeals for being a mensch.

#Iwatched #TheApartment (1960) again. #BillyWilder had already sympathized with the role of women in #SomeLikeItHot. This classic looks at their bleak modern work situation. Like that of elevator girl #ShirleyMacLaine who falls for a company boss that cynically uses her for sex. #JackLemmon provides the apartment for such rendezvous. And he delivers his erratic brand of slapstick that barely allows to call this a comedy. In truth it is more of a grim social study that appeals for being a mensch.

#Iwatched #TheApartment (1960) again. #BillyWilder had already sympathized with the role of women in #SomeLikeItHot. This classic looks at their bleak modern work situation. Like that of elevator girl #ShirleyMacLaine who falls for a company boss that cynically uses her for sex. #JackLemmon provides the apartment for such rendezvous. And he delivers his erratic brand of slapstick that barely allows to call this a comedy. In truth it is more of a grim social study that appeals for being a mensch.

#Iwatched #ACompleteUnknown (2024). As a biopic it's kind of a miss. It's not historically accurate by far, nor does it provide insights into Dylan's mind ("I'm Not There" did that). He arrives in NYC 1961 as an introverted asshole with genius song writing skills and leaves Newport Folk Festival the same way in 1965. His character development remains opaque. But you do get the chance to experience this time and the NYC folk scene and watch some phenomenal singing performances by the actors.

#Iwatched #HuntForTheWilderPeople (2016) with #SamNeill and some fat kid, who both played well. The story was entertaining enough, sometimes funny too, but not as often as it wanted to be. Mainly though the hunt has no real stakes in anything. It's an escapist fantasy on easy mode. I've seen kids movies deal with problems in a more mature way. Which made this comfortable watching but ultimately lightweight and forgettable.

#Iwatched
- #TradingPlaces (1983) good comedy fun with #DanAykroyd, #EddieMurphy. contains gratuitous boobs :awesome: and some dated gay jokes :lost:
- #StElmosFire (1985) the #bratpack movie and #Friends precursor suffers from shallow script, unlikable characters and sirupy score :fpalm:
- #TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo (2011) upright journalist and magical hacker girl hunt down rich antisemitic ripper. too many characters and repulsive rape scenes included :drake_no:

#Iwatched Fresh Horses (1988) in which rich young #AndrewMcCarthy falls for an uneducated, possibly underage and sexually abused #MollyRingwald. The gritty story is conventionalized as film noir characters in a 1980s teen romance: Ringwald plays a terrific femme fatale, all pouty lips, longing eyes and unreliable hints of abuse, caught up with an uncertain McCarthy in a rescue fantasy, but little personal connection. Despite misogynist undertones the film manages a decent and realistic ending.

#Iwatched the 2007 adaption of #StephenKing's #TheMist in which good actors have to take their last stand in a closed off supermarket against generic monsters on one side and generic survivors on the other, which turn a bit too quickly into hysterical bible-thumpers lusting for human sacrifice. As usual King didn't really have an ending for his story, so the film tacked on a new one, that neither fits the tone nor the message of the rest of the story. But it's a real downer. So there is that.

#Iwatched #DavidCronenberg's #EasternPromises (2007) in which #ViggoMortensen plays the driver for a violent Russian mob family in London. When an English nurse inquires about a diary she found on one of her patients, she gets dragged into their dealings. The film is appropriately heavy-hearted and ruthless for a Russian mob thriller, violent only in pecise dosage, and outstandingly well acted with a script that holds some unforeseen twists.

#Iwatched the #RobbieWilliams bio-film #BetterMan (2024). I was never a fan of Williams or Take That, but I did like some of his solo material. And I thought that the cocksure coolness he displayed in music videos like The Road to Mandalay would translate well to film. Well, maybe with a story that isn't about himself, switching back and forth between self pity and aggrandising. It's just too much Robbie Williams and it turns out he and his problems aren't original or interesting.

#Iwatched the 1st season of #Skins (2007) which starts out kinda like #FerrisBueller, with Tony (Nicholas Hoult) as the super-checker at the center of a tightly knit group of friends. Beginning with the second episode it takes a very different turn tho and portrays each of these friends in much depth. Meanwhile Tony increasingly turns out a manipulative wanker. GREAT WRITING. Near the end the series takes some massively dark turns out of tune with the rest of the series. Brillant but uneven.

#Iwatched #Buried (2010), a claustrophobic and ultimately depressing film that would have been better as an audio drama without #RyanReynolds. But then most people would have never heard of it. Not that Reynolds was bad, but his star face doesn't exactly help suspension of disbelief. And there's very little else to see.

#Iwatched River of no Return (1954) with #MarilynMonroe and #RobertMitchum. And while MM is beautiful and graceful as ever, the film is a pile of awful #western clichés and questionable morals, including cartoony indians, kids with guns and 1950s gender roles, that are very clearly defined to say the least.

#Iwatched #Bottoms (2023) about two lesbian virgins at the bottom of the highschool popularity scale who start a girls fight club, ostensibly to empower women, but really to finally get laid. From there the stakes just keep escalating. The film doesn't try to be realistic or take itself too seriously but pointedly satirizes highschool loser life and as such should speak to any human lifeform with a fondness for crass humour, romance and a sympathy for the underdogs in life.

#Iwatched #Daddio (2023) in which #DakotaJohnson takes a cab ride through NYC with #SeanPenn. Although it doesn't initially seem that way she's at a low point in her life and the cabby gets her talking and shares his opinions about her problems. He isn't always right, his views on relationships are harsh, but he isn't completely wrong either. Neither is she when gauging him. Crucially he provides her with what she needs real bad: some fatherly love and advice.

#Iwatched #FireAndIce (1983) a film by #RalphBakshi and #FrankFrazetta. The story is so bad, you may not notice the racism. Even the animation is often sloppy. Its only redeeming quality may be seeing Frazetta's preferred body type animated in the rotoscoped form of princess Teegra. Focussing on this strength, TOP MEN have been editing the film for years, to make Teegra finally appear topless. If animated titties mean anything to you, respectfully wait until they're done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAEDdCovA4

#Iwatched In & Out (1997) about small town teacher #KevinKline who gets outed as gay by his former student #MattDillon during an Oscar acceptance speech, much to his own surprise. And then he is hounded by TV reporter #TomSelleck (without mustache and far from his famous roles). The story may sound a bit one-trick-ponyish, but it soon evolves into an excellent comedy that manages to continuously ramp up the gags to a heart warming finale.

#Iwatched #ChancesAre (1989) featuring #CybillShepherd, #RobertDowneyJr., Ryan O'Neal (The Driver) and #MaryStuartMasterson (#SomeKindOfWonderful) directed by Emile Ardolino (#DirtyDancing) in a #romcom with a silly slightly kinky reincarnation plot and sometimes outmoded style that is carried by tons of humour and the human warmth of its excellent cast. A great comfort movie.

#Iwatched #Tootsie (1982) a movie about NYC actors, playing actors and one actress. It's quite meta. #DustinHoffman has to pretend being a woman to get a job, much like #TonyCurtis and #JackLemmon did. But this takes a closer look at the relationships touched by the charade and women's lib (which we always suspected just needed a man to do right). The scenes with #BillMurray are a highlight, other than that it's very busy with itself.

#Iwatched #TheProposal (2009) with #SandraBullock as a Canadian executive in NYC who coerces her assistant #RyanReynolds to marry her in an attempt to avert her deportation. Despite the classic #RomCom setup and great actors neither romance nor comedy ever gel in this film. The power diff of their work relationship is subverted way too quickly, so the emotional payoff doesn't work. Side characters are more goofy than funny, jokes are consistently based on embarrassment. It's a heartless affair.

#Iwatched #WorkingGirl (1988) and I have never cheered for and admired someone as much as #MelanieGriffith trying to work her way up from a secretary job. She is backed by #HarrisonFord, #SigourneyWeaver and #AlecBaldwin. The film is elevated by the traps it avoids: It's not men vs. women but the blatant 80s sexism is clearly addressed. Her metamorphosis doesn't turn her into a docile sex-angel nor snarky cutthroat. And yet Griffith changes amazingly from scene to scene on this difficult ride.

#Iwatched #HaltAndCatchFire (2014 - 2017) and when #MackenzieDavis came on screen I had several déjà vus. For one thing I had already seen her in the excellent #TerminatorDarkFate (2019) where she sported the same short blonde hair. But that cute #tomboy look actually goes back to #MaryStuartMasterson in #SomeKindOfWonderful (1987).

In other news: I'm done with #ForAllMankind which in its 3rd season turned into a soap opera with dislikable characters and ridiculous scifi elements.

#Iwatched the film #AllIsLost (2013) with #RobertRedford as an unlucky shipwrecked solo sailor.
With zero backstory or dialogue it's open to interpretation. One view especially forces itself: Regardless of how competent and methodical the old man acts, his end is inevitable. Nature is taking its toll, but the globalised shipping industry wrecks his boat and ignores his cries for help. Modern times catch up with him, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where he may have tried to hide.

#Iwatched the film #AllIsLost (2013) with #RobertRedford as an unlucky shipwrecked solo sailor.
With zero backstory or dialogue it's open to interpretation. One view especially forces itself: Regardless of how competent and methodical the old man acts, his end is inevitable. Nature is taking its toll, but the globalised shipping industry wrecks his boat and ignores his cries for help. Modern times catch up with him, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where he may have tried to hide.

#Iwatched the film #AllIsLost (2013) with #RobertRedford as an unlucky shipwrecked solo sailor.
With zero backstory or dialogue it's open to interpretation. One view especially forces itself: Regardless of how competent and methodical the old man acts, his end is inevitable. Nature is taking its toll, but the globalised shipping industry wrecks his boat and ignores his cries for help. Modern times catch up with him, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where he may have tried to hide.