FOr those of you interested in how flawed Star Wars could have been this documentary on YouTube is fascinating - forget Star Wars it’s fascinating anyway! If you’ve ever wondered what difference the editor makes…
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The Dead Zone 1983
It was on Amazon Prime, I was looking for something to watch and there she blows!
I remembered this being a great film, with a fantastic performance from Christopher Walken.
It follows the character of Johnny Smith who wakes from a coma to find he has the ability to see the future. An adaptation of a Stephen King novel it’s worth reading about the development of the film after watching.
It’s episodic nature may upset some, but great performances set this film as one of the best King adaptations. And you know what? It’s a great film, with a fantastic performance from Christopher Walken…
Still worth a watch!
EDIT:
How the hell did I miss this out? Sheen comes across as such a slimy guy, he’ll tell you anything you want to get a vote, and yet the threat is there all the time…
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Can also tentatively recommend the seven season TV show, despite its lack of Christopher Walken. (Tentatively because, well, I’ve seen one season of those seven. It was great, though.)
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(just looking at the ‘special edition’ clumsy robot bloopers and jawa pranks that George added to A New Hope is a big flashing red light that this man needs an editor badly)
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I really like Martin Sheens portrayal of a future president in this film.
But then I like all Martin Sheens portrayals of presidents.
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Oh god! How did I miss that! Nah, Editing…
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Thanks for the recommendations everyone. The Iron Giant is firmly on the list. I haven’t seen it. I’ll report back how it goes.
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Update: It was a success! Nice film, and entertained everyone sufficiently without losing any of the audience. A rare achievement.
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I always get a bit teary near the end.
Vin Diesel’s best role!
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Closely followed by Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
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Recently re-watched The Departed - what an excellent film! Had been years and it was a thoroughly entertaining watch, even when you (mostly) remember all the twists and turns.
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Hi @OakMantle! I like a lot of films like this, they don’t lose their power when you know what’s coming…
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Watched Girl, Interrupted on Netflix the other day, as my OH works in mental health and said that she had not seen it. Angelina Jolie’s best role by far… I had not seen it since the early 2000s and still shocked me a few times…
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Hey! Yeah - they really don’t lose anything at all! Sometimes they perhaps gain a little in the apprehension!
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In the very good films of this type, rewatching them sometimes lets you pick out extra nuances in the acting when you know all the twists.
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C and I just watched a borrowed copy of Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Haviland. I was thinking, very early on, that the scriptwriter was endeavoring to have Blood talk like an Irishman, saying “Faith” and “Bedad,” so I was gratified when the dialogue identified him as one. It was wildly improbable and a lot of the action was over the top, but it was also fun to watch, with sharply focused motivation and conflict.
And watching some of the scenes between the leads helped me understand better what Ayn Rand was getting at in The Fountainhead with Howard Roark (another Irishman, though it’s usually spelled “Rourke”) and Dominique Francon . . .
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Ooh, I forgot about this tread.
So! In the last week I have watched:
Onwards, a kinda-neat, kinda-goofy Pixar film. It was okay. Chris Pratt playing Jack Black playing a kid was okay, there was a bit too much Deus Ex Machina for my tastes, but overall a solid movie that I enjoyed.
Frozen 2, which was fine. It was fine. The music wasn’t anywhere near as good as the original (although Christof’s power ballad was okay and Olaf’s song was a riot), but there were some genuinely touching moments. A bit too predictable, and the ending robs the story of a lot of its punch unfortunately. They had an opportunity to have an amazing ending, saw that, acknowledged it, and then steered straight into mediocrity. Still, pretty good.
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. I mean, I love Star Wars and almost everything Star Wars has ever done. I have absolutely no ability to be objective whatsoever about how much I love this film. And Rey is amazing.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which was fine. One of the best cinematic kisses of all time, and the Rock is always a joy to watch, plus this may be the only time I’ve ever enjoyed seeing Jack Black on screen (Kungfu Panda doesn’t count, he’s the weakest part of those movies and he’s not really on the screen). It was fine. Apparently there is a sequel and I feel no obligation to watch it whatsoever, but I didn’t hate the film.
Other than that, been crushing my way through some television shows as I do my stationary bike (She-Ra is surprisingly touching, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they wrap up everything… and I love the little changes they make to the introduction each episode!.. and I’m now on Season 2 of Schitts Creek, which is painful to watch but Dan Levy and Emily Hampshire are so damn good).
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I finished up Netflix’s She-Ra series and it is great.
I bought Enter The Dragon through amazon video as a guilty pleasure because I don’t know where my DVD of it went. Parts of this have aged exceedingly poorly. Parts of this still transport me to when I saw it the first time on late-night TV around age 13. I spent too much time dwelling on the timing of filming of this as next to the Bond films of its era. I wonder to what extent villains with cats was established prior to Blofeld.
Big Hero 6 attracts my daughter’s attention out of nowhere and now dominates the afternoon cartoon request list.
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My ~2.5 year old has a limited attention span for most movies. She’ll tolerate Moana to a degree and sometimes we can get all the way through Frozen before she loses interest. However, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) will hold her attention the entire time. I can’t explain it; I suspect the simpler animation style is easier to parse for her.
Me, personally? I’ve slowly over the last several months been rewatching Top Gear. I’m on series 22 at the moment which is where I stopped when I’ve watched it before. I might be tempted to take a try at 23 with the new presenters - we’ll see. Really, it was just something to watch while I waited for The Grand Tour to return.
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It really upsets me that the making fun of video game tropes movie is what is considered Jumanji now. We’ll never get another Jumanji film because this is Jumanji. It’s not Jumanji, but everyone calls it Jumanji, so Jumanji will never happen.
(Also thought it was funny that Jumanji became a video game because “no one plays boardgames anymore”. No one played boardgames in 1995 either! What did they think happened in the 90s?!)
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