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Deadpool & Wolverine
7/10.
Despite the movie's message, there's not much of substance here - mostly hype, one-liner jokes, cameos and that's about it. Some good action sequences.
This is what makes it a fun film!
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Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)


Not much to say that others haven't already...its good, but not as good as the first Deadpool movie in my book.



LA SIRÈNE
(1904, Méliès)



"The Mermaid is proof positive that sometimes wonderful things come in tiny packages."

The short features a gentleman (played by Méliès) going through various steps to prepare and fill a fish tank. After various tricks, the camera closes in on the fish tank where a mermaid now lies. Méliès then keeps building on top of it adding more and more things. "Wonderful things" I might say, in a "tiny package" of 4 minutes.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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Standing Ovation (2010) I only watched this so I could add it to my list of movies I should be embarrassed to watch, but am not. This was quite something. It's like an unhinged version of Pitch Perfect starring 12 year old girls with weird characters and random subplots. The acting and writing aren't exactly what you would call good, but it is entertaining and I had fun with it. It has a strange charm, cuteness and humour to it that works in spite of (or maybe because of) its flaws.



LE DIABLE AU COUVENT
(1899, Méliès)



"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."
--2 Corinthians 11:14

With the above Bible quote, Paul was warning the people of Corinth of the many ways that the devil can hide amongst us. That premise is part of what kickstarts this thrilling short from George Méliès. The Devil in a Convent starts with a priest addressing a group of nuns only to reveal he is a devil or trickster, and follows what ensues afterwards.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot






2nd Rewatch...Tina Fey and Amy Poehler proved to be a formidable onscreen acting team who rise above the mediocrity of their material here. Tina plays a 37 year old unmarried executive who wants a baby more than anything else in the world, but she has reproductive issues that have prevented her from having one up to this point. She decides that surrogacy is the way to go and pays a surrogacy agency $100,000 to find her a surrogate, who shows up in the form of a vivacious, uneducated aging hippie (Poehler) and her common law husband (Dax Shepherd). The screenplay definitely could have been tightened a bit...it takes a little too long at the beginning to establish Fey's desire to have a baby and the inability to do so and then throws a wicked left curve at the 2/3 point before the end. Greg Kinnear makes the most of an underwritten role as a divorced former attorney who now owns a smoothie restaurant who initiates a relationship with Fey. Steve Martin also garners some major laughs as Fay's latest client as does Sigourney Weaver as the fertile head of the surrogacy agency, but it just goes on a lot longer than necessary, though it is vastly superior to Fey and Poehler's next teaming in Sisters.






Umpteenth Rewatch...Francis Ford Coppola directed this often moving film version of the best selling novel by SE Hinton that I first read when I was in high school. And that's the number one appeal of this movie. I have never seen a book reproduced onscreen with such pinpoint accuracy. The care that Coppola put into lifting the pages of the book off the page and onto the screen is extraordinary in bringing the story of two warring gangs in 1950's Oklahoma to the screen...sort of West Side Story without the music. The 1983 film also features several future stars a the beginning of their careers, including Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, C Thomas Howell, though the film is almost stolen by Ralph Macchio as the physically and emotionally wounded Johnny Cade. This reviewer has found endless rewatch appeal in this drama. and though I mentioned West Side Story, this story was turned into a Broadway musical last year which I believe is still running.



The Klansman (1974)

I watched this as I'd heard some differing views and rather than flogging a dead horse it's like watching a 2 legged sheep trying to get up a hill. The story itself isn't too bad and veers into exploitation territory when a Sherriff and landowner *kind of* support the Civil Rights movement leading up to a heinous race propagated rape (hence the exploitation angle). Richard Burton is clearly sauced up and, while you have seen some actors pi$$ed deliver decent performances (Oliver Reed for instance)...he just looks so sad and forlorn and is obviously tanked up and fighting personal demons. I read most of his scenes were filmed sitting down due to his state and the rare ones he is mobile he looks all over the shop. Sad







3rd Rewatch...This slick, but terribly predictable legal drama stars Glenn Close as Teddy Barnes, a divorced, corporate attorney with two kids, who gave up criminal law many years ago who is persuaded to defend Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges), a publishing magnate who has been accused of murdering his wife and maid. As much as I love Close and Bridges. this movie insults viewer intelligence from jump because it simultaneously spells out everything for us that there's no way for us to believe it. There is no doubt from the second the Jack Forrester character appears on the screen that the man is guilty and the fact that Teddy is fooled into believing he's innocent because he romances her makes her character, and everybody else in the film for that matter, look like an idiot. There's just no suspense here, though for serious fans of Close and Bridges, it is definitely worth a look. Robert Loggia's performance as Close's detective earned him a supporting actor Oscar nomination.



Daddio (2023)

An interesting film about wrong choices. Sean Penn plays a world weary cab driver that picks up an Airplane fare with a young lady (Dakota Johnson) and they start to connect via their present and past situations. The acting is first class and it's not as schmaltzy as you may think.



Daddio (2023)

An interesting film about wrong choices. Sean Penn plays a world weary cab driver that picks up an Airplane fare with a young lady (Dakota Johnson) and they start to connect via their present and past situations. The acting is first class and it's not as schmaltzy as you may think.
Never heard of it, but it’s in my watchlist now.
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Went old school (VERY old school) and watched this gem again. Love it each time I view it.



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Dinner in America. A drug dealing firebug hides from the police with a socially awkward girl and her family.

What a weird wonderful movie.


Look at these sweeties.



ULTRAMAN: RISING
(2024, Tindle)



"Being Ultraman isn’t about fighting. It’s about heart. Using your power to bring balance."

Ultraman: Rising follows Ken Sato, a star baseball player who has to reluctantly take over the role of Ultraman from his estranged father, Professor Sato. But, as luck may have it, he ends up taking care of a baby kaiju, that hatched from one of the creatures he fought. Meanwhile, Dr. Onda, the leader of the Kaiju Defense Force is determined to stop both the kaijus and Ultraman.

Regardless of its moral attempts, the film is a lot of fun. There are some pretty cool action setpieces, the characters are well constructed, and the animation is superb. I think that some of the plot threads it lays down could've been executed better; like Ken's relationship with his father, or the parallels that the film tries to draw between Ken's role as Ultraman and his career as a baseball player.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot