zorg wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:52 amWhen I was a kid we were watching "edited for broadcast TV" (with commercials), pan and scan, low resolution versions of films, which did indeed dampen the experience.

That's a good point. There's a clear difference in quality and experience in those cases. With modern computers and HDTVs, much less so, and cinema is mainly bigger and louder.

Newish Abel Ferrara movie (Zeros and Ones) is worth seeing if you don't mind something narratively cryptic with visuals that are sometimes grainy, and more suggestive than precise. Overall it establishes and maintains a compelling enough mood.

But man, is it not faring well on IMDb and Amazon, among people who thought they were stepping into a conventional actioner.

Birds of Prey. Entertaining, well-written, looks good. By far my favourite so far in DCEU/MCU. McGregor and Robbie are both great. The shot of Harley crying over her lost sandwich is so funny.

I noticed while watching that it was pretty violent. And indeed it's rated R unlike all the others. Made me think that I would enjoy the others more if they were more violent. The last grenade-kill in particular was satisfying.

Johnny Mnemonic. Keanu's acting is hilariously bad and the plot is kind of contrived (c'mon dude just check beforehand how much memory you need?), but the set design and graphics are great. Charmingly unpretentious. Reminds me of Hackers in some of its aesthetics, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them mentioned together. Would like to see more movies like this.

It's fun to note assymetries in predictions of the future. This film is set in 2021. Here people can download things directly into their brain, but also 160GB is apparently a loooot of memory.

Was Kitano speaking Japanese in GITS a callback to this movie?

Finally saw Ex Machina.
The best film on A.I. I've seen. Alex Garland is superb.

andyman wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:47 pm Finally saw Ex Machina.
The best film on A.I. I've seen. Alex Garland is superb.

Superb movie, but damn was it tough to watch.

Caught up with Kenneth Lonnergan's 2011 (though filmed in 2005 and held up because of disputes over final cut) Margaret last week and damn, what a great movie. Make sure to watch the 3 hour extended cut if you can.

No shit, I just watched Gladiator for the first time.

What an over the top Crap movie. But god damn, what a cast. Richard Harris, David Hemmings, Oliver fucking Reed. And they even got the OG Claudius in there.

And Russell Crowe and Joaquin were pretty good too.

A new 2k transfer of a Les Blank documentary on Dizzy Gillespie just got uploaded to YouTube, via the channel his son runs. Free for a limited time.

I watched The Prestige on the plane ride to Iceland. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theaters. I had forgotten how good it was, and the sci-fi elements of the story. I read that Nolan asked Bowie multiple times to play Tesla, until he finally said yes.

I also watched Dumb and Dumber. I had watched this again about a year ago. Some moments still made me guffaw (the sheepdog van), but I don't think I need to see it again for a long time.

kokorodoko wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:43 pm Birds of Prey.

One thing that makes this one stand out is the colour pallet. Not only is it very colourful but it just plainly has a look of its own. Most of these comic movies not only look dull, they look as if they're done by template. Literally the same look on every one.

(Now of course there is a lot in the colour scheme in Birds of Prey that is really "current", but you know)