What DVD have you just watched?
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 27 November 2005
All the best from Fredrik
'Mediocre at best' to quote the wife who is more generous than I am.
Can there have been a better year to have been a moviegoer than 1950? Think about the pictures that came out that year: Sunset Boulevard, La Fleuve, Rashomon, Gone to Earth, Orphée, The Gunfighter, Harvey, La Ronde, Winchester 73, Los Olivados, Caged, The Asphalt Jungle, In A Lonely Place, Born Yesterday, Father of the Bride, Justice Est Faite... but better than all of them was writer-director Joseph L Mankiewicz's All About Eve, one of the most sophisticated films made during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
A cautionary parable of ruthless ambition and the lure of fame, it's eerily prescient: 67 years old and - in an age of X Factor, Big Brother and reality TV - it seems entirely contemporary. It has an awful lot going for it: pin sharp black and white cinematography; Mankiewz's understated direction; a killer cast (including Bette Davis in her finest role, an early performance from Marilyn Monroe as a starlet, and the majestic George Sanders as the elegant but waspish and supremely cynical critic Addison DeWitt); superb score from Randy's uncle, Alfred Newman; and most of all, Makiewicz's script, one of the finest ever committed to paper, and which crackles with more sparkling one-liners and putdowns than probably any other Hollywood movie ever made.
If anyone wants to read any of the script's memorable lines, a selection can be found here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042192/quotes
Anyway, this 20th Century Fox blu-ray from 2011 has a superb picture transfer, excellent sound and a slew of fascinating extras. Essential viewing as far as I'm concerned - this one's a keeper.
Very sweet and enjoyable.
Nice music throughout too.
An adaptation of an August Wilson play which is very well done. Some critics complained of too much dialogue but I think that it was a good decision to keep the film close to a play format. Highly recommended.
Feel good movie that ticks all the boxes. Janelle Monae is particularly easy on the eye.
A bus driver named Paterson who drives a bus in Paterson, New Jersey and writes poems. Lovely.
Courtesy of Lovefilm on DVD, last night we watched McLaren, all about NZ racer Bruce McLaren who overcame debilitating childhood illness to become not just a winning driver in Formula One, but also Can-Am and of course, in Sportscars at the Le Mans 24 Hours race, but also leader of his own team and car making firm.
He was one of only two drivers to win a grand prix driving his own manufactured car, and of course the McLaren team have gone from strength to strength, are still with us and is second only to Ferrari for GP team longevity.
It's a well made documentary and a must watch for any petrol-head. I've always been a sucker for the McLaren M8 Can Am cars with their highly tuned big American V8s, which I've always felt are a little scary - they feel like dangerous wild animals when you hear and feel them up close at historical race series today. It was good to put them into historical and human perspective, and also realise that my fears were not altogether unfounded... Overall, there's enough human interest here to make the film enjoyable for non-petrol heads too. Recommended.
With a perfect last name amid imperfect circumstances, Richard and Mildred Loving made history when their fight for the state of Virginia to recognize their interracial marriage made it all the way to the Supreme Court in 1967.
A white girl takes her black boyfriend back home to meet her parents, having failed to tell them he's black. Still, all's apparently well, they receive him with open arms and treat him like one of the family. A group of the family's friends descend on the place for a social get-together. Very chummy bunch. Then weird and disturbing events gradually unfold, leaving you wondering just what the hell's going on.
A low-budget film, and all the better for it, succeeding to invoke an increasing sense of dread without masses of blood and CGI. Nicely done!
Although I have the earlier version in stereo it was great fun to see in my fairly new Theater system. Freddie really was a great showman and the band was in top form. I also watched the interviews on 2nd disc, pretty amazing how they pulled it off. I wasn't a big fan back then and didn't have much money at the time. I did have a casual friend who said on his 2nd trip to NYC with a friend, they arrived on redeye early morning. Hotel wasn't ready and his friend took him to a nice residence hotel, called his friend who said come up. It was Mercury packing for a 3week gig. Said he was funny , charming and wouldn't let them go to the hotel and had their bags sent up. They stayed 10 days in NYC, wow!
After Sam Shepard's passing, I had to dig out the Alberta filmed 'Days of Heaven'..
Similar sentiment...
A toss-up between this and Leon as my favourite Luc Besson film. Just bought this from the States (no region coding on 4K disks thankfully). Truly awesome Atmos sound, stunning picture quality.
I gave this another viewing last night. I wasn't overly impressed at my first viewing. This time round I think I enjoyed it more, noticing more in the dialogue and story. As a spectacle, the encounter with the Tiger tank is pretty special.