Movies you saw for the first time July

watched the 1982 Cat People with Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. was OK re-telling of the 1942 Simone Simon classic. DID have plenty "skin". funny thing is, it seems like every "off the wall" horror mystery I have seen lately like Angel Heart and Cat People is set in New Orleans?

just as a "heads up" for Covers "favs" showing on TV in the near future (and YES I HAVE seen them before, TRAIN69 as has most everyone ELSE here)....

ZiggyDawg mentioned the Johnny Depp movie Blow. it's on the Fox movie channel Sunday July 14th @ 5:00 pm and again @ 7:30 pm pacific time. good "true" story well acted by Depp

Guy Ritchie's classic 2000 "crime comedy" Snatch is on the Sundance channel Friday July 12th @ 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm pacific time. some of the funniest "sight gags" and one liners in ANY movie EVER

the 1996 remake of the classic Akira Kurosawa Yojimbo / Sergio Leone A Fistful of Dollars BUT set in a Prohibition era Texas border town Last Man Standing is on HBO Friday July 12th @ 9:45 pm and Saturday 12:45 am pacific time. has Bruce Willis as "John Smith" in the Toshiro Mifune / Clint Eastwood roll of "playing both gangs against each other". OODLES of Ordnance and pretty much non-stop action. Christopher Walken is one nasty bugger as "Hickey"

the 1998 Ray Liotta crime drama Phoenix is on the EPIX-Drive In Movie channel Tuesday July 16th @ 5:00 pm and repeats Wednesday July 17th @ 6:30 am & 1:30 pm pacific time. excellent "crooked cop" crime drama with a somewhat similar plot to Harvey Keitel's 1992 Bad Lieutenant

The Hunter (2011)

This movie stars William Defoe as hunter trying to find a Tazmanian Tiger. I thought this movie was excellent and highly recommend it. It is well-acted and refreshing. A definite guys movie.

finally watched the John Ford western classic Stagecoach (1939) which I had recorded back in December of last year. surprisingly enough, I had NEVER SEEN this movie before because I had always written it off as John Ford / John Wayne "schmaltz" BUT it's excellent and very deserving of it's 1939 Best Picture Oscar nomination. Orson Welles claimed that Ford's cinematography was his "text book" for shooting Citizen Kane

it's widely credited as the movie that made John Wayne a star BUT veteran character actor Thomas Mitchell stole the show as Doc and also won that years Best Supporting Actor Oscar which was quite something in the year of Gone With the Wind.

It is not as intense or suspenseful, but still very similar genre.

There is a good level of mystery and intrigue. Also, the hunting aspect is cool and the scenery is pretty awesome. Definitely worth checking out.

I watched a Doc. on netflix called 'Knuckle'.

About two families of Irish Travelers who have a long running fued and set up yearly fist fights with heavy betting.

It was good enough..They can't fight for s h i t tho'. That was the strangest part.

here is a weird documentary "double header" for you. had already seen the Josh Fox written and directed Gasland (2010), which warns of the potential environmental damage to ground water from the hydraulic fracturing method of natural gas production, and watched his follow up Gasland Part 2 (2013) last night on HBO. THEN watched the pro gas drilling documentary FrackNation  by Irish journalist Phelim McAleer which lists all the alleged myths in Gasland.

YOU can watch and decide WHO'S "he said, she said, bull sh*t" is correct. Gasland Part 2 is on HBO again daily Wed July 17th thru Sat July 20th and again Mon July 22nd. FrackNation was on the HD Net Movie channel but haven't seen a repeat listed. personally I think BOTH "journalists" over blow their case. it's kinda like watching a political story first on MSNBC and then on Fox News

watched Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) last night on the Fox Movie channel. kinda cute cartoon "save the world" drama BUT the "monsters" aren't really that interesting and the "aliens" aren't really that evil. OK IF you just want to kill 90 minutes. had decent CGI BUT nothing spectacular

re-visited John Boorman's 1981 re-telling of the King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table legend Excalibur last night. very dark and "atmospheric" movie with excellent use of Richard Wagner and Carl Orff's music. has a number of actors that became future movie or TV stars like Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, and Patrick Stewart. was a Best Cinematography Oscar nominee in 1982. the 140 minute R-rated version with oodles of graphic sex and violence. probably the best ever of the King Arthur legend movies  

All In: The Poker Movie (2009) is a "must see" for poker players/fans. talks about the "fall and rise" of poker and the rising popularity of the game as a "sport" on TV esp the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. major factors listed were the "card cam" which allows TV viewers to see the players hole cards and Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP in 2003 as a huge underdog. also the effect of the movie Rounders (1998), with Matt Damon and Ed Norton, in revitalizing poker rooms in Las Vegas and nation wide

also discusses the pure foolishness of the Federal Government shutting down internet poker sites April 15th 201. has interviews with many famous poker players like "Amarillo Slim" Preston and Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (both look good for their age) along with "moderns" like Chris Moneymaker (of course), Phil (A-hole) Hellmuth, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Howard "The Professor" Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Rounders actors Matt Damon and Ed Norton.

overall it's an interesting and entertaining 100 minute documentary for the poker player/fan or anyone interested in gaming in general. I was absolutely amazed at the rise in the poker worldwide in the last 10 years and how it is now considered a "sport" by broadcasters. it runs on various Showtime channels Fri July 19th, Sun July 21st, Mon July 22nd and Wed July 24th   

although I am NOT an online player, I am still PISSED that the Feds shut down internet poker. hopefully recent bills in the US Congress legalizing will pass as long as the "Jesus Lobby" doesn't throw a fit. it is INSAIN that countries like Ireland,England and most of Europe allow internet poker AND sports betting and the United States does NOT

watched the documentary TWA: Flight 800 on EPIX and it's pretty interesting movie which purports that a missile or missiles shot down the aircraft.

I'm not usually into "conspiracy theories" BUT I thought their arguments were pretty compelling esp the way the FBI withheld and altered information from NTSB and airline industry/pilots unions investigators. the lack of cooperation between government agencies was unprecedented. was a VERY "fishy" investigation. half of what the news media reported was completely false AND why would the CIA make a video for the public selling the "center fuel tank explosion" theory? there has NEVER been an empty Boeing 747 center fuel tank spontaneously explode before or since the accident. 

Pacific Rim-

Hmm.. Good CGI. Pretty average though. Kinda cheesie and overly long.

World War Z-

Decent but nothing special. Really rough thrown together plot.

watched The Bourne Legacy (2012) last night. decent "spy-action" movie but NOT as good as the first three with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. his character is referenced but does not appear in the movie. didn't think that Jeremy Renner as the chemically enhanced "black ops" operative Aaron Cross aka "Outcome 5" was nearly as good as Damon was as Bourne. did have some excellent action esp at the end with the motorcycle chase thru Manila.

shows again on HBO channels again Tue July 23rd, Thur July 25th, Sun July 28th and Mon July 29th. I would say just  of three

Ya BUT being better than "Adam Sandler Crap" doesn't make a movie GOOD.

btw, even Sandler's cartoon movie voice-overs fail. Hotel Transylvania (2012) where he did the voice of Count Dracula was WAY below average compared to other computer-animated films I have seen recently. was strictly

watched the Paul Newman movie Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) on EPIX last night. was a pretty well acted story of the Manhattan Project which built the first atomic bombs during WWII. Newman played project director General Leslie Groves while Dwight Schultz played chief physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. early in his career work by John Cusack as an engineer that tragically dies from an accident with a plutonium core.

gets into both the "herding cats" aspect of both Gen Groves and Oppenheimer trying to get a bunch of egg head scientists and engineers to "all go in the same direction" and the politics/morality of building the bombs in the first place esp after it was discovered the Germans were never ever close to developing a bomb. famous physicists depicted that were involved in the project were Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard and Edward Teller (who later developed the hydrogen bomb)

decent historic based movie well acted by all involved. it plays on EPIX1 movie channel again Sun July 28th @ 11:05 pm pacific time