Movies you saw in October

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013) HBO movie about the Supreme Court case which overturned Ali's draft evasion conviction during the Vietnam war. mixes legal drama with archive footage of Ali interviews, news footage and fights. excellent acting by all involved esp "The Supreme's" Frank Langella as Chief Justice Warren Burger, Christopher Plummer as Justice John Marshall Harlan II, Danny Glover as Justice Thurgood Marshall, Peter Gerety as liberal Justice William J. Brennan and Fritz Weaver as Justice Hugo Black. Benjamin Walker (young Abe Lincoln in Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) is outstanding as John Marshall Harlan law clerk Kevin Connolly who convinced Harlan to support the Ali position.

it plays on HBO again Tuesday Oct 8th, Thursday Oct 10th, Sunday Oct 13th and Monday Oct 14th. you like history, legal drama or just outstanding acting you will enjoy this one   

Jack Reacher (2012) MUCH better than I expected Tom Cruise action-suspense-mystery. had an interesting "plot twist" (which was a little obvious) BUT overall one of Cruise (as the title character) better recent movies. at 51 he can still "bring it" in the fight scenes. Rosamund Pike as defense lawyer Helen Rodin is VERY tasty.

it plays on EPIX1 HD movie channel again Saturday Oct 12th @ 5:00 pm and 9:30 pm, Sunday Oct 13th @ 11:20 am, Monday Oct 14th @ 10:35 am and Wednesday Oct 16th @ 6:30 pm pacific times. fast paced movie I rate   

Jack Reacher was an awesome movie

The Imposter
A documentary centered on a young Frenchman who convinces a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who went missing for 3 years.  It's a little bit slow to get going but it gets really twisted toward the end.  A chilling documentary.  7 out of 10

Pathfinder (2007) watched on IFC the other night. bombed at the box office and got an 11% rating from Rotten Tomatoes BUT thought it was a decent Native Americans vs Viking invaders action drama with lots of battles and oodles of "blood & guts". probably worth watching IF you like medieval action movies like Kingdom of Heaven(2005), Excalibur (1981) or the recent History Channel TV series Vikings

The Imposter
A documentary centered on a young Frenchman who convinces a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who went missing for 3 years.  It's a little bit slow to get going but it gets really twisted toward the end.  A chilling documentary.  7 out of 10

Rat,  No idea how you feel about Woody Allen but would like to hear your opinion on his better films.  I know he has made some stinkers and they are worthy of great scorn. Some could make that Bad of all Time easily.  I've had Manhattan saved for 2 years on my DVD. Gonna commit to watch it this month.  Waiting for a day with no football handicapping or life distractions.  Monday ( I'm off ) morning is "The Manhattan Project". That'll be my watch of the month.      GL.   Doc

Rat,  No idea how you feel about Woody Allen but would like to hear your opinion on his better films

Allen is over-rated in my opinion. usually really NYC "Arty-Smarty" stuff and his usual female lead Diane Keaton kind of grates on my nerves. DID like his early films Bananas (1971) and Sleeper (1973). thought they were pretty funny. everyone goes on about his Annie Hall (1977) with Keaton. I thought it was tripe.

watched Finding Forrester (2000) last night. interesting drama about a talented young black writer and basketball player Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) who is mentored by a reclusive writer William Forrester (Sean Connery)  who had a "one hit wonder" of a novel in the past. mostly because of his basketball skills he gets a scholarship to a "yuppy-puppy" prep school where the prejudiced literary professor Robert Crawford (F. Murray Abraham) thinks he is "just a jock" and there is NO WAY he can do that quality of writing.

very well acted by all involved esp Rob Brown. I am really surprised he hasn't been offered more rolls. his only other major lead I have seen him in is as football player Ernie Davis in The Express (2008). also excellent acting by Connery and Abraham (at his best Antonio Salieri style jealous a**hole self). it is on the Starz-Black channel again Wednesday Oct 16th and Saturday Oct 19th and I think worth watching   

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). first in a three part  prequel to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. the usual ugly Orc's (from Mork?), Trolls and Goblins running amok with decent action and excellent CGI. it IS kind of like sitting thru all four operas of Wagner's Ring Cycle, though. 3 hours gets to be a bit much. that said, guess I will watch the next two, The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and There and Back Again (2014) just to see how much MORE they can rip off the Great Richard's "kunst" (art). it's so obvious that Tolkien stole his basic plot lines from Wagner's Ring Cycle that I am surprised the Richard Wagner estate didn't sue him.

it's on HBO Sunday again Oct 13th, Tuesday the 15th, Friday the 18th, Sunday the 20th and Monday the 21st. IF it didn't have the excellent CGI and beautiful New Zealand scenery, it would be just another Hollywood "cookie cutter" kids fantasy

watched The Hangover Part III (2013) on Dish-TV Pa-per-View. wouldn't call it a BAD movie BUT definitely NOT as good as the first two in the "franchise" mostly because Ken Jeong's character "Chow" is NOT as "crazy funny" in this one. he is more just run of the mill "crazy gangster". pretty funny opening BUT I'm sure some people would be upset with the "sight gag" with the giraffe. thought that John Goodman was pretty good as the villain Marshall and (as usual) Zach Galifianakis carries the movie as Alan.

the "Hangover (disambiguation)" Wikipage lists it as "the final film in the franchise" and THAT is probably JUST as WELL. just  of three. would NOT actually pay to see it. wait for HBO.

watched The French Connection  (1971) on HD Movies network last night. the movie that made Gene Hackman a star and won him Best Actor and the movie Best Picture Academy Awards in 1972 along with William Friedkin for Best Director. the chase scene one of the BEST ever filmed  >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzEloJ5venk 

The "French Connection" was great.  The best thing was that it made the stupid "Dirty Harry" small.   Great show at it's time.    Freidkin was amazing at the time playing small with Hackman as opposed to the over the top Eastwood in those goofy things.  Hackman was better asking if a guy if he picked his nose than the other guys throwing guns in the face.

Watched " The Master".     I know a few on this forum don't like J, Phoenix but they also probably don't like style and quality.  Great performance by Phoenix and maybe he should get a Oscar nom for this. This movie one is without all that stuff that gives you a boost in stamina and sexual  jerk-off.  Just a very good movie.

Manhattan,  Ouch, this movie was 10 times better than I remembered. I knew it would be better if I waited for it.  By the way, not a flick for head cutters or school humor and fart jokes. No silly stuff. Stay away unless you can handle life without a car chase. ( are not ) Maybe there is lot of car chases.

Watched this a couple nights ago..........was laughing to myself when I turned it on but in the end was surprised how good it was.


 "Margin Call".........movie about the mortgage backed securities scam........excellent.......good acting.

"Margin Call".........movie about the mortgage backed securities scam........excellent.......good acting

seen Margin Call a couple times and is an excellent "side ways" history of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. excellent acting by all involved esp Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons as "John Tuld", CEO and Chairman of the Board (how close to Lehman boss person Fuld is THAT)

PERSON Fuld? THIS stuff is getting RIDICULOUS!!! the man's name was Richard Fuld and his nickname, much like Richard Nixon and others, was D_I_C_K!!!

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) FUN mixed cartoon character and live actor comedy that ANY Looney Toons Cartoons fan will enjoy. just about EVERY Warner Brothers cartoon character featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil and Yosemite Sam along with Brendan Fraser as the "hero" and Steve Martin as the "villain". non-stop "Looney Toons" style action. you want a movie with oodles of sight gags and lots of laughs WITHOUT having to use your brain, this is it. was on Cinemax and hopefully will repeat soon    

just happened to stumble across this really WIERD New York black & white "art" movie Pi (1998) in EPIX3 last night. it's about a numbers theorist/computer genius who is borderline insane that stumbles across a 216 digit number that a Wall Street bank thinks is the key to the stock market while a local Hasidic Hebrew group think is the key to talking to God. it's pretty nutty BUT I found it interesting only because the premise and the characters were SO weird. the style reminded me somewhat of a math wiz version of Eraserhead  (1977)

it plays on EPIX3 movie channels again Wednesday Oct 23rd @ 5:50 am pacific IF you want to record. DID get an 87% "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes BUT would probably best be rated

Iron Man 3, 10/10
Pacific Rim, 9/10
Now You See Me, 8/10

 

I can say good things about this movie and 'Manhattan' without sounding like a pretenious  a s s h o l e.

I'm better than you, na nan ah boo boo stick your head in doo doo.

Star Trek: Into Darkness-

The plot of this movie was fairly interesting. I didn't like the beginning, it was cheesy and over the top. I don't like any of the characters, many were brutal. Spock's character is brutal and his ears look retarded. The captain guy is freaking lame. Carl Urban is supposed to be a robot? Carl Urban's character is the most annoying ffag ever. The villain did a nice job. Alice Eve was nice. Pretty stupid movie that is too tied to following a recipe.

The Iceman-

This movie is about the life of a notorious mob hitman. He is a family man too. The acting is excellent. Michael Shannon is an excellent actor. The story is pretty good. I'd definitely watch this movie before I would that Star trek piece of shhit. Good movie, check it out.

I've never heard of Richard Wagner. They can't be too similar or they would've sued like you said.

I like the Hobbit movies a lot more than the LOR movies. The Hobbit doesn't have all the filler with the hobbits and the gollum. It is just straight action. Also, that dwarf history is awesome. The only thing that is really kiddy is the PG-13 violence.

I just watched the movie Star Trek: Into Darkness. Now there is a kiddy movie. Everyone on the spaceship is 25. There are no old people on the planet. What did they do with them all.

I had high hopes for Iron Man 3 but it didn't live up to expectations to me

I've never heard of Richard Wagner  They can't be too similar or they would've sued like you said.

you are obviously either confused or in no way a classical music fan BUT IF you have seen Apocalypse Now or gotten married, you know his music. the music in the helicopter attack scene is Walkurenritt (The Ride of the Valkyries) from the 3rd act of his second of four "Ring Cycle" operas, Die Walkure and that music they played when your lovely bride walked down the aisle is "Die Brautlied" (Bridal Chorus) from act 3 of his romantic opera Lohengrin.

the basic plot of the Wagner Ring Cycle operas, plot, characters and all, is WAY too similar to J. R. R. Tolkien's later writings, esp The Lord of the Rings, to be a coincidence