Movies

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Rusty
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Re: Movies

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:810:
290 - After the Wedding (2006) - 8/10 - Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) has run an orphanage in India for many years, but it is in danger of closing due to lack of funds. He has a wealthy donor lined up, but he has to travel to Copenhagen to meet the donor and iron out the details. It turns out that the donor has ties to Jacob's past which change everything for him. Nicely acted and a pretty good film.

:710:
291 - The Taste of Others (2000) - 7/10 - An unsophisticated industrialist takes an interest in an actress/English tutor.
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Re: Movies

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292 - Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) - 8.5/10 - I did like this more than the original version, though whether that justifies doubling the runtime is up to the individual viewer of course. I didn't really mind the four hours since it moved at a pretty good pace. I might have felt differently if I had seen it in a theater where I couldn't get up and move around or pause it on occasion.

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293 - Coco Before Chanel (2009) - 6.5/10 - This biopic covers the life of fashion designer Coco Chanel from the time she was working as a seamstress and singing with her sister early in the 20th Century through her relationships with Baron Balsan and Boy Capel leading to her initial forays into having her own shop in Paris. It was interesting at times, especially early in the film, but also dragged for periods as well.
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Re: Movies

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294 - Country Strong (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Kelly Canter, a country superstar who is just getting out of rehab after falling off a concert stage while drunk the year before and suffering a miscarriage as a result. She is joined on her comeback tour by two young singers (Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester) who each have their own connection to Kelly and each other.
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Re: Movies

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295 - Beyond the Lights (2014) - 7/10 - Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as Noni, a popular singer who is overwhelmed by everything that comes with her fame and popularity. Minnie Driver plays Noni's mother and manager who is always pushing Noni to do things to further her career. Noni tries to commit suicide one night, but is saved by a cop assigned to security and this leads to a relationship with the potential to change her life around. I did enjoy the film and Mbatha-Raw elevates a movie that is rather pedestrian in a number of ways.

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296 - Titus (1999) - 6/10 - There are some interesting scenes in this adaptation of the Shakespeare play, but I didn't really enjoy the film very much.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
297 - Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas (2021) - 8/10 - This works pretty well as a continuation of the tv series. I enjoyed it and hope that it did well enough to greenlight a third season.

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298 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) - 7.5/10 - I tried reading the first Scott Pilgrim graphic novel around 15 years ago and just couldn't get into it so I didn't have much interest in watching the movie. The first half of the film was okay, though I was kind of bored at times. However, I became more interested in the film as it went along and was enjoying it a lot more by the end. The video game type effects were decent.
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Re: Movies

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299 - Saw (2004) - 7/10 - It's not really my type of film, but it's put together fairly well.

:710:
300 - The Nutty Professor (1963) - 7/10 - Jerry Lewis stars in this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde film about a nerdy professor who invents a formula that turns him into a suave and glib playboy.

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301 - Body Heat (1981) - 7.5/10 - William Hurt is a lawyer in Florida who starts having an affair with an attractive woman (Kathleen Turner) whose husband is very wealthy. The two contemplate murdering the husband so that they can get all of his money for themselves. It's a seamy neo-noir film that is pretty good.
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Re: Movies

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302 - Mortal Kombat (2021) - 7/10 - I went in with fairly low expectations, but I enjoyed the film. I can't remember if I ever saw the original adaptation. I only ever played the first video game a handful of times.

:910:
303 - Dangal (2016) - 9/10 - A wrestler from a small village in India is a national champion, but has to give up on his dreams of international success. He hopes to be able to train his sons as wrestlers, but he ends up only having daughters. He trains the two oldest daughters in wrestling, though they are resentful of this at first. The acting is excellent and the wrestling sequences are also very good.
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Re: Movies

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304 - Fitzcarraldo (1982) - 7.5/10 - Early in the 20th Century, Fitzcarraldo has a dream to build an opera house in Iquitos, a city in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. He comes up with a plan to raise the money for the opera house by collecting rubber from remote areas. This turns out to be a bit more challenging than expected within the time constraints that he has.
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Re: Movies

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305 - The Thing from Another World (1951) - 7/10 - Soldiers and scientists investigate an alien ship that has been discovered frozen in ice in the far north. They find a humanoid creature inside and accidentally let it thaw out after which it attacks the people at the base. The film has a lot more suspense than actual creature time, but isn't bad.

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306 - Psych 3: This is Gus (2021) - 8/10 - Gus is about to get married to his fiancee, Selene, who also happens to be 9 months pregnant. Shawn suspects that something isn't quite right about Selene and that she isn't who she says she is so he starts to investigate. This is another fun Psych case and I'm ready for the next one.

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307 - Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021) - 7.5/10 - This is a nice retrospective on Brian Wilson's life and career with interviews of Brian along with a number of musical artists such as Elton John and Bruce Springsteen. The scenes in the studio were cool, too.
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Re: Movies

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308 - Belle (2021) - 8.5/10 - Suzu lost her mother when she was six years old and has sort of been in a shell since then. She's close to graduating from high school and joins U, an immersive virtual reality world where people can get a fresh start. She becomes an incredibly popular singer in U, though this doesn't affect her real life all that much at first. She becomes interested in helping Beast, a fearsome looking character who is combative and on the run from the self appointed guardians of justice in U. This is a nice version of the Beauty and the Beast fable and the songs are pretty good as well.
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Re: Movies

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309 - In the Heights (2021) - 7.5/10 - I thought this was a fun musical. The songs aren't necessarily all that memorable, but they sound good in the moment. I also liked the actors and the film was pleasant to watch.

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310 - Playground (2021) - 7.5/10 - The film is told from the perspective of 7 year old girl named Nora on her first day of school. She witnesses her older brother Abel getting bullied and tries to do something about it, but is told by her brother to stay out of it. The bullying affects Abel, but it also affects Nora quite a bit as well. The film does a nice job capturing things from Nora's point of view.
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Re: Movies

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311 - Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) - 7/10 - Barb & Star are 40 something friends who spend most of their time together. They decide to take a vacation to a small beach town in Florida which happens to be the target of a woman who wants to use genetically engineered mosquitos to take revenge on everyone in the town. Most of the humor fell in the mildly amusing category for me, though it is a decent film. It's kind of a strange film, too.

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312 - Reincarnation Land (2022) - 7.5/10 - Little Liar lives in the underground city beneath a large city in China. She wins the right to ask the Ghost King a question and she seeks to find out what happened to her master who disappeared a year earlier. Running errands for the Ghost King takes her above ground and gets her involved with the daughter of the head of the Imperial Guards. There is plenty of action and I liked the characters and setting.
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Re: Movies

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313 - Paddington 2 (2017) - 7/10 - Paddington is framed and goes to jail. This film seems to be highly acclaimed, but I thought it was just good. The parts in the prison and at the end were good. Other parts were a bit boring.
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Re: Movies

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314 - Red Rocket (2021) - 7/10 - A former porn star returns to the small town in Texas where he grew up. It was okay, but not as good as I was expecting.
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Re: Movies

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315 - Tunu: The Gift (2017, Tanzania) - 8.5/10 - Mashoto is a young man making his living in the city working with a friend to ferry passengers in a van. When his mother dies, he returns to the village where he grew up and finds that he doesn't fit in there, at least at first. He soon loses what money he had and has to take a job with a shady businessman in order to earn money to return to the city. Will the call of the land and a few of the people that he meets be enough to convince him to stay? The acting is excellent, the background music is good, and there is some very nice scenery here as well. Definitely recommended.

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316 - Never a Neverland (2014, Swaziland) - 7.5/10 - Swaziland is a country that has been ravaged by HIV. A large portion of the adult population has died due to HIV, leaving behind orphaned children who essentially have to raise themselves with older children trying to look out for their younger siblings. Several organizations are trying to do something about this, including setting up mobile health clinics in rural areas, but they don't have enough resources. Another problem is that many of the people who have died are ones who generally contribute a lot to the country's tax base. This is a pretty good documentary and is available on Kanopy.

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317 - Birth of a Pride (2018, Botswana) - 7.5/10 - The Selinda Reserve in Botswana did not have any more lion prides, in part due to hunting. Then two male lions crossed the river from Namibia and joined with a mother and daughter to mate and form a pride. The film follows them from the initial meeting which led to six cubs being born, the mothers raising the cubs and teaching them to hunt, and finally the male cubs being fully grown and having to go off on their own. Lots of good nature footage.

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318 - The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) - 8/10 - Major General Candy has an exercise planned for the home guard that starts at midnight, but is surprised by a young officer looking to get a jump on things. This leads to a long flashback covering key points in Candy's life, starting in 1902 when he is on leave in London from the Boer War. It's a nice technicolor film and the story eventually catches up to the beginning sequence.

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319 - Blood on the Land (1966) - 7.5/10 - This film deals with the struggles between wealthy landowners and poor peasants who want land of their own in Greece early in the 20th Century. The son of one landowner is returning home after being away for some time after refusing to hit peasants during an earlier uprising. He is treated like the prodigal son by his father, but his brother wants nothing to do with him. This is a pretty good Greek western.
Last edited by Rusty on Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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