* Did you watch a film last night (on Blu or DVD), and what was it? *

The Nice Guys



A black/dark comedy/drama. Set in the mid 70s. Over-the-top, and Angourie Rice is the star. She's entertaining.
As for the other actors and the storyline; your usual stuff for this type.

Overall: 70 It was another smooth ride, worth my time. ...Of course...Angourie. ...And it has colors, a cool party, some characters, ...diversified.
And the chemistry between the two main actors? To me it was fine for this genre.

Everybody Wants Some!!



The 80s, party time for a college baseball team.
Lol, it's a riot just to see the 80s mentality through the eyes of the director, Richard Linklater.
It's a fun movie for fun people in a fun mood. :b

Overall: 68
Last word: Refreshing look back.
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It's a movie for singles...Lords...and...happy people. :b ... The Lobster
I agree that it does take one to step out of the conventional normality/banality of life to enter another stranger world.

Thanks, I will revisit it now...I believe in revisiting certain films...and that one fits the criteria.

I watched Money Monster last night, on Blu. Directed by Jodie Foster.



And I liked it. The message was loud and clear; it's our money that these big no-life are playing with. The stock market is a zoo, a casino, a losing roulette.
Jodie Foster hit an ace here, and the biggest loser is us, the small investors, the hard workers...who rot in hell, who lose their life savings and die without anyone caring. It's a cruel world, very.

The kid who came to the show unannounced with two boxes; he was very good...and his girlfriend too (she was in the entire movie for only couple minutes, but she made all the impact plus plus). George and Julia just kept the sauce warm. There wasn't any good performance from the guy who ripped investors of $800 million.
The montage was well executed, the tension in check.

Overall: 72.5

Last word: Worth your time @ the movies, entertaining and even without being perfect, it still delivers its message...with realistic sadness.
This is truly our world, a big part of it for many of us; certainly for me. The richest, the financial criminals get away with the biggest crimes; and the rest, the real investors with real money that they use to play in their casinos...they lose it all. Recommended, and I just don't put any attention to other critics...most of them don't even know what it means. They are still dreaming of a better ending. But it'll never come; it just don't work like that in real life.

Chapeau Jodie!

Alright Ian, that makes two of us on the same wavelength.

From all ages in history, wars have raged. From the dawn of the dinosaurs to the comic books filling our screens with CGI battles, man has an insatiable appetite to protect his turf @ any cost...even with collateral damage...people, land and buildings.



I watched the 3D version of Captain America: Civil War, which opens up to full screen aspect ratio in some key battles (only on the 3D version).
There is a lot of activity here involving many of our Marvel super heroes. ...Plus few villains.
It's almost a two and half hour film, to give a chance @ everyone to shine in their skills.
It made $1.153 billion @ the box office.

Was it entertaining? Yes.
Was it a good 3D experience? Yes, but not the best.
Would I recommend it? Yes.

Overall (film entertainment): 70
Technical merits (3D picture and sound): 82

Last word: Who is this movie for? For all Marvel comics fans. It's all fun.

Just to make sure that I understood everything perfectly well in what was going on with Captain America: Civil War, I decided to re-watch it again last night, but this time around in 2D, and only one screen aspect ratio (no IMAX full screen for the key battles). Yup, I didn't miss much the first time in 3D. It was exactly the same film with the forces of good fighting the power of evil. ...And indeed there was quite a bit of collateral damage; which is not easy to evaluate from Marvel comic strips. Our heroes are getting more realistic as time goes on, perhaps the reason of their $billions successes @ the box office? I very doubt it; kids just love good action super hero flicks, and the more destruction the better.
And the more heroes together in the same flick the more money for Hollywood movie studios...Batman v Superman, Avengers, Captain America series.

Those fights are no macho boxing matches; when they throw a punch you can feel the floor vibrating under your couch.
And when they don't throw punches they unleash their super power with sometimes devastating results.


• Read only if you are a Marvel's fan: http://io9.gizmodo.com/even-captain-america-and-iron-man-would-agree-the-civil-1786547491

Overall (2D version: technical merits only): 88
{The film itself remains @ 70}
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MadFloyd said:

I love Honest Trailers but I haven't seen the movie yet and I don't want spoilers...

Click to expand...

Fair, and I didn't reveal much @ all in this full cosmic aerial ballet of comic characters, explosions, destruction, violence and flying debris of multicolored rainbows. :b

Hi-FiGuy said:

I disliked Civil War immensely as it was SO riddled with political nonsense.
I have liked and own most of the Marvel franchise but that movie has me tiring on the genre now.
What do we read comic books for.....
Exactly!

Click to expand...

If it wasn't for her (spoiler alert video; feel free to watch or not), I would have rated this flick with a score of 35. :b


Me too I'm getting real tired of all that comical molasses, non-sense violence, flying CGI effects, kaboom explosions, ...total mayhem polluting our screens with absolute soulless.
I thought of scoring it with zero (0), but that would have been way too honest. I had to find some relief, and a pretty lady usually works.
So with her help, and particularly for the regular Marvel's fan (I tried to put myself in their mind), I was extremely generous with 70, which is five points above the threshold of consciousness (anything below 65 is not worth watching in my own cinema book).

Oh yes, I thought carefully about it, before posting my score, because the WBF crowd is not any type of movie crowd. I decided to play prudent first. And I can always elaborate further with what I was expecting to ensue. That I don't hide it, and the fact that I only wrote few lines is a testament to it; I'm usually much more 'emancipated' in my film's impression. I don't go to extreme deep details, but I like to scrape enough surface to give my sincere state-of-mind benefit or not.

I weighted my directional words by saying that it is for the Marvel comic fans. And by using safe words like "entertainment" and "fun".
Yes I was entertained, because my brain was outside my room.
Yes it was fun, because I laughed inside @ what's making billions on our screens.
Films like that they take away from us all the bad real news in the world and they just amplify them even worst! It is simply mind boggling.

I want everyone to view this film, so that they can realize it too. And If I would have rated it 35 (that's a more realistic score from me), then perhaps only one person wouldn't have paid any attention to it, and simply dismiss the film all together. If only one person misses it, then he/she misses how insane is the world of cinema we live in here in North America and all across the oceans. This film made over one billion dollars while true intelligent films of great educative and beneficial attributes lose money!

I think this is the number 13 Marvel film. And they'll be making them for a long time still to come...money speaks in Hollywood.
Did you also notice that I didn't say a word about the storyline? Sure there is one, it's $1.153 billion.
Or in words:

"In 1991, the brainwashed super-soldier James "Bucky" Barnes is dispatched from a Hydra base in Siberia to intercept an automobile carrying a case of super-soldier serum. In the present day, approximately one year after Ultron's defeat in the nation of Sokovia at the hands of the Avengers,[N 1] Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos. Rumlow blows himself up, hoping to kill Rogers. When Maximoff tries to displace the blast into the sky with telekinesis, it destroys a nearby building, killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers.

U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish a UN panel to oversee and control the team. The team is divided: Tony Stark supports oversight because of his role in Ultron's creation and Sokovia's devastation, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than that of the government. At a conference in Vienna where the accords are to be ratified, a bomb kills King T'Chaka of Wakanda. Security footage indicates the bomber is Barnes, whom T'Chaka's son, T'Challa, vows to kill. Informed by Sharon Carter of Barnes' whereabouts and the government's intentions to kill him, Rogers intends to bring in Barnes—his childhood friend and war comrade—himself. Rogers and Wilson track Barnes to Bucharest and attempt to protect him from T'Challa and the authorities, but all four including T'Challa are apprehended.

Helmut Zemo tracks down and kills Barnes' old Hydra handler, stealing a book containing the trigger words that activate Barnes' brainwashing. Infiltrating the facility where Barnes is held, Zemo recites the words to make Barnes obey him. He questions Barnes, then sends him on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers stops Barnes and sneaks him away. When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and wanted the location of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed "Winter Soldiers" are kept in cryogenic stasis. Unwilling to wait for authorization to apprehend Zemo, Rogers and Wilson go rogue, and recruit Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. With Ross' permission, Stark assembles a team composed of Romanoff, T'Challa, James Rhodes, Vision, and Peter Parker to capture the renegades. Stark's team intercepts Rogers' team at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where they fight until Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape. The rest of Rogers' team is captured and detained at the Raft prison, while Rhodes is partially paralyzed after being inadvertently shot down by Vision, and Romanoff goes into exile.

Stark discovers evidence that Barnes was framed by Zemo and convinces Wilson to give him Rogers' destination. Without informing Ross, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra facility and strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, unaware they were secretly followed by T'Challa. They discover that the other super-soldiers have been killed by Zemo, who shows them footage from Hydra's archives; it reveals that Barnes killed Stark's parents during his mission in 1991. Enraged that Rogers kept this from him, Stark turns on them both, dismembering Barnes' robotic arm. Rogers disables Stark's armor and departs with Barnes, leaving his shield behind. Satisfied that he has avenged his family's death in Sokovia by irreparably fracturing the Avengers, Zemo attempts suicide, but T'Challa stops him and he is taken to the authorities.

In the aftermath, Stark provides Rhodes with exoskeletal leg braces that allow him to walk again, while Rogers breaks his allies out of the Raft. In a mid-credits scene, Barnes, granted asylum in Wakanda, chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found. In a post-credits scene, Parker tests a new gadget."
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I got some of it; about 1%, and even if I would have got 99% it would have affected my overall score from 35 to 33.

But I want to stick with 70, because everybody needs to know that violence sells. Wait for it on youtube video, when all the dust has fallen from the sky.
All the high rating scores by all the important movie critics, @ 90 and above; it just tells you how accurate and in touch they are with the art of filmmaking.
Yes, I was going to score it ZERO, very true. That is simply too radical in our society. Numbers are so irrelevant that we need to justify them when they don't coincide with the majority.

My true score is 35, but because I want everyone to see how it truly deserves that score, I gave it 70, just to motivate them to see it.
I never do that, this is the first time. 70 is supra generous, out of this world...

Two nights ago I watched Blood Simple, the Coen brothers' first film (1984).



I'm a big fan and I added this CC BR to my film collection.
A razor-sharp film noir with everything adroitly weaved in short timely incisive fashion.
The history behind is a fascinating one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Simple
Music by: Carter Burwell (his first score, and ended up scoring 15 of Coen brothers films - one cool music film composer).

The picture is superior to all other previous versions. And I still have to watch the new extras.

Overall (film and atmospheric attribute): 83

Last word: It's a romance, turned into a nightmare, dark (couleur noire, avec un peu de rouge).

I watched this Blu last night: Free State of Jones



I enjoyed it, and in the process I learned some.


When a film keeps my interest on the screen, my intellect firmly grounded, and motivates me in searching/exploring pieces of history; it's all very good.
And that film did just that. It is two hours and twenty minutes long but you'll never think or notice; it just flows as it happens...in the moment and you just go with that moment.

So, what is it about? Here's the short cut: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_of_Jones_(film)
And this part ? is important, and well weaved (that kept my interest on high guard...nicely done, and educative...and very still fresh):

"The story is interspersed with the saga of Newton's great-great-great grandson, who is arrested under Mississippi's miscegenation laws 85 years after the war. Since he is of one-eighth black descent, under Mississippi law of the day he is considered black, and therefore cannot legally marry his long-time sweetheart. He is sentenced to five years in prison, but his conviction is thrown out by the Mississippi Supreme Court rather than risk the law being declared unconstitutional."

My own rating score (overall for everything, including the cinematography and musical score complementing the film's essence): 84.5
Last word: Recommended for a perspective on a piece of American history. And you're invited to learn the real facts as they are written in the library books (Internet).

- Directed by Gary Ross ('Pleasantville', 'Seabiscuit')
- Screenplay by Gary Ross
- Story by Leonard Hartman
- Starring Matthew McConaughey
- Music by Nicholas Britell
- Cinematography Benoît Delhomme
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What about the other film critics? Yeah, what about them? :b

Hi Ron, two films ? I like a lot; Lone Survivor best for real-life drama (true story), and John Wick for pure over-the-top action entertainment (unbelievable!), fun and humor and many kills.
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Last night I watched The Shallows on Blu:



It's mainly a one-girl show, and Blake Lively is up to it.
I enjoyed it; it started well, it kept me "above water" (not sinking too deep), and it ended up well...for Blake (but not so well for three other guys).
Inside that movie there was also a whale, a bird and one shark...one big MF nasty shark.

The picture quality was pristine, the water very aquamarine and liquid.
The sound attribute was also fine, and the music score as well (Music by Marco Beltrami).

Overall score (everything): 80



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Last word: Don't go surfing around the carcass of a whale nearby...or any other carcasses.
Recommended, with a good doze of tension and beautiful cinematography, plus immersing sound under water.

Wow, the 3D effects on this one were cool.



If you can surmount all the other obstacles I think you'll all agree with me: It's a colorful 3D ride.
Film value by itself: 23 (out of 100)
But overall 3D ride (technical pop-out stuff and surround sound plus overall clarity): 98.5

So, final verdict (a balance between the writing/story and technical accomplishments): 66

Last word: Don't be afraid, the 3D Blu-ray is a tour-de-force. You might lose some in the brain level department, but what you'll lose there you'll gain in visuals and sounds.
If you are the type strong enough to deal life when things like that happen, I can tell you that your movie experience will shine.
Also, this sequel (#2) is better than the original.

The story (plot)?

"One year after their battle with Shredder, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, still live beneath the sewers, having allowed Vern Fenwick to take the credit for Shredder's defeat. April O'Neil discovers that a scientist named Baxter Stockman is working for Shredder and that he plans to help Shredder escape from prison. April informs the turtles about this. As Shredder is transferred between prisons with two criminals alongside him, Bebop and Rocksteady, by corrections officer Casey Jones, the Foot Clan attack the convoy transporting him. Despite the turtles interference, Shredder escapes when Stockman uses a teleportation device. But Shredder is hijacked mid-teleport and winds up in another dimension. There, he meets the alien warlord Krang, who tells him about his plans to invade Earth and gives him a mutagenic compound in exchange for his promise to find three components of a machine that Krang sent to Earth long ago, which will open a portal to his dimension when united, and he knows that Shredder and Stockman have the first piece. After Casey's failure to transport the prisoners, he decides to go out on his own.

Shredder returns to New York City and recruits Bebop and Rocksteady, who also escaped, and has Stockman use Krang's mutagen to transform them into powerful animal mutants—a humanoid warthog and rhinoceros. April witnesses their transformation and is able to steal the vial of mutagen. Pursued by the Foot, she is rescued by Casey, who uses hockey gear. In the ensuing battle, the vial of mutagen is taken into police custody. April then introduces Casey to the turtles, and Raphael and Michelangelo make fun of him and pull pranks on him. In the lair, Donatello deduces that the mutagen could be used to turn the turtles into humans, enabling them to live normal lives above ground, but Leonardo refuses and insists on keeping it a secret from the others. However, Michelangelo overhears their conversation and tells Raphael, which enrages Raphael and leading to a fierce argument between the brothers. Leonardo benches Raphael and takes Michelangelo off the mission. In the National Museum in New York, Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady are able to find the second piece and steal it, before Leonardo and Donatello arrive. Still furious, Raphael recruits Michelangelo, April, Casey, and Vern to break into the NYPD police headquarters and retrieve the mutagen. Vern distracts the police, while April and Casey retrieve the mutagen, but the Foot arrive ahead of them. In the ensuing battle, the turtles existence is revealed to the police, who react with fear and hatred. April and Casey intervene and help the brothers escape, but April and Casey are arrested. The police also see on TCRI's cameras that April stole the mutagen, however Stockman edits the tape so that Bebop and Rocksteady's mutations aren't seen.

With Shredder's forces having already recovered two pieces of the device, the turtles track Bebop and Rocksteady as they recover the final piece in the rainforests of Manaus, Brazil. The turtles confront Bebop and Rocksteady in their jet and in the ensuing battle, the jet is destroyed. After the Turtles battle with Bebop in a river for control of the piece, Rocksteady emerges in a tank and helps Bebop escape with the piece. The turtles return to New York as Shredder and Stockman complete the portal device and open the gateway to Krang's dimension, through which his modular war machine, the Technodrome, begins to emerge. Shredder betrays Stockman and has his men take him away to their headquarters in Tokyo, but upon entering the Technodrome, Krang immediately betrays Shredder, freezing him and locking him away with his collection of other defeated foes.

Seeing no way to reach the Technodrome with the police pursuing them, the turtles debate over taking the mutagen in order to become humans and fight openly. Though Leonardo agrees to do it, Raphael shatters the vial, realizing they must accept who they are. Upon April's request, Vern recovers security footage from TCRI that proves Stockman's and Shredder's complicity and secures April and Casey's release, allowing them to set up a meeting between the turtles and police chief Rebecca Vincent, where they convince her that they are not enemies and that they were the ones who took down Shredder in the first place. With the help of the police, the turtles are able to confront Krang aboard the still-assembling Technodrome. Although Krang is able to overpower all 4 turtles easily, the Turtles manage to defeat him when Donatello short circuts Krang's robotic body. Meanwhile, Casey keeps Bebop and Rocksteady busy and defeats them by locking them in a crate full of grenades, while April and Vern defeat Shredder's lieutenant Karai and take control of the portal device. The turtles are able to hurl the beacon back through the portal, taking Krang and the rest of the Technodrome with it. April, Casey, and Vern then shut the portal down. As he disappears, Krang swears he will return for revenge.

In the aftermath, Bebop and Rocksteady are taken back into custody, while Stockman remains at large. At night, the Turtles are honored by Vincent and the NYPD, along with April, Casey, and Vern, and gives the turtles golden keys to the city, and she said to give an opportunity to the people and accept them, but the turtles elect to keep their existence a secret from the public, but they will always have help when they want. On top of the Statue of Liberty, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles celebrate their victory over the vanquished Krang."
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- Budget: $135 million
- Box office: $245.6 million

Acting? Are you kidding me, those are turtles. :b
...Interacting with other human actors in a sci-fi adventure world purely out of the imagination. It's for fun. :b
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I watched a documentary last night: Daft Punk Unchained (2015)
...The first ever documentary film on the most secretive duo in the world. The epic story of two uncompromising artists




That was interesting and educational. These two guys don't like to show their faces, just their theatrical acts with their electronica music.
Overall: 70

I like what they did in the motion picture soundtrack of the film Tron: Legacy (2010)

[video=vimeo;21857140]https://vimeo.com/21857140[/video]

I watched [strike]'Prometheus'[/strike] X-Men: Apocalypse (((3D))) last night.



I was entertained; it's nice to step out of reality and into fiction once in a while...it's like a liberation highly needed. :b
And last night was no exception.


Yes, the big guy reminded me a little of the one in Prometheus. Sir Ridley Scott must have an influence on some filmmakers, and why not.
Here's the plot line (wikileaks):

"En Sabah Nur, a powerful mutant believed to be the first of his kind, rules ancient Egypt until he is betrayed by his worshippers, who entomb him alive. His four lieutenants die preserving him. Awakening in 1983, after accidental interference from CIA agent Moira MacTaggert, he believes humanity has lost its way without his presence. Aiming to destroy the world and remake it, he recruits Cairo pickpocket Ororo Munroe, who can control weather, and enhances her power.

In East Berlin, shape-shifting mutant Raven investigates an underground fight club and discovers mutant champion Angel, who possesses a pair of large feathered wings on his back, and Kurt Wagner, who can teleport. Raven rescues Kurt and employs the services of black marketeer Caliban to transport them to America. En Sabah Nur later arrives and recruits Caliban's enforcer, Psylocke, who leads him to Angel. En Sabah Nur enhances both their powers, transforming Angel's wings into metal wings.

Alex Summers discovers that his younger brother, Scott, is manifesting his mutation for shooting optic beams. Alex takes Scott to Professor Charles Xavier's educational institute in Westchester County, New York in hopes that Xavier and Hank McCoy will teach him how to control his abilities. Scott meets the telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey, and the two develop an attraction. Raven brings Kurt to the institute. Apocalypse's powers cause disturbances around the world, leading Xavier and Alex to consult with Moira, who has been researching the legend of Nur.

In Communist Poland, the metal-controlling mutant Erik Lehnsherr lives with his wife, who is aware of his past, and their young daughter, Nina. He accidentally exposes himself when he uses his powers to save a coworker almost crushed in the metalworking factory they work in, prompting militia to come capture him. When it becomes apparent Nina is a mutant too after her desperation and fear at her father being taken away prompts a nearby flock of large birds to attack the militia, they unintentionally kill Erik's family in the scuffle, and he retaliates by murdering them all with a locket he gave his daughter containing pictures of his parents long before they were taken to Auschwitz. En Sabah Nur later approaches the disheartened Erik and takes him to the aforementioned concentration camp, where Erik's power first manifested. His power enhanced, Erik destroys the entire facility and joins him.

En Sabah Nur enters Xavier's mind while Xavier is using the mutant-locating computer Cerebro and, co-opting Xavier's powers, forces all global superpowers to launch Earth's entire nuclear arsenal into space to prevent interference. He and his new lieutenants arrive at the mansion and kidnap Xavier. Attempting to stop them, Alex accidentally causes an explosion that destroys the mansion. Peter Maximoff — having learned that he is Erik's son, and hoping that Xavier can help to find him — arrives in time to use his super-speed to evacuate the students just before the explosion destroys the building, but Alex is presumed dead. Colonel William Stryker's forces subsequently capture Hank, Raven, Peter, and Moira, and take them to a military facility for interrogation. Scott, Jean and Kurt covertly follow and liberate their comrades using Stryker's mind-controlled and brainwashed experiment, Weapon X, whose memories Jean partially restores.

At En Sabah Nur's behest, Erik uses his powers to control Earth's magnetic poles, causing widespread destruction across the planet and mass casualties. En Sabah Nur plans to transfer his consciousness into Xavier's body and use Xavier's power to enslave the minds of every person on earth. Xavier secretly sends a telepathic distress call to Jean, and the others travel to Cairo to battle Apocalypse and his horsemen. They rescue Xavier, but the sheer strain of the process on him because of his constant resistance causes him to lose his hair as the process nears completion. Angel is defeated and incapacitated in the battle. Erik and Ororo are convinced to turn on En Sabah Nur and, with Scott's help, they keep him occupied physically while Xavier fights him telepathically in the astral plane. Finally, Xavier encourages Jean to unleash the Phoenix, the full extent of her powers, incinerating En Sabah Nur in the process, while Psylocke flees in the ensuing chaos.

After the battle is over, Xavier and Moira rekindle their relationship, while Erik and Jean help reconstruct the school, but Erik refuses Xavier's offer to stay and help teach. Peter decides not to tell Erik that he is Erik's son yet. As the new X-Men, Hank and Raven train new recruits Scott, Jean, Ororo, Kurt, and Peter.

In a post-credits scene, men in suits visit the Weapon X facility to retrieve data on Stryker's mutant research, including an X-ray and a blood sample marked "Weapon X", on behalf of the Essex Corporation."
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I was following all of that, more or less, but I was also immersed in the 3-Dimensional world of an illusive abstraction.
I was also coming back from the debate's remnants, and my thoughts were evaporating fast.
There was a symphony of sounds and music accompanying the 3D real fiction. Contrasts and reciprocity between reality and fiction were part of the ordeal.

If you feel like the world is crumbling down under your feet and would like to excape in the high skies above and among the stars, that's one ticket, and it costs less than booking a flight to Mars. It's fresh, like the real world we live in...surrounded by some of the best.
Overall (3D picture and sound qualities, technical merit plus film value including acting and movie ride and storyline): 76

* Directed by Bryan Jay Singer (age 51). He directed four X-Men flicks, including this one.
Singer received critical acclaim for directing the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects (1995), which starred Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro and Kevin Spacey.

Last word: It would be challenging to separate fiction from reality.