PIECES OF A WOMAN

Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf star as Martha and Sean, a couple on the verge on having their first child. Vanessa insisted on having a home birth and before long, something goes terribly wrong and the baby is lost. Both attempting to move on, they handle the grief in their own ways and as such, drift further apart. Sean self-destructs while self-medicating, while Martha not only has to deal with the lose of her child, but her overbearing mother (played by Ellen Burstyn), who wants revenge against the midwife as she's made to be the scapegoat for the lose of the child. I really wanted to like the movie after viewing the trailer, but other than wonderful performances by both Kirby and Burstyn (I could see one or both get Academy nominations), the film seemed rather dull and sluggish at times, with the exception of the one shot birth scene in the beginning. 5.5/10

Also, rewatched THE GODFATHER PART III today in anticipation of watching the new CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE cut tomorrow. And while Part III can never hold a candle to part I or II, today's viewing was my most enjoyable ever of this film and the story made more sense (probably helped that I had the subtitles on).

City by the Sea..Underrrated Bobby DeNiro flick!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8QZ_2LfJk

i hope you're joking

Just watched THE GODFATHER PART III CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE and I wasn't a big fan of it. The pacing felt rushed and there wasn't anything new added to the story. Coppola simply changed the opening scene, the ending, and moved a few scenes around while cutting others altogether or shortened existing scenes. For my money, I prefer the original cut.

Thanks for that feedback, Irishman. Coming from you, I'll take that as the reason not to buy it.

GILDA (1946)

Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), down-and-out gambling cheat in Buenos Aires, is taken out of the gutter by Ballin Mundson (George Macready) and made manager of his gambling casino. He's doing great until Mundson introduces him to his new bride Gilda (Rita Hayworth)--Farrell's former lover. The two hate each other and the sparks fly. Ford, nobody's idea of a great actor, is good here as a tough guy with loyalty to Mundson. Macready (second only to George Sanders in the Elegant Bad Guy sweepstakes), gives a nuanced performance as a crook at heart. But the movie belongs to Hayworth, at her peak as a tough but gorgeous independent, snappy repartee, refusing to knuckle under, and doing a sensational turn as a nightclub singer/dancer ("Put the Blame on Mame" number is Hollywood legend). The movie is too long and has too many extraneous subplots. But, you won't want to miss Hayworth at her absolutely sexiest and most mesmerizing.

THE MARKSMAN

Liam Neeson stars as Jim, a former marine, who's Arizona home is on the US-Mexico border. One day while out, Jim comes up two illegal immigrants (a mother and son) running across the border from the cartel. A shootout ensues when Jim refuses to hand over the duo to the cartel and in the process the mother is killed. Before succumbing to her wounds, the mother entrusts Jim to drive her son to family in Chicago. Jim agrees and the rest of the film is a cat-and-mouse game between Jim & the boy, and the cartel. The film deals with themes of family, the loss of a loved one, and strong character. Neeson gives a little more passion in his performance from his previous HONEST THIEF, which he mailed in. And even though his rugged, Irish accent sticks out like a sore thumb as a rancher living along the border, he always commands every scene that he's in with power. 5/10

I appreciate that TB but I'm always of the mindset of if you're open to watching it, go ahead and watch it. My review is just one man's opinion, but I am happy to hear that it carry's some weight on here.

DANTON (1083)

In this French/Polish production, Georges Danton (Gerard Depardieu), a hero of the French Revolution, returns to Paris in 1793 to confront Maxim Robespierre (Wojciech Psoniak), who has imposed a Reign of Terror on France, with heads rolling every day. Danton--bumptious, charismatic, undisciplined--thinks he has "the people" with him. Robespierre--steely, focused, but physically ill for all the blood he's causing to flow--is determined to hold onto power. Both cite "revolutionary principles," both violate them "in the name of the people." In the end, "the people," thoroughly sick of the revolution's excesses, fail to keep Danton from the guillotine. Robespierre cowers under his bedsheet (he lost his head only a few months later). Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Depardieu and Psoniak are brilliant in their roles. The filming is a triumph, evoking the squalor, the luxury and the anarchy of revolutionary France. Many unforgettable scenes. The costumes are stunning, bizarre and (according to scholars) totally authentic. No doubt about it: this is a great movie.

I watched Gene Hackman and William Dafoe in Mississippi Burning, a biographical crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker that is loosely based on the 1964 Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner murder investigation in Mississippi. FBI agents are assigned to investigate the disappearance of three civil rights workers in fictional Jessup County, Mississippi. The investigation is met with hostility by the town's residents, local police, and the Ku Klux Klan.

Thanks i12... I was looking forward to this. Im gunna give this a shot.

As for the Irish guy being a rancher.... I can think it possible. Quick story........
My Da came over from Ireland and ended up being one of the best Diamond appraiser and dealers in NY, not the biggest or the wealthiest but highly respected and trusted among those who were.
Knowing what a tight nit group of people those men are it says a lot when they let someone who is not one of their own in. He made a good living.

Very nice story DP. Did you follow in his footsteps?

You'd think they'd just let Liam Neeson play an Irish character. Surely it's not that much of a stretch considering how many Irish people emigrate to America. Less of a stretch than passing off that accent as American.

No bud... im a printer. Ran a press for a few years and then went into sales after cementing solid contacts.

Agree

WITNESS TO MURDER (1954)

Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck), artist and designer for a high end home furnishing chain, sees a murder being committed in the building across from hers. She reports it to the police, and Det. Larry Matthews (Gary Merrill) questions the occupant, Albert Richter (George Sanders, Champion of the Cultured Cads), who denies it and accuses Cheryl of being crazy. Matthews falls in with that, trying to get her to agree that she had "a bad dream." She persists, and Richter proceeds to get her committed to a psychiatric ward, then tries to kill her. Thanks to many gaping holes in the plot, Det. Matthews starts to believe her and rescues her in the nick of time.

This movie is a tour de force of all the sexist cliches that were typical of that era. But, Stanwyck's Cheryl does her best to realistically, and without heroics, fight them. Stanwyck, as usual, is a marvel. She was 46 when she made the movie, and does an excellent transition from femme fatale (as in "Double Indemnity") to career woman. She made 85 movies in 38 years before turning to TV. "Witness to Murder" isn't a great film noir, but Stanwyck makes it worth watching.

Camorra movie Piranhas (2019). An adaptation of Saviano's third book La paranza dei bambini. I liked it a lot.

The story revolves around 15-year-old Nicola (Francesco Di Napoli) and his friends, who spend most of their days wandering the streets of the Neapolitan neighborhood of Rione Sanità. The underworld is here the upper world, and it controls the entire social life of the city. No wonder these big boys are attracted to the fast money of the crime world. Nicola has just a little more to offer than his friends in terms of intelligence and swagger, and quickly manages to climb up the ranks.

In interviews, director Giovannesi spoke broadly about the underprivileged boys who start working for the mafia at an increasingly younger age, and the social circumstances that lead them to crime. But too little of those backgrounds has ended up in the film. Nicole and his friends are already incorrigible mourners when the movie starts, and the biggest problem in his single mother's life is the extortion of her dry cleaners by the mafia.

It's an effective crime film, Piranhas narratively relies heavily on the blueprints set by previous films in the genre - from Gomorrah itself to Martin Scorsese's classic Goodfellas (1990).

Loading Marksman now.

Let me know what you think DP.

ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (1943)


I'm a sucker for WWII movies made during WWII--all guts and glory, good vs. bad with no ambiguities. This one celebrates brave Merchant Marine sailors, delivering essential war materials on dangerous Atlantic passages:

First Mate Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart) and his boss, Capt. Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey) are torpedoed by a Nazu U-Boat commanded by a sadistic captain, who surfaces and rams the lifeboat holding the survivors. They somehow manage to survive 11 days in freezing Atlantic waters (only in Hollywood, only in WWII) and sail again on a Liberty Ship delivering tanks and guns to Russia. They get separated from their convoy and are stalked by (you guessed it) the same Nazi sub. This time they outwit the Nazis and ram the sub. The cast includes the All-American Ethnics, who always populate WWII movies. This time out they include Alan Hale, Sam Levene and Dane Clark (Eternal Hothead), plus the obligatory idealistic kid who you know is going to die heroically. The action sequences are gripping and first-rate, and the stalking scenes are tense and gripping. Rousing movie!

Good movie. I had to do three Supreme court cases reports in high school and United States verses Cecil Price was one of them. The movie is not accurate and takes many liberties. Gene Hackman does a great performance.

Streamer is unpredictable....did not load but it will when its up and I will write back on it.
We are enjoying another upload from streamer, will write up shortly.

Enjoyed watching 3 Days of the Condor. I admit, when the scenes with Faye Dunaway came on, I was expecting Redford to slap her around, until she confessed... "She's my sister... She's my daughter..."

"She's my sister AND my daughter!!!"

THE LITTLE THINGS

With 3 Academy Award Winning actors, THE LITTLE THINGS follows former Los Angeles detective Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) and new department hotshot Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) on the trail of accused serial killer Albert Sparma (Jared Leto). Obviously the cast and trailer hook you into this film and it's Leto who shines the brightest. The villains always has the most fun and here Leto enjoys playing in that sandbox. Teasing the police, attempting to outsmart them, all the while not being completely stable and the audience is left wondering if this man is a mad genius or just a few cards short of a full deck? Denzel is smooth as ever as a tired, rugged, now county sheriff, after being run off his LA detective job 5 years prior. Malek is the only one who seems hollow and robotic, not displaying a lot of emotion except for a few outbursts here and there. There is not a lot of violence in the film as the victims are all shown after their murder, which was an interesting choice. They dumb it down for the audience, but at the same time, you're left wondering as much as Deacon and Baxter if Sparma is really their man (even up until the final credits). A decent film that wasn't as great as I was hoping for but worth the watch (especially if you have HBO Max). 6/10

This thread is called Movies u just watched..no??....I am no synopsis dude in the least.. but..I can ask the question..has anyone seen a movie called "This Thing of Ours"...???..starring Vincent Pastore...Frank Vincent..James Cann..(in a small role)..........saw it on youtube..f--cking great movie (I at least thought)....the unintentuial comedy from Pastore &Vincent is worth the price of admission...it's basically about how the mob would or could do spoils in this tech day & age...w/ alot of comic moments from familiar mob faces...,,Now,, my wife is buggin' me...but check it out on youtube..."This thing of Ours"...later..!

https://youtu.be/U3ZcYpZoOUM

We are watching it right now on our streaming device.

Its good, a bit slow at times but like you said luv the villain guy and the others really good.

6 / 10 is a agreeable score.

I will check it out again.... I think I started watching this once and could not get through it.

I12, can you help with this?

What was the significance of the hair clip?
Was it a threat to rami;s daughter?

Was Deacon the killer, we think so.
Or was Rami the Killer?

We became a bit confused at the end.

When they focused in on the boots deacon was wearing....twice at the end......Leto adds up but deacon did it all.