IMO, this is the Oscar front-runner.

Jesus this looks good.

Hard to go wrong with Jaoquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Good news for classic movie fans and home theatre connoisseurs: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is finally coming to Blu-Ray in November, in time for it's 50th anniversary.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/sho...rders_Live/9821

Further cementing his career second act as an action star, Denzel Washington is closing a deal to star in The Equalizer, a loose adaptation of the 1980s CBS series about a onetime military covert ops agent who helps civilians in need. No director is attached, but the current script was penned by Richard Wenk (The Mechanic, 16 Blocks).

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/sony-pic...-the-equalizer/

(Who doesn't remember that show's memorable theme, scored by Stewart Copeland?)

I use to watch that show all the time. I love Denzel too and think he'd be great in the part. One movie I would take a look at.





TIS

Upcoming would-be Oscar contender, Ang Lee's newest movie. But where's the pie?

I was watching Restaurant Impossible tonight when it occured to me that Ricrad Irvine is English. It occured to me because the English are usually not known for their cooking, but part of his restaurant renovations are the restaurant's cooking.

You know I was seeing this anyway because I'm a Bond fan, but this actually looks really really good.

HBO is showing "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I always have to watch at least some of it. You either like it or you don't. I do.

My daughters and I both love the movie. One time, in recent years, the heard Danka Shein on the radio and I told them Wayne Newton was the singer and they said, "You mean a guy is singing?" LOL All those years they just assumed Ferris was lip-syncing to a female singer.

One

TIS, we recently got HBO. I've been trying to catch up on The Newsroom On Demand. Are you still watching??

SB,

Yes, I have been watching. I think there have only been 3 episodes so you shouldn't have a problem catching up.

I'm still getting use to the format of the show. I never watched West Wing so I was not familiar with Sorkin's style. It is keeping my interest though. The news on the show is always, so far, recent "real" stories.

I LIKE that Will (Jeff Daniels character)talks real news and discusses in one episode big stories the main stream media leaves out of the news (excellent points).


Previews for next week's episode indicate that the President is gonna be making a HUGE announcement on foreign policy. I'm thinking it's killing of Osama Bin Laden.

Btw, have you been watching Political Animals too. So far so good with that one too.

TIS

I missed the last episodes of each, but I am enjoying them. Sorkin's dialogue is unbelievably fast-paced. It's one of the reasons that so much happens in one episode.

SB,

Also, when you get a chance, watch "Game Change" with Julianna Moore as Sarah Palin (amazing performance) and Ed Harris as John McCain.





TIS

I thought most folks liked FERRIS BUELLER? Never met anybody who didn't like it.

Three years ago, the RED DAWN remake was shot but after MGM had $$$ troubles it got shelved but it's coming out this fall. (Not to mention in post-production having to digitally substitute the Chinese invaders with North Korea because China's theatres threw a stink. That's one thing about current Hollywood that really irks me, maybe #1 quite possibly.)

Man Thor looks like a friggin cub here.

RED DAWN teaser/preview(?).

This begs one question: If North Korea invades Washington state, why spare Vancouver? Is the new Dear Leader a Canucks fan?

Perhaps North Korea's strategic capabilities have improved since 1951. Then, they crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. They failed to secure their rear thus enabling General MacArthur to engineer a landing at Inchon behind their lines, drove them back across the 38th parallel so far that they approached the North Korean border with China, and were only saved from having to 'endure" democracy when 300,000+ Chinese volunteers counterattacked UN forces.

But, who knows? Maybe their new Supreme Leader is a strategical genius.

If I remember right, originally the RED DAWN remake had this "future" where Russia and China collude together which allows for China to invade the Pacific Northwest. (Nevermind this discounts the historic antagonism between both countries, but that's besides the point.)

Like the original 1980s RED DAWN, it's a fantasy that you can poke holes logically and in logistics but in fantasy "believability" is essential for your story to work and the Soviet Union invading America...why not? It was topical at the time, whether because this was the Cold War or we were in Reagan flag-waving time or because Afghanistan got invaded, it didn't seem that crazy.

Even the remake with a more impractical scenario, China makes sense. They're huge, a superpower on the rise, billion people, 100+ millions army, and they own alot of our debt (of course they "owe" us more than he other way around, but nevermind.)

But North Korea? Not much red in their flag. Shit they can't even feed themselves*, much less launch a rocket that always seem to blow up so yeah I don't believe they can invade America. (Why would China go into the trouble of helping North Korea to do this when they could do it themselves?)

I do think it's funny that China, North Korea's one ally in the world, has no qualms with showing movies with them as the villains.

*=before he died, Christopher Hitchens accurately dismissed NK as a nation of "racist dwarves" because of their lack of nutritional diets.

Well PTA's upcoming Oscar contender THE MASTER had a screening last night, several tweeted reactions to it.


@michaelwhittle "Possibly the best film watching experience I've ever had. #THEMASTER70MM"

@TotallySketch (Michael Gallagher) "Just saw 'The Master'. A movie has never made me feel quite like this one did. I can't describe it or even rate it. I am speechless."

@aaldere1 (Andrew P Alderete, "The Social Network" producer Dana Brunetti's assistant) "The Master was amazing. Oscars all over this one."

@LoganDoe "@prfessorbigsock Hoffman is one of the finest actors alive. The Master is (more) proof. #themaster"

@pillowfightin "@cigsandredvines Saw The Master in 70mm at the Aero Santa Monica. Surprise screening after The Shining. Its like nothing yvever seen before."

@jessecrall "The Master: B+ hazy, meandering story with beautiful staging and headed by Phoenix's brilliant, year's-best performance. @kristapley"

@Super_Matts "THE MASTER is...interesting...I'll be thinking about it for days #THEMASTER70MM J Phoenix and P S Hoffman are out of this world"

@DubstepElitist "duuuuuude, the master was goooooooooood"

And the most extensive reaction so far comes from 16-year-old cinephile Victor Escobar: his tweets after the film can be found below.

"@scottEweinberg Of course! Don't want to say more than a few words about it but it is an all around excellent film."

"@MattMustin @scottEweinberg No doubt about it. I've yet to see one bad PSH performance but this one may be his best."

"@prfessorbigsock 2hrs 10 min. Will get nods for Picture. Good chance of winning original screenplay and acting awards."

"@TheDaltonator If it were me, I'd put them both in the Best Actor category but if one them is getting the supporting nod, its Hoffman."

"@GusCruz At winning? No. It will have its fair share of detractors and its not a "safe" choice."

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/p..._medium=twitter

Have any of you seen the movie Hancock with Will Smith? I never get to watch the ending all the way through. What happens to Hancock that renders him vulnerable?

Oli,

I've seen Hancock has been on a lot but I still have not seen the movie.

Our local L.A. channel is showing the movie "Suspect" (87) With Dennis Quaid & Cher. I saw it about 20 years ago. I was surprised to see Liam Neeson is the suspect in the film.


TIS

Warner Bros. has moved THE GREAT GATSBY from it's original Christmas release (and prime Oscar season) to next summer.

Some locals will be disapointed by this news.

Speaking of Oscar contenders, Kathryn Bigelow's ZERO DARK THIRTY (about the hunt for Bin Laden) preview dropped today. It's out December.

Daniel Day-Lewis is Honest Abe. (But sadly not a vampire hunter.)



http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/08/07/first-look-daniel-day-lewis-lincoln/

Is Ben Affleck directing the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie?

http://screenrant.com/ben-affleck-justice-league-director/

Hey RR,

Do you plan on seeing the new Bourne movie? I've seen previews on tv and a couple scenes remind me of the last Bourne (Ultimatum). If you do see it, post your review ok?

I won't see it at the movies but maybe on tv. Well, you know my thoughts on that.


TIS

Btw, Daniel Day Lewis looks like Abe. Did the Abe Vamp movie come & go already?

Sure thing. The reviews however have been disapointingly mixed so far. Maybe your movie psychic sense was stronger here than mine was?



That it did. It got bad reviews, but I dunno I actually sorta enjoyed VAMPIRE HUNTER in a decent superhero type of adventure, where the hero has his origins, his psychological motivations, learns the rules about vampires, and then proceeds to axe some bloodsuckers. (Oh and save America from slavery too.)

It had one hell of a wacky premise (too wacky for most since the movie flopped hard), but I'll give that movie credit for taking the idea seriously and not just hang a lamp shade over it's head and yell "booga booga!" as a silly comedy. (this aint your parents' YOUNG EINSTEIN.)

Oh well, we won't get the sequel FDR: HULK now.

~Hitler Smash!

Total Recall (2012) - **1/2 out of 5

If the original Arnold Schwarzenegger movie was sophisticated R-rated summer blockbuster entertainment (oh how I miss them), the remake tells the same story (and even the same scenes) but regurgitated in the most joyless, unimaginative bland PG-13 fashion. Bryan Cranston is wasted, as is Bill Nighy's cameo.

It's bad when a scene of Colin Farrell exploring his mysterious security deposit box, I got deja vu of THE BOURNE IDENTITY. I thought watching that sequence, gee I wonder if like the first BOURNE picture, the hero discovers that he's got a secret city apartment that's spacious, white, and vacant.

Well what do you know, he discovers that he's got a secret city apartment that's spacious, white, and vacant.

Heh.

I did like some of the pricey production design (the movie reportedly cost $150-200 million), derivative of BLADE RUNNER obviously but like THE FIFTH ELEMENT it tried to expand that futuristic movie visual template using more recent FX technology. I even liked the hand phone gadget, which brings up perverted questions and implications of such a device. What if a young man is...doing something in private...and accidentally strokes I mean squeezes the auto-dial button and calls up Pizza Hut? (How would phone sex work?)

Technically not a bad movie, even pretty sometimes, but still not worth seeing, even on Netflix.

Did anyone see NBC's debut of the Matthew Perry sitcom, which was shown without commercials after the Olympic coverage? I had never heard of the show, but watched it mostly because there were no commercials. I thought it was pretty funny.

I didn't see it and have only heard about it. From what I read, it's suppose to be good but I have seen no ads for it at all.


Happened to tune in to VH1 who is airing the Rolling Stones "Some Girls" tour. Man, how young they look. Keith Richards actually looks alive. GREAT music though! One of the best IMHO


TIS