Was the gun plastic or wood?

Frankly, my favourite part of the movie was Marty Crane (John Mahoney) getting to be Clint Eastwood's incredibly inept boss.

It’s some sort of plastic or composite, it’s definitely not wooden.

It was resin, per my Google search. Woulda been cooler if it was made of weed resin.

I saw Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre)

felt very raw at times

I'm watching Decision to Leave. Enjoying Mubi's offerings thus far.

The Holdovers- 4.5/5

Summer School + The Breakfast Club + less comedy. Very good movie.

“Old Henry” - 4/4

A story this predictable should hold no surprises for the viewer, but by some small miracle the pacing and the scene development combine with the deadpan acting to create what I can only call a masterpiece. It should be a stupid film to be honest, it could have gone totally wrong but it was made with reverence and great talent. It’s how the story is told, not how good the story is that pulls this up to instant classic status.

Tim Blake Nelson is never bad in anything, but this might be the best thing he ever did. He’s a sight to behold.

The Creator - 6.5/10

I appreciate someone trying to make original sci-fi that isn't part of a franchise or a reboot/revival of something.... but it was just "ok".

That dude is a bad mother. You talk about a loan shark. I borrowed a nickel from him last week. He said if I didn't give him a dime by Friday, he'd break my arm.

The Marvels - 5/10

Everything felt terribly rushed, especially the start of the movie and setting up the whole switching places thing (which they would then establish how it works, only to consistently and frequently ignore when convenient)

Forgettable villain and plot, just rushing from scene to scene.

Napoleon - 3/5

Nothing fancy or great here. Starting to wish Ridley Scott would get away from the historical films and get back to something original.

The Verdict from 1982. What a fucking movie. 9.5 or 10/10. Paul Newman... my god. I prefer him as a drunk, down-on-his-luck ambulance-chasing lawyer than I've enjoyed him in anything else. And Charlotte Rampling was amazing as this sort of femme fatale type.

Need to watch more Mammet and Lumet beyond Glengarry (Mammet) and Dog Day (Lumet).

*Mamet

Watch “The Edge” from 1997. It’s a ludicrous but enjoyable survival romp led by Baldwin and Hopkins. Quality shit.

He doesn’t do original anymore, he’s so devoid of originality that his “new” shit is just sequels to his old shit.

That just makes me want to pronounce it David Mammay.

Gonna make myself read American Buffalo after I'm done Heat 2.

Agreed. It's either something from the Alien franchise or a historical story that comes across his desk.

Enjoyed A Good Year. That was different.

“Butcher’s Crossing” - 2.5/4

This is an adaptation of a novel listed alongside “Blood Meridian” as Western genre classics, and if it is anything to go by, “Blood Meridian” must excel in the areas of storytelling where your imagination does the hard work for you. Bleak but beautiful, fancy but old-hat cinematography combines with bleak, tiring and deeply insincere dialogue to create a vast expanse of wasted opportunity for actors to act. In fact there is only one entirely solid performance, it is not Nicolas Cage, and that character arc is actually sensible up to a point… but it’s culmination is disgracefully reimagined for the screen in a way that almost ruins the character build. I had to look the novel up to make sure it was a deliberate change and not an actual adaptation because it was so incredibly deflating when it happened on screen.

After that all bets are off and Nic Cage goes all Nic Cage again. Thankfully it is a short ride to the credits by then.

This could have been an intelligent wee film from the plot itself, but the way it is handled is a great shame. It may just have taken itself too seriously, but I defy any viewer to hear some of the extraneous dialogue and not want to punch the TV.

Clint Eastwood was treading a unique level of brilliance when he made “High Plains Drifter” and “Pale Rider”… pure, bare, all story and performance cut down to essentials. Then he made “Unforgiven” which is so obviously the greatest anti-western ever made that I shudder to compare it to anything.

However…

It’s as close to John Wayne doing “Rio Bravo”, “El Dorado” and “The Shootist” as it gets without being remotely similar in terms of style. One actor embraces the insider, one embraces the outsider but both play one man armies that help towns overcome themselves and their enemies.

I love this genre.

Randolph Scott, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin… Hell even Charles Bronson and Henry Fuckin’ Fonda… nobody does it like Clint or John. Nobody.

I wish that other genres had such consistently enjoyable offerings, but only comedy gets a free pass from me.

Asteroid City - 7.5/10

Like a typical Wes Anderson movie, weird-ass story to the point of you're not sure what is going on or what it is about.... but it looks so unique and stylish that you don't really care. Gotta hand it to the man to just being true to his "style" and not "conforming"

He peaked at “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.

He will never come close to that magic again. It was written in the stars.

TGBP was possibly the best film released between 2010 and 2020. Only time will tell but it has to be up there.

It built, broke and rebuilt my heart without pandering to my emotions in the least bit artistically. Wes Anderson is an absolute genius at his best, but even at his worst he is still a grand master.

Dunno why but it fills my heart with great joy that Canada's own Saul Rubinek was in Unforgiven AND True Romance--two of the most badass movies you'll ever see. It makes sense in both cases (Unforgiven, especially, due to its subversive nature), but he's such a ham.

I watched Heat recently. Not technically for the first time, but basically for the first time because I hadn't seen it for like two decades and forgot everything aside from broader plot points and the famous diner scene.

TBH I think it's a good sometimes great movie. Very much of its time, and I think they should've just had Vincent Hannah doing cocaine in the movie (the original plan) to offer better context for his spastic beats. I got kind of frustrated with Pacino chewing up the scenery, although many people find his performance to be brilliant.

I'd give it an 8/10 because I enjoy what it does, and the precedent it set. Neil McCauley is very much a primordial Tony Soprano/Walter White. Vincent Hannah is tropey as hell, but you can see elements of, say, Jimmy McNulty in him. Specifically, his objectives are less altruistic and more driven by his addiction to himself and the job.

It took me about a month to finish it--kept turning it off to do other shit--because some of the acting doesn't hold up and it drags. I was still intrigued when I'd come back to it.

Actually started reading Heat 2 because I heard Michael Mann talking about it and he's such a weirdo that I wanted to check it out.

Pacino shouldn't have been in the film. You replace him with a top tier mid 90s lile Fishburn or Denzel Washington and i think that movie would really cook. Its a good film, the screenplay has a ton of depth in its theming and metophors, but it doesnt reach its potential. Leaves a lot to be desired. And its wild when its a genuinely great actor holding it back.

Pacino makes the movie. It’s one of his best 90’s performances. The way he is is pretty prefect in it.

First off him and Deniro do the whole 2 sides of the same coin. Deniro understated everything close to the vest. Pacino’s outlandishness is the perfect foil for Deniro.

In the diner scene, because of the way Vincent Hannah acts he is able to get Neil McCauley off balance and get a key piece of information.

Also Heat would’t be as good or as memorable if you didn’t have Pacino yelling “LA Po-lease department!”, and doing all of his crazy stuff.

He is the straw that stirs the drink.

GIMMIE ALL YOU GOT!

I mean I get what he was doing. Could even see myself appreciating more if I watch it again. In fact, I enjoy reading Hannah's dialogue in Heat 2. I imagine it in Pacino's voice and it works better than actually seeing him do it.

And honestly I know part of the reason people think it's iconic is because of how OTT it is. He commits to the bit. But upon my first (re)watch in a couple of decades, it took me out of the movie more than a few times. Probably because OTT Hooooaw Pacino is such a cliche at this point.

the entire performance is melodramatic. Which is whatever i like some melodrama from time to time but everyone else in the film is playing straight meanwhile Pacino is playing a cartoon character. The performance is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

I think the way you fix heat is you splice in some scenes of Pacino doing cocain throughout the film...and thats less of a joke than it sounds.

I literally already said that you motherfucker. (or a version of that). But yeah it's the only way he makes sense.

I guess you can infer he's on cocaine but eh. That's a bit of a jump despite how ridiculous he is.

I was also 100% serious when I said the cocaine thing, too. The character is supposed to be coked out.

Napoleon 5/10

At best, this film is average. It felt disjointed and unsatisfying, and the love affair story arc between Boney and Josephine was not strong enough to hold it all together. Joaquin Phoenix seems to spend most of the film looking and acting like he is constipated. The only saving grace of this movie is Vanessa Kirby.

Frankly, this shouldn't have been a film. A big budget series on Napoleon would be far more appropriate.

Watched Last Of the Mohicans. 8/10.

Gritty, visceral action scenes. The French-Indian war backdrop was cool, and the interplay/politics was interesting, to say the least. Biggest issue I had was I really didn't connect with the romance between Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeline Stowe. Maybe it was just too pure, and I like it messier.

My favourite part of the movie was Mogwa, played by Wes Studi, the de facto "baddy" native/indigenous. Dude was a badass and despite his methods being brutal, I understood the way he saw things and ALMOST sympathized with him. He was just too bloodthirsty and hellbent on revenge for me to fully take his side. Some good stuff IMO. He also cut out the British Col's still-beating heart and, frankly, I'm about that.

Also caught Sea of Love. 8.5/10. Last of the Mohicans is obviously much "better" as far as scope and cinematography and all that (despite my rating SoL better), but Sea of Love is far more MY kind of movie. It's gloomy, New York has got this gritty, grimy, bluesy aesthetic, the cops are dirty (even though they aren't the antagonists), Al Pacino plays a total hapless drunken loser down on his luck (and is specifically smelly), and Ellen Barken is going to haunt my dreams (in a good way) for the remainder of my days.

Plus, John Goodman is in it in a supporting role and that's fun.

You get to the point where the murder mystery/thriller aspect is superseded by the sordid, fucked up love story and Pacino's addiction/bad behaviours, and it works incredibly well on that level.

I wish we got more Ellen Barkin from that era. Because oh my god. What the fuck. I want her to ruin my life.

I lived with a relative of Dougie McLean a few years ago, he was my lodger.
Never spoke about “The Gael” or Dougie until I got wasted and harassed him about it being the greatest theme tune for a climax ever.

I sucked his weed up with the Hoover once. Fell out for a whole day.

If my uncle wrote the ending to “Last Of The Mohicans” I would never shut up about it.

I liked that Chingachgook was the one who killed Magua (whose name I spelled wrong in the previous post **shrugs**). Seemed to be building to Hawkeye doing it, as he was the main. But it was more satisfying for Chingachgook to avenge Uncas, and also, he needed that one shining moment to justify his presence in the movie outside of being Hawkeye's adopted dad.

Always love a bit of Daniel Day-Lewis and Wes Studi.

I think the reason why the love story arc between Hawkeye and Stowe's character doesn't work is because it isn't given enough time to develop; they're just suddenly in love with one another. They could have spent another 15-20 mins on character/relationship development, and it would have worked better, without detriment to the overall film.