The Last Movie You Saw On DVD or VHS or TV.

I'm glad somebody else liked it, it was far fetched, but I liked it. I loved Tonto's interaction with Silver.

Watched "The Art of the Steal" on the hotel Netflix. It was a true story about how the Annenbergs, The city of Philadelphia, and the ,then, governor of Pennsylvani broke the Will of Dr Barnes and moved the entire BArmnes collection of post Impressionist art to the Philadelphia parkway.
It involved the dilution and "buying out" of the board of directors set up by Dr Barnes and this was all done by holding lots of money out to the small black college that was the bod for the museum. Lincoln University, where ThurgoodMarshall graduated and several other men of note, was promised 150 million (To most colleges it wouldnt be enough to sell ones soul, but to Lincoln , which always was struggling, It was just enough)
How the whole thing went down was painted as this combination of corporate and govt greed and left wing social programs.
Yet, whenever you see the BArnes, in its new well lit location with ample room to park and waner about, you wonder why did Dr Barnes act so petulantly when he left these instructions to BAR the city from his collection .
It was about 1.75 hrs but a really interesting piece of recent history.

Saw this last year some time, FM, on TV. I was amazed with what happened.

I've never seen the collection...but may go see it at some point. But the story...and the pettiness that precipitated everything was amazing to watch.

From what I remember...the documentary was sharply criticized by some people as being biased and that it distorted certain aspects of the controversy. But the bottom line is that it makes more sense to allow art of this kind to be seen by as many people as possible. (Some magnificent art is kept in bank vaults by "haves"...more interested in its monetary value than its artistic value.)

There isn’t much to do at grandma’s house so I’ve been watch a lot of TV. I'm 10 minutes into A Million Ways to Die in the West. This movie is impressively awful. So very, very awful. So, Seth MacFarlane spends 2 hours making jokes like he's Brian and Stewie Griffin combined? I've never really liked Sarah Silverman but this is the worst thing I've ever seen her done. Do I keep watching like some sort of endurance test?

Nooooooooo, get out now while you still can.

ELYSIUM

Part 1:

Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action thriller film. It was written, directed, and co-produced by Neill Blomkamp, and starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Alice Braga and Sharlto Copley. It was released on 9 August 2013, in both conventional and IMAX Digital theaters; I saw the film on TV on 9 July 2015 here in Australia. In my 16 years of retirement from a 50 year student and paid employment life, 1949 to 1999, I have found that, if I wait, the movies and DVDs that come onto the market eventually turn-up on television.

This film takes place on both a ravaged Earth, and a luxurious space habitat on a rotating wheel space station called Elysium. The space station reminded me of the one in 2001 Space Odyssey. The film explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, health care, exploitation, the justice system, and social class issues. Although the film's story is set in 2154, the director-producer has stated that the film is a comment on the contemporary human condition. "Everybody wants to ask me lately about my predictions for the future," the director said, "No, no, no. This isn't science fiction. This is today. This is now."

Part 2:

I leave it to readers with the interest to find the details about the plot, cast, production, critical reception, and general details. Wikipedia has an informative overview of the film. I have taken an interest in the leading science fiction authors of the last two centuries from Mary Shelley to George Lucas. In many ways these authors have predicted and, accordingly, influenced the development of scientific advancements by inspiring many readers to assist in transforming their futuristic visions into everyday reality.

The stories of these two centuries of science-fiction are now told in cyberspace through: film clips, re-enactments, illustrations and interviews.
Back in the 1950s I joined the Baha’i Faith which, among other things, is a religion with the very future in its bones. In my 60 years of association with this newest of the Abrahamic religions I have found it has often been criticized as far too utopian with an unrealistic picture of the future. Perhaps this is yet another reason why I have taken an interest in the genre of science fiction.

Part 3:

You’re getting older Jodi,
but there is still plenty of
bloom on the rose. Matt’s
in his element pushing his
body, his exo-skeleton, as
far as it could be pushed.

I said to myself, as I watched
this film: “this is not 2054…
this is now.” Science fiction
& fact into conversation with
one another. I tried to write
sci-fi back in the late 1980s,
but it was not for me, and
neither was novel-writing.

I settled for essay-writing,
poetry, autobiography, &
internet posting on 1000s
of topics with millions of
words. I was not a writer
of sci-fi: no Isaac Asimov,
no Robert Heinlein, nor a
Jules Verne…We all have
to find our place in space,
our skills, our abilities, our
raison d'etre for living in this
time, this climacteric of history.

Ron Price
11/7/’15.

Night Crawler with Jake Gyllenhaal. Oh. Em. Gee. If you need likable characters to stay involved in a movie, this one will challenge you. But Gyllenhaal has done it again - played a character so believably that I almost felt my skin crawl. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but he plays a freelance news photog who will do ANYTHING to get the job done. Great entertainment - I was totally engrossed.

We heartily agree. I reviewed it back in Dec.
Russo's no slouch either.

That movie was a masterpiece, he absolutely scared the bejesus out of me. If you can only watch happy musicals, this flick ain't for you. Gyllenhaal was the ultimate predator.

lol I did

The new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actually looks kinda ok up until 1 point. Wonder Woman. Huh? I knew she was in it but refused to believe it. Just gonna shoehorn her into this movie? And maybe a guest appearance by Aquaman played by that guy from Game of Thrones.

Sigh, DC sucks compared to Marvel.

For your entertainment on a hot summer Sunday: a review of the awful documentary I watched last because there is something compelling about really bad documentaries.

This one tells the story Steve Greer, M.D., who seems to have given up his medical career to alert the world that aliens are really trying to contact us.

The film, called Sirius, was photographed and directed by an Indian documentarian who used most of the cliches suitable for the genre.
We see Greer, a tall and buff sexagenarian and cancer survivor, seated in a chair, presenting nervousness and some apprehension as he waits back stage to present his talk. We think that perhaps this is a TED talk or something sanctioned by a university, in other words, something with some credit behind it but, no, it seems to be a seminar presented by Greer's own organization.

We see the enthusiastic crowd entering while being scanned for weapons and then filling out extensive forms. We think that perhaps this a Mormon recruitment event, but, no. The folks are obvious followers of Greer, here to be given his message.

You know that 6" skeleton, found in the deserts of Peru a few years back? Well, the program focuses on that, on Greer's personal history, on his message that the government is hiding UFO information as well as hiding that information that we have solved all of our technological problems but that we are wedded to fossil fuels.

One of Greer's associates is just as buff as he is and wore a side arm strapped to his hip the entire time.

While the lab shots never included a Jacob's Ladder, there were plenty of inhouse bolts of lightning. At the end, as the narrator is tying up the loose ends, we see something furry on the back of a chair. I had hoped it was a space creature, brought to the good Doctor as a gift from alien beings but, no, we see a male hand reach for the fur in a darkened room. Then we see a ruggedly handsome man, walking up a hill under a starlit sky, carrying a new red blanket. I thought he was going to sleep under the stars but the blanket was too small for a man to sleep on. It was a throw.
He laid it on the ground with a snap and sat in a yoga position on it . . . revealing that the fur thing was his coonskin cap.

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee where the aliens appear so frequently. They snatch up rubes for surgery! Then fly away from you and me!

I loved that film. I saw it with a former boyfriend who absolutely hated it but then he made me see such masterpieces as Speed and Face Off with him.

It is sooo much better. Carey Mulligan is warmer and more complex. The three suitors are all handsome men but the director stacks the deck with the European actor who plays Gabriel Oak. And the way Bathsheba and Gabriel come to understand and respect each other has you rooting for them.

My daughter saw that in France when she was an au pair and raved about it. My older son and I went to see it and were not enthused. As we left the theatre, my son suggested his sister had lived in Europe for too long.

Watching the aliens-are-here documentary left me feeling like I needed a bath. So, I watched another documentary as an antidote. The second one was about Ramblin' Jack Elliott and was a much easier to take piece, a pleasant walk back through the life of a man who remains important to American music.

Called The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack, the film is the work of his daughter. If you decide to watch it and you think the talking heads all look like they just walked out of the offices of a plastic surgeon, relax. The film is 15 years old.

I sometimes have a hard time walking away from a bad picture, because I can never believe that that many people worked that long on something that smells so much. Surely, it has to get better. I watch it to the bitter end which turns out to be as bad as the bitter beginning.

I still listen to Ramblin Jack. I love his album, Bull Durham Sacks and Railroad Tracks.

You might like the movie. It is a little slow in some places but it is an unflinching portrait and it was nice to have the extended visit with him.

Don't encourage the call and response bot. That thing literally copy and pasted everyone of its posts here. Not an original thought in its database.

Well apparently Ant-Man sucks because it takes itself too seriously and tries to be an Avengers superhero blockbuster instead of a quirky funny movie. I was considering seeing it but now… meh.