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

[YashN]

​

Beautifully shot and rather engrossing for some of the cultural aspects and the main character's tribulations as she is foiled in her attempts of pursuing a romantic dream, something apparently forbidden to Geishas. The younger actress playing the part was excellent in her role. Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li also star, and they're excellent too, accompanied sometimes by Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh.

The music sounds authentic most of the time although some of the motifs do sound more Westernised than Oriental, the end credit music for instance. Overall, John Williams did a great job here. We do have the soundtrack and now that I listen to it after watching the movie, I like it more.

Now, this is a very entertaining and romanticised and fictionalised film, so don't expect to find any deep explanation of how a Geisha's life really is. Not only did the director tell about the liberties taken to portray the Geishas but also their main adviser for the movie was an academic who was allowed to wear Geisha garments and follow real ones on their entertainment nights, not 'the first Western Geisha' as she apparently claims. So, this movie brings a smile in the sense that you watch Asian actresses (Chinese rather than Japanese) being taught the things that Geishas do by a Westerner.

The novel on which the script is based was inspired by a real Geisha's information, which proved problematic when the author mentioned her in the acknowledgements section as they have a code of silence. A lawsuit followed which was settled out of court, one point of contention being that in the book, the Geishas are said to 'sell' their virginity to the highest bidder.

To dig deeper, one would have to see a more proper documentary about Geishas or read the autobiography of the above source of info, but this movie won't help a lot to dispel the myth that Geishas equate to prostitutes because of the point of contention mentioned. So that Occidental misunderstanding is bound to perdure, whereas it is also mentioned in the movie that Geishas are artists of some sort, and ideally look for patrons of their arts.

The young main character and Gong Li stole the show for me.

 

[YashN]

​

This sequel draws you in right away: the special effects are really, really well-made, with an early scene very reminiscent of one in The Revenant.

As soon as you start watching it, the characters don't feel like CGI ones: you feel they are real 'persons'.

Lots of action scenes and drama, but the most interesting things were the development of leadership, the power struggles, the dawn of intelligence and the subsequent complications arising from humans and their encroachment of the apes' territory.

Engrossing from start to finish, with beautiful shots upscaled in 4K.

The first one is still preferred by me as there is a very powerful single anthology scene there which finds an echo in this one, but of course, the novelty aspect isn't there anymore.

Mind you, there are powerful scenes in this one too.

 

[NorthStar]

Happy 4th! ...Last night I revisited True Grit with:

Hailee Steinfeld - Mattie Ross
Jeff Bridges - Rooster Cogburn
Matt Damon - La Boeuf
Josh Brolin - Tom Chaney
Barry Pepper - "Lucky" Ned Pepper

______

Good replay value. I don't remember if I ever rated it (score number) ... 89.5
______

Hot here right now on the deck: 30° (Canadian).

 

[YashN]

​

Despite Tony Shaloub, this action movie supposedly based on real-life events isn't very good. It has some funny moments (not everything is funny though), a couple of quite violent scenes too.

The music is very good, the video quality as well, super clear upscaled to 4K.

Still, not a great movie by Michael Bay.

 

[MadFloyd]

View attachment 27810​

Beautifully shot and rather engrossing for some of the cultural aspects and the main character's tribulations as she is foiled in her attempts of pursuing a romantic dream, something apparently forbidden to Geishas. The younger actress playing the part was excellent in her role. Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li also star, and they're excellent too, accompanied sometimes by Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh.

The music sounds authentic most of the time although some of the motifs do sound more Westernised than Oriental, the end credit music for instance. Overall, John Williams did a great job here. We do have the soundtrack and now that I listen to it after watching the movie, I like it more.

Now, this is a very entertaining and romanticised and fictionalised film, so don't expect to find any deep explanation of how a Geisha's life really is. Not only did the director tell about the liberties taken to portray the Geishas but also their main adviser for the movie was an academic who was allowed to wear Geisha garments and follow real ones on their entertainment nights, not 'the first Western Geisha' as she apparently claims. So, this movie brings a smile in the sense that you watch Asian actresses (Chinese rather than Japanese) being taught the things that Geishas do by a Westerner.

The novel on which the script is based was inspired by a real Geisha's information, which proved problematic when the author mentioned her in the acknowledgements section as they have a code of silence. A lawsuit followed which was settled out of court, one point of contention being that in the book, the Geishas are said to 'sell' their virginity to the highest bidder.

To dig deeper, one would have to see a more proper documentary about Geishas or read the autobiography of the above source of info, but this movie won't help a lot to dispel the myth that Geishas equate to prostitutes because of the point of contention mentioned. So that Occidental misunderstanding is bound to perdure, whereas it is also mentioned in the movie that Geishas are artists of some sort, and ideally look for patrons of their arts.

The young main character and Gong Li stole the show for me.

Excellent review, YashN! I have had the blu-ray for ages but never got around to watching it. You made me want to!

Are all the best reviewers from Canada?

 

[MadFloyd]

View attachment 27811​

This sequel draws you in right away: the special effects are really, really well-made, with an early scene very reminiscent of one in The Revenant.

As soon as you start watching it, the characters don't feel like CGI ones: you feel they are real 'persons'.

Lots of action scenes and drama, but the most interesting things were the development of leadership, the power struggles, the dawn of intelligence and the subsequent complications arising from humans and their encroachment of the apes' territory.

Engrossing from start to finish, with beautiful shots upscaled in 4K.

The first one is still preferred by me as there is a very powerful single anthology scene there which finds an echo in this one, but of course, the novelty aspect isn't there anymore.

Mind you, there are powerful scenes in this one too.

I don't have high hopes for this one, but I will watch it at some point. I disliked the first one in this series. I am a big Planet of the Apes fan, but the latest reincarnation didn't work for me.

Thanks for your thoughts, YashN!

 

[MadFloyd]

Another movie I saw in the theater was that of Stephen Kings The Mist.
One of the most bizarre movie theater experiences ever.
The movie is standard King, Frank Darabont doing a brilliant job of putting King on the screen, true to the book, crowd participation in the theater we were all having fun. People commenting on the movie as we went along, laughing typical King flick. One of the few times I ever participated in talking during a movie, it was fun.

Until, Mr. Darabont put his own ending on the movie. One of the most disturbing scenes in any movie I have ever witnessed.

The entire movie theater full of people got up and walked out in silence, I didn't hear anyone speak until they got outside the building.

Truly bizarre.

There seems to be a black & white version of this movie along with the color. Which one is better?

 

[YashN]

Excellent review, YashN! I have had the blu-ray for ages but never got around to watching it. You made me want to!

Thanks a lot for these great words, MadFloyd

Are all the best reviewers from Canada?

I guess there's not much else to do come winter time here except grow a beard indoors and watch movies.

Ah wait, it's summer now, I should get out more.

 

[YashN]

I don't have high hopes for this one, but I will watch it at some point. I disliked the first one in this series. I am a big Planet of the Apes fan, but the latest reincarnation didn't work for me.

Thanks for your thoughts, YashN!

You're welcome.

If you didn't like the first one, maybe this one won't do much for you, but us two had differing opinions here: she preferred this one, and I preferred the first one.

Come 2017, the third film should be released around July, with 'War For The Planet Of The Apes' as title.

I grew up watching the Planet of the Apes TV show, so names like Zirka, Urko, Galen are familiar to me and resonate a lot. There's also that iconic ending in the Charlton Heston movie that I also watched as a kid.

There used to be a French TV show called 'Les Dossiers de l'Ecran' which made for a rather fascinating night when I was young: there would be a movie, usually Science-Fiction, and then a debate afterwards. I saw many great movies this way, and even caught some of the subsequent 'Planet of The Apes' movies of the 70s.

These were fantastic times.

I also liked the Tim Burton movie before this series reboot.

Here's to hoping I can write more great reviews.

 

[YashN]

There used to be a French TV show called 'Les Dossiers de l'Ecran' which made for a rather fascinating night when I was young: there would be a movie, usually Science-Fiction, and then a debate afterwards. I saw many great movies this way, and even caught some of the subsequent 'Planet of The Apes' movies of the 70s.

Memories of gripping nights.

 

[NorthStar]

There seems to be a black & white version of this movie along with the color. Which one is better?

Hey, good eye. :b

• http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Mist-Blu-ray/992/#Review
• http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2164760
_______

I revisited a French movie last night, from France: Leon: The Professional

_______

* Denis Villeneuve is a French-Canadian film director and writer. ... Sicario
_______

The two latest Apes movies, with James Franco, and Jason Clarke & Gary Oldman; you think they run out of ideas in Hollywood?
Or they simply try to cash in with old resurrected ideas?
_______

Steve, the founder, and a movie lover; I believe he is also a Canadian.
_______

Amir, the founder, a film lover; he could easily pass for a Canadian.
_______

YashN can speak French?
_______

Michael Bay...Canadian or American? :b

? Bonus: http://comicbook.com/2016/07/05/michael-bay-shares-explosive-transformers-the-last-knight-photo/

 

[YashN]

There seems to be a black & white version of this movie along with the color. Which one is better?

I've only watched the colour one, I'd recommend it.

 

[NorthStar]

Moi aussi, mais maintenant je veux revoir ce film en noir et blanc. ...La version préferée du cinéaste (directeur de ce film - The Mist). :b
_________

"The black and white version of the film also looks good. The image is crisp with nice detail and depth, a little more noticeable grain in some scenes, and deeper and truer blacks. The look of the mist itself translates very well to black and white imagery, creating greater drama, though viewing the film on back-to-back nights, some of the tension was reduced due to the film being so fresh in my mind. Still, this version looks great, and seeing that it is Frank Darabont's "preferred" version, I'd recommend watching the black and white first " - BR review
_________

"Hey, this is Frank Darabont! Welcome to the black and white version of "The Mist". I always had it in mind actually to wanna do "The Mist" in black and white. Because there is something about Stephen King's story that is a bit of a throwback. In fact even he says - in an afterword he once wrote - when he was writing the story, concieving the story, he was inspired by those old black and white, Bert I. Gordon-inspired monster movies of his youth. That I think has planted a seed in my head as well as many of the fans of the story through the years. Because I've heard that from a lot of people, wouldn't it be cool to do "The Mist" in black and white? So, I just kinda wanted to do that. But it's a hard argument to make with the studio, 'cause not many people are into black and white these days - which I think is a shame. Youngsters especially don't wanna see anything in black and white. They think it's old-fashioned or out of date or it doesn't look real - I heard that one! That to me is what makes black and white so very cool. It doesn't look real! Film itself isn't real. It's a heightened reality. It's manipulating light through a lense, you know, to create a heightened recreation of reality. To me black and white takes that even one step further. It gives you a view of the world that really doesn't exist in reality and the only place you can see that representation of the world is in a black and white movie. So, to me this has always been a bit of a throwback to that mid-sixties, "Night of the living Dead", pre-colour, Ray Harryhausen-era of film. And I always wanted to do it in black and white. Luckily, nowadays we don't actually have to make that choice. Nowadays, we can decide that we are going to put a black and white version on the DVD because we don't really cut a negative anymore what's called a D-I. Coen brothers did this with "The Man who wasn't there". They shot the movie in colour, but they actually released it in black and white - which I think was a fantastic looking film. So, now you can have both. Now a director can actually have both. That's what the idea is here of this black and white version of the film. The colour version winds up being really cool. Winds up feeling very much lika a mid-seventies kind of movie to me. Another kind of movie I grew up watching - but the black and white version feels like that mid-sixties era version. The two, I feel, are completly different viewing experiences. I dig them both. But if there's something on this disc that someone would consider the director's cut or the director's version of the movie, it would have to be the black and white. It's my preferred version for my fellow filmbusting geeks who really dig black and white movies. This would be the version to watching - in my opinion. I really hope you enjoy the black and white of "The Mist"." - Frank Darabont

 

[NorthStar]

View attachment 27811​

This sequel draws you in right away: the special effects are really, really well-made, with an early scene very reminiscent of one in The Revenant.
As soon as you start watching it, the characters don't feel like CGI ones: you feel they are real 'persons'.
Lots of action scenes and drama, but the most interesting things were the development of leadership, the power struggles, the dawn of intelligence and the subsequent complications arising from humans and their encroachment of the apes' territory.
Engrossing from start to finish, with beautiful shots upscaled in 4K.
The first one is still preferred by me as there is a very powerful single anthology scene there which finds an echo in this one, but of course, the novelty aspect isn't there anymore.
Mind you, there are powerful scenes in this one too.

After reading your post (inspiration), and re-watching the trailer, I decided to re-spin my 3D BR version.

If I would have to rate it (I don't remember if I rated it or not in the past, but it don't matter because every re-watch is different, just like spinning a vinyl record); 65 would be about fair (overall). ...So it's just on the line, to give everyone total freedom in giving it a chance, or not.
You can always toss a coin up in the air and call it before you're getting too serious or too humorous. :b
Go ahead, movies are for fun, even the ones that aren't very elaborately and meticulously and intelligently formulated and composed.
Movies are prefabricated reality to please all type of audiences, from top to bottom.

* I was reading about Pain & Gain (2013), but the true story...not the film.
The Michael Bay's film is nothing resembling the true story; Bay took complete liberty to create the exact opposite (a comedy railing for our three stooges), instead of trying to recreate the tragedy of Miami back then. Today Miami is a much more grounded city from the state of Florida.
Anyway, the true story (and other true stories) on which this film is minimally loosely based on, is dramatic in a way of how despicable, sadistic, violent, crazy these people were.
And some are still alive today, of course. It's always about money, and here through extortion. ...And there is some cocaine involved a little too...the perimeters help in that regard.
And those body builder guys, some of them, the minority, like to inject themselves with horse vitamins through needles in the butt. This is humor, just in case.

When you read the real facts it makes you sick in the stomach; one couple for example was decapitated in ways that I cannot fully describe in my own words; you have to read the real accounts, and I won't give any links on that one...google is free to anyone to use on their own.
But anyway: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/pain-and-gain.php

Yes, Miami, the state of Florida, the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, 00s, 10s, ...the cokadicts, the stories, the movies, the easy access from near countries, the East Canadian Blue Bird spot destination, ...all that jazz...pain and gain.

In the west; the apes of Hollywood.

In the middle south, the gamblers, the oil magnates...

New Orleans Jazz festival.

 

[NorthStar]

Some films have a stronger impact on some people than others, and also depending of where you live and the trend in belief and the education system today from where that film is presented and who decide of what should be presented or not in public theaters...or stay underground.
No matter what, you have to keep up with the new education/information, and not the old one...which is mainly obsolete as it does not correspond anymore with the times and year we live in now. Sure some basic fundamentals remain, but the attachments they always rejuvenate themselves to better improved life's values. Cities are getting larger and higher (skyscrapers) with more people...so are the values too. ...Do they? ...The values...getting better respect.

People living in the jungles as smaller tribes they have their own values too...with the living, and with the dead.

Here in America we live in a system; an economic and cultural system. We live in an entertainment movie business world. Facts are much more alarming than fiction. Profits are the main drive of most; this is just normal human nature.
_______

Why my introduction just above? Because I like to keep all options open to all perspectives. ...People's own beliefs in the world of 2016.

Last night I revisited The Conjuring (2013), a film based on ghosts.

_______

Ghosts they all come in various forms and @ their own paste and time. The one in that film is not a happy ghost, and cannot rest in his bed for eternity; no, he/she has to play games with the kids and their Mom (all girls). ...Dad is not a happy camper; he would rather play with his own toys. ...It's a way of speech; if you saw the film you'll know why.

The film starts without any fanfare; just couple young girls describing a puppet's experience. And then it seems that the game is on to get very boring with that stuff. But the director inflicts some moments of out-of-this world visual activity and sound effects. The music score is phenomenal. But everything took its time to develop and materialize with great impact. The very best review for this film is to experience it, and if your sound system is up to it...so will you. It has that visceral effect, like cutting through your brain with a razor blade.

As for how much the story of that film is true and how much is prefabricated, it's very easy to see. You're free to explore the true story if you want to, but be prepared to read a lot of crap and deceptions. Some folks they just didn't have the full working education in adapting with the reality we live in. ...But the superficial side of it...profits.

? http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/conjuring.php

Overall (film and technical attributes): 79
Last word(s): That's movie entertainment.
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••• Bonus (that's for the sequel; The Conjuring 2):

- http://www.thewrap.com/heres-why-th...-a-bigger-hit-than-captain-america-civil-war/
- http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/07/the-c...-and-you-wont-believe-the-reason-why-5991797/
- https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/08/the-conjuring-2-french-cinemas-disorder-audience

_______

It helps too to know about the film director's previous work. And also to know that The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 (more are coming too), did very very good @ the box office...yes, big numbers for relatively low budgets. Actually they are among the best ever grossing horror flicks of all time.

If you take the time to read the links, watch the trailers, read some reviews, explore the true stories, ...all that jazz; or you can get extremely bored and quit very fast, or you can get lost in a huge pile of crap. ...The other possibility is that you can be swayed into believing some of it and get addicted...a little.

But no matter what you believe or not, my last words of the film's overall impression is totally honest: That's movie entertainment! :b ... The Conjuring (2013)

 

[NorthStar]

I started playing chess @ around age 14. And I kept playing more and more through my college years, and it became part of art from my brain. My best friend from the seventies was a champ and participating in tournaments. I have tons of stories about chess, amazing stories. For another time perhaps. I'm not a great player, I just love the game. It's another world, a quiet one. It goes perfectly fine with the arts.

Anyway, last night I watched Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
"It is based on the true story of Bobby Fischer's challenge against top Soviet chess grandmasters during the Cold War and culminating in the 1972 World Chess Championship match versus Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was directed by Edward Zwick and written by Steven Knight. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy."

It drew me back in my past, in peaceful memories. ...In coffee houses where music was playing live, in hotel halls where my friend was ranked high enough to compete in large tournaments. It's a good film, in particular if you like the game and you played it for many years. But it's quiet; it's not like Deadpool or 13 Hours.

If you like chess you will like this film.
Overall: 76

For people who don't know Bobby Fisher; he is considered the greatest chess grandmaster who ever existed by many other chess masters and grandmasters.
Chess is about strategy, memorization, nerves, brain, coolness, ...all the things to destroy your opponent's king...and your opponent's orientation.
Bobby Fisher was a master @ that art. He melted his opponents in ways that they believed that they had very bad headaches and that they needed to see a doctor!
If you like chess you know some already. And if you don't know much about chess and about Fisher's life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

• http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/12/bobby-fischer-s-pathetic-endgame/302634/
_______

To whoever is reading this; I would love to know if anyone has any thought about chess, if they play the game, if they know about Fisher's life?
Anyone's playing chess online? Should I start a thread here @ WBF for chess games? I love golf too but we cannot play online. :b
Chess and golf are two of the greatest games/sports ever.

Last night I have been checking chess moves. No movies, just chess moves, and this morning too. That's how addicting this movie was; it plunged me back where once I was, with the timing clock, speed games, best games reading, all that chess jazz. So if there are other members here who like to share some that would be great. Movies do that to us sometimes, certainly to me.
I've seen people consumed by chess, but no one like Bobby Fisher. He had zero fear in the game; it's others who feared him.
I've seen in real life mature adults in their forties, fifties, sixties cried like babies after being defeated by kids less than ten-years old!
I've seen grown-up adults walking like zombies totally lost in surreality after losing a chess game. If you are a chess player, or was one, like enough to have been @ it intensively, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you have participated or assisted to some major chess tournaments, you have seen a world of deep internal concentration. ...And the results of what's come with it for some...more or less.
_______

That second video just above is the game number six, and represented with special emphasis in the film Pawn Sacrifice.
It was the pivotal point of that tournament.

The first video is also an incredible game when Fisher was only 13.
______

In audio (music) we often say it's not the destination, it's the journey. In chess Bobby Fisher was and still is the best (even after he died in January 2008). His chess revolution keeps evolving today.
@ the end was he crazy or paranoid or something else mentally describable? Well, he was not your typical corner street guy. A genius he certainly was.
Let's put it this way; he put chess in the world map like no one else ever, before, during, and after him.

 

[NorthStar]

I was asked by someone today: When and where the game of chess was first invented?

• Long ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess

_______

Chess is one of the most complex games, played with number of combination of moves. Chess might be an easy game to learn but to master it you need years of practice.

The chessboards are available in variety of sizes and designs and most of them are Spain, Germany and Greece made.

Fun facts:

1. The number of combination of moves is much more than the stars in the universe.

2. It is also known as Game Of Kings because originally it was played by noble and upper class people.

3 .The keys got the names- the queen, king, knight, bishop during the middle age when these were the people in rule.

 

[NorthStar]

I have been watching videos and reading articles about this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen

Truly fascinating young man and stuff about the world of chess.

Also, I'm going to research more movies about chess, like Searching for Bobby Fisher (1993)

 

[still-one]

I have been watching videos and reading articles about this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen

Truly fascinating young man and stuff about the world of chess.

Also, I'm going to research more movies about chess, like Searching for Bobby Fisher (1993)

Good movie!

 

[NorthStar]

___

? https://www.google.ca/search?noj=1&.... .0.0....0...1c..64.serp..0.0.0.sgQ9FKTH9tE