Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

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'Ready Player One' (2018)

In Columbus Ohio 2047 a youth attempts to solve a puzzle in a virtual reality world.

Looked a bit like a kid's film but it's Spielberg directing and has Mark Rylance in it so thought I'd give it a go.

It's a cute film no doubt but it's also a bit lame. Thing with Spielberg is, he knows exactly what will play in the sticks so his films are popular but also a bit - or sometimes very - cornball. This has too much cornball to be classed as good, although spotting the hundreds of popular cultural references is quite entertaining. Any film that references 'Excalibur' can't be all bad.

Birmingham England stands in for the Columbus Ohio of the future, residents of Columbus might want to consider selling up and moving now.

Edge Of Tomorrow, 2014. Emily Blunt again in the 3rd of those time movies.



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In an interview with DigitalSpy, Doug Liman, the director of the movie explained, "If I'm going to do a sequel for the first time in my life I want to make it the opposite of what you'd expect from a sequel and we found a story that does that".

That's not a bad film, drags on a bit toward the end though.

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Originally Posted by Macca

terrible film but Emily Blunt.

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Oh yes :)

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Originally Posted by walpurgis

He deserved it too.

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Michael Caine's autobiography is a worthwhile read (there are probably a few, I read "What's it all about?") Didn't have it easy early in life. Things picked up later, and Mrs. Shakira Caine (Lady Micklewhite!) not too shabby.

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G.B.H., 1991. Written by Alan Bleasdale. Stars Robert Lindsay and Michael Palin. One of the great tv series, this from ch4.

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Although no name is given to the fictional city in which this show was set, it was filmed largely in and around Greater Manchester. However, speculation that the city is intended to be Liverpool stems from the fact that the character of Michael Murray is a thinly veiled characterization of Derek Hatton, the former Labour deputy leader of Liverpool City Council. Hatton achieved notoriety in the 1980s when he refused to co-operate with the rate-capping policy of the Conservative government and was a strong follower of Trotskyist Militant Tendencies. Hatton was expelled from the Labour Party in 1986, and in 1993 he was accused of corruption during his time as Deputy Leader of the Council. He was brought to trial, but was exonerated.

The Terminator, 1984. Its directed by James Cameron and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).



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One of these B movies that became huge and spawned a series of movies.

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Originally Posted by struth

G.B.H., 1991. Written by Alan Bleasdale. Stars Robert Lindsay and Michael Palin. One of the great tv series, this from ch4.

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Although no name is given to the fictional city in which this show was set, it was filmed largely in and around Greater Manchester. However, speculation that the city is intended to be Liverpool stems from the fact that the character of Michael Murray is a thinly veiled characterization of Derek Hatton, the former Labour deputy leader of Liverpool City Council. Hatton achieved notoriety in the 1980s when he refused to co-operate with the rate-capping policy of the Conservative government and was a strong follower of Trotskyist Militant Tendencies. Hatton was expelled from the Labour Party in 1986, and in 1993 he was accused of corruption during his time as Deputy Leader of the Council. He was brought to trial, but was exonerated.

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finished this..

now Cat Ballou, 1965.


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At his acceptance of the Oscar, Lee Marvin opened by saying, "Half of this probably belongs to a horse out in the Valley somewhere".

Recent purchase, the 4k version of Some Like It Hot..... One of the greatest comedies ever. so far the picture is stunning, as is sound i think.(It has both 5.1 Surround & Original 2.0 Mono)



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From the brilliant minds of director Billy Wilder (One, Two, Three) and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond (The Apartment) comes the quintessential madcap farce.

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'Sink The Bismarck' (1960)

Documents the hunt for and the eventual battle with the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.

Yes I know it's Kenneth More but thankfully he doesn't spoil things too much as the pacing is good and mostly concentrates on the action at sea rather than back at the Admiralty where More's character is stationed. Good model work used for the ships, helped by the slightly murky black and white picture quality but I personally still find it more convincing and less jarring than the modern day CGI which still looks a little cartoonish to me when used excessively (see 'Midway' from 2019 as an example).

Historical accuracy is not too bad, especially given that in 1960 a lot of info was still classified. The scene in which Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers attack Bismarck and are frustrated by their torpedoes failing to explode is now known to have not actually happened. In reality they mistakenly attacked HMS Sheffield. Luckily the magnetic detonators on the torpedoes were faulty and so the Sheffield remained unscathed.

The scene in which two British destroyers unsuccessfully attack Bismarck with torpedoes and one destroyer is hit and blows up never happened. Likewise no aircraft were lost in the attacks on Bismarck although the film depicts several being shot down.

Interestingly despite being hit by over 400 shells and multiple torpedoes Bismarck was merely superficially damaged and only sank because she was scuttled.

One story not included in the film is that of 'Unsinkable Sam', a cat that resided on the Bismarck and was rescued from the sea by the destroyer HMS Cossack. The cat went on to serve on Cossack, until it was sunk, and then transferred to HMS Ark Royal until that too was sunk. When rescued for the third time he was described as 'Unharmed but quite angry.'

Following that sinking he saw out the remainder of the war in the relative safety of a seaman's home in Belfast.

However there has been some suggestion that much, or all, of the story is apocryphal. Which would be a shame.

'Ludo' failed to mention him in his book:eyebrows: nice story tho, and thats probably what counts here.

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Originally Posted by struth

'Ludo' failed to mention him in his book:eyebrows: nice story tho, and thats probably what counts here.

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I suspect he had no interest in cats.

Photographs and a portrait of the creature do exist however:

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its certainly possible, and obviously a cat did exsist that was on british ship, and thus could easily have been on bismark. One of the lucky ones as only about 100+ survived its sinking from a crew of over 2k.

Being a German cat he probably reacted promptly and efficiently when ordered to abandon ship.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue, 1970. No 4k print here but an excellent 2k, 1080p at its very best(see below)


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Warner Archive Collection commissioned a new scan, which was performed by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility at 2K using a recently struck interpositive. An original 1970 dye transfer (IB) Technicolor answer print was used for color reference; although the answer print itself was battered, Technicolor's dye transfer process is noted for its resistance to fading. The Blu-ray image reflects the care with which MPI has managed the film's many dissolves and superimpositions, which were accomplished optically with the concomitant loss of detail and sharpness and accentuated grain.

Production on the film fell weeks behind schedule due to bad weather. When filming was suspended, director Sam Peckinpah, along with cast and crew, would drink. When filming finally wrapped, the bar bill came to over $70,000 (equivalent to over $483,000 in 2021).

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Originally Posted by Macca

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Yes I know it's Kenneth More but thankfully he doesn't spoil things too much

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What's up with Kenneth More? My mate used to do a brilliant impression of Douglas Bader doing 'The Twist'. Without Ken's portrayal of Bader that may never have happened.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, UHD.


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[QUOTE]=Pigmy Pony;1315310]What's up with Kenneth More?/[QUOTE]

I don't know, he just gets on my tits for some reason. And he stars in that terrible re-make of 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' which is an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back.

One of those rare things where it's so bad you keep watching out of sheer disbelief that anyone could have made it let alone put it up for public consumption. Although the best example of that effect is the sitcom 'All About Me' with Jasper Carrott.

[QUOTE=Macca;1315325][QUOTE]=Pigmy Pony;1315310]What's up with Kenneth More?/

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I don't know, he just gets on my tits for some reason. And he stars in that terrible re-make of 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' which is an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back.

One of those rare things where it's so bad you keep watching out of sheer disbelief that anyone could have made it let alone put it up for public consumption. Although the best example of that effect is the sitcom 'All About Me' with Jasper Carrott.

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Been 3 films and a BBC production and none actually followed the book, which is a very good read.
The Hitch one is best, the others all do some things well enough but none are in any way gripping enough.
There are a few other Hannah books around same time which are good too. Green mantle comes to mind.

Remakes usually do suck.

I remember seeing the one with Kenneth More, and there is a bit where they were going to Inveraray, and i got quite excited about it, as I have happy memories fishing there. Then he said "This isn't the road to Inveraray!" What a gyp! Then years later I saw another remake, this time with Robert Powell iirc. And guess what? They still didn't get to Inveraray!

I bet they did in the original.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Remakes usually do suck.

I remember seeing the one with Kenneth More, and there is a bit where they were going to Inveraray, and i got quite excited about it, as I have happy memories fishing there. Then he said "This isn't the road to Inveraray!" What a gyp! Then years later I saw another remake, this time with Robert Powell iirc. And guess what? They still didn't get to Inveraray!

I bet they did in the original.

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in book its set when in scotland in and around sw scotland.. newton stewart etc. they never went over the rail bridge. there was no music hall act either

I've watched the original one, the 1978 Robert Powell one and the BBC version all quite recently.

Always enjoy the first one, have a soft spot for the 1978 one as I saw it at the cinema when it came out (going to the cinema back then was a very rare treat). And it has the best ending.

The BBC one could have been a lot better than it was, they clearly didn't have anything like enough budget to work with. But it was okay by today's standards.

Flight of the Navigator, 1986.


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Joey Cramer(who played the navigator) got done for bank robbery in 2016 and copped 2 years inside and 2 years probation etc. Possibly shows how child stardom can screw you up.

Director Randall Kleiser brought in his brother Jeff as the visual effects supervisor, who oversaw the use of reflection mapping software to create the ship's chrome-like appearance. The result was one of the first successful examples of what would later be known as CGI - a full 5 years before the groundbreaking T-1000 of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

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Originally Posted by struth

Flight of the Navigator, 1986.


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Joey Cramer(who played the navigator) got done for bank robbery in 2016 and copped 2 years inside and 2 years probation etc. Possibly shows how child stardom can screw you up.

Director Randall Kleiser brought in his brother Jeff as the visual effects supervisor, who oversaw the use of reflection mapping software to create the ship's chrome-like appearance. The result was one of the first successful examples of what would later be known as CGI - a full 5 years before the groundbreaking T-1000 of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

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looked that up - he's also been nicked for possession of controlled substance, dealing in controlled substance, drinking in public, illegal possession of a firearm with intent, and cashing forged cheques. Should have stuck to acting.

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Originally Posted by Macca

looked that up - he's also been nicked for possession of controlled substance, dealing in controlled substance, drinking in public, illegal possession of a firearm with intent, and cashing forged cheques. Should have stuck to acting.

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dunno that he was any good anyway. child acting is different to adult. kids who get famous quick like that often struggle as people as i think emotionally they stop growing and often end up on drugs etc. easy money so drugs dealing is often quite attractive too. Not sure i would have been keen on one of mine being a star child actor.

Blame It on the Bellboy, 1992. some nice shots of Venice and the odd larf... plus Penelope Wilton and Patsy Kensit


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Dudley Moore was first billed, Bryan Brown was second, Richard Griffiths was third, Andreas Katsulas was fourth, and Patsy Kensit was fifth, though many posters and home video covers have Kensit third billed with Griffiths dropping back to fourth, and relatively unknown Katsulas not featuring his name above the title at all.

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Originally Posted by struth

dunno that he was any good anyway. child acting is different to adult. kids who get famous quick like that often struggle as people as i think emotionally they stop growing and often end up on drugs etc. easy money so drugs dealing is often quite attractive too. Not sure i would have been keen on one of mine being a star child actor.

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yes, I suppose like any sort of 'non-standard' childhood it can have deleterious effects later in life.

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Originally Posted by Macca

looked that up - he's also been nicked for possession of controlled substance, dealing in controlled substance, drinking in public, illegal possession of a firearm with intent, and cashing forged cheques. Should have stuck to acting.

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Acting doesn't really qualify you for much else, apart from politics or selling used cars I suppose.

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Originally Posted by walpurgis

Acting doesn't really qualify you for much else, apart from politics or selling used cars I suppose.

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probably spot on... im no use at any lol

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'Who Dares Wins' (1982) aka 'The Final Option'

Lewis Collins is a captain in the SAS who resigns his commission after an elaborate set up so he can go undercover to infiltrate a terrorist cell.

One of those films that has its moments but could have been a whole lot better without a lot more effort. With Lewis Collins in the lead role it does look and feel a lot like an extended episode of 'The Professionals' and indeed director Ian Sharp also did a number of episodes of that TV series.

The two main problems are that the pacing is ragged, firstly you get the impression that they had to drag out boring scenes in order to get the run time up to feature film length. Example being the rock concert scene, do we really have to sit through the entirety of the crappy song the band is playing?

Secondly the terrorists are not at all threatening or scary, they look like some genteel middle-class blokes from down the pub and their cause and motivation simply isn't credible.

So after a promising start it all gets a bit bogged-down and crappy, even the mostly very good cast can't save it.

Really only worth a look for the final third where the embassy is taken over and the SAS have to go in since it is actually the real SAS on screen, not actors or stuntmen.

Collins passed selection for 21 SAS (a territorial regiment) but was declined for active service on the grounds that he was too famous.

Just watch the first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen minutes and you've pretty much covered everything worth seeing.

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Originally Posted by Macca

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'Who Dares Wins' (1982) aka 'The Final Option'

Lewis Collins is a captain in the SAS who resigns his commission after an elaborate set up so he can go undercover to infiltrate a terrorist cell.

One of those films that has its moments but could have been a whole lot better without a lot more effort. With Lewis Collins in the lead role it does look and feel a lot like an extended episode of 'The Professionals' and indeed director Ian Sharp also did a number of episodes of that TV series.

The two main problems are that the pacing is ragged, firstly you get the impression that they had to drag out boring scenes in order to get the run time up to feature film length. Example being the rock concert scene, do we really have to sit through the entirety of the crappy song the band is playing?

Secondly the terrorists are not at all threatening or scary, they look like some genteel middle-class blokes from down the pub and their cause and motivation simply isn't credible.

So after a promising start it all gets a bit bogged-down and crappy, even the mostly very good cast can't save it.

Really only worth a look for the final third where the embassy is taken over and the SAS have to go in since it is actually the real SAS on screen, not actors or stuntmen.

Collins passed selection for 21 SAS (a territorial regiment) but was declined for active service on the grounds that he was too famous.

Just watch the first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen minutes and you've pretty much covered everything worth seeing.

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yeah collins was always a bit of a get up and go type and was tough in real life.. think he was pally with the guys in the parras and they did a sponsored walk for kids.

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Originally Posted by struth

yeah collins was always a bit of a get up and go type and was tough in real life.. think he was pally with the guys in the parras and they did a sponsored walk for kids.

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Yes, he was actually in 10th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment which was a territorial unit. Brother of a friend of mine was also an actor, he knew him and said he could be a bit of a nutcase at times. Got passed over for James Bond which was a shame, he would have been pretty good I think.

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Originally Posted by struth

probably spot on... im no use at any lol

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Acting is weird really. Imagine going through life only being known for not being yourself.

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Originally Posted by walpurgis

Acting is weird really. Imagine going through life only being known for not being yourself.

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instead i went through life not being known as anything or one :D

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Originally Posted by struth

instead i went through life not being known as anything or one :D

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That's the best way.

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Originally Posted by Macca

That's the best way.

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I agree. :)

Blackadder the Third, 1987.


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The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002 written by Alexandre Dumas(s):D



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The Count of Monte Cristo was one of Mark Twain's favorite books. When Twain toured Europe in 1867, he made a special stop to see the prison, Chateau D'if. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains a humorous spoof of Monte Cristo.
The location of the Chateau D'if is actually an old castle in Malta, and is now used by the Maltese military as a communications and weather station.

Back to the Future III, 1990.



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A horse dealership in 1885 is owned by the Statlers. In Back to the Future (1985) there is an ad on the radio for "Statler Toyota" in 1985. In 1955, "Statler Motors Studebaker" is visible near the town theater.

This is the only film in the trilogy where Marty and Doc Brown exchange catchphrases. Marty says "Great Scott!" and Doc Brown replies "Yeah, this is heavy" while talking about the tombstone photo.

Only seen that once, better than the second one IIRC. ZZ Top are in it too.

You can't really fault the original at all. A perfect film. Don't know how many times I've seen that it never gets old.

'Better get used to these bars, kid.' That always cracks me up.

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Originally Posted by Macca

You can't really fault the original at all. A perfect film. Don't know how many times I've seen that it never gets old.

'Better get used to these bars, kid.' That always cracks me up.

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i'd say the trilogy was the best ever, and probably will never be beaten. just class...

History of Mr Polly, 1949.

Not one of Barry's faves lol but I like it. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...337df41575.jpg

The Lady Vanishes, 1938. Hitchcock.....


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In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Alfred Hitchcock revealed that this movie was inspired by a legend of an Englishwoman who went with her daughter to the Palace Hotel in Paris in the 1880s, at the time of the Great Exposition: "The woman was taken sick and they sent the girl across Paris to get some medicine in a horse-vehicle, so it took about four hours. When she came back she asked, 'How's my mother?' 'What mother?' 'My mother. She's here, she's in her room. Room 22.' They go up there. Different room, different wallpaper, everything. And the payoff of the whole story is, so the legend goes, that the woman had bubonic plague and they dared not let anybody know she died, otherwise all of Paris would have emptied." The urban legend, known as the Vanishing Hotel Room, also formed the basis of one segment of the German portmanteau movie Eerie Tales (1919), So Long at the Fair (1950) (in which the missing person was the young woman's brother as opposed to her mother) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) season one, episode five, "Into Thin Air", starring Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock.

3 years earlier, The 39 Steps, 1935.. Hitchcock again.



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During a private screening, Alfred Hitchcock asked John Buchan, whose original plot had been used only very loosely, what he thought of the movie so far. Buchan replied: "Fascinating! I wonder how it will end." :lolsign::lolsign:

moving up 4 decades and another Hitch masterpiece. Frenzy, 1972.


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Alfred Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock found this movie so disturbing that she would not allow her children to see it for many years. This is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie to carry an "18" certificate in the U.K., or receive an "X" rating after the "X" age restriction was moved from sixteen to eighteen in 1971.

The bags of pork scratchings displayed in Covent Garden pub The Globe, owned by Felix Forsythe (Bernard Cribbins), show the prices in dual currency (1/- or 5p). The same is true on various price lists seen in the market. While the U.K. had introduced decimal currency in February 1971, the new and old currencies were used until around 1973.

Jon Finch who stars, and plays Richard Blaney, was very well regarded actor who was offered the bond role in Live and Let Die(1973)that went to Roger Moore. He was also the original choice for Doyle in the Professionals that went to Martin Shaw. Finch had been a Para and was in the SAS too, but gave it up to concentrate on acting(mostly theatre)

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Originally Posted by struth

moving up 4 decades and another Hitch masterpiece. Frenzy, 1972

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Bit of an underrated classic and not well known. It's an excellent film, if rather grim. I have the DVD.

For some reason, it always reminds me of 'Peeping Tom' (which I should get).

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Originally Posted by walpurgis

Bit of an underrated classic and not well known. It's an excellent film, if rather grim. I have the DVD.

For some reason, it always reminds me of 'Peeping Tom' (which I should get).

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ive got peeping tom. yes it has a lot of psychological similarities.


Now, a western from the great John Ford. The Searchers, 1956. Stars of course John Wayne along with Natalie Wood, Vera Miles and Jeffrey Hunter.


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Considering the part of Ethan Edwards to be the best character that he ever portrayed on-screen and The Searchers (1956) to be his favorite film role, John Wayne named his youngest son Ethan Wayne in homage.

The eccentric character of Mose Harper, played by Hank Worden, is loosely based on an actual historical personage called Mad Mose, a legendary half-crazy Indian fighter of the American southwest with a fondness for rocking chairs.

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Jean-Luc Godard, John Milius, and Paul Schrader regard this as one of the films that have most influenced them and have all paid some form of homage to it in their work.

Switch, 1991.



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great fun this...


quote. Protester: Do you know how many poor animals died to make that coat(fur)?

Woman: Do you know how many rich animals I had to fuck to get this coat?

:D

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Originally Posted by struth

History of Mr Polly, 1949.

Not one of Barry's faves lol but I like it. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...337df41575.jpg

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Read the book at school so was interested in seeing the film, hoping it would improve on the book. It didn't! :rolleyes: