Was on the telly schedules only just the other night, I have the DVD but couldn’t take myself away from watching this three hour movie for the umpteenth time.
Plays out like a noir crime thriller with a great touch from Roman to bring a smokey and hard liquor skewed esoteric story with memorable visual scenes.
Funny that was on my mind as well. I saw this when it first came out in 2006/7 at a boutique cinema in Dublin.
On my viewing list tonight. Also, love the Sara Kestelman narration.
What an amazing concert!
Kong: skull Island. What a waste of money on a 4K disc and an evening I can never get back.
What an amazing suit.
I quite like it. I mean it’s completely stupid with little in the way of acting merit and a script written by a team of 5 year olds. But it’s entertaining stupid imo…
You didn’t like it? I thought t was awesome. What were you expecting?
Yep, total hokum but a decent test of your Dolby Atmos system which I used when I had mine installed a few weeks ago, particularly the opening credits and helicopter bombing scene - downloaded via Sky Q.
I’m all for big action monster movies, with great special effects and impressive sound, but found neither with this movie. I thought the cgi was poor. The characters were weak, and I couldn’t care who died, which is a bad sign. The sound was okay, but nothing special.
On the other hand, I watched Predator in 4K a few days ago and it was superb. Special effects, sound and characters were great. The whole film was tense and included humour which was actual humour. All from 1987.
Over the weekend we watched Widows on DVD, courtesy of Cinema Paradiso.
I was really looking forward to this film, particularly with such great reviews behind it and, of course, following on the back of Steve McQueen’s previous films like the superb 12 Years a Slave. The trailers left you really wanting to watch the film. Now having done so, I’m not sure how well I rate it. For sure it’s an engrossing watch, and there are some nice little twists to keep you guessing, however, I was left wondering whether some of the other themes like social and race issues running through what is ostensibly a heist film, were given enough screen time to properly develop. Overall, what could have been a really great film fell rather short of the mark for me.
Revisiting the first series of Jed Mercurio’s brilliant police procedural for the BBC. Telly at its very best:
Sully - 4K. Saw it at the cinema and liked it. The 4K disc is the best picture I’ve ever seen. It’s literally flawless from 2ft away. The sound is very disappointing considering it’s picture quality and production date. Poor quality dialogue and far too much flabby bass. A bit like my mum.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 4k. Film is pretty good, picture quality pretty good, sound is great. The bass from my sub is wonderfully tight, articulate and impressive. Funny how these things pan out.
Seen this for yonks at about a fiver and thought what the heck let’s give it a go. Loved it, no telling which way it is going - then the end… 
1947 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger masterpiece, shot in hyper-real Technicolor by Jack Cardiff, and adapted from a book by Rumer Godden. It’s a lurid tale of nuns at a school/hospital in the remote Himalaya and deservedly won Oscars for Cardiff’s cinematography and Alfred Junge’s startling recreation of the Himalaya at Pinewood. There are wonderful performances from Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Flora Robson and that most underrated and underused British movie idol, David Farrar; and most of all, from Kathleen Byron as the demented nun whose passions turn muderous - she electrifies the screen whenever she’s on.
All the P&P trademarks are present - the dreamlike quality, the sense of place, the framing, the use of light, the fluid camera movements, the imaginative use of music… it’s virtually perfect.
To cap it all off, this is a great blu-ray transfer, retaining all the crispness and vividness of the original 35mm film.
Kevin, I bought this a few months back but have yet to crack it open and watch it. I’d rather forgotten I had it but your post has reminded me - I’m now really looking forward to doing so.
Saw the first episode of Series 5 yesterday and it’s very, very good!
More 1970s sauciness from Sid and the gang. This is the last of the really good ones. It’s also Charles Hawtrey’s last one. Apparently by this point his alcoholism had got the better of him. Sid plays pub landlord Vic Flange, married to battleaxe Cora (Joan Sims) but desperate to cop off with saucy Sadie (Babs W). They go on a cheap (£17 - not much, even in 1972) package jaunt to the Spanish resort of Elsbels with Wundatours. The rep/courier is Mr Farquar (Kenneth W) and other holidaymakers include an alcoholic mummy’s boy (Hawtrey), a lusty Scot (Jimmy Logan), a henpecked husband and gorgon wife (Kenneth C and June Whitfield) a naive monk (Bernard Bresslaw) and, best of all, Peter Butterworth in multiple roles as the Spanish hotel’s various staff members (and Hattie as the bad-tempered cook).
