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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 2, 2023 5:08:51 GMT
Finally watched Barbie tonight and just loved it, which I did not expect. I can definitely see what the excitement was about and hope the movie gets all kinds of awards.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 2, 2023 21:03:59 GMT
I was surprised when Mr. Kimby said he might want to see Barbie, but I won’t mind watching it again. On DVD. When it’s available from the library.
Bixa, did you see Barbie on the big screen or small screen?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 2, 2023 21:18:27 GMT
Note thread title.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 3, 2023 2:54:34 GMT
Reason I asked is that it’s still in theaters and I’m not sure how to watch otherwise. Did you stream it?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2023 6:08:24 GMT
I've been watching old movies over again. Night before last I watched Lars and the Real Girl, which I'd only watched once before, right around the time it had been released. At the time, I was knocked out by Ryan Gosling as an actor, and was surprised a few years later to find that he was considered a heart throb. Watching it again the other night, shortly after having viewed Barbie, I was again completely impressed by his ability to completely inhabit a role.
Tonight I felt the need to revisit Nacho Libre for the umpteenth time. I swear, I think I enjoy it even more each time! Anyone who's never seen it because of thinking that it's too silly, drop your defenses and get ready for a great time.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 9, 2023 3:56:49 GMT
I guess I'm having a lucha libre immersion moment, as tonight I watched Cassandro, staring Gael García Bernal. The movie is quite good, surprisingly. I say surprisingly because biopics can be pretty soppy and often make the subject one-dimensional. Not so in this case. For one thing, the casting was perfection, with every single character coming off as real. It also is of a piece with Mexican and border culture, depicting it as is, rather than "presenting" it to a gringo audience. As with all biopics, there is a bit of streamlining of the subject and his history, but in a way that's quite acceptable within the time frame of a movie and in respectful portraying of that person. The acting is excellent and the movie is very much worth seeing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 10, 2023 7:18:52 GMT
I should probably put this over in Documentaries. I believe it was covered over there sometime back, when it first came out. Anyway, I was going through the saves in Pocket and found Nothing Fancy, a documentary about Diana Kennedy, my idol. Beyond the envy I feel for the life she had in Mexico, coming here as an adult in 1957, I'm grateful all over again that her books spurred me to move here. The film was a lovely reminder of why I came and why I stayed.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 14, 2023 20:03:35 GMT
I’ve just discovered a film channel, rather hidden away, that specialises in old films. And by old I mean that many are black and white. Called Talking Pictures.
A couple of days ago we watched a 1938 film, corny but very watchable. Tonight was Woody Allen’s Radio Days which I’ve never seen before. Loved it!
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 14, 2023 20:09:54 GMT
That was quite a good movie.
How many channels do you have, Mick? (Approximately -- I know that most of us have no idea anymore and the numbers change almost every day.) I think I have maybe about 80 channels and at least 3 of them are devoted to classic movies.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 14, 2023 20:18:41 GMT
30 film channels but that includes Xmas only films. There are a couple of classic channels but not as old as this one which is mainly, but not only,old British films plus the odd old TV series e.g. Rumpole of the Bailey, another favourite. Even the odd public information film.
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 14, 2023 20:30:09 GMT
I've gradually watched less and less TV but in the places we've rented there has always been one, usually with cable TV programmes. Even then there was little of interest amongst the thousand (or so it seemed) channels. In Germany we pay for a licence but don't have a TV at all.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 14, 2023 20:48:46 GMT
Mrs Cactus is a big TV watcher but I’m not so keen. I’d have the radio on if I could.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 14, 2023 22:17:58 GMT
Do you not know how to work it?
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 15, 2023 7:36:44 GMT
Only in the greenhouse.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 15, 2023 16:25:29 GMT
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. We shoulda known better.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 15, 2023 16:26:59 GMT
Sputnik. Not what we expected. Nothing to do with the infamous satellite, but a Russian version of Alien.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 15, 2023 16:57:05 GMT
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. We shoulda known better. I avoided it as long as possible but finally went to see it to my regret.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 15, 2023 18:42:05 GMT
Sputnik. Not what we expected. Nothing to do with the infamous satellite, but a Russian version of Alien. ~?~ Why "infamous", Kimby?
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Post by Kimby on Dec 15, 2023 19:07:20 GMT
Because it woke Americans up to the fact that we were behind the Russians, setting off the space race.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 16, 2023 0:18:26 GMT
But that was not a bad thing.
Quoting here from wikipedia & leaving out militaristic aspects:
"The Americans took a more aggressive stance in the emerging space race, resulting in an emphasis on science and technological research, and reforms in many areas from the military to education systems. The federal government began investing in science, engineering, and mathematics at all levels of education. ..... Sputnik also contributed directly to a new emphasis on science and technology in American schools. With a sense of urgency, Congress enacted the 1958 National Defense Education Act, which provided low-interest loans for college tuition to students majoring in mathematics and science. ... Sputnik also inspired a generation of engineers and scientists. Harrison Storms, the North American designer who was responsible for the X-15 rocket plane, and went on to head the effort to design the Apollo command and service module and Saturn V launch vehicle's second stage, was moved by the launch of Sputnik to think of space as being the next step for America. Astronauts Alan Shepard (who was the first American in space) and Deke Slayton later wrote of how the sight of Sputnik 1 passing overhead inspired them to their new careers. ... The launch of Sputnik also planted the seeds for the development of modern satellite navigation. Two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) decided to monitor Sputnik's radio transmissions and within hours realized that, because of the Doppler effect, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit. The Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC computer to do the then heavy calculations required. ... Early the next year, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem: pinpointing the user's location, given the satellite's. At the time, the Navy was developing the submarine-launched Polaris missile, which required them to know the submarine's location. This led them and APL to develop the TRANSIT system, a forerunner of modern Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites."
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Post by Kimby on Dec 16, 2023 3:15:20 GMT
Sputnik was a definite wake-up call to a complacent America. (We could use another rude awakening, with all the silence-denying going on today!)
Moving on, tonite’s film was another Tom Cruise vehicle: Top Gun: Maverick a much better movie than we expected, and much better than Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, which BTW was only Part 1.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 16, 2023 4:20:56 GMT
Another movie I boycotted but finally saw on a plane. Tom single-handedly stealing a plane from an Iranian military base absolutely sent me around the bend.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Dec 16, 2023 21:54:07 GMT
Just watched Mark Steel: About Town on Prime...very sweary but I do like this stand up comedian. I giggled through his ranty monologues. Like a cross between (the late and wonderful) Jeremy Hardy and Jonathan Pie.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 16, 2023 22:43:17 GMT
Tom single-handedly stealing a plane from an Iranian military base absolutely sent me around the bend. How did you determine it was Iran? The Kimbys discussed the anonymity of the enemy. We wondered if filmmakers have to be cagey and refrain from naming enemies, to preserve their ability to play in theaters all around the world. Mr. Kimby thought it might be North Korea.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2023 4:57:18 GMT
Iran bought fighter jets from the United States in the old days. North Korea certainly never did.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 17, 2023 13:02:00 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 27, 2023 17:40:55 GMT
Just watched The Truman Show. That’s quite a film.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 27, 2023 17:43:01 GMT
Makes you doubt everything, doesn't it?
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 27, 2023 17:56:21 GMT
Gosh yes!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 1, 2024 10:07:49 GMT
I bought the Barbie dvd based entirely on Bixa's review We watched it yesterday and thought it was very good, I'm glad that I didn't get Oppenheimer because I've heard it's awful (not a Cillian Murphy fan and hated Peaky Blinders). I'm going to stay with my sister for a couple of days soon...I think that the Barbie DVD will go down very well...
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