This is the first post in The Cinematic Mr. Ripley, a series for the MovieThoughts category of my blog that considers moral themes in Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels and the film adaptations of those books. This post looks at Purple Noon, the 1960 French adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Alain Delon. It…
Gliding almost without speech down the dawn streets of a wet Paris winter, these men in trench coats and fedoras perform a ballet of crime, hoping to win and fearing to die. Some are cops and some are robbers. To smoke for them is as natural as breathing. They use guns, lies, clout, greed and nerve with the skill of a magician who no longer even thinks about the cards. They share a code of honor which is not about what side of the law they are on, but about how a man must behave to win the respect of those few others who understand the code.
What we get here is a solid action series that hits all the beats it needs to do, not revolutionary, but still solid. Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series. Reacher Review – When I first heard there would be a new Reacher series, my first impressions […]
A swing and a miss this boring noir drama is brimming with quality visuals and A list talent. Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett put the story through its paces and make it watchable to a point, but it is a hard watch.
I’m glad that Sandra Bullock said yes to The Unforgivable, a well-executed tale of one woman’s journey to reconnect with her sister after finishing a twenty-year prison sentence. Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, what stood out immediately, in addition to the excellent performances, is how engaging the story is. I cared about Bullock’s character and couldn’t wait for […]
THE UNFORGIVABLE (2021): The Things I Liked…
Hollywood loves a remake. Sometimes it’s a successful foreign film recast with English-speaking celebrities. Sometimes it’s a decent story that just didn’t work the first time around. Most of the time, it’s a hollow-minded cash-grab by a studio rejiggering its intellectual property. But now and then, it’s a filmmaker of regard taking a bonafide classic […]
HBO documentary “The Forever Prisoner” is often sobering and chilling in its calm but blistering presentation on what the US government allowed to happen in the name of War on Terror. While it did not surprise or shock you much if you are familiar with its main subjects, the documentary is still captivating as providing […]
The Forever Prisoner (2021) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): It was torture indeed
And here we are at the final overview and review for Money Heist! It honestly feels kind of emotional since I’ve invested so much time to watch and write about the show! Anyways welcome to another edition of Explore With Me / The Couch Potato! This is an overview post of Season 3 but you […]
Explore With Me : Money Heist – Season 3 – Overview and Review
Nightmare Alley is Guillermo del Toro’s followup to his surprise Oscar winner The Shape of Water. It serves as both a remake of the 1947 film noir of the same name and a new adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s novel from a year earlier, with the beloved filmmaker delivering […]
Continue reading “Review: Nightmare Alley”
Zola (2020) Y’all wanna hear a story? Perhaps this is simply what happens when you turn a Twitter thread into a movie. Zola, the film’s origin lies in a 148-tweet thread posted by Zola the person — A’Ziah ‘Zola’ King — in October 2015, detailing a wild, chaotic road trip from Detroit, Michigan to Tampa, […]
I remember the first time I saw “West Side Story.” I watched the 1961 film during class at my Catholic elementary school decades later — on a square TV on a rolling cart — and it was transformative. I immediately loved the music, choreography, dancing, characters, and storytelling. I watch that version from time to […]
Musical Masterpiece: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”
With the darkness. So this is about an everyday guy named Frank (Rainn Wilson). His wife (Liv Tyler) is a recovering addict and starts to cozy up to a drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). When Frank loses her completely, he turns to God for direction, and because he is not the most mentally stable person, he […]
Shut Up, Crime! – Super (2010)
After switching gears and directing the comic book movie Aquaman, Warner Bros. has allowed James Wan to return to his low-budget horror movie roots with Malignant, an absolutely gnarly little film that I’m honestly impressed the studio even agreed to put out. Wan, who has kickstarted no less […]
Dexter: New Blood gives fans another chance to connect with their favorite serial killer as a different kind of monster emerges in a new setting. Does Dexter: New Blood do enough to make up for its disappointing series finale? Let’s find out…
Spoiler-Free Review of “Dexter: New Blood” on Showtime: The Dark Passenger Returns
I wasn’t old enough to beat the 18 certificate back in 1986, and it’s been a long, long wait for me to finally catch up on Ruthless People, 35 years to be exact. Directed by the Airplane team of David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, and written by Dale Launer, it’s never been remade […]
Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro’s take on “Nightmare Alley,” a noirish carny novel first adapted for a Tyrone Power film in 1947, is a pitiless vision of an underworld of grifters and tent-show hustlers. Stunningly-detailed, with an A-list cast up and down the line, it’s a gorgeous and gloomy dip into the dark side, immersive […]
Continue reading “Del Toro remakes a dark classic,”Nightmare Alley””
Peter Medak’s blistering neo-noir was not what I was looking for when I saw it on a late-night cinema screening at my local flea-pit back in 1993; it might have been tough and violent, but the story was also the absolute opposite of what I was hoping to see as a young man. Rather than […]
43.48 million hours of Hellbound was watched 3 days since its release, ranking it to #1 in the top 10 list in 12 countries, including not only South Korea but also Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand.
‘Hellbound’ ranks Top 10 list in 71 countries, records 43.48-M hours viewed
What in the world is House of Gucci about? On the surface House of Gucci is inspired by the true story of the Gucci family, a one-time dynasty that fell once family members started backstabbing each other with backroom dealings and buyouts. But what is the movie up to? What does it hope to gain by telling this story […]
A bored family man reaches back into his former life after his home is robbed which ultimately makes him the target of Russian mobsters.
Who Thought a “Nobody” Could Be So Great?
