Recent Viewing Part IV

No idea? It's considered a classic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_in_May

1864

A Danish miniseries (with German partners co-producing), depicting the Danish-German war that decided the fate of the province of Schleswig. A solid tale, rather lavishly produced. The score by Marco Beltrami is equally solid but nothing special. I wonder, why no Danish composer was chosen, since the historic events are of great significance for the Danish national identity.

Volker

Gladiator

first time seeing this movie! very good, but it seemed at time to me cliched, and I cannot help but wonder if this is because it is indeed cliche, or because it was so influential I mistake it for a copy when it was in fact the original thing.

Isle of Dogs

first wes anderson movie that's disappointed me! this one felt so lifeless and inert.

I agree about the film being a better experience than the book. It has the benefit of presenting Cline's occasionally fascinating concepts without his occasionally dreadful prose. I still think both film and book have an incredibly muddled and potentially harmful message ("don't forget to live in the real world and the present sometimes...even though living exclusively in the fake world and the past has made the main character rich, famous and successful")

In the READY PLAYER ONE score? It's even got a Max Steiner quote!

Sicario

Didn't like this one at all, which surprised me since I enjoyed Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 so much. This one struck me as a generic action/revenge movie that exploited the drug wars in Mexico to seem more "relevant" and "important" than it really was. Left a bad taste in my mouth overall.

The mood was definitely strong, a weird mix between dread and black comedy; I particularly liked the part where Josh Brolin pokes his head out of the hotel room and says, "What's the secret password."

There's little generic about Sicario, and certainly doesn't exploit Mexican drug wars for its own gain. It shows it for what it is in an entertaining yet disturbing film.

And I am of the firm belief that the border convoy setpiece should be taught in film schools all over the world.

The most harrowing example of precision-based tension to grace the screen in recent years.

I can understand why someone might view it as un-exploitative, but did you not find the John Wick-style action scene of Benicio-Del-Toro-shooting-his-way-through-faceless-henchman-to-get-to-the-drug-lord generic in the least? Everything from his backstory to the way his suppressed pistol makes less noise than a whisper is cliche.

I am looking forward to watching a new Ken Burns special on the Mayo Clinic next Tuesday.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

A acquired the BluRay recently that thankfully provides you with the full cinematic picture. The German DVD had a 4:3 letterbox image, thus I never bought it.
Anyway, I really like this flick. It's quite "adult" for a Disney animation feature. It almost feels like a disneyfied animated version of Indiana Jones. James Newton Howard enhances the film with a killer fantasy score.

Volker

I believe the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD was Widescreen as well. It also had an audio commentary and a stop-here-and-watch-how-the-scene-was-made feature, pretty amazing stuff for the DVD format. I've always kept it because it had loads of additional specials.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Second viewing, first one on BluRay, first one in English.
If you put aside the various reasons that made this film sort of flop in theatres, I think you get a better lookout on the many qualities this film has. It has a great cast, a decent story, stunning visuals and a score to make you dream about. I really like the references to Greek mythology.[spoiler] Personally I would have preferred The Black Sun and Prince Xizor to Crimson Dawn and Dryden Vos.[/spoiler]
I like the pacing and the humour. They overplay the western thing I say but that's a minor quibble. It's an entertaining space fantasy flick. That's about all you can ask for.

Volker