The Cinema Thread

[Vrede too]

IMDB: Imperium (2016)

"A young FBI agent, eager to prove himself in the field, goes undercover as a white supremacist."

Wiki: Imperium (2016 film)

I think it's very good - gritty, very human and realistic feeling, and no trace of Hollywood glitz, silly plot contortions or gratuitous melodrama. Maybe that's why it didn't get more attention despite starring Daniel Radcliffe and Toni Collette, along with coming out a year before Charlottesville. Ironically, it was filmed in Virginia and one of the scenes looked just like the Unite the Right rally.

[Vrede too]

Wonder Woman (2017)

Nothin' wrong with that.

[O Really]

Gal Gadot was much more athletic, and more believable in the action parts, but still - it's hard to improve on the original...

[GoCubsGo]

Wonder Woman (2017)

Nothin' wrong with that.

Never seen that costume, screen test?

Great Gal Gadot story:

[Vrede too]

Never seen that costume, screen test?

Idk, promo photo only? Costume show for test audience? Even the headband is different and rides lower.

Great Gal Gadot story:

Pretty good Hillary story, too.

[Vrede too]

Gal Gadot was much more athletic, and more believable in the action parts ...

Gal Gadot trained for nine months to gain seventeen pounds of pure muscle.

[Vrede too]

Hacksaw Ridge

Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war drama film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, based on the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector. The film focuses on the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic who, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa....

:greetings-clapyellow: :greetings-clapyellow: :greetings-clapyellow:

Desmond Doss

Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006)[1] was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions in Guam and the Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 men,[a] becoming the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second World War....

[neoplacebo]

I watched "Hacksaw Ridge" not long ago; a really good flick as well as a fine tribute to Corp. Doss

[Vrede too]

I watched "Hacksaw Ridge" not long ago; a really good flick as well as a fine tribute to Corp. Doss

Not sure but I may have missed watching it earlier by confusing the title with Clint Eastwood's movie about the joke of a Raygun "war" with Grenada, Heartbreak Ridge.

[neoplacebo]

I watched "Hacksaw Ridge" not long ago; a really good flick as well as a fine tribute to Corp. Doss

Not sure but I may have missed watching it earlier by confusing the title with Clint Eastwood's movie about the joke of a Raygun "war" with Grenada, Heartbreak Ridge.

I think Eastwood's film was about Korea....not sure. The movie about Doss was WWII. They also made a movie about the Navaho code talkers in WWII who manned radios in their native tongue; it was assumed no Germans or Japanese or Italians or partisans would be able to translate ancient American Indian language. I think the last one of those guys just died a few years ago; seems I remember reading about it. Salute!

[Vrede too]

I think Eastwood's film was about Korea....not sure. The movie about Doss was WWII. They also made a movie about the Navaho code talkers in WWII who manned radios in their native tongue; it was assumed no Germans or Japanese or Italians or partisans would be able to translate ancient American Indian language. I think the last one of those guys just died a few years ago; seems I remember reading about it. Salute!

Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge is about Grenada.
Clint Eastwood's (director and star) Gran Torino (2008) is about a bigoted, disgruntled Korean War veteran.
Found this:

Famous Veterans: Clint Eastwood

... Drafted into the Army during the war in Korea, Eastwood was sent to Ft. Ord in California for basic training. He lucked into a job as a swimming instructor and remained at Ft. Ord. He worked nights and weekends as a bouncer at the NCO club.

On a trip home to Seattle to visit his parents and girlfriend, Eastwood caught a ride aboard a Navy plane at Moffett Field. On the ride back aboard a Navy torpedo bomber, the plane developed engine trouble and was forced to make a water landing off San Francisco. Eastwood was forced to swim over a mile through the tide to shore....

The crash makes his Korean War story better than, "I was a California lifeguard."

Decades later and perhaps not coincidentally Eastwood directed Sully about the "2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, in which all 155 passengers and crew survived with only minor injuries".

There are several Navaho code talkers movies, I don't think Eastwood was associated with any of them. Most well known:
Windtalkers (2002)

Windtalkers received negative reviews from critics. The film holds a 32% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 167 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, remarking that "the filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches, while centering the story on a white character played by Nicolas Cage".

The film was criticized for featuring the Navajo characters only in supporting roles; they were not the primary focus of the film....

I remember feeling the same way, another White savior film. Also, 3 documentaries that I found:
Navajo Code Talkers: The Epic Story (1994), 55 min
The Code Talkers: A Secret Code of Honor (2003), 23 min
American Heroes: A Tribute to Navajo Code Talkers (2003), 9 min

You are correct:
"The last of the original 29 Navajo code talkers who developed the code, Chester Nez, died on June 4, 2014."

Looks like there were Code talkers from many tribes, including our own Cherokee and including WW1. I never knew.

[neoplacebo]

I never knew about the other tribal code talkers either. Cool. I still remember that a lot of streets in Brevard have Indian names....I used to work at the USPS there years ago. Hell, Eastwood is lucky to be alive after crashing into the water in that area; they say it's treacherous....but he must have had it made all along with that cushy military job, good looks, etc. Too bad he turned out to be a right wing nutjob in real life.

[Vrede too]

... Hell, Eastwood is lucky to be alive after crashing into the water in that area; they say it's treacherous....but he must have had it made all along with that cushy military job, good looks, etc. Too bad he turned out to be a right wing nutjob in real life.

Fortunately, that's not really reflected in the amazing movies he makes. Could be worse, Wiki says:
Anti-war
Libertarian
Pro-gun control
Pro-SSM
Very tepid support for POSPOTUS over Hillary in 8/2016, retracted by 9/2016. "... jokingly suggested that Trump and Clinton constituted a modern-day Abbott and Costello, referring to the socially inept comedians of the 1940s and early 1950s."
At least he's not as bad as Charlton Heston was.

Went on a whale watching tour off SF. Got very rough at Potato Patch Shoal on the return trip. Even though I was still years away from becoming a mariner, I was one of the few not sick and miserable. Found my buddy doing sorta okay on the bow, but then made him ralph by talking about how sick everyone aft was.

[neoplacebo]

Eastwood became a nutjob for me after his conversation with the empty chair at the GOP convention. The movies are fine.

[Vrede too]

Eastwood became a nutjob for me after his conversation with the empty chair at the GOP convention. The movies are fine.

Yeah, that was a low point in his life, he may even think so.

Wonder Woman (2017)

Nothin' wrong with that.

Wonder Woman to the rescue: Gal Gadot takes on Netanyahu

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has come to the rescue of a fellow Israeli celebrity in a spat with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Gadot, who typically shies away from politics, is rallying behind Rotem Sela, one of Israel's top models and TV hosts, who drew fire from Netanyahu for criticizing his fearmongering election campaign against the country's Arab minority.

Sela's rebuke of Netanyahu, and her call for equality for all Israeli citizens in an Instagram post, prompted the prime minister to take to social media himself and lecture her that "Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and of it alone."

Gadot responded late Sunday with her own supportive post for Sela to her more than 28 million followers on Instagram:

"Love thy neighbor as yourself. This isn't an issue of right or left. Jew or Arab. Secular or religious. It's an issue of dialogue," Gadot wrote. "Rotem, my sister, you're an inspiration to us all." ...

Nothin' wrong with that.

The 'Ocean's 8' actress sends the leading lady of the superhero movie a sweet message on social media, while the 'Wonder Woman' star shares fan art of their characters posing together.

Anne Hathaway and Gal Gadot have saluted Brie Larson for bringing "Captain Marvel" to the big screen.

The new Marvel blockbuster became one of the biggest March debuts when it launched over the weekend (March 08-10), and it appears Oscar winner Anne and "Wonder Woman" Gal were among the fans buying tickets....



...

A different article:

... Captain Marvel‘s £117 million domestic and £349 million global opening weekend means it overtakes Wonder Woman and Beauty and The Beast to become the biggest opening for a female-fronted film of all time.

Prior to release, Captain Marvel became the target of online trolling and hate from self-described comic book and Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. Trolls spammed Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews, leading to the website changing its rating policy and no longer allowing review prior to a film’s release....

Take that, InCel haters.

Anyone that praises DC vs. Marvel rival Brie Larson and criticizes Nuttyyahoo in the same week is alright by me.

[Vrede too]

23 years ago:

Hard Eight

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing "Movies like Hard Eight remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us." Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Hard Eight is not a movie that wants to make a grand statement. It is really little more than a small resonant mood piece whose hard-bitten characters are difficult to like. But within its self-imposed limitations, it accomplishes most of what it sets out to do. And the acting is wonderfully understated, economical and unsentimental."

Pretty good, a little slow at times, but very believable. Helluva cast:

Hard Eight is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson, with brief appearances by Robert Ridgely, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Melora Walters.

Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the one scene he's in, was about to break out as a star. John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson were already there and have major roles, but given what they would still go on to do it's amazing seeing the 4 of them work together in the same flick.

[Vrede too]

Hidden Figures

Excellent acting all around. I liked the casting of perennial sweet girl Kirsten Dunst as a (mostly) racist bitch.

Movie:

Real life Black women mathematicians of NASA:

[O Really]

Yeah, I don't know how accurate the portrayal was, but it does make the film even better to know the people and the general situations were real.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, I don't know how accurate the portrayal was, but it does make the film even better to know the people and the general situations were real.

Wiki has a long Historical accuracy section including, again, discussion of the "white savior trope".

Then, after listing a set of unrestrained accolades, Wiki posts:

... Other reviews criticized the film for its fictional embellishments and conventional, feel-good style. Tim Grierson, writing for Screen International, states that "Hidden Figures is almost patronisingly earnest in its depiction of sexism and racism. An air of do-gooder self-satisfaction hovers over the proceedings", while Jesse Hassenger at The A.V. Club comments that "lack of surprise is in this movie's bones." Eric John of IndieWire argues that the film "trivializes history; as a hagiographic tribute to its brilliant protagonists, it doesn't dig into the essence of their struggles" and similarly, Paul Byrnes concludes that "When a film purports to be selling history, we're entitled to ask where the history went, even if it offers a good time instead."

[O Really]

Not a problem for me. There are limitations to what can be done in a two-hour story, particularly regarding situations as complex as racism and race relations in the 50's-60's, but if the central authenticity about it is that despite the racism, the women played an important role in the project, then I'm happy. I'm still amazed to realize that we've all got more computing power in our mobiles than all the computers that sent off the moon crew. To think a few years before that, there were people doing manual calculations to send somebody into space and hopefully get them back is nothing short of mind-boggling.