One of my high school friends was cast in an episode of The Librarians, and he was very excited (not being an actor and in his late 40s). We were all looking forward to it, and when it aired he had approximately .75 seconds of time when you could see his face.
I loved this show and was bummed out when it was cancelled. It's a continuation of some movies that Noah Wyle was in prior to the series and that you also might want to check out (if you haven't already).
We didn't know that when I brought the DVDs home from the actual library, but the movies are on deck.
It's interesting how many competent actors they have with five or six credits listed on IMDB, all on things shot in the pacific Northwest. Older actors would have Northern Exposure and/or Twin Peaks, younger actors would have Portlandia and streaming shows I hadn't heard of.
V.F.W. (2019) Dir. Joe Begos In an alternative present day, urban areas have been dealing with he emergence of Hype, a new kind of drug that is hyper-addictive and ever more prevalent. Boz is the biggest Hype dealer in the city. He intends to sell off his entire stash in one big deal, which will allow him to leave the city with a small group of his closest associates. On the eve of the lucrative exchange, a young woman steals his drugs to get back at Boz for killing her sister. Boz' goons follow the fleeing young woman into a nearby V.F.W. post, where a group of older veterans have just gathered to celebrate their de facto leader's birthday. The former soldiers' sense of duty and honor makes them protect the young woman against increasingly more savage attacks by Boz and his men, as the drug dealer gets more and more desperate to get his product back. As the night progresses, the situation within the V.F.W. post gets ever more desperate. Basically a clone of "Assault on Precinct 13" that would not really be noteworthy were it not for the stunt-casting of the likes of William Sadler, Fred Williamson, Martin Kove and George Wendt. Even with the presence of these cult character actors, the only thing I really liked was Boz' sword-wielding henchwoman Gutter. Fairly forgettable fare.
Pick-up Alley (1957) Dir. John Gilling Charles Sturgis is a Drug Enforcement Agent on a mission. His target, a man only known as McNally, a big international player in the drug smuggling racket, who is deemed responsible for a lot of the morphine and heroin that is sold in NYC. For Sturgis, finding McNally is personal as he deems McNally to be the killer in the unsolved murder of his younger sister. His investigation sends him to London, Lisbon, Rome, Naples and Athens, where he is assisted by Interpol liaisons in his attempts to find and apprehend McNally. To that end, they follow Gina Broger, a supposed associate of McNally's who herself is suspected of murder. Entertaining noir with a pre-"La Dolce Vita" Anita Ekberg in a femme fatale role and Victor Mature as the detective. Trevor Howard is quite good too as the sinister and menacing McNally. Features impressive on-location footage from all of the European cities that Sturgis visits.
Concussion (2015)- Will Smith is convincing as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the diagnoser of CTE. Pretty good flick.
Planet Terror (2007)- Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Produced by Harvey Weinstein, which didn't thrill me. A gory zombie flick with a good cast.
The Street with No Name (1948) Dir. William Keighley The FBI finds itself confronted with an incredibly organized gang of violent robbers who routinely kill during their heists. So far, neither them nor the local cops have had any luck in apprehending them. After a potential witness is also found murdered - shortly after an unknown person posted bail for him - they try a different tactic. They will drop an undercover agent within the neighborhood they assume the gang operates from, in the hope of the agent successfully infiltrating the gang. The agent in question soon gets onto the radar of Alec Stiles, an intense war veteran and proprietor of a boxing gym, who seems to have gathered a small group of like-minded men around him. After an initial period in which the two men size each other up, Stiles does recruit the undercover agent. But can the Fed keep his cover for long enough to help catch the gang in the act of committing a crime or will it be blown long before that? This reminded me of "T-Men" in its focus on police procedure and its supposed interest in authenticity, as well as the concept of undercover work. But this movie would not work at all for me without Richard Widmark. Whether he plays a straight up villain (like here), an anti-hero (e.g. The Garden of Evil) or just a tragic figure (Night and the City), he is always terrific and I believe he is now a vastly underrated actor from that era of cinema.
Cold Mountain (2003)-A Civil War movie with a stellar cast. Watch it for Renee Zellweger's Academy Award performance.
1230179814822359040 is not a valid tweet id At seven it was probably still dinosaurs but I was majorly into Greek mythology by like ten years old.
Dark Waters (2019) Dir. Todd Haynes A corporate defense lawyer is approached by a West-Virginian farmer who is acquainted with his grandmother. The man claims dozens of his cows have died due to his water supply being contaminated by a nearby Dupont chemical plant. At first doubtful of the claims, he becomes increasingly more convinced that something is awry after visiting the farm in question and then realizing that Dupont is sabotaging the discovery process with a huge data drop after he files an initial law suit against them. This starts a decades long fight against the company and the dangerous effects of one of their products. Based on the real-life Rob Bilott's crusade against Dupont. Very reminiscent of movies like "Erin Brockovich" and "Class Action". Well-acted by an all-round great cast. I will say that I was a bit saddened to see Anne Hathaway is already reduced to "wife" roles (even though she does a very good job here). She is only 37 years old but already seems to be put out to pasture in Hollywood (and complained several years ago already that some roles are out of her reach due to her being "too old").
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Frances McDormand plays the mother of a raped, and murdered daughter. She puts up three billboards decrying the police department's investigation. Hijinks ensue. Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell are great in supporting roles. Pretty good flick.
Dial 1119 (1950) Dir. Gerald Mayer Gunther Wyckoff is a killer who has escaped from an institute for the criminally insane. He travels across the country to reconnect with his former shrink. Before he can track the man down, he commits another murder, then is forced to take refuge in a bar near the doctor's home. After his mugshot is spread around the city, he has no choice but to barricade himself into the bar with its patrons. After the police contact him, he threatens to kill everyone inside of the bar unless they can deliver the doctor to him. A tense stand-off between the police and Wyckoff develops as the minutes tick by towards the inevitable deadline. A very good noir/thriller, the second half of which is more or less told in real-time. Note-worthy for some interesting camera work as well as the fact that this must be one of the earliest movie plots in which TV (both the medium and the device itself) plays a big part. Also features a shot that I believe is consciously referenced in "Die Hard". If it's not a conscious nod, then it's a rather huge coincidence.
I can definitely see that, only the lead is less charismatic than Keanu Reeves and thus the villain sort of plays him off the screen.
Gotcha. Haven't seen this film but I have liked Widmark in the stuff I have seen with him. Of course, one could argue Point Break is as much about Swayze as it is about Keanu. Sheeesh, I sidetracked this into a discussion about Point Break. Apologies. Always love your reviews.
No, I liked it. Hadn't even realized myself it corresponds rather closely to the plot of Point Break (minus surfing).
Superman: Red Son (2020) Dir. Sam Liu In an alternate universe, Superman's space ship lands in Soviet Russia instead of Kansas. He grows up to become a symbol of Russian power and a propaganda tool for Joseph Stalin, until his discovery of the horrors that the regime has enacted on its own people. In America, Lex Luthor is the one who has to find an answer to the one-man superweapon that the Soviet Superman represents. We follow both men through several decades of the 20th century. Another entry into the D.C. Animated movie universe. Certainly one of the more interesting stories they have adapted recently. I'm not familiar with the comics this is based on but the movie is compelling enough in its own right, without any broader knowledge of the source material. Jason Isaacs does a good job as Soviet Kal-El but the best member of the voice cast was Amy Acker as Lois Lane.
I've got to get cracking. Yet another movie in the past couple months that I have to see that you have brought to my attention. Gotta love alternate histories with superheroes!
L.A. Confidential (1997) Dir. Curtis Hanson In early 1950s Los Angeles, corruption is rife among the ranks of the L.A.P.D. The hyper-ambitious young cop Ed Exley uses the events of the Bloody Christmas incident to help his career. In the process he testifies against fellow cops and becomes the most loathed individual among the detective squad. One of the cops whose career was derailed by Exley's testimony, Dick Stensland, gets murdered in an apparent robbery that got way out of hand. Exley once again hopes to further his career with the investigation, whilst another cop, the hyperviolent Bud White, is interested for different reasons. He is Stenslands former partner and wants to get justice for his murdered friend. Also using the investigation for his own gain is Jack Vincennes, a narco cop who works as a consultant on a cop show and likes to rub shoulders with Hollywood types. I hadn't watched this since the early 2000s and thought it worth revisiting. It holds up wonderfully well. Depending on how you feel about Russell Crowe, you may or may not think he has subsequently done better work than in his break-out Hollywood role. But I doubt he ever matched the on-screen, force of nature intensity of playing Bud White. A young Guy Pierce makes a good foil for him. This is an all star cast firing on all cylinders (including a very underrated David Straithairn performance imho) and even the now disgraced Kevin Spacey cannot ruin the experience. The role that earned Kim Basinger a supporting actress Oscar award is an interesting one, considering that many actresses were in the running for it (among them Anjelica Huston, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rene Russo) and supposedly she only got it because Izabella Scorupco (most famous for Goldeneye and Reign of Fire) passed on it, which must count as one of the worst career moves ever in Hollywood.
I've actually been rewatching many of my old movies recently. I find that my opinions of them haven't changed at all in the decade or two since I last saw them. I guess my growth as a human being has stopped.