What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

Speaking of playlists, I like to include trailers from classic films as well as trailers for films about to be released. Here is one I ran yesterday:

If nothing else, it addresses the age-old question, "Do the men wearing Kilts wear underwear?"

[Ed Gordon]

... Its called "Fateless" from 2005. I came across the DVD this week and watched it tonight. I hope this film gets the blu-ray treatment as it deserves it. Acording to the cover "Fateless" Director Lagos Koltai stunned the 2005 Berlin Film Festival with this Second World War drama based on the Nobel Prize winning novel by Imre Kertesz, a quasi-autobiographical work about his experiences as a 14-year old deported from Budapest to the Nazi labour camps during the Holocaust.

Drafted into forced labour by the German authorities, Gyuri Koves the young Jewish Hungarian, is shuttled between the death camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Zieitz.

I did find this trailer on Youtube for the film:

The reviews are good. It seems to have garnered the respect given to other holocaust films such as Diary of Anne Frank and Schindler's List.

[Graham Ritchie]

Ed try and track this one down for your playlist. Its called "Fateless" from 2005. I came across the DVD this week and watched it tonight. I hope this film gets the blu-ray treatment as it deserves it. Acording to the cover "Fateless" Director Lagos Koltai stunned the 2005 Berlin Film Festival with this Second World War drama based on the Nobel Prize winning novel by Imre Kertesz, a quasi-autobiographical work about his experiences as a 14-year old deported from Budapest to the Nazi labour camps during the Holocaust.

Drafted into forced labour by the German authorities, Gyuri Koves the young Jewish Hungarian, is shuttled between the death camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Zieitz.

The film has a running time of 2hrs and20 minutes with English sub-titles, Fateless is a remarkable film in every way, the acting, the story as it unfolds is riveting to watch and its one film I would highly recommend everyone should watch.

[Ed Gordon]

Graham, your comments about having to change your career path in your 40's surprised me. It the US, the 50's seems to be the point where folks need to be concerned about ageism. Of course it depends on the type of work you are doing.

When I was younger, I hated watching movies with subtitles. With the poor quality of sound mixes today (and my aging ears) I now find subtitles help, especially if the characters are speaking with a heavy Gaelic accent! I was putting together a playlist for a show in my home cinema yesterday which included policy trailers, previews, et cetera. My projector is connected to a computer so I can automate many functions as they do in commercial digital cinemas. I had a playlist of less than six videos which I ran to check audio levels. The volume levels varied from too low to painfully loud.

[Graham Ritchie]

Comments about being retired Ed are so true, its been great to watch films that I never had time in the past. I was in my element when I got the job as a projectionist, truth was I needed a job as the airlines I once worked in closed there engineering down making everyone redundant not a nice feeling. The thing is out here, is that once you get into your 40s age it can then become an issue to continue when job hunting in aviation. I know of people that had wide experience being turned down because of it, in my view it stinks, but that's life, and having some sort of plan B to carry on is a must these days. In saying that the retirement age here is 65 I am 73 so once you get there and providing you have lived in New Zealand for at least 10 years and become a citizen you are then entitled to the Government Super, everyone can get it plus your gold card even James Cameron mentioned lately he was expecting his in the post, so things are pretty good providing you don't have a mortgage by the time you retire. The big thing is the public health system, even though you pay into it all your working life and might never use it, its always there if and when you might need it and that once you retire is a big plus.

Back to movies, its been great to have the time these days to watch such a range of films, lately I have been veering of more to watch European films with sub-titles which I really don't mind. I had never really bothered with them before, but having the time now to look at what other countries other than what Hollywood can offer has been interesting.

One 35mm print we ran at the cinema which was our manager choice I did take the time to watch, although it did not do well at our place. I did tell her that the film itself was very good, nothing wrong with it, but public wise were not that interested in it was "La Vie En Rose" its the story of Edith Piaf is one I will have to watch again.

[Ed Gordon]

Full marks to there selection, I notice Flow is one of them. I will have to keep an eye out for that one. One film you recommend Ed a while back I had never heard of and glad you did mention it, was "Hearts In Atlantis" I managed to get a DVD of it a while back and since then we have all watched it. its really good.

This is two of my latest finds at Pennylane records second hand dvd's, one I had never heard of and that's Robin Williams in "The Big White" I found it really good and certainly recommend it. Excellent all round cast in particular Holly Hunter.

Flow is one you can watch many times. The animation is beautiful! Hearts in Atlantis is another one that can be watched many times. David Morse plays the adult Bobby Garfield. I was accustomed to seeing him play "bad guy #3" in so many productions that I did not expect much from him, so I was pleasantly surprised with his performance in that film.

I found the trailer for your recommendation, The Big White:

It looks pretty good and I miss Robin Williams. I will watch that one for sure. The full movie is available on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaOWCb-ltt8

The nice thing about being retired and a movie collector, is that so many movies you missed when you were working are now available to watch online.

[Graham Ritchie]

Full marks to there selection, I notice Flow is one of them. I will have to keep an eye out for that one. One film you recommend Ed a while back I had never heard of and glad you did mention it, was "Hearts In Atlantis" I managed to get a DVD of it a while back and since then we have all watched it. its really good.

This is two of my latest finds at Pennylane records second hand dvd's, one I had never heard of and that's Robin Williams in "The Big White" I found it really good and certainly recommend it. Excellent all round cast in particular Holly Hunter.



A couple of past screen shots using the Panasonic

[Ed Gordon]

Graham Ritchie;n115197...Now this is even more strange, that after watching the blu-ray just the other night, the town in Scotland "Dunoon" where I spent my secondary school years, that on there Facebook page they are screening "The Straight Story", its sure is a small world at times

It nice to see the film get attention again. I think the discussions about which David Lynch movies were your favorites has many of us re-watching old favorites.

[Graham Ritchie]

I agree Ed its a bit of a strange one its a movie that I had put of watching for a long time, its a blu-ray that will make its way back to Pennylane records and other stuff I got my $5 out of it

Now this is even more strange, that after watching the blu-ray just the other night, the town in Scotland "Dunoon" where I spent my secondary school years, that on there Facebook page they are screening "The Straight Story", its sure is a small world at times

[Ed Gordon]

Last night being Saturday it was again a screening of the Imprint blu-ray release of "The Straight Story", it really is a first class movie to watch again as with the blu-ray transfer

Tonight I got around to watching the blu-ray release of "Lion of the Desert" starring Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger and John Gielgud. Its a good movie with a running time of 156 minutes its taken me a while to get around to watching it. Not sure of when it came out the film that is?, must have been a while back. however that was my Sunday night viewing now over

Graham, The Straight Story was mentioned as one of David Lynch's better films. I enjoyed it. Richard Farnsworth did a great job playing the old man traveling hundred of miles on a riding mower to see his estranged ill brother.

Lion of the Desert (1980) is a strange one. Here is the trailer:

I was wondering how I missed this one considering the stellar cast. Turns out it was a huge flop. While looking at user reviews on IMDB I came across this:

6/10

When a dictator finances a film pushing an agenda against another dictator, you have to question the motives.

I've read the assessments of this movie that indicates that it's a fairly accurate account of the lengthy battle between Mussolini's Italy and Libya across the sea. Muammar Gaddafi financed this film that shows crimes against humanity that began in the 1920's and continued well into the 30's. Considering Gaddafi's record, it's easy to wonder how accurate the presentation from his side is in this film. Certainly, the Italians are presented as unreasonable and in Mussolini's case, downright fanatical.

It's a very showy performance for Rod Steiger as Mussolini, bellowing his lines just as other actors have done in this role. He's certainly no shrinking violet, and the grand palace he lives in (complete with guards who seem to be standing throughout their shift with an arm raised high just in case he decides to walk by) is a sight to behold, especially his war room. General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) never seems to leave Italy, running the operation from far away.

Then there's the presentation of Libyan resistance leader Omar al-Mukhtar as played by Anthony Quinn, completely calm and well spoken even when confronted by the fact that the Italian negotiators aren't going to give him anything that he feels they're entitled to. Simply they just want their land back. Irene Papas and John Gielgud have smaller roles as other Libyans involved in the rebellion. The only thing that I can say about the film is that it is epic in scale and made me want to do more research on my own, but for the most part, I felt that something was missing to indicate only one side of the story.

I'll pass on this one. The whole movie is available to watch on youtube free of charge. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRz964lfcU&t=644s

[Graham Ritchie]

Last night being Saturday it was again a screening of the Imprint blu-ray release of "The Straight Story", it really is a first class movie to watch again as with the blu-ray transfer

Tonight I got around to watching the blu-ray release of "Lion of the Desert" starring Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger and John Gielgud. Its a good movie with a running time of 156 minutes its taken me a while to get around to watching it. Not sure of when it came out the film that is?, must have been a while back. however that was my Sunday night viewing now over

[Graham Ritchie]

Last night it was Blade Runner 2049. I watched it in 3D in the past but last night it was the 2D disc version. Other blu-rays of late have been Blue Thunder, Islands In The Stream, Galaxy Quest, and Sophie Scholl, good movies. On the DVD side over the last few weeks the latest was The Rocket Post filmed in Scotland and the new restoration DVD of The Never Ending Story which looks great all movies projected using the Panasonic

[Graham Ritchie]

A couple of other movies on blu-ray I have watched this week

"Planet Of The Apes" 1968 is one I re-visit every so often, likewise with "The Flight Of The Phoenix" 1965, both picture and sound is really good. With the blu-ray of "Smitty" this one came from a video library that was shutting down. I had never heard of it before, but with Peter Fonda leading the cast that got me interested. If you just feel like watching a nice family film then "Smitty" is one I certainly recommend. Its just a nice film with a good overall cast I will throw in the trailer at the bottom


A couple of screen shots of Smitty

[Graham Ritchie]

Had a visitor today, our grandson and to my surprise tonight he wanted to watch a movie in our little home cinema, Its really been a while now since the last time he stayed over, he also asked for a war movie, OK I thought, will project 1917, well that one was certainly a hit, an excellent transfer onto blu-ray. If you have never seen 1917 do take the time to watch it, I would certainly recommend it .

[Graham Ritchie]

"Searching For Bobby Fisher" 1993, blu-ray released by "Imprint"" an excellent film, projected screen shots below taken from the Panasonic VP last week.
Highly recommend it

Note the use of the camera and lighting by Director of photography Conrad Hall. Music by James Horner