MOVIE REVIEW TROLL FREE

I recently saw The Beach Bum starring Matthew McConaughey.  I was hoping that it would be a low budget gem like Serenity that I saw a couple of months ago.  Unfortunately, this was by writer/director Harmony Korine, whose previous work I am unfamiliar with.  So, with only this one film to go by, I would rank him somewhere between Russ Meyer and Seth Rogen.

McConaughey plays Moondog.  He is truly a free spirit living in Key West Florida when his estranged wife calls to invite him to their daughter's wedding in Miami.  I won't bother you with the plot details but suffice it to say that there is plenty of sex, drugs and so-called poetry.  Just to give you some tantalizing clues... there are guest appearances by Jimmy Buffett, Martin Lawrence and Snoop Dogg playing a character named Lingerie.

It was almost a total waste of time.  Midway through there was scene that introduced me to an old song that I thought I should share with y'all.  Take a break and let your ears soak this in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRZZC-DH7M

I saw yesterday / Arte THE MOST WANTED MAN

with Seymour Hoffman (RIP ) a genius, and Wilhelm Dafoe.

The counterterrorism acting in Hamburg after 09/11 , successful, but for whom ?

a tchchen djihadist refugee trying to move an important amount of money from his father's legacy towards some good muslim organizations for peace and love everywhere!

will it work ?

...one more thing: LE CARRE book !

5 * / a must!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/27/fiction

more about seymour hoffman : 

T. CAPOTE  5* + an incredible career of fascinating plays!

and ...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Seymour_Hoffman 

Thanks a lot for the link to Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?"!   I'd remembered the song from hearing it on the radio, but had never seen her performing it onstage.   I hadn't expected Peggy Lee to be so convincing in the role of that cynical, world-weary, bitterly amused, sadder-but-wiser-girl character -- a là Marlene Dietrich in Blue Angel, Lisa Minelli in Cabaret, and my favorite, of course, Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles.  (For those who haven't seen it lately:  https://youtu.be/Uai7M4RpoLU )

ty , she is a must in the US culture, imvho 

Blue Angel / first part of  Marlene Dietrich's career, Germany !  Dir. Josef von Sternberg

cult movie for all cinephiles worldwide all times. 

An old man, a teacher, falls in love with a young singer who leads him to a personal human wreckage 5 *   //

Shazam! was better than I thought it would be.  The DC Comic movie-verse has found its groove by keeping things light most of the time and only going serious drama maybe once or twice during the story.  The story line here plays on similar humor found in Tom Hanks role in Big.  In fact, there is one scene that shamelessly taps that film's iconic toy piano tap dance.  Thankfully, most of the story gives us an anchor in the character of Billy Batson who is trying to cope with being orphaned and becoming a super-hero.  It may sound silly but that part of the story provides the heart for this film.

I'm giving this one 3/4 stars.  One each for writing, directing and acting.  The special effects are sufficient but I was most impressed with the casting.  Zachary Levi as Shazam gets a passing grade but I can't help but think someone better was out there.  Mark Strong didn't strain a muscle in his role as the one-dimensional villain, Sivana.  The most credit goes to the supporting cast.  In particular, the kids that made up Billy's foster siblings and Cooper Andrews (from tv's The Walking Dead) as his foster dad.

If they can keep up the writing and this cast, then this may be the foundation of a new and lasting franchise for DC films. 

ty for all u give to us , anpu3

I got deeper into this actor, fascinating : 

Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor and producer. He first gained notice for his breakout role in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused ..

 his name is really difficult fo rueorpeans to prounounce it ^roperly, it may explains why we know him less than ..Will Smith, Denzel Wash..etc ...

focus on   one of those under-appreciated actors.  He had a unique voice and did much more than his popular roles.  The Harry Potter films & of course his role of Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988).  Here's a link to his wikipedia bio which is impressive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Rickman

anpu 3 , i do some "picking" about things i knew nothing, ty royalties ??

Rickman was perfection as the villain in Quigley Down Under.

Five Easy Pieces is probably my favorite Jack Nicolson film.  Haven't seen it in awhile, but I remember the piano pieces as being often moving, sometimes funny, and performed skillfully, while the  scenes themselves served to in carry the plot forward, while providing some essential elements in character explication. 

Hey, Frenchy. 

What's the word overseas about Avengers: Endgame ?  It's been almost a week and we should be approaching the limit on spoilage.

LOL you finally found this forum Ry

"Blunderking has landed," thanks to accepting Frenchbasher001 friend request, I've stumbled on this troll-free movie review site! Not surprised to find posts by my favorite movie reviewer, ANpu3. "The Fool" sounds fantastic, even though I've seldom liked foreign-language films.
My vote for best-ever 3D movie is "Life of Pi," because its big-screen-3D has an unprecedented ability to pull the viewer into the story. It reminded me of my childhood, where my siblings (6 of us, later 2 more) would vie for the honor of sitting on Dad's lap, while he read oversized-full-color Dr. Seuss stories. Dad's melodious and masterful story-telling completed the "3D effect" which Pi so-brilliantly deploys. By comparison Avatar, like Dune, and Captain Marvel developed so slowly that the "twist" of the good guys being the bad guys and the anti-hero becoming the hero was too predictable. 

Frenchbasher, Not to sully the site with mundane questions about chess, but I'm curious; do the French have a compulsion about playing the French Defense the way Latvians seem obsessive about the Latvian Gambit?

Good to hear from you!