Cinema Cycle - Easy Virtue

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/30/2015

TITLE: Easy Virtue

FORMAT: Blu-Ray

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 36 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 21.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3553.5 miles

SYNOPSIS: A young American widow marries a young aristocratic Englishman and struggles with the expectations of her new step-mother and her dysfunctional family.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:   Family relationships and how they are dysfunctional, even in Edwardian England.  Change is inevitable, better embrace it and stop trying to hold onto the past.

PROS AND CONS: Not a bad film, but something that most would put into the ‘arthouse’ category of film making, much like ‘Remains of the Day’ and ‘Room with a View’.  

The film follows the theme of a a brash and fresh young woman entering into a staid and button down English manor home and the clash of cultures that inevitably erupts.  While lavish and fun to watch, the movie never really clicks.

Jessica Biel’s character is wasted in the role and the fuming and scheming between the mother and her new daughter-in-law, gets a bit tedious.  The music in the film was an odd choice and did not fit the mood or look of the film.  Playing ‘Sex Bomb’ during a fox hunt seemed pretty out of place as did other musical selections in the film.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - Get Shorty

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/27/2015

TITLE: Get Shorty

FORMAT: LaserDisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 47 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 22.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3531.7 miles

SYNOPSIS: An east coast mobster finds that Hollywood is much like the rackets back home and decides to make a film.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The hood with a heart of gold, and the cast of characters that swirls around them.  Travolta’s follow up to Pulp Fiction.   

PROS AND CONS: This film was interesting for reasons unexpected.  Due to limitations on my LaserDisc player, I had to listen to the audio commentary that accompanies the film.  The plus side, is that it was very entertaining commentary.

Barry Sonnenfeld directed the film and provides the viewer with an interesting walk through backdoor Hollywood.  Mr. Sonnenfeld often points out what actor sent him a box of cigars after filming or whose wife is an extra in the background of a scene.  

Watching the film was like hanging out in a seedy bar with a Hollywood insider on a rainy October night...with a mournful sax in the background.  It was fun.  (and the movie seemed like it was pretty good as well).

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Five Frames - 11/27/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Sony Mavica FD83 on 11/27/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Five Frames - 11/26/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Galaxy Tab 4 Tablet on 11/26/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Five Frames - 11/25/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With Google Glass on 11/25/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/25/2015

TITLE: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

FORMAT: HD-DVD

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 56 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 23.3 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3508.9 miles

SYNOPSIS: A reclusive chocolate maker searches for the ideal young child to inherit is empire. 

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:  Ill mannered children always meet a bad end and are eventually weeded out by society.  Living in the present means forever dealing with our past(s)

PROS AND CONS: I grew up watching the original of this film when it was titled “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and starred Gene Wilder.  After having seen both, I prefer to latter.

Not surprising, since this film was aimed more at the younger generations and is both complimented and hurt by the excessive use of special effects and CGI.  

The biggest problem here appears to be Wonka himself as played by Johnny Depp.  He does not come off as likable, only as eccentric and odd.  His inability to embrace the relationship with his estranged dentist father is supposed to be the center core of the story, but it is overshadowed by the elaborate set design and imagery.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Five Frames - 11/24/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Lytro Graphite Light Field Camera on 11/24/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Five Frames - 11/23/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Sony Mavica FD83 on 11/23/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Dark Before Dawn

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/23/2015

TITLE: Dark Before Dawn

FORMAT: LaserDisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 40 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 20.9 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3485.6 miles

SYNOPSIS: A television reporter helps uncover the evil doings of a corporation that is trying to put American farmers out of business for its own profit.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:  Good Ole Boys in the Midwest are a strange lot indeed.  Back in the day when ALL pickup trucks had gun racks and ALL Midwest farmers were ex-Vietnam veterans.   

PROS AND CONS: A fun movie, but not something that I would categorize as a great film.  This is low budget film-making and as such appears to appeal to a niche market, mostly like folks in the Midwest in the late 1980s, at drive-in movie theaters, in pickup trucks, with hay bales in the back.  

What I found more interesting than anything else, were the credits and exactly who starred in the film. Most are unknowns, but the female lead in the film is also the screenwriter.  Her name is Reparata Mazzola.  A quick internet search of her is almost more entertaining than the film.  

This is more of a film study project that a bunch of friends decided to fund and distribute, since there is little reference to anything else they did on IMDB.  Oh, and the death by combine scene at the end needed more blood.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Five Frames - 11/20/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Lytro Illum Light Field Camera on 11/20/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Stranger on the Third Floor

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/20/2015

TITLE: Stranger On The Third Floor

FORMAT: Streaming (Google Play)

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 12 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 16.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3464.7 miles

SYNOPSIS: A young newspaper reporter has doubts about his testimony that sends an innocent man to the electric chair.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:   The law, media and how things can be misconstrued and taken out of context.  We should not be found guilty by our thoughts, but our actions.

PROS AND CONS: A real sleeper of a film.  At only 63 minutes long, it isn’t a lengthy film but packs a lot of content.  The dream sequence alone is worth watching when taken in context of when it was made and the state of Hollywood special effects at the time.  

While Peter Lorre has top billing in the film, he is not seen on screen for any length of time until the last 10 minutes of the film.  This is ‘Film Noir’ at it’s height.  The shadows on the walls and the dark streets are too numerous to count.  

The styling aside, this is a fascinating film, since you really can’t tell where it is going until the last 10 minutes and while some of the scenes and flashbacks seems to have little relevance to the story, they all make sense in the end.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Five Frames - 11/19/2015

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Sony Mavica FD83 on 11/19/2015.

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Damn Yankees

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 11/19/2015

TITLE: Damn Yankees

FORMAT: LaserDisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 59 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 29.1 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 3447.9 miles

SYNOPSIS: A baseball fan sells his soul to the devil to help his hometown team win the pennant.  

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:   True love conquers all, even bad mistakes made with the devil.  New York sports fans need psychiatric help.

PROS AND CONS:  A fun film to watch.  As musicals go, not one of the greatest, but it is well done.  The billing only references Tab Hunter, Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon, but there is a whole cadre of supporting characters that also fill out this film.

While some of the songs are forgettable, others such as “You Gotta Have Heart”, and “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets” are part of the American songbook.  Add to this, the fact that Gwen Verdun is quite the little slinky seductress in this film and it is more than fun enough to watch.  

This film harkens back to the days when Broadway was still the talent engine in the musical genre and it shows in this work.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.