TV/Movies Megathread

[mongers]

Silent Heroes (1987)

https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0479812

Complete with misleading VHS covert art. 

Well, now that's a weird one. Directed by the oft-described worst British director, schlock meister Richard Driscoll, here is an anti-war movie shot in a Welsh backyard, in the backdrop of the Falklands War, with some exploitation cinema bits a thrown in for good measure.

So it begins with a traumatised SAS veteran (make-up FX fans beware!) being interviewed by a daring journalist, with allusions to a cover-up by politicians, with Vietnam War movie tropes used in a British context, lots of more or less convincing use of stock footage (most of the movie in fact) to attempt to make up for the shoestring budget, which explains as well the shakily edited not really convincing, yet sometimes atmospheric backyard battle scenes involving some fireworks.

It even gets artsy and philosophical in the end, à la Apocalypse Now.

For some reason it got released in France on VHS, and there is a French-dubbed, badly so, version on youtube.

Falklands Exploitation?

I don't think that ever saw the light of day here?

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, I bet it got a VHS release in the UK, at least. .
Grand total of 1 critic review on IMDB, from an appropriatingly called review site known as the Schlock Pit. Good for context and references.

Two reviews on Letterboxd.

[Duque de Bragança]

A Better Tomorrow The first two, on the silver screen.

4K restored versions, rougher looking than the other re-released John Woo movies, but still better than the 35 mm copies grindhouse-level by which they were discovered on, not to mention the awful VHS transfers. The DVDs years ago were acceptable back then (a German blu-ray bootleg was not that much better).
The improved quality and clarity made me notice some cables, plus an explosion looks noticeably worse.  Z-grade so-bad-it's-good movie fans already had recognised regulars from Godfrey Ho HK movies in ABT II, the weaker of the two, somewhat disjointed with a NY plot, but ending on a bonkers sequence, only surpassed by Hard Boiled.

I will watch AB III though A Bullet in the Head, the same project in the beginning, is obviously superior, being directed by John Woo, not Tsui Hark (great as comic relief in ABT I).

[viper37]

Pete Hammond's Oscar Predictions: What The Academy Voted For (And Who Didn't Cast A Ballot At All)

There's an interesting bit:

"Hi, Pete, I enjoy your articles.
I thought you might be interested to hear a take from an Academy member about this year's rules. I haven't seen even half of the nominated films, nor do I care to, because my time is far too valuable to spend watching movies I know I'd never vote for (much less be able to sit through). I found most of the films I did see to be mediocre, and nothing that I nominated made the final cut. Therefore, since I don't want to lie, I decided I simply would not vote at all this year. Yes, I'd like to vote for K-Pop Demon Hunters, but not at the price of watching four other movies I know won't be as good. But really, the Oscars have become pretty irrelevant. Anora? CODA? Everything Everywhere All At Once? vs The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton? Which three movies will people still be watching five years from now? It's all about the film, not the award. Rather than watch the Awards, I'll probably watch Singin' In The Rain or North By Northwest or The Searchers – REAL best pictures which weren't even nominated.

Feel free to quote me, but please don't use my name."

Prior to this year, voters weren't legally required to watch the movies they were voting for in a category.

[The Minsky Moment]

Anora? CODA? Everything Everywhere All At Once? vs The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton? Which three movies will people still be watching five years from now?

That is some high-grade cherry picking.  I think five years from now, lots more people will be watching Everything Everywhere All At Once then Mrs. Miniver or The Great Ziegfield.