Sorry folks, it's another difficult to watch and digest movie. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Silence is a powerful film that depicts the struggle of Jesuit Priests and Catholics in 17th century Japan as they endured cruel persecution to relinquish their faith. There was certainly a significant depiction of this persecution and it was difficult to watch. Without giving too much away, my biggest issue was with the pace of the film. There was far too much focus on the persecution and not enough on the lives of the priests after they had publicly renounced their faith, while keeping it in silence. 4/5 for the film.

PQ was quite good. The sets and cinematography certainly set the stage. Color was a bit on the cool side but it added to the feel of the film. Doom and gloom were the order of the day here. 4.5/5 for PQ.

SQ was respectable. There wasn't a lot going on here in terms of action, but voices were captured well and there was enough surround data to provide some immersiveness. Dynamics were present when called for during a few scenes. 4/5 for SQ that was solid without drawing attention to itself.

This may be another one that you want to look up the ending explained, but make sure you watch the correct version. Don't expect a happy ending here folks! This one is dark! That said, it did evoke an emotional response. Recommended, but not for family movie night.

Cheers,

T Cobe

P.S. Rogue One and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them are both on deck.

I've been away for a bit, busy with my own forum. Here are my most recent watches with some impressions.

Snowden - PQ and sound were nothing special but not that kind of movie. JGL turned in a wonderful performance IMO but the role was so plain he may get no real credit. I have strong feelings about the whole Snowden / wiki-leaks issue but that's for another forum. If you don't really know what happened and have any interest, this movie is pretty accessible in my opinion.

Warcraft - Pretty fair Sound. The PQ didn't jump out at me, likely due to a lot of CGI, some of which was bad. Very forgettable plot. I'm not sure I could recount it some few weeks later. Do not recommend.

The Revenant - Really good! Much easier to watch than I had expected. This had been sitting on my AppleTV for since it released waiting for me to generate the will to, what I thought would be, slog through it. I was surprised at how perfect the pacing was for such a long movie. There weren't a lot of bombastic sound fx but the cinematography was stunning and the PQ was really good. Highly recommended!

All is Lost - Really great minimalist survival film with the always wonderful Robert Redford. SQ and PQ are irrelevant here. This one is relatively short and sweet and I think a lot of people haven't heard of it. Add it to your list, I think you'll be glad.

What We Do in the Shadows - Well, I really enjoyed it. It's not uproariously funny (although I did laugh out loud several times) but more subtly humorous and I could see if you had a group of friends who had all seen it, you could be quoting it all the time... "we're werewolves, not swear-wolves!" It was clever and unique but not full-of-itself artsy either.

Pompeii - An action film with OK SQ not great PQ and a forgettable and highly derivative plot (Gladiator). Not even the stunningly beautiful Emily Browning could save this one. Thin on plot and criminally poor use of legitimately good actors.

Hacksaw Ridge - I really enjoyed this one and I described the battle scenes as concussive. Can't believe they didn't win a sound Oscar. Some of the most realistic (feeling... I've never been in combat but have shot guns) bass I've witnessed in a long time. And the story and acting was top notch. I retract any and all scoffing I did at the premise, even knowing it was a true story.

The Water Horse - This was a re-watch with my middle daughter as I thought this 2007 fantasy adventure film would be up her alley. She and I enjoyed it (I had seen it previously). If you haven't seen it, give it a spin. Especially with 6-12 year old kids / grandkids.

Doctor Strange - Missed this one in theaters and really enjoyed seeing it at home. Great unique origin story in my opinion. I was so engrossed I honestly don't recall anything special about the PQ or SQ other than it was all very engaging. Highly recommended as well.

Arrival - Really really liked this one. One of the better movies I've seen recently. So much depth to the story. This one really hit the sweet spot for me. Its exactly my kind of movie. SQ and PQ were both very good.

The Accountant - This was enjoyable as well. It was nice to hit a good streak after sprinkling in some duds like Warcraft. Another movie where SQ and PQ aren't super relevant but I thought like John Wick, this movie's action style is preferable to the vomit inducing fast cuts of the Bourne movies.

Fantastic Beasts - This was a re-watch as well. My middle daughter and I saw it in theaters. I actually enjoyed it more the second time around. My daughter is asking when the next movie comes out. Its not Harry Potter, and my daughter really wants to see them make a movie of The Cursed Child, but it was good. SQ and PQ are more than passable.

Good to have you back Imahawki!!!!
Glad you liked the Revenant, Arrival and the Accountant, or I was gonna have to unfriend you!!!!! ha ha
Good assessment on the above.
I did not like All is Lost as well as you, but will look for others you mentioned.
God bless,
Wayne

Well, I feel like I have been letting this thread down, for sure I have not been watching movies.
I have been busy ripping new music so I can put it on my new Cowon Plenue M2 playing, for listening as I exercise. Got that pretty much done and loving it!!!!
Still waiting on some new ciems and a new cable for them, I sent the TWag V4 silver Litz back. For a little more I got the Whiplash guy to let me trade them in for their TWau Reference Gold plated silver cables. Waiting.......
Also, finally bought a tent!!! Am busy getting the stuff together to set that up, and be able to camp out, at least in the front yard and watch the stars at night as I go to sleep in this lovely weather!!!!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have been watching more seasons of Homeland, this season 4 I got in blu-ray. It was not much more expensive than just buying the DVD set, and the PQ is just that much better. Can't say I noticed (not saying it was not there) any real improvement in SQ.
Watching it, other than pretty good writing and AWESOME acting, said it before, but Danes is AMAZING!!!!, my take is that I can only hope we have people so dedicated to national security and catching the bad guys as is portrayed in this show!
OK, I will soon get back to watching poor movies and reporting my disappointment accordingly.
God Bless,
Wayne

OK, back to work.
Watched "Manhattan Night" tonight, starring Adrien Brody and Yvonne Strahovski.
It was a little dark, a mystery and I was not able to outguess it, that is for sure.
Not so sure what it would say about someone IF they were able to guess what happened.
Ha
PQ was quite good, SQ was fine in the incidental music, or when things got a LITTLE exciting, which was not often, the story dragged a bit. OK, maybe more than a bit.
But it was an interesting tale.
And it does have Ms Strahovski to make you want to watch more.
Medium recommendation from me, NOTHING reference or even close to it, but perhaps worth renting, not buying??? Oh, we can't do that any more???
God Bless,
Wayne

After weeks of waiting, I was finally able to pick up a 3D version of Doctor Strange. This had to be one of the worst roll outs ever. It took forever for the stores to have this one in stock. It makes you wonder how much it impacted sales. Anyway, I had a friend over and fired up the theater to watch this and it took a few attempts to get everything working.

Wayne already covered the movie pretty well. PQ and SQ were both solid. There was far too much CGI for my liking. The 3D was just okay. This movie would have been much better if the 3D had been done well, but sadly it seemed an after thought. You could tell this one was fake 3D. I'd still recommend the movie but I'd steer clear of the 3D version.

Cheers,

T Cobe