Here’s a thread about Hail, Caesar!: Hail, Caesar! anticipation thread (probable spoilers) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
An underated film that touched me deeply - “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” 2011
About a young autistic (Asperger’s?) boy who lost his father (Tom Hanks) in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, then finds a mysterious key and becomes obsessed that his dad left a final message for him somewhere in the city. Sandra Bullock plays his mother … also has John Goodman, and Max von Sydow. The role of the boy is impeccably acted by Thomas Horn, who had no acting experience!
I also just saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I loved it! I thought it was so fun! Plus helps that I just love Jack Huston and totally enjoyed his character. I thought it would do better at the box office so it may not be around much longer but I definitely recommend it!
Just saw “Tomorrowland.” There were elements in this movie that REALLY made me want to like it. But the plot was flimsy as hell, IMHO. Lindlehof (who wrote the film) strikes again! (He also wrote “Prometheus.”) It had an interesting concept at the center of it, but it treated science as magic (could be a Disney influence) and if you thought about the plot for just an instant, it dissolves like a house of cards. And I thought the violent robots were kinda grafted in and gratuitous, a cheap way to maintain dramatic tension. A shame, I REALLY wanted to like it.
Saw P&P&Z yesterday, and like the others in this thread, I really enjoyed it. Like all zombie iterations, it helps to turn your brain off thinking about the sheer idiocy of the monsters, but it was quite hilarious seeing a drawing room discussion played out during a martial arts training exercise.
Also saw The Terminal yesterday, a nice little tale about a guy stuck in an airport terminal. Spielberg/Hanks working together again without all the physical exertion their previous film (Saving Private Ryan) needed. I can hear the call now:
“Hey, Tom!”
“Steve. What’s do you want?”
“Remember the wrap party for SPR when you said ‘next time I’m working with you, asshole, it’s going to be in a film that’s purely indoors and doesn’t involve mud’?”
“Fuck you.”
“Seriously, I optioned a script that 99% takes place in an airport terminal.”
“Fuck you.”
“Look, it’s got a 29 day shooting schedule and you’ll make $20 million just from the acting fee alone… and I’ll throw in 3 net points.”
“Where and when do I report?”
Then, because I apparently couldn’t be bothered to change the channel, watched Mark Ruffalo and Renee Zellweger play ‘make cute’ in Just Like Heaven. Very Rom, not so much Com, and while it wasn’t High Art, it was entertaining enough for me to kill an hour and a half (thank you, Tivo!)
Then, OMG, I watched Gigi, another one of those films modern audiences should react to with horror:
The film begins with some old fart singing “Thank Heavens for Little Girl” while watching some 8yo girl play in the park, undressing her with his eyes…
… Wait, it gets worse…
Fifteen year-old Gigi is being groomed by her aunt and grandmother to be a courtesan (essentially, a mistress to the high and mighty).
… wait, it gets worse…
Thirty-Five year-old Gaston gets the hots for her.
… wait, it gets worse …
The poor girl doesn’t want to become a prostitute (sorry! Courtesan! I know somebody will soon tell me the difference…), but under pressure from the other female members of her family she finally gives in.
… wait, it gets worse…
But it’s OK, as Gaston is depressed and only the efforts of this 15yo child can get him out of this depression, so he decides to take her up as his mistress.
… wait, it gets worse…
So they go out on a date, in which all the other people in the restaurant look @ Gigi like she’s a clapped-out streetwalker, with the smarmy old fart from the beginning of the movie saying “This one will keep you occupied for weeks!”
… But it’s all OK, because…
Gaston is embarrassed for both himself and her, takes her home, and proposes marriage.
Just freakin’ bizarre.
This thing won Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year, so some money must have traded hands, I can only assume…
And apparently, when a guy is done with his courtesan and breaks off their relationship, she’s expected to attempt suicide, but not succeed. Isn’t that hilarious?
I must have missed that part!
Grandma. Lily Tomlin and her granddaughter take a one-day road trip without leaving town.
Tomlin really showed she could do some nice stuff other than ragin’ old lady. Unfortunately, still too much of the latter.
Really good supporting cast. Sam Elliot in particular did a nice job in not being so Sam Elliot. Marcia Gay Harden wasn’t used well enough. Sorry to see that Elizabeth Peña died shortly after making this.
Fairly good movie overall.
Trumbo. Not all that excited about this. I’ve seen too many blacklist movies to get emotionally wound up anymore. Tim Whatley did a merely okay job. I was distracted too much by people playing famous actors that didn’t act and look like the original. I know I shouldn’t be bothered by this, but I was. The guy playing Kirk Douglas was the only one who seemed to be up to the role.
Too many of these movies don’t adequately show the incredible evilness of what went on. They try to personalize it. But it affected everyone in some way. It’s not a personal story.
Anomalisa. Not so good … at all. Waaay too long for a simple fairytale story. A half hour version would be enough and it still wouldn’t be worth watching. Confusing due to the similarity of secondary character voices, which should have been the point clearly stated in the first minute of the film.
A perfect example of men being cast as younger and women being cast as older than they are. Cary Grant was 55, playing a younger man. Jessie Royce Landis, playing his mother, was only 7 years older than him.
Yes, and not all that supportive a mother, at that!
Para Elisa. Spanish with English subtitles. A 75 minute horror film worth watching. Streaming on Netflix. Can’t say more without spoiling.
We threw three pieces of paper on the table with three different films on them, and then picked one to see today. 45 Years won the pick. We were the only losers in the deal, as the film was plodding and boring. I don’t understand the critical love for this thing, nor the Oscar nom for Rampling. She’s a good actor, but seemed to just trudge through this thing.
Saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on Thursday and loved it. Not quite the horror comedy the trailers purport it to be, because it’s more heavily Austen than Pegg. As such, the pacing was a lot slower, but engaging nonetheless. The feistiness of Lizzie was handled well by Lilly James, and Sam Reilly did a fine turn with the brooding. So if you like period pieces, you’d appreciate the thought that went into the narrative. The costumes were to die for and, although some of the lesser sisters all ran together, they were extremely easy on the eyes and very talented at ass kicking. They left the ending open to a sequel, but this far, the box office doesn’t look promising. I’d give it a 7 or 8 out of 10.
Running on Empty, Judd Hirsch, River Phoenix, Christina Lahti, directed by Sidney Lumet (I think…). Phoenix carries this drama of a family on the run from the consequences of a bombing they did in 1971 or so. They live by going from place to place, supported by an extensive network of leftist sympathizers… and 17yo River is tired of this life.
Steven Hill has an all-time great one-scene role in this movie, up there with Baldwin in GGGR and Wilford Brimley in *The Verdict. *
Just watched Sicario on demand, which was a pretty tight action flick. Benicio del Toro was well cast as a remorseless avenger.
Bridge of Spies at the dollar theater. A paint-by-numbers Spielberg/Hanks period piece with nothing really surprising about it other than John Williams not doing the score. As far as it being a B. Picture nominee, I can’t really see why this movie would get a nom and SW:TFA not.
What We Do In The Shadows. Purchased from, then watched on Amazon. A mockumentary about vampires. Hilarious.
The Broadway Melody, the second film to win B. Picture (1928-29) and the first sound film to win. Nothing much to offer modern audiences other than historical value and perspective, you can see how a LOT of movies received some sort of inspiration/lineage from TBM. Pre-Hays code standards had lots of scantily clad dancers doing their thing: fashions may change, but good legs are timeless.
The Life of Emile Zola, won B. Picture in 1938 (for CY1937). I was not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at how good this film was, and was impressed at the obvious advances in sound in the 8 short years since TBM. (Of course, TBM could have been a horrible print (I saw both on TCM)).
Interesting thought: a 1938 audience was watching a movie about a guy who’s greatest influence was a mere 40 years prior to this film, making TLoEZ more relevant to its audience than Bridge of Spies is to us.
Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick in 1975 directed one of the most boring, but lovely, movies created by the Hand of Man. I know this one has its fans, and I can see why it has fans, but I’m not one of them. C’est la Vie.
Just watched an interesting movie on Netflix Streaming: “Pontypool.” It is ostensibly a zombie movie, but with some very different twists. For one, it is set in a talk radio studio under quarantine, so there are very few sets and characters (it almost looks like a stage play). For another, the “zombie plague” is spread not by bites or blood, but by WORDS, so it becomes almost an allegory for political correctness or rampant memes. Very interesting.
I saw "Race" today. As biopic’s go, it was okay. You really don’t learn that much about Jesse Owens the man (though the film isn’t called “The Jesse Owens Story” so I guess they can’t be at fault for that) I just found myself waiting through the first half of the picture for them to get to Berlin already. That’s what I really wanted to see. Even there, when they finally get to the 1936 Olympics (a real nice CGI shot of Owens in the arena) I wanted more.