I saw A United Kingdom yesterday, the true story of the relationship between Seretse Khama, heir to a tribal chiefdom in what is now Botswana, and his British wife Ruth. I thought it was a brilliant movie, not only a traditional Oscar subject (history and racial prejudice) but really worthy of an Oscar. I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten much publicity; it’s certainly as good as The King’s Speech, and has deeper, more resonant themes, as well as a beautiful love story.
Saw John Wick 2 yesterday and liked it. I hate graphic violence, especially when it’s gratuitous, so my husband had me watch the first one over the weekend first to see if it was too gross for me. It was borderline, but I liked the plot and the cinematography and scene framing was gorgeous. I have to admit that I had to cover my eyes and flinched a lot through JW2, but still appreciated the overall movie. Still a great story, and gorgeous. Loved the humor. Loved the dog. Actually appreciated Keanu Reeves being stoic when appropriate and emoting intensely when appropriate. He’s matured nicely and the action hero trope actually suits him.
I did not care for this one.
But I really enjoyed Sam Rockwell in the Mr Right shoot-em-up love story.
Doctor Strange
Rogue One
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Moana
About which you thought…?
Fairly long backlog. Just a few highlights.
The Edge of Seventeen. Superficially a typical teen angst film but actually works, for the most part. Sort of a lesser Juno. Fairly funny at times.
Woody Harrelson steals the show as the fed up, sarcastic teacher.
The problem is the ending:
The girl, Nadine, is a completely self-centered drama queen. But she has a magic “aha” moment at the end and she’s all better. Right, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
Lion. Okay for the most part. Not a great movie. Some odd, herky-jerky steps in plot pacing. Dev Patel proves again he can rise above the material.
20th Century Women. Eh. Annette Bening does her usual Annette Bening stuff. Which is good. Elle Fanning does her usual Elle Fanning stuff. Which is bad. (She is really getting to be a one note actress.) The big surprise is Greta Gerwig who is completely transformed in this movie. She is definitely not doing her usual bit. Amazing. Good film for people into retro furnishings and all that.
Jack Reacher - Kinda meh. Doubt I’ll watch another. Not surprising as I gave up on the books a while ago.
Arrival - slow moving, but interesting twist at the end.
John Wick 2 - This is a type of pornography. You know how in porn, everyone’s a freak? The housewife, the pizza guy, the copy repair guy - everyone you meet is ready to have random sex at the drop of a hat. In the Wickverse, everyone’s an assassin - the waiter, the newsie, the valet, your dog walker- everyone’s a highly trained, heavily armed killer ready to throw down at a moment’s notice. In both types of film, it can get monotonous.
Are you saying your life isn’t like that?
Huh.
I see. You’re saying that the films are social commentary, substituting assassins for assholes. Yeah, the ratio makes sense now. 
To each their own!
Recently seen:
The Lego Batman Movie
Good, silly fun - a very enjoyable superhero spoof with lots of clever in-jokes and shoutouts to earlier incarnations of the Caped Crusader and pop culture generally.
Ram Dass: Fierce Grace
Biographical documentary of a noted American-born guru, whose life changed irrevocably after he has a stroke. Good but not great.
Key Largo
B&W noir drama set in a decaying Florida hotel during a hurricane, as Bogie and Bacall deal with Edward G. Robinson and his gang of hoodlums hiding out there. Really enjoyed this.
Amadeus
A filmed 2016 National Theatre stage production of the famous Peter Shaffer play. Lucian Msamati plays Salieri, the antihero, with a bit more gusto than F. Murray Abraham did in the Oscar-winning 1984 movie, and the frequent presence of the musicians right there on stage was an interesting feature. Recommended despite its length (3.5 hours, a bit much).
All The King’s Men
A 1949 B&W political drama, loosely based on the career of the Depression-era Louisiana demagogue Huey Long. I’d read the Pulitzer-winning Robert Penn Warren book recently and loved it, but the movie was just too overblown and melodramatic for me.
Mr. Holmes – Ian McKellan as a 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes (set in 1947), advancing into senility with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her young son. Holmes is trying to remember the details of his last case, 30 years prior. McKellan is good, of course; but you would expect that a plot that involves the great detective would be more tightly constructed than this.
He can’t remember, he can’t remember … and then he remembers. The end.
Kong Skull Island - That was a lot of fun. Kong portrayed more as the beast he is rather than the misunderstood gentle giant. Fast paced popcorn flick with everyone really getting into their roles. Except Tom Hiddleston. Someone should have told him this was a movie gig and not a modeling gig. Everytime he’s on screen he looks like he’s trying to preen for the camera. Making sure his hair is perfect and posed like a A&F wannabe.
Get Out- A modern Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Meet The Parents, Stepford Wives, Scream mashup if there is such a thing. If you loved Cabin In The Woods add this to your watch list. Again, really fun to watch.
Fate of the Furious - Really dumb and really entertaining. I’ve seen about half of the Fast & Furious movies and still don’t have any particular emotional investment in the characters. But there are some great action scenes, and not just in cars. I particularly liked one particular fight scene with Jason Statham and The Rock fighting their way out of a secure facility. So many stupid things happened that I can’t keep track. For example, The Rock kicks a torpedo off course. It’s sort of like Transformers or The Transporter, just turn your brain off and have fun.
The Thirteenth Floor - A 1999 science fiction movie I can only describe as something of a cross between The Matrix and Inception. It makes the mistake of dropping you in the middle of the story with no clue what is going on, which is to its detriment because, by the time you figure out what’s happening, the plot gets very convoluted. The acting, however, particularly on the part of Vincent D’Onofrio, was outstanding. Many of the main actors had to play two or three different characters with distinct personalities and they did it very well. It was worth watching over pizza with a bunch of friends.
What About Bob? - In this comedy, Bill Murray plays a severely mentally ill man who will not leave his uptight psychologist, Leo Marvin, alone. Bob ultimately crashes Leo’s vacation, befriends Leo’s family, and drives the man to homicidal insanity. This held up better than I expected it to, in part because the supporting cast did their jobs so well. I could relate especially well to the 11-year-old son plagued with existential angst about his own inevitable death.
Sr. Weasel is a psychologist so we probably talked about the film for an hour or so afterward, taking it way more seriously than it deserved. We were trying to suss out what Leo could have done to set firmer boundaries, but honestly, he was in a tough situation. While he was definitely a self-centered asshole, he seemed to be the only one who respected the need for professional limits. There’s a moment where Leo gleefully commits Bob to a mental institution, which is meant to be taken as an act of cruelty, but while Leo’s motives were poor, it was actually probably an appropriate move at that point.
Just watched Rogue 1. Totally formulaic with every cliche in the book except for the farewell kiss. Maybe I’m finally too old for Star Wars.
My most recent five:
The Lion in Winter
Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn chew French castle scenery with great gusto in this medieval costume drama, playing a wily King Henry II and his fierce, long-imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Watch for a very young Anthony Hopkins as their son Richard (the future Lionheart).
A Farewell to Arms
Having just read the Hemingway novel, I thought I’d check out the 1932 movie. Meh. Not nearly as good as the book.
Their Finest
Funny, touching comedy-drama about British filmmakers in WWII trying to keep up morale on the home front, making movies on a shoestring while being intermittently bombed by the Luftwaffe. The lovely Gemma Arterton is very good as an aspiring screenwriter. Bill Nighy, playing a past-his-prime actor reaching for one last bit of cinematic glory, steals every scene he’s in (as is his wont).
King Kong
Watched the 1976 remake, which is still good, cheesy fun. Charles Grodin stands out as the ambitious, heartless corporate stooge.
King Kong
Also watched the 2005 Peter Jackson remake. Much better sfx, and the cast led by Naomi Watts and Jack Black certainly does its best, but the movie feels overstuffed and just too long.
I tried to watch Luc Besson’s Lucy the other night but had to turn it off after just 28 minutes. The bad reviews, even the one star reviews, at IMDB don’t fully capture how bad this movie is. Nearly everything about this was bad: the script, the acting, the art-house editing in of animals, the makeup… the lighting and cinematography weren’t terrible, tho, so there’s that.
So now I have 2 of my favorite working directors who have both made terrible-in-nearly-every-way films after many decades of experience (can anyone guess who the other one is?). :mad:
I hope Besson’s current summer entry doesn’t also suck; it’d be nice to think that Lucy was a fluke.
I was disappointed in Lucy, too, although it had its moments. See Limitless for a much better take on the unleashing-your-brain’s-full-capacity shtick.
Wife dragged home a bunch of movies from the library. I watched Deepwater Horizon (not too bad, lots of fire), and Sully (okay film, left me wondering how accurate the non-flying stuff was).
I also watched Florence Foster Jenkins, a film and person who I had never heard of. It was actually pretty good. Interesting little humorous story.
Didn’t have to pay* for them, so it’s all good.
*Other than my taxes.
Watched Jason Bourne last night. Nothing groundbreaking, but characters die and the locations and action were good.