Amazon Prime had The Girl With All The Gifts, which I watched while at the gym this weekend. A zombie movie, sort of, but there are a number of “hungries” that don’t act like the rest. The movie started very strong, but ebbed toward the end, I felt; the last 45 minutes isn’t much different from other zombie apocalypse movies, but for the very end. Always good to see Gemma Arterton and Glenn Close.
The long shot at the start was more of a technical feat than anything. It’s the scene near the end in the dark at the border with the giant shadows that wows me.
Hmm, just realized this also leads to another “Question with two different answers” trivia bit:
Name a movie where Janet Leigh is by herself at a remote motel with a creep clerk.
It’s been a big movie week for me. In the last six days, I’ve gone to see four movies: Molly’s Game, Jumanji, Early Man, and Black Panther.
About which you thought…?
Molly’s Game: Good dialogue and great acting but a little thin on the plot. Can’t blame Sorkin for that; he was working with a true story. It struck me that this was essentially the same story as Scandal (1989); a little guy starts hobnobbing with powerful people, providing them with the services they want. Then the little guy gets caught up in a struggle between the powerful people over issues they have nothing to do with and gets crushed as a side-effect while the powerful people mostly escape any consequences.
Jumanji: I’m a big fan of the first one. This one is good with a much higher budget. Johnson did a good job outside of his usual roles by playing a character who was actually a nerd trapped inside an action hero’s body. And Black was even better; he totally convinced you he was actually a teenage girl.
Early Man: I went to this because I’m a big Nick Park fan. But I was surprised by the plot; there was a whole sports story that which was central to the movie but which the trailers never mentioned.
Black Panther: What can I say that’s new on this one? Another solid entry to the MCU. I will admit I’m a little unclear on the timeline; this movie apparently takes place simultaneously with Civil War so I’d like to watch the two back-to-back and see how they mesh up.
Overall, four very good movies that I enjoyed and were worth watching. But I wouldn’t say any of them were great.
Watched** The Death of Stalin** the other night, a very good but very black comedy. Afterwards I did a little reading and was surprised to find just how many scenes were directly inspired by real life events. Rather than the usual faux-Russian accents the actors used a variety of English dialects: Stalin as a Cockney, General Zhukov a Yorkshireman and Kruschev a New Yorker. Pretty funny to listen to but there was also a point to this, the characters came from different parts of the USSR and would have sounded just as diverse to each other.
I believe it’s set a week or two after Civil War, with the exception of the prologue.
While there was a lot to like I felt there was a missed opportunity to make Killmonger a genuinely sympathetic villain rather than simply one with a cause and a point.
Thanks, Little Nemo, for the additional info.
Knight, agreed on both points.
Just got back from seeing Death of Stalin. Hilarious film with a great cast. Good to see Rupert Friend again.
I think the point the movie was trying to make was to show that T’Challa was becoming his own man. He didn’t just blindly follow what T’Chaka had done and he didn’t blindly reject what Killmonger was trying to do. He looked past his emotional responses and considered what both men (and his other advisors) were saying and doing - and then he set his own path. And that included adopting some of Killmonger’s ideas.
Saw Call Me By Your Name (on demand). Did not care for it at all. It’s one of the rare cases where I noticed the editing – and not in a good way. It felt edited at random – some scenes cut short, others running on; totally unnecessary sequences, while there are points where I’m thinking “wait, did they skip something?”
Since it’s only the middle of March, I’m going to assume that “recently” can mean any time in 2018.
“Black Panther” (Of course, who hasn’t? LOL)
“The Shape of Water”
“Get Out”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
“Darkest Hour”
“I, Tonya”
“Call Me by Your Name”
And ???
The new version of Murder on the Orient Express. I went in not expecting to be wowed. And it failed even that low standard.
This was … bad. There was clearly something going on very early on that was key to the whole thing that wasn’t mentioned until the “You’re probably wondering why you are all in this railroad tunnel.” scene at the end. Some detective.
And an early major fact was just pulled out of mid-air, AFAIK.
Having the train halted for most of the movie ruined the whole, you know, exotic train thing. And where were the other passengers and cars? There should have been a lot more people on it.
My parents saw it and loved it, but I was put off by (yes, I must admit it) Poirot’s over-the-top facial hair. The train is stopped for most of the book and the previous movies, too.
Watched Lady Bird on demand last night. I’m not generally a fan of coming-of-age movies, but this one was pretty good. Laurie Metcalf was outstanding, as always.
She is excellent. Did you realize she did the voice of Andy’s mom in the Toy Story movies? I see she’ll be back for the new, short season of the revived Roseanne later this month.
I caught Tomb Raider on Sunday. A decent film that almost completely lacks flair - the dialogue just moves the plot along without letting the characters breathe. It’s especially notable in Walton Goggin’s character since offbeat rambling is typically what he’s there to do. I liked Vikander in the role and liked the choice to show the character as an female action hero, forgoing the boobs and hot-pants version of the original.
Our MotW: Mr. Roosevelt.
Noël Wells is the lead, writer, director, etc.
A woman goes back to Austin because of the title cat and encounters her ex-boyfriend and a ton of other issues.
In a way, it reminds me of The Big Chill. But with a cat instead of Kevin Costner.
There was even one point where I expected this exchange:
“I’m going back to my novel. I’ll write about this weekend.”
“What were you going to write about before?”
“Last weekend.”
But with “video” replacing “novel”.
Some really good acting by the other actors. Esp. Nick Thune and Daniella Pineda. But the over-the-top, drama queen portrayal by Wells hurts it some.
1/2 thumbs up.
Isle of Dogs. We really, really liked it (not loved it…it does drag occasionally). But it’s so damned original, and so interesting to look at, it makes up for any flaws.
Finally watched I, Tonya on demand. Janney really earned that Oscar. Crazy story. I remember when it all happened, but not the details.
Logan Lucky, free on Amazon Prime. I really enjoyed it – I love a good heist movie. If you liked Ocean’s 11, you’ll like Logan Lucky: it’s basically Ocean’s 11.5 (same director). There’s a line in the movie that refers to the heist as “Ocean’s 7-11”.