Is Capernaum as maudlin as the reviews and trailers seem to describe? Of the “major” Oscar nominations, this and **Never Look Away **are the only two I haven’t seen and I’m kind of steeling myself to see them (they just don’t seem like they will be anything but “Oscar bait”)
I enjoyed Destroyer, but it seemed to want to be more than it was, which to me was a nasty little noir (and make no mistake, I like nasty little noirs) anchored by a star performance. Still, not likely to be on my “best of” for 2019.
Liked **Stan & Ollie **for the performances (John C. Reilly especially), but otherwise I don’t think it escaped its biopic template.
I was surprised at how much I liked Vice. It was another one I steeled myself into watching because I wouldn’t feel right weighing in on an Oscar thread without seeing all the nominees. Good performances all the way round and I didn’t think that it was overly sympathetic to its main character. Still, another biopic at heart and not one that rises to extraordinary levels.
I enjoyed Aquaman, and yet, I’ve already forgotten most of it.
I haven’t seen RBG (haven’t seen any of the nominated long form documentaries). Is it a great documentary or is it just a compelling subject elevating a decent documentary?
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years, a Ron Howard documentary on Hulu. It didn’t really cover any new ground, but the interviews were pretty good.
Not quite movies I’ve seen lately, but movies I saw a long time ago that I am going to watch again soon, maybe. Let me explain.
I just cashed in a gift card I got for Christmas at my local Bull Moose (records/CDs/movies/video games/books) and I bought three older movies that I really like but that I can’t seem to find streaming ever:
[ul]
[li]Big Trouble in Little China - to tell the truth, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this movie all they way through. I can’t even come up with a decent synopsis, so this will be a total refresh for me.[/li]-
[li]Snowpiercer - I remember when this movie came out and my daughter tried to get me to go see it but I thought it sounded stupid. Then I saw it on HBO or something sometime and holy shit do I love this movie. The survivors of a frozen earth are relegated to a super-train which continually circles the earth, the rich at the front and the poor at the back, so you can see the whole allagorical nature of the thing right off the bat but the comic book action and sensibility really sells it. I think I’m going to watch this one first.[/li]-
[li]Sunshine - Another fantastic movie that never seems to get much oxygen. Sci-fi, but not laser beams and galactic overlords. The sun is dying. The first mission to restart its core failed. The second mission is on its way. Will they succeed? Will they find out what happened to the first mission? Really well acted with great special effects and a realistic enough sci-fi premise that holds it all together.[/li][/ul]
Saw They Shall Not Grow Old this afternoon. The Peter Jackson WWI documentary made with British historical footage. Focused almost completely on the Belgian/French front lines and the trench warfare. Pretty good. The restored footage was good and mainly showed to me just how good Hollywood has replicated it in other war films theough the years.
Really hit home how pointless war is and how many lives are given for the dumb disagreements between leaders. Was also reminded how suprising it was that after Germany took so many casualties that it was ready to jump back into another war as the aggressor again 30 some years later.
Another “taking the plunge” movie night: Green Book. Based on a true story.
It was somewhat different than than I anticipated. Different music, different tone. It was quite funny at times (but very serious at other times, which I expected). Far from the downer I thought it was.
A really good movie. Lots of music. Quite a few interesting moments. Good acting. A tip of the hat to Mortensen and Ali. Etc.
OTOH, you could see The Expected Scenes coming a mile away. Encounters with bigots, cops and such. Even the big “surprise” at the end was obviously going to happen well ahead.
I had been surprised, for example, to see this in the Golden Globes musical or comedy section and Mortensen as lead and Ali as supporting but I get it now.
Note that the real Tony Lip’s sons were involved in this. Both appeared in it and one co-wrote the script. I think this really helped. (Note that one or more of Tony or his sons appeared in things like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. Interesting.)
The Wife starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce. The husband has won the Nobel prize for literature and the couple (with their grown son) travel to Stockholm for the awards ceremony.
There are some plot twists, and the movie is getting good reviews for the acting of the leads. Unfortunately the characters are purest cardboard from stock central, and they are boring cardboard. The actors do not overcome the script. So, mabe a B-minus.
I’m watching Marvel movies on Netflix before they get removed next month:
Black Panther - enjoyed the production a lot; I can see how the look of this movie won audiences over immediately. I thought the story was okay, kinda stupid in lots of ways, but no dumber than a comic book movie is normally. Performances were solid across the board. Lots of the humor fell flat. 6.5/10 for me.
Ant-Man & the Wasp - I didn’t see the first Ant-Man but I generally am okay with starting stuff in the middle and I found it didn’t bother me much to not fully know the relationships and people in this movie; it’s possible to catch up in like the first 3 or 4 minutes. I thought this was more fun than Black Panther but the last 25 minutes or so dragged something awful. I loved Michelle Pfieffer because I didn’t recognize her AT ALL until I saw her name in the final credits and even then I had to pause the denouement and really look at her… and I still couldn’t recognize her. I had a huge crush on her back in the '80s: thought she was just one of the most beautiful, talented women acting back then, so it was really jarring. Her acting chops haven’t suffered at all (in fact, performances in this movie were all-around fantastic, including the supporting cast) and it was great to see that she still looks fucking amazing, even if somehow different than I remember. The plot had some holes and at times a bit too much going on, IMO, but again, not anything atypical for a comic book movie. 7.5/10 is my rating.
I also watched some music documentaries last week:
The Weird World of Blowfly - I love Blowfly, so this was a must-see for me. I’ve been listening to him since I was just a kid back in the late '70s/early '80s. I thought this was well worth the time; it made me really happy to see MR. Reid getting the recognition and accolades he so richly deserves.
Not A Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story - I’ve been a fan of this band since I first heard That’s When I Reach For My Revolver back in the early '80s. I’ve also been an acquaintance of Roger Miller’s for about a decade and a half, corresponding with him occasionally. I loved this film. It isn’t a comprehensive band history (altho there’s lots of that in the film); it’s about their reformation in 2002, nearly twenty years after they last played together. Really, really enjoyable rock doc.
Theory of Obscurity - The Residents loom large over my life; this movie confirmed to me that I made a good decision to allow them in. Absolutely the single greatest art collective ever, IMO ad this movie looks lovingly at what they’ve created, how they created it and most importantly why they’ve created it all.
Minding The Gap, a nominated documentary about a group of skateboarding friends and their emergence into adulthood. A sincere effort about life in a town that’s dying.
Ex Machina
Chilling, clever near-future sf drama about artificial intelligence and the threat it might pose to humanity. A terrific cast led by Oscar Isaac, an interesting story, beautiful cinematography, and plenty of things to discuss when it’s over.
Mutiny on the Bounty
The 1962 version of the classic sea story. Marlon Brando badly misplays Fletcher Christian as a fop, sneering through his lines and chewing the Tahitian scenery with great gusto, while Trevor Howard does his best to hold his own as Capt. Bligh. Overlong, ahistorical and now badly dated.
Tootsie
Smart, very funny quasi-feminist comedy about a struggling actor (Dustin Hoffman) who pretends to be a woman to land the sitcom role he desperately needs. Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Teri Garr and Charles Durning round out a great cast.
The Bounty
This 1984 take on the mutiny stars Mel Gibson as Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Bligh. Pretty well done, and much more historically-accurate than its predecessor (although still not perfect), with a memorable score by Vangelis.
*Around India with a Movie Camera
*Interesting documentary of clips from movies and newsreels shot in India during the British Raj, going back to 1899 footage filmed along the banks of the Ganges. Some memorable bits were a Salvation Army film trying to persuade Indians to give up their jewelry to show Christian humility, and a bit of anti-Gandhi propaganda labeling him as a “troublemaker” best avoided by honest, hard-working farmers.
What Men Want, flipping the script of What Women Want, with Taraji P. Henson in the Mel Gibson role. We’d run out of Oscar nominees to see. But I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would – amusing (but never hysterical); heart-warming in a cliched rom-com way.
(Speaking of flipping the script - the trailers included one for Little, which is Big with the gender, race, and direction reversed.)
deadpool 2
Didn’t expect much (I was lukewarm about first movie), but really enjoyed it – for laughs I could put it in same bracket as mystery men and ragnarok.
Only negative was it’s quite bloody at times, and I didn’t really think that added anything.
i just watched Polar…assassins and all…oh my…i do not know what was happening in that movie…guns,drugs,revenge…the usual just a little jumbled…did not like it at all.
Point of comparison: hazy memories of The First Churchills on Masterpiece Theatre* way back when. So I knew some of the players and the in and outs of the Churchills.
It’s pretty much the Olivia Coleman show. Rachel Weisz did her best but not enough to deal with the issues. Emma Stone did not belong here. Nor does Nicholas Hoult.
The thing that took me out of more than anything was Sarah saying: “It’s okay.”
In England.
In 1708 (but the actual events happened over a longer period). :smack:
Well, there goes being absorbed into the film less than 30 minutes in.
(Per IMDb there’s also a use of “posh”. But apparently no “23-skidoos”. ;))
Not all that well filmed. Poor angles and lighting at times. And fish eye lenses???
So, yeah. It’s fun watching Coleman and not much more.
"First Man." Excellent. If you’re expecting something akin to “The Right Stuff” (also excellent), you’ll be disappointed, but focusing on Neil Armstrong, the man, the other men involved in the Apollo program (whose names we all knew), the mission, and the every day life women like Mrs. Armstrong faced each time their husbands were squeezed into a space capsule, a story unfolded that kept me captivated from beginning to end. I never knew much about Neil Armstrong as a person. Now I do, and I feel a much better understanding of the people and the events I watched unfold almost 50 years ago. And the special effects were outstanding. Highly recommended.