Movie Hindsight 2020 | Page 12 | The Boneyard

Movie Hindsight 2020

The Current War - Director's Cut (2019) - This movie is about the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. It ended up in development hell after Harvey Weinstein feuded with the Director right before he was thrown out of his production company. Apparently Martin Scorsese saved the Director's Cut version in which several scenes needed to be reshot because Scorsese had a "final cut" clause in his EP contract.

The movie is good, but you can tell that production was a mess when you watch it. There could have been a great movie here, but it feels unfinished. The tone of the movie is inconsistent, and some characters that are really important, like Nicola Tesla or Edison's wife, don't get nearly enough screen time. There are several scenes where it feels like the director pieced together bits of filming to get through plot points. This movie needed to be another 30 minutes.

What you get is a 19th century version of Gates/Allen vs. Jobs/Wozniak, and it is a compelling story. The movie captures the uncertainty of developing and delivering revolutionary technologies in a way that makes the story very relevant and relateable today. The movie focuses on the two main antagonists, Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Westinghouse (MIchael Shannon). Edison, much like Steve Jobs a century later, is as much a promoter as an inventor, and much like Jobs, pisses people off everywhere he goes, but ultimately ended up revolutionizing entertainment as much as electricity. There is this weird sideshow into the morality of electric chairs that seems bizarre but was actually relevant to the rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse in real life.

The supporting cast gets a little lost because the movie is too short. I wanted more Tesla in particular. The story of a brilliant, crazy Serbian immigrant that would transform the lives of every single American almost gets lost because there just isn't enough time for it.

I recommend the movie, not because it is a great movie, but because it tells a great story.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
The Current War - Director's Cut (2019) - This movie is about the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. It ended up in development hell after Harvey Weinstein feuded with the Director right before he was thrown out of his production company. Apparently Martin Scorsese saved the Director's Cut version in which several scenes needed to be reshot because Scorsese had a "final cut" clause in his EP contract.

The movie is good, but you can tell that production was a mess when you watch it. There could have been a great movie here, but it feels unfinished. The tone of the movie is inconsistent, and some characters that are really important, like Nicola Tesla or Edison's wife, don't get nearly enough screen time. There are several scenes where it feels like the director pieced together bits of filming to get through plot points. This movie needed to be another 30 minutes.

What you get is a 19th century version of Gates/Allen vs. Jobs/Wozniak, and it is a compelling story. The movie captures the uncertainty of developing and delivering revolutionary technologies in a way that makes the story very relevant and relateable today. The movie focuses on the two main antagonists, Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Westinghouse (MIchael Shannon). Edison, much like Steve Jobs a century later, is as much a promoter as an inventor, and much like Jobs, pisses people off everywhere he goes, but ultimately ended up revolutionizing entertainment as much as electricity. There is this weird sideshow into the morality of electric chairs that seems bizarre but was actually relevant to the rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse in real life.

The supporting cast gets a little lost because the movie is too short. I wanted more Tesla in particular. The story of a brilliant, crazy Serbian immigrant that would transform the lives of every single American almost gets lost because there just isn't enough time for it.

I recommend the movie, not because it is a great movie, but because it tells a great story.
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I watched it again, and I really like this movie. It is a bio pic about two businessmen from the 19th century, so it is not for everyone, but it is a good film.
 
Ghost Town (2008) - I would guess that most films that feature ghosts tend to fall into the horror genre. Ghost Town is definitely not one of them, it is looking for laughs rather than scares (of which there are virtually none). Ghost Town stars Ricky Gervais, and features Tea Leoni, Greg Kinnear, Billy Campbell, and Kristen Wiig in the cast. Gervais plays a dentist who is most definitely a loner. He finds people to be annoying at best, and at the beginning of the film he shows that he will do most anything to avoid interacting with them. After a near death experience, Gervais finds that he can now communicate with ghosts, and he soon finds out the ghostly dead can be far more annoying than the living, especially if they are looking for a favor. This movie is hardly anything special, but it held my attention, and I found to be watchable and somewhat humorous.
 
Finding Forrester. (2000). Directed by Gus Van Sant and bearing substantial similarities to his Good Will Hunting. Stars include Sean Connery and F. Murray Abraham. Rob Brown is excellent in the lead role, but was a relative unknown at the time. I’m not sure how I missed this movie the first time around. My daughter was asked to watch it for school and so we did as a family.

Jamal Wallace is a High School basketball player in the Bronx. He is a middling student, but a teacher believes he is very talented and is essentially hiding it to fit in. He seems to do C work on purpose. I don’t want to spoil the plot but circumstances lead him to meet an older man who watches him and his friends play basketball from an apartment window. You can expect a Good Will Hunting style mentor relationship and progression. But it is really well done. Connery is a truly interesting character and the importance of the relationship goes both ways.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Finding Forrester. (2000). Directed by Gus Van Sant and bearing substantial similarities to his Good Will Hunting. Stars include Sean Connery and F. Murray Abraham. Rob Brown is excellent in the lead role, but was a relative unknown at the time. I’m not sure how I missed this movie the first time around. My daughter was asked to watch it for school and so we did as a family.

Jamal Wallace is a High School basketball player in the Bronx. He is a middling student, but a teacher believes he is very talented and is essentially hiding it to fit in. He seems to do C work on purpose. I don’t want to spoil the plot but circumstances lead him to meet an older man who watches him and his friends play basketball from an apartment window. You can expect a Good Will Hunting style mentor relationship and progression. But it is really well done. Connery is a truly interesting character and the importance of the relationship goes both ways.
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I saw it at the time because of the comparisons of Connery’s character to the real life JD Salinger, of whom I’ve long been a fan. I expected it to be a bit hokey and I remember being surprised how much I enjoyed it.
 
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Ron Howard directs this movie and went in with doubts. But, it delivered!

Amy Adams plays a mother who left Appalachia and moved to Ohio. Still dirt poor, tho. Although she was second in her HS class she never escaped poverty. Her son does. Goes to OSU, then to Yale Law.

Glenn Close is pretty damned good as Adams' mom.
 
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Dove said:
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Ron Howard directs this movie and went in with doubts. But, it delivered!

Amy Adams plays a mother who left Appalachia and moved to Ohio. Still dirt poor, tho. Although she was second in her HS class she never escaped poverty. Her son does. Goes to OSU, then to Yale Law.

Glenn Close is pretty damned good as Adams' mom.
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I read and enjoyed the book but thought it was over-hyped. I've been skeptical of the movie after reading all the criticism, but at the end of the day Howard, Adams and Close have earned enough of my respect that I should give it a watch and decide for myself.
 
Dove said:
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Ron Howard directs this movie and went in with doubts. But, it delivered!

Amy Adams plays a mother who left Appalachia and moved to Ohio. Still dirt poor, tho. Although she was second in her HS class she never escaped poverty. Her son does. Goes to OSU, then to Yale Law.

Glenn Close is pretty damned good as Adams' mom.
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I'll put it on the list. Honestly, I'll watch almost anything new at this point.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I'll put it on the list. Honestly, I'll watch almost anything new at this point.
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For something dumb but full of laughs...have you seen Beerfest? A 2006 movie about, yep, drinking beer competitvely.
 
Dove said:
For something dumb but full of laughs...have you seen Beerfest? A 2006 movie about, yep, drinking beer competitvely.
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Was that Artie Lange or the one where you needed to gulp the entire boot?
 
Me and (especially) the SO have been over Will Farrell for awhile now but we gave Eurovision a chance and thought it was good fun. It also rekindled my fondness for Rachel McAdams so we ended up watching Morning Glory and that was pretty fun, as well.
 
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Mank - Netflix - A movie about the making of a movie. David Fincher's direction and Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried's excellent performances make the move seem better than it really is. I will add that Tom Pelphrey was fantastic as Oldman's younger brother in a completely different role than he played in Ozark.

The movie itself has a big fundamental issue from a plot construction perspective.

There is a good buildup for his conflict with William Randolph Hearst and his complicated relationship with Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, but there is virtually no buildup of the complete rupture between he and Orson Welles, which is by far the more defining event in Mankowiecz's life. The conflict with Welles just comes out of nowhere, before we even really know who Welles is, and because there is no buildup of the relationship either good or bad, it ends up being a random event thrown in at the end.

There are enough clever lines and cool direction to go along with the great acting to make it entertaining, but it is ironic that a movie about writing a screenplay could have such significant issues with its own screenplay.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
Mank - Netflix - A movie about the making of a movie. David Fincher's direction and Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried's excellent performances make the move seem better than it really is. I will add that Tom Pelphrey was fantastic as Oldman's younger brother in a completely different role than he played in Ozark.

The movie itself has a big fundamental issue from a plot construction perspective.

There is a good buildup for his conflict with William Randolph Hearst and his complicated relationship with Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, but there is virtually no buildup of the complete rupture between he and Orson Welles, which is by far the more defining event in Mankowiecz's life. The conflict with Welles just comes out of nowhere, before we even really know who Welles is, and because there is no buildup of the relationship either good or bad, it ends up being a random event thrown in at the end.

There are enough clever lines and cool direction to go along with the great acting to make it entertaining, but it is ironic that a movie about writing a screenplay could have such significant issues with its own screenplay.
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I didn't think all that much of it, other than I was interested in the subject. I appreciated it being filmed in b/w and the camera tricks used throughout, and ultimately that may have been the most interesting part for me. I'm afraid I've come to a point where I believe if Oldman is given an opportunity to ham it up, he will.

It's also necessary to address that this story was one point of view - that being that Welles contributed little to nothing to the script for CK. Which is likely not true.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Mank - Netflix - A movie about the making of a movie. ...

There are enough clever lines and cool direction to go along with the great acting to make it entertaining, but it is ironic that a movie about writing a screenplay could have such significant issues with its own screenplay.
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Appreciate your using the spoiler tag.
 
Ghosts of War 2020. Stumbled across this, saw it wasn’t that long and gave it a watch. Starts slow and the budget isn’t that high but then it just becomes a bit scary, intense and eventually interesting. Won’t say more because it would ruin it. Definitely worth a watch. Very pleasantly surprised.
 
Begin Again (2013) - Another one of director John Carney's musical films, this one stars Keira Knightley as an amateur singer songwriter and Mark Ruffalo as a down on his luck musical producer who hears her sing, and decides she is a talent that he needs to record. This film started off very slow for me, but grew on me once the film got more into the production of the songs being recorded. In a way this mirrors what is happening with Ruffalo's character, who pretty much starts out the film as a miserable loser with very little in the way of positive values, but begins to change as he gets involved in something he loves, the creation of music. All in all it is a solid film, possibly the best in Carney's musical trilogy of films.
 
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dbmill said:
Begin Again (2013) - Another one of director John Carney's musical films, this one stars Keira Knightley as an amateur singer songwriter and Mark Ruffalo as a down on his luck musical producer who hears her sing, and decides she is a talent that he needs to record. This film started off very slow for me, but grew on me once the film got more into the production of the songs being recorded. In a way this mirrors what is happening with Ruffalo's character, who pretty much starts out the film as a miserable loser with very little in the way of positive values, but begins to change as he gets involved in something he loves, the creation of music. All in all it is a solid film, possibly the best in Carney's musical trilogy of films.
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I love this movie, it's definitely my favorite of Carney's trilogy.
 
It's A Wonderful Life (1946) - I have never seen this movie from beginning to end. Always would catch it somewhere in the middle to the end. After today, I still have not seen it in one sit, beginning to end. But, before I started the Christmas cook I watched the second half of the movie and was like, yeah. Then, the movie started over and I saw the beginning which I have never seen. It tied the entire film together, finally!!!

Went from a ho hum flick to a great movie just like that!!!
 
Deck The Halls (2006) - A comedy with Danny Devito, an over-the-top Christmas yard decorator, at odds with neighbor a neighbor. Matthew Broderick.

Okay, but not great.
 
Dove said:
It's A Wonderful Life (1946) - I have never seen this movie from beginning to end. Always would catch it somewhere in the middle to the end. After today, I still have not seen it in one sit, beginning to end. But, before I started the Christmas cook I watched the second half of the movie and was like, yeah. Then, the movie started over and I saw the beginning which I have never seen. It tied the entire film together, finally!!!

Went from a ho hum flick to a great movie just like that!!!
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A great movie, no question about it. "It's a Wonderful Life" is in my top four films for best Christmas movie (the other three are "Scrooge" (1951), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), and "A Christmas Story". In my opinion it is easily the best movie that Frank Capra ever made, and it wasn't as if he was a slouch.

Back in the 1970's "It's a Wonderful Life" had slipped into the Public Domain. Because of this, it became a staple of public television stations during the 1970's who were looking for cheap holiday programming. Public television stations would start to show it anytime after Thanksgiving, and those stations showed it a lot during the holiday season. This is when I first saw it, when I was a teenager in the 1970's, and it stuck with me right away. Before public TV stations got a hold of it, this movie was fairly unknown to the mass audience, but the exposure that it got from these showings on public television really boosted its stature with the public. From there it turned into pretty much an annual Christmas rite of passage.
 
Dove said:
"The Christmas Chronicles" (2018) - Really fun movie the first time. Rewatched it earlier in the week and it was still very entertaining. Kurt Russell is in my Top 3 fave actors all time. A highlight is the jail cell song where Santa jams with Steve Van Zandt and The Disciples of Soul.

"The Christmas Chronicles 2" (2020) - Much more geared for the kids as the elves get a lot of screen time. Goldy Hawn, as Mrs. C., gets a lot more screen time, too. Julian Dennison (kid in Hunt for the Wilderpeople) is still cherubic enough to pull off an elf-turned-angry human who tries to steal Christmas and move it to the South Pole.
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I just watched both this week and both would now make my top 10 Christmas films. Russell did a nice job with a very different interpretation of Santa. Both had solid sentimental angles. The SFX on both were excellent.
 
storrsroars said:
I just watched both this week and both would now make my top 10 Christmas films. Russell did a nice job with a very different interpretation of Santa. Both had solid sentimental angles. The SFX on both were excellent.
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I thought the original was brilliant. The sequel was just good.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
I thought the original was brilliant. The sequel was just good.
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It's a pretty low bar getting onto the bottom of that list. There just aren't that many Christmas movies I still enjoy enough for multiple viewings. And most of those are b/w.
 
In under the wire before my year in review post.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople - Quality flick from Taika Waititi. You can see the earmark of his humor and eccentricity of direction throughout and some great performances from all the main players. The roving DCF type character in this actually had one of the better voiced roles in Soul down below.

Tenet - Probably my most anticipated movie of the year pre-COVID. Thoroughly entertaining in that particular Nolan way, heavy on the expository dialogue like a lot of his movie tend to have. I think it mostly made sense? I love his tendency to rely on practical effects and/or miniatures over an over-reliance on CGI during his many incredibly choreographed action set pieces. I'm still not sure how they filmed that one fight scene both in reverse and moving forwards at the same time.

Fatman - It could've been a quality new addition to the pantheon of all time holiday movies if it had just a few more touches of humor throughout. As is, a good one time watch that will never need be returned to.

The Midnight Sky - A thoroughly pointless exercise in wasting money on fancy special FX. The twist if you want to call it that makes it especially pointless. Probably way better as a book.

Gemini Man - I can watch Mary Elizabeth Winstead do just about anything. Will Smith is his usual charming self but his de-aged CGI counterpart was constantly distracting in that uncanny valley sort of way. Decent action, but again, distracting.

Last Christmas - Bogus twist but I like Emilia Clarke well enough to keep plodding on.

Hoosiers - Probably going to be an unpopular opinion on here, but I don't really get what the big deal over this movie is. Its just constant montages combined with poor editing, continuity errors and off camera happenings that never get explained. Oh and a kid can hit a jumpshot every now and then. Big whoop. Hackman was very good and really the only reason to watch. Entirely predictable.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - Yawn. Barely a chuckle to be found. Should've kept it at a one off.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - I guess if you like Sorkin you'll be into this. It was fine. The rapidity of his dialogue kept it moving at a fairly brisk pace which was nice. Am I the only one that finds JGL to have pretty much zero presence and gravitas?

Soul - Pixar can do no wrong. Really touching, inventive in their usual fashion and overall a lovely film that obviously deals with some heavy stuff. I think it's funny that their depiction of the great beyond is basically a big bug zapper tho.

Wonder Woman 1984 - What a dogpoop movie lol. It's easy to pile on at this point but so much of it was just a big cluster. I was no fan of the first either but that one was leagues better.
 
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Mano said:
In under the wire before my year in review post.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople - Quality flick from Taika Waititi. You can see the earmark of his humor and eccentricity of direction throughout and some great performances from all the main players. The roving DCF type character in this actually had one of the better voiced roles in Soul down below.

Tenet - Probably my most anticipated movie of the year pre-COVID. Thoroughly entertaining in that particular Nolan way, heavy on the expository dialogue like a lot of his movie tend to have. I think it mostly made sense? I love his tendency to rely on practical effects and/or miniatures over an over-reliance on CGI during his many incredibly choreographed action set pieces. I'm still not sure how they filmed that one fight scene both in reverse and moving forwards at the same time.

Fatman - It could've been a quality new addition to the pantheon of all time holiday movies if it had just a few more touches of humor throughout. As is, a good one time watch that will never need be returned to.

The Midnight Sky - A thoroughly pointless exercise in wasting money on fancy special FX. The twist if you want to call it that makes it especially pointless. Probably way better as a book.

Gemini Man - I can watch Mary Elizabeth Winstead do just about anything. Will Smith is his usual charming self but his de-aged CGI counterpart was constantly distracting in that uncanny valley sort of way. Decent action, but again, distracting.

Last Christmas - Bogus twist but I like Emilia Clarke well enough to keep plodding on.

Hoosiers - Probably going to be an unpopular opinion on here, but I don't really get what the big deal over this movie is. Its just constant montages combined with poor editing, continuity errors and off camera happenings that never get explained. Oh and a kid can hit a jumpshot every now and then. Big whoop. Hackman was very good and really the only reason to watch. Entirely predictable.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - Yawn. Barely a chuckle to be found. Should've kept it at a one off.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - I guess if you like Sorkin you'll be into this. It was fine. The rapidity of his dialogue kept it moving at a fairly brisk pace which was nice. Am I the only one that finds JGL to have pretty much zero presence and gravitas?

Soul - Pixar can do no wrong. Really touching, inventive in their usual fashion and overall a lovely film that obviously deals with some heavy stuff. I think it's funny that their depiction of the great beyond is basically a big bug zapper tho.

Wonder Woman 1984 - What a dogpoop movie lol. It's easy to pile on at this point but so much of it was just a big cluster. I was no fan of the first either but that one was leagues better.
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I only saw three of these and agree on two. Midnight Sky was a total waste of time. Guess it was simply a vanity project for Clooney. I expected more and it never delivered. The Trial of the Chicago 7 was only uplifted by Mark Rylance's portrayal of Kuntsler. The rest of the cast and story was fairly blah. Gordon-Leavitt had little to do with his role. He's hit and miss for me as I liked him in Looper and Snowden.

However, I disagree vehemently on Borat II. I laughed many, many, many times throughout. But, he shouldn't do a third.
 
I thought Fartman was good but was a bit too dark. It seemed like it was missing a character to provide comedy relief.

Hunter Hunter was a good one time watch.

Tenet is another really good Nolan movie that I have already watched 4 times.

There are talks of a sequel. I hope they do it.

Greenland, surprisingly good. It’s easily the best of the giant thing from space that hits earth.

Rewatched Lake Placid this morning. This is still a great movie that ages well. I haven’t seen it in forever, but Brendon Gleeson stands out.
 
Being There (1979) - Just added to HBOMax. Still brilliant.

It is one of the most ruthless satires about American society that has ever been made, and it is just as relevant today as it was 42 years ago.
 
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