Movie Hindsight 2020

[Husky25]

Went to the theater for the first time in nearly 12 full months on Saturday and saw Let Him Go.

Wow? Not at all what I was expecting, but I wanted to see it based on the force of the lead actors. Costner and Lane were fantastic as expected, but I thought they lacked chemistry. Then again, they play Northern Midwestern grandparents in the mid-1960s who seemingly have been together for 50 years. I suppose it'd be tough to expect the emotional fires to still be raging between the two. The cinematography was top notch and I'll never be able to watch Burn Notice again without referring to the character Jeffrey Donovan played. Very well done.

Spoiler

I thought the lead up to the civil marriage ceremony was poor. It was actually non-existent. There needed to be more exposition, instead of just jumping four years. It was obvious that Lorna did not love Donnie Weboy and it was a marriage of necessity, but why was she marrying him, specifically? It didn't look he had money and there was no indication that she was wooed by his charm over the preceding four years. There was nothing there.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"All the Bright Places," a Netflix original. Teen romantic drama. I like Elle Fanning, she was good. I'm a bit undecided on Justice Smith, but he gave a good performance in this one. I enjoyed it overall. It does turn dark toward the end. Odd coincidence, this is the second film recently that Elle plays a character named Violet.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Lost Girls" on Netflix was a tough watch, not an uplifting movie, but well done. Based on a series of unsolved murders on Long Island. I've seen Thomasin McKenzie in 3 films now, I continue to be impressed. Her portrayals tend to be fairly quiet, but there's an intensity to her that can be devastating. She wasn't the main character, but had plenty of screen time. I'm a big fan of Lola Kirke, she had a small role but as usual was good.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"A Girl Like Her" is brutal, but well done, very powerful. About bullying in high school. It's done like a documentary, but it is a drama. I don't think it's based on a particular true story, but I think inspired by many,
many true stories.


edit--one of the main actresses vaguely reminded of someone else, but it kept eluding me who. I finally got it near the end, something about her was similar to Joey King. Well, I looked her up and they're sisters. No wonder.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Finally saw "The Hunt." Meh. I guess I don't quite get all the controversy surrounding it, because the people in it were such ludicrous caricatures, not even slightly resembling real people, I'm not sure how anyone got offended by it. The people hunting other people thing has been done many times before, and done better. Oh well. Betty Gilpin was good in her role. Most of the other recognizable people to me got offed almost instantly. Maybe the final showdown between Gilpin and Hilary Swank made it worth watching, but otherwise you could skip it and not miss much.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

The Beach Bum (2019) - My wife and I decided on this one as she is a big McConaughey fan and I am always curious what Harmony Korine creates. We both enjoy Snoop Dogg and we've grown to like Zac Efron.

What a wild ride. McConaughey plays "Moon Dog" a hedonist, alcoholic poet who is in a rut after critical fame decades ago. To honor a dead family member, he honors an ultimatum to write and publish an incipient magnum opus.

Filled with chaos, color and absurdity, I really enjoyed this original and entertaining movie.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

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.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

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.

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.

 

[dbmill]

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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

 

[8893]

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.

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.

 

[Dove]

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.

 

[8893]

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.

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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

I'll put it on the list. Honestly, I'll watch almost anything new at this point.

 

[Dove]

I'll put it on the list. Honestly, I'll watch almost anything new at this point.

For something dumb but full of laughs...have you seen Beerfest? A 2006 movie about, yep, drinking beer competitvely.

 

[Waquoit]

For something dumb but full of laughs...have you seen Beerfest? A 2006 movie about, yep, drinking beer competitvely.

Was that Artie Lange or the one where you needed to gulp the entire boot?

 

[Waquoit]

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.

 

[Dove]

Was that Artie Lange or the one where you needed to gulp the entire boot?

Gulp da boot.

 

[Waquoit]

Gulp da boot.

Right, I agree that one was better than I expected going in. Some big laughs.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

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.

Spoiler

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.

 

[storrsroars]

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.

Spoiler

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.

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.

Spoiler

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.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

Appreciate your using the spoiler tag.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

 

[dbmill]

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.

 

[nwhoopfan]

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.

I love this movie, it's definitely my favorite of Carney's trilogy.