Movie Hindsight 2020

[nwhoopfan]

"Last Christmas" got generally rather poor reviews. I like Emilia Clarke, so I thought I'd try it anyway. My interest began drifting, so I started doing other things but left it playing. It actually drew me back in eventually. Had a rather big twist I did not see coming. This is a case of not really being what it was marketed as, but that happens all the time. For what it was I thought it was decent. And it has Emilia Clarke, so it's got that going for it.

Took a flyer on an indie that I think had a marketing budget of nothing. I'm not sure if they even made trailers for it, I certainly never saw an ad on TV. A thriller of sorts called "Villains." I'm willing to try most things that Maika Monroe is in, and Jeffrey Donovan was great in the series "Burn Notice" and he's in it as well. It was...weird. Not sure if it was supposed to be a farce or what. Can't really recommend. A young couple who are petty thieves run out of gas in a stolen vehicle in the middle of nowhere, but conveniently there is a mailbox on the lonesome two lane just in front of them. They go to the house, break in, and then find themselves in vary unexpected situations when the homeowners return.

 

[Deadrody]

Just watched "Last Black Man in San Francisco", which is about a man living in San Francisco

What the movie really centers on is how the city is changing fast, the gentrification that is taking place there, and the effect that it has on people who love how San Francisco used to be.

Well, the San Fran city policies should fix that problem.

 

[Deadrody]

"Last Christmas" got generally rather poor reviews. I like Emilia Clarke, so I thought I'd try it anyway.

Of course you do - she is your queen.

 

[Husky25]

Was traveling last week. I had to do some work to do, but after that was done, I was able to watch Rogue One on the second leg of the trip out. Because we flew American, I was able to tie into their in-flight library. Watched Rocketman on the first leg home and El Camino on the second. All three were quite entertaining.

 

[CL82]

That’s my most anticipated of this awards season, good to hear. Was planning on making a point of watching it in theaters too.

it was a slow starter for sure but all the while you can feel the tension start to creep up. All I can say is I wish you had stuck with it.

FWIW, I went back and watched it. It wasn't for me. Again, the fact that I'm not a Natalie Portman fan probably contributed to that. I found it pointless and plodding.

 

[CL82]

Agree completely. I think the franchise lost a lot of the heart from the first one. It amazes me how often movie people (directors, producers, studio execs, whoever) don't seem to understand what made a movie work, and totally lose what worked as they continue to churn out sequels. They're supposed to be the professionals, but they just don't seem to get it.

I thought the second one was the best of the Train your Dragon series. Fleshed out the characters. The story was new and interesting. I liked that they aged the characters. That allowed it to be a fresh movie.

Jeffrey Donovan was great in the series "Burn Notice"

+1

 

[8893]

Finally saw Jojo Rabbit, right under the wire for the Oscars tonight. Brilliant. Took about 15 minutes to click with me, but I absolutely loved it. Definitely my kind of movie. I’ve now seen seven of the nine Best Picture nominees (missing Little Women and Marriage Story) and this is my personal favorite of the bunch, but I am sticking with Parasite for Best Picture.

At first I thought I’d be annoyed that they were speaking English, and I was a little put-off initially by the use of anachronistic music; but then suddenly none of that mattered, and I was into it in an almost Life is Beautiful way—and that’s one of my all-time favorites.

I honestly think the kid, his chubby friend, the girl and make-believe Hitler each could have been nominated for supporting roles. ScarJo was good but no better than anyone else in this excellent cast. Speaking of which, Sam Rockwell was great as usual, too.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Finally saw Jojo Rabbit, right under the wire for the Oscars tonight.

I missed it in the theaters (although it's back now I guess). I kept waiting for it to hit a nearby 2nd run theater but they might not ever get it. I kinda like $4 movies rather than $10 or $12 or whatever. It's due on DVD in a few weeks, I definitely want to see this.

 

[8893]

I missed it in the theaters (although it's back now I guess). I kept waiting for it to hit a nearby 2nd run theater but they might not ever get it. I kinda like $4 movies rather than $10 or $12 or whatever. It's due on DVD in a few weeks, I definitely want to see this.

Even worse, I paid $20 to buy it last night because I’m too impatient to wait. Fell asleep because I was buzzed so watched it today. Kinda glad I own it now though because I’ll probably want to watch it again, and I think my daughters will like it, too.

 

[dbmill]

I had been going back and forth on whether I wanted to see Jojo Rabbit since it came out, but about a month ago it pretty much got lodged fairly highly into the movies that were recently released that I want to see. Part of that is because I found out that I found out that Taika Waititi also directed "Hunt for the Wilderpeople", which my wife and I just loved. Figure we will get around to Jojo Rabbit sometime in the next couple of months.

 

[Husky25]

Looks like Miracle may have reached watch-from-any-point-until-it's-over status.

It's on the NHL Network right now. I've been watching since Herb came down the stadium step saying the other hundred kids are getting off easy. Mike Eruzione just scored the go ahead goal vs. the Soviets.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay, this is kinda crazy. Jojo Rabbit finally comes out on DVD next Tuesday. It also is finally arriving at my friendly neighborhood second run theater starting on Friday. Better late than never. Now I'll have to decide if I want the theater experience or at home on a smaller screen.

 

[dbmill]

Just saw "The Efficiency Expert" (1992), starring Anthony Hopkins as a consultant hired to turn around businesses that have seen better days. Not a bad comedy which pretty much concerns management/labor relations, but not something I would consider essential to see. In some ways this is more of a farce rather than something that reflects the real world of labor relations, but it is certainly watchable.

 

[8893]

Okay, this is kinda crazy. Jojo Rabbit finally comes out on DVD next Tuesday. It also is finally arriving at my friendly neighborhood second run theater starting on Friday. Better late than never. Now I'll have to decide if I want the theater experience or at home on a smaller screen.

I always prefer the theater experience if I can have it, but unlike 1917 or Ford vs. Ferrari, this is not a movie that requires it imo.

 

[Dove]

Looks like Miracle may have reached watch-from-any-point-until-it's-over status.

It's on the NHL Network right now. I've been watching since Herb came down the stadium step saying the other hundred kids are getting off easy. Mike Eruzione just scored the go ahead goal vs. the Soviets.

I saw it during the end of the UConn-SMU game. I was reeled in.

 

[Dove]

El Camino - I am not a Breaking Bad expert. But have seen enough episodes to know the jist. This movie follows a freshly-escaped Jesse as he scrapes up $$$ to pay The Disappearer.

Entertaining. Not a let-down in any way.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Finally saw "Jojo Rabbit." Thus far I haven't really been a Taika Waititi fan, but this is easily his best work IMO. Many good performances. It was whimsical about a subject that was anything but that, I got some good laughs, right up until it stopped being funny. That was a gut punch. The previews gave me a little bit of a Wes Anderson vibe and I felt that throughout most of the film.

I've seen Thomasin McKenzie twice now (this and "Leave No Trace"), I think she has a bright future.

 

[Deadrody]

Usually watch a couple movies, at least, when I stay up in preps for working night shift. Last night;

Midway: Enjoyed it, but it didn't have the kind of impact you expect from top tier WW2 movies. Part of my engagement was screwed by the new trend (?) to not include subtitles for foreign language parts. Easily 15% of the movie was the Japanese navy and not a word of it with subtitles. I noticed this trend a few years ago. I don't know if it is the format I'm watching, or what. I do find a mention of this in an Amazon Prime Video forum, but not much else. Anyhow, really annoying. Has anyone else run across this ?

Fast & Furious 8: Yeah, silly popcorn blockbuster fun. Beyond believability, but still fun. This one preceded Hobbs & Shaw, which I had already seen, but the interplay between them in FF8 has great chemistry and you can easily see why they did the spinoff.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Anyhow, really annoying. Has anyone else run across this ?

I just watched Midway last night. I'm pretty sure it had subtitles for the parts spoken in Japanese. I don't recall wondering what they were talking about for significant portions of the film. What format did you watch it in? Mine was a DVD from Netflix.

I haven't been watching many war films in recent years. I thought this was good, but not great.

 

[dbmill]

Every once in a while a new film comes out that I get obsessed about seeing. "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" was one of those for me, sort of the feeling that I get these days when a Wes Anderson film gets released. Story of a cynical magazine writer with anger management and family problems who gets the assignment to write a piece on Fred Rogers. At some point during the movie my wife says that Tom Hanks can do anything. I’m inclined to agree with her. Matthew Rhys as the magazine writer is quite good as well. It’s a very low key and slow moving story, but I thought it was absolutely terrific. I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like this one, it does stand out for being unique.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Outcasts"

Hoopla has a crap ton of movies. Sometimes I just go down a rabbit hole looking at various stuff they have available and adding to my list. Some of it is stuff I saw a long time ago and thought was worth seeing again. Some I always meant to watch and never did. Quite a few I've never heard of but sound mildly interesting, there are probably some that were never in theaters. I'm usually up for a lightweight high school comedy. So I streamed one tonight that fits in the "never heard of it' category. Had a few recognizable people in it, some Disney or Nickelodeon kids grown up a bit, one from the show "The Middle." As usual most of these high schoolers are in their mid 20s. Basic premise, some of the non popular kids are tired of getting picked on and humiliated. They figure there are a lot more of them than the popular kids. So if they can unite all the different non popular factions, they can totally rearrange the power structure at the school. It works, but then the revolution starts to consume itself (as revolutions often do; ask the French). It was decent, amusing and entertaining enough. I like Victoria Justice. I didn't even recognize her, but Claudia Lee does a good Mean Girl (she played basically the same character in Kick A** 2).


Okay, apparently the film was shot about 3 years before it was actually released so the kids aren't quite as far past high school age as I thought.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Several to add.

Midway. Thought this was quite good and in some ways a better version of the story than the prior version. It wasn’t amazing but it was a solid film with some decent storylines aside from the obvious main story. Gave a fuller picture of what was going on with the Japanese.

1917. Spectacular movie. Really a tremendous and moving tale that brings you through a full range of emotions. Sad, frightened, tense, it never stops making you feel something. It’s also a feast for the eyes, gorgeously shot, even if some of that is gruesome. A note on the immersive film style, shot in what seems to be a single take from cameras that are constantly in motion putting you there with the soldiers. I found it astonishing. My wife got motion sickness and had to leave to vomit in the bathroom.

American Gangster. Found this on Prime. Denzel and Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott. How did I miss it? True Crime story of their Heroin trade in the Vietnam War era in New York. Well made, good acting but I never quite connected with these characters. Still the story is a good one. Overall a bit long, could use some editing.

 

[HuskyHawk]

More.

Ford vs Ferrari. I loved this. Feels like it was overlooked perhaps. Christian Bale has a stellar turn as an English mechanic and race car driver Ken Miles and Matt Damon is a damned good Carrol Shelby. It’s a wonderful mostly true story of how Ford tried to buy and then beat Ferrari at LeMans. Nice to see Caitriona Balfe outside of Outlander as Ken Miles’ wife. The characters feel very real here, starting with Shelby, who fresh off of winning LeMans himself can no longer race. Then Miles is a struggling mechanic who had given up racing but gets back in and keeps winning.

Crooked House. Another scrolling through streaming service special. Agatha Christie story. Glenn Close is the biggest name in an ensemble cast. Max Irons is very good as a PI asked by the family and the police to investigate the death of a wealthy man. He has a prior relationship and was essentially spying on that mans granddaughter for British Intelligence. She’s a key player naturally and is played by the gorgeous Staphanie Martini. Overall this was a good modern mystery story. Worth a watch.

 

[storrsroars]

Looks like Miracle may have reached watch-from-any-point-until-it's-over status.

It's on the NHL Network right now. I've been watching since Herb came down the stadium step saying the other hundred kids are getting off easy. Mike Eruzione just scored the go ahead goal vs. the Soviets.

Yeah, did that last last night tuning in about an hour & ten minutes into it. Bonus was Costas interviewing Al Michaels at the end, which was interesting to me.

 

[Waquoit]

Crooked House.

Thanks, I'm always on the look out for a mystery movie and missed this one.