Movie Hindsight 2020

[Waquoit]

I'm probably in the minority, but I actually like Moore's turn in the role.

I liked Moore, as well. Probably because he was my first one. And I was all for the swerve back to a more "serious" Bond, too.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Waking Madison" was fairly disorienting and confusing, but by design. It was about a woman with dissociative identity disorder (used to be called multiple personality disorder), so life for someone with the condition or those close to them I would think is disorienting and confusing. I've seen a few movies portray this, probably not particularly accurately. It was decent, had some good performances. Low budget indie, don't know if it ever hit theaters. What added to my confusion is that Amazon listed the primary actors as Taryn Manning, Elizabeth Shue and Imogen Poots. None of them was the main character. I kept wondering who she was, totally reminded me of Sarah Roemer. Well...that's because it was her. Really different role than anything else I've seen her in. Different role for Poots as well.

 

[ZooCougar]

"November Man" was a decent watch, but on Bond, Brosnan's portrayal was at least less campy than Roger Moore's.

Perhaps my favorite Brosnan role is in "The Matador", as it's so out of character, hysterically rude and irredeemable.

"The Matador" is great. Thanks for reminding me of that one.

 

[nwhoopfan]

There's just so many movies you never hear about. "Operator" has several actors I like that aren't A listers but I think deserve more recognition: Mae Whitman, Martin Starr and Nat Faxon. This is the 2016 movie with this title, apparently there was a completely different 2015 movie with the same title. Anyway, a bit hard to categorize, I guess romantic dramedy? Starr lets work interfere with his personal life when his wife, Whitman, becomes the voice of the automated phone system he helped design for a healthcare program. Faxon is the lead on his work team. A bit uneven, but I thought it was worth a watch.

 

[Deadrody]

The Way, Way Back (2013) - Watched this film over the weekend. Story of a 14 year old kid who is not at all happy with his family life. His parents are divorced, and his mother is seeing a guy who the kid cannot stand. To make matters worse, the mom and the boyfriend decide to spend the summer at the boyfriend’s vacation house on Cape Cod, and take the kid with him. The kid is not at all happy about having to be in close proximity to the boyfriend, and for the most part becomes pretty sullen and uncommunicative. The only bright side to the situation is when the kid meets a worker at the local amusement park played by Sam Rockwell. This film is worth watching just to see what Rockwell does with his role, as he pretty much steals this movie.

Best part is, a lot of it was filmed at Water Wiz in Wareham MA. Since closed. Just down the road from where we lived in Plymouth.

 

[ZooCougar]

Saw Greyhound with Tom Hanks on Apple TV this weekend. Was supposed to be released in theaters, but due to COVID, was purchased and issued out on Apple TV instead. Solid war movie. Decent individual performances. It was probably a little predictable and cliched, but then again....it was Tom Hanks and he carries scene after scene.

There's one point in the last 5 minutes where he's staring out into the water and he doesn't say a thing, he just gulps like he's emotional. It lasts for a second....but that's his magic. Sold the movie for me with that one unspoken gesture. B+ for me.

I saw it too. Pretty good and free.

 

[Dove]

Egads. "Vivarium." Let me do you a favor and just skip it. I love Imogen Poots. She does mostly indies, which are really hit and miss...but I'm having a hard time remembering the last film she was in that I actually liked. Her performance was fine, but the movie overall was bizarre, dull and utterly pointless to me. The trailers gave it kind of a Twilight Zone vibe, but it didn't live up to that. I had fairly low expectations after seeing lukewarm reviews, but was still very disappointed.

My sister in law has officially moved in with us. This means movies 24/7.

They put this on. Very strange. I am not a Jesse Eisenberg fan at all.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I am not a Jesse Eisenberg fan at all.

He's hit and miss for me. Often fairly annoying, but I was okay with him in a few roles, like Now You See Me and Zombieland.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Ways To Live Forever" is about a pair of 12 year old boys, best friends, who are very sick. One has leukemia, I'm not sure if they ever said the other has the same thing or something else. They take a very practical look at what they want to do with their life with probably a limited amount of time to live it. It's sad, but not an utterly depressing movie. Both of the actors did good, I wasn't familiar with them. The whole cast is good, the parents of the main character, his little sister, a nurse specialist that comes to the house to check on him weekly or so (he's stopped chemo after 2 previous rounds of treatment). The cousin of the other boy is played by Ella Purnell, a favorite of mine. She wasn't on screen much but she had a lot of presence.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

"The November Man" is a solid espionage thriller starring Pierce Brosnan and Olga Kurylenko. Brosnan's Bond movies were terrible but he's done plenty of good work since then.

I liked Brosnan as Bond. The movies were just OK, but they are Bond movies so I am not sure what anyone was expecting.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Da 5 Bloods (2020) - A Spike Lee Joint. Four black Vietnam Vets go back to Vietnam to retrieve the squad leader left behind and...to get the gold they all found back in the day.

Delroy Lindo with a pretty powerful performance.

There are some 'no freakin' way' moments but overall a pretty entertaining movie. There is a message here. MLK gets some play. And there is a Black Lives Matter salute at the end.

2 1/2 hours.

Good movie. Delroy Lindo should be in the mix for an Oscar nomination, and Isiah Whitlock was very good too. The movie's perspective was interesting, and the character development was well done. Each of them was unique and I felt like I understood their motivations.

Cons: Typical Spike Lee movie problems. It was too long and the ending was not great.

Overall, I would recommend it.

 

[Dove]

The Old Guard (2020) - Very entertaining movie starring Charleze Theron as a bad-ass time traveler saving the world, tho she doesn't see it because she's in the thick of it.

A great action flick on Netflix.

 

[dbmill]

Donovan’s Reef (1963) - Starting in 1939 with “Stagecoach”, John Wayne starred in 17 movies directed by the great John Ford. With the exception “The Quiet Man”, which is arguably the best film these two film giants made together, for the most part these films were either westerns or had a military theme. "Donovan’s Reef" is the last film Ford and Wayne did together, and it is more or less the exception to this rule. "Donovan’s Reef” abandons the usual Ford/Wayne Monument Valley western setting, and instead is set on an island in French Polynesia in the south Pacific.

The basic setup to this movie is that the characters played by John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and Jack Warden were all in the U.S. navy during World War II and were shipwrecked on this island, during which time they conducted guerrilla operations against the Japanese occupiers. The movie takes place after the war and after their military service. For various reasons the three chose to stay and live with the native population on the island, with Lee Marvin at the start of the movie returning after an absence to live on the island again, at which point Marvin and Wayne resume their long standing tradition of brawling on the birthday they share. The film really gets going when Jack Warden’s millionaire daughter from Boston played by Elizabeth Allen arrives on the island to seek out the father she has never seen in her life.

John Ford films often make good use of supporting characters, and this film is no exception. Caesar Romero, Marcel Dalio (the croupier in Casablanca), and Dorothy Lamour all make good use of their bit roles in this film. This is especially true of Romero, who plays the French governor of the island. In 1963 Romero is just a few years off from his run at playing the Joker in the 1960’s Batman television series. As for Dalio, I always enjoy getting a chance to see him in old movies, no matter how small the role is.

John Ford movies generally contain quite a bit of pageantry and music, and this film is no exception to that. Ford's use of pageantry and music in this film highlights very well the local culture of the island. Ford movies generally have a fair amount of humor in them no matter how serious they are, however, "Donovan’s Reef” is definitely more of a comedy and more light weight than most Ford movies. It is hardly unusual for fights and brawls to break out in a John Ford movie, and this one is no exception. My main complaint about this film is that it really over does the brawling, which often seems to take place with no real reason to advance the plot. Aside from that, I rather enjoyed this film, it grew on me as time went on. "Donovan’s Reef” is nowhere near the best of John Ford’s films, but it is solid and very watchable.

 

[storrsroars]

The Old Guard (2020) - Very entertaining movie starring Charleze Theron as a bad-ass time traveler saving the world, tho she doesn't see it because she's in the thick of it.

A great action flick on Netflix.

It moved crisply, action was good, plot made sense and should lead to sequels.

I had one bugaboo at the end, in the climactic scene which involves the villain and a car, there's nary a soul that sees the action, but the moment the good guys leave the scene, hundreds of people and cops show up. That bugged me after an otherwise enjoyable watch.

 

[Dove]

It moved crisply, action was good, plot made sense and should lead to sequels.

I had one bugaboo at the end, in the climactic scene which involves the villain and a car, there's nary a soul that sees the action, but the moment the good guys leave the scene, hundreds of people and cops show up. That bugged me after an otherwise enjoyable watch.

Maybe all of the shooting and explosions in the Merrick building had people .

And the very last scene screamed sequel as Charleze told Chiwetel Ejiofor to go out and get her crew some jobs.

 

[storrsroars]

Maybe all of the shooting and explosions in the Merrick building had people .

And the very last scene screamed sequel as Charleze told Chiwetel Ejiofor to go out and get her crew some jobs.

I mostly said "should lead to sequels" because who knows how much $ it would've made in theatres. IMDB says it was a $70 mill budget, so not too expensive as action movies go. I assume there will be one. Theron wants one, but not right away. And the Booker/Quynh storyline begs maybe even a third.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"I Am Dragon" was interesting, something different. Streaming on Amazon Prime. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that's all in Russian w/ English subtitles. Fantasy genre, decent FX for a smaller budget film. Although there is a dragon, it's really not an action movie.

 

[Dove]

I mostly said "should lead to sequels" because who knows how much $ it would've made in theatres. IMDB says it was a $70 mill budget, so not too expensive as action movies go. I assume there will be one. Theron wants one, but not right away. And the Booker/Quynh storyline begs maybe even a third.

I look forward to seeing how Quynh got out of that scenario she was left in.

 

[storrsroars]

I look forward to seeing how Quynh got out of that scenario she was left in.

Iron rusts over time...

 

[Dove]

Unsane (2018) - Claire Foye (The Crown) carries the film about a woman who moves away in order to lose a stalker. Yep, he finds her. I found the movie entertaining and had to overlook a couple of plot "yeah right" moments. Foye is really good.

Matt Damon and Amy Irving have small guest appearance parts.

Worth a watch if you like psychological thrillers.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Never Let Me Go." It's not one you would want to watch frequently, but I've seen it 3 times in the 10 years since it was released now. Continues to be a haunting, thought provoking film. Some brilliant performances.

 

[Dove]

Bone Tomahawk (2015) - Crazy western with Kurt Russell and Patrick Wilson. Entertaining, but stretching reality. A woman is kidnapped by violent Native American troglodytes and a group travels days to got get her.

Becky (2020) - Okay, an interesting movie with the little girl (Becky) coming off as a pretty good badass. Alas, she kills 4 escaped prisoners...uh huh. Still, Kevin James is the lead escapee and does well. Weirdly, he seems inept once he gets to the house where he keeps the family hostage while Becky is in the woods. Fun movie, tho.

The Hunt (2020) - A liberal group organize a hunt of right-wingers. Betty Gilpin does a great job as an ex veteran who is the last hunted standing and faces off in the end vs. Hillary Swank. O fun movie to watch.

 

[Waquoit]

First Cow - I guess you could say this is a movie about a friendship in 1820's Oregon territory. I thought it was an intriguing period piece.

 

[dbmill]

First Cow - I guess you could say this is a movie about a friendship in 1820's Oregon territory. I thought it was an intriguing period piece.

First Cow is definitely on our list of "recent" movie releases that we want to see. Sooner or later we'll get around to it.

 

[Waquoit]

I just noticed Pick Of The Litter is up on Netflix. It's a doc that follows 5 adorable puppies as they train to become guide dogs for the blind. Who will be the picks of the litter? What becomes of those that don't make the cut? No spoilers from me. This movie was one of Real Art Ways' biggest hits.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

"Never Let Me Go." It's not one you would want to watch frequently, but I've seen it 3 times in the 10 years since it was released now. Continues to be a haunting, thought provoking film. Some brilliant performances.

Excellent book. I’m sure it’s great as a film too I’m the type who avoids movies when I’ve already read the book.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I keep finding hidden gems occasionally thru various streaming platforms.

Why isn't Katherine Hughes a star? She's talented, she's beautiful, she plays interesting characters in the roles I've seen her in.

"Say You Will" (Amazon Prime) is about a mother and son grieving a death by suicide. Travis Tope plays the son, Michelle Forbes his mother, wasn't really familiar with either. Israel Broussard (the Happy Death Day series) is his neighbor/friend. Hughes is the girl he's always had a thing for but never really talked to thru 4 years of high school. Finally after they graduate they strike up a friendship that quickly becomes very close. It's a beautiful, bittersweet story about people just trying to figure out life.

 

[nwhoopfan]

It's not really intentional, but I keep watching these movies about young people dealing with grief. Brand new Amazon Original flick "Chemical Hearts" became available for streaming. Wasn't familiar with most of the cast, other than Lili Reinhart. It was pretty slow, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it, but it won me over at the end.

 

[dbmill]

King of California - This is a 2007 film starring Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood. Douglas plays a guy who has just been released from a mental institution where he has been for the last couple of years. He goes to live with his 16 year old daughter, played by Wood, who has been living on her own at the family home and supporting herself. Douglas has spent a lot of his time away reading up on the travels and adventures of a Spanish explorer who he is convinced left a load of treasure buried nearby his suburban home, and Douglas is obsessed with finding it, no matter on whose property the stuff may be buried. From past experience, his daughter is pretty skeptical of this adventure and what it entails, but well, the old man is her father, and that provides something of a pull for this story. The best thing about this movie are the two leads. This is especially true of Douglas, who is terrific at playing this role of a really crazy guy who means well but seems to never know when he has gone too far until it is a bit too late. Not a great film by any means, but I found it to be of interest.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The best thing about this movie are the two leads.

I saw it quite a while ago, I've been curious to watch it again. I recall it had an interesting soundtrack as well. Some good Americana/alt country stuff.