What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

1917 (2019)

This is a series of great scenes, but the sum is not as great as the parts. Scene after scene had me alternately stunned, captivated, awed, introspective, anxious. But I left some scenes wondering if that particular scene was really necessary to the telling of the story, or was so much of that scene necessary.

I never tired of the movie, but while I was in the movie I wished a scene or three had been shortened -- it's hard to explain. I often get that feeling several times during a Tarantino movie. Quentin falls in love with a scene sometimes and milks a C+ idea for twice as long as it's good for.

This is a minor complaint because overall I liked the movie very much. I think going into this thinking it was "one of the best war films of all time" set me up for mild disappointment.
 
Yesterday we watched two movies.
The first was "My Neighbor Totoro", a piece from the acclaimed Japanese Studio Ghibli. This is the first time I have ever seen anime (other than 'Speed Racer' cartoons when I was a kid). It was a very beautiful film to watch with great detail. If they didn't just paint over photographs or film stills, I would be very impressed. While the story was cute, it just sort of started without a beginning exposition and then just ended without a resolution or explanation. I have heard people wax poetic over this film or a few years, so I am glad I finally saw what all the hubbub was about. I just don't think it was worth the hubbub.
The second film was Netflix's "Euro:heart:ision: The Story of Fire Saga". This stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as two Icelandic musicians with hopes of making it into the Eurovision music contest one day. While I normally don't like Ferrell, he was actually entertaining in this. The movie is fun also, because it has lots of cameo appearances from past Eurovision acts. However, if you aren't aware of Eurovision's over-the-top, kitschy style you might not enjoy this movie. If you are aware, it's a fun, mindless movie. A bit longer than it probably needed to be, but that's ok. More time to look at views of Iceland and Edinburgh!
 
Nickyboy said:
Yesterday we watched two movies.
The first was "My Neighbor Totoro", a piece from the acclaimed Japanese Studio Ghibli. This is the first time I have ever seen anime (other than 'Speed Racer' cartoons when I was a kid). It was a very beautiful film to watch with great detail. If they didn't just paint over photographs or film stills, I would be very impressed. While the story was cute, it just sort of started without a beginning exposition and then just ended without a resolution or explanation. I have heard people wax poetic over this film or a few years, so I am glad I finally saw what all the hubbub was about. I just don't think it was worth the hubbub.
The second film was Netflix's "Euro:heart:ision: The Story of Fire Saga". This stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as two Icelandic musicians with hopes of making it into the Eurovision music contest one day. While I normally don't like Ferrell, he was actually entertaining in this. The movie is fun also, because it has lots of cameo appearances from past Eurovision acts. However, if you aren't aware of Eurovision's over-the-top, kitschy style you might not enjoy this movie. If you are aware, it's a fun, mindless movie. A bit longer than it probably needed to be, but that's ok. More time to look at views of Iceland and Edinburgh!
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I loved "My Neighbor Totoro" but felt the same as you that the story just kind of started with no set up, and ended with no standard resolution. That seems to be a recurring theme for some Anime. I distinctly remember my first couple times around with Anime like that, it irritated me a lot. I got accustomed to overcoming the uncomfortable aspect of not understanding what was happening at the beginning, and not having the kind of ending I thought should accompany all good stories. For the better Anime like that, I can enjoy the seemingly random fantastical happenings and beautiful scenes, and flow with where the writer/director take me.

I'm certainly not an expert on either Anime, Japanese film in general, or Japanese literature, but those type of Anime movies remind me of books like "Record Of A Night Too Brief" by Hiromi Kawakami and "Colorless" by Tsukuru Tazaki, where scenes/chapters come out of nowhere with some fantastical events, little explanation of how they fit into the normal world, little explanation for how they fit in the fantasical place where the scene is ocurring, then everything shifts back to something different and the reader is left to suspend his/her disbelief, keep up and figure out what it all means. It's a delicate balancing act for me, and sometimes I fail to keep up. When I do, I love the media. When I can't keep up, I want to quit that particular piece.

I wish I could understand these stories/movies the way the Japanese audience apparently does. It seems like being on the outside of the In Crowd. Like being among the uninitiated.
 
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Game Night

This wasn't horrible. And I liked more of it than I feel I should admit. But I know other people like movies like this. So I feel I shouldn't disparage it. But I liked it somewhat myself, so maybe I'm just worried about hurting my own feelings. But I think I know I shouldn't like it and knowing how B-movie-ish it is means I'm not really a fan of it. But damn, Rachel McAdams is really cute and a good actress, and I did laugh at some jokes, so how do I really feel about it?

Good to watch once, but not twice unless a friend is visiting and you want to put something on to play while you ocassionally talk about other things. Okay, maybe I'd pay attention to it the second time because it really isn't bad. But is it really good? Yeah, it's kind of good.

I'm so disappointed in myself.
 
JazzyRandy said:
Game Night

This wasn't horrible. And I liked more of it than I feel I should admit. But I know other people like movies like this. So I feel I shouldn't disparage it. But I liked it somewhat myself, so maybe I'm just worried about hurting my own feelings. But I think I know I shouldn't like it and knowing how B-movie-ish it is means I'm not really a fan of it. But damn, Rachel McAdams is really cute and a good actress, and I did laugh at some jokes, so how do I really feel about it?

Good to watch once, but not twice unless a friend is visiting and you want to put something on to play while you ocassionally talk about other things. Okay, maybe I'd pay attention to it the second time because it really isn't bad. But is it really good? Yeah, it's kind of good.

I'm so disappointed in myself.
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You're not neurotic, but you do a convincing imitation.
 
Worm said:
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan-2020
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I thought that this was hilarious. I really loved the actress that plays the daughter. 4.5/5 stars
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We watched it the other day, too. The actress was outstanding, and my goodness, she is one bold and daring actress (you'll know if you see the movie).
 
Yesterday we watched two movies. First was "Bringing Up Baby" with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. This movie has always made me laugh, so it was funny to hear that when it first came out it was widely panned. Grant is great at slapstick, and Hepburn is a hoot as a head-strong, privileged woman.
Second up was "High Society", the 1956 musical remake of 1940 "The Philadelphia Story", also starring Grant and Hepburn. I love "The Philadelphia Story" but only like "High Society". The musical numbers seem forced, and are we really to believe that a 56 year old Bing Crosby was married to the gorgeous Grace Kelly who is half his age? I guess that's why the term "suspended belief" was coined. Funny too, that "The Philadelphia Story" was set in my old stomping grounds, and "High Society" in my new ones. Yes, I realize most of it is sets on Hollywood lots, but there are enough establishing, outdoor shots that I can say "Hey, I know where they are! And that's the house we worked on! Wait a second, you can't turn the corner there and suddenly be on Bellevue Avenue!" ;)
I think I will torture my wife with some Marx Brothers movie next.
 
Nickyboy said:
I love "The Philadelphia Story" but only like "High Society".
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Me too!!!!

The Philadelphia Story was one of those movies I caught on cable television as a preteen or young teen, alone at home "sick" one school day, and sat enraptured watching the whole movie. I remember marveling at how they lived, at their lives, what they were doing, where they ate lunch, what they ate, how they socialized, how they worked, how grand it all seemed. At the time, I don't think I really know who Grant and Hepburn were at the time, but I loved the way they played those characters. I knew James Stewart, and was at the age where I devoured everything with him in it. It was probably him that made me stop on that channel in the first place. It made me want to go to Philly, the way other movies made me want to go to NYC or LA.

Damn, now I want to queue it up. And I want to go to Philly.
 
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We watched "Swiss Army Man", starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliff, yesterday. All I will say is, that is one fucked up, bizarre story line. Drugs were definitely involved.
 
Nickyboy said:
We watched "Swiss Army Man", starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliff, yesterday. All I will say is, that is one fucked up, bizarre story line. Drugs were definitely involved.
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Is it as bizarre a story line as a Cuban-American guy who is the leader of a white supremacist group and who turns out to be a confidential informant? :p
 
Nickyboy said:
We watched it the other day, too. The actress was outstanding, and my goodness, she is one bold and daring actress (you'll know if you see the movie).
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www.rawstory.com

Sacha Baron Cohen trolls Rudy Giuliani yet again -- culminating a year of cinematic resistance

It was a big week for actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who received Golden Globe and SAG Award nods for both his role as Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev in Amazon's "Borat" sequel and his turn as Abbie Hoffman, the activist and comedian whom Cohen played in Netflix's "The Trial of the Chicago 7." Both...
www.rawstory.com www.rawstory.com
 
A Royal Affair - (2012)


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Lovely historical costume drama starring two of my faves: Mads Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander. Sets and costumes were so beautiful that I was annoyed having to spend so much time reading the captions.
4/5 stars

​

 
I watched Close Encounters Of The Fifth Kind: Contact Has Begun free on Amazon Prime.

Initially I found it very interesting, but then noticed how it had the feel of manipulative bullshit. It did have some notable people in it, including a very famous lawyer who worked for the New York Times, whose name escapes me.

My main problem with it is when the principal in the film, Dr. Steven Greer, recounted an alleged conversation with the Prince of Lichtenstein where the Prince stated that certain covert activities were being funded to "start an interplanetary war and force the return of Christ." That made me chuckle.

It has the feel of propaganda aimed at people with a lack of critical thinking who also fall for QAnon.

The only problem with my stance is that there is still a chance there could be a grain of truth in it. Unfortunately, they had to make a Hollywood production out of it.

This might be somewhat entertaining to @axolotl, my intuition tells me.
 
We watched "Coming 2 America" today. But, to catch up/remind ourselves, we watched "Coming to America" first.
The sequel is actually really funny. They brought just about everybody back for the second one, and made TONS of references to the first one which were really well done. Quite a few really good laughs in it, also.
And the "Zmunda" women in it are drop dead gorgeous. Uh... just an aside comment.

If you have Amazon Prime, watch it. Actually, do what we did: watch the first one and then the second. Very well done comedy.
:4.0:
 
axolotl said:
I saw In the Heights with family and my family's friends last evening. My son Alo chartered out the small AMC theater.

It is a "feel-good" hit and arguably "the movie of the Summer."

religionnews.com

"In the Heights" is more Jewish than it seems

(RNS) — Your summer just got instantly better. Prepare to smile and weep.
religionnews.com religionnews.com
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I saw it too! :thumbsup: though opted for the HBO Max home option
Very good especially the bigger numbers (opening number, "96,000", "Carnaval de Barrio"
Lead was excellent in the role Lin Manuel-Miranda did on Broadway, and, hey! Jimmy Smits!

Debating what my first theatre film will me - probably Black Widow
 
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