What movies did you see recently?

[angelenroute]

The other day, I had the great pleasure of watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It had always appealed to me, and when I went on a Blu-Ray-buying splurge a few months ago, it made the cut. But then it just sat on my shelf for a while, waiting patiently.

There was so much to love about this movie--the visuals, the cast, the one-liners, the story--but I think what grabbed me the most was the perfection of it all. Director John Madden hit a grand slam with this film, and if you watch it, you'll see why. It follows one of the great British formulas of all time, introducing various cast members and then throwing them all together and letting their stories criss-cross beautifully (think Love, Actually, except in this one, the characters "find each other" very early on). Dickens was certainly a master of this, too.

Perhaps this film was on your radar once and you forgot about it, too. If so, please do yourself a favor and watch it. Really fun movie!

No, sorry, I mean really beautiful movie.

Ugh. Actually, no, that's wrong, too.

It's a really fun AND beautiful movie. It's honestly got it all!

Sean

[kport]

I have seen two excellent movies this week: The Jungle Book, and Eye in the Sky. I cannot add anything to jdmag's great review of the former, so I will comment upon the latter.

If I were asked to recommend a movie that every sentient adult should be required to see, before they cast their next vote, it would have to be Eye in the Sky. It will test the way you think about some of the imponderable moral issues we are asked to grapple with in these complicated times. The entire film is one day in the lives of a handful of people who are scattered around the globe but who have to make one decision: to carry out a drone strike upon wanted Al Shabaab terrorists about to launch a suicide strike in Kenya. The day begins with the ordinary: a British colonel (Helen Mirren) lying in bed, next to her snoring husband; the extraordinary Alan Rickman (to whom the film is dedicated) as the military liaison to the British cabinet, buying gift for a grandchild (ineptly, so it turns out), and the extraordinary Barjhad Abdi, who is the one who liaises on the scene of the strike (you may recall him as the Somalian pirate in Captain Phillips). But what starts out as a tightly woven and tense plot, with a team of military, intel and political people scattered around the globe, chasing its quarry via satellites and cameras at 20,000 ft.(the 'eye in the sky') is soon complicated when a nine year old girl is spotted setting up her table to sell bread next the the target about to be destroyed by a man in a van in Nevada on the order of a colonel in London. This is no 'Sniper', with an Americanized 'Jarhead' jingoistic plot, but a deftly woven British-written view of how difficult these moral decisions are, when planned thousands of miles away, in relative peace and comfort and air conditioning. Yet the tension that builds throughout the film will grip you, and you will be asked to judge differing views of a very difficult set of moral questions that modern warfare must demand that we all confront.

There is not happy ending to this tale, but you will leave the theatre in silent thought as you process what you have seen. This is one not to be missed. Mirren and Rickman are stunningly brilliant. Highly recommended!

[ERinVA]

I don't see any review of The Jungle Book from jdmag. Did I miss something?

[kport]

I don't see any review of The Jungle Book from jdmag. Did I miss something?

It may have been posted on Facebook. OK, I will give it a shot:

This is not your average Disney Jungle Book retelling of Kipling's classic book. Rather, it is a tour de force of CGI brillance, pitting a young actor (filmed against a green screen) against computer created animals and scenery that appear to be entirely realistic and lifelike. The only human is played by newcomer Neel Sethi, who manages an extraordinary display of athletic and gymnastic ability throughout the film. He looks like the Mowgli I have imagined, as well. The various jungle characters are realistically portrayed, with a stellar lineup of voiceover glitterati: Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Scarlet Johannsen, and an extraordinary performance by Christopher Walken as King Louis.

This is truly a film for all ages, though I did think its frightening realism at certain points might make it unsuitable for small children. I expect this will win quite a few gongs at the next round of film awards.

Recommended.

[angelenroute]

I saw St. Vincent last weekend, and really loved it. Though his accent wasn't 100% perfect throughout the film, I gotta say, Bill Murray mostly nailed the particular Brooklyn accent he put on for this film. I was surprised, because it was so different from the way he normally speaks. Here in New York, we have many different accents, even if some outsiders may think it's just the one (it's not), and Bill got his dead right.

Speaking of accents, we watched the entire movie not realizing that the crazy, pregnant, Russian prostitute/stripper was played by Naomi Watts. Holy crap! I think we sorta remembered she was in the movie at one point, but we were shocked to realize at the end that it was her. Fantastic job!

Equal to both of these amazing actors was the beautiful and incomparably talented Melissa McCarthy. She just wowed me in this film, and if you think she's just some random funny actress, see her in this film for an amazing performance! It really highlights her range so well.

And rounding out the main cast was *looks up spelling of the name* Jaeden Lieberher as the little boy. He plays Melissa's son and Bill Murray's neighbor, and he was really funny and very talented. I'm amazed at the older-than-their-years young actors out there these days. Not sure where they're being grown or how they're being fed, but man, he was great.

The whole cast was fantastic, and I enjoyed seeing the scenes shot at Belmont Racetrack, because that's very close to my house. If you rent the movie, be sure to get one with the deleted scenes and other supporting material, because I laughed my a$$ off at some of the scenes that didn't even make it into the movie. My favorite (in case you cross-reference and come back to this later) was the "Best thing that ever happened to me" scene with Murray and Watts.

Anyway, it's a fantastic film I'd highly recommend. Hysterical at times but dramatic and sad at others, it'll lift you up overall and make you feel like you've just gotten to see a really, really great movie.

[ERinVA]

On Friday, I saw Captain America: Civil War, and I enjoyed it despite the fact that it was overly long. I have read reviews/articles which claim that those of us who are not diehard comic superhero fans would not know enough background to understand the finer points of the conflict without the overstuffed opening exposition, but I disagree. As long as one is reasonably conversant with the Marvel world, there should be no problem figuring out the characters and plot premise without the over-extended opening which involved only Captain America and his allies. After a while, I found myself wondering when Iron-man and his cohorts would enter so that the story could get off the ground. Once that finally happened, I felt the movie began to, well, move.

As for Tom as Spider-man, I agree that they have found themselves a real winner. As tzwicky said in Tom's thread, I also enjoyed every scene he was in, and I really liked the new concept for his character. Unlike tzwicky, who seems to have a problem with the timbre of Spidey's voice, I thought it was just fine. He sounds like he should sound, and his American accent is pretty good too. And no, I do not think his lines have been dubbed by someone else in ADR, nor should they be.

Go enjoy this movie, but be prepared for the fact that it is a bit long.

[Todd]

I saw "Sing Street" last night and thought it was very good. The story is set in Dublin, Ireland in 1985 and centers on a 15-year-old high school student played by newcomer Ferdia Walsh-Peelo who has a crush on a girl who's one year his senior. He invites her to appear in his band's music videos, but first he has to come up with a band because he doesn't have one ! It's good fun seeing him put the band together with some friends and watching them shoot their music videos using equipment from that period.

It's a bit of a tribute to the music of the '80's - The Cure, Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, etc. - as the boys' songwriting and outfits reflect whichever band they're into at the moment. It might be a stretch to think that the two young novice songwriters could come up with songs as good as the ones they came up with, but it makes for a very enjoyable soundtrack with their original songs mixed in with the music from that era. When I first saw the trailer, I was afraid it was going to be an Irish "High School Musical," but it's much more gritty and grounded in reality. While it has a good amount of humor, it also deals with the realities of strained family life among several of the characters, brutal headmasters, school bullies, and the depressed economic landscape of Ireland during that time.

I highly recommend it for anyone who likes the music from that era, enjoys coming of age/first love dramas, and remembers the joy of going after your dreams when you have your whole life ahead of you.

[CJ-Rochester]

Last night I saw The Man Who Knew Infinity. It's based on the true story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a little known, but very important Indian mathematics genius. The movie stars Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), along with Jeremy Irons as Ramanujan's mentor at Trinity College in Cambridge, England.

The movie covers Ramanujan's story as he struggles to fit into British academia, all the while demonstrating he is much more gifted than these stodgy men. In some ways it's the classic struggle of youthful energy and brilliance vs maturity and discipline. I was particularly impressed with Jeremy Irons' performance as the professor who recognizes Ramanujan's genius, but comes down hard on him to force him to proves his theories to meet academic standards. Being a math geek I was very interested in the story. They throw around some terminology that may go over everyone's heads, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie.

The story is not as captivating as The Theory of Everything, but it's still interesting. Also the cinematography is quite beautiful, showing the scenes in his home town in India and at Trinity College. It's a great story about someone who contributed much to the world of mathematics, even if he wasn't well known outside these circles.
-Chris

[muck912]

I saw a movie today with great original music that was set in the British Empire in the mid 1980s, with a heavily accented young star who sings and dances, who comes from a dysfunctional family, with an unsupportive Dad, and has a oddball brother in his 20s who still lives at home. No, I didn't see Billy Elliot again. I saw "Sing Street", and what a great movie it is. It was written and directed by John Carney who also is responsible for "Once". See Todd's review up above as I agree with everything he writes. I'd be shocked if this movie wasn't soon a Broadway musical.

[angelenroute]

Saw two movies recently while on planes...

Trumbo
Fantastic, and fantastically acted by Brian Cranston and others. Really enjoyed this movie from many angles. As a writer, I really appreciated his ability to turn out uncredited material, something you'd think must have been very difficult for him to do at the time, even if this movie makes it looks somewhat easy. I've only done ghost writing a few times, but each and every time I felt very proud of my writing, regardless of my known connection to it (though I didn't hate it when my name slipped out on one occasion). Trumbo's struggles must have been huge, and seeing the movie has made me want to study him more, and see all his movies soon!

Birdman
What a strange but awesome movie. I'm not sure what to say about it except that if you can let yourself be taken away by it, as I did, I think you'd really enjoy it. I both hated and loved Edward Norton's character, in that order, multiple times throughout the film. He was both very wrong and very right about so much. And the science fiction angle to the film appealed to me very much too, as did the way it ended. Great flick!