What movies did you see recently?

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Todd
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

Post by Todd »

I saw "A Monster Calls" this weekend and agree with the previous comments regarding the fine acting by young Lewis MacDougall. He seems very natural - like he's not even acting, but just being himself. The role calls on him to do some very difficult, dramatic scenes involving yelling, crying, etc. and he nails all of them. I thought the film was very well-made, especially from a cinematography perspective. Having said all those positive things, however, I almost wish I hadn't seen the film, due to it being so overwhelmingly sad. I would think that anyone who has lost a close family member would be depressed for several days after going on the difficult journey that Lewis's character had to go through in this movie. Maybe I just wasn't ready for another sad movie about death and suffering after having seen "Jackie" last weekend.

"Jackie" was also an interesting film, looking at the tragic situation that Jacqueline Kennedy had to go through in the days following the assassination of President John Kennedy. Natalie Portman does a very fine job portraying Mrs. Kennedy, although I must admit that her breathy vocal delivery kind of got on my nerves after awhile.

A much more feel-good movie I saw recently was "Hidden Figures." It's the true story of three black women who made considerable contributions to NASA in its early years. It's interesting that their story is only just now being told, over 55 years after they began working in the space program. While there are several scenes showing racism that they encountered, the mood of the film is very life-affirming and positive. It was very refreshing in that it contained only a couple of mild profanities, no sex, and no violence. These days, films rated PG - which this one is - are normally geared towards middle school age kids or younger. But this film managed to be very intelligent and is aimed more towards adults, what with the fair amount of technical talk, math lingo, etc. that occurs every so often. I highly recommend it.
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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I just saw The Founder, which is 'a drama that tells the true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California.' I went in expecting little more than a paean to The Largest Restaurant Chain on the planet (1% of the world's population will eat there today) but instead found a remarkable tale of a man's descent into greed and self-aggrandizement at the expense of everyone in his world. Michael Keaton gives a remarkable performance as Ray Kroc, and the feel and look of the 1950's permeates this film. I expect there will be some consternation in the corporate HQ in Oak Brook, Illinois, a talk about a few law suits for this one. Highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX2uz2XYkbo
Todd
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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I saw "Patriots Day" this weekend, and thought it was a very well-done and interesting film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The intertwining of staged scenes and actual security camera footage - which shows the actual terrorists in action - gives it a real sense of authenticity. It's a very sobering film that shows the suffering endured by a number of people directly affected by the violence that occurred. But at the same time, it's life-affirming in how the city battled back and didn't let the incident defeat them. It's also a tribute to law enforcement personnel, showing how they put their lives on the line to protect and serve the public.

My only constructive criticism is that at 2 hours and 15 minutes, it could have used additional editing as some of the lead-up to the actual event could have probably been trimmed a bit. And the film also seems to be in competition with "Manchester By The Sea" - also set in the Boston area - to see how many f-bombs it can squeeze into one movie (the only thing about the film that didn't seem very realistic).
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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And the film also seems to be in competition with "Manchester By The Sea" - also set in the Boston area - to see how many f-bombs it can squeeze into one movie (the only thing about the film that didn't seem very realistic).
As a cradle Bostonian, lover of the Red Sox and fan of the Patriots (Go Pats!), I have to say that the use of the F Bomb in both films is absolutely accurate. Many Bostonians are known for their use of salty language - just sit in the bleachers at Fenway - as a means of 'coloring' their speech.

In Boston, it is colorful language that delineates the social divide.

Boston Brahmans, on Beacon Hill or in the leafy suburbs of Milton, Manchester or Newton, refrain from such language. Use of language defines social class in Beantown. A perfect example of that is found in this SNL clip, in which Casey Affleck plays his MBTS character - and a Proper Bostonian (Henry James wrote a novel with that title) becomes the target of his social derision:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSvNhxKJJyU
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tankntonic
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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cheltonian
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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I saw Lion today. I've rarely, if ever been so moved by a film, I cried buckets. On the face of it, it's a simple story of an Indian boy that, at the age of 5, becomes lost and homeless in Calcutta. He's saved from only hinted at but obvious physical and sexual abuse by being placed for adoption with a childless couple in Australia. After adapting and settling well in his new life, memories are stirred in adulthood and he embarks on an obsessive quest to find his original home and family.

This is a film of two halves, the first half is the story of the young boy, showing his bond with his family, and in particular his older brother, showing how he came to get lost, and the perils and hardships he endured before finding safety in another continent. This half of the film is carried by an extraordinary performance by 8 year old Sunny Pawar. He really grabs your heart, not with words, he speaks no English, often in silence, with a look of sadness or resignation.

In the second half of the film his older self is played by Dev Patel, who we know from Skins, Slumdog Miiionaire, or The Great Marigold Hotel. Now all of those roles are frivolous compared to this, and here he gives a really great performance as a man who's happy life threatens to completely derail as he becomes consumed by his quest to trace his roots.

I cannot praise this film highly enough, I absolutely loved it although I left the cinema an emotional wreck. Unforgettable.
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angelenroute
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

Post by angelenroute »

Last night I saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie. I was thoroughly impressed with the combination of live action and digital effects, and I think this film will do very well at the box office.

There's a village scene early on in the film that blew me away. Classic musical scene with lots of people moving this way and that, but with such a huge cast assembled and some great camera angles, it's one of those amazing cinematic accomplishments you can't help but applaud.

Emma Watson as Belle was, if not perfect, pretty damn close! Her singing really is beautiful, too! Not surprised! Dan Stevens as The Beast was likewise incredible, and the way the audio team shaped his voice, I thought, was perfect. And the rest of the cast--some Broadway greats like Audra McDonald and Josh Gad, plus giants of stage and screen like Sir Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, and Kevin Kline--added gravitas and punch to the whole movie.

I may have spotted all of 5 or 10 seconds of the movie that looked animated, but the rest looked thoroughly real and convincing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll find yourself completely swept away by the Disney magic and storytelling. Great movie! Go see it!

-Sean

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
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ERinVA
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

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Thanks Sean. I am looking forward to seeing it soon.
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angelenroute
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

Post by angelenroute »

I saw two movies this weekend that I'd missed while they were out.

Florence Foster Jenkins was delightful and at times hysterical, but also much darker at times than I would have guessed from the clips I'd seen. I think it's billed as a comedy, but it's one of those great movies that runs the gamut. I thought Meryl Streep did a great job, as did all the other leads.

Rogue One was great to see, and mostly well done, but felt like a useless, unnecessary film in the canon. There were some characters from the original film recreated digitally, and while in one case it was done well, in one notable other, it was a silly, obviously fake version. Why do something that will just look fake? It felt like I was watching a video game at times. Glad to have seen it, but only because it exists, and I'm a big fan of Star Wars.

-Sean

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
Todd
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Re: What movies did you see recently?

Post by Todd »

Three films which I've seen recently are:

"Going In Style" - Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin star as three retirees who decide to rob a bank to get their pension money that's being denied them. Ann Margaret plays Alan Arkin's love interest. While it's fun seeing these long-time stars on the screen together, I found it to be one of those movies that was entertaining enough while I was watching it, but pretty forgettable once I left the theater.

"The Lost City of Z" - based on a true story of British explorers who braved dangerous conditions in search of the legendary City of Gold, this one held my interest throughout despite its 2 and a half hour running time. Excellent job of capturing the look and feel of Ireland and London from 100 years ago, it's also a tribute to the human quality of never giving up on achieving what you set out to do. Tom Holland appears in the final third of the film and does a fine job as the son of the lead explorer, who joins his father on one final attempt at proving the skeptics wrong about the advanced society of people whom they claim live in the jungle of unexplored South America.

"The Case For Christ" - probably my favorite of these three films, I found this to be an emotional and well-done portrayal of one family's struggle to come to grips with their views on Christ. After her daughter nearly chokes to death at a restaurant but is saved by the quick work of an off-duty nurse who intervenes, the previously non-religious mother begins to think that it was no coincidence that the nurse happened to be at the right place at the right time to save their daughter and suspects it might be God's intervention. Unhappy with his wife's new-found interest in religion, her husband - Lee Strobel, an award-winning writer with the Chicago Tribune at the time - sets out to show why his views as an atheist are correct by researching why Jesus was not who Christians claim He is. But in talking to numerous sources in an effort to prove what he considered the myth of Jesus, the evidence becomes too great for him to ignore and his case against Christ turns into just the opposite - and resulted in a book and now a movie showing his journey from non-believer to believer. Faith-based films sometimes appear cheaply made with shaky acting, but this one's a professional production that packs an emotional wallop.
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