Movie Thread

[ciao_yall]

From a recent trans-Atlantic flight . . .

Barbie: Gave up at the 50 minute mark. Was not going to waste a second hour on a movie with 20 minutes' worth of actual content.

How far did you get? No, it wasn't Oscar-worthy but there are some really great scenes.

A car chase had started, involving Mattel executives (Will Farrell) if I remember correctly.

The Nissan G.I. Joe + Barbie commercial had a much better content-to-time ratio.

Ah. You see a bit more of Ken in the next part of the movie.

[ab_grp]

This weekend's Prime movies were both pretty dark.  Dark and darker.  The first one was Along Came a Spider (2001) with Morgan Freeman as Detective Alex Cross.  I am pretty sure I've seen this before (and the previous such movie, Kiss the Girls) and have read most of the relevant novels, but it was still entertaining.  A Senator's daughter is abducted from her school (protected by Secret Service), and the abductor wants Cross brought onto the case.  Psychology and action ensue.

Last night was one I have wanted to see for a while, Battle Royale (2000).  This version was dubbed (maybe that is the most common version).  The dubbing definitely added something extra to the dark humor.  I found myself laughing a lot more than I thought I would.  In this happy tale, Japan has gone to hell in a handbasket, and now by law there is an annual lottery system by which one lucky classroom of students is chosen to fight to the death until one student remains.  It's sometimes hard to tell what exactly is going on and who is doing what and why, but I think it's easy enough to follow.  I might listen to the book it's based on to find out more about the individual students.  The movie goes somewhat into the backgrounds and personalities of a few but not many.  It took me a while to figure out who was who.  If you have seen or read the Hunger Games, there is quite a bit that might seem familiar.  The trivia notes that this is one reason an American version was shelved, as people would think it was a knock off (even though the original came out beforehand).  I wasn't totally surprised to find out that the student I was rooting for most (Chigusa) also played my favorite character (Gogo) in the Kill Bill movies.  This is a very violent and bloody movie, so I would avoid if you are sensitive to that.  According to the IMDB page, it looks like we saw the "Special" version that has some additional scenes and features. 

[ab_grp]

We watched Chinatown (1974) and Escape from New York (1981) last weekend and This Is the End (2013) and A Million Miles Away (2023) this past weekend.  I don't have a lot to say about any of them, but they were each good in their own way.  Chinatown (Jack Nicholson) was an intriguing noir detective movie about a chief water engineer opposed to a dam project in a California valley.  Nicholson is hired by the engineer's wife to investigate his adultery, but things take a turn (of course). 

Escape from New York (Kurt Russell) is an action/sci-fi/thriller about a prisoner's quest to free the President of the US from New York, which is at this time a maximum security prison.  It's apparently a cult favorite and definitely has that 80's feel.  I feel like those characters and the characters from The Warriors might buy their clothes from the same shops. 

This Is the End (Seth Rogen) probably surprised us the most.  It looks like an extremely dumb comedy about a bunch of celebs having a party and experiencing the apocalypse, and it was.  But it was so zany and took so many unexpected turns that it was just wildly entertaining and pretty funny at times.  I'm sure it would have been even better if we were as high as the actors probably were.  The main group is Rogen, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, and Jonah Hill.  The humor is so juvenile, but there's just something about the movie that kept us in stitches and on the edge of our seats.  Apparently, a fair portion was improvised, and that makes me appreciate it even more. 

Finally, A Million Miles Away (Michael Pena) is based on the true story of the first Hispanic migrant farm worker to become an astronaut.  It's definitely inspiring and sweet, funny, and sad.  I realized after that I didn't love it.  I think that's because it never really fully came together for me.  I mean, this is the kind of movie that I would be going through boxes of tissues on, normally.  It's a great story! But I guess I didn't really come to feel that strongly about the characters, and I really wish that they had gone a bit more into the actual space program training and his hard work there to overcome a lot of obstacles.  It was definitely good, but it could have been even better.

[kaysixteen]

Anyone see 'Civil War' yet?   Worth seeing?

[downer]

I saw Wim Wender's latest movie, Perfect Days. It was impressive.

I saw at a movie theatre. Could be the only time I visit one this year, but maybe in the summer I will be tempted again.

[FishProf]

Anyone see 'Civil War' yet?   Worth seeing?

The Captain America one?  Yes, it is excellent.