The Fora: A Higher Education Community

We watched A Haunting in Venice. Beautiful cinematography, a plot that got too complicated. Supposedly based on a book by Agatha Christie (the movie's detective is Hercule Poirot, played by Kenneth Brannagh), but the plot is distorted beyond all recognition. I'd give it a B-.

We also just watched a Branagh movie.  But first, Spaceballs.  Still funny, or punny, I guess.  My brother and I must have watched that a thousand times when we were kids.  I still remember most of the lines.  Can't remember anything that matters in life, but that kind of thing sticks.

Last night was Tenet.  I am not sure what to say about it because I think I will have to watch it a couple more times to get any kind of grasp on what the hell was going on there.  We had to take a break because we were both just staring wide-eyed at the screen trying to pay attention to everything for too long.  Wowie.  I don't want to give away the main plot device (not that I think I understand it myself or could explain it).  Here's the blurb on IMDB:

QuoteArmed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

I just read the trivia and am pretty blown away by the fact that nearly everything in the film was practical effects, rather than CGI or something.  The actors themselves did everything as it is shown, and that is completely astonishing.  I'm not just talking car chase scenes.  Whether the story makes sense, I don't know, but the movie itself is really impressive, nicely shot, and just interesting as heck to watch.  At the start, since it's a Christopher Nolan film, my husband said that it would likely be a mindf*ck.  Well, that was an understatement! I really felt like I needed a facial massage or something after frowning so hard while trying to concentrate.  I had not read anything about the movie beforehand, but I'm not sure it would have helped.  I was not surprised to read afterward that lead actor is Denzel's son.  There's something about the way he spoke now and again, I guess.  And I was pretty impressed with Robert Pattinson, having only seen him in Twilight (once, a long time ago).  I thought that movie was pretty bad.  He did a good job here.  Is the movie really as clever as it seems? Or is just trying to seem like it be being completely overwhelming? I don't know yet, but it was pretty cool from a moviemaking point of view, and we were definitely engaged.

We watch The Truman Show when we talk about Plato's cave, and I'm often struck by how well the movie holds up over twenty years later. The science fiction/futuristic element of the movie has become somewhat more profound now that cameras are everywhere and everyone has their own camera on them at all times.

Quote from: ab_grp on October 08, 2023, 11:02:57 AMWe also just watched a Branagh movie.  But first, Spaceballs.  Still funny, or punny, I guess.  My brother and I must have watched that a thousand times when we were kids.  I still remember most of the lines.  Can't remember anything that matters in life, but that kind of thing sticks.

Last night was Tenet.  I am not sure what to say about it because I think I will have to watch it a couple more times to get any kind of grasp on what the hell was going on there.  We had to take a break because we were both just staring wide-eyed at the screen trying to pay attention to everything for too long.  Wowie.  I don't want to give away the main plot device (not that I think I understand it myself or could explain it).  Here's the blurb on IMDB:

QuoteArmed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

I just read the trivia and am pretty blown away by the fact that nearly everything in the film was practical effects, rather than CGI or something.  The actors themselves did everything as it is shown, and that is completely astonishing.  I'm not just talking car chase scenes.  Whether the story makes sense, I don't know, but the movie itself is really impressive, nicely shot, and just interesting as heck to watch.  At the start, since it's a Christopher Nolan film, my husband said that it would likely be a mindf*ck.  Well, that was an understatement! I really felt like I needed a facial massage or something after frowning so hard while trying to concentrate.  I had not read anything about the movie beforehand, but I'm not sure it would have helped.  I was not surprised to read afterward that lead actor is Denzel's son.  There's something about the way he spoke now and again, I guess.  And I was pretty impressed with Robert Pattinson, having only seen him in Twilight (once, a long time ago).  I thought that movie was pretty bad.  He did a good job here.  Is the movie really as clever as it seems? Or is just trying to seem like it be being completely overwhelming? I don't know yet, but it was pretty cool from a moviemaking point of view, and we were definitely engaged.

I remember thinking I was so smart during the first hour of Tenet, because everyone else didn't get it but I did... until about 1 hour and 15 minutes in when it totally lost me. Great practical effects though.

Quote from: fishbrains on October 11, 2023, 07:52:19 AMWe watch The Truman Show when we talk about Plato's cave, and I'm often struck by how well the movie holds up over twenty years later. The science fiction/futuristic element of the movie has become somewhat more profound now that cameras are everywhere and everyone has their own camera on them at all times.

Yes, good movie that holds up quite well given our reality tv obsessed world.

Ed TV is another one from that era that deserves a re-watch, for the same reasons.

I've been on a horror movie kick and have been fortunate enough to catch a few good ones. I won't say too much about the plots to avoid spoilers:

Bones and All (2022, Amazon Prime)

Badlands-esque road movie about a couple of cannibals trying to find themselves in this crazy world. This one is really carried by the lead performances and the atmosphere it creates. There are also some genuinely disgusting moments that even made me wince. It is a little too slow and goes on a little too long (my wife was bored throughout), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Grade: B+


No One Gets Out Alive (2021, Netflix)

A Mexican undocumented immigrant finds herself living in a rundown boarding house where disturbing things start to happen. This one is creepy and definitely is the strongest in terms of social commentary. But there are a few ridiculous moments that took me out of it.

Grade: B


Talk to Me (2022, Amazon Prime - rental)

A group of teenagers learn how to communicate with the spirit world and become addicted to the thrill of it. All fun and games, until things go left. This is my favorite of the bunch. Scary, well paced, and quite jarring at times.

Grade: A

Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on October 12, 2023, 01:18:23 PMI've been on a horror movie kick and have been fortunate enough to catch a few good ones. I won't say too much about the plots to avoid spoilers:

Bones and All (2022, Amazon Prime)

Badlands-esque road movie about a couple of cannibals trying to find themselves in this crazy world. This one is really carried by the lead performances and the atmosphere it creates. There are also some genuinely disgusting moments that even made me wince. It is a little too slow and goes on a little too long (my wife was bored throughout), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Grade: B+


No One Gets Out Alive (2021, Netflix)

A Mexican undocumented immigrant finds herself living in a rundown boarding house where disturbing things start to happen. This one is creepy and definitely is the strongest in terms of social commentary. But there are a few ridiculous moments that took me out of it.

Grade: B


Talk to Me (2022, Amazon Prime - rental)

A group of teenagers learn how to communicate with the spirit world and become addicted to the thrill of it. All fun and games, until things go left. This is my favorite of the bunch. Scary, well paced, and quite jarring at times.

Grade: A

I watched Ring once by accident.  Beyond that, I've never understood the appeal of horror (or Will Farrell) movies.  Real life is stressful enough without looking to have the merde scared out of me on purpose.  Can anybody explain the appeal?  It's lost on me.

Quote from: secundem_artem on October 12, 2023, 01:21:28 PM

Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on October 12, 2023, 01:18:23 PMI've been on a horror movie kick and have been fortunate enough to catch a few good ones. I won't say too much about the plots to avoid spoilers:

Bones and All (2022, Amazon Prime)

Badlands-esque road movie about a couple of cannibals trying to find themselves in this crazy world. This one is really carried by the lead performances and the atmosphere it creates. There are also some genuinely disgusting moments that even made me wince. It is a little too slow and goes on a little too long (my wife was bored throughout), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Grade: B+


No One Gets Out Alive (2021, Netflix)

A Mexican undocumented immigrant finds herself living in a rundown boarding house where disturbing things start to happen. This one is creepy and definitely is the strongest in terms of social commentary. But there are a few ridiculous moments that took me out of it.

Grade: B


Talk to Me (2022, Amazon Prime - rental)

A group of teenagers learn how to communicate with the spirit world and become addicted to the thrill of it. All fun and games, until things go left. This is my favorite of the bunch. Scary, well paced, and quite jarring at times.

Grade: A

I watched Ring once by accident.  Beyond that, I've never understood the appeal of horror (or Will Farrell) movies.  Real life is stressful enough without looking to have the merde scared out of me on purpose.  Can anybody explain the appeal?  It's lost on me.

To each their own. I guess they're not for everyone. But being scared or disgusted (in a safe space) are emotions that some people love - no so different from the thrill of a roller coaster.

Not to mention that horror movies have the best social commentary.

I can't defend Will Farrell though.

Watched "Hold the Dark." A thriller bordering on horror, it was genuinely both disturbing and intriguing. I was also impressed by the layers of implications - I've got to admit I missed nearly all of them, though several hinge on blink-and-you-missed-it moments. Various other things I think remain deliberately unexplained or ambiguous. Without spoilers: A writer who has written about his experiences with wolves arrives in a remote Alaskan town, in response to a letter from a local woman requesting his help to hunt down the wolves who she says took her son and another local child, while she is alone as her husband is at war. Pretty much nothing is what it seems though, and everything is darker and more disturbing than it seems at first - all against the backdrop of a wilderness that alternates between brutally amoral and outright evil and a winter darkness that is as much spiritual as physical.

I think I'm 3 weeks behind on movies.  We watched Mission: Impossible, which I hadn't seen before and which was better than I had expected.  My husband likened it a bit to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  We had picked up a 6-movie collection from the M:I series, and I have read that the second one is not as intriguing.  I know I watched one of them while donating platelets at some point, but I don't know which one.  We also watched What About Bob?, which was pretty amusing throughout.  I haven't seen that one in a while and was worried that it wouldn't have held up over time.  There was a third Friday movie that I cannot think of right now.

For Saturdays, we did "horror" movies for the lead up to Halloween.  I guess all three qualify.  The first two were It, It Chapter Two.  It's always surprising to me when a Stephen King book has a good movie adaptation.  I was definitely more scared while reading the book and recall way back when sitting right in the middle of my bed so that I could keep my head on a swivel.  I thought the performances were pretty good, and young Beverly, Eddie, and Ben were particularly good actors.  It's funny how much the young cast reminded me of the cast in Stand By Me, especially Finn Wolfhard/Corey Feldman and Jaeden Martell/Wil Wheaton (and maybe Jeremy Ray Taylor/Jerry O'Connell).  Chapter Two felt too long but was more touching than I had expected. 

Then last weekend we watched Nope.  I was more into the characters in this one than in Get Out or Us.  We enjoyed the movie and found it suspenseful, but I think Us was the scariest of the three.

Please watch The Wolf Hour.

An unforgivably underrated and misunderstood movie.

The title makes it sound like a cheesy horror flick, but it is not at all.

The movie needs intelligent people who can think in complex ways about characters and situations. 

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on November 01, 2023, 05:19:54 PMPlease watch The Wolf Hour.

An unforgivably underrated and misunderstood movie.

The title makes it sound like a cheesy horror flick, but it is not at all.

The movie needs intelligent people who can think in complex ways about characters and situations. 

I looked this one up when you mentioned it before, and boy... not great ratings or reviews! But if you really think it is worth watching, we will give it a try (though I'm guessing others here are more likely the intelligent viewers that you're looking for).  It wouldn't be the first time my preferences ran counter to those of the majority.

Last night I mentioned to my husband that I had posted here about the last couple movies we watched and that I couldn't remember the other Friday night movie.  He racked his brains and also couldn't come up with anything.  He seemed to recall that we also couldn't remember the name of the movie the day after we had watched it.  Anyway, we went to the cabinet, and it was Maverick (Gibson, Foster).  I really liked that movie when I saw it in the theater and enjoyed it again this time, so I'm not sure why it completely escaped us several times.  It's fairly silly but a fun adventure.

Quote from: ab_grp on November 02, 2023, 07:53:00 AM

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on November 01, 2023, 05:19:54 PMPlease watch The Wolf Hour.

An unforgivably underrated and misunderstood movie.

The title makes it sound like a cheesy horror flick, but it is not at all.

The movie needs intelligent people who can think in complex ways about characters and situations. 

I looked this one up when you mentioned it before, and boy... not great ratings or reviews! But if you really think it is worth watching, we will give it a try (though I'm guessing others here are more likely the intelligent viewers that you're looking for).  It wouldn't be the first time my preferences ran counter to those of the majority.

Yeah, I noted that the reviews were either one star or five star.  Some people get it.  And I suspect most of the one star reviews came from people doing essentially what I was doing and looking for a cheesy horror flick to entertain them, and the movie starts out that way.  The Wolf Hour has a lot more drama and intelligence than that, however.  I got my wife, who is a film professor, to watch it with me and she got on the train with me too.

I hope you like it.

In trying to catch up to the firehose of Marvel Cinematic Universe, MrsFishProf and I watched "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania".  That was a weird, fun ride.  I know enough about the comics to see some Easter eggs and get  clues to what is coming, so I really enjoyed that.  MFP also thought it was a fun ride.

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on November 01, 2023, 05:19:54 PMPlease watch The Wolf Hour.

An unforgivably underrated and misunderstood movie.

The title makes it sound like a cheesy horror flick, but it is not at all.

The movie needs intelligent people who can think in complex ways about characters and situations. 

I'm adding this to my list. Will drop my thoughts once I get around to watching it.

Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on November 02, 2023, 12:52:27 PM

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on November 01, 2023, 05:19:54 PMPlease watch The Wolf Hour.

An unforgivably underrated and misunderstood movie.

The title makes it sound like a cheesy horror flick, but it is not at all.

The movie needs intelligent people who can think in complex ways about characters and situations. 

I'm adding this to my list. Will drop my thoughts once I get around to watching it.

Rock on!