Movie Thread

[ab_grp]

We watched October Sky last night, based on a true story of a high school kid in a coal mining town getting inspired to try to build rockets.  Like most movies of that genre, I found it to be a little eye-rollingly sweet at times, but it was an enjoyable tale pretty well told.  Neat story, which I won't spoil.

Watching a TV series that seems to pay homages to sci-fi shows and movies, I was reminded of Nice Girls Don't Explode, a movie I probably saw at least 10 times as a teen, which my husband had apparently never heard of (and he is the one who has seen all the movies).   I was wondering if anyone else remembers that one, a romcom with a cast including Barbara Hershey and Wallace Shawn, about a mother who tries to keep her daughter away from boys through somewhat nefarious means?

[spork]

We watched October Sky last night

[. . . ]

I liked that movie, especially the end credits, which showed that in real life all the boys "got out." I come from a similar place, though not as bad as a WV coal mine town, where most people stayed put.

Watched 1922 on Netflix last night. Really good adaptation of a Stephen King novella. Don't watch it if you have a rat phobia. It is not for young children.

[mamselle]

Just stayed up far too late to re-watch this for something like the fourth or fifth time...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUUckdKNlVg

"L'Auberge espagnole" (en francais)

M.

[ab_grp]

We watched October Sky last night

[. . . ]

I liked that movie, especially the end credits, which showed that in real life all the boys "got out." I come from a similar place, though not as bad as a WV coal mine town, where most people stayed put.

That's often one of my favorite parts of those types of movies, true for that one as well.

We watched Solaris (the one with George Clooney) last night.  Husband had seen it long ago before we read the book together, and he had liked it a lot.  I wasn't as much of a fan.  I'm not sure if it's because we had read the book before I watched the movie, but although I thought it was creepy and interesting, they didn't really go much into some of the aspects that made the book really intriguing.  I am thankful that they didn't delve into the really long and detailed features of Solaris that make up way too much of a short book.  And it's nice to have a reasonably short movie, but I think they could have added a few minutes to go more into Solaris itself.  They omitted a number of plot points from the book that would have given more insight into what was going on as well as raising more questions.  Some of Clooney's actions in the movie didn't seem to make very much sense without the background, and I thought the ending in particular was a little strange without context.  The movie focused too much on him and his relationship rather than the other characters and what was happening with them.  I looked at the summary for the earlier version of the movie, and it looks as though it stays more in line with the book.  Maybe we'll check that one out at some point.

[Sun_Worshiper]

The Little Things

Neo-noir crime thriller staring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as obsessive cops tracking a serial killer, and Jared Leto as a creepy suspect. This movie did not get good reviews and I see why: The first hour is slow and Malek's character is poorly developed (and Malek himself is miscast). Leto doesn't appear until about an hour in, but as soon as he does the movie improves dramatically. He and Denzel are both great and the last act really worked for me. Overall, I walked away from this satisfied, but I the movie has major flaws.

B

[Anselm]

I just saw The Booksellers documentary about NYC rare book dealers with lots of time given to Fran Lebowitz as a collector and reader.    It was pretty good, speaking as an admitted bibliomane  bibliophile.

[ab_grp]

We watched 28 Days Later... the other night.  It was more interesting than I thought it would be, and I ended up musing about it quite a bit.  Although it is sort of a zombie-type thriller (a widespread contagion), it was different than so many films of a similar nature.  For one thing, there is very little backstory on any of the characters, yet I still felt a connection to them.  The movie also seems to rely more on a vignette style rather than trying to explain or explore the goings-on at large.  A lot is left open to questions, but just enough to be intriguing and still make sense as a whole.  Some parts reminded me of other movies or TV shows.  When the main character wakes up in the hospital at the start of the movie, it reminded me of the beginning of The Walking Dead, although apparently it's more of an homage to The Day of the Triffids (which I haven't seen).  A later scene reminded me a lot of The Crow, just in the feelings it inspired and the style.  Definitely a disturbing movie at times, but lots to think about.

[Hegemony]

We watched Mank, an Academy Award nominee, which is on Netflix. Oh dear oh dear. It is beautifully shot: gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, lovely soundtrack. The plot is more boring than you can imagine. There's a whole sub-plot about Upton Sinclair (never seen) and the threat of socialism, which the characters are eternally worried about, which is all talk and no stakes, that is, you hear them jawing about how much it matters to them, but you don't hear or feel anything about why it matters to them. The rest of it is mostly the title character not writing the screenplay for "Citizen Kane." Since we know it gets written in the end, there's not much suspense. And if it didn't get written in the end, we wouldn't care. All of the characters are two-dimensional, if that, and all of them have the exact same fast-paced snappy mordant dialogue, as if they were all written by the same screenwriter, who had only one way of writing... The actual screenplay for Mank was written by the director's late father some twenty years ago, and sadly, there's a reason it wasn't made into a film earlier. Some people call it a homage to his dad; others call it a vanity project. I seriously considered taking a nap in the middle. (And at 2 hours and 20 minutes, there's plenty of time for a nap.)

[Sun_Worshiper]

We watched Mank, an Academy Award nominee, which is on Netflix. Oh dear oh dear. It is beautifully shot: gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, lovely soundtrack. The plot is more boring than you can imagine. There's a whole sub-plot about Upton Sinclair (never seen) and the threat of socialism, which the characters are eternally worried about, which is all talk and no stakes, that is, you hear them jawing about how much it matters to them, but you don't hear or feel anything about why it matters to them. The rest of it is mostly the title character not writing the screenplay for "Citizen Kane." Since we know it gets written in the end, there's not much suspense. And if it didn't get written in the end, we wouldn't care. All of the characters are two-dimensional, if that, and all of them have the exact same fast-paced snappy mordant dialogue, as if they were all written by the same screenwriter, who had only one way of writing... The actual screenplay for Mank was written by the director's late father some twenty years ago, and sadly, there's a reason it wasn't made into a film earlier. Some people call it a homage to his dad; others call it a vanity project. I seriously considered taking a nap in the middle. (And at 2 hours and 20 minutes, there's plenty of time for a nap.)

I watched this the other day. I liked it more than you did, but I nevertheless agree with much of your critique. I wonder if the nominations are because the Academy loves movies about Hollywood or because they feel like Fincher is owed.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Mank

David Fincher movie about the writing of Citizen Kane. This movie is a few things: A love letter to old Hollywood, an ode to writers (and an attack on the directors who take all the credit), and a critique of capitalism and its more cynical proponents. It doesn't hit the bullseye on any of these three elements, but bits and pieces of each work well enough. This one probably won't work for you if you aren't a fan of Hollywood or of Citizen Kane, but there are some rewards for those of us who have a love for both.

B+



The White Tiger

Dark comedy about a low-caste Indian peasant who finds success as an entrepreneur, but only after a dark journey of betrayal and murder. This reminded me of Parasite, in that it is a class critique that has universal themes but offers special insight into the country where it is set (India here, Korea in Parasite). The class analysis isn't quite as sharp as Parasite, however, and there is a narration gimmick that never quite worked for me. Still, I greatly enjoyed it overall and it stayed with me for several days after. A great watch.

A



Nomadland

A beautiful movie, anchored by a perfect lead performance, about a woman who lives in her van and travels around working odd jobs. Over the course of one year, she finds community, becomes one with nature, and comes to terms with loss. It is a little slow at times, but never boring. Great film.

A

[ergative]

I've fallen into the hole of Call My Agent, a French series about an acting agency (i.e., office of people who represent actors as agents), as they try to get jobs for their clients, put out fires when the clients behave badly or run afoul of paparazzi, and also try to put their own lives--personal and professional and the awkward interactions between the two--in order. Very mordant humour; lots of fun looking at the fixes they get themselves into. Somehow it does a great job threading that line between humor of embarassment without actually making things so awkward that you get embarrassed. Most of the time when characters get themselves in an awkward situation I'm just laughing, because what on earth did they expect would happen when they made such a dumb decision? Or I think, 'nice try, but that was never likely to work out the way you wanted.'

It's a really great example of one of my favorite genres: 'people who have jobs doing their jobs'. I find workplace drama so much more interesting than personal-life drama.

[cathwen]

My husband and I recently watched Hillbilly Elegy.  I had expected to hate it, but I did not.  Neither of us have read the book, and I have no idea how closely the story mirrors real life experiences—but the acting was very good, and the plot was absorbing. 

I agree with Hegemony about Mank.  I thought that, apart from the artfully done cinematography, it was an extremely boring movie.  My husband liked it better than I did, though.

Ergative, thanks for the Call My Agent recommendation!  I'm casting about for a new series, having finished season 7 of Seaside Hotel (Danish).  I've been watching The Paris Murders (Profilage) and like it, although sometimes the plots are a little predictable.

[Sun_Worshiper]

My husband and I recently watched Hillbilly Elegy.  I had expected to hate it, but I did not.  Neither of us have read the book, and I have no idea how closely the story mirrors real life experiences—but the acting was very good, and the plot was absorbing. 

I have to disagree with you here. IMO this film was melodramatic and cheesy, with production values like a TV movie. The actor who plays Vance gives a blah performance and now I'm struggling to even remember what he looks like. Adams is fine, but her character doesn't have any redeeming qualities so it was impossible for me to sympathize with her or to become invested in her arc. Close is way over the top, but I guess she's doing what she can with the material - she may win an Oscar, I guess because the Academy can't believe she hasn't won one yet, but she doesn't deserve it for this movie.

I did read the book and I did enjoy it, although the policy conclusions that Vance draws don't really line up with the story that he tells. However, none of the political commentary is in the film (which is probably for the best, since there is already a lot going on in the movie).

[mythbuster]

Saw Nomadland the other night. While it is filmed beautifully, I found it to be too much of a fairy tale. It hinted at many larger societal issues, but decided to just brush them aside for another view of a vista. There's no way the Amazon workers are just strolling down the warehouse aisle and waving at each other. It's much more high paced and stressful than that.  When David is hospitalized- who pays for that? The lack of any of the downsides to the lifestyle- no issues of crime, no mental illness, only the gentlest mentions of poverty and lack of basic sanitation. It all really bothered me.

[ciao_yall]

Saw Nomadland the other night. While it is filmed beautifully, I found it to be too much of a fairy tale. It hinted at many larger societal issues, but decided to just brush them aside for another view of a vista. There's no way the Amazon workers are just strolling down the warehouse aisle and waving at each other. It's much more high paced and stressful than that.  When David is hospitalized- who pays for that? The lack of any of the downsides to the lifestyle- no issues of crime, no mental illness, only the gentlest mentions of poverty and lack of basic sanitation. It all really bothered me.

Sounds annoying. Kind of like #vanlife. According to Vogue, the latest adherents are Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt and Goldie) and wife Meredith Hagner.

No words.