Movie Thread

[Cheerful]

Thanks very much for the Cold War recommendation, spork.  Sounds worthwhile, will take a look.  Didn't know this was on Amazon Prime.  Had to do a title search after it didn't appear when skimming numerous relevant movie categories.

As a recent Amazon Prime subscriber, wading through the movie menus is a chore. Not interested in Freevee movies, hate the loud ads.  Any tips for efficiently finding movies aligned with one's interests on this platform?

[secundem_artem]

Loved Oppenheimer.  Fell asleep half way through Barbie.  Don't think I'm it's demographic.

[Wahoo Redux]

Absolutely loved Unfrosted.  Cannot understand why the critics, or anybody for that matter, don't like it.

[secundem_artem]

Absolutely loved Unfrosted.  Cannot understand why the critics, or anybody for that matter, don't like it.

Agreed.  I thought it was an absolute hoot.  Seeing Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger but shirtless and wearing face paint and viking horns and leading a protest.....  The allusion wasn't very subtle but I thought it was hilarious. 

But then again, I thought the 3 Stooges and the Marx Brothers were high art. 

And for those of you north of the 49th parallel and old enough to remember, I absolutely loved Wayne & Shuster back in the day. Some sample W&S humor:

"That's not Ojibway writing saying Ma Day in Oh Sha Wa.  It says Made in Oshawa." 

Also -

A Roman centurion walks into a bar.  "I'll have a martinus."

"Don't you mean martini?" asks the barkeep.

Says the Centurion "When I want 2, I'll ask for 2.  What's the matter don't you speak plain Latin???"

Still cracks me up

[Wahoo Redux]

Absolutely loved Unfrosted.  Cannot understand why the critics, or anybody for that matter, don't like it.

Agreed.  I thought it was an absolute hoot.  Seeing Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger but shirtless and wearing face paint and viking horns and leading a protest.....  The allusion wasn't very subtle but I thought it was hilarious. 

But then again, I thought the 3 Stooges and the Marx Brothers were high art. 

And for those of you north of the 49th parallel and old enough to remember, I absolutely loved Wayne & Shuster back in the day. Some sample W&S humor:

"That's not Ojibway writing saying Ma Day in Oh Sha Wa.  It says Made in Oshawa." 

Also -

A Roman centurion walks into a bar.  "I'll have a martinus."

"Don't you mean martini?" asks the barkeep.

Says the Centurion "When I want 2, I'll ask for 2.  What's the matter don't you speak plain Latin???"

Still cracks me up

Both Stooges & Marx Bros were brilliant, as were Laurel and Hardy.

[ab_grp]

I had never heard of Unfrosted! It does sound fun.  I will put it on the list, thanks!

This past weekend we needed some levity so picked Game Night (2018), Joy Ride (2023).  Both were a lot of fun and outrageous in their own ways.  I think I preferred Game Night just a wee bit more.  That one is about a murder mystery game night gone awry and is a dark comedy.  My husband preferred Joy Ride a little more.  That one is about four women who travel to China to find one's birth mother and of course have a bunch of adventures along the way.  That is a pretty raunchy drama comedy.  They both had us laughing and served their purposes well.  I think we gave them both 7/10.

[kaysixteen]

Anyone see the new Planet of the Apes movie yet?

[ab_grp]

We watched some more Prime movies this weekend.  Friday was The Interview (2014), another Seth Rogan and James Franco comedy about a TV entertainment/gossip show host and his producer getting an interview with Kim Jong Un.  There were some funny parts, and it was amusing, but I don't think it was as laugh out loud funny across the board as This is the End.

Last night was BlacKkKlansman (2018), which was better but still not great.  This one is more of a drama/action flick about a Black police officer who becomes a KKK member as part of an undercover investigation.  The acting was good, but for me sometimes Spike Lee get to be a bit much when driving home his point.  He used some similar techniques as in Malcolm X, but I don't think it really worked nearly as well.  The latter was just a way better film overall, but both Washington father and son were great in their roles.  Anyway, this is based on a true story, which is one of the reasons that I think it could have and should have been better.  It's a pretty interesting story to begin with! The Klan members and bad apple police are quite disturbing, but I just don't feel that it was built up or played out as well as it could have been.  Some of the people and events didn't really make sense, like there were some deleted scenes or something (though the trivia says that there weren't any, which is apparently rare).  Still worth a watch for the story, though.

[secundem_artem]

Saw American Fiction last night.  Deserved the Oscar buzz and awards.  I'd be curious if Black forumites have a different take on it.  Certainly, white people in the movie were portrayed mostly as none-too-bright virtue signaling fools.

[ab_grp]

Saw American Fiction last night.  Deserved the Oscar buzz and awards.  I'd be curious if Black forumites have a different take on it.  Certainly, white people in the movie were portrayed mostly as none-too-bright virtue signaling fools.

We saw this last night.  I don't have that frame of reference that you are asking about, but I agree it was worth the awards and other recognition.  It kind of reminded me of The Holdovers in a general sense of feel.  Not that the feeling was the same.  Maybe it's a movie type? A movie about life.  I knew what the main plot point was and completely forgot about it after getting wrapped up in a different part of the story (about his family).  Wright and the other actors brought a lot to this one for me.  My husband and I were both surprised afterward that so much of what we had heard was that the movie was good overall but that the ending wasn't? We both thought it fit pretty perfectly.  I think there was a lot that was really smart about this movie.  Some points were made a little more subtly, and some more overtly, but thumbs up from us.

Friday was a very different movie, Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), which we had heard references to many times but had never seen.  It's about a group of guys who goes to the ski resort that they had fun at as teens to try to cheer one of them up.  There is a lot of partying to do, so into the hot tub they go with lots of booze, and the hot tub turns into a ... surprise!... time machine.  They travel back to their teens and realize they have to do everything exactly the same way, or things will turn out differently.  This could be especially problematic for one of them, a nephew who hadn't been born yet.  It's pretty raunchy but also had a lot of funny parts and was a fun way to wrap up the week.

[ciao_yall]

Saw American Fiction last night.  Deserved the Oscar buzz and awards.  I'd be curious if Black forumites have a different take on it.  Certainly, white people in the movie were portrayed mostly as none-too-bright virtue signaling fools.

We saw this last night.  I don't have that frame of reference that you are asking about, but I agree it was worth the awards and other recognition.  It kind of reminded me of The Holdovers in a general sense of feel.  Not that the feeling was the same.  Maybe it's a movie type? A movie about life.  I knew what the main plot point was and completely forgot about it after getting wrapped up in a different part of the story (about his family).  Wright and the other actors brought a lot to this one for me.  My husband and I were both surprised afterward that so much of what we had heard was that the movie was good overall but that the ending wasn't? We both thought it fit pretty perfectly.  I think there was a lot that was really smart about this movie.  Some points were made a little more subtly, and some more overtly, but thumbs up from us.

I saw American Fiction on the flight back from Europe. Really liked it! And frankly, some white people can be clueless and virtue-signaling. I loved the scene where they were voting for the literary awards.

Also watched A Star is Born with Lady Gaga on the same flight. Now I want to go back and watch the original versions to see how they updated and adapted the plots.

[ab_grp]

Saw American Fiction last night.  Deserved the Oscar buzz and awards.  I'd be curious if Black forumites have a different take on it.  Certainly, white people in the movie were portrayed mostly as none-too-bright virtue signaling fools.

We saw this last night.  I don't have that frame of reference that you are asking about, but I agree it was worth the awards and other recognition.  It kind of reminded me of The Holdovers in a general sense of feel.  Not that the feeling was the same.  Maybe it's a movie type? A movie about life.  I knew what the main plot point was and completely forgot about it after getting wrapped up in a different part of the story (about his family).  Wright and the other actors brought a lot to this one for me.  My husband and I were both surprised afterward that so much of what we had heard was that the movie was good overall but that the ending wasn't? We both thought it fit pretty perfectly.  I think there was a lot that was really smart about this movie.  Some points were made a little more subtly, and some more overtly, but thumbs up from us.

I saw American Fiction on the flight back from Europe. Really liked it! And frankly, some white people can be clueless and virtue-signaling. I loved the scene where they were voting for the literary awards.

Also watched A Star is Born with Lady Gaga on the same flight. Now I want to go back and watch the original versions to see how they updated and adapted the plots.

Yeah, the part with the literary awards was particularly good.

We have the opposite with A Star is Born, having seen the one with Judy Garland a while back and needing to see the one with Gaga.  It sounds as though there were a few changes!

[Sun_Worshiper]

I spent around 20 hours on a series of flights last week, so watched a few movies:

Tar (2022)

Cate Blanchett is amazing in this and deserves the various awards that she won. It takes a while to get to the point, but it does follow through quite effectively. My only qualm is with the last 15 minutes or so - I would have left that on the cutting room floor.

Grade: B+


Bombshell (2019)

The story of Roger Ailes fall from Fox News, and the women who brought him down (especially Megyn Kelly). This is told in the same style as The Big Short and Vice, with lots of quick cuts and winks to the camera, which is perhaps not the best way to tell a story about sexual harassment. On the other hand, the performances are all good and they look nearly identical to the people they are portraying. Overall, it is watchable, but not good.

Grade: C+

Past Lives (2023)

Nice little film about immigration and culture and leaving things behind. It is well written, acted, and paced. And it has really stayed with me over the last few days.

Grade: A

[Sun_Worshiper]

Wonka (2023)

Along the lines of 2021's Cruella, this film gives us the origin story of Willy Wonka, played by Timothée Chalamet - who is in everything these days and is quite versatile. It is a fun, family friendly musical, with good performances and some nice set pieces (or some good CGI, anyway). That said, it is totally edge-less and takes away all of the dark and weird elements that made the Gene Wilder character so memorable.

Grade: B
 

[Hegemony]

I saw The Fall Guy last week. Fun and clever! The first twenty minutes or so were pretty cheesy and I thought, "Okay, a paint-by-numbers thriller/romance." But then it gradually dawned on me that there was some really clever writing going on behind it all. I first twigged when two of the characters are on the phone discussing whether the movie they're working on should use a split screen, and the screen splits to show them discussing it by phone. There were also a lot of clever setups and great use of the fact that one of the main characters is a stunt man — so, for instance, when he sees bad guys approaching, he starts moving sofas and setting up the stunts.

Be sure to watch through the credits, when they show how the stunts were really done. And then there's a nice joke after the credits.

I know the studio expected this to be a blockbuster, and then it wasn't. But that doesn't mean it's badly done. Indeed I think the script may be a little too clever for genre expectations. So audiences stayed away, apparently. But everyone I know who's seen it has relished it.