Movie Thread

[Sun_Worshiper]

Mother

South Korean thriller from Bong Joon-ho (director of Parasite) about a mother who goes to extreme lengths to prove that her mentally challenged son was wrongly convicted of murder. The film starts slow, but it becomes extremely captivating once it gets going. There are lots of twists, turns, and misdirects that all worked on me and the ending is absolutely devastating. This is really brilliant and I highly recommend, but keep in mind that the first hour is slow and so you have to stick with it.

Grade: A

Thanks! Definitely putting this on the list, and thanks for the tip about the first hour.  We thought Parasite was one of the best movies in years and enjoyed Snowpiercer as well (though that one seems to polarize people for some reason).

Glad to share! Let me know how you like it.

I'm also looking forward to watching Memories of Murder, another Boon Joon-ho movie, which is on Hulu (as is Mother).

Will do! We watch on DVD or Blu-ray, and I see that there is a three-pack of his movies available on Amazon (Mother, The Host, Barking Dogs Never Bite), so I might pick that up and check those others out as well.

The Host is good, although not the caliber of Parasite or Mother (imo). I haven't seen Barking Dogs Never Bite, but it gets good reviews and is about an academic, so I've added it to my to-watch list.

[ab_grp]

We watched Greenland last night (with Gerard Butler).  It was okay, nothing too special.  The story focuses on a comet that has lots of fragments that may or may not hit the earth.  It is very predictable overall, and there are plenty of obvious foreshadowing events.  We thought that the way they portrayed the logistical nightmare of preparing for possible impact was one of the better aspects of the movie.  It must be very stressful to have to try to function in such an environment.  I do wish they had avoided some of the usual tropes of those types of movies.  It was reasonably entertaining, though, and Scott Glenn was an asset with too little screen time.  It sounds as though a sequel may be in the works, but I wouldn't run right out to see it.  We gave it around a 6.5 out of 10, which seems to agree with the IMDB average pretty well.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Censor (2021, streaming on Hulu)

Horror movie/thriller about a film censor, Enid, working in England during the video nasty era (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_nasty). Enid has a personal tragedy in her background and she becomes convinced that one of the movies she's working on holds clues. This leads her on a violent journey to save her family, and her country, from low budget slasher movies. This is an odd movie and probably not for everyone. That said, I did enjoy it. The setting is interesting, the drama is tense (although not scary), and there is interesting commentary on the effects that violent media have on society that can be interpreted in a couple of different ways.

Grade: A-

[ab_grp]

We chose a couple movies to watch soon (Mother, Us, Book of Eli).  My husband has wanted to rewatch Book of Eli for a while and suggested we get it out of the way first, as its ratings were a good bit lower on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB (I hadn't seen it before).  It's a post-apocalyptic tale of a "walker" (Denzel Washington) trying to head west to complete an important mission.  He has to deal with the expected outlaws and scarce resources along the way, but completing the mission could determine the future of society.  The movie really surprised me in many ways.  Some things are left unexplained, but I really loved it and thought the ending was pretty great.  I may be biased, because I do love Denzel, but I guess to each his or her own as far as reviews go.  It sort of reminded me of a mix of The Equalizer and Mad Max.  It's definitely bleak and took a bit to get into, but I'd watch it again without question.

[hmaria1609]

On Kanopy: "Princess Kaiulani" (2009)

[sprout]

Watched Last Night in Soho over the weekend.  It was quite well done and very stylish.  It's not perfect, but it was beautiful to watch and it had some unexpected twists and turns.

[ab_grp]

Sun_Worshipper, we finally got to watch Mother last night.  It was definitely a captivating and intense film.  I agree that it takes a while to get rolling.  There is so much introduced that it was a little hard for me to follow at times, and I read up about it a lot (but not enough) today.  There are a bunch of scenes from earlier in the movie that I have questions about now that know the ending.  Definitely a lot to think about there.  I have to doubt that those little threads weren't intended to mean anything, but I'm still trying to figure some of them out.  Part of the problem is that I can't even coherently come up with the questions at times or wrap my head around all the moving parts to do so! We both thought it was very well done.  I thought it was interesting that Bong Joon-Ho wrote the mother role with that particular actress in mind due to the roles she had long played.  I thought she was great before, but that puts another light on it.  The ending was certainly heartbreaking.  I'm so glad you recommended it!

[mamselle]

Ancient, I know, but I just found the Maigret/Rupert Davies series:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPoX-lBW2zk

I can see I'm going to have to ration myself very carefully....

M.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Sun_Worshipper, we finally got to watch Mother last night.  It was definitely a captivating and intense film.  I agree that it takes a while to get rolling.  There is so much introduced that it was a little hard for me to follow at times, and I read up about it a lot (but not enough) today.  There are a bunch of scenes from earlier in the movie that I have questions about now that know the ending.  Definitely a lot to think about there.  I have to doubt that those little threads weren't intended to mean anything, but I'm still trying to figure some of them out.  Part of the problem is that I can't even coherently come up with the questions at times or wrap my head around all the moving parts to do so! We both thought it was very well done.  I thought it was interesting that Bong Joon-Ho wrote the mother role with that particular actress in mind due to the roles she had long played.  I thought she was great before, but that puts another light on it.  The ending was certainly heartbreaking.  I'm so glad you recommended it!

Glad you enjoyed it!

[Sun_Worshiper]

Pig

Nicholas Cage and Alex Wolff star in this movie about a truffle hunter who goes on a mission to recover his kidnapped pig. This was an odd one and there are a few plot elements that didn't quite add up to me, but great performances and a good commentary on how people deal with loss. I think the weirdness of it prevented me from getting emotionally involved, but my wife was very moved, so I guess ymmv.

A-

[ab_grp]

Sun_Worshiper (spelled it right this time! sorry about last time), my husband has been talking about wanting to see that movie.  Thanks for the review!

We watched The Day After Tomorrow last night (Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid).  I had seen it once a long time ago, and my husband has seen it a few times.  It's a disaster movie about the effects of climate change and is fairly entertaining but also pretty corny at times.  The usual posturing from government officials who don't want to listen to the truth in time to act can get old in these kinds of movies (even if it might ring true). 

[clean]

Ghostbusters Afterlife (If I remember the title correctly) opens on Thursday. 
I have not been in a theater since Covid restrictions started.  there are several shows that I would have liked to see on the big screen, but in addition to the covid problems the movie companies are not keeping the shows in the theater long (enough). 

Yesterday I checked the prices at my local Alamo Drafthouse (my preferred chain) and I noted that the price for Ghostbusters will be $9 for every time selection,  a person!  THe local AMC is less than $5 for a noon Saturday show. 

Im not sure what all that means... I probably wont go to any movies at least through the end of the year, but at least I am starting to think about it now.

[saffie]

Alamo Drafthouse has recently opened a new location in downtown Manhattan.  Over 10 theaters, but some are quite small, just 3 or 4 rows. I've ventured to a few movies - not too many other people in the same theater, so I've felt comfortable so far, though would hesitate if the theater were more packed. With proof of vaccination now required for entry, they seem to be moving away from the "buffer" seating that had at least one empty seat between parties.

Have seen recently The French Dispatch, The Beta Test, and Last Night in Soho at Alamo. Ticket price here is $14-$18 for regular matinee/evening showings - $9 sounds pretty good!

[Sun_Worshiper]

Sun_Worshiper (spelled it right this time! sorry about last time), my husband has been talking about wanting to see that movie.  Thanks for the review!

Seems like we have similar taste! I hope you enjoy this one. I think it will stay with with me.

[hmaria1609]

The extended trailer for "Downton Abbey: a New Era" dropped:
https://tellyvisions.org/2021/11/15/downton-abbey-new-era-full-length-trailer-reveals-new-twist
The official poster is included. The official movie companion book will release in March 2022.

Violet's announcement seems like a reference to 6th and final season--she decamped to southern France after a major row over the village hospital.