Let’s Talk Movies! #31: Pandas, Zombies, Male Models, Superheroes, Greeks and…Caesar!

Which Of These Movies Grabs Your Interest?

  • Jan. 15th - The 5th Wave - Sci-fi with Chloë Grace Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello

    Votes: 15 31.9%
  • Jan. 29th - Kung Fu Panda 3 - Animated with Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan

    Votes: 4 8.5%
  • Feb. 5th - Hail, Caesar! - Comedy with George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes

    Votes: 19 40.4%
  • Feb. 5th - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Horror comedy with Lily James, Sam Riley

    Votes: 12 25.5%
  • Feb. 12th - Zoolander 2 - Comedy with Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Will Ferrell

    Votes: 14 29.8%
  • March 18th - The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Adventure with Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel El

    Votes: 9 19.1%
  • March 25th - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Adventure with Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck

    Votes: 17 36.2%
  • March 25th - My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 – Romantic comedy with Nia Vardalos, John Corbett

    Votes: 12 25.5%
  • Apr. 15th - The Jungle Book – Adventure with Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Ny

    Votes: 12 25.5%
  • Apr. 22nd - The Huntsman: Winter's War - Fantasy with Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt

    Votes: 12 25.5%

  • Total voters
    47
Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait! There is a new Mean Girls movie?!?!?! Wait Wait Wait! That cannot be the trailer! It just cannot!

There cannot be a new Mean Girls movie, there just can't be one!

What!?!?!?

PeterG, what joke are you playing on people!?!??!
 
Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait! There is a new Mean Girls movie?!?!?! Wait Wait Wait! That cannot be the trailer! It just cannot!

Why no Mean Girls 2? If Molly Ringwald can be back in movie theatres...

‘Pretty in Pink’ Headed Back to Theaters in February for 30th Anniversary
http://www.slashfilm.com/pretty-in-pink-in-theaters-again-for-30th-anniversary/

Children of the 80s have been enjoying the celebration of milestone anniversaries for some of their favorite movies form the decade over the past six years, and this year brings another for one of John Hughes‘ beloved movies.
 
I don't see Lohan in the news anymore. Could it be she has pulled her life together? I hope so. I thought she was a decent actress at one time.
 
Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait! There is a new Mean Girls movie?!?!?!

Oh come on, like you haven't seen this sequel advertised everywhere the last two months!! :lol:

Actually, when I was watching the trailers on youtube for the new movies coming out, at the end of one of them was a photo of Lindsay Lohan. I thought, "hey...did she get a job..."? And since I...

I don't see Lohan in the news anymore. Could it be she has pulled her life together? I hope so. I thought she was a decent actress at one time.

...agree that Lohan is a great actress, I was curious that her having a new project coming out. So I had to look at the trailer and it was "Mean Girls: The Sequel". I know the cast had done a reunion shoot in Entertainment Weekly a while back, but nothing was specifically said about a sequel actually moving forward. So I figured this trailer would be a joke/an uber "willing a sequel to happen". Of course it was a fan trailer and then I thought, "I wonder if anybody reads the lists I post each week right to the very end"? Wanted to see if I could freak anybody out. And it worked!! :D So a free library DVD rental for @manhn for making me feel my work is noticed. :cheer:[/QUOTE]
 
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Last weekend I watched Irrational Man. Woody Allen's latest young IT girl Emma Stone plays amateur sleuth while spending time with her philosophy professor Joaquin Phoenix who evidently wants to start the existentialist club on campus. :) Entertaining enough but the ending seemed rushed.

I've also been watching music documentaries. I'll Be Me is about Glen Campbell's farewell concert tour after he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It shows the big heart behind the man who made the brilliance of the Jimmy Webb songbook part of Americana as well as the heartbreak of someone with such talent succumbing to a horrible disease.

Part I of The History of the Eagles was a walk down memory lane for me because it included retro footage of a concert I actually attended at the Capital Centre. Part I held my interest more than Part II, especially when it started off with a bang showing all the sordid details of the (often written about) Glenn Frey / Don Felder feud at the Alan Cranston benefit. Not my favorite band, but certainly part of the soundtrack of my life & they overlapped time & space with lots of musicians I really do love (Browne, Seger, Souther, etc).

The Wrecking Crew is about the various professional musicians behind the "Wall of Sound" directed by the son of member Tommy Tedesco. It's amazing how many recordings & films they had a hand in during the 60s & 70s, working with artists like the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Carpenters, 5th Dimension, Cher, Glen Campbell (who started as a member) & Jimmy Webb, Phil Spector groups, Mamas & Papas, Righteous Brothers & on & on. I watched it twice & will have to buy the DVD!
 
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I have passes to "Disney Presents: The Finest Hours". I had no idea what this movie is about when I took the free passes. I figured with Chris Pine and Casey Affleck in it and being put on by Disney, it was worth a shot.

Except it's got 20% on Rotten Tomatoes and also it turns out it's about a "daring rescue at sea" which is not really something I want to watch a movie about.

So I'm trying to give them away and no one wants them. :lol:


I would go see it.

It is a true story that occurred off the coast of Chatham on Cape Cod. Having a house in Chatham since the 60s one learned very quickly that this was a very important event in the town. Anyone who pooh poohs the story, I suggest going to the Chatham next time there is a savage northeaster and just look at how big the sea is. Then go look at the actual rescue craft which still exists and has been lovingly preserved. Then ask yourself how they went out in that and rescued all those men in this. Think you will come away not the same.
 
The 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards are tomorrow night. The show is being broadcast in Canada on Saturday at 8pm on Global (different times possibily in different time zones). I don't see any info on where it's airing in the U.S. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page for all the nominees (and eventually the winners):

22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards

Who do you predict will win "Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series"?

The Blacklist
Daredevil
Game of Thrones
Homeland
The Walking Dead
 
The 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards are tomorrow night. The show is being broadcast in Canada on Saturday at 8pm on Global (different times possibily in different time zones). I don't see any info on where it's airing in the U.S. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page for all the nominees (and eventually the winners):

22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards

Who do you predict will win "Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series"?

The Blacklist
Daredevil
Game of Thrones
Homeland
The Walking Dead

I think it is Saturday night on TBS and TNT. I'm not sure of the time. I'll go with Game of Thrones for the award. Dragons and swords...good stuff.
 
I've also been watching music documentaries. I'll Be Me is about Glen Campbell's farewell concert tour after he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It shows the big heart behind the man who made the brilliance of the Jimmy Webb songbook part of Americana as well as the heartbreak of someone with such talent succumbing to a horrible disease.

Part I of The History of the Eagles was a walk down memory lane for me because it included retro footage of a concert I actually attended at the Capital Centre. Part I held my interest more than Part II, especially when it started off with a bang showing all the sordid details of the (often written about) Glenn Frey / Don Felder feud at the Alan Cranston benefit. Not my favorite band, but certainly part of the soundtrack of my life & they overlapped time & space with lots of musicians I really do love (Browne, Seger, Souther, etc).

The Wrecking Crew is about the various professional musicians behind the "Wall of Sound" directed by the son of member Tommy Tedesco. It's amazing how many recordings & films they had a hand in during the 60s & 70s, working with artists like the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Carpenters, 5th Dimension, Cher, Glen Campbell (who started as a member) & Jimmy Webb, Phil Spector groups, Mamas & Papas, Righteous Brothers & on & on. I watched it twice & will have to buy the DVD!

Wow, where did you get these music DVDs, artistic skaters? I'm not a huge Eagles fan but that one sounds interesting as does The Wrecking Crew. The Glen Campbell documentary has been on PBS, I think.
 
We have Netflix for both mail DVD & streaming. The mail order has a huge selection of documentaries. I am getting one next about the Muscle Shoals recording studio in AL. I'm pretty sure the History of the Eagles was an HBO documentary. Part II showed the reunion tours Hell Freezes Over & History & the solo work by Henley & Frey, & more about my favorite Eagle (latecomer from Poco) Timothy B Schmit.
 
I know a lot of Fellini fans would crucify me for saying this but aside from 8 1/2 and La Strada, I have found almost all of his films to be very disappointing. I didn't like Satyricon, Amarcord, I Vitelloni, etc. When it comes to directors with a large body of work, I prefer Bergman, Kurosawa, Ozu, etc.

To be honest I'm not crazy about Fellini either. As a film studies major, I learned to analyze Fellini from a visual standpoint, rather than a narrative or other standpoint. But his films weren't beautiful to me. Mostly I found them to be nonsensical and overloaded -- full of chaotic frames. And his depiction of women was troublesome.

I find Fellini the man more interesting than his films. I read a fascinating book of Fellini quotes and he said so many interesting things such as "Hollywood is a cross between a football game and a brothel" and "I never watch my films when they are complete. When a film is complete, it is dead'.

And I do acknowledge his creative genius. He wanted to be a circus maestro, as is evident in 8 1/2. Since he couldn't be a circus maestro, he created a cinematic playground. His life was truly blessed. And I loved when he received his honorary Oscar! He looked like he felt a complete idiot up there on the stage, and all he could say was 'Julietta, could you please stop crying?"

As to Bergman, he was also a genius and I loved the stark visual quality of his films. But they were painful to watch, especially Scenes From a Marriage - all four hours of it.

Of all the foreign films I saw as a student, the one that has stayed with me all these years is Vittorio De Sica's "A Brief Vacation".

In general, I prefer the German film-makers to the Italians, particularly Wenders and Fassbinder. Though that was eons ago. A whole new crop of Europeans directors much have emerged in recent decades.
 
I like Fassbinder, but cannot understand how people don't like Fellini. His films are incredible. Do you guys not like 'Nights of Cabiria' either?
 
To be honest I'm not crazy about Fellini either. As a film studies major, I learned to analyze Fellini from a visual standpoint, rather than a narrative or other standpoint. But his films weren't beautiful to me. Mostly I found them to be nonsensical and overloaded -- full of chaotic frames. And his depiction of women was troublesome.

I find Fellini the man more interesting than his films. I read a fascinating book of Fellini quotes and he said so many interesting things such as "Hollywood is a cross between a football game and a brothel" and "I never watch my films when they are complete. When a film is complete, it is dead'.

And I do acknowledge his creative genius. He wanted to be a circus maestro, as is evident in 8 1/2. Since he couldn't be a circus maestro, he created a cinematic playground. His life was truly blessed. And I loved when he received his honorary Oscar! He looked like he felt a complete idiot up there on the stage, and all he could say was 'Julietta, could you please stop crying?"

As to Bergman, he was also a genius and I loved the stark visual quality of his films. But they were painful to watch, especially Scenes From a Marriage - all four hours of it.

Of all the foreign films I saw as a student, the one that has stayed with me all these years is Vittorio De Sica's "A Brief Vacation".

In general, I prefer the German film-makers to the Italians, particularly Wenders and Fassbinder. Though that was eons ago. A whole new crop of Europeans directors much have emerged in recent decades.

Out of all the German directors, Fassbinder might be my least favourite although I did like Veronika Voss. I hated The Marriage of Maria Braun, Chinese Roulette, and especially Berlin Alexanderplatz. But I loved The Tin Drum by Schlondorff, some of Wim Wenders stuff, and Werner Herzog. And of course the early German expressionist work is absolutely masterful from directors like Fritz Lang and Friedrich Murnau.

But yes, when it's good, German cinema is absolutely outstanding. I find that German directors are very willing to try different things and to be experimental (at least back in the day). And so when something works well, it produces a very striking effort.
 
I like Fassbinder, but cannot understand how people don't like Fellini. His films are incredible. Do you guys not like 'Nights of Cabiria' either?

Don't think I saw that one. After being sorely disappointed with Amarcord, I Vitelloni, and Satyricon, I kind of gave up on Fellini.
 
Watched 1956's "High Society" recently. I liked it alright. The highlight was when Grace Kelly pretended not to be her character, but a parody of her character. That's the most enjoyable I've seen her on screen. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were fine, but I'm not an uber-fan of either. I think maybe if Grace Kelly and Celeste Holm's characters had run off on a road trip, then that would have been something to see! :cheer: But a movie's gotta have lots of boys, right?


This has the potential to be really something great...or a flat-out miss. So I looked up who the writer and director are. Jeff Pope has written for a lot of British TV shows...that I have never heard of. BUT, he did co-write Philhomena with Steve Coogan, for which they both received an Academy Award nomination. The director is Jon S. Baird, who has only a few directing gigs under his belt. "Filth" is his most famous movie, a comedy crime drama with James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Shirley Henderson, Jim Broadbent and Imogen Poots. It never made my to see list as it's about "a corrupt junkie cop..." Okay, you already lost me. But with that cast...whoa! Anyway, I'm hopeful about this project, but guardedly hopeful. :)
 
Watched 1956's "High Society" recently. I liked it alright. The highlight was when Grace Kelly pretended not to be her character, but a parody of her character. That's the most enjoyable I've seen her on screen. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were fine, but I'm not an uber-fan of either. I think maybe if Grace Kelly and Celeste Holm's characters had run off on a road trip, then that would have been something to see! :cheer: But a movie's gotta have lots of boys, right?

High Society is one of my favourite movies of all time. Not on any "best" list, but simply for outright enjoyment. Hard to go wrong with Cole Porter music, but the delivery was spot-on. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "What a Swell Party" have got to be two of my favourite double-act songs ever. Plus Louis Armstrong ...

Dare I say that I like it even more than The Philadelphia Story? (though that was fine too -- all it needed was music to make it better ;) )
 
Watched 1956's "High Society" recently. I liked it alright. The highlight was when Grace Kelly pretended not to be her character, but a parody of her character. That's the most enjoyable I've seen her on screen. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were fine, but I'm not an uber-fan of either. I think maybe if Grace Kelly and Celeste Holm's characters had run off on a road trip, then that would have been something to see! :cheer: But a movie's gotta have lots of boys, right?
I agree about Celeste Holm and Grace Kelly's characters, I would watch the crap out of that theoretical movie.

I love High Society, but unlike Artemis@BC my preference is for The Philadelphia Story. As much as I love the music from High Society, and I really, really do, there's something about The Philadelphia Story I absolutely adore. High Society is so much fun to watch though and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is such a great song.

I first watched High Society when I was starting to get in to playing jazz on the piano. It introduced me to Louis Armstrong and from there so many other amazing jazz musicians from that era.
 
SAG Award Winners

I'll spoiler the winners below in case somebody doesn't want to be spoiled:

Leo and Brie for lead roles and Idris (Beasts of No Nation) and Alicia (The Danish Girl) for supporting. Cast award went to Spotlight and Stunt Ensemble winners were Mad Max: Fury Road.

For television, Idris Elba (Luther) and Queen Latifah (Bessie) won for the mini-series/TV-movie categories. For drama series, the winners were Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) and Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder). For comedy, Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent) and Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black) were the winners.

Drama ensemble went to Downton Abbey and comedy ensemble went to Orange Is The New Black. Stunt ensemble winners were Game Of Thrones. (Well done, Buzz!)

And Carol Burnett won for Life Acheivement. :respec:
 
I love High Society, but unlike Artemis@BC my preference is for The Philadelphia Story. As much as I love the music from High Society, and I really, really do, there's something about The Philadelphia Story I absolutely adore. High Society is so much fun to watch though and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is such a great song.

I'll have to re-watch The Philadelphia Story one of these days. I've only seen it in its entirety once, but I've seen the film of High Society at least six times and the stage version twice ...
 
Just saw "The Finest Hours" and I am glad to report that they got it right.

There have been comments that they overdid the ocean. Well the Chatham bar is very much like that during a screeching northeaster. We were on the Cape during the blizzard of 78 and the waves were so big that when they crashed on the shore, you could feel the feel the ground shake.

That is the actual coast guard station in Chatham and the pier where they land the survivors in the movie is the same pier where they landed the actual survivors from the Pendleton.

For further reading, I suggest CG36500.org
 
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Just saw "The Rain People". It's directed by Francis Coppola starring James Caan, Robert Duvall and Shirley Knight - what could go wrong with names like that?! The answer is... A LOT. I cannot believe that someone who directed the best film of all time could have filmed this piece of nonsensical but extremely depressing rubbish.

Shirley Knight is the totally unlikable lead character who finds out she is pregnant and runs away from her husband (for reasons the viewer never finds out). She goes on a road trip across the US (again for no reason whatsoever and with no aim in sight) and meets the mentally disabled ex-footballer James Caan whom she and everyone else in the film continuously abuse, abandon, shout at and steal from. Then a sexy police officer (Robert Duvall) turns up out of nowhere and the film just gets more depressing and bleak and completely pointless only to end tragically.

A masochistic viewing experience with the only good things about it being the acting and a hot half-naked scene with Duvall.
 
Just saw "The Rain People". It's directed by Francis Coppola starring James Caan, Robert Duvall and Shirley Knight - what could go wrong with names like that?! The answer is... A LOT. I cannot believe that someone who directed the best film of all time could have filmed this piece of nonsensical but extremely depressing rubbish.

Shirley Knight is the totally unlikable lead character who finds out she is pregnant and runs away from her husband (for reasons the viewer never finds out). She goes on a road trip across the US (again for no reason whatsoever and with no aim in sight) and meets the mentally disabled ex-footballer James Caan whom she and everyone else in the film continuously abuse, abandon, shout at and steal from. Then a sexy police officer (Robert Duvall) turns up out of nowhere and the film just gets more depressing and bleak and completely pointless only to end tragically.

A masochistic viewing experience with the only good things about it being the acting and a hot half-naked scene with Duvall.

Yeah, Francis Ford Coppola has made some stinkers. The Rain People being one of them. His adaptation of Dracula is another one. It looked fantastic visually but it was so appallingly bad on virtually almost every other level.
 
I was disappointed with The Square, which was Oscar-nominated for best documentary in 2014. I found the movie to be a mess, but the subject matter was a mess. The movie focusses on a group of Egyptians who want to bring down their government. Which they do. But they had nothing better organized to replace their government, so a military government took over, which was even worse. Then the activists worked to bring that government down...again with having nothing better to take its place. To me, this movie made the Egyptian people look like whackjobs who invited turmoil into their lives. When a Muslim-based government eventually wins an election, the disdain and anger aimed at a Muslim man who was worked with this group of people is horrible to watch. They use him as a scapegoat while he has patiently worked with them as an ally. A quite unenjoyable movie. :(

With people talking recently about the best films of all time, I went looking for a list for us to talk about. There was one list which polled actors and other movie industry people, but it was one of those websites where you had to keep finding an arrow to click on to move to a new page to see the next movie. Too time-consuming. :( So I found this one on Wikipedia, which is the updated American Film Institute list. This is from 2007, the original list was from 1998. Below is their 100 greatest film list, preceded by a link to the Wikipedia page. Which are your favourites? And which made it to the list that you find…questionable?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Movies_

I find that talking about the best movies of all time to be a difficult subject. This list focusses on big hit movies, I'm sure there have been a lot of smaller American movies made over the years that are superior to some of the movies on this list. I also find it difficult to acknowledge movies that were groundbreaking for their time, but now seen date, some to the extent that I might not be able to sit through them. The flip side of this is some of Mae West's movies, which I think stand up quite well in 2016. And to refer to the "Oscars So White" stuff happening now, it seems this list had a lot of input from old straight white males. Anyway, of the list, the ones that I think I would enjoy to watch more than once would be:

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 NEW
87. 12 Angry Men, 1957 NEW
88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938
89. The Sixth Sense, 1999 NEW
91. Sophie's Choice, 1982 NEW
100. Ben-Hur, 1959

But I do have to admit that there's a number of movies on this list that I haven't seen in decades, and some that I've either yet to have seen...or don't feel a strong desire to see.
 
I was disappointed with The Square, which was Oscar-nominated for best documentary in 2014. I found the movie to be a mess, but the subject matter was a mess. The movie focusses on a group of Egyptians who want to bring down their government. Which they do. But they had nothing better organized to replace their government, so a military government took over, which was even worse. Then the activists worked to bring that government down...again with having nothing better to take its place. To me, this movie made the Egyptian people look like whackjobs who invited turmoil into their lives. When a Muslim-based government eventually wins an election, the disdain and anger aimed at a Muslim man who was worked with this group of people is horrible to watch. They use him as a scapegoat while he has patiently worked with them as an ally. A quite unenjoyable movie. :(



I find that talking about the best movies of all time to be a difficult subject. This list focusses on big hit movies, I'm sure there have been a lot of smaller American movies made over the years that are superior to some of the movies on this list. I also find it difficult to acknowledge movies that were groundbreaking for their time, but now seen date, some to the extent that I might not be able to sit through them. The flip side of this is some of Mae West's movies, which I think stand up quite well in 2016. And to refer to the "Oscars So White" stuff happening now, it seems this list had a lot of input from old straight white males. Anyway, of the list, the ones that I think I would enjoy to watch more than once would be:

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 NEW
87. 12 Angry Men, 1957 NEW
88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938
89. The Sixth Sense, 1999 NEW
91. Sophie's Choice, 1982 NEW
100. Ben-Hur, 1959

But I do have to admit that there's a number of movies on this list that I haven't seen in decades, and some that I've either yet to have seen...or don't feel a strong desire to see.

When are you renting The Godfather? :p
 

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