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

[Artemis@BC]

I agree with both posts about Gleeson. He is very good and really making a name for himself.

Minor picky point -- I'm not sure how you managed to quote me (instead of smurfy) saying that I've never seen the Harry Potter movies. Because I have. Many times.

 

[watchthis!!]

‘Me Before You’ Trailer: Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin Are Going to Make You Cry So Hard
Me Before You Trailer: Emilia Clarke & Sam Claflin Will Make You Cry

Even though fans are used to seeing Emilia Clarke as the fearless mother of dragons Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, and Sam Claflin as the trident-wielding Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games franchise, this summer we’ll see them both in a whole new light in the heartbreaking romance Me Before You, based on Jojo Moyes book of the same name.

Skip the extended trailer (just the two leads thanking everyone who worked on the movie) and watch the regular trailer instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh993__rOxA

Me Before You also stars Janet McTeer, Charles Dance and Joanna Lumley.

 

[watchthis!!]

Minor picky point -- I'm not sure how you managed to quote me (instead of smurfy) saying that I've never seen the Harry Potter movies. Because I have. Many times.

SORCERY!!!

 

[CantALoop]

Why, we warned you back in February!

I appreciate the reminder but I'm actually glad I didn't see that review's title or read it - I don't think the

Spoiler

press conference

scene would have been as powerful for me if I came in knowing what to expect or look for. Also, a B+ rating? Pixar snobbery I tell ya.

 

[cocotaffy]

I just watched on cable 'About Time' - with Domnhall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy.
I loved it, such a nice story. Gleeson carried the movie, McAdams was good, but more of the girlfriend/wife role - he was the star. The scenes with Gleeson and Nighy were the best part of the movie.
I never saw any of the Harry Potter movies, but recently have seen Gleeson in 'The Revenant', 'Brooklyn' and 'Star Wars'. I am becoming a big fan, good actor - in such different parts.

Have you seen Ex Machina with Domnhall Gleeson ? İncredibly interesting movie and he plays really well. He's becoming one of my favorite too. Does hurt he's a red hair either

 

[PeterG]

I recently watched a 2013 Polish drama called In The Name Of. Imdb.com lists the movie as a drama/thriller, but it's not a thriller. It's not thrilling in any way, really - I was quite disappointed with it. The movie is about a Catholic priest coming to terms with his repressed homosexuality. The script is disjointed...it skips important parts of the story and only future dialogue helps us understand what happened a few scenes ago. Later in the movie it jumps forward in time, skipping important moments...so we can only guess what happened to put the characters where they end up. Plus the movie has certain scenes go on far too long, taking so long, wasting time and boring us as an audience. Weird that there are these long takes and then major scenes are skipped over completely. Maybe this movie was made for the high-falutin' arthouse movie fan...which ain't me. (Well, usually not! )

Nope, not at all. But I was sure hoping our boy Pratt might get the role. Maybe Indy has a son???

Didn't they do that already with Shia LaBoeuf? Or were you thinking they should make that a dream (nightmare) sequence that Indy wakes up out of when Chris Pratt knocks on his front door?

So have you seen The Lobster? It's not playing anywhere here yet ...

ITA about Olivia Colman. I don't mind Farrell though, particularly when he's doing non-action roles.

You're thinking Farrell 1.0. He basically left Hollywood after his final action flick, Miami Vice...way back in 2006. I think he decided he wanted to be an actor rather than a star.

 

[Matryeshka]

I'm finally seeing some of the Oscar nominees. For the most part I was less than impressed with most movies this year, but watched The Big Short and Brooklyn--both blew me away for entirely opposite reasons. The Big Short is clever and slick and tows the line of unbearably pretentious without going over. Smart, well-produced, and thought-provoking. Brooklyn is just masterful storytelling--not new or innovative, but exceedingly well done, understated, and moving. Some of my friends said it was boring--they can kiss my blarney stone. I had tears of sadness? joy? I don't even know at the end.

Can't wait to finally watch Spotlight--my expectations are HIGH.

 

[Cachoo]

Didn't they do that already with Shia LaBoeuf? Or were you thinking they should make that a dream (nightmare) sequence that Indy wakes up out of when Chris Pratt knocks on his front door?



QUOTE]


Okay so maybe Pratt could be Indy's prodigal son. Hell cast Shia again too. He could use the work. I know Harrison is important but when I watched Star Wars I felt I was watching someone rather frail still trying to be a cowboy. I liked the way Alec Guiness was used in the first Star Wars at that age. Asking Harrison to carry the film---I'm not at all sure. (ducks for cover

Okay so maybe Pratt could be Indy's prodigal son. Hell cast Shia again too. He could use the work. I know Harrison is important but when I watched Star Wars I felt I was watching someone rather frail still trying to be a cowboy. I liked the way Alec Guiness was used in the first Star Wars at that age. Asking Harrison to carry the film---I'm not at all sure. (ducks for cover)

 

[PeterG]

Okay so maybe Pratt could be Indy's prodigal son. Hell cast Shia again too. He could use the work. I know Harrison is important but when I watched Star Wars I felt I was watching someone rather frail still trying to be a cowboy. I liked the way Alec Guiness was used in the first Star Wars at that age. Asking Harrison to carry the film---I'm not at all sure. (ducks for cover)

Pratt has wide shoulders. And muscular shoulders. And firm shoulders...

Sigh...

 

[Cachoo]

Some future films I am interested in seeing because I like the two stars of each film and I can see where there might be some good chemistry:

The first with James MacAvoy and Alicia Vikander is "Submergence" Possible plot: In a room with no windows on the eastern coast of Africa, an Englishman, James More, is held captive by jihadist fighters. Thousands of miles away on the Greenland Sea, Danielle Flinders prepares to dive in a submersive to the ocean floor. In their confines they are drawn back to the Christmas of the previous year, where a chance encounter on a beach in France led to an intense and enduring romance.

The second is "Passengers" with Jen Lawrence and Chris Pratt Plot: A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 60 years early.

 

[BigB08822]

We absolutely loved Inside Out. What a well done movie. I can see how kids would love it but this felt like it was made with adults equally in mind. I would even watch it again.

We also watched Vacation last night. It had so many stupid and cheesy parts but it was still funny and Chris Hemsworth shirtless is good enough for me.

 

[watchthis!!]

"Web" is a 2013 documentary about a movement to get every child on the planet set up with a laptop computer. One man (Michael Kleiman) interested in this project decided to film a few of the attempts to get this happening and documented his time in two different South American locations. This is a great film in every aspect, my favourite being how adorable the children are. And how everyone in the two communities are so humble and caring. The movie kind of goes beyond what the original theme is, in that it shows us what people can be like when you take them out of an environment of competition and wanting to be more, have more, earn more. I loved this movie. Here's a clip about the movie on youtube, longer than your average trailer, but will give you an idea of what the movie is like:

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

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I went to the movies at 11 am with my sister before she had to work. It's normally seniors & a few college students but this time it was packed. I guess it was due to spring break. We ended up getting tickets for an alternate choice - My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, & even that one was crowded. Enjoyable but predictable. Not as good as the original, but isn't that almost always the case?

On DVD I watched Before I Go to Sleep. It was entertaining enough, but the thriller part was missing for me & when they finally revealed the predator it was all pretty ho-hum. I'm always looking for another To Die For from Nicole Kidman.

I did have the chance to see the new trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on the big screen. It looks like classic Tim Burton, so I'm definitely looking forward to that one.

 

[MacMadame]

Oh, To Die For was so much fun! If you enjoy Black Comedy. Which I do.

 

[PeterG]

In all the time I've been watching trailers and posting the weekly releases...I've never seen a week as bad as this. Not one of these movies interests me. Maybe that's because the theme of the week seems to be vigilante revenge flicks. (YUCK!!!) Meet The Blacks might not be 100% horrible, possibly it's a good parody film of The Purge movie series. I'll leave it to one of you to review that one for the rest of us!! And I had to highlight two in red just in case you're brave enough to endure what I went through by watching these trailers. The Midnight Man looks like a well made movie, but the subject matter completely puts me off. And Excess Flesh is just horrible on every possible level. Even the film's title...blech!


March 30th (or April 8th?) – Everybody Wants Some!! – Comedy with Blake Jenner [Glee] and Ryan Guzman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6raUs0CiCQ

April 1st – Pandemic - Sci-Fi action thriller with Rachel Nichols, Missi Pyle and Mekhi Phifer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SllHJHiSwpo

April 1st – Meet The Blacks – Comedy with Mike Epps, George Lopez, Mike Tyson and Perez Hilton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivqhlpUCnZY

Apr. 1st – Collide - Action with Nicholas Hoult, Anthony Hopkins, Felicity Jones and Ben Kingsley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF3GHKibxUk

March 29th - Term Life (Limited) – Crime drama with Vince Vaughn, Hailee Steinfeld, Taraji P. Henson, Bill Paxton, Terrence Howard, Jon Favreau and Annabeth Gish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaCIQV8tHi0

April 1st - Kill Your Friends (Limited) – Comedy crime thriller with Nicholas Hoult, Rosanna Arquette and James Corden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwz8NiWg_o0

March 31st - The Midnight Man (Limited) – Crime thriller with Will Kemp, William Forsythe and Brent Spiner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkAXcaB-Brw

Apr. 1st - God's Not Dead 2 - Drama with Ray Wise, Robin Givens, Ernie Hudson and Jesse Metcalfe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxz-Y-c2UUc

March 31st - Excess Flesh (Limited) – Dramatic thriller, new cast. From imdb.com: “Obsessed with her sexy roommate, Jill violently imprisons Jennifer in their apartment in a twisted attempt to bring them closer together”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WyBPBZbmT8

 

[Jay42]

April 1st – Pandemic - Sci-Fi action thriller with Rachel Nichols, Missi Pyle and Mekhi Phifer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SllHJHiSwpo

Pandemic was filmed so long ago I'm surprised it even got a release date. I kind of wonder how some of the actors feel about the movie. I follow Rachel Nichols on Twitter and she hasn't said anything about it recently. I think she mentioned it once a few weeks ago and that was it. I like the idea of a first-person style as a new way to do things. However Hardcore Henry looks like it will be a better movie and it's story definitely interests me more than Pandemic.

 

[Artemis@BC]

I did have the chance to see the new trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on the big screen. It looks like classic Tim Burton, so I'm definitely looking forward to that one.

When I read the book, I was thinking that if they ever made a movie of it, it would have to be Tim Burton.

 

[gk_891]

Oh, To Die For was so much fun! If you enjoy Black Comedy. Which I do.

Have you seen Death Becomes Her? It's kind of an acquired taste but I found the black comedy to be hilarious in a dark way.

 

[watchthis!!]

Batman V Superman Sets Unwanted Box Office Record
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/batman-v-superman-sets-unwanted-box-office-record-085616119.html

‘Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice’ may have netted the fourth biggest opening weekend of all time, but according to business site Forbes, it’s broken a record that may be rather less welcome.

It’s recorded the worst audience drop-off over a weekend for any superhero movie in 'modern box office history’

It dropped 55% from Friday to Sunday, worse even than last year's "much despised" Fantastic Four, which dropped off 48%.

 

[Buzz]

I really wanted to like Batman v Superman but just couldn't and doubt I'll even want to watch it again for free on Netflix.

 

[MacMadame]

Have you seen Death Becomes Her? It's kind of an acquired taste but I found the black comedy to be hilarious in a dark way.

Yes, that one too. But "To Die For" is a better film IMO.

 

[gk_891]

Yes, that one too. But "To Die For" is a better film IMO.

I agree, it definitely is a better film overall.

 

[PeterG]

Finally got around to watching Death On The Nile. Great cast, just as good as those assembled for Murder On The Orient Express. Enjoyed Peter Ustinov as Poirot more than Albert Finney in Murder... Figured out what was going on fairly soon after the movie began. Was hoping to be surprised, but 'twas not to be. The highlight was Bette Davis and Maggie Smith playing off each other, they were amazing. I have to believe that if Christie had lived to see of them together in this movie, she would have found a way to write these characters into a new series of novels just so the movie-going audience could get to see these women work together on a regular basis!

This Trailer's got me intrigued. Roald Dahl is my idol.

Disney's The BFG

That's a great trailer. I wouldn't have given this one much of a thought, but after watching the trailer...I'M IN!!!

I recognised the name Alan Tudyk. Then checked IMDB and realised he had been in the film Oddball which is an Australian movie.

This one looks like the type of family film everyone can enjoy. No libraries around me currently carry this one, but maybe the movie is new enough that nobody's got around to ordering it yet. Hope that's the case! Here's the trailer for Oddball for whoever would like to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7AV2ZYlxvI

 

[BigB08822]

I watched Everest the other night. meh. I could have read about the story in 10 minutes and gotten the exact same feel for it as I did watching this entire movie. They didn't develop any characters at all save a little with the main character. This movie was just a bunch of decently known actors thrown in random scenes. No one got to really develop and I honestly didn't care what happened to most of them which is such a shame because these were real people and a true story.

Spoiler

When characters died they just died. The Japanese lady died and I wasn't even sure if she was dead and at that point she had had a total of like 3 lines in the movie. She was a part of the expedition and should have been given more development and screen time.

 

[Artemis@BC]

I watched Truth last night. Well done if by-the-book, better than the ratings it has on RT & imdb. Blanchett was particularly good, but when isn't she?

 

[Buzz]

Suicide Squad is reshooting some scenes amidst poor reviews for BvS to add more humour to the movie.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-be-less-like-batman-v-superman-a6963406.html

 

[PeterG]

Valley of Love is a movie that didn't make it into one of my new movies of the week lists because it opened in France last year and then at various film festivals and then on March 25th in New York and April 1st in Los Angeles. But it looks just interesting enough to make it to my To See list:

Valley of Love – Drama with Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrQYd_O3J2k

And I wanted to share a great Kevin Kline encounter told in Boy George's 2005 autobiography, "Straight":

Another day, heading for a fag (cigarette) break, Paul and I encountered actor Kevin Kline in the elevator. Paul (Boy's friend) told him: 'A Fish Called Wanda killed me'. Kline responded: 'Are you OK now?'

 

[Buzz]

Another trailer for Captain America: Civil War
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KxffNMdshFk

 

[watchthis!!]

I saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot last week. Was expecting a comedy with some drama to it, seeing as the movie is set in the war zone within Afghanistan. Instead it was a drama with a fair bit of lightness to it (considering), but only a few laughs. Felt disappointed that I didn't get to see the light movie I expected. BUT...it was a good movie. Would have enjoyed it more if it had been publicized a bit more accurately. If this is Tina Fey's attempt to move away from comedy into drama, she's doing a much better job than Kristen Wiig.

 

[PeterG]

Weekend Domestic Chart for April 1st, 2016

Now I know that after a blockbuster comes out, the next week sees lesser releases distributed to theatres. But last week's biggest offering was God's Not Dead 2? (And really, that's the best titled that you could come up with??) So Superman and Batman remain at #1, dropping 69% in it's second weekend. Still, it made 56 million. Zootopia and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 also benefited from no new big releases, each stayed at #2 and #3 for the week. Zootopia took in another 19 million and dropped off only 20%. MBFGW2 made 11 million and only dropped off 37%. GND2 debuted at #4 and Miracles From Heaven rounded out the top five. Two Christian-themed movies in the top five is kinda big news. Weird that they released them so close together, both might have made more if they had waited a few more weeks for a release. Unless there's a lot of Christian movies stacked up for release and we're going to see one or two every week for a while?? (Doubt it...)

ETA: Debuting at #34 is Saturday's Warrior. A Christian-themed movie.