Let's Talk Movies #35 – Sparrows and Panthers and Dinosaurs…Oh My!

[skatesindreams]

I do get her point about PBS using Fred Rogers 90th birthday/50th anniversary of MRsN as a key 'pledge break' opportunity, but it is what it is - hopefully the cast is getting appropriate residuals.

Since the current administration devalues Public Broadcasting and does not want to fund it; they are even more dependent on audience support than usual.

 

[MacMadame]

There is absolute no need to put information about a documentary in spoiler tags.

 

[watchthis!!]

Scarlett Johansson Dismisses Criticism Over Her Decision to Play Transgender Man in New Film
https://people.com/movies/scarlett-johansson-controversial-new-role-transgender-man/

Johansson's critics are saying that a trans person should have played Johansson's role. The article doesn't mention that sometimes for a film to be successful, the people making the movie has to cast someone famous as a selling point for the movie. At this point, there aren't a lot of famous high-level trans actors/actresses. Johansson does make reference to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman all having played trans characters. Hilary Swank is also mentioned in the article for playing a trans person as well.

I agree that it would be nice to see trans people playing trans roles. But trans actors/actresses have to work their way up to an A-level status to be in an A-level movie. Now we're seeing trans roles in TV shows so that might happen with time. This topic is a tough one! What do you think? The comments criticizing Johansson in this article are kind of harsh.

There is absolute no need to put information about a documentary in spoiler tags.

For me, a good documentary includes information that few people ever knew before. If everything about a documentary leaves me thinking, "well...I knew all that already..." then I wonder why it was made. So if there are surprises about a documentary that might lessen the experience for people, then I appreciate the information being put into a spoiler.

 

[VGThuy]

I get the point, but I'm sure that was her thinking when she decided to play a Japanese woman in Ghost in the Shell. She could have pointed to Luis Rainer's performance in The Good Earth while they wanted the actress Anna May Wong who was an actual Asian woman to play the villain of the film...the only authentic Asian face in Hollywood and the one role they're willing to give her is the dragon lady sexpot evil seducer role....but then Rainer had an Oscar and was more of a name. ScarJo could definitely use that to support that decision.

 

[PeterG]

Day one of house-sitting.

10/10 for I Smile Back, starring Sarah Silverman and Josh Charles. Very intense and well-written drama about a woman dealing with depression, drug addiction and unaddressed child abuse issues. Heavy, but walks a fine line with not being overbearingly so.

7/10 - G.B.F. - Michael J. Willett [Faking It, United States of Tara] is the lead in this gay teen romantic comedy. He plays the first openly gay student in his high school and the various cliques all fight to claim him as their own. The tone for this movie is drastically different than I Smile Back, it's totally going for something light and unchallenging, so even though some might roll their eyes at something like this, I think they were quite successful with what they were trying to do. In small supporting roles are Natasha Lyonne, Megan Mullally and Jonathan Silverman.

5/10 - The Legend of Bogey Creek. I watched this 1972 (horror? scary doc-drama?) movie because I saw it when I was a kid and it scared the CRAP out of me. One of the scariest movies I remember seeing. Now? Well, moments did give me the chills. I made sure to watch this one first, during the day...because I was afraid how I'd react if I watched it when it was dark and quiet outside! But this has a lot of filler in between those scary moments. I'd love to see somebody remake this one. I see at wikipedia that this was made on a budget of $100,000 and made 20 million dollars, becoming the ninth highest-grossing movie of '72.

 

[PeterG]

Day two of house-sitting.

8/10 - Special Correspondents (Eric Bans and Ricky Gervais) - The critics hated this and the audience didn't seem to like it much more, but I found this (non-) buddy comedy to be surprisingly good. Bana is especially good in his role. Why he's not a BIG movie star is beyond me.

5/10 - A Field Full Of Secrets (2014 documentary about crop circles) - Parts of this movie were fascinating and other parts of it really dragged. I love the topic of crop circles, but the main person in this movie exploring the subject is a bit smug and self-absorbed). So that was a bit off-putting. Plus too many questions that should have been answered weren't even addressed. The movie becomes more about this one man's interest rather than an in-depth look at everything to do with the crop circle phenomenon. Unfortunately, this guy isn't interesting enough for the movie to become about him.

4/10 - Eloise (2017 mystery horror thriller with Chace Crawford and Eliza Dushku) - The movie started off a bit too slow and a bit too cliched, so when something actually interesting is unveiled towards the end of the movie, I hadn't been paying enough attention to be able to understand how the different pieces fit together. And unfortunately wikipedia doesn't have a long plot outline to fill me in...and I'm not watching this one again!

 

[Buzz]

Saw Ant-Man And The Wasp and it was so much fun!

Spoiler

But OUCH that first post credit scene!

 

[watchthis!!]

I enjoyed Walk of Shame, the Elizabeth Banks comedy that was out in 2014. Banks does a good job of carrying the movie and the supporting players are good as well, but the movie really relies solely on the performance of Banks. Apparently I'm in them minority of people who enjoyed Banks as well as the movie itself as the box office and ratings all-around are very low. But I think those who made this movie wanted to just go for a goofy and wild movie where a female character gets to be the centre of the show. My only critique would have been to have made a few scenes shorter and give the supporting characters a bit more to do.

Trailer for Walk of Shame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTHZEFo7JsY

 

[Buzz]

Comic book artist and co-creator of Spider-Man Steve Ditko has died. He was 90. May he Rest In Peace.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/06/entertainment/stephen-ditko-spider-man-co-creator-death/index.html

 

[PeterG]

Day 3 of house-sitting.

9.5/10 - Strike A Pose - A 2016 documentary about the seven male back-up dancers from Madonna's Vogue video, who also turned with her in 1990 and then were seen in her Truth or Dare documentary. This was really well done, didn't know whether I should give it a 9 or a 10 out of 10 and compromised with a 9.5.

6/10 - Mountain Men - Two Chace Crawford movies in two days! Good lord, this man is gorgeous. Mountain Men isn't a fantastic movie, but it has a few funny moments and a few touching moments of two (estranged) brothers trying to deal with their family history (and relationship to one another) while being stranded in the forest.

3/10 - Dragonfly - Kevin Costner took a lot of flack for The Postman as well as Waterworld, but this one is worse than those two (which I thought were fine). Dragonfly is a mess...I blame the director, Tom Shadyac (most known for directing Jim Carrey movies such as Liar, Liar). It's like the movie can't make up it's mind what it wants to be...drama or thriller or horror or supernatural suspense. It just seems to keep changing in an awkward, overlong way. I spent a lot of time on Instagram and Pinterest while this movie just kept on going...

 

[Aussie Willy]

Saw Ant-Man And The Wasp and it was so much fun!

Spoiler

But OUCH that first post credit scene!

I saw this last night as well. Enjoyed it as well.

 

[PeterG]

Day 4 of house-sitting.

9.5/10 - Twinsters (2016 documentary) - A woman receives a message on facebook from someone who looks...exactly like her. The two continue conversing with one another and sharing information about their adoptions...which end up ALSO being pretty much identical. Turns out the two were both put up for adoption...separately. One was adopted by a family in American and the other to a family in France. This movie covers their journey all the way back to their country of birth, South Korea. Have a couple of hankies close by while you enjoy the heck out of this incredible movie.

5/10 - Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List - Perhaps I shouldn't have made this a "background" movie (while I googled and checked e-mail, etc.) as the second half of this movie made me put down my phone and watch the movie. But the first half was too light, so I needed something to distract me. Basically the story of a straight girl and a gay guy who end up falling for the same guy and how that hurts their friendship. Will the two besties re-united by the time the credits roll? Don't all gay movies have a happy ending??

5/10 - Desolation (2017 adventure/horror) - Another movie where I picked up my phone, but the final act was better than the whole rest of the movie. Namely because the two good guy characters broke away from their cliche'd selves seen in the rest of the movie and do something we don't usually see in these kinds of movies. If only the rest of the movie had this kind of originality!

2/10 - Five Nights In Maine - Boring and dis-jointed. What a waste of David Oyelowo's talent. What a waste of Dianne Wiest's talent. And what a waste of Rosie Perez' talent. Don't know who is more to blame, the screenwriter or the director....oh wait, it's the same person. Who hasn't made a full-length movie since this. Oh well, that's a little bit of consolation.

 

[watchthis!!]

Would you want to see a movie with this cast?

Edward James Olmos, Olivia Munn, Jacob Tremblay, Sterling K. Brown, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane.

It opens September 14th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaG1KZqrLvM

The movie is

Spoiler

The Predator

It's the fourth in the series and will be released in IMAX as well as regular screens.

 

[vgerdes]

Saw Ant-Man And The Wasp and it was so much fun!

Spoiler

But OUCH that first post credit scene!

Agree. On both counts.

 

[PeterG]

Day five of house-sitting.

9/10 - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore. This one was so good! Weird in all the best ways. Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood are so perfect in their roles as misfits who are fed up with people who insist on being a**holes. The script for this is so good, it continually heads in a direction that is unexpected. Love this one!

7/10 - Pee Wee's Big Holiday - This is one of those movies that makes you laugh when you start thinking about it. And that's because Paul Reubens is so committed to his role. And the wonderful weirdness that is Pee Wee Herman. Joe Manganiello is quite good in this, showing us a side of his personality I don't think we've seen before. I'd love to see him do more comedy.

1/10 - Taking Earth - A few weeks back, my friends and I thought this might be worth watching, we gave it about three minutes before we bailed on it. But I needed some sci-fi to watch, so I thought I'd give this is a go. While watching it, I got caught up on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, e-mail and a little FSU-ing. This movie was made in South Africa, but unfortunately everything that District 9 was...this is not. Some of the worst acting I've ever seen. It has a 2.8 rating at imdb.com and an 18% audience rating at rotten tomatoes. If you ever have a get together with friends to watch horrible movies and laugh and catcall at it, I nominate this one for your next event.

 

[watchthis!!]

I was surprised/overwhelmed by I Am Michael, a biographical drama about Michael Glatze, a gay rights activist who, after a health scare, begins to explore his spirituality and eventually becomes so involved in the Christian faith that he goes to Bible School and eventually becomes a pastor of his own church. Glatze is played brilliantly by James Franco and I think this performance is even better than his Oscar-nominated work in 127 Hours. Zachary Quinto plays his partner, but the movie is really a showcase for Franco. The movie is both written and directed by Justin Kelly, who excels with both duties. The gradual change and struggle of Franco's character is so well done. Heartbreakingly so. I have to wonder at what point in the future we will hear about Glatze divorcing his wife, leaving his church and coming out as gay all over again. (Guess it's pretty clear that I don't personally feel you can pray the gay away.) Emma Roberts plays the woman Glatze's character meets in Bible School and then marries. It's nice to see her play a character other than the bitchy princess (which I've seen her do over and over again).

Trailer for I Am Michael: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDouGAFVaE

 

[manhn]

I saw a Hong Kong film called "A Simple Life", about a servant who has served a family over generations. She suffers a stroke, and the boy she has helped raise takes on caregiving duties. Beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. It got me in the feels.

 

[PeterG]

Day six of house-sitting.

Only finished one movie today because I went home to check mail, water plants, do my volunteer shift and make sure my DVR isn't filling up and recording over the fifteen remaining recordings of various skating events from last season that I've yet to watch.

?/10 - American Anarchist. This documentary is about William Powell, who wrote "The Anarchist Cookbook" at 19 years of age. I'm struggling with rating this movie because I have WAY too many mixed feelings about this one. Some random thoughts:

- the filmmaker doesn't remain objective and oversteps his role into a place of ambushing his subject and seemingly trying to make him beg for forgiveness for having written something which has played a big role in many, many people's deaths

I can't even think well enough right now to make more points. Maybe it's too late and it's been too long a day. Powell died after the filming for this movie was done, or maybe more filming was to have taken place later, but didn't happen. One online comment says Powell died of a heart attack due to the guilty put upon him by the maker of this film, but that could easily be some random rant by some anonymous goofball.

Powell does admit multiple wrong-doings. But he also talks about people needing to take responsibility for their own actions. I'll stop here because my mind is feeling more and more muddled. If anyone else has seen this movie (or tends to), I would like to hear what you have to say. It's on Netflix.

 

[watchthis!!]

Tab Hunter, Star of 'Damn Yankees,' Dies at 86
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tab-hunter-dead-damn-yankees-star-was-86-1057871

Hunter had 76 acting credits according to his imdb.com page. He starred in movies with John Wayne, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Mitchum, Lana Turner and Paul Newman. He had a million-selling #1 pop song with Young Love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEg5oWW5F2c

But his music career was short-lived as Jack Warner refused to let him release an album with Dot Records saying that it conflicted with his Warner Brothers contract. That company later created Warner Bros. Records for Hunter, but that didn't bring him any future success in music.

Hunter's wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Hunter

 

[PeterG]

Day seven of house-sitting. I need to average three movies a day to make it through my "wait until I house-sit to watch these movies I can only see on Netflix" list. I'm starting to wane...only two movies today!

8/10 - The Ritual (2017 British horror/drama) - A really good cast elevates this one, about four adult male friends who go hiking in Sweden in the memory of their fifth friend who was recently murdered. Rafe Spall plays the lead character, he has third billing in the Jurassic World movie that just came out. Robert James-Collier is great as well, he played Thomas Barrow in Downton Abbey. Their trip goes off the rails and they have to cut through the forest, where they come across something nobody could have ever expected. Great script and direction on this one.

7/10 - Don't Think Twice (Keegan Michael-Key) - Listed as a comedy drama, it's one of those movies which has funny people in it with some laughs here or there, but this is pretty much a straight-ahead drama. So I was disappointed that there weren't more laughs. Because of this I found the movie to be kind of a downer. If it had been promoted as a full-on drama, I might have rated it a bit higher.

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2018-07-13th
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipQM8uQZsyiuhz1n7BhC8yhf

Nothing grabbed my interest week. But I'd definitely be interested in hearing about what you have to say if you see either Eighth Grade of What Will People Say.


July 13th - Skyscraper (Wide) – Action adventure with Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber and Noah Taylor

July 13th - Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Wide) – Animated with Mel Brooks, Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kathryn Hahn, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keagan-Michael Key, Kevin James, Chrissy Teigen and Molly Shannon

July 13th - Shock and Awe (Limited) – Drama with James Marsden, Jessica Biel, Woody Harrelson, Milla Jovovich, Tommy Lee Jones and Rob Reiner

July 13th - Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (Limited) – Comedy drama with Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara and Jack Black

July 13th - Poor Boy (Limited) – Drama with Michael Shannon, Justin Chatwin, Lou Taylor Pucci and Jon Foster

July 13th - Siberia (Limited) – Crime thriller with Keanu Reeves and Molly Ringwald

July 13th - 7 Splinters in Time (Limited) – Mystery sci-fi thriller, new cast. From imdb.com: “A detective investigates a murder, only to find that the victim is... himself. Soon, he discovers multiple versions of himself, not all of them friendly.”

July 13th - Eighth Grade (Limited) – Comedy with a new cast. From imdb.com: “A teenager tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth-grade year before leaving to start high school.”

July 13th - Davi’s Way (Limited) – Comedy documentary. From imdb.com: “..legendary actor/singer Robert Davi, is given one year to recreate Sinatra's fabled 'Main Event' concert … that starts to feel like a real life cross between Curb Your Enthusiasm and This Is Spinal Tap.”

July 13th - The Devil’s Doorway (Limited) – Horror, new cast. From imdb.com: “In the fall of 1960, Father Thomas Riley and Father John Thornton were sent by the Vatican to investigate a miraculous event in an Irish home for 'fallen women', only to uncover something much more horrific.”

July 13th - Dark Money (Limited) – Documentary. From google.com: “In the wake of the Citizens United ruling, dark money floods elections nationwide, but Montanans are standing up to stop history from repeating itself in a struggle that has the potential to change the way elections happen across the U.S.”

July 13th - What Will People Say (Limited) – Drama from Sweden. From imdb.com: “Sixteen year-old Nisha lives a double life. When her father catches her in bed with her boyfriend, Nisha's two worlds brutally collide. To set an example, Nisha's parents decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in Pakistan.”

July 13th - Gauguin (Limited) – French drama/biography with Vincent Cassel. From imdb.com: “Focused on French painter Paul Gauguin's affair with a younger lady in Tahiti.”

 

[PeterG]

I was going to post about my movie-viewing today (Our Souls At Night, When We First Met), but I'm wondering if the movie thread is something that FSU'ers are interested in any more? We seem to have lost a lot of people who used to post in these threads. And those who still post, only talk about a movie they watched once every week or two, often less than that. I have a list of over 50 movies I haven't posted about because when I go to post, nobody else has posted anything and I don't want to be a blabbermouth who overwhelms a thread (like I'm doing now!).

Plus there's lots of things people have posted here that I've wanted to respond to, but again, when I go to post, no one has posted since my last post and I don't want for every three out of four posts to be by me.

So are people not watching movies anymore? Are all the TV series on all the specialty channels and on-line sites "the new moves"? I have to limit my online time due to eye strain, I have some other interesting things to spend my computer time on if people just are not into movies like they used to be.

 

[emason]

My preferred option for movies is in the theater, on the big screen, but I have mobility issues, so I don’t get out to the movies the way I used to. I find watching movies at home a decidedly inferior experience, so I do it very rarely. (I’m talking about newer movies here. Turner Classic Movies and its roster of classics are still on my viewing schedule.)

I am, however, still interested in movies and what others think of what they saw.

 

[annie720]

I was going to post about my movie-viewing today (Our Souls At Night, When We First Met), but I'm wondering if the movie thread is something that FSU'ers are interested in any more?

Please post about Our Souls at Night! I don't know anyone else who saw this. I live in CO and am a fan of Kent Haruf's books, and with Fonda and Redford as the leads, of course I was going to see this movie. There was some buzz going on when it was being filmed in Colorado Springs so it was always on my radar. I liked the movie. It wasn't great, but there was a slow sweetness to it, very much in the style of Haruf's books. Not long ago we went on a walking tour of the neighborhood where it was filmed and I felt like I was part of the film.

The months following the Oscars are always a slow time for me and movies and I feel less inclined to post about films I watch at home, but I just pre-ordered my seats for the premiere showing of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

 

[PeterG]

Please post about Our Souls at Night!

"...a slow sweetness to it". This sums up the movie really well. I found Our Souls At Night to have just enough sweetness to it (and a little bitter as well, to balance things out a bit). In the beginning I found there to be a bit too much slowness to it. Maybe I just need to wind down from seeing the usual kind of movie that gets released these days, which is often rather fast-paced. Both the lead performers were rather subdued, I found Fonda to outshine Redford a bit, but I guess her role allows her to show more of her character than Redford's does. I was surprised to find that Matthias Schoenaerts was in this. He's good, but his role is quite small. I wonder if he chose to do this movie primarily because he got to work with two legends. Couldn't blame him one little bit if that was the case. Iain Armitage as the grandson is proving to be a force to reckon with. I first saw him in Young Sheldon, where he carries the show amongst an uber-talented cast and then thought he was quite good at drama in Big Little Lies. Another strong dramatic performance here. And lastly, Bruce Dern has a teeny, tiny role in this movie, but he takes advantage of every micro-second he has on screen. Talented man.

My preferred option for movies is in the theater, on the big screen, but I have mobility issues, so I don’t get out to the movies the way I used to. I find watching movies at home a decidedly inferior experience, so I do it very rarely. (I’m talking about newer movies here. Turner Classic Movies and its roster of classics are still on my viewing schedule.)

How often do you post about movies you watch on TCM? I love hearing about older movies that I've never heard of. I discover older movies through stars of yesteryear who I see in something and then seek out there other movies. And then through these movies, I discover lesser known stars and then seek out THEIR stuff. I would LOVE to hear about other old movies that might escape my radar.

 

[Kasey]

I rarely watch movies, but will sometimes have an interest in a movie based on what someone in this thread has said about it. I will occasionally go to a movie with the twins, but figure that kids movies aren't as much of interest here! (but for the record, "Peter Rabbit" was 1000 times better than "Sherlock Gnomes"!) The only "adult" movies I've seen recently are "Won't you be my neighbor" and "RBG", both really good documentaries ("neighbor" felt like a warm hug to me, and yes, I did get sniffly at parts of it! We need to feel good these days). The next movie I have an interest in is "Sorry to bother you", and I hope to see it next week (it opens here on Friday).

 

[Jay42]

I’m in the middle of rewatching Doctor Who before season 11 starts in the fall so I haven’t been watching as many movies at the moment. Also my work schedule hasn’t been the most conducive to theatre going. I do love this thread though. I like seeing what people think of movies.

 

[Buzz]

Loved this article. It’s all about some of the concept artists responsible for bring Marvel’s movies to life.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-44226454

 

[MacMadame]

I am mostly interested in current movies that are out in theaters or have recently moved to streaming/video. But there's this thing called a scroll function and it works great.

 

[Kruss]

When I first started reading these threads, it was to pick up on thoughts about old classic movies. I don't see too many new movies (other than Marvel/DC and Star Wars stuff), but I love hearing about old movies.