Let's Talk Movies #36 - 2020 - Yep it is a new decade

Flowers is an amazing movie, one of the best I have seen in the last few years. It is a 2014 drama from Spain, their entry to be nominated for an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (but didn't make the cut). Which is a shame, because this is a beautiful movie which is incredibly directed (although some might find a few moments to be a bit on the slow side). The movie is about how flowers are delivered in two different scenarios, who the sender is, and what the sending of the flowers in each situation really means. Flowers (released as Loreak in Spain) was nominated for best picture at the 29th Goya Awards (Spain's version of the Oscars), but lost to a movie called Marshland, which swept the awards that year.

Trailer for Flowers (Loreak): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwIv_3GTYbo
 
Good Deeds is a 2012 romantic drama written, directed, produced and starring Tyler Perry. Producer Perry should have had writer Perry bring in a co-writer to help with the script, which is great in some ways, but stumbles in other ways. And Producer Perry should have told writer Perry that director Perry was probably not up to the task and should not spread himself so thin. And if Producer Perry had gotten Director Perry to step down, then Actor Perry could have had a fantastic performance pulled out of him instead of just a good performance.

The movie is basically a Harlequin romance novel. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Who doesn't enjoy a schlocky romance every now and then? But a top-notch co-writer would have helped this movie out a lot. The cast deserved a better script to work with: Thandie Newton, Gabrielle Union, Phylicia Rashad and the stunningly beautiful Brian J. White. In supporting roles are Eddie Cibrian, Rebecca Romijn and Jamie Kennedy as a cartoonish, flowery gayboy stereotype.

Trailer for Good Deeds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPqLXXAFxSE
 
Peace Love & Misunderstanding was a nice surprise. I don't remember it doing well when it was released to theatres, in spite of the fact that it has a top-notch cast: Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Elizabeth Olsen, Nat Wolff, Chace Crawford, Kyle MacLachlan, and Rosanna Arquette. This comedy-drama movie came out in 2012 and only made half a million dollar in the theatres. :eek: As good as the performances are (Fonda as flower-power mother to straight-laced Keener and free-thinker Olsen), I would say the star of the movie is the script. Almost completely devoid of movie clichés, the lead actresses have great material to work with. The movie was written by Christina Mengert and Joseph Muszynski who unfortunately have not had greater successes with future movies they have written. Maybe that's because Mengert has only written three other movies and Muszynski just one. Bruce Berseford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies) seems to be stepping back and letting his actresses (and the script) shine. A wonderful work about women of different ages all experiencing a turning point in their lives. The movie equivalent of a favourite, warm blanket on a rainy day. :)

Trailer for Peace Love & Misunderstanding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v_d-9YldL8
 
PeterG said:
Peace Love & Misunderstanding was a nice surprise. I don't remember it doing well when it was released to theatres, in spite of the fact that it has a top-notch cast: Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Elizabeth Olsen, Nat Wolff, Chace Crawford, Kyle MacLachlan, and Rosanna Arquette.
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One of my rules of thumb when it comes to movies is that if Catherine Keener is in it, is going to be good (saw her just a few days ago in 'Begin Again' with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly - quite an enjoyable film. There are a few actors I feel that way about.

And Jeffrey Dean Morgan is no slouch, either.
 
My friends and I needed a good laugh and it was also just good to get out of the house and back to a theater. Life is starting to feel normal again. We went to see The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. A few liked the first one better but most of us thought they outdid themselves in the sequel. Samuel L Jackson's laugh is instantaneously infectious and they packed every moment they could find with a joke. I bought the first movie and will buy the second. Both are great for a much needed comedy break.

Best spoiler line for the ladies:
They are about to drive down stairs in a car. Salma Hayak protests with "Not the stairs! I don't have my sports bra on."
:rofl:
 
Lilting is a beautiful 2014 romantic drama about a gay man who tries to connect with the mother of his partner after that partner suffers an untimely death. And it's more complicated in that his partner was never able to come out to his Mom. And that Mom does not speak any English. Richard (the main character, played by Ben Whishaw) hires a translator so that he can try to bond with his partner's mother and maybe tell her eventually the truth about her son.

Everyone in the cast is great and they are all working with a very strong script. Wikipedia mentions that the script won third place in the 2011 "Brit List" which is compiled of unproduced British screenplays. Past movies on the Brit List include Selma, How I Live Now, Never Let Me Go, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Trailer for Lilting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeInPhXR4Gk
 
PeterG said:
Lilting is a beautiful 2014 romantic drama about a gay man who tries to connect with the mother of his partner after that partner suffers an untimely death. And it's more complicated in that his partner was never able to come out to his Mom. And that Mom does not speak any English. Richard (the main character, played by Ben Whishaw) hires a translator so that he can try to bond with his partner's mother and maybe tell her eventually the truth about her son.

Everyone in the cast is great and they are all working with a very strong script. Wikipedia mentions that the script won third place in the 2011 "Brit List" which is compiled of unproduced British screenplays. Past movies on the Brit List include Selma, How I Live Now, Never Let Me Go, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Trailer for Lilting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeInPhXR4Gk
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That looks intense!
 
Outcry is a very bingeable five-part documentary about eighteen year old Greg Kelley, who was wrongfully imprisoned for the sexual assault of a child. I watched it in two days, it’s one of those shows where you can’t help but jump into the next episode as soon as the one you’re watching finishes. One thing that stands out about this documentary is the time they took wrapping up the different aspects of the story and how it affected everyone involved. Sometimes with documentaries I find they conclude the story too quickly and I’m left with lots of questions. But not with this one. Highly recommended.

Trailer for Outcry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nosh5cYI8Q8
 
Watched on dvd 'On Chesil Beach'. I had never heard of this movie but I saw it had Saoirse Ronan so I rented it. I have not read the book so I didn't know the story. It was very different from what I had expected (a romantic story). I usually don't like flashbacks but this is one of the few I felt were well done (The English Patient tops the list for me). As the story evolves we learn more about the characters.

I think it is very good, haunting actually. The characters still are coming into my mind. Saoirse is very good of course. I had never heard of Billy Hawle. He is very good too. Their problems are very believable. I don't understand the negative reviews it got.
 
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I watched a movie called "Six minutes to midnight", which is a British period piece set in 1938 (? maybe 1939), starring Judi Dench and Eddie Izzard. It was written by Izzard as well. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I'd give it about a 6/10. The acting was very good, but the plot was a little formulaic and not overly surprising.
 
One to avoid:

The Beach House is a 2019 sci-fi horror thriller mystery which doesn’t have much sci-fi, horror, thrills or mystery. It doesn’t have much of anything really, although the performances and especially the direction are decent. Which is unfortunate that they have such a flimsy script to work from. This is one of the slowest moving film I have seen in a long time! The plot is basically about a young couple staying at the beach house which belongs to his parents. Friends of his father have already arrived, not knowing the son didn’t tell his Dad of his own plans to be at their beach house. Then gasses seep up from the bottom of the ocean, a fog envelops the area and people stumble around until everybody is dead. The end. No explanation of what the heck has happened here??

This movie has an 80% positive rating at rottentomatoes.com by the critics...but only 30% approval from moviegoers. I see now that this movie is both written and directed by Jeffrey A. Brown. This is his first script and first directing job. Maybe skip the writing next time and direct other people’s scripts instead. :lol:

Trailer for The Beach House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLa9mY4FUBM
 
The Mole Agent is a wonderful 2020 film about life in a senior’s home. The daughter of someone living at this home is concerned about her mother being mistreated. She hires a private investigator who hired an older gentleman to move into the home and work as a mole to find out what is really going on.

I decided to watch this movie because it had been nominated for an Academy Award, but I had forgotten for which category. So I watched it as a drama and only realized at the end that it was actually a documentary! :eek: I still swear that the 80 year old hired to be the mole is an incredible professional actor who worked wonders with his role. But this is not the case. Now knowing that everything I saw was about real people, I have to look at what I saw in an entirely different way. But what is interesting is that this movie worked for me as a scripted drama - AND it works as a documentary.

The Mole Agent was Oscar-nominated for best documentary and also made the shortlist (top 15 films) for Best International Feature (Foreign Language) Film.

Trailer for The Mole Agent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTD-B3wZORg
 
PeterG said:
The Mole Agent is a wonderful 2020 film about life in a senior’s home. The daughter of someone living at this home is concerned about her mother being mistreated. She hires a private investigator who hired an older gentleman to move into the home and work as a mole to find out what is really going on.

I decided to watch this movie because it had been nominated for an Academy Award, but I had forgotten for which category. So I watched it as a drama and only realized at the end that it was actually a documentary! :eek: I still swear that the 80 year old hired to be the mole is an incredible professional actor who worked wonders with his role. But this is not the case. Now knowing that everything I saw was about real people, I have to look at what I saw in an entirely different way. But what is interesting is that this movie worked for me as a scripted drama - AND it works as a documentary.

The Mole Agent was Oscar-nominated for best documentary and also made the shortlist (top 15 films) for Best International Feature (Foreign Language) Film.

Trailer for The Mole Agent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTD-B3wZORg
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Interesting comments. I watched the film last night after seeing this post, then went searching for articles because I was sure the man (Sergio Chamy) had to be a plant. Apparently he was not. The Guardian has a nice article on the filming. One thing I found it interesting from this article is that the female majority in this particular home is not the norm in Chile. Normally it's the men who are dumped in the homes while the women stay home and help with the children in the family. Another thing is that after they started filming, neither the director nor Chamy were interested in following the case on which they were supposed to be gathering evidence, and instead started focusing on the other residents. I'm glad I watched this, but it was a bit hard to watch at times. There are some sad stories.
 
Soul won two Oscars this year, best animated film and best original score. It was also nominated for best sound (it lost to Sound of Metal). I haven't seen the movies which were nominated in the categories which Soul won its two Oscars, which makes me think maybe 2020 didn't produce many good movies for these categories? The movie was fine, about a man who passes away in a freak accident and fights from heaven (or so other upward-located place) to get back to earth. Which he does, but realizes that taking someone else's spot on earth is probably a teensy bit hell-ish. :lol: The movie seemed geared to the eight to twelve year old range. It's fine. But I found it a bit bland and perhaps somewhat preachy. Not surprised it didn't end up on my To See list and I only watched it because I wanted to see more of the movies that got Oscar nods this year.

Trailer for Soul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBGOnxZWbjE
 
annie720 said:
I'm glad I watched this, but it was a bit hard to watch at times. There are some sad stories.
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I am wonder if I'm lucky that I was thinking that The Mole Agent was a work of fiction. I did wonder with the lady who kept asking for her mother. That seemed real (and kind of scary, as well as kind of sad). I think maybe at that point I thought it was perhaps a fictional drama filmed in a real old folk's home, so they intertwined real stories with their fictional work.

Your thought about Sergio Chamy being a plant...he was, wasn't he? Hired by the private detective to be the mole. Or did you mean you thought he was a professional actor planted in the old folk's home to move the storyline along?
 
PeterG said:
I am wonder if I'm lucky that I was thinking that The Mole Agent was a work of fiction. I did wonder with the lady who kept asking for her mother. That seemed real (and kind of scary, as well as kind of sad). I think maybe at that point I thought it was perhaps a fictional drama filmed in a real old folk's home, so they intertwined real stories with their fictional work.

Your thought about Sergio Chamy being a plant...he was, wasn't he? Hired by the private detective to be the mole. Or did you mean you thought he was a professional actor planted in the old folk's home to move the storyline along?
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The latter. I had been wondering if the mole job interview segments were scripted. That's the skeptic in me. :)
 
Integrity said:
I watched A Quiet Place Part II last week at a theater. It was my first time back since winter 2020. There were nearly 20 minutes of trailers, lot of catching up to do I suppose!

There were about 60 people in attendance, at the first showing of the day. It was a rainy Memorial Day, but I think it's a positive sign for our cinemas.

I enjoyed the movie, maybe as much as the first AQP. I would not recommend seeing Part II if you have not seen Part 1.
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Just saw A Quiet Place II tonight. In the middle of the film, I was thinking of what I'd say as I wrote this post. I was going to end each sentence with (kinda like the first one). But from that point on, nothing was a repeat of part one and I was quite entertained. I agree that people should see part one before seeing this, but seeing part one isn't as important as some other movies which make reference to the first film in that series which are really important (and will leave you wondering what's going on). But see part one not just because part two makes more sense, but because part one is really good!

There's a lot to enjoy about this movie, especially
the ending, which is both original and pleasing to watch, both thematically and how the scenes are filmed. Wonder when part three will come out. :D

Trailer for A Quiet Place II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iXeAwsGhV0
 
Just watched 'Minari' on pay-per-view. I very much enjoyed it - it was a gentle yet powerful film. I thought the Korean actress who won so many awards for playing the grandmother, totally deserved it. And for me it was such a treat seeing Stephen Yeun again - a beloved character in 'The Walking Dead' for seven seasons.

Looking forward to 'A Quiet Place 11', also. I didn't think anyone survived at the end of the first film.
spoiler

Another film I'm looking forward to is 'Land', with Robin Wright. I am a big fan of her.
 
Finally watched Judas and the Black Messiah. I had to watch it twice to understand it, with a Google of Black Panther party sandwichEd between the viewings. I knew practically nothing, beyond the name. Some things are still relevant today.

The movie is well made, but I had to use subtitles to understand it. Totally unfamiliar with the era and the culture. Daniel Kaluuya is very good in the Lead role of Fred Hampton, but he won the Supporting Actor Oscar. This is as unfair as it gets. I have complained many times about actors with lead roles being nominated for Supporting roles and they usually win because it is a strong role (an of course the acting is good).
 
With the west coast experiencing a record-breaking heat wave, I've been hiding in movie theatres.

After watching A Quiet Place II on Thursday, I went to see two movies on Friday. First up was The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. I didn't know why they chose that corny slogan for this movie's title, but once you see the movie, you'll think, "oh, okay..." Recently I looked up which films have been a part of this series, including spinoffs (is that the right word?) like Annabelle and The films in this series. I wanted to start playing WordCalm on my phone in the middle of this movie. The problem seemed to be the pacing. The director is Michael Chaves, who has about ten directing credits to his name. The only one of note is The Curse of La Llorona, which is also part of The Conjuring universe. And that was one of the other weaker titles in this series. (Hope this is his LAST Conjuring movie!) Another problem was the lighting. They really overdid the use of darkly lit scenes to build fear in the viewer. To such an eye-rolling level, that I couldn't help but think, "who can live or work somewhere that they can barely see in front of themselves??" So I'd recommend this one only if you're an uberfan of the series or an uberfan of the wondrously talented Vera Farmiga and/or the very handsome (and also talented) Patrick Wilson.

The second movie on Friday was the Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.

mpal2 said:
My friends and I needed a good laugh and it was also just good to get out of the house and back to a theater. Life is starting to feel normal again. We went to see The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. A few liked the first one better but most of us thought they outdid themselves in the sequel. Samuel L Jackson's laugh is instantaneously infectious and they packed every moment they could find with a joke. I bought the first movie and will buy the second. Both are great for a much needed comedy break.

Best spoiler line for the ladies:
They are about to drive down stairs in a car. Salma Hayak protests with "Not the stairs! I don't have my sports bra on."
:rofl:
Click to expand...

I also enjoyed this one. Ryan Reynolds is so perfect with his role. I wondered if much of his dialogue was stuff he ad-libbed on his own. Salma Hayek gloriously chews up some scenery with her character. There's one bit where a man laughs at her character's
age and basically says there is no way that some of her advanced age could be seen as attractive or desirable.
Well, there is NO WAY she is having any of that! :lol:
 
Saturday I went to stay with some friends in the hope that their home would be much cooler than mine. Kinda. But even though it was not significantly cooler, we got to suffer together rather than alone. :lol:

First up I watched the Friends reunion, which I thought was well put together.

The second thing we watched was a documentary filming of a live stage show called Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself. He was on the Stephen Colbert show talking about this movie a while back. Colbert actually saw a live performance and enjoyed it so much he ended up becoming an executive producer of this documentary. DelGaudio is many things, a writer-director-performer and magician and I feel like I should say other things here, but it's tough to find the words. This live filming of his show basically comes down to the age-old question, "Who am I?" (and who are WE?). The show is big and dramatic at times, but also slow and quiet for a lot of the other times. You have to be a bit patient with this one. And expect surprises and WOW moments, but don't expect to understand the meaning of the universe once this is over. I recommend it, but probably only to those who like the trailer:

www.youtube.com

Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself - Trailer (Official) • A Hulu Original

SUBSCRIBE TO HULU’S YOUTUBE CHANNELClick the link to subscribe to our channel for the latest shows & updates: http://www.youtube.com/hulu?sub_confiSTART YOUR...
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