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

[Rina RUS]

Have you seen The Old Man and the Sea by Alexander Petrov?

This is a paint-on-glass-animated film (20 minutes) based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. This film won many awards. They speak English in this film, so you don’t even need subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ih1IRIRxI

Wish you good weekend!

 

[Jay42]

I really enjoyed Black Widow though as someone who's seen most of the Marvel movies and has been a fan of Natasha pretty much since Iron Man 2 (which really is such a bad movie but Natasha is great in it) it was a lot to get around the knowledge that this movie should have come out sometime between 2013 and 2015 not in 2021 but it's still a lot of fun. Also the fact that we wouldn't have Florence Pugh as Yelena does sort of make up for it because she is great.

Black Widow stands on it's own really well though and it's a lot of fun. You'd never know that the director has never done action before.

@Yehudi Black Widow was originally supposed to be the kick off for Phase 4 of the MCU but the pandemic pushing everything back resulted in WandaVision kicking it off instead. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was also originally intended to go out before WandaVision but WandaVision was closer to being finished than TFATWS was.

 

[mrr50]

I think American Reunion was a sequel to the American Pie movies although i could be wrong. If you want something good with Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge, the Christopher Guest movies are very good. Best in Show is a particular favourite.

Fred Willard's character in Best in Show is classic. I wish Christopher Guest would do more movies but I believe he has stated that he is done with mockumentaries.

 

[PeterG]

Three titles today:

8/10 - Joel McHale: Live From Pyongyang. Actually it's live from San Jose, but I guess Pyongyang had a nicer ring to it. I think I read that this is his first live stand-up special. It's pretty good. And he is definitely nice to look at...

Trailer for Joel McHale: Live From Pyongyang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNxSM7HWKlQ

6/10 - Thunder Force (Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman). Maybe this deserves a 7, but there didn't seem to be as many laughs as there could have been. This movie is written and directed by McCarthy's husband Ben Falcone. They have worked on quite a few movies together this way, but I don't think McCarthy's best work is done when the script and direction are coming from Falcone.

Trailer for Thunder Force: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnx6-YLXFwg

2/10 - A Girl Like Her. A 2015 drama filmed as a documentary about (female) bullying in high school. The editing of the material shot is not put well together and many scenes go on too long. And one segment where we see the popular girl abuse her former friend (who is wearing a spycam) has over ten scenes of horrible abuse spewed at her victim. It's kind of horrible to watch. This over-doing things lost me to some extend as a viewer. The two young women playing the leads do very well with their roles, it felt very documentary-like especially when either of them is on screen. Perhaps a lot of their work was improvised?

Trailer for A Girl Like Her:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G8qLskQJbg

 

[Aussie Willy]

Today I saw a documentary about the band Sparks called "The Sparks Brothers".

Very fascinating documentary about the band and their history. I actually didn't know a lot about them except for a couple of songs and a friend of mine is a big fan. If you like music documentaries this one is really good.

 

[Rina RUS]

I like a movie which is called "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes".
It is a nice comedy. I think it doesn’t become too old and it’s possible to say, that it is one of those movies which all the family can watch.

I found the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO7-_fGqGTg

 

[clairecloutier]

We spent the last two nights watching In the Heights. We enjoyed it. It's the first musical that I've personally seen other than West Side Story to be set in the ethnic neighborhoods of NYC. (I'm sure there have been others, but I just haven't seen them.) As a former New Yorker, it felt pretty real, and I liked seeing that world onscreen. And it was interesting how they played with the idea of dreams and can you realize them in an urban immigrant neighborhood in America. Good characters, although as is often the case in a musical, slightly underdeveloped.

So after seeing this and Hamilton, I like the ideas and concepts and verbal badinage of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals. The music itself, though, is to me the least memorable aspect. His rapping-to-light-melody style is distinctive, but to me, it's seldom that he really gets a truly catchy, memorable, strong melodic line going. The lyrics are interesting, but the music itself could be a lot better. The strongest song in this movie, to me, was Abuela's solo toward the end. That had a pretty good melody and the best actual singing of the movie. Also I'm not sure about the choice to use mostly rap-style rhythms for this movie, rather than more Latin rhythms. (I did enjoy the Latin dance number at the nightclub toward the end.)

But, such criticisms aside, we did enjoy the movie quite a bit.

 

[Jay42]

I like a movie which is called "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes".
It is a nice comedy. I think it doesn’t become too old and it’s possible to say, that it is one of those movies which all the family can watch.

I found the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO7-_fGqGTg

I've definitely seen that movie a lot. It's a lot of fun. There's another movie in the same vein called Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies. It has some of the same cast but not all of them. It's not quite as much fun but it's still quite enjoyable.

 

[Yehudi]

Strictly Ballroom is on Crackle and the Ken Railings marching into the studio in all his glory scene is still a classic after all these years.

"Pam Shortt's broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!" - Strictly Ballroom

Liz: What do I want? I'll tell you what I want! I want Ken Railings to walk in here right now, and say 'Pam Shortt's broken both her legs, and I wanna dance ...

youtu.be

 

[Rina RUS]

I've definitely seen that movie a lot. It's a lot of fun. There's another movie in the same vein called Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies. It has some of the same cast but not all of them. It's not quite as much fun but it's still quite enjoyable.

If I had to name some other movies of such a kind, I’d name The Great Race (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Race) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World).
As for “Those Magnificent Men…”, it seems to me it has more interesting humour. I mean that humour which is not just about throwing pies at each other. Yet The Great Race and It's a Mad World are not bad too.
To say the truth, I watched all these movies in Russian translations. I also can watch movies in English with English subtitles, but as for watching without any subtitles… I had to give up soon, when I tried to do it. So I’m not sure that I can watch Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies.

 

[annie720]

Strictly Ballroom is on Crackle and the Ken Railings marching into the studio in all his glory scene is still a classic after all these years.

"Pam Shortt's broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!" - Strictly Ballroom

Liz: What do I want? I'll tell you what I want! I want Ken Railings to walk in here right now, and say 'Pam Shortt's broken both her legs, and I wanna dance ...

youtu.be

That movie is a GEM!

Watched No Sudden Move on HBO Max last night and liked it a lot. Brendan Fraser's look is an eye opener and the uncredited appearance by a major actor isn't just a little cameo.

 

[vgerdes]

I really enjoyed Black Widow though as someone who's seen most of the Marvel movies and has been a fan of Natasha pretty much since Iron Man 2 (which really is such a bad movie but Natasha is great in it) it was a lot to get around the knowledge that this movie should have come out sometime between 2013 and 2015 not in 2021 but it's still a lot of fun. Also the fact that we wouldn't have Florence Pugh as Yelena does sort of make up for it because she is great.

Black Widow stands on it's own really well though and it's a lot of fun. You'd never know that the director has never done action before.

@Yehudi Black Widow was originally supposed to be the kick off for Phase 4 of the MCU but the ********* pushing everything back resulted in WandaVision kicking it off instead. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was also originally intended to go out before WandaVision but WandaVision was closer to being finished than TFATWS was.

I enjoyed Black Widow as well, but like you I felt it was badly out of context. It should have happened before Endgame at least, if not before Infinity War. It would have made that post-credits scene so much more impactful. When we already know

Spoiler

why Hawkeye survived, and Natasha didn't,

it just ruins that moment, IMO. It left me feeling pretty meh about the ending, though I liked the movie overall.

 

[PeterG]

Some short reviews from my friends who are on vacation, but still love to keep up to date with the new movies that are out:

We went to see the only two movies playing in English this week. The Forever Purge - which was really uncomfortable to watch here in Mexico. It’s all about the horrific racism in the states against Mexicans. I truly was embarrassed to be in the audience with locals.
The other was F9. Which really was a total waste of time and offensive.

We saw Black Widow yesterday. Both really enjoyed it. Again. The only movie in English this week so now we have to hope something else will be released in English here next week.

 

[Buzz]

Tickets for Friday are still not on sale yet but I will keep trying. Black Widow’s official numbers are really good all things considered.


https://tinyurl.com/km3w3j8t

 

[Aussie Willy]

If I had to name some other movies of such a kind, I’d name The Great Race (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Race) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World).
As for “Those Magnificent Men…”, it seems to me it has more interesting humour. I mean that humour which is not just about throwing pies at each other. Yet The Great Race and It's a Mad World are not bad too.
To say the truth, I watched all these movies in Russian translations. I also can watch movies in English with English subtitles, but as for watching without any subtitles… I had to give up soon, when I tried to do it. So I’m not sure that I can watch Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies.

I loved all these movies types of movies as a kid. The Great Race is one of my favourites. The cast is fabulous. Particularly Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate and the Prince. Such beautiful comic timing.

 

[MacMadame]

We watched Black Widow last night and I really enjoyed it. Was it the best Marvel movie? No. But it was fun and the action scenes were top-notch. I also enjoyed learning more about Natasha's back story and the exploration of the theme of what makes a family.

The cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit was kind of cringy though. Watch: someone will skate to it this Fall.

 

[Jay42]

The cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit was kind of cringy though. Watch: someone will skate to it this Fall.

Agreed on both counts. As long as they do it in a Black Widowesque costume then at least it'll be fun.

 

[PeterG]

Two viewings today:

7/10 - Stowaway (Amazon Prime in Canada, Netflix elsewhere) - A 2021 sci-fi drama starring Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Dae Kim. The story is basically about a three person mission to Mars where a fourth person is found to be on board. On the plus side, there are ZERO straight male characters. So at no point does TESTOSTERONE MAN bellow out to every other character what he must do to save the day. It's almost the opposite, with numerous times Dae Kim's character listens to Kendrick's information, accepts it and uses it to do his job better. You know this is a sci-fi flick when women's ideas are graciously accepted without question. On the negative side, this movie flows slowly often. I ended up playing Bejeweled on my phone during the 30 minute (anti-) climactic "action" scene toward the end.

Trailer for Stowaway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVBxIry7GDc

6/10 - Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words - A live version of his music CD. It's musical comedy and he does a few bits where there is no music, just stand-up. Burnham is a very smart guy and it's kind of like he knows it. So a bit on the pretentious side. Plus his delivery is VERY speedy, so it's easy to miss a lot of his clever, wordy presentation of his bits/songs. Watch it with the subtitles on and be surprised by how much you would have missed otherwise. I would have preferred it if he had slowed down some and took a breath every now and then (and let the audience relax as well).

No trailer for this show, but you can listen to the album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HebWl_gcE8A&list=OLAK5uy_mbcJqF0-V2AWmTmFmu5jPNog6YH9axLiQ

 

[Cachoo]

I enjoyed "Skater Girl" on Netflix. In a lot of ways it is a typical teen story about a person finding joy in sport. But if you are from a poor family and a girl in India the choices in life are very stark indeed. Now I find myself looking forward to Olympic skateboarding. Go Team India!

 

[annie720]

Watched The Laundromat with Meryl Street on netflix. I liked it, but there were so many parts to the story all over the place that I had a hard time following.

 

[Aussie Willy]

6/10 - Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words - A live version of his music CD. It's musical comedy and he does a few bits where there is no music, just stand-up. Burnham is a very smart guy and it's kind of like he knows it. So a bit on the pretentious side. Plus his delivery is VERY speedy, so it's easy to miss a lot of his clever, wordy presentation of his bits/songs. Watch it with the subtitles on and be surprised by how much you would have missed otherwise. I would have preferred it if he had slowed down some and took a breath every now and then (and let the audience relax as well).

No trailer for this show, but you can listen to the album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HebWl_gcE8A&list=OLAK5uy_mbcJqF0-V2AWmTmFmu5jPNog6YH9axLiQ

Just a matter of interest, I had a clip of a female musical comedian come through on my TikTok (she was very funny singing a song about police horses). People were making comments that she was just taking off Bo Burnham (seriously). Just demonstrates that people really know sh*t about comedy if they think he is the first comedian who does a musical act.

 

[PeterG]

Just a matter of interest, I had a clip of a female musical comedian come through on my TikTok (she was very funny singing a song about police horses). People were making comments that she was just taking off Bo Burnham (seriously). Just demonstrates that people really know sh*t about comedy if they think he is the first comedian who does a musical act.

Could it be that her material and/or performance style was overly similar to what Burnham also does?

Funny with musical comedy in a stand-up act, I can't help but think, "Oh no...." Its always the least favourite part of a stand-up's act for me.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Could it be that her material and/or performance style was overly similar to what Burnham also does?

Funny with musical comedy in a stand-up act, I can't help but think, "Oh no...." Its always the least favourite part of a stand-up's act for me.

She was like the hundreds of performers over the years that sing a funny song while playing the piano. But people were acting like Bo Burnham was the first one ever to do that kind of the thing. You just have to look at Victor Borge, Tom Lehrer, Tim Minchin, Sammy J (Australian performer), Flo & Joan, David O'Doherty, etc etc

 

[Buzz]

Got tickets for Black Widow for Friday!!!

 

[clairecloutier]

We saw Greenland on Netflix. It's about a family trying to escape to a gov't bunker in Greenland to survive comet fragments impacting Earth. The movie isn't terribly original, but I thought it was pretty well done. The pacing, production, and acting are fairly good. The first half was quite gripping. The second half lost a bit of intensity for me. (Could've been partly because we watched it over 2 nights.) I particularly liked Morena Baccarin as the mom in the family. I really enjoy her as an actress, I think she's quite good. (Although I think about V every time I see her in something.)

 

[PeterG]

Forgot to post last night

10/10 = Border (2018 Swedish fantasy film). Ever go through a movie-watching streak and think, "I've seen this all before..."? Well, you haven't! Border is one of the most original films I have seen it a long time, maybe even ever. It's a wonderfully made work, with incredible performances from the two leads. The movie is about Tina, a woman who works as a customs agent. She has the ability through her sense of smell not only to detect illegal drugs or alcohol carried by someone, but to also sense shame and fear. One day someone comes through customs whose appearance is different, in a way similar to her own. The two form a bond and as time passes, she realizes their connection is quite specific.

As I said before, this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was nominated for an Oscar for makeup and hair, won a Cannes award (the Un Certain Regard award) and swept the Swedish film awards (including best film, best actress and best supporting actor).

Trailer for Border: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2rsXR4cjrw

 

[PeterG]

I re-watched Saw as I have Saw III on my list of movies to see and wanted to watch the first two to remind myself of what was happening in the series. I think it's a strong film, but wasn't so strong that upon a second viewing I had my eyes glues to the screen at all times. The cast is good, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson and Ken Leung. And the story is strong, it's more like an Agatha Christie stage play where you have to figure out how all the pieces fit together. The gruesome scenes are a tiny fraction of what we see on screen. Saw is directed by James Wan, who went out to direct (and write some of) the movies in both The Conjuring and Insidious series. Wan also directed the first Aquaman (and it's upcoming sequel).

Trailer for Saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-1QgOMQ-ls

 

[Jay42]

So I watched Gunpowder Milkshake on Netflix and I really enjoyed it. It's not like an amazingly good movie, but it's a fun way to spend a couple of hours and watch a bunch of badass women be badass.
It works largely because of the cast, there's some weird line deliveries at the beginning but it settles down after the first 15 minutes
It does on occasion feel like it wants to be a western without actually using western tropes which is a little strange and I kind of wish they had just committed to the western tropes or just stopped using mariachi music.
Not say that I think mariachi music belongs in westerns but to hear mariachi music in a movie where there's no real western esque stuff happening outside of the gunfights was very weird.
But all in all it was a fun time. I do of course want more Karen Gillan in not Marvel action movies because it's fun.
It is incredibly violent so don't watch it if you're not fine with very violent movies.

 

[watchthis!!]

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is a Clive Owen crime drama from 2003 with Owen as a one-man army trying to find out how his brother was murdered. It’s not bad for this kind of movie. The cast is definitely up for the challenge, also appearing in the movie are Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Malcolm McDowell. If you like action dramas with a talented cast, give this one a shot.

 

[PeterG]

Three titles today:

7/10 - Jimmy Carr: Jimmy Carr: The Best of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits (Netflix) - I would have rated this higher, but as it's a performance of his best comedy bits from the past, I've seen most of this material done before. Part of Carr's act is about being politically incorrect, so if you're sensitive about...well, pretty much anything - you might want to skip this! But he's very smart and very funny. One bit I liked was about how he tried to write short jokes and then proceeded to tell a four-word joke, then a three-word joke and finished with a joke that was only two words in length.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5GRHlhBSDY

6/10 - Tales Of Manhattan - A 1942 drama of five stories connected around a men's formal tailcoat and each new owner. Great cast in this one: Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson, Ethel Waters, Paul Robeson, George Sanders and Cesar Romero. I might have rated this one higher as well, but I watched it under pressure...a DVD copy borrowed from the library that I had to watch because I couldn't renew it. So I was a little impatient with it to grab my interest completely. And it does start off well with Boyer and Hayworth's story. I admit I let my attention wander for the Ginger Rogers/Henry Fonda story, but it pulled me in eventually (although I think I needed to know the start of the story clearly to appreciate this section). The third scene with Charles Laughton lagged (although he is great in it) and things pick up with the fourth scene thanks to the top-notch acting of Edward G. Robinson. Then the movie ends with a thud. Robeson and Waters play a poor black couple who come into a large amount of cash and are unsure how to use it. But this is a 1942 film and while it's great that a section of this movie is dedicated to a storyline around African-Americans, the stereotypical portrayals are somewhat cringey.

No trailer, but the whole movie is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfk2RD1jWx0

2/10 - The Midnight Sky (Netflix) - This is a very slow-moving 2020 sci-fi drama that is full of disaster/space movie cliche's. I am willing to let things slide with problems in a movie, but things went so wrong by the second half that I was reminded of the threads in the old imdb.com message boards that started with, "1,001 Things Wrong With...(film title). Posters would add five to ten things wrong or problematic with the movie to see how high a number of problems they could come up with. I could have added at least ten myself. Just horrible movie cliche's like

Spoiler

professional astronauts who freak out when something stressful happens...or who choose a suicide mission that benefits no one

. Or

Spoiler

the little girl who gets stuck with the grumpy old man...IS ACTUALLY HIS DAUGHTER!!!

. UGH! Not sure why the likes of Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler and Demian Bichir chose to be in this. A big paycheque? A chance to have the star & director (George Clooney) as a new contact for future projects?

Trailer for The Midnight Sky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUUqr3AFKs