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

[Cachoo]

I need to catch up with this thread (the championships throw everything off for me) Just popped in to say I just watched "The Duff." Cute and forgettable but not horrible.

 

[Jay42]

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.

And Risen with Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton which came out at the end of February. There was quite a few Christian movies that came out fairly close together last summer/fall but there has definitely been more of them out recently than what we've seen in previous years.

 

[Xela M]

I watched "Next Stop Greenwich Village" the other day. I had no expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. It's a bit of an avangard gem about a bunch of young people in the 1950's and their attempts to break out of convention. Young Christopher Walken (again!) is gorgeous in this film. His speech about having an affair with his sister is awesome Here's a clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WnKWBYeH1o (the speech is towards the 1:20 mark)

Shelley Winters is also great as the main character's domineering Jewish mother.

 

[Cachoo]

I watched "Next Stop Greenwich Village" the other day. I had no expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. It's a bit of an avangard gem about a bunch of young people in the 1950's and their attempts to break out of convention. Young Christopher Walken (again!) is gorgeous in this film. His speech about having an affair with his sister is awesome Here's a clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WnKWBYeH1o (the speech is towards the 1:20 mark)

Shelley Winters is also great as the main character's domineering Jewish mother.

In the scene with the "painter" I was surprised to see him standing next to Lois Smith. She is elderly now and a great character actress. Though she was a young woman in the film I recognized her before I recognized anyone else except for Walken. That looks like an interesting film Xela.

Once in awhile I press the wrong button on the remote and buy a movie I had no intention of watching. It happened today and I actually enjoyed this little film called "Big Stone Gap." It stars Ashely Judd, Patrick Wilson, Whoopie Goldberg, Jenna Elfman, Anthony LaPaglia, Jane Krakowski and other recognized actors. I was pleasantly surprised. It is about a woman who hits her 40th birthday in 1978 in this Virginia mining town and feels a bit trapped in her life. She refers to herself as an "old maid." Anyway it is the "slice of life" film that is not heavy on action and not laugh out loud funny but not depressing either. Sweet and savory I guess. I liked it.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I read the book Big Stone Gap & really enjoyed it. There are also two more books but I haven't read them yet. I tried to see the movie when it came out but it played here for maybe two weeks & then it was gone.

 

[Cachoo]

Looking for something a little different and saw this preview of a musical from England. I have never heard of it until today.
https://youtu.be/74WEwUnmH-Y It is called Sunshine on Leith.

 

[PeterG]

Not a great week for new releases. The three I've highlighted are only going on my To See list because of McCarthy, Gyllenhaal and because Hush and The Invitation have interesting premises...I'm curious what they do with these movies.

Most of the other trailers are quite awful, and I'm talking about movies which star the likes of Anna Kendrick, Christopher Walken, Felicity Huffman, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Eisenberg, Oliver Platt, Tim Roth, Amy Ryan, James Franco and William H. Macy. How can so many talented people be in movies this week that look so awful??

Apr. 8th - The Boss - Comedy with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Tyler Labine, Kristen Schaal, Margo Martindale and Kathy Bates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yakeigyf0vc

Apr. 8th – Demolition - Drama with Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UnSXelOJo0

April 8th - Hardcore Henry – Sci-Fi with Sharlto Copley and Tim Roth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96EChBYVFhU

April. 8th - Hush (Netflix) – Horror. From imdb.com: “A deaf woman is stalked by a psychotic killer in her secluded home.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_P8WCbhC6s

April 8th - High Strung (Limited) – Musical romance with new cast and Jane Seymour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JctCSR1hSsw

April 5th - Stealing Cars (Limited) – Drama with William H. Macy, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman and Mike Epps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx0SS3dahFQ

April 8th - The Invitation (Limited) - Logan Marshall-Green [Prometheus] and Tammy Blanchard [Into The Woods]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-mp77SZ_0M

April 8th - Memoria (Limited) – Drama with Thomas Mann [Me, Early and The Dying Girl] and James Franco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hsKninS1bM

April 8th - Louder Than Bombs (Limited) – Drama with Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, Amy Ryan and David Strathairn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I1l_J9QuVk

April 8th - Mr. Right (Limited) – Action comedy romance with Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell and Tim Roth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TatqilQ8rI

April 8th - One More Time (aka When I Live My Life Over Again) (Limited) – Musical comedy drama with Christopher Walken, Amber Heard and Oliver Platt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-mREKdK8U

April 8th - Smothered (Limited) – Horror comedy. From imdb.com: “Five horror icons ditch an unprofitable autograph signing convention to earn some extra cash haunting an RV park, but find themselves being haunted instead.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCzSepNhOj8

April 8th - A War (Krigen) – Dutch war drama. From imdb.com: “Claus M. Pedersen and his men are stationed in an Afghan province. Meanwhile back in Denmark Claus' wife Maria is trying to hold everyday life together…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9nUIFYc5II

April 8th - It's So Easy and Other Lies – Musical documentary about Guns N Roses bass player, Duff McKagan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtBOtUha9Sc

 

[Cachoo]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer: http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/04/07/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-official-first-trailer



Is is me or did I see Diego Luna in one scene?

 

[Xela M]

Watched "The Virgin Suicides" yesterday after hearing a lot of good things about it and all I can say is... WTF

That film is terrible from start to finish. It has no point or purpose and is about as far removed from reality as Star Wars. A complete waste of time.

 

[gk_891]

Watched "The Virgin Suicides" yesterday after hearing a lot of good things about it and all I can say is... WTF

That film is terrible from start to finish. It has no point or purpose and is about as far removed from reality as Star Wars. A complete waste of time.

I also thought it was a complete waste of time. I hated it!

 

[PeterG]

So, two movies that I watched (somewhat...) a while back that I never posted about are Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) and The Nun's Story (1959, Audrey Hepburn). Going Clear I watched first, and I saw the whole thing even though it was obviously a hatchet job. Not that Scientology doesn't deserve to have taken to it, but the subject matter was dealt with so heavy-handed! They show footage of Tom Cruise doing one of his over-the-top laughs and it's shown/edited in a way to make him look awful. Later in the movie, actor Jason Beghe is shown laughing in a similar way, but it's presented/edited in a way that we cut him some slack that we don't (can't?) for Cruise (because of the edit). Going Clear tells the story of how many adults got into this new "religion" (my quotes of the movies? not sure...) but never takes them to task for going into this as adults and not asking them to take responsibility for their error. Instead, the movie only points fingers at the "church" (sorry, I'm being maybe as bad as the filmmakers as I can't refer to Scientology as a church without putting that word in quotation marks)! I just thought most participants in the movie end up coming off as whiners who take no responsibility for their actions. Now, if they had been lured into the church as children, or teenagers, or runaways...then I'd be breathing fire. But people come off as pathetic...although not as pathetic as Scientology/those running Scientology.

So soon after finishing Going Clear, I started to watch The Nun's Story. The disc wouldn't work in my DVD player, so I watched it on an old portable DVD player which doesn't have a double-speed playback motion. Wow...what a slow moving film! I watched about an hour of it and then changed over to the computer (even though I hate watching movies on my computer) so that I could do some file-management work on my computer while the movie played. Once I got to the half-way point of the movie, I gave up. SO BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus the things that were happening/being done to this new Nun were starting to freak me out. I was surprised by how many similarities there were between Catholicism and Scientology. The control that those in power force upon the people they have brought into their religion. The denial of one's identity and cutting out friends and family members from their lives. In The Nun's Story, there's a scene where Hepburn is scolded for referring to her (birth) father as her father. She is supposed to have already denied that connection as she's accepted God as her new father. Her characters is continually punished for having her own thoughts and personality traits, being denied all the things she loves and cares for the most. (And most of those things are about giving to and helping others.) She is admonished for "singularizing one's self". Then there are other things, such as being warned about a single male doctor (who is in Africa to help heal the sick) that she should not "believe your habit will protect you". (Because non-Catholics males, even doctors helping the dying, will jump your bones at the earliest convenience.) There's other examples of things said or done that freaked me out, but I'll stop there. It's extremely rare for me to not finish a movie I started. Even if I end up watching it at double, or even triple time. But this one I just couldn't make it through.

 

[Cachoo]

So, two movies that I watched (somewhat...) a while back that I never posted about are Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) and The Nun's Story (1959, Audrey Hepburn). Going Clear I watched first, and I saw the whole thing even though it was obviously a hatchet job. Not that Scientology doesn't deserve to have taken to it, but the subject matter was dealt with so heavy-handed! They show footage of Tom Cruise doing one of his over-the-top laughs and it's shown/edited in a way to make him look awful. Later in the movie, actor Jason Beghe is shown laughing in a similar way, but it's presented/edited in a way that we cut him some slack that we don't (can't?) for Cruise (because of the edit). Going Clear tells the story of how many adults got into this new "religion" (my quotes of the movies? not sure...) but never takes them to task for going into this as adults and not asking them to take responsibility for their error. Instead, the movie only points fingers at the "church" (sorry, I'm being maybe as bad as the filmmakers as I can't refer to Scientology as a church without putting that word in quotation marks)! I just thought most participants in the movie end up coming off as whiners who take no responsibility for their actions. Now, if they had been lured into the church as children, or teenagers, or runaways...then I'd be breathing fire. But people come off as pathetic...although not as pathetic as Scientology/those running Scientology.

So soon after finishing Going Clear, I started to watch The Nun's Story. The disc wouldn't work in my DVD player, so I watched it on an old portable DVD player which doesn't have a double-speed playback motion. Wow...what a slow moving film! I watched about an hour of it and then changed over to the computer (even though I hate watching movies on my computer) so that I could do some file-management work on my computer while the movie played. Once I got to the half-way point of the movie, I gave up. SO BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus the things that were happening/being done to this new Nun were starting to freak me out. I was surprised by how many similarities there were between Catholicism and Scientology. The control that those in power force upon the people they have brought into their religion. The denial of one's identity and cutting out friends and family members from their lives. In The Nun's Story, there's a scene where Hepburn is scolded for referring to her (birth) father as her father. She is supposed to have already denied that connection as she's accepted God as her new father. Her characters is continually punished for having her own thoughts and personality traits, being denied all the things she loves and cares for the most. (And most of those things are about giving to and helping others.) She is admonished for "singularizing one's self". Then there are other things, such as being warned about a single male doctor (who is in Africa to help heal the sick) that she should not "believe your habit will protect you". (Because non-Catholics males, even doctors helping the dying, will jump your bones at the earliest convenience.) There's other examples of things said or done that freaked me out, but I'll stop there. It's extremely rare for me to not finish a movie I started. Even if I end up watching it at double, or even triple time. But this one I just couldn't make it through.

The nuns I know are active with their families. One goes back and forth to Mexico to work with orphans.
The other teaches in the states. I would say that film is not representative of their lives or even their beliefs and thoughts. My Mom became a Catholic after a brutal childhood. She worked in a Catholic hospital and worked in the kitchen for German nuns. They were no nonense but also kind. I look at films like that and Black Narcissus and wonder if the guys making the film are intrigued by the idea of an attractive woman becoming a nun and the questions they have regarding sexual feeling in her life. I also think there must be orders out there who try to squelch the individual and her history. But I've never run into any of them. My college roomate's aunt is a cloistered nun. She has taken a vow of silence and never leaves their order. But she is allowed visiters and she is allowed to talk to her visiters so her siblings, nieces and nephews find time to see her. They say she is happy and that she "glows." I guess that means some sort of inner joy she receives from her contemplative life. I would go right up the wall. But I'm not her.

 

[PeterG]

My Aunt was a nun in the Catholic church for about 50 years. We got to see her regularly and I never picked up on anything that The Nun's Story presented to us. But that movie came out before I was born, and it was around the time my Aunt probably went into the church. I think The Nun's Story starts in England, whereas my Aunt was only in a number of North American cities. And I'm sure her experiences changed fairly dramatically over the decades. Anyway, my comments were (mainly?) about that one movie, rather than the entire Catholic church. But it was certainly a glum story! Not sure which was a worse story, The Nun's Story or The Magdalene Sisters. Which is one of those movies that you would say, "it's a great movie" and then if asked if you would like to see it again, you'd yell, "NO"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cachoo]

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

Disney's The BFG

Oh now this looks delicious. And I like Roald Dahl too.

 

[Jay42]

So soon after finishing Going Clear, I started to watch The Nun's Story. The disc wouldn't work in my DVD player, so I watched it on an old portable DVD player which doesn't have a double-speed playback motion. Wow...what a slow moving film! I watched about an hour of it and then changed over to the computer (even though I hate watching movies on my computer) so that I could do some file-management work on my computer while the movie played. Once I got to the half-way point of the movie, I gave up. SO BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus the things that were happening/being done to this new Nun were starting to freak me out. I was surprised by how many similarities there were between Catholicism and Scientology. The control that those in power force upon the people they have brought into their religion. The denial of one's identity and cutting out friends and family members from their lives. In The Nun's Story, there's a scene where Hepburn is scolded for referring to her (birth) father as her father. She is supposed to have already denied that connection as she's accepted God as her new father. Her characters is continually punished for having her own thoughts and personality traits, being denied all the things she loves and cares for the most. (And most of those things are about giving to and helping others.) She is admonished for "singularizing one's self". Then there are other things, such as being warned about a single male doctor (who is in Africa to help heal the sick) that she should not "believe your habit will protect you". (Because non-Catholics males, even doctors helping the dying, will jump your bones at the earliest convenience.) There's other examples of things said or done that freaked me out, but I'll stop there. It's extremely rare for me to not finish a movie I started. Even if I end up watching it at double, or even triple time. But this one I just couldn't make it through.

I'm going to spoiler my comments just in case anyone else might want to see the movie unspoiled in the future.

Spoiler

Sister Luke was actually a real person name Marie Louise Habets, her and Audrey Hepburn became quite close while making the movie and she helped nurse Audrey Hepburn back to health after she broke her back and miscarried while filming Unforgiven.

At the end of the movie Sister Luke does leave the convent, her father dies during WW2 and she hated the Germans so much as a result that she became involved in the Resistance and ultimately applied to the Holy See to be released from her vows which they did ultimately allow.

The Nuns Story does have one of my favourite ending shots for a movie though. The last 5 minutes of it are so well shot and well acted. The last shot where she's leaving the convent (or hospital, it's been a while since I've seen the movie so I don't quite remember) is just gorgeous.

I don't really have a lot of base knowledge for Catholicism or how things work for nuns at this point. I do know it seemed odd to me that they encouraged disconnecting from the family so thoroughly because from what I had gathered from other movies and some books I'd read that isn't something that normally happens. I kind of just figured it was either something they did at the time, or it was a more extreme section of the Catholic church that did that. I've never done any research though.

I will also fully admit that I watched The Nuns Story as a massive Audrey Hepburn fan and so I probably enjoyed it more because she was in it. I've watched Paris When it Sizzles several times and no one can call that a good movie. A ridiculous and in my opinion enjoyable movie, because it's so ridiculous, but not a good movie by any stretch. So I will definitely watch Audrey Hepburn in almost anything.

I've been slacking on my movie watching lately, between Worlds last week, my need to rewatch Orphan Black before next week (which I'm failing at rather epicly) and getting caught up on Supergirl have all proved to be very distracting from my movie watching. Work has been nuts so it's easier to do TV shows instead of movies. Once things settle down next week or the week after I'll probably go through my more recent movie purchases. Brooklyn came out so I will finally watch that, I haven't been able to get the guts to watch Room yet, I know I'm going to cry my way through it so I need to be ready.

 

[Buzz]

Finally got my tickets for Captain America: Civil War! Got mine as soon as I they went on sale locally, but what do you know, several of the best seats were already taken!

 

[watchthis!!]

In one of the freebie daily newspapers recently was an article about Jake Gylenhaal, talking about his new movie Demolition. They also listed his five best movies. Which made me think about the discussion we had about people overdue for an Oscar win (or somebody worthy of winning one at some point). The five best Jake G. movies they chose:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Nightcrawler
3. Zodiac
4. Enemy
5. End of Watch

What do you think? Agree with these as his top five? Or maybe move them around into a different order?

Speaking of Jake, on the radio this morning they mentioned that when he worked with Jennifer Aniston in 2002 on the movie "Good Girl" that he had a major crush on her. He would have been about 21, and Aniston 33. Found this article online about it:

Jake Gyllenhaal's big crush on Jennifer Aniston
http://www.northbaynipissing.com/whatson-story/6443540-jake-gyllenhaal-s-big-crush-on-jennifer-aniston/

 

[olympic]

I finally watched 'Room'. WOW. Brie Larson really pulled a Charlize Theron -> Taking on a serious role and just blowing everyone away w/ her performance. The young boy steals the show, though. I also liked Joan Allen and Bill Macy as supporting characters in the film.

What made the movie great was it avoided the putting the abduction front and center and devolving into something formulaic. It made that only part of a larger story about a mother and her child, and the child's complete lack of knowledge of the world. However, the story was still made to be suspenseful at times.

 

[agalisgv]

The Nun's Story is one of my all-time favorite movies . The movie is considered a faithful adaptation of the novel on which it is based. Remember that the story depicts pre-Vatican II religious life, and the order depicted is enclosed or cloistered. It's a pretty fair rendition of formation into cloistered life.

Can't believe some didn't like it

 

[manhn]

Just watched the MN most recent adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. Pretty good. But I adore that score. Someone needs to skate to this!

So, yeah, apparently a TON of skaters saw this movie long before I did.

 

[Johnny_Fever]

Oh now this looks delicious. And I like Roald Dahl too.

I had a teacher who used to read Dahl to us out loud. So I guess that was just the teaser trailer, but I posted the 'real' one below. The giant looks a lot like Mark Rylance.

Disney's The BFG - Official Trailer

 

[smurfy]

I saw 'Eye in the sky' - really thought it was well done. In real time of a surveillance/possible drone attack and the different sides and all the work and people involved. Mirren, of course was fab, but I found it endearing to see Alan Rickman - he was great.
The whole cast was good. The movie, I think, shows this new way of war and the debate/discussion as things happen real time.
I had seen 'A War' - and both movies dramatize war in a way that makes one think.

 

[Buzz]

The first reactions to Captain America: Civil War is in and here is a sample...
http://io9.gizmodo.com/marvel-just-screened-captain-america-civil-war-and-th-1770034257

 

[orbitz]

^ Looks like Marvel's winning streak is continuing.

 

[lmarie086]

I can't wait for Captain America: Civil War! The trailers look amazing and as you mentioned, all the early buzz I'm seeing looks really positive. I'm biased - the Captain America movies are probably my favorites of all the Marvel movies - so I'm likely to love this movie no matter what lol.

Also really intrigued by Rogue One! I'm looking forward to getting another trailer for it, but I think it looks promising.

 

[Artemis@BC]

What made the movie great was it avoided the putting the abduction front and center and devolving into something formulaic. It made that only part of a larger story about a mother and her child, and the child's complete lack of knowledge of the world. However, the story was still made to be suspenseful at times.

Which is also what made the book so compelling.

When I first heard they were making the movie, I was worried that they'd make the movie more sensationalistic -- until I saw that Donoghue herself was writing the screenplay.

 

[olympic]

By the way, does anyone watch 'Moulin Rouge' (2001) now and only think of Ashley?

 

[DAngel]

I finally watched "Batman v Superman" and "Zootopia" last week...

I wished BvS is more focused and didn't try to cram everything they possibly can into the movie. I enjoyed some parts of it, but the first half of the movie felt a lot like a series of expositions. Personally, I don't really like Affleck's Batman or the costume - it looks way too bulky. I don't know the superman lore very well and this movie makes me wonder if Superman is rather low in intelligence? Is there a reason why he seems to be so in-tune with what's happening with Lois, but not his mother - other than love magic? Overall, I find this movie to be rather mediocre.

On the other hand, I love Zootopia! Judy and Nick are so wonderful together. I really love how they interact with each other. For those who have watched this, what do you think about the scene with Finnick wanting to be an elephant when he grows up? I feel like this scene is making fun of the whole "you can be anything when you grow up" idea, but yet that's one of the central messages the movie wants to convey... It reminds me of children who says they want to be a truck or rocket when they grow up I'm glad it's doing so well, I look forward to seeing more of Zootopia

 

[BigB08822]

Watched The Hateful Eight last night. I don't really know what to think. If you like Tarantino then you will like this film, if not then I doubt this one will be any different for you than his other films. The dialogue is superb and carries the film. I absolutely loved Kill Bill but have never really taken to his others so this wasn't great for me. It is also long at 3 hours and 7 minutes but that is also normal for his films.

 

[Johnny_Fever]

I've never been much of a Harry Potter fan, but this looks interesting:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them