Let's Talk Movies #33: Star Wars: Jabba Rising...Captain America Trumps China...and MORE!

[gk_891]

If you guys were filmmakers, which existing films would you think would best match your style? Feel free to give multiple films and even tonally different films as I'm sure people here would love to shoot different sorts of films.

I'd have to go with:

Edward Yang's Yi Yi (my favorite film of all time)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Millennium Mambo
Fellini's Nights of Cabiria
Sofia Coppolla's Lost in Translation
Jane Campion's The Piano and Bright Star
Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata
and I know I may get flack for this below choice but...
Woody Allen's Another Woman/and aspects of Hannah and Her Sisters, especially the Dianne Wiest scenes.

If I were a filmmaker, I would try to do as many different styles as possible. My list would be:

Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another
Hector Babenco's Pixote Law of the Weakest
Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata and Shame
Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern
Volker Schlondorff's The Tin Drum
Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (even though I'm not a fan of Mia Farrow)
David Lynch's Mulholland Dr.
Edward Yang's Yi Yi (it truly is a stunning film)
Luis Puenzo's The Official Story
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon
Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather
Park Chan-wook's Oldboy
Ki-duk Kim's Samaritan Girl
Werner Herzog's Aguirre The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo

 

[gk_891]

Facebook: Name a movie everybody liked but you didn't.

Me: The Lord of the Rings (whole trilogy, and didn't even start with The Hobbit...)

I've had major issues with most of Spielberg's 'serious' films even though they have major followings. I especially disliked The Color Purple. I disliked it even more after reading the amazingly powerful novel it's based on.

I didn't care for the Harry Potter films. I found them boring. And count me in for another one who didn't like Forrest Gump.

 

[gk_891]

If I were a filmmaker, I would try to do as many different styles as possible. My list would be:

Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another
Hector Babenco's Pixote Law of the Weakest
Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata and Shame
Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern
Volker Schlondorff's The Tin Drum
Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (even though I'm not a fan of Mia Farrow)
David Lynch's Mulholland Dr.
Edward Yang's Yi Yi (it truly is a stunning film)
Luiz Puenzo's The Official Story
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon
Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather
Park Chan-wook's Oldboy
Ki-duk Kim's Samaritan Girl
Werner Herzog's Aguirre The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo

Forgot to mention Tran Anh Hung's Cyclo. That movie made a big impact on me.

 

[Vash01]

Facebook: Name a movie everybody liked but you didn't.

Me: The Lord of the Rings (whole trilogy, and didn't even start with The Hobbit...)

Ditto for me.
Didn't see the Hobbit because I didn't care for the LOTR trilogy.

Add to the list-

Jackie
Manchester by the sea
Birdman
Departed
Black Swan
No country for old men
Crash
Shakespeare in love
Hacksaw Ridge

Most summer blockbusters

 

[emason]

Movies everyone likes that I can't stand:

There are lots of them, but #1 has to be The Piano. I especially hated the awful soundtrack (Michael Nyman?) which totally didn't go with the time period of the movie.

Never got the love for The Big Chill or Terms of Endearment either. Saw them once, never need to see them again.

 

[PeterG]

...Zhang Yimou ... the wonderful Gong Li...

Hmm...I'm wondering which of their work together should be on my favourite movies of all time list. I wonder if one day my current to see list will be small enough that I can go back to re-watching favourites and others that are missing rom my list...

Peter, you break my heart.

UNINTENTIONALLY!

Park Chan-wook's Oldboy

Good one. I've added this to my favourites list.

 

[MacMadame]

If you guys were filmmakers, which existing films would you think would best match your style?

Ang Lee's Pride and Prejudice and Alfonso Cuaron's The Little Princess and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Movies I hated that "everyone" loved? Being There. One of the few movies I walked out on without finishing even though I paid to see it.

 

[smurfy]

Facebook: Name a movie everybody liked but you didn't.

Titanic
Brokeback Mountain (it seemed to me like 2 lonely people, not a great love story)
Forrest Gump
On the Waterfront (could not get into it at all)
2001 A Space Odyssey (I first saw it in the 80s, so boring)
The Revenant

I probably have more, but it was hard to come up with these, as I guess I have wiped them from my memory.

 

[MacMadame]

Agree about Brokeback Mountain. It was very disjoint and I thought the main characters were not very nice people. (The one in particular didn't seem to care about his family or who he hurt.)

Forrest Gump, I didn't hate but I didn't see what the fuss was about either.

 

[VGThuy]

Never got the love for The Big Chill or Terms of Endearment either. Saw them once, never need to see them again.

I could never finish The Big Chill, but now that I'm older I might give it another go. Terms of Endearment is a movie I enjoy and I do love Debra Winger's performance, but it's a movie I don't like as much as I really want to.

 

[watchthis!!]

While watching National Velvet recently, I kept wondering what was going to happen to her horse before she got a new, appropriately-coloured horse. Then I realized that I was not watching Black Beauty. Once the lightbulb went on over my head, I got into this more. I thought this was a good family movie and holds up well. It would be a good one to watch with young people who might be interested in the early days of movies. One can see why Elizabeth Taylor went on to be a big star. It also seemed to me that it was actually her riding the horse doing some big jumps in earlier scenes. That's making me wonder about hearing something about her having back problems. Wonder if she fell off the horse in some of the takes in this movie and that's where it all started. Makes me think about how the studios played a part in getting Judy Garland hooked on drugs while still in her youth. Makes you happy about the strides we've taken to protect child actors...and all working actors, for that matter.

Anyway, along with Elizabeth Taylor, I really enjoyed the actress who played her Mom. She had a wonderful serenity to her. Mickey Rooney was restrained compared to some of his other performances. Guess thanks would go to the director, Clarence Brown, who a did a little bit of digging around. Brown holds the record for the most directing nominations for an Oscar without a win (six). He was nominated for directing national Velvet, The Yearling and The Human Comedy (starring Rooney again and The Wizard himself, Frank Morgan - who was twice nominated for an Oscar himself, but not for The Wizard of Oz). Clarence Brown also directed Angels In The Outfield and the 1935 version of Anna Karenina (with Greta Garbo). Another fact about Brown (from imdb.com):

Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer, Marie Dressler, Beulah Bondi, Charles Boyer, Mickey Rooney, Anne Revere, Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. Barrymore and Revere won Oscars for their performances in one of Brown's movies.

Brown's last movie was in 1952 after working very steadily as a director. Then his resume ends, so I assumed he passed away around that time. But he lived until 1987, well into his 90's. No mention at imdb or wikipedia as to why he abruptly quit the movie biz. Weird.

 

[watchthis!!]

After typing all of that out, my computer seemed to freeze as I tried to post. Luckily FSU saved a draft, whew! Anyway, I did more research and I'm not alone in enjoying the actress who played Taylor's mother...Ann Revere won an Oscar for her performance! She was nominated for two other supporting actress performances, 1944's Song of Bernadette and 1948's Gentleman's Agreement (which starred Gregory Peck and Dorothy Maguire). Revere was also in the movies A Place In The Sun and The Thin Man Goes Home.

Forgot to mention that Angela Lansbury played Taylor's older sister in National Velvet. Was cool to see both of them on screen at the same time.

 

[gk_891]

Hmm...I'm wondering which of their work together should be on my favourite movies of all time list. I wonder if one day my current to see list will be small enough that I can go back to re-watching favourites and others that are missing rom my list...

In terms of which Zhang Yimou-Gong Li movie I thought was the best, I would vote for Raise the Red Lantern. But I know many who prefer Ju Dou because it had more feeling and passion. Red Sorghum was really interesting.

In terms of best Gong Li performance though, I might mention The Story of Qiu Ju. Have you seen that one? It was an interesting look into contemporary Chinese society (at that time anyways when it was released in 1992).

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2017-04-14th
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipTFpJbvkAKvXLOT4nZzm__k

Wow. It's been a long time since every single movie on a weekly list held zero interest for me. I was totally ready to have The Lost City of Z make it to my to see list, but the trailer made it look like they were trying to steal some of the audience for The Fate of the Furious. (Which makes me wonder who amongst you is willing to come out of the closet and say that you're a Furious fan?? ) Then I had high hopes for A Quiet Passion, the biographical drama about Emily Dickinson. But the trailer made it look quite boring. Then I was surprised about Altitude, I wanted so badly to make a joke about "so who's all eager to see the new Denise Richards, Dolph Lundgren movie?". But then the trailer looked like cheesy goodness...a more fun movie that The Fate of the Furious looks to be. Lastly, anybody have any thoughts about the bad guy in the animated Spark: A Space Tail having a stereotypical gay voice? How 1990's...

April 14th - The Fate of the Furious (Wide) – Action with Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Kurt Russell, Luke Evans, Scott Eastwood, Ludacris and Charlize Theron

April 14th – Spark: A Space Tail (Wide) – Animated with Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon, Patrick Stewart and Hilary Swank

April 14th - The Lost City of Z (Limited) – Adventure drama with Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller and Tom Holland

April 14th - Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (Limited) – Thriller with Richard Gere, Michael Sheen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dan Stevens, Steve Buscemi and Hank Azaria

April 14th - Finding Oscar (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “about the search for justice in the devastating case of the Dos Erres massacre in Guatemala. That search leads to the trail of two little boys who were plucked from a nightmare and offer the only living evidence that ties the Guatemalan government to the massacre.”

April 14th - Little Boxes (Limited) – Comedy drama with Melanie Lynskey [Two and a Half Men], Nelsan Ellis [True Blood] and Janeane Garofalo

Apr. 14th - Tommy's Honour (Limited) – Drama with Sam Neill and Peter Mullan [War Horse, Children of Men]

April 14th - Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “At the heart of the Apollo program was the special team in Mission Control who put a man on the moon and helped create the future.”

April 14th - A Quiet Passion (Limited) – Historical drama with Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine

April 14th - My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (Limited) – Animated comedy drama with Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph and Susan Sarandon

April 14th – Altitude (Limited) – Action thriller with Denise Richards, Dolph Lundgren, Jonathan Lipnicki and Chuck Lidell

April 14th - Sandy Wexler (Streaming) - Comedy with Adam Sandler, David Spade, Jane Seymour, Kevin James, Judd Apatow, Jennifer Hudson, Carl Weathers, Rob Schneider, Terry Crews, Dana Carvy, Pauly Shore, Henry Winkler, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Richard Lewis, Arsenio Hall and Penn Jillette

April 14th - Asomatous (Limited) – Thriller with new cast (and Kevin Sorbo). From imdb.com: “After moving into a run-down farmhouse with his two daughters, a skeptical author seeks to uncover a sinister past that haunts the house and terrorizes his family.”

April 14th - Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “Both a biopic of a complicated man and an exploration of the gathering forces that converged to shape a new American cuisine and create the cult of "celebrity chef"... A consummate hedonist, Jeremiah Tower's career spans the riotous sexual revolution of the 70's to the high rolling "greed-is-good" spirit of the '80s.”

April 12th - Glory (Limited – New York) – Drama from Greece. From imdb.com: “A reclusive railway worker in Bulgaria finds millions in cash spilled on the tracks and turns them in to the police. When Julia Staikova, the PR executive for the Transport Ministry, decides to use him as a diversion from a corruption scandal, his simple life falls victim of the chaos of bureaucracy.”

April 14th - The Student (Limited) – Russian drama. From imdb.com: “Contemporary Russia. A high school student becomes convinced that the world has been lost to evil, and begins to challenge the morals and beliefs of the adults around him.”

 

[watchthis!!]

Big movie news: Jude Law is Dumbledore! Josh Brolin is Cable!
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/article144266299.html

Rowling has said that Dumbledore was gay and, as a young man, was infatuated with the power-hungry wizard Gellert Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp). “You will see Dumbledore as a younger man and quite a troubled man,” Rowling said when the first “Beasts” came out last fall. “We’ll see him at that formative period of his life. As far as his sexuality is concerned, watch this space.”

As for Brolin in Deadpool 2, the article says:

The announcement surprised fans, who were expecting Michael Shannon, David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) or even Brad Pitt to be cast.

 

[Japanfan]

In terms of best Gong Li performance though, I might mention The Story of Qiu Ju. Have you seen that one? It was an interesting look into contemporary Chinese society (at that time anyways when it was released in 1992).

I'd have to see them all again to determine which film I thought she was best in, but I thoroughly enjoyed that one.

Has Yimou done anything of merit lately?

The last film I saw of his was about 10 years ago, and something to do with getting kids in the countryside to school. I lacked his characteristic style and intensity, and I've not seen anything by him since.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Trailers For Movies Released 2017-04-14th
April 14th - The Student (Limited) – Russian drama. From imdb.com: “Contemporary Russia. A high school student becomes convinced that the world has been lost to evil, and begins to challenge the morals and beliefs of the adults around him.”

Oh my!... it's getting a USA release...... "М"Ученик. First there was "Liquid Sky", then "Smithereens", then "Little Vera"...... Holly Lord! here comes The Student ....
I can't wait for the reviews...... Less than 1M USD budget.

Here is a full movie but in Russian, for what it is worth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-98DCSjoG2Y

An English language trailer 1 and 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqEg_LZBCzU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqEg_LZBCzU

And Variety's article: http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-student-review-1201773669/
veeeellllkome to new "new" Russian realizzzzzzzzzm....

It is actually a theatrical play, written by Marius von Mayenburg a German playwright.

 

[gk_891]

I'd have to see them all again to determine which film I thought she was best in, but I thoroughly enjoyed that one.

Has Yimou done anything of merit lately?

The last film I saw of his was about 10 years ago, and something to do with getting kids in the countryside to school. I lacked his characteristic style and intensity, and I've not seen anything by him since.

Not One Less? That one was ok. He did The Road Home (starring a pre-CTHD Zhang Ziyi) and then Hero in 2002 and House of Flying Daggers in 2004. All 3 movies were ok but not great IMO. He came out with The Great Wall last year which I haven't seen yet.

 

[Buzz]

Star Wars The Last Jedi teaser trailer.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zB4I68XVPzQ

 

[lmarie086]

I've already watched the Star Wars trailer four times; it looks so good!!

 

[Buzz]

Fate Of The Furious made a massive $45,631,000 on Friday alone! It is expected to make about $110m in it's opening weekend in North America.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

 

[skatesindreams]

Wonder if she fell off the horse in some of the takes in this movie and that's where it all started

You are correct.

 

[Vash01]

This past week I did a marathon viewing of the four Hunger Games movies. Although I had seen those earlier, I never saw four in a row (one per day). That was fun.

Now I have two German DVDs from Netflix. I will probably watch Toni Erdmann first because it received the best foreign film nomination at the Oscars. The other Rosenstrausse sounded interesting, but I don't really know what to expect. I should be receiving Moonlight as soon as I return one of these two.

 

[Vash01]

Star Wars The Last Jedi teaser trailer.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zB4I68XVPzQ

I am careful because I don't want to know too much. Don't want any spoilers. I watched the first trailer and a part of the Gray Jedi trailer. Can't wait to see Episode 8.

 

[cocotaffy]

Watched La La Land. I'm not into musicals but it was pleasant and I do enjoy those 3 famous songs out of the soundtrack. The opening scene is stunning and I really liked the end of the movie, it was like a whirlwind. On the other hand, the two leads don't show much of a chemistry which I found odd because in Crazy Stupid Love, they had plenty. It might be one movie too many together.
Otherwise, I do think Damien Chazelle, the director, is truly a bright and talented young man whose movie Whiplash is one of my favorites, so intense and the way he manages to film the physicality of playing an instrument especially one so demanding as a set of drums plus what a stunning soundtrack.

I also watched Xavier Dolan's "It's only the end of the world" which received a prize at Cannes festival last year. It's the first movie from Dolan I've watched. The atmosphere is rather claustrophobic both due to the way it's filmed, all in close-ups, and the fact the action is mainly set in a house. This is a dysfunctional family drama filmed in a very artsy manner. There's a lot of shoutings and irrational behaviors but the main protagonist Louis played by Gaspard Ulliel ends up being a very poignant character for whom you feel empathy towards the end. This is quite a tragic and melancholic story, a tale of solitude and someone not fitting in seemingly looking at life in the constant position of an outsider. There is something which touched me in this story but I think it was mainly due to the actors' performances rather than the director work which was often too manic, mannered and artsy for the sake of being artsy.

 

[PeterG]

I watched Holding The Man last night, one that @manhn had posted about a while back. It wasn't at all what I expected, so it took me by surprise. Both the DVD cover and the description on the back make the movie look light, fun and hopeful. Instead, it is

Spoiler

another movie where the gay men are ostracized, beaten, get sick and then die. Kind of a downer.

I didn't realize it was an Australian film, so it was nice to see Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia in this, even though their parts were small. Nice to see them supporting both an Australian and a gay film. The time-jumping in this movie going back and forth in time didn't make sense to me. Other than to let us know

Spoiler

or warn us, rather, that bad shit was going to happen. But of course it is, gay people always die in a gay romance!

The two leads in this were pretty good, but thumbs down to the hair department. But movie rarely get it right when it comes to the 70's. They always exaggerate and make everyone look like caricatures. It's interesting how other decades are treated with such respect as to costuming and hairstyles. But with the 70's, moviemakers insist on making people look like clowns. The costuming in this movie is decent, but the hair is bad. Not as bad as other movies, so a step up, but a disappointment because I started high school in 1976 and the guys had beautiful hair! Still jealous of those guys who could grown their hair long and have it look so good. Alas, I was never to have that kind of hair. So a thumbs sideways on this one for me. I'm still waiting for a happy gay movie to come our way some day... Until then, only heterosexuals get to be happy.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

We saw Gifted & liked it. The movie is about a young girl (Mary) who is a math prodigy like her deceased mother. Mary lives a simple low key life with her uncle in FL. The school administration contacts the overbearing grandmother when the uncle refuses to send Mary to an elite private school on a scholarship & the adults proceed to clash over custody. The movie examines class issues & who is willing to raise Mary the way her mother would have wanted while it hashes out the expectations & best interests when it comes to the girl's education.

Octavia Spencer had a good supporting role as Mary's neighbor & best friend, but otherwise the movie was full of actors I didn't know. I found out the uncle is Captain America & the girl is from the TV show Designated Survivor. Her teacher was a good character but also a new actor to me. I thought the grandmother was Toni Collette & after spending the entire film thinking how much she had aged since I saw Miss You Already, when the credits rolled I found out the grandmother is actually Lindsay Duncan.

 

[Tinami Amori]

I watched Holding The Man last night, one that @manhn had posted about a while back. It wasn't at all what I expected, so it took me by surprise.

Is it anything like "Maurice" or close?

I'm still waiting for a happy gay movie to come our way some day... Until then, only heterosexuals get to be happy.

My Beautiful Laundrette ....

 

[agalisgv]

Regarding movies others liked I didn't, I never took to Citizen Kane. It's often hailed as a masterpiece, but I found it pretty meh.

 

[cocotaffy]

I watched a very interesting yet understated movie called Paterson by Jim Jarmusch. It's the type of movie which gets under your skin and stays with you, the best kind for me. We follow the week in the life of a bus driver, his routine in the small city of Paterson, NJ. The main character carries the same name as the city he lives him, city which gave birth to couple of famous artists. He is himself inspired by the city's particular link with poetry as he writes poems in a simple notebook. Nothing is pretentious about this movie, it's a simple tale of a man whose life is full of little pleasures.
Something else was striking and revealing (I'll put it as spoiler because it was an element of surprise for me),

Spoiler

at every corner, I was expecting something terrible to happen as we've been used to expect plot twists and drama, exaggerated dangers and an exacerbated sense of doom in our societies. Living in a state of imminent fear. But none of it, no drama and even absolutely no tension arise. I can't tell you how peaceful and wonderful it is to watch a movie which depicts beauty and art available at everyone's fingertips. I felt like picking up a notebook and starting writing. But I also felt I had become quite cynical and disenchanted, constantly expecting the worst of people.

This is such a refreshing movie and came at a great time for me, sandwiched between the Turkish referendum and the French elections which are very taxing on my nerves.