Let's Talk Movies #34 - Kingsmen, Murder, Blade Runners and...IT!

[Japanfan]

I finally finished watching the 6 parts serie "Scenes from a marriage" by Bergman.

I watched the film.

It doesn't sound anything special when I describe it this way but it is a great watch, slowly paced yet riveting. I don't think any couple can reach this level of truth without self-destructing (which actually happens to them) but without going that far, it does make you want to at least try to be more truthful and communicate better with your better half or maybe the opposite, burry your head deep in the sand and not look up

I don't know how the series differs from the film, but the film was in truth scenes from a marriage, and it was real, agonizing and long. I don't think I could ever sit through it again.

Yes this one . There's also a movie version but I would advise the serie if you have some time. İt's definitely worth it. I had never watched any Bergman but now I will certainly watch other of his movies.

I watched many Bergman films when I was a film student, as he was one of the foci of a Director's course I took. The Seventh Seal is indeed a masterpiece (ditto Cries and Whispers), but I don't think I could watch that one again, either.

Fanny and Alexander is one of Bergman's most accessible films, and it had some visually stunning moments.

I think I’ve seen some clips of it before. That’s the one starring Liv Ullman, right? I always wanted to check that out. Out of all the past masters, I’ve seen very little of Ingmar Bergman and I need to watch more of his filmography. I’ve only seen Fanny and Alexander, Cries and Whispers, and Autumn Sonata. I’ve seen some Woody Allen (Interiors; Another Woman) and Robert Altman (Three Women) that were clearly influenced by Bergman and I really would love to see more.

I refuse to watch Woody Allen films anymore, in part because of his creepy (IMO) involvement with Soon Yi, and in part because of his massive ego. He so often had to appear (I say appear, not act, intentionally) in his films, as well as directing them, and too many of his films are about rich artists hanging out in their summer homes and lamenting their angst. IOW, Allen seems very out of touch with ordinary people's lives and lacks range as a film-maker. However, he did acquit himself well with Interiors and I really enjoyed Another Woman with Gena Rowlands and Mia Farrow (Allen was not in the film himself).

On the other hand I love Robert Altman. Three Woman was strange, and very well-executed if not my favorite Altman work.

My favorite Altman films are McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Julie Christy and Warren Beatty were both brilliant in that) and Short Cuts. Short Cuts is on my short list for favorite film of all time.

Altman and Stanley Kubrick are among my favorite directors, and Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut is also on my short list for all-time favorite.

 

[PeterG]

Saw Geostorm tonight with some friends. I predict an Oscar sweep. KIDDING!!! It's pretty awful. But my friends asked me to go see a movie with them and have dinner. I haven't seen them since the summer, so I would have said yes to go see My Little Pony: The Movie. (But I might have snuck out and gone to see a different movie...) Geostorm has three Oscar nominated actors: Ed Harris, Andy Garcia and Mare Winningham. Alone with Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish and Gerard Butler, they act the heck out of what they were given...but it's a script that is just horrible. I can't remember the last time I saw such talented people work with such awful material. Plus the special effects (which are quite good) last such a short time. I was expecting some lengthy, awesome havoc being thrown at various planet Earth locations, but most storm or tsunami scenes last 15 to 30 seconds...then we see nothing else. Strange. I kept wanting them to blow more #*!$ up so that the actors wouldn't have to fight so hard to salvage the dialogue coming out of their mouths. Unfortunately, instead of simply have to run screaming from gigantic sized hail pounding down from the heavens, these actors just have to keep talking. Poor things.

 

[Vash01]

Saw the RomCom 'The holiday' this weekend. Silly but entertaining. Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law were good in their respective roles, but the most interesting character was Arthur, the 90 year old screen writer, played by Eli something (will look up his name later). Very predictable but still fun.

 

[Jay42]

Saw the RomCom 'The holiday' this weekend. Silly but entertaining. Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law were good in their respective roles, but the most interesting character was Arthur, the 90 year old screen writer, played by Eli something (will look up his name later). Very predictable but still fun.

I love The Holiday, I believe Arthur was played by Eli Wallach.

 

[Vash01]

I love The Holiday, I believe Arthur was played by Eli Wallach.

Right!

 

[watchthis!!]

I thought Lovelace (starring Amanda Seyfried) was a much better movie than I expected it to be. It's the autobiographical drama about Linda Lovelace. I guess I thought it would be sensationalistic to some degree, but it was quite thoughtful. A lot of the success of the movie comes down to Seyfried's performance as well as the strong script. Peter Sarsgaard does a good job as the creepy, abusive husband who directs Lovelace towards the porn industry. Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick play Lovelace's parents and Patrick does an amazing job with his small role. He has a few moments where we just see his face and even with no dialogue he delivers an incredible performance. The movie also stars a really big cast including Juno Temple, Chris Noth, Adam Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Hank Azaria, James Franco, Chloe Sevigny, Eric Roberts, Debi Mazar and Wes Bentley. With such an amazing cast, I don't know why the movie wasn't a success. Maybe too controversial a subject matter? Or maybe the movie studio behind this movie just didn't believe in it? Which is a shame because I think this one deserved to have been seen for a lot more people than who saw it.

Trailer for Lovelace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJY-g-WoQo

 

[Aussie Willy]

Thanks for the recommendation. I had heard good things about this movie. Will look out for it.

Whenever I see Robert Patrick, I still can't get the image of him as a terminator out of my head. He was so well cast in that role.

 

[smurfy]

Saw Geostorm tonight with some friends. ..) Geostorm has three Oscar nominated actors: Ed Harris, Andy Garcia and Mare Winningham. Alone with Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish and Gerard Butler, they act the heck out of what they were given...but it's a script that is just horrible. I can't remember the last time I saw such talented people work with such awful material. Poor things.

Have you seen the latest Kingsman? - with 4 oscar winners. Geostorm may be worse, not sure if I will find out.
Kingsman has one thing that was good, in the my previous post about it - a spoiler - as it made it that I didnot regret seeing the movie.

The Holiday - nice movie, I remember I enjoyed it. Nice feel good movie. And Jack Black as a romantic interest - not what I expected.

 

[MacMadame]

I remember watching The Holiday (on Netflix?). It was much better than I expected. Not amazing but a pleasant surprise.

 

[PeterG]

Have you seen the latest Kingsman? - with 4 oscar winners. Geostorm may be worse, not sure if I will find out.
Kingsman has one thing that was good, in the my previous post about it - a spoiler - as it made it that I didnot regret seeing the movie.

The Holiday - nice movie, I remember I enjoyed it. Nice feel good movie. And Jack Black as a romantic interest - not what I expected.

I did see Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It was WAY better than Geostorm. Hmm, maybe the script for Geostorm was hit by an ACTUAL geostorm and then they shot the movie in order of the pages thrown onto the nearest table, with multiple pages missing! That sounds as reasonable explanation as any as to what ended up on the screen...

 

[cocotaffy]

Just came back from Thor: Ragnarok and we watched a movie for the first time in 4DX (I couldn't stop giggling at the effects at first, but the smell is awful though)
Disclaimer: Thor has always been my favorite Marvel superhero.
I absolutely loved that movie, the best out of the Marvel by a country mile and all due to the fantastic Taika Waititi. I knew him from Hunt for the wilder people, a great quirky movie I really recommend too. He didn't disappoint on the jokes, the electrifying/psychedelic soundtrack and the visuals ( that scene with the Walkyries, stunning ). Plus, the best trio of the avengers, Hulk, Loki and Hulk.
It's also full of Lord of the Ring throw backs especially on the visuals like the opening scene with a wannabe Balrog and the descending creatures from the ceiling. Then when Galadriel, oops Hela, stands in front of the mountain door in Asgard ... well LOTR draws heavily on the Nordic legends so it makes sense.
But above all, the humor all through the movie, you sense the actors had a blast and it makes for an unpretentious fun and inspired movie unlike the last Captain America: civil war with all the Stark's pompous speeches about righteousness. And the great dynamic duo, Loki/Thor is also back which is always a cracker.
Somehow, and this might sound strange, I could have imagine Richard Ayoade making a similar movie, with his offbeat deadpan sense of humor.
Anyway, it was great fun.

 

[smurfy]

PeterG - LOL

Re - Thor- I have not seen the earlier ones. Can I see this one? The trailer/previews make me want to see it - looks so funny. And a Hemsworth!

 

[cocotaffy]

PeterG - LOL

Re - Thor- I have not seen the earlier ones. Can I see this one? The trailer/previews make me want to see it - looks so funny. And a Hemsworth!

At least, do a bit of reading to catch up because to enjoy it fully you do need a bit of background on Thor, Thor/Loki relationship and Asgard. I think this small article is good. This movie is a blast, really mindless fun and it does feel good sometimes.

 

[watchthis!!]

Tom Hanks to star in new sci-fi movie 'Bios' from Game of Thrones director
http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/Tom-Hanks-to-star-in-new-sci-fi-movie-Bios-from-Game-of-Thrones-director/398714.htm

The article describes the movie as “…a new science fiction flick set in a post-apocalyptic world. The movie will follow a robot designed to protect its creators dog and subsequently learns about love, friendship and the meaning of life. Hanks will play the robots creator.”

Also mentioned is that Hanks will be in a new Stephen Spielberg movie this December called “The Post”. Hanks will play the former editor-in-chief of The Washington Post and the movie is being mentioned as being an awards contender.

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2017-11-03rd
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipR6enN2VtnK0dYnAUKjCurN

After a couple of weeks with not much to be excited, we have quite a good selection of movies to pick from. Which ones will you be seeing?


Nov. 3rd - Thor: Ragnarok (Wide) – Action adventure with Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Levi and Sam Neill

Nov. 3rd - A Bad Moms Christmas (Wide) - Comedy with Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Jay Hernandez, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Justin Hartley [This Is Us], Cheryl Hines, David Walton [About A Boy], Peter Gallagher and Wanda Sykes

Nov. 3rd - LBJ (Wide) - Drama with Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins, Bill Pullman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey Donovan [Burn Notice] and C. Thomas Howell

Nov. 17th - Last Flag Flying (Limited) – Comedy drama with Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne

Oct.31st - Keep Watching (Wide) – Horror thriller with Bella Thorne, Ioan Gruffudd, Chandler Riggs [The Walking Dead]

Nov. 3rd – Dream Boat (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “Once a year, the Dream Boat sets sail - a cruise only for gay men. Far from their families and political restrictions, we follow five men from five countries on a quest for their dreams. The cruise promises seven days of sunshine, love and freedom - but on board are also their personal stories, their doubts and uncertainties.”

Nov. 3rd - My Friend Dahmer (Limited) – Drama with Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts [The Walking Dead & The Good Wife] and Alex Wolff

Nov. 3rd – Lady Bird (Limited) – Comedy with Saoirse Ronan, Jake McDorman [Limitless] and Laurie Metcalf

Nov. 3rd - 11/8/16 (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “On the morning of Election Day 2016, Americans of all stripes woke up and went about living their lives. These were the hours leading up to Donald Trump's unexpected, earth-shaking victory, but, of course, no one knew that yet.”

Nov. 3rd - On Wings of Eagles (Limited) – Sports drama with Joseph Fiennes

Nov. 3rd - Battlecreek (Limited) – Romance with Bill Skarsgård, Paula Malcomson [The Hunger Games] and Delroy Lindo

Nov. 1st - Frank Serpico (Limited) – Documentary. From rotten tomatoes: “In the early 1970s, one man stood up to the entire New York City police force. Hailed as a hero by many, hated by others, officer Frank Serpico made headlines when he blew the whistle on a culture of bribery and corruption within the department.”

Nov. 3rd - Singularity (Limited) – Sci-fi with John Cusack. From imdb.com: “In 2020, Elias van Dorne (John Cusack), CEO of VA Industries, the world's largest robotics company, introduces his most powerful invention--Kronos, a super computer designed to end all wars...”

Nov. 1st - The Light of the Moon (Limited) – Drama, new cast. From imdb.com: “After her world is irrevocably changed, a successful New York City architect struggles to regain intimacy and control in her life.”

Nov. 3rd - Gilbert (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “…a wildly funny and unexpectedly poignant portrait of the life and career of one of comedy's most iconic figures, Gilbert Gottfried.”

Nov. 4th - 6:66 P.M. (Limited) – Horror comedy, new cast. From imdb.com: “A reality TV crew's staged investigation into the paranormal becomes terrifyingly real when the house they're exploring turns out to be haunted by the ghost of a serial killer.”

Nov. 3rd - Most Beautiful Island (Limited) – Thriller, new cast. From imdb.com: “Most Beautiful Island is a chilling portrait of an undocumented young woman's struggle for survival as she finds redemption from a tortured past in a dangerous game.”

Nov. 3rd - No Dress Code Required (Limited) – Documentary from Mexico. From imdb.com: “A couple in love from Baja California Mexico are in the middle of the preparations for a huge wedding, the only problem is that their marriage is not legal, since they are both male.”

Nov. 3rd - ITTEFAQ (Limited) – Indian thriller. From imdb.com: “A detective seeks out the truth between two different stories of a crime scene.”

Nov. 3rd - Blade of the Immortal (Limited) – Japanese action drama. From imdb.com: “Manji…becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents...”

 

[skatesindreams]

I hope that "The Greatest Showman", with Hugh Jackman, will be worthy of its' premiere:
https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/cunard-s-queen-mary-2-to-host-hollywood-premiere.html

 

[Buzz]

Just one more day and I get to see Thor!

 

[PeterG]

The Thin Red Line (1998) was Terence Malick’s return to movie-making after a twenty year absence (after having made Badlands and Days of Heaven). The movie is about the experience of American military men as they try to take an island in the South Pacific from the Japanese. I quite enjoyed the movie as I found that instead of it being about cogs in a wheel of warring, it was more about the soldiers as people. There are some flashbacks, but those are limited and most of what we see is the men's time on the island where they are at war. The movie is almost three hours long, which might seem short in a way, because if I'm remembering correctly, on the DVD extras, it was stated that over 1,000 hours of film was shot and then given to three different editors, who each worked on their own section of the movie (the first edit of the movie was five hours long).

The movie is based on a novel by James Jones and the story felt rich enough to me that this might have been best presented as a TV mini-series. One example of the editing (which shows how this project could have warranted a mini-series version) is that Adrien Brody's part was the lead character in the script...but he did not discover until the premiere that his work was almost completely cut out of the film.

James Jones did serve as a soldier during World War II and he wrote his novel based on his own time served as well as the experiences of many other soldiers that he fought with and talked to. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including best film director and screenplay. Strangely though, no acting nominations. Strange partly because of the many big names in the cast:

Nick Nolte
Jim Caviezel
John Cusack
Adrien Brody
Woody Harrelson
Miranda Otto
Jared Leto
John Travolta
George Clooney
Sean Penn
John C. Reilly
Elias Koteas
Ben Chaplin
Dash Mihok
Nick Stahl
Thomas Jane
John Savage
Tim Blake Nelson

I found it interesting that there were more actors who were part of the cast, but whose parts ended up on the cutting room floor:

Billy Bob Thorton (who recorded three hours of narration work)
Bill Pullman
Gary Oldman
Lukas Haas
Viggo Mortensen
Martin Sheen
Jason Patric
Mickey Rourke
Tom Sizemore (chose a part in Saving Private Ryan instead – Harrison Ford was also offered a role, but turned it down)

Plus…many others tried out for the movie but were not cast:

Edward Norton
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Josh Harnett (auditioned eight times, never meeting director Malick)
Stephen Dorff
Neil Parick Harris
Luke Perry
Johnny Galecki

Of those whose work made it into the movie, I'm hoping that when the movie came out, there was talk about the acting of Nick Nolte and Jim Caviezel for Oscar consideration. They stood out the most to me, although everyone did a good job. Maybe Elias Koteas should have been considered as well (he's now starring on Chicago P.D.).

Some other interesting things about the casting for the movie, from imdb.com:

Trivia #1: Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, Peter Berg, Ethan Hawke, Dermot Mulroney Bruce Willis, Will Patton, Julia Roberts and William Baldwin were considered for roles and met with the director. Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall and Tom Cruise were sent scripts for the film. Nicolas Cage was called during casting but his phone was found to have been disconnected.

Trivia #2: Terrence Malick's reputation and working methods commanded great respect among the actors, with both Woody Harrelson and John Savage staying on for an extra month after they finished all of their scenes just to watch him at work.

Roger Ebert named The Thin Red Line as his favourite war movie of all time and his second favourite movie of the 1990's. I can see why Malick's return to film was celebrated with this movie, I'd consider it a must-see for anyone who considers themselves any kind of film aficionado. He uses voice-overs throughout the movie for characters to express their thoughts that wouldn't have fit in well if they had tried to write it into the movie as dialogue. Although Malick later used this technique in most (all?) of his films that followed and with each subsequent use, I found it to have a lesser impact each time around. Even becoming annoying, such as with The Tree of Life (or maybe I just found that film to be annoying, period!). This is another example of my wishing I could read other people's thoughts at the imdb message boards. I know @Japanfan likes Malick, so maybe she'll respond to this short lil' post of mine.

 

[Vash01]

The Thin Red Line (1998) was Terence Malick’s return to movie-making after a twenty year absence (after having made Badlands and Days of Heaven). The movie is about the experience of American military men as they try to take an island in the South Pacific from the Japanese. I quite enjoyed the movie as I found that instead of it being about cogs in a wheel of warring, it was more about the soldiers as people. There are some flashbacks, but those are limited and most of what we see is the men's time on the island where they are at war. The movie is almost three hours long, which might seem short in a way, because if I'm remembering correctly, on the DVD extras, it was stated that over 1,000 hours of film was shot and then given to three different editors, who each worked on their own section of the movie (the first edit of the movie was five hours long).

The movie is based on a novel by James Jones and the story felt rich enough to me that this might have been best presented as a TV mini-series. One example of the editing (which shows how this project could have warranted a mini-series version) is that Adrien Brody's part was the lead character in the script...but he did not discover until the premiere that his work was almost completely cut out of the film.

James Jones did serve as a soldier during World War II and he wrote his novel based on his own time served as well as the experiences of many other soldiers that he fought with and talked to. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including best film director and screenplay. Strangely though, no acting nominations. Strange partly because of the many big names in the cast:

Nick Nolte
Jim Caviezel
John Cusack
Adrien Brody
Woody Harrelson
Miranda Otto
Jared Leto
John Travolta
George Clooney
Sean Penn
John C. Reilly
Elias Koteas
Ben Chaplin
Dash Mihok
Nick Stahl
Thomas Jane
John Savage
Tim Blake Nelson

I found it interesting that there were more actors who were part of the cast, but whose parts ended up on the cutting room floor:

Billy Bob Thorton (who recorded three hours of narration work)
Bill Pullman
Gary Oldman
Lukas Haas
Viggo Mortensen
Martin Sheen
Jason Patric
Mickey Rourke
Tom Sizemore (chose a part in Saving Private Ryan instead – Harrison Ford was also offered a role, but turned it down)

Plus…many others tried out for the movie but were not cast:

Edward Norton
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Josh Harnett (auditioned eight times, never meeting director Malick)
Stephen Dorff
Neil Parick Harris
Luke Perry
Johnny Galecki

Of those whose work made it into the movie, I'm hoping that when the movie came out, there was talk about the acting of Nick Nolte and Jim Caviezel for Oscar consideration. They stood out the most to me, although everyone did a good job. Maybe Elias Koteas should have been considered as well (he's now starring on Chicago P.D.).

Some other interesting things about the casting for the movie, from imdb.com:

Trivia #1: Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, Peter Berg, Ethan Hawke, Dermot Mulroney Bruce Willis, Will Patton, Julia Roberts and William Baldwin were considered for roles and met with the director. Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall and Tom Cruise were sent scripts for the film. Nicolas Cage was called during casting but his phone was found to have been disconnected.

Trivia #2: Terrence Malick's reputation and working methods commanded great respect among the actors, with both Woody Harrelson and John Savage staying on for an extra month after they finished all of their scenes just to watch him at work.

Roger Ebert named The Thin Red Line as his favourite war movie of all time and his second favourite movie of the 1990's. I can see why Malick's return to film was celebrated with this movie, I'd consider it a must-see for anyone who considers themselves any kind of film aficionado. He uses voice-overs throughout the movie for characters to express their thoughts that wouldn't have fit in well if they had tried to write it into the movie as dialogue. Although Malick later used this technique in most (all?) of his films that followed and with each subsequent use, I found it to have a lesser impact each time around. Even becoming annoying, such as with The Tree of Life (or maybe I just found that film to be annoying, period!). This is another example of my wishing I could read other people's thoughts at the imdb message boards. I know @Japanfan likes Malick, so maybe she'll respond to this short lil' post of mine.

The interesting thing for me was- in the theatre I hated this movie. A few years later I rented the DVD and it was a completely different experience. I thought it was pretty good. Not sure why, but it convinced me to not write off a movie if I don't like it on first viewing. A similar thing happened to me with Lost in Translation. In the theatre I actually fell asleep, but later when I rented the DVD at home, I really liked it. Go figure.

 

[manhn]

Loved The Thin Red Line, my favourite of the nominated films. Shakespeare in Love was second. Private Ryan and Elizabeth can suck it.

 

[VGThuy]

Cate Blanchet, who I usually like/love, is so overrated in Elizabeth as was that movie.

 

[PeterG]

The interesting thing for me was- in the theatre I hated this movie. A few years later I rented the DVD and it was a completely different experience. I thought it was pretty good. Not sure why, but it convinced me to not write off a movie if I don't like it on first viewing. A similar thing happened to me with Lost in Translation. In the theatre I actually fell asleep, but later when I rented the DVD at home, I really liked it. Go figure.

I saw Lost In Translation. I liked it...I guess. It makes me think of how some describe Seinfeld: a show about nothing. I guess Lost In Translation has more substance than nothing. lol But in a way it just kind of...sits there. I think this was a good step for Scarlett Johansson, but Bill Murray kind of played himself. Even during his silly moments, he was pulling mannerisms from his time on Saturday Night Live. Very unimpressive. But as a movie about two people feeling stuck in their lives and then spending time with someone going through that same thing...although at different times in their lives...is new for a movie theme. So I guess it's worth seeing? How's that for a recommendation? But it's not a title I will want to watch again later in life.

Cate Blanchet, who I usually like/love, is so overrated in Elizabeth as was that movie.

Really? I so loved that movie. I saw it in the theatre with a friend and when the lights came on at the end, I thought something was wrong. I thought twenty minutes had passed and I was ready to see more and more of this wonderful movie...

 

[Buzz]

Saw Thor last night and loved it!!!

 

[Jay42]

I'm going to Thor tomorrow night and I have tickets to see The Last Jedi on December 16th.

 

[Vash01]

Saw Thor last night and loved it!!!

I had seen the first Thor but not the sequel(s). I will need to watch them before I go see the latest.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Anyone likes Visconti's "Bellissima" with Anna Magnani? ... been thinking of "stage mothers" lately (I, Tonya's fault).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5z-XmLQ2Zs (enlgish subs. legit copy)

 

[Buzz]

I had seen the first Thor but not the sequel(s). I will need to watch them before I go see the latest.

This latest Thor movie is more like a reboot of the series than a continuation so it is not necessary to see the other movies to watch this one. They do reference the other movies but the references are brief and sort of explain themselves. If you prefer, you could just read about Thor The Dark World on Wikipedia.

 

[watchthis!!]

I watched Trust The Man because of Julianne Moore and David Duchovny on the cover. It's a comedy drama romance with the theme that if a man wrongs a woman, she should kick him out and after x months, when he says he's sorry, you say okay and then everything's back to normal. Anyway, I thought Moore and Duchovny were an interesting pairing, the movie is from 2005, so I think it's from a time when his career was on the decline and hers was on the upswing. They're fine together, but Moore is better than this movie. She elevates it, but just a bit. There's only so much a working actress can do! The movie does have some good lines in the first half, but the ending where the women basically say "bygones" to being cheated on or dedicating five years of your life to someone who can't decide on...pretty much everything - well, that's a downer of an ending unless your an adulterous, wimpy male. Billy Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhaal play the other couple in the movie. Crudup has the next best performance after Moore, but it's not one that's enjoyable to watch. And for a romantic comedy, you kind of want to like the characters. One out of four ain't bad??

 

[Buzz]

Thor Ragnarok made an estimated $427m WW in just under two weeks including $121m in North America in it's opening weekend. It is also doing really well in places like India where Hollywood movies don't usually do all that good. The last Thor movie made about $85m so this one is already doing much better, but still the North American box office is way down. Hopefully Justice League, Coco and Star Wars will be smash hits too and help save the 2017 box office. I'm sure lots of workers in the cinemas have had their hours cut which is a terrible thing to happen to anyone at Christmas time.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...narok-outwits-sequel-curse-121m-debut-1055030

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I'm sure lots of workers in the cinemas have had their hours cut which is a terrible thing to happen to anyone at Christmas time.

Not that it's the workers fault but the last time I went to a movie and got popcorn and a drink I paid out somewhere around $26 which is absolutely ridiculous. People, especially families, can't afford movies anymore. I admit I don't know the full pricing structures as it makes it way to the theaters but I think Hollywood could spend a lot less on their films (*cough* big name actor pay *cough*) and charge less for theaters to show them. Which would hopefully reflect in admission and snack prices.