Let's Talk Movies #35 – Sparrows and Panthers and Dinosaurs…Oh My!

[Japanfan]

The colors did not bother me at all and I didn't see the trick you and PeterG are discussing, but what do I know? I am just a movie goer, not an expert. I thought it was a very good movie and I was disappointed that I didn't get to see it in a theatre.

I don't think expertise is required to perceive visual techniques in a film or interpret them.

But not everyone notices the same things about the same movies. When a person is studying or critiquing a film, the person should be watching it with intentionality and attention to detail. When one is just once a film for entertainment or illumination or escape, one tends to relax and might miss certain details.

What one person might notice about a film, another person might not notice at all.

I've realized recently with one of the shows I'm watching that I sometimes miss very quick shots entirely. I'll get confused and rewind, and then focus in on the quick shot that I missed entirely. Don't know what this is about, but it is a bit concerning.

 

[PeterG]

What one person might notice about a film, another person might not notice at all.

I pretty much always watch every DVD extra that is provided with a movie. I can't tell you how many things went over my head!!! I just finished watching season one of Westworld and one of the final DVD extras is a half-hour feature talking about the series as a whole. I felt like the entire season was over my head...

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2018-09-28th
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipSJpdSXyu_hc3aCaYM1Mdo7


September 28th - Night School (Wide) – Comedy with Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Ben Schwartz and Rob Riggle

September 28th - Smallfoot (Wide) – Animated with Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Patrica Heaton, Common, Gina Rodriguez, LeBron James and Danny DeVito

September 28th - Hell Fest (Wide) – Horror, new cast. From imdb.com: “A masked serial killer turns a horror themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show.”

September 28th - Little Women (Wide) – Family drama with Lea Thompson and Ian Bohen [Teen Wolf, Wind River]

September 28th - The Old Man and the Gun (Limited) - Comedy crime drama with Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Tom Waits and Danny Glover

September 28th - Bad Reputation (Limited) – Documentary. From google.com: “A journey through Joan Jett's life and career, from her early years as founder of "The Runaways" and first collaborations with Kenny Laguna to her status as rock icon.”

September 28th - Black 47 (Limited) – Action drama with Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea and Jim Broadbent

September 28th - All About Nina (Limited) – Comedy drama with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Chace Crawford, Camryn Manheim, Jay Mohr, Clea DuVall, Mindy Sterling and Beau Bridges

September 28th - Hold the Dark (Limited - Netflix) – Adventure mystery with Alexander Skarsgård, Riley Keough [Mad Max: Fury Road] and Jeffrey Wright

September 28th - Free Solo (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “Follow Alex Honnold as he becomes the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's 3,000ft high El Capitan Wall. With no ropes or safety gear, he completed arguably the greatest feat in rock climbing history.”

September 28th - Summer 03 (Limited) – Comedy with Joey King and June Squibb

September 28th - The Padre (Limited) – Drama with Nick Nolte, Tim Roth and Luis Guzmán

September 28th - The Healer (Limited) – Family comedy drama with Oliver Jackson-Cohen [World Without End], Jonathan Pryce, Camilla Luddington [Grey’s Anatomy and Jorge Garcia [Lost]

September 28th - Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “A documentary on Queercore, the cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities.”

September 28th - Maximum Impact (Limited) – Action comedy with Danny Trejo, Tom Arnold and William Baldwin

September 28th - The Samuel Project (Limited – New York) – Drama with a new cast & Hal Linden. From imdb.com: “Eli, an outcast teen, connects with his isolated grandfather Samuel for the first time, and uncovers his surprising past, when he makes his grandpa the subject of an animated art project for school.”

September 28th - Domain (Limited) – Sci-fi thriller, new cast. From imdb.com: “After a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity, the survivors are forced to wait in self-sustaining bunkers with a networked video interface for communication, but one by one, they start mysteriously disappearing.”

September 28th - 3 Years in Pakistan: The Erik Audé Story (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “The true life story of Erik Aude, who was duped into drug smuggling and spent three years in a Pakistani prison.”

September 28th – First Light (Limited) – Thriller with a new cast. From imdb.com: “…high school senior, Alex Lainey, who has an encounter with mysterious lights that appear over her small town. She soon develops dangerous, supernatural abilities and turns to her childhood friend Sean Terrel. The authorities target them and a chase ensues as officials try to discover the truth behind Alex's transformation.”

September 28th - Cruise (Limited) – Romantic drama, new cast. From imdb.com: “Set in the 1980s, a young Italian-American from the "wrong side of the tracks" falls for a Jewish girl from Long Island.”

September 28th - Monsters and Men (Limited) – Drama with a new cast. From imdb.com: “The aftermath of a police killing of a black man, told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high-school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand.”

September 28th - Extremity (Limited) – Horror, new cast. From imdb.com: “A young woman obsessed with horror subjects herself to hours of grueling torment inside an extreme haunt in an attempt to confront her fears and conquer the tragic past that haunts her.”

September 28th - Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (Limited) – Music documentary. From imdb.com: “Drawn from a never-before-seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.”

September 28th - Trico Tri: Happy Halloween (Limited) – Family film, new cast. From google.com: “A family moves back to Miami to take care of its widowed abuela. After moving into a haunted house, the family learns the intentions of the ghosts that inhabit it.”

September 28th - Golden Job (Limited) – Action from Hong Kong. From google.com: “Former mercenaries reunite to plan an epic heist: boosting a truckload of medicine held by a foreign intelligence agency. But when they find the truck is actually filled with stolen gold, they realize they've been double-crossed by one of their own.”

 

[Japanfan]

Gosh, is my short term memory going? For the same year, the movie Downsizing.

I was very pleasantly surprised by it! Very good story. Important subject matter presented in a way that one can still enjoy the wonder of the movie while having something to think about later on. Hong Chau was definitely robbed of a best supporting actress nomination. Why Octavia Spencer got a nomination for The Shape of Water is beyond me. Spencer is a fantastic actress, but hers was a thankless role that pretty much anyone could have done. I had go google Hong Chau interviews to see if this was really who she was as a person of if she was acting her behind off (it's the latter). If you're on the fence about Downsizing, I hope this pushes you to see it.

Hong Chau's performance reached a level of brilliance rarely seen IMO. Her portrait of a woman who is equal parts vulnerable and tough is remarkable. The things she can do with her eyes is amazing! She manages to bring humor to the character without trivializing her. And she doesn't rely on stereotypes, but goes beyond them to create a unique and memorable character.

IMO every single supporting actress award of the season should have gone to Chau, slam dunk.

 

[watchthis!!]

The 2018-2019 Awards Season Calendar
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/2018-2019-awards-season-calendar/

What's happening in the next few months before things really heat up in December:

September 2018

Monday, September 17 – Emmy Awards (NBC, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)


October 2018

Thursday, October 18 – Gotham Independent Film Awards Nominations


November 2018

Sunday, November 11 – People’s Choice Awards
Tuesday, November 16 – Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
Monday, November 26 – Gotham Independent Film Awards
Tuesday, November 27 – National Board of Review Awards

Oscar Futures: A Best Picture Contender Is Born?
http://www.vulture.com/2018/09/oscar-predictions-is-a-star-is-born-our-front-runner.html

Their best picture predictions:

BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
The Favourite
First Man
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
Roma
A Star Is Born
Widows

Their best director predictions:

Damien Chazelle, First Man
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuarón , Roma
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Their best actor predictions:

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Ryan Gosling, First Man
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Robert Redford, The Old Man and the Gun

Their best actres predictions:

Glenn Close, The Wife
Viola Davis, Widows
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Saoirse Ronan, Mary, Queen of Scots

Their best supporting actor predictions:

Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther

Their best supporting actress predictions:

Amy Adams, Vice
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Claire Foy, First Man
Nicole Kidman, Boy Erased
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

 

[Vash01]

I saw 'A simple favor' today. It is a dark comedy. Not really my favorite genre, but the movie moves, after the initial slow part, and it is quite entertaining. Nice twists and turns. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were very good - Oscar nomination worthy.

 

[PeterG]

I've been reading some older posts from this summer and adding some of the titles mentioned to my To See list. Very interesting to look up recommended titles on imdb.com and Wikipedia to see if they might be of interest to me. And of course seeing what you have given a thumbs down to, which saves me time by not having to watch these movies!

I ain't feeling sorry for Meryl Streep. Queen Michelle Yeoh thinks things are better NOW.

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1024712388132646912?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1024712388132646912&ref_url=http://awardswatch.com/forums/showthread.php?45742-The-Crazy-Rich-Asians-Thread-No-Crazies-Allowed/page8

Better in that we had a movie with an all-Asian cast this year...but hopefully we wont' have to wait another 15 years for another one! Your post made me look up Michelle Yeoh, who was up for a best actress BAFTA awards in 2001 for her performance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Which made me wonder what it's director, Ang Lee might have coming up. Two projects:

Gemini Man in 2019, an action drama sci-fi movie starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Will Smith, Clive Owen. Winstead was great in the CBS summer series BrainDead and was in season three of Fargo with Ewan McGregor.

Lee's other project is a "just announced" title: Thrilla In Manila, which "...was the third and final boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier." (imdb.com) No cast info yet, but the script is by Peter Morgan, who has been nominated for two screenplay Oscars, The Queen in 2006 and Frost/Nixon in 2008. He also wrote the upcoming Bohemian Rhapsody movie, Rush (2013, Chris Hemsworth), Hereafter (2010, Matt Damon), The Damned United (2009, Michael Sheen), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008, Natalie Portman) and The Last King of Scotland (2006, Forest Whitaker).

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I love Gilda, so of course I really enjoyed Love, Gilda. It is simply written, but includes a lot of home movie footage I had never seen. There are a lot of scenes & photographs showing Gilda as a young child acting out little skits, her teen and college years, and her early working years including her singing (that barely counts as singing) in Godspell.

Then comes the fun trip down memory lane with the SNL years. Especially my favorite Emily Litella who was based on an important person in her life - her nanny Dibby. "What's all this I hear about presidential erections (elections)?" "Never mind!" The film gives some attention to her eating disorder and generally neurotic issues but doesn't spend too much time on these areas. It also shows how much the women of SNL contributed to the success of the show.

Then the last segment tells about her years with Gene Wilder & her battle with ovarian cancer which is relayed in her own words. Gilda just had that aura of light around her throughout her whole life & there was nothing phony about it.

 

[watchthis!!]

Winged Creatures (released on DVD as Fragments) is a drama that successfully wastes the talents of Guy Pearce, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Jackie Earle Haley,Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning and Josh Hutcherson. Well, the part of the movie featuring Fanning and Hutcherson is decent, but that's about all that is good with this movie. It's just really boring. Which is a shame, because the premise is quite interesting. The film begins in a restaurant with many customers, when a man walks in...and pulls out a gun. The movie is about what then happens, but more about how everyone's life is affected after this traumatic event. The movie is written by Roy Freirich and is based on his novel. He's never written another movie screenplay. Lucky for us...

Trailer for Winged Creatures/Fragments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3qaqXwwGhs

On the plus side, this movie made me look into seeing if Jennifer Hudson has any upcoming movie projects. The musical Cats is going to be a movie! Hudson has been cast as Grizabella and Ian McKellen has been cast as Gus The Theatre Cat. Also in the movie will be James Corden and Taylor Swift. The release date at this time is December 20th, 2019. The director is Tom Hooper (The Danish Girl, Les Misérables and The King's Speech).

 

[Vash01]

These are pretty easy, but it's fun to do well on a quiz rather than ending up with four out of ten.

Quiz: Do you know the quotes from these Oscar-nominated films?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/100901027/quiz-the-oscars-do-you-know-the-quotes-from-these-oscarnominate-films

I got 9 out of 10 for this one. But I deserve a bonus point for figuring out for the that "Darkest Horse" is actually "Darkest Hour".




.

I too got 9/10.

 

[Vash01]

Gold Derby predictions for the Oscars:

https://www.goldderby.com/forum/movies/2019-oscar-predictions/

They have listed just 3 per category.

 

[millyskate]

I saw THE WIFE on Tuesday. Talk about a slow - burn, with so many neat twists and turns.

I predict this film will get Glenn Close her long - awaited Academy Award. Her performance was jaw - dropping.

Just searched the thread to see if anyone had watched this since I'm about to go and see it at the local art picturehouse. I've been struggling to find films I want to watch lately but this looks good!

 

[PeterG]

I saw Fahrenheit 11/9 the other day. I expected to like it because I've enjoyed Michael Moore's work, but I've found his previous few films to not be as strong as some of his earlier stuff. I also expected this movie to be a lot of dumping on Trump and to give it a moderate thumbs up. Instead...

It blew my mind. Moore is back in top form and Trump is actually not the main focus of this movie. It's more about everything that led us to where we are now...which includes shots taken at Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. The movie covers a lot of topics and I was surprised by how much powerful information was presented. Lots of WOW moments. And a good chunk of the movie focusses on new people standing up and saying that what is happening is not acceptable for the America that they believe in. So that was really amazing and uplifting to see.

Can't recommend this one enough.

 

[Vash01]

I saw Fahrenheit 11/9 the other day. I expected to like it because I've enjoyed Michael Moore's work, but I've found his previous few films to not be as strong as some of his earlier stuff. I also expected this movie to be a lot of dumping on Trump and to give it a moderate thumbs up. Instead...

It blew my mind. Moore is back in top form and Trump is actually not the main focus of this movie. It's more about everything that led us to where we are now...which includes shots taken at Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. The movie covers a lot of topics and I was surprised by how much powerful information was presented. Lots of WOW moments. And a good chunk of the movie focusses on new people standing up and saying that what is happening is not acceptable for the America that they believe in. So that was really amazing and uplifting to see.

Can't recommend this one enough.

This is on my Must see list. Good to hear it is worth seeing.

 

[PeterG]

This is on my Must see list. Good to hear it is worth seeing.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[annie720]

I’m at a film festival in Crested Butte, CO this weekend. We saw Minding the Gap today, a documentary by Chicago filmmaker Bing Liu about cycles of abuse in the lives of young people in seedy Rockford, IL who bond over a love for skateboarding. I liked it a lot. Thought-provoking material and it was great seeing the filmmaker do the talkback. Last night I saw RBG even though I’d seen it before. As you can imagine, there was a lot of hooting and hollering by the large festival audience at this showing due to the timing. It was a blast.

 

[Seerek]

I’m at a film festival in Crested Butte, CO this weekend. We saw Minding the Gap today, a documentary by Chicago filmmaker Bing Liu about cycles of abuse in the lives of young people in seedy Rockford, IL who bond over a love for skateboarding. I liked it a lot. Thought-provoking material and it was great seeing the filmmaker do the talkback.

For a first ever documentary, Bing Liu definitely created quite the revelatory piece, although his own story ends up being the least explored compared to screen time allocated to friends Zack and Kiere.

If anything, the key topic of exploration (domestic violence) makes this documentary more timely than ever.

The amount of "archival" footage of the skateboarding friends spanning 10+ years certainly makes this not your regular "coming-of-age" doc.

 

[watchthis!!]

Ten films to watch in October
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180927-ten-films-to-watch-in-October

Five that have been discussed in this thread:

A Star is Born

Beautiful Boy

First Man

Halloween

Venom

And five that have not:

Can you Ever Forgive Me? (Melissa McCarthy, Richard E Grant)

A massive audience hit when it premiered at Telluride earlier this year, it’s already generating plenty of awards buzz. Released 19 October in the US.

What They Had

It’s Christmas Eve when a confused Ruth (Blythe Danner) totters out into a snow blizzard in Illinois. The incident prompts her grown-up children, unmarried Nicky (Michael Shannon) and unhappily married Bridget (Hillary Swank) – along with Bridget’s estranged college age daughter (Taissa Farmiga) – to come back home to Chicago to deal with their mother’s worsening Alzheimer’s. However, attempts to persuade their father (Robert Forster) to put Ruth in a home fall on deaf ears. To him their love is forever and he wants to be with her “in sickness and in health”.

Bad Times at the El Royale

Seven shady strangers meet at the equally shady El Royale, a rundown hotel near Lake Tahoe, for one fateful night. What are they hiding? Why are they there? Well, there’s no guessing why we are given this stylishly violent thriller’s stellar ensemble cast. Check out these big-draw names: Jeff Bridges (as a criminal disguised as a priest), Dakota Johnson (as a gun-toting femme fatale), Jon Hamm (as a seedy vacuum cleaner salesman) and Chris Hemsworth (as a shirtless cult leader), not to mention Tony and Grammy-award-winning Cynthia Erivo making her first waves in the movies in a singer role first offered to Beyoncé. Plus keep your eyes peeled for Russell Crowe popping up in an uncredited cameo. On general release from 12 October.

Studio 54

Anything goes, or rather, went at Studio 54, the legendary 1970s New York nightclub where Bianca Jagger notoriously rode a white horse across the dance floor. Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Warhol were also VIP regulars at this hedonistic paradise of sexual freedom, drugs and dazzling theatricality, that didn’t even last for three years before its hubristic owners were imprisoned for tax fraud. This doc stands out from the plethora of other articles/books/films on the subject by extensive exclusive interviews with 54’s surviving founder Ian Schrager (now a successful hotelier) as well as one of the doorkeepers who guarded the club’s infamous velvet rope. The closest you’ll now ever get to actually dancing there. Released in the US on 5 October.

Burning

This subtle South Korean romantic mystery drama is based on Barn Burning, a short story by Haruki Murakami, while also acknowledging a debt to William Faulkner’s story of the same name. Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo) is an unassertive delivery driver who works near the DMZ. One day he bumps into – and speedily finds himself in bed with – Haemi (Jong-seo Jeon), a stunning old school friend he doesn’t remember. His head turned, Jongsu agrees to look after Haemi’s cat when she’s on a trip to Africa. However Haemi returns with Ben (Steven Yeun), a handsome stranger she met in Kenya, who reveals an unusual and disturbing hobby. Selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, this latest offering from acclaimed director Lee Chang-Dong is an elusive, slow-burn tale of jealousy, justice and revenge.

 

[PeterG]

So the last movie from the 3-disc set "Forbidden Hollywood" is 1933's Female (starring Ruth Chatterton and George Brent). Neither stars are familiar to me, but Chatterton was nominated for best actress in 1929 and 1930. Brent was never nominated for any awards, but he does have two stars on the Walk of Fame, for movies and for television. Imdb.com says he was Bette Davis' favourite leading man. Anyway, Female is quite an interesting movie in that Chatterton plays the chairperson of a gigantic corporation and is basically playing the role that we saw men play for...well, pretty much ever! Strong, focussed, powerful/power-hungry and not afraid to lure randon boytoy things from her company into some after work fun. But always all business while at the office. Sure, the end of the movie has her doing the "womanly" thing of quitting work to marry and have babies, but that's only the last five to ten minutes of the movie. Cool to see a female character in a role that is so rarely one that any actress gets to take on. The trailer doesn't really do the movie justice, but does give you a little taste of what to expect.

 

[watchthis!!]

33 Movies You Will Be Talking About This Awards Season
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adambvary/awards-season-preview-2018


Ones that have not been discussed in this thread (from what I can remember):

22 July - A Paul Greengrass movie about the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway.

The Hate U Give

The movie follows a teenage black girl named Starr (Amandla Stenberg, so great), who witnesses her childhood best friend get shot and killed by a white police officer.

Boy Erased - about a gay teen whose parents put him into a reparative therapy program. Starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.

The Front Runner (Hugh Jackman) - about "the fall of Democrat Gary Hart during the 1988 presidential campaign".

At Eternity's Gate

(Director Julian)Schnabel's latest film approaches one of the most tortured artists ever, 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (Willem Dafoe), who infamously sliced off his own ear after a reputed confrontation with fellow post-impressionist Paul Gauguin (Oscar Isaac).

Widows - Starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Robert Duvall

Green Book - Starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.

The Favorite - Starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult and Emma Stone

If Beale Street Could Talk - "A woman in Harlem desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime while carrying their first child." (imdb.com)

Ben Is Back (Lucas Hedges, Julia Roberts and Courtney B. Vance)

Vox Lux

If you’ve ever wanted to see Natalie Portman wield a truly batshit Staten Island accent and deliver a performance that can best be described as “deranged,” do I have the movie for you! Vox Lux is a mess of a film, a mean-spirited, largely unpleasant, and deliberately uncomfortable look at the makings of a pop star.

Destroyer (Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford)

Mary Queen of Scots (Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, David Tennant, Guy Pearce)

Mary Poppins Returns (Emily Blunt, Dick Van Dyke, Emily Mortimer, Lin Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Julie Walters, Colin Firth)

Welcome to Marwen (Steve Carrell)

In April 2000, Mark Hogancamp was beaten so viciously by a group of men outside a bar that, after emerging from a coma, he had almost no memory of his life before the attack.

Vice - drama about Dick Cheney starring Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bill Pullman, Steve Carrell, Sam Rockwell

On The Basis of Sex

This biopic is of a particularly timely public figure: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

 

[Vash01]

Just returned from watching 'RBG' in a theatre. I had recorded it from CNN but my cable provider changed shortly after that and I didnt get to watch it. It was much better on the big screen though. It was very good. Some shocking discoveries about how women were treated. I remeber her criticism of Trump during the 2016 elections and how the Republicans had jumped on it (I will save the remainder of my comment for the PI forum).

I had expected to see many trailers before the movie (typically 20-25 minutes) but they showed just one (I was relieved). It was the feature film about RBG with Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer playing Ruth and Marty. Looking forward to it.

 

[SandraMGfan]

So - I go to the movies a lot (love my unlimited card!) but I’m also a board lurker... but I’ll write my A Star is Born impression as I just got out of it and loved it!

The music is was really good and all songs sang by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (no Lip since according to IMDb). Lady Gaga was as good as the critics say and will prob snag quite a few awards nods. But I would almost say that Bradley Cooper stole the show for me - he was phenomenal in the manager role + singing + directing.
I will always love me some Will Tippin from his Alias days - but he certainly has come a long way!

Now - is it Oct 24 so I can go and see Bohemian Rhapsody?

 

[watchthis!!]

The Pack is a horror thriller from Australia about a family on a farm in a remote area. They are visited by a bank manager who tells them that they are about to lose their farm because of unpaid mortgage payments. He's a bit nasty about it, so after he has left their farm and pulls over for a pee break, we're not too upset when a pack of wild dogs attack and kill him. My apologies to any of you who work in a bank. Soon enough, the pack of wild dogs set their sights on this remote farm and the family of four have to fight for their survival. I enjoyed this movie even though it's a fairly standard horror/action/thriller kind of movie. I like seeing how the family has to fight to win against the attack of this wild pack of dogs. And how they must work together to do so.

Trailer for The Pack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2ibr4y203w

 

[PeterG]

I saw A Simple Favor yesterday. Blown away! I can't remember a movie that exceeded so well as two different genres at the same time. Brilliant as a comedy and enthralling as a murder mystery/thriller.

Saw Simple Favor tonight. I loved it everything about it! Hadn't read the book and knew very little about the movie advance. Enjoyed the performances by all the leads, especially Blake. Loved the costuming. It was great seeing Linda Cardellini again, and Henry Golding looked very fine!

Cardellini was so good, very cool to see actors take such small roles and then make so much out of the. And yes Golding was delish. There was one scene where he's wearing jeans that fit well and I wanted so much to be at home so I could rewind and watch in slow motion.

I saw it too and could not have said it better. Cool movie, some good twists, nice eye candy, clothing was cool.

Rupert Friend! So unlike Peter Quinn - character he played on Homeland - which was not a Tom Ford wannabe!
Anna Kendrick is so cool and adorable - I think everyone would want her as a best friend. A great escapist type movie.

Kendrick was so good. All those youtube videos! And Rupert Friend looked delish! I only know him from Homeland, so it was nice to see him do something so different.

I saw 'A simple favor' today. It is a dark comedy. Not really my favorite genre, but the movie moves, after the initial slow part, and it is quite entertaining. Nice twists and turns. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were very good - Oscar nomination worthy.

I thought the whole movie moved very quickly. In the beginning, the dialogue between Lively and Kendrick...made me think of the screwball comedies from the late 30's and early 40's. So witty and quick! Everybody in the audience was laughing and I think some people gasped at a few of Lively's lines. I agree that Lively and Kendrick should be at least considered for some award buzz. I think the script and direction should be considered as well, along with best picture. My friends thought I was getting over-excited about the movie when I mentioned all of this to them, though.

 

[Japanfan]

The Pack is a horror thriller from Australia about a family on a farm in a remote area. They are visited by a bank manager who tells them that they are about to lose their farm because of unpaid mortgage payments. He's a bit nasty about it, so after he has left their farm and pulls over for a pee break, we're not too upset when a pack of wild dogs attack and kill him. My apologies to any of you who work in a bank. Soon enough, the pack of wild dogs set their sights on this remote farm and the family of four have to fight for their survival. I enjoyed this movie even though it's a fairly standard horror/action/thriller kind of movie. I like seeing how the family has to fight to win against the attack of this wild pack of dogs. And how they must work together to do so.

Trailer for The Pack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2ibr4y203w

The premise for this is preposterous. Wild dogs can certainly pose a threat to farm animals/smaller animals, but they are not inherently evil as this trailer would suggest. They don't torment people and animals just for fun. And they tend to very wary of people.

I'll pass on this one for sure.

 

[Jay42]

I doubt I could expand on A Simple Favor more than anyone else has. I saw it a little over a week ago and it's by far my favourite movie this year. It's so good, the acting is great, my love for Anna Kendrick is eternal. Blake Lively played a modern femme fatale most excellently. The movie was both noir and comedy and it hit all my movie based aesthetic buttons and I can't wait until December when it has it's home release so I can watch it again. Also, I love the posters. I would hang any one of them on my wall.

 

[millyskate]

I saw The Wife at the weekend. Really enjoyed it - worked really well around a number of important themes. The men's clubs that control so many creative industries, award mechanisms narratives, the delusion surrounding it, the narcissism that comes with being placed on pedestals (a chicken/egg question) etc...

The end was a tiny bit underwhelming, that was my only negative.

 

[PeterG]

I've been meaning to respond to the posts about Oscar buzz. A lot of the movies I know very little about at this time. But my early October thoughts are (and they might very well change on a weekly basis):

Best Picture

- I'm curious to see how A Star Is Born does. I've been checking to see what the first single for the movie will be, and...nothing. Often with movies, there's a single released MONTHS ahead of the film. Just checked now and I see that on September 27th, "Shallow" was released, a duet of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

- The Favourite and Green Book, as little as I know about them, they are on my radar. Interested to see how they fare once they hit the theatre. And I knew nothing about Widows, but just checked it out on imdb.com. Now it's on my radar as well.

- Boy Erased - tired of the continual gay-bashing topic of gay-themed films, but this one has a lot of talent involved

- Curious about Mary Queen of Scots, with women as the focus of the movie

- On The Basis of Sex, the drama about Ruth Bader Ginsburg - lemme see the movie first, then we'll talk

Best Director

- Bradley Cooper, maybe???

Best Actor

- Bradley or Viggo? Both have done a lot of movies that have entertained us, a win for either could be more of a career thank you if the performance isn't one that stands up against all the best actor performances of the past

- Robert Redford could be a sentimental pick. All depends on the role and his performance though.

Best Actress

- I'm a fangirl of Lady Gaga and Melissa McCarthy and I like it when nominations come out of left field. VERY interested in McCarthy's dramatic performance (Can You Forgive Me?) which seems to be getting some serious buzz

- I've thought Glenn Close has deserved an Oscar for a long time, but The Wife seemed to come and go at the box office so quickly. I don't think it played anywhere even close to me...

- This might sound wacky, but indie drama director David Gordon Green is taking a try at a big studio movie with Halloween...could he have written and directed Jamie Lee Curtis to a performance worth some award buzz??

Best Supporting Actor

x (nobody on my radar at this time)

Best Supporting Actress

- I adore Olivia Colman. SO many good performances on her resume, including Broadchurch, Tyrannosaur and The Night Manager.

- Regina King is a FIERCE performer, can't wait to see what her performance is like

- Amy Adams is another person I think who has been under-Oscared for a while

- Michelle Rodriguez gives a strong performance in Widows in one article I saw...another possibility of a nomination coming out of left field

 

[watchthis!!]

Touching The Void is a documentary that feels like a drama...it's about two mountain climbers in the Andes mountains and how they deal with a disaster. The movie re-creates the situation they found themselves in and the aftermath. So a lot of it feels like a drama, which is well filmed and scary to witness, even though we know it's a re-creation. The movie won Best British Film at the BAFTA's and two British Independent Film Awards, for documentary and technical achievement (cinematography). All well deserved awards.

Trailer for Touching The Void: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtnqVZEktyg

The premise for this is preposterous. Wild dogs can certainly pose a threat to farm animals/smaller animals, but they are not inherently evil as this trailer would suggest. They don't torment people and animals just for fun. And they tend to very wary of people.

I'll pass on this one for sure.

Ohmigosh, you're no fun! Imagine if they wrote Cujo, The Birds, Jaws or Anaconda in a no-nonsense manner? That would suck the life out of any horror movie.

 

[Cachoo]

So - I go to the movies a lot (love my unlimited card!) but I’m also a board lurker... but I’ll write my A Star is Born impression as I just got out of it and loved it!

The music is was really good and all songs sang by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (no Lip since according to IMDb). Lady Gaga was as good as the critics say and will prob snag quite a few awards nods. But I would almost say that Bradley Cooper stole the show for me - he was phenomenal in the manager role + singing + directing.
I will always love me some Will Tippin from his Alias days - but he certainly has come a long way!

Now - is it Oct 24 so I can go and see Bohemian Rhapsody?

I'm so glad to hear of the good reviews coming in for "A Star is Born." I remember watching the 70's film with my friends and hearing sniffles and I was stone-faced. I couldn't buy the relationship between the two stars even as I enjoyed the soundtrack. The press for this update is much better.