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

[Aussie Willy]

I watched That Sugar Film tonight and thought it was quite good : educational, fun and effective narrative. However, I did find it a bit depressing because now I'll feel guilty having my daily juice ! For a split second after the movie, I thought "Let's try not eating sugar anymore" but I have no willpower whatsoever.

I saw that documentary a while ago. Very interesting and really does get you thinking about what you eat.

I saw Molly's Game and Phantom Thread on the weekend.

Really enjoyed Molly's Game. I did feel it was a female Goodfellas (gave me that vibe) which I didn't mind. Have seen Jessica Chastain in quite a few movies now and she is a great actress. I did feel that some of the scenes dragged on a bit though which made the film a bit long.

Phantom Thread was a good and very interesting film. Daniel Day Lewis was excellent as always. But I felt the ending was unresolved and I sometime didn't quite get the relationship between Reynolds and Alma.

 

[PeterG]

Big Eden (2000) is a (romantic) drama for straight people and a fantasy/sci-fi movie for gay people. As I am a gay people, I will talk about the movie from that perspective.

Okay, so earth has this alternative reality, right? It's like there are TWO EARTHS and in this one, not only are gay people in small-town America accepted by EVERYBODY...but all the straight people work TOGETHER to make the lives of gay people better and happier! FREAKY, right? This is a frickin' wild movie when you keep expecting everybody to wake up and for bad sh** to happen to all the gay people...but it never happens! The straight people are always nice and kind and helpful. It's one frickin' mind-trip of a movie. Tough to wrap around your head around and makes you think you're safe when you walk out into the real world.

And how I imagine straight people would review Big Eden:

Its a nice romance with sweet people where people learn about themselves and discover who they are through the help of loved ones. And it's filmed in the beautiful Montana countryside.

 

[pollyanna]

And stars the very hot Eric Schweig (Last of the Mohicans).

 

[DannyCurry]

Among the movies I've seen lately :
-Loveless : Russian movie about a divorcing couple who doesn't deserve to be parents. Poor kid.

-God's Own Country : A British production on a messed up young farmer who discovers new feelings with the arrival of a Romanian seasonal worker. I don't really know what to say about this one. I think the aesthetic of the countryside and the animals was well-done (and I'm definitely not a countryside or animals guy) and oddly, though a few "gay" moments felt right, I found the editing a bit awkward at times, as if the scenes were thrown in just to please the queer audience. There was a bit of nudity. Of course I wished for more, but there was enough to see that Josh O'Connor is one big actor

 

[watchthis!!]

Movie news.


BRING IT OUTBACK! Spoof Crocodile Dundee trailer that aired during the Superbowl was so good there’s now a campaign to turn it into a REAL movie
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5501778/superbowl-spoof-crocodile-dundee-trailer-was-so-good-theres-now-a-campaign-to-turn-it-into-a-real-movie/

… despite convincing many that a new Crocodile Dundee film could be on the cards, it later emerged that the trailer - featuring cameos from Aussie stars Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe - was actually an ad for Tourism Australia.

Netflix launching surprise Cloverfield movie after Super Bowl
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/04/netflix-cloverfield-super-bowl-surprise

Set in space, the thriller stars David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Daniel Bruhl and Chris O’Dowd. Unlike 10 Cloverfield Lane, the film is believed to have a connection to the first film with the trailer suggesting it might explain why New York was invaded in the first place. It’s rumored to have a $40m-plus budget.
An early plot description teased a group of astronauts stuck on a space station after earth vanishes. They then make a “horrible discovery”.

Jordan Peele Explains How ‘The Emoji Movie’ Caused Him To Quit Acting
https://etcanada.com/news/296471/jordan-peele-explains-how-the-emoji-movie-caused-him-to-quit-acting/
While I understand where he’s coming from, I’m guessing his retirement from acting will be much like Steven Soderbergh’s retirement from directing.


Xavier Dolan cuts Jessica Chastain from latest movie
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/xavier-dolan-cuts-jessica-chastain-from-latest-movie-1.3789692
The article mentions that the first rough cut of the movie was four hours long. So when parts of the story were cut, Chastain’s villainous character didn’t fit into the movie as well as other parts did. Also mentioned is that the characters played by Kit Harington and Susan Sarandon remain in Dolan’s first English-language directed movie.

 

[Jay42]

So I watched the trailer for the Han Solo movie, I have to say I was underwhelmed, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian was the most interesting thing in the trailer and he wasn't even in it that much.

 

[PeterG]

Just got back from seeing The Greatest Showman. Just amazing. I don't even know where to start because there's so much about it that's good. Which is how I felt after the movie because I used the restroom and when I was walking out, I thought to myself, "just...breathe". There's brilliant music and incredible visuals and a story that made me feel full in places I felt empty and cry at moments of love & heartbreak amongst the characters and dancing and fantastic acting...

The music made me think that we'll be hearing the songs from this movie for years with many different figure skaters. Which is fine by me, it's time to let go of Moulin Rouge and Cabaret. But pretty much all the songs are so high energy that they might be too overwhelming for a skater to perform at a level to match the music for four to four and a half minutes. Maybe if they put a two minute slower song in the middle of a medley. The soundtrack is one that includes so many stand-outs, compared to so many musicals that have a few strong songs and the rest is sung dialogue over a barely-there melody. But this soundtrack could be released in a second version, with today's pop stars doing individual numbers. I swear there could be a LOT of pop chart hits with this.

I'm not sure I'd say any of the performances deserve Oscar nominations, but Hugh Jackman is perfect in this, even though he's probably a decade or so too old for this role. But when that thought came into my head, I thought, "I don't even want to THINK of who else I'd like to see in this role". Michelle Williams adds another top-notch performance to her resume. Loved her singing voice and it was great to see her dance with Jackman at the beginning of the movie. More, please! Zac Efron possibly does his best acting in this, he says a lot with just his eyes a couple of times throughout the movie. Zendaya makes a great screen duo with Efron, would love to see them in a musical romance together. Plus I think they should get married and have a ton of beautiful and immensely talented children. And everyone else in the cast are so wonderful. One gripe I have is that early on I saw Alex Wong (who was on So You Think You Can Dance) in one scene and got excited that I'd get to see him in a whole bunch of dance numbers. But then I didn't notice him again the rest of the movie. Hopefully the DVD will have him featured in ten dance numbers that ended up on the cutting room floor.

Lastly, I just checked to see how many Academy Award nominations it received. One. For best song. It probably should have had all five slots for best song. I'll have to listen to the other nominees and see if any of them compare. It should have gotten a lot of nominations for the technical categories and definitely deserved a best picture nomination. There are only nine movies up for best picture and there's room for ten. So I'm disappointed that it didn't get the last spot. Especially since the dismal Dunkirk, which has no storyline except for people in tugboats picking up soldiers from across the way. Ugh.

The Greatest Showman has been added to my "Favourite Movies Of All Time" list at #21.

 

[watchthis!!]

Decided to check out an oldie, so I watched Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore from 1974. I found it so-so. Maybe for 1974 it was ground-breaking? Ellen Burstyn played the title role, for which she won the best actress Oscar. Wikipedia says that Shirley MacLaine was offered the role, but turned it down. And that MacLaine regretted doing so. I find Burstyn to be kind of fluttery, so somebody more grounded like MacLaine would have made for a better movie, I think. But maybe the whole movie is supposed to be fluttery because it's about Alice trying to raise her son after her husband dies and not really having any work skills. Alice moves from city to city trying to make a career as a lounger singer and finally realizing that waitressing is a more real prospect for her. Along the way she meets horrible men to date. Harvey Keitel plays one of those guys and Kris Kristofferson another, although maybe with some training he might turn out okay. Diane Ladd plays one of the waitresses where Burstyn ends up working and Ladd got an Oscar nomination for her work. In a small part is Jodie Foster, who's quite good as the friend of Alice's son. And in a cameo is Laura Dern playing the part of "Girl Eating Ice Cream Cone (uncredited)".

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2018-02-09th
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipT3-s2n_dTaU6DwhEq5L_zH


Feb. 9th - Fifty Shades Freed (Wide) – Romantic thriller with Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Kim Basinger, Tyler Hoechlin, Rita Ora and Marcia Gay Harden

Feb. 9th – Peter Rabbit (Wide) – Adventure comedy with Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, James Corden, Rose Byrne, and Domhnall Gleeson

Feb. 9th - The 15:17 to Paris (Wide) – Thriller directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Jaleel White and Tony Hale

Feb. 9th - Basmati Blues (Limited) – Musical romantic comedy with Brie Larson, Scott Bakula, Tyne Daly and Donald Sutherland

Feb. 9th - Golden Exits (Limited) – Drama with Emily Browning [American Gods], Mary-Louise Parker, Jason Schwartzman and Chloë Sevigny

Feb. 9th - The Female Brain (Limited) - Comedy with James Marsden, Sofia Vergara, Ben Platt, Jane Seymour, Whitney Cummings and Will Sasso

Feb. 9th - First We Take Brooklyn (Limited) – Crime drama with Harvey Keitel, AnnaLynne McCord [Secrets and Lies] and Charlotte McKinney [Baywatch]

Feb. 9th - Permission (Limited) – Romantic comedy drama with Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Gina Gershon, Jason Sudeikis

Feb. 9th - Monster Family (Limited) - Animated with Emily Watson, Jason Isaacs and Nick Frost

Feb. 9th - FourPlay (Limited) – Comedy drama with Tammy Blanchard [Into The Woods] and Bryan Greenberg
….no trailer at youtube…

Feb. 9th - Bomb City (Limited) – Crime drama with a new cast. From imdb.com: “…the cultural aversion of a group of punk rockers in a conservative Texas town. Their ongoing battle with a rival, more-affluent clique leads to a controversial hate crime that questions the morality of American justice.”

Feb. 9th - Entanglement (Limited) – Comedy drama with with Jess Weixler [The Good Wife] and Thomas Middleditch [Silicon Valley]

Feb. 9th - But Deliver Us From Evil (Limited) – Horror with a new cast & Eric Roberts. From imdb.com: “A demon (Succubus) wreaks havoc on a U.S city. Lilith, Adams first wife according to Jewish mysticism seeks revenge against all of God's creation. Scorned she returns present day with a vengeance against man and his offspring.”

Feb. 9th - La Boda de Valentina (Limited) - Romantic comedy from Mexico. From google: “To avoid negative press, a woman's scandalous political family convinces her to pretend to be married to her ex-beau. Complications soon arise when her current boyfriend proposes for real.”

Feb. 9th - Aiyaary (Limited) – Crime drama from India. From imdb.com: “A respected colonel hunts down a military intelligence officer who threatens to bring down the Government.”

Feb. 9th - Padman (Limited) – Comedy drama from India. From imdb.com: “Upon realizing the extent to which women are affected by their menses, a man sets out to create a sanitary pad machine and to provide inexpensive sanitary pads to the women of rural India.”

 

[Japanfan]

Decided to check out an oldie, so I watched Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore from 1974. I found it so-so. Maybe for 1974 it was ground-breaking? Ellen Burstyn played the title role, for which she won the best actress Oscar. Wikipedia says that Shirley MacLaine was offered the role, but turned it down. And that MacLaine regretted doing so. I find Burstyn to be kind of fluttery, so somebody more grounded like MacLaine would have made for a better movie, I think. But maybe the whole movie is supposed to be fluttery because it's about Alice trying to raise her son after her husband dies and not really having any work skills. Alice moves from city to city trying to make a career as a lounger singer and finally realizing that waitressing is a more real prospect for her. Along the way she meets horrible men to date. Harvey Keitel plays one of those guys and Kris Kristofferson another, although maybe with some training he might turn out okay. Diane Ladd plays one of the waitresses where Burstyn ends up working and Ladd got an Oscar nomination for her work. In a small part is Jodie Foster, who's quite good as the friend of Alice's son. And in a cameo is Laura Dern playing the part of "Girl Eating Ice Cream Cone (uncredited)".

I re-watched it this summer and agree with the "so-so" ranking. It was edgy and ground-breaking in the 70s because it was about a single mother living life on her own terms, but the concept is nothing remarkable today.

However, Kris Krisofferson is awful kind on the eyes.

 

[watchthis!!]

Trailers For Movies Released 2018-02-09th
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipT3-s2n_dTaU6DwhEq5L_zH

Feb. 9th - The 15:17 to Paris (Wide) – Thriller directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Jaleel White and Tony Hale

Whenever I see the TV spot for this one, with the scene of the blonde guy charging the man with the gun...I get chills!

 

[DannyCurry]

Just got back from seeing The Greatest Showman. Just amazing. I don't even know where to start because there's so much about it that's good. Which is how I felt after the movie because I used the restroom and when I was walking out, I thought to myself, "just...breathe". There's brilliant music and incredible visuals and a story that made me feel full in places I felt empty and cry at moments of love & heartbreak amongst the characters and dancing and fantastic acting...
(...)
I'm not sure I'd say any of the performances deserve Oscar nominations, but Hugh Jackman is perfect in this, even though he's probably a decade or so too old for this role.

I watched it today but with too much of a critical eye. I think an effort could have been made for Michelle Williams playing the young bride, but once she was a mother she was perfect (and I really liked her character's vision of life). Hugh Jackman was perfect, whether young or old, in my opinion. There were just parts of the choreography on some numbers that I didn't really like for him (but that's not because of him, because I have absolutely nothing wrong to say about this (perfect) man, lol). Zac Efron was fine, though I'm not used to his deep voice when he speaks (I probably haven't watched him much since...High School Musical and Hairspray so it's been a while haha). Zendaya was so gorgeous, wow.
Now the negative : I would have preferred a less auto-tuned vibe to several songs and in my book, none of the songs was particularly great. They felt like pre-composed Eurovision-like songs to me (I guess there's Never Enough authenticity for me). Yet, overall I loved the movie and the songs worked on me (I'm almost ashamed to say so). I was off today, which might explain why I'm being so critical but I'll try to watch it again, after a long day at work. I'm sure I'll enjoy it more, as it's pretty good entertainment.

I also watched In the Fade. Okay Diane Kruger is gorgeous, and ok she can express suffering. I didn't get into the movie but her acting was fine.

 

[Kasey]

Being off of work with injury until next week, I have been catching up with movies. Caught most of "Split" while it was playing; I've liked Mcavoy since "Last King of Scotland", and he remains amazing in this one. The movie is pretty much higher quality horror/thrill fare, but he's wonderful. Then this morning, I finally watched "Hidden Figures". Kind of formulaic and "movie of the week"-ish, but the acting was great quality throughout, and it was nice to have these mostly unheard-of ladies recognized for their contributions. And finally, "La-la Land" just finished. WTF? This was nominated for HOW many Academy Awards?? Different strokes I guess. I thought it was an annoying fluff piece. Emma Stone is fantastic, and really great musically as well. Ryan Gosling...well, he can act, but in terms of his singing, well, bless his heart. I tend to dislike musicals anyway; this just reinforced it. Luckily I'm doing work from home at the same time, so I can't say watching it was a total waste of 2 hours of my life.

 

[watchthis!!]

Evening Standard British Film Awards 2018: Kristin Scott Thomas crowned
https://www.standard.co.uk/go/londo...-daniel-kaluuya-crowned-winners-a3760531.html

Scott Thomas won best actress for the movie "The Party". Has anyone heard of this one? (I haven't.) I'm sure she's good in it. Maybe it hasn't been released in North America yet? I think that happened with the Helen Mirren movie for which there was some Oscar buzz. Can't remember the name of that one (it wasn't Winchester).

All the winners from the above article:

Everyman Award for Best Film: God's Own Country

Best Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Best Actress in partnership with Claridge's: Kristin Scott Thomas, The Party

Best Supporting Actor: Simon Russell Beale, The Death of Stalin

Best Supporting Actress: Gemma Jones, God's Own Country

Amanda Eliasch Best Screenplay Award: Sally Potter, The Party

Technical Achievement: Gary Williamson, Paddington 2 (production design)

Breakthrough of the Year: Rungano Nyoni, I Am Not a Witch

Peter Sellers Award for Comedy: Paddington 2

 

[Kasey]

Scott Thomas won best actress for the movie "The Party". Has anyone heard of this one? (I haven't.) I'm sure she's good in it. Maybe it hasn't been released in North America yet?

I saw the preview for this before some movie from last year...I looked it up on imdb and it says the U.S. release date is supposed to b 2/16. From the preview, it looked like a political-based dark comedy.

 

[annie720]

Saw Phantom Thread today. Nobody I know who has seen this movie has liked it, so I was expecting to feel the same. Not so. I actually liked it quite a bit, though the characters were pretty creepy. Vicky Krieps reminds me so much of a young Meryl Streep. Loved Woodcock's muah to Alma at the end as he was puking in the bathroom.

 

[PeterG]

Netflix launching surprise Cloverfield movie after Super Bowl
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/04/netflix-cloverfield-super-bowl-surprise

I liked the first Cloverfield movie and really liked the second one. So I'm disappointed if this means the series won't be getting theatrical release and the attention that brings. This makes me wonder if the movie is thought to have not turned out well, so it got sold off to Netflix? Or is this just another example of how the world of movies and their distribution is changing? Although would Netflix buy a movie that a studio deemed to be a bomb?

Also wonder that if a fourth movie is ready to go, maybe a Netflix release will bring a new audience to the series and without movie #3 taking up a theatrical release, a paying audience will be more ready and interested for part four that's ready to go?

Now I'm hoping I will get a house-stting gig so I can catch up on some Netflix releases!

 

[jl22aries]

I saw The Party at our local film fest and thought it was fantastic. It's a very short drawing room dark comedy. Staged like a play, almost. Little bit absurd, little bit strange. Fantastic acting. Patricia Clarkson chewed up every scene. I laughed out loud, a lot.

 

[watchthis!!]

I was really impressed with Don't Breathe, a 2016 thriller. It's about three youth who plan to rob a blind man's home. One of the three is Rocky, who agrees to take part in the robbery so she can remove herself and her young sister from an abusive home. She is played by Jane Levy who is most famous for the TV show Suburgatory. Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why, Saving Grace) plays one of the other potential robbers and he is involved because he is in love with Rocky and wants her to have the money so that she can start a new life...and maybe join her. The problem with the plan is that the blind man is not as helpless as they have assumed. His background makes him much more of a foe than they have bargained for. On top of that, he kills the power in his home so that the robbers cannot see while he knows his way around his home like the back of his hand. On top of that, for safety (and other) reasons, the blind man has built his home to make exit and entry next to impossible. This movie has just the right amount of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. Stephen Lang plays the blind man, he's one of those actors that you've seen in a ton of things, but can't quite place him. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame was playing one of the bad guys in Avatar (he'll be in the sequels as well). I thought this was an incredibly well written, directed and acted movie. I totally recommend it.

Trailer for Don't Breathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8XwWwPT8LE

 

[PeterG]

I saw Lady Bird yesterday. It was at the discount theatre and it played there last week as well, so I was surprised that the small theatre was more than half full. I ended up in a full row at the very back as two latecomers arrived and squished in next to me. I hate sitting like that...with somebody's arm hanging over the arm rest into my SPACE!! When I can, I wait to see movies until they're near the end of their run so I don't have to deal with situations like this. Oh well, shall I talk about the movie? I thought it was good. Not fantastic. It was a nice enough script, well directed with some above average performances. As much as I really like Laurie Metcalf, I'm rooting for Alison Janney now. (Haven't seen the three other supporting actress nominees.) Janney was just given so much more to do than Metcalf. Makes me wonder what Metcalf would have done with playing the role of Tonya Harding's mom!

Can't speak about who I'm rooting for best actress as I've only seen two of the nominees. The eye strain I'm dealing with is forcing me out of my home and away from screens so while I'm out shopping or walking or having a meal, I'm seeing more movies in the theatre. Maybe I'll catch all the nominees by March 4th. As it stands now, I'm not really rooting for Lady Bird to win any of it's five possible awards. I recommend the movie, but it's not one that I think I'll watch again at some point later in my life (which makes me root for a movie, if it's something I think about wanting to see again even though I just watched it).

 

[mrr50]

Saw The Post. It was amazing. The New York Time reviewers who are having fits about the movie not emphasizing that the New York Times had the Pentagon Papers first haven't seen the movie. The movie makes it clear that The Washington Post wouldn't have printed the Papers if The Times hadn't been under an injunction.

Secondly The Post is more about the story of Katharine Graham, the postion of women, her stake in the decision and her turning point. She made a decision that allowed Ben Bradlee to change The Washington Post into a national newspaper.

Finally, the first scene in Vietnam had me scraping my husband off the ceiling. We hadn't expected the movie to start quite like that.

 

[PeterG]

There's a lot of Disney movies I've never seen, so one I crossed off my To See list recently was 1940's Pinocchio. I guess I haven't seen many of the older Disney animated movies because I'm so used to the new movies that are all so precise and perfect (in both appearance and story). So Pinocchio surprised me a bit in the animation, which is good, but definitely dated compared to today's animated movies and dated compared to, say, Beauty and the Beast from 1991. And I thought the story was kind of herky-jerky, bouncing back and forth between varying plots and their random-seeming locations. So all that took me by surprise, but overall it was entertaining enough. I thought it had more famous songs than just I've Got No Strings and When You Wish Upon A Star. But just those two are almost worth watching the whole movie for.

 

[MacMadame]

Pinocchio isn't my favorite of the old-school Disney animated movies. I prefer Dumbo. Also, most of the princess movies are annoying but none are as annoying as Snow White. I think Sleeping Beauty is probably the best of the pre-1990s princess movies.

 

[Vash01]

Has anyone seen 15:57 to Paris? The trailer looked interesting but after reading some reviews on imdb I doubt that i will see it. It has a 5.1 score on imdb. That could improve but probably not by much, from what i am reading.

I may end up seeing The greatest showman, even though it is a musical.

I have seen all the Oscar nominated films and none of the foreign language films are running here. So i am stuck with DVDs and a few movies i am willing to take a chance on.

I do want to see Red Sparrow but may have to lower my expectations.

 

[watchthis!!]

I saw Pitch Perfect 3 and really liked it. I probably enjoyed it more than a "really like" because it felt like an hour had passed and the movie was over. So they left me with wanting more. The musical numbers were top-notch, but they seemed to be abbreviated to me rather than full musical numbers. But maybe like the movie itself, I enjoyed the music so much that it seemed to pass by really quickly. Only one musical number near the end seemed to long, but that's probably because that was the only song they covered that I didn't really care for. The comedy was strong, but something to be appreciated rather than anything that made me laugh out loud. I missed some of the guys from the last movie, but I guess all the women had moved on in their lives and those guys weren't part of their story anymore. Maybe they'll get their own spin-off. Ben Platt has proven on Broadway that he can carry a show by himself. Would love more chances to get to hear him sing!

 

[Kasey]

I may end up seeing The greatest showman, even though it is a musical.

I don't like musicals, but I found The Greatest Showman watchable, and even somewhat enjoyable.

 

[PeterG]

I saw The Post today. Most of it felt like a cross between reading a textbook and listening to a three hour lecture by a professor without a personality or a smidgen of personality. The last third had a slight pulse, however. I'm guessing that the movie got a best picture nomination thanks to all those in the academy who are nearing death and wanted something old-school in the mix. This movie made me wonder if Spielberg is growing as a director at all. I did like 2015's Bridge of Spies though. But this is a step back. Certain moments were heavy-handed and lacking any directorial subtlety. Streep was good, but for some reason, I can't judge her performance against the other nominated for best actress this year. Instead, I'm judging her against her other performances. This role doesn't have much (for the most part) for Streep to dig her teeth into. But she's fine in a drab movie. Not sure why Hanks took this role. Because he believed in the subject matter of the movie? Wanted to work with Spielberg and Streep? (Can't blame him.) But he has even a lesser worthy role of him than Streep. None of the other talented people in the cast stand out...the roles and the story in general aren't presented in a very involving way. Maybe the script is the problem. So dry. The culprits are Liz Hannah (who only has a short and one TV episode to her writing credits) and Josh Singer. Who wrote Spotlight and The Fifth Estate (about Julian Assange). Which is interesting, because both are movies about real-life situations and are both movies I enjoyed. I actually thought about Spotlight while watching The Post and thinking about how Spotlight is a good example of writing in comparison. Maybe the inexperienced Hannah screwed up Singer's shot at a good movie? Luckily, The Post didn't get a screenplay nomination. I recommend The Post as home-viewing only, especially if you are dealing with insomnia and need to get some sleep.

 

[emason]

Agree with you @PeterG: the movie is stodgy, the pacing is deadly. It really needed to be tightened up in some way.

 

[annie720]

PeterG, I agree with all your comments on The Post. I was also thinking of Spotlight when watching this movie, in a nostalgic way. Much of this movie was so dry and didn't come alive until the second half.

 

[PeterG]

From the December issue of Cineplex magazine (the freebie mag Canucks can get in movie theatres), in an article about director Guillermo del Toro:

Del Toro moved from his native Mexico to the U.S. in the late 1990s after his father was kidnapped in Mexico while the director was filming Mimic in Toronto. (The senior del Toro was released with some help, and cash, from Guillermo's close friend, director James Cameron).

Did anyone know about this? What a horrible thing to happen at all, but while you're in the middle of directing a movie? Yikes. Lucky he had a friend to help him through this.