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

[smurfy]

I saw Boy and was so impressed. It is slow and quiet, but I think it needs to be that way for the final impact. Great acting all around. Lucas Hedges will be 22 next month and his credits are so impressive.

And so creepy that this exists. The way they showed how manipulative and cruel the folks at this place well done, having they seem nice and the way the layers got peeled back. And at the end it stated hundred of thousands have gone through this type of facility.

 

[Vash01]

I am no fan of trailers, though some of them are good enough to make me want to see the movie. Then there are others that do the opposite. I am so sick of the trailer of The Favourite! It is too long and I must have seen it 10 times by now. I wish they would just send us the movie instead. This time I closed my eyes and ears when it was playing. I do not want to see this movie! It looks disgusting.

Another one is The mule. It seemed interesting the first time but I have seen the trailer at least 6-7 times. I took my bathroom break. I don't like Clint Eastwood, so I may not see this movie.

I do want to see 'On the basis of sex' and 'The front runner'. These trailers are short and they don't shove it down my throat every time.

The trailer of Widows had started getting to me but the movie was released quickly. I will see it tomorrow.

I hated the trailer of Alita, with that 'CGI created eyes' girl. Definitely not seeing this one.

Many trailers show only violent scenes and loud music. I want to run away.

 

[Japanfan]

Four nominations:

Eighth Grade

First Reformed (Ethan Hawke was one of this movie's four nominations, up for lead actor)

You Were Never Really Here (Joaquin Phoenix up for best actor)

I haven't seen any of the films you've listed other than 'First Reformed'. I agree that Hawke deserves the nomination. . .but, darn, that movie really made me want to do something drastic like slit my wrists.

 

[made_in_canada]

We finally got around to watching The Incredibles 2 last night. I’m always skeptical of sequels but both my husband and I really loved it and there were multiple laugh out loud moments. I think being the parent of a young child helped our enjoyment a bit.

 

[MacMadame]

Oh, we watched that movie this weekend too! I also enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Buzz]

Aquaman’s final trailer. I am really look8ng forward to this one!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2wcj6SrX4zw

 

[Vash01]

Just got back from seeing 'Widows'. Disappointing except for the acting by all the big names (Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Robert Duval). Collin Farrell may have been the best one as the politician. Elizabeth Debicki is not just beautiful; she is a very talented actress (I had liked her in The man from Uncle also in a very different role).

The trailer was much better than the movie. It is a suspense thriller with a Lot of violence, and extremely slow start (seems to be the trend this year). The first 5 minutes ruined it for me (kiss & violence, repeat, blow up some things, then suddenly widows).

At 15 minutes I looked at my watch. At 25 minutes I considered walking out, but stayed in the theatre. The violence was unbearable, particularly in the first half. Later it became bearable - relatively speaking

In the second half it got interesting, but too little too late. The suspense didn't remain suspense for long. The story did get interesting but too many unanswered questions and loose ends.

One humorous moment was when Viola Davis's character (Veronica) gives Elizabeth D's character (Alice) some money and tells her to buy guns.

Alice (scared and confused): Where will I buy guns?

Veronica: This is America!

Overall, not worth my time but I stuck it out somehow.

5 or 6/10.

 

[watchthis!!]

Not Suitable For Children is an Australian comedy about a man who finds he only has a few weeks to have children due to an upcoming operation. Ryan Kwanten (from True Blood) is the lead character and I found this to be an okay movie, but not a great one. Kwanten is probably the best thing about this as he's a very likeable actor. His two friends, played by Sarah Snook (she was in the movie Winchester with Helen Mirren) and Ryan Corr are also quite good.

Trailer for Not Suitable For Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQmByPCjDho

 

[Vash01]

I went to see Widows and chose to sit outside during trailers. Sent some messages, then I went back in. Alas! They started showing the trailer of The Favourite. Utterly disgusting, with ugly sounds and ugly faces by otherwise good actresses. I walked out again, and went back in when I thought that trailer was over. It was but they were showing trailer for Alita. I hate CGI focused movies and particularly their trailers, with loud music, violence, and an overdose of CGI. There are a few movies that are exceptions, but from now on I will either sit outside during the trailers or just go to movies 15 minutes later than the announced time.

 

[VGThuy]

LMAO. The Favourite is one of the movies I am most looking forward to.

 

[Jay42]

LMAO. The Favourite is one of the movies I am most looking forward to.

I love Olivia Colman and I enjoy Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz so I'm pretty excited for The Favourite. But I've been a huge fan of Olivia Colman for so long I'm just loving that she's starting to get more attention outside of the UK.

 

[Vash01]

I have blacklisted The Favourite for the torture inflicted on me through their trailer for several weeks.

It seems to have crude humor which I despise.

 

[lmarie086]

I finally got to see Crazy Rich Asians today, and I loved it! I've been wanting to see it after reading the book earlier this year. It is different (there's nothing subtle about the wealth of the Young family in the movie for one thing, though they still are less flashy about it than some of the other characters) from the book, but I think the changes that were made really worked well for the big screen. I'm glad it's getting a sequel!

Also, give Constance Wu and Henry Golding all the roles - they were both so charming.

ETA: I adored Astrid as well. I can't wait to see more of her - I understand that they cut a few scenes of her and another character that I won't name - but there wasn't enough of her in the movie!

 

[PeterG]

Trailers For Movies Released 2018-11-23rd
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuI4-fSHhipQ7WKy4Hg7ZnH2HYO_vqcWz


Nov. 21st - Green Book (Wide) – Comedy drama with Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali and Linda Cardellini

Nov. 21st - Creed II (Wide) – Sports drama with Michael B. Jordan, Dolph Lundgren, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Sylvester Stallone

Nov. 21st - Ralph Breaks The Internet (Wide) – Animated comedy with John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Ed O’Neill

Nov. 21st - Robin Hood (Wide) – Action thriller with Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Jamie Dornan and F. Murray Abraham

Nov. 23rd - The Favourite (Limited) – Drama with Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult

Nov. 21st - The Front Runner (Limited) – Drama with Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons and Alfred Molina

Nov. 22nd - The Christmas Chronicles (Limited - Netflix Only) – Adventure comedy with Kurt Russell, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Oliver Hudson

November 23rd - Invisible Hands (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “Invisible Hands is the first feature documentary that exposes child labor and child trafficking within the supply chains of the world's biggest corporations.”

Nov. 22nd - Clyde Cooper (Limited) – Mystery with a new cast. From imdb.com: “Silicon Valley private eye is hired by a tech investor to find a missing woman. Following dubious leads, he runs into an odd ring of pretty women and shady characters until he finds much more than what he's looking for.”

Nov. 23rd - Write When You Get Work (Limited) – Romantic comedy drama with a new cast & Emily Mortimer. From imdb.com: “A story about money, mischief, love and entitlement, set in New York City. When Ruth and Jonny cross paths after years apart, Jonny is as consumed with Ruth as he was in their high school days, and he infiltrates her life for love and profit.”

Nov. 21st - The World Before Your Feet (Limited) – Documentary. From imdb.com: “For over six years, and for reasons he can't explain, Matt Green, 37, has been walking every block of every street in New York City - a journey of more than 8,000 miles…the story of one man's unusual personal quest and the unexpected journey of discovery, humanity, and wonder that ensues.”

Nov. 23rd - Becoming Astrid (Limited) – Drama from Sweden. From imdb.com: “Biopic of Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, the author of numerous children's books and creator of Pippi Longstocking.”

Nov. 23rd - Shoplifters (Limited) – Crime drama from Japan. From imdb.com: “A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find on the street.”

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I fell asleep on the couch with the tv on and woke up to Brigsby Bear. I really don't know how to describe this. It's offbeat and dark humor but that doesn't really explain it either. I also don't know how to summarize this without giving out spoilers. The least spoilerish I can say is that a young man wants to make a movie about a show that was suddenly canceled. Not everyone understands his need to finish it but his new friends are willing to help him out on his journey. They are very compassionate about his lack of social skills and, while I think somewhat unrealistic, it makes you wish people could be that understanding in real life.

I don't know if I liked it but it was oddly compelling and I had to finish watching it. It was also very sweet at times.

 

[watchthis!!]

20th Century Fox Pushing 'Deadpool 2' For Best Picture Oscar
https://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/11/19/deadpool-2-best-picture-oscars/

The article mentions that Deadpool 2 is the second "genre" movie (after Black Panther) to be promoted by the studios for Oscar consideration.

The categories 20th Century Fox wishes Deadpool 2 to be considered for:

•Best Picture (Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner)
•Best Director (David Letich)
•Best Original Screenplay (Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds)
•Best Actor (Ryan Reynolds)
•Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, T.J. Miller, Karan Soni, Jack Kesy)
•Best Supporting Actress (Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand)
•Best Production Design (David Scheunemann, Sandy Walker)
•Best Cinematography (Jonathan Sela)
•Best Costume Design (Kurt Swanson, Bart Mueller)
•Best Film Editing (Elisabet Ronaldsdottir, Dirk Westervelt, Craig Alpert)
•Best Makeup And Hairstyling (Bill Corso, Monic Huppert)
•Best Original Score (Tyler Bates)
•Best Sound Editing (Mark Stoeckinger)
•Best Sound Mixing (Mark Noda, Paul Massey, Martyn Zub)
•Best Visual Effects (Dan Glass, Mike Vezina, Michael Brazelton, Stephane Naze)

I don't know why the song "Ashes" by Celine Dion isn't on the list as well, I think that's a stronger possibility for a nomination that many of the categories listed above. And while I think maybe this is more a publicity stunt (see below), I wonder if studios these days are more likely to push for acknowledgement for lighter fare.

The publicity angle:

As 20th Century Fox waits to hear whether or not they earn an Oscar nomination or two, the studio will be hard at work promoting Once Upon A Deadpool, the PG-13 cut of Deadpool 2 that will have a limited two-week run in theatres next month.

Cast and crew actually shot new scenes fairly recently for this re-release. It will be interesting to see if they went for some uber-PG 13 changes that are so obvious that they could be quite funny.

So what do you think. Is it possible that 2019 could be the year of three-time Oscar winner Ryan Reynolds?

 

[annie720]

It's Thanksgiving eve and we have house guests flying in first thing in the morning, so why not see a movie! We saw The Front Runner tonight, the story of Gary Hart's political demise, starring Hugh Jackman. This movie reminded me of other recent factual movies such as First Man and The Post. I found it very dry, not necessarily slow or boring, but it stuck to the facts and there wasn't much to grab at your emotions. Lots of business conversation between his campaign staff and the journalists. I felt it came alive a bit in the scenes between Donna Rice and a female member of Hart's campaign team. Sarah Paxton and Molly Ephraim were very good in these roles. I don't think Jackman's portrayal of Hart showed any of the charm or charisma that Hart was supposed to have.

 

[PeterG]

Independent Spirit Award nominees were announced just now:

https://www.indiewire.com/2018/11/2019-independent-spirit-awards-nominations-1202021241/

Best Feature
EIGHTH GRADE
FIRST REFORMED
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
LEAVE NO TRACE
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Best Director
Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE
Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Lynne Ramsay, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED

Best First Feature
HEREDITARY
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
THE TALE
WE THE ANIMALS
WILDLIFE

Best Female Lead
Glenn Close, THE WIFE
Toni Collette, HEREDITARY
Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
Regina Hall, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
Helena Howard, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Carey Mulligan, WILDLIFE

Best Male Lead
John Cho, SEARCHING
Daveed Diggs, BLINDSPOTTING
Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
Christian Malheiros, SÓCRATES
Joaquin Phoenix, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Best Supporting Female
Kayli Carter, PRIVATE LIFE
Tyne Daly, A BREAD FACTORY
Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
J. Smith-Cameron, NANCY

Best Supporting Male
Raúl Castillo, WE THE ANIMALS
Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN
Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Josh Hamilton, EIGHTH GRADE
John David Washington, MONSTERS AND MEN

Best Screenplay
Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, COLETTE
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Boots Riley, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
Paul Schrader FIRST REFORMED

Best First Screenplay
Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Christina Choe, NANCY
Cory Finley, THOROUGHBREDS
Jennifer Fox, THE TALE
Quinn Shephard (Writer/Story By) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), BLAME

Best Cinematography
Ashley Connor, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Diego Garcia, WILDLIFE
Benjamin Loeb, MANDY
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, SUSPIRIA
Zak Mulligan, WE THE ANIMALS

Best Editing
Joe Bini, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, AMERICAN ANIMALS
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, THE TALE
Nick Houy, MID90S

John Cassavetes Award
A BREAD FACTORY
EN EL SÉPTIMO DÍA
NEVER GOIN’ BACK
SÓCRATES
THUNDER ROAD

Robert Altman Award
SUSPIRIA

Best Documentary
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
MINDING THE GAP
OF FATHERS AND SONS
ON HER SHOULDERS
SHIRKERS
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

Best International Film
BURNING (South Korea)
THE FAVOURITE (United Kingdom)
HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Italy)
ROMA (Mexico)
SHOPLIFTERS (Japan)

I'm listing my fave picks below, if I look two or more nominations, my fave pick is in boldface.

Best Feature
EIGHTH GRADE
LEAVE NO TRACE


Best Director
Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE


Best Female Lead
Glenn Close, THE WIFE
Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
* No nomination for Melissa McCarthy. Hmm.


Best Male Lead
!!! Where's Ben Foster??


Best Supporting Female
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
* McKenzie should be in the lead actress category...oh well, at least she's being recognized.


Best Supporting Male
Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN
* I know I reviewed this movie poorly, but Drive raised the level of the movie from atrocious to simply bad.


Best Screenplay
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? ... I haven't seen it, but hope to love it.
* No nomination for Leave No Trace?


Best First Screenplay
Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE


Best Documentary
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

* No nomination for Love, Gilda?

 

[watchthis!!]

I enjoyed The Mountain Between Us...but didn't love it. I thought the performances of Idris Elba and Kate Winslet was good, the direction decent and the cinematography strong. And while the story was good, it wasn't great. And with talents like Winslet and Elba...you have to have a GREAT script. So I wonder if part of the enjoyment of the movie was watching two big talents trying to make an acceptable script into something much better. Both earned their paycheques.

 

[PeterG]

I saw The Wife (Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce) today. All the DVD's I have at home right now are serious dramas...and I need some comedy and sci-fi as I'm starting to feel down! But this might be the last week The Wife is playing at the discount theatre close to me, so I made a point to go see it this afternoon. At first I thought the movie was decent and then it got better. Close is great of course, but her son in the movie (played by Max Irons) is played rather sullenly...although it seems that is how his character was written (and directed). So that was a little annoying, but then I thought as the movie progressed that it was good...and then it got better. The husband, played by Jonathan Pryce, is kind of annoying, but his character is fleshed out more as the movie progresses. Glenn Close's character is like an ember in a fire about to go out, but then she sparks a bit here and there and eventually lights up, just the right amount of firey-ness. So the movie got even better, building to a very strong final act. I'll be happy if Glenn gets an Oscar nomination for her performance. Is this the role that gets her the win? Not sure on that. Will have to see who her competitors are. Close has gotten a lot of recognition for her performance, but Pryce deseres maybe as much attention. He is very, very strong as well.

 

[VGThuy]

I think Glenn would have had an easier time if the competition this year wasn't so tough. She can still win it, but from what I hear, there are like a bunch of women who are giving award-worthy performances.

 

[VGThuy]

This Netflix (and select threaters) release Dumplin' starring Jennifer Aniston as a former beauty pageant queen and Danielle Macdonald of Patti Cakes looks great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cdJA6jxtA

Apparently, it's based on a book. Aniston seems to be on her comedic A-game here.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I watched Homecoming with Julia Roberts on Amazon Prime. I would recommend this one. It's shot with several flashback sequences and if you're not paying attention it can confuse you for a moment. Not that I ever looked away while cooking Thanksgiving stuff.

But all in all I thought it was worth watching. If they ever do a second season I would probably watch. Not sure it would focus on Roberts and her co-star, Stephan James. I loved his portrayal of Walter.

ETA: Clearly I got this thread confused with the Netflix/Hulu discoveries. I still stand by it as a good program.

 

[SandraMGfan]

I saw Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald this week. I guess i'm a tough customer to please, because I only found it average. Not many beasts, not really any crimes... the whole thing felt like a filler/prep for the next movie (which is not out for another 2 years!)
At 2h14min I was expecting for more to happen, and as in the Harry Potter series, as the series progress the humour disappears and everything becomes dark (even visually - very little light or colour around). Hopefully there will be grand things in the next one!
What I enjoyed: Rowlings attention to detail: every character can be linked to something that happens in the HP books in a way or another. Eddie Redmayne (i never really not enjoy his performances!) and strangely I really enjoyed Jude Law as Dumbledore.

Spoiler

i loooooved when they all walk up to Hogwarts and the HP theme music plays in Dolby sound!!

 

[watchthis!!]

QUIZ: How well do you know Martin Scorsese's films?
https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/martin-scorsese-quiz-606870

I got 7 out of 10. The quiz is quite easy, a photo from a various film is shown and below that, two movie titles where you have to pick the correct title of the two. Some were a little tricky and none were too obvious (in my opinion, but I'm not a devotee of Scorsese).

 

[DannyCurry]

I haven't been able to go much to the movies lately. What I've seen :

BlacKkKlansman : Underwhelming. I did like the music though.

The Girl In the Spider's Web : The most disappointing production of the Millenium's series. Claire Foy's talent alone won't save a poor script. However, I enjoyed the villain character, and Sverrir Gudnason makes the cutest Mikael Blomkvist

Bohemian Rhapsody : Too commercial and vanilla IMO but I do agree that Rami Malek's performance was quite impressive. Also as the songs are wonderful, some scenes were chill-inducing. So, even though I would have preferred a rougher version, with more gay promiscuity and without altering the diagnosis timeline just for dramatization's sake, I liked it.

I won't have time to see any movies in the next few weeks so I guess I'll try to catch up in January !

 

[watchthis!!]

The Endless is one of those types of movies you can't really talk about because pretty much anything you focus on will spoil the movie for others in some way. I can say that while it's classified as sci-fi, it's also a family drama of two brothers. And it's very interesting as both those genres, perhaps a little too complex for the average viewer though. Nobody is famous in this, but it's well-reviewed (94% at rotten tomatoes) and was selected to be part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Trailer for The Endless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur8UgpvRPXU

 

[Integrity]

QUIZ: How well do you know Martin Scorsese's films?
https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/martin-scorsese-quiz-606870

I got 7 out of 10. The quiz is quite easy, a photo from a various film is shown and below that, two movie titles where you have to pick the correct title of the two. Some were a little tricky and none were too obvious (in my opinion, but I'm not a devotee of Scorsese).

 

[Integrity]

^ Useless information that lives in my head. I scored a 10.

And apparently I no longer know how to quote & comment in the same post. This was in reply to the Scorsese quiz.

 

[watchthis!!]

The 65 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/most-anticipated-2019-movies/

From John Wick: Chapter 3 and IT: Chapter 2 to Toy Story 4 and The Goldfinch, we look ahead to the biggest movies coming out in 2019.

Some that stand out to me:

January 18th: Glass (Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy)

March 8th: Captain Marvel (Brie Larson, Lee Pace, Samuel L. Jackson)

March 15th: Us (Jordan Peele's follow-up to Get Out, a thriller starring Lupita Nyong’o and Elizabeth Moss)

March 29th: Dumbo (a live action remake by Tim Burton, starring Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito)

April 5th: Pet Semetary (re-make of the Stephen King story, John Lithgow stars)

May 31st: Godzilla: King of Monsters (Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe)

July 26th: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino directing with quite a cast, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, James Marsden)

August 9th: Artemis Fowl (Kenneth Branagh directs Judi Dench, Josh Gad)

September 6th: It: Chapter Two (Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Bill Skarsgård)

October 4th: Gemini Man (sci-fi thriller with Ang Lee directing Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen)

December 20th: Star Wars: Episode IX (J. J. Abrams directs Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong’o)

December 20th: Wicked (no cast, but by Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry is in charge)[/quote]