Let's Talk Movies #36 - 2020 - Yep it is a new decade

Freaky is the serial killer comedy from last year. And it was a lot of fun. I mean, who doesn't love a good serial killer comedy?? Lots of laughs and lots of scares. Kathryn Newton really surprised me as the meek teen who switches bodies with Vince Vaughn’s serial killer. Newton played the quiet, reserved teen so well, I thought she couldn’t possibly pull off playing a serial killer. I underestimated her acting ability, she plays both roles so well. I liked how the story is so firmly dated in the world of today with all the things that would have happened in horror movies from the past all flipped on their head. I’ve never been a big fan of Vince Vaughn, but I liked him more in this movie than I have in others which he was in. Maybe he’s growing on me. Was surprised to see that this movie, released in November and 2020, made a profit. Not sure how many other movies released during the pantemik made money.
 
I will definitely be looking for more movies from Kathryn Newton. So far I have seen her in Detective Pikachu, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things and her dual role in Freaky. She has very different personalities to pull off in all of these and I believe all of them. She is going to be the grown up Cassie in the new Ant-man and the Wasp. I was already looking forward to the new Ant-Man but she should be a great addition to the Marvel family.
 
vgerdes said:
I think we've discussed Mel Brooks in this thread before, haven't we? Right now, Prime Video is offering free streaming for subscribers of what I consider to be his greatest work, "Young Frankenstein." It's still one of the most hysterically funny movies I've ever watched, so for those who have Prime and haven't seen it -- as well as those who have, and love it as much as I do -- check it out. You won't be sorry.
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Just thinking of
whose brain did I put in?.......
Abby someone....... Abby Normal
I just crack up everytime I think of that scene.
 
News from the Mad Max world. A stand-alone prequel, Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road) is in pre-production. George Miller once again will write and direct the movie. Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit) will play the young Furiosa. Chris Hemsworth will co-star, nothing at imdb.com about his role. The only other actor connected with Furiosa is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who won an Emmy for the role of Cal Abar in Watchmen. His recent film roles include Candyman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Us, The Greatest Showman and Aquaman.
 
Over the last week, I've been watching Michael Jackson's Vision. It's a three-disc set of many (most?) of his music videos on the first two discs and then on the third disc, a few Jacksons videos, some unreleased videos, a duet with 3T (a trio comprised of his nephews) and Say, Say, Say, his duet with Paul McCartney. Which I hadn't heard in quite a while and was reminded of what an enjoyable song it it. I was surpised by some of his classic videos from the Thriller album which had a bit of a ragged edge to him. Even though that album went on to sell a gazillion copies, I don't think he had the budget to get the videos to the level that later videos did. You can tell that with You Rock My World, he really got the video-making process down to a place of perfection. Something else that stood out was how many later performers owed a good portion of their style and artistry to him. One specific example is hearing Michael explore with his falsetto and all I could think of was, "boy, did Justin Timberlake every steal that"!! :lol: And it was nice to see some videos that I never saw for some reason, such as They Don't Care About Us and Blood On The Dance Floor (great video, so-so song).

Trailer for Michael Jackson's Vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED2ViZyWDQE

@Vash01
 
I saw Venom 2 in late afternoon on a Saturday. It felt more packed than Shang Chi did.

If you enjoyed Venom 1 and treated it as a campy bro/romcom, you’ll like Venom 2. It seems Hardy and Serkis realized who the first film appealed to and doubled down on those elements, rather than try to make this a serious comic book movie.
 
I was hoping with Stoker to see a spooky, exciting drama or thriller and got...weirdness. And not good weird as original and surprising. Just WEIRD. Nicole Kidman usually does movies that I love, but she missed the mark with this one. Stoker also has Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode in the cast and none of them do much of anything that makes any sense. And there's violence, sexual abuse, neglect of one's child, deceit...and more. Which makes it all a big yucky mess. But the movie is rated not too bad at rotten tomatoes, so what do I know?
 
6/10 – Among The Believers is a 2015 documentary about an Islamic school in Pakistan, which trains children to devote their lives to jihad (holy war) starting at a very young age. This is a very unsettling movie and one that was tough to get through, even though it was less than 90 minutes long. It’s tough to say whether I recommend this one or not. If you want to be informed on something happening in the world which you might be unaware of, watch it. If you want light entertainment...skip it.

Trailer for Among The Believers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSklZY_VCIM
 
November 12th is the release date for Red Notice, an action comedy with Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot. It's the third film Dwayne Johnson has done with writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Their first collaboration together was Central Intelligence (also starring Kevin Hart - which was good) and then Skyscraper (with Neve Campbell- which wasn't that good). But Thurber also did We're The Millers (Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston), which I LOVED. The trailer for Red Notice looks good. Reynolds is in prime comedic form. Chris Diamantopoulos also stars in this.
 
There are a number of movies I've seen this year that I didn't get around to posting about. Thought I'd share my thoughts about them now, starting with a string of foreign language films.

7/10 - Red Cliff is a 2008 epic Chinese war drama which was so successful, it broke the Asian box office record previously held by Titanic in mainland China. It was directed by John Woo who has had success both in China and in America (where he directed Mission: Impossible 2 and Face/Off, among others). Red Cliff stars Tony Leung who is a major star in China and recently appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Zhang Fengyi co-stars, his most widely known film being Farewell My Concubine.

Red Cliffs was released to theatres in two parts and altogether runs almost five hours long. The movie is a good mix between action, drama and a little romance (with one part of the movie being rather sweet and heart-breaking at the same time). The battle scenes are very well done not just for their physical intricacies and extravagance, but showcasing the strategic battles of the Chinese military at that time.

Red Cliffs (part one) was nominated 15 times for a Hong King Film Award (Hong Kong's equivalent to the Oscars). It won five in the technical categories. Part two received 13 nominations and won one award.

Trailer for Red Cliff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0bqLQrtdE
 
Paranoia is a 2013 thriller with Liam Hemsworth and Amber Heard. And iIt co-stars Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, who I am guessing were a part of this movie with the promise of receiving a hefty paycheque. Because it wasn’t the script that reeled them in. :lol: Hemsworth plays a technology inventor (sure, why not?) who is blackmailed by Gary Oldman to spy on Harrison Ford (Oldman’s former business partner). Paranoia has high production values and it’s probably worth seeing for the presence of Ford and Oldman, even though both deserve a better movie to face off against one another.
 
Yikes! I'm the only one watching movies? :eek:

If you watch Downton Abbey, you will know the star of Dark Angel, Joanne Froggatt, who plays Anna Bates on that show. In Dark Angel, her character is pretty much the complete opposite of Anna. In Dark Angel, Froggatt plays Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's first female serial killer. Dark Angel takes place in the late 1800's, where Cotton is found to have murdered three of her husbands to collect a life insurance payout. In a DVD feature, it is mentioned that it is possible that she killed up to 21 people (including her mother and best friend - whose brother-inlaw Cotton wanted for her next husband). If I have made this show sound dark and clinical...it's not. Dark Angel is really well made and the script does a wonderful job of showing how Cotton could be lead to such extreme measures. We care for her but yet still happy to have her caught and be held accountable for her actions. Froggatt is a brilliant actress, she does a great job of carry this show.

Dark Angel has been uploaded to youtube to be viewed in two parts. Here's a link to part one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ5i_-82zrQ
 
8/10 - Jonathan is a difficult, but ultimately satisfying 2016 German drama. Jonathan is a young adult who has put school on hold to take care of his father, who is dying of dancer. The danger of secrets is a big theme of this movie, and what makes a person have to hide...in order to live their life the best way that they can. Everyone in the cast is wonderful, from the dying man’s sister to an old friend who returns after a long absence, to the young nurse caring for the dying father who eventually becomes a love interest for his son. This movie didn’t win any awards of note, but is a strong enough movie that I’m left wondering why it didn’t receive more accolades.

Trailer for Jonathan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RfIlbpNuYs
 
Watched Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank about a new teacher in a classroom full of students with potential but never reached. Came out ages ago and it was derided as yet another white person uplifting the children of colour saga. But I liked it anyway. Swank’s earnestness works here and the scenes with her and the kids are excellent. The stuff with the husband, I could do without. I am pretty sure this film was critically dubbed and one of the reasons is that the other teachers and school administrators are too one dimensionally awful. Watching it now, I think there are PLENTY of people who fit those characterizations.
 
No Time To Die was really good! Can’t say that it was my favourite movie of the year so far but it was a nice send off for Daniel Craig’s 007. Lashana Lynch has an intensity about her that totally sold me on her being the next 007 and Bond not bedding every female in the movie is another huge plus. LOL But the movie is nearly three hours long and feels like it.
 
4/10 - An Elephant Sitting Still is a Chinese drama written, directed, and edited by Hu Bo. This is his only movie and I have to admit that I watched this after learning that Hu Bo committed suicide shortly after he finished completing this movie. The movie is about a group of individuals whose lives are so bleak that they wish to escape their city and start over. Over the course of the movie, they cross each other's paths and decide to join one the person in their group who wants to visit a circus elephant who remains sitting still regardless of the thrashing and beatings it receives. I’m unsure if the elephant is a metaphor for their own suffering as to me, this is an avant-garde art film - and didn’t make much sense. Plus, it is oh-so-long…almost four hours. This movie should have been edited down to less than two hours. It really meanders...scenes of characters walking to a store are shown in their entirety. Criticis seemed to enjoy this movie more than me, however. Itwon three awards at the 55th Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan and mainland China’s equivalent of the Academy Awards) as well as wins at about five other film festivals around the globe.

Trailer for An Elephant Sitting Still: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om6xGJ4S3LY
 
Nooooooo I loved An Elephant Standing Still! Despite our disagreement, I am in awe of how many movies you watch. How do you do it??? My attention span is too short and I get easily distracted by the impulse to check social media :(
 
Asian films, especially Taiwanese cinema, don’t typically prescribe to Western ideas of brevity in storytelling. Sometimes the films give a sense of meandering but usually there’s something of value of those scenes. It’s just a different style of storytelling. South Korean films as of late, especially with the international audience in mind, more prescribe to American tastes so they’re more accessible to American audiences and award bodies.
 
michalle said:
Nooooooo I loved An Elephant Standing Still! Despite our disagreement, I am in awe of how many movies you watch. How do you do it??? My attention span is too short and I get easily distracted by the impulse to check social media :(
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I am retired and have zero social life so I can watch movies all day long if I wish. :lol: And often I do! :D Many movies I watch like a mini-series. I'll watch 30 minutes and then move onto something else and then watch another 30 minutes of that first movie a day or two later. Sometimes that's because it's not grabbing my attention in a strong way, so if I wait a day or two then I start to wonder what will happen next. Other times I want to savour the experience, so I'll just "nibble" at the movie in pieces until I have to finish it.

Other movies are so good I have to watch from start to finish because I CAN'T STOP WATCHING! Of course these are the ones I usually rate high.

An Elephant Standing Still was really difficult for me to get through. I did watch a lot of it at double-time. It's just that all of these people's lives were at such a horrible place. I guess sometimes I empathize too much with fictional characters and that was just too much sorrow for me to have to sit with. Especially with the movie moving at such a slow pace...and being such a great length. I'd love to hear your own review on the movie. Sell it to everybody else here and tell them how wrong I am. :)

VGThuy said:
Asian films, especially Taiwanese cinema, don’t typically prescribe to Western ideas of brevity in storytelling. Sometimes the films give a sense of meandering but usually there’s something of value of those scenes. It’s just a different style of storytelling. South Korean films as of late, especially with the international audience in mind, more prescribe to American tastes so they’re more accessible to American audiences and award bodies.
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I haven't found that with Asian films in general, but I'm unsure which of those I have seen have been from Taiwan. I decided to google "famous Taiwan films" to see which I have seen. Here's what I came up with:

Eat Drink Man Woman
The Wedding Banquet
Lust, Caution
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Hmm...why am I thinking these movies seem to have something in common? :confused:
 
I haven't watched many movies lately but I did watch and oldie but a goodie in Evil Roy Slade on Youtube.

1972 movie starring John Austin (Gomez Adams) as an outlaw who had no love. Even the indians and wolves rejected him as an abandoned baby. Has a great cast including Mickey Rooney and Milton Berle. Quite silly and makes no sense in the storyline but great fun. Best scene involves a cello which is why I remembered it as I was talking to someone about it on the weekend.
 
PeterG said:
I am retired and have zero social life so I can watch movies all day long if I wish. :lol: And often I do! :D Many movies I watch like a mini-series. I'll watch 30 minutes and then move onto something else and then watch another 30 minutes of that first movie a day or two later. Sometimes that's because it's not grabbing my attention in a strong way, so if I wait a day or two then I start to wonder what will happen next. Other times I want to savour the experience, so I'll just "nibble" at the movie in pieces until I have to finish it.

Other movies are so good I have to watch from start to finish because I CAN'T STOP WATCHING! Of course these are the ones I usually rate high.

An Elephant Standing Still was really difficult for me to get through. I did watch a lot of it at double-time. It's just that all of these people's lives were at such a horrible place. I guess sometimes I empathize too much with fictional characters and that was just too much sorrow for me to have to sit with. Especially with the movie moving at such a slow pace...and being such a great length. I'd love to hear your own review on the movie. Sell it to everybody else here and tell them how wrong I am. :)



I haven't found that with Asian films in general, but I'm unsure which of those I have seen have been from Taiwan. I decided to google "famous Taiwan films" to see which I have seen. Here's what I came up with:

Eat Drink Man Woman
The Wedding Banquet
Lust, Caution
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Hmm...why am I thinking these movies seem to have something in common? :confused:
Click to expand...
I was watching Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film Three Times with my brother, and although we’re both used to his very slow, real time pacing of films, there was one part where the camera lingered on the main actress staring at a computer screen a few beats longer than what my brother could tolerate and he just screamed at the TV “Oh my God, do something!”
 
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