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

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler is a TV movie about Irena Sendler who, during World War II, smuggled approximately 2,500 Jewish children to safety. Anna Paquin plays Sendler and gives an understated and unsentimental performance which could have come across as mawkish if not performed this way. This TV movie aired on CBS and was surprisingly a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. Nothing about this movie makes me think of Hallmark. So kudos to them for playing a part in getting this made. Co-starring in this TV movie are Marcia Gay Harden, Goran Visnjic and Michelle Dockery (of Downton Abbey fame).

So a question for all of you. We all know of the movie Schindler’s List where the title character saves a thousand refugees from death. The movie was both a critical and box office success (to put it mildly). So my question is, what do you think about a major motion picture being made about a man who saves a thousand adults, while the story about a woman who saves the lives of 2,500 children ends up being a forgotten TV movie?
I get where you coming from.....
But I just looked up the movie about Irena Sendler - director has previously directed tv movies back to the 1990s.
Spielberg is Spielberg - so gender may not be the issue - just the power/people/available funding involved?
Also Schindler was early 90s - and Sendler movie was 2009 - timing that a similar story has been done before?
There are many sides to this and are legitimate.
 
I get where you coming from.....
But I just looked up the movie about Irena Sendler - director has previously directed tv movies back to the 1990s.
Spielberg is Spielberg - so gender may not be the issue - just the power/people/available funding involved?
Also Schindler was early 90s - and Sendler movie was 2009 - timing that a similar story has been done before?
There are many sides to this and are legitimate.

I'm wondering why the (hundreds of?) people involved in getting Schindler's list made decided to tell Schindler's story instead of choosing to tell Sendler's story.
 
I'm wondering why the (hundreds of?) people involved in getting Schindler's list made decided to tell Schindler's story instead of choosing to tell Sendler's story.
You're making an assumption that it was a deliberate choice between the two, when it's far more likely they had never heard of Irena Sendler. According to Wikipedia, her story was "largely unknown in North America until 1999, when students at a high school in Uniontown, Kansas, led by their teacher Norman Conard, produced a play based on their research into her life story, which they called Life in a Jar." That play was the basis of the Hallmark movie. Schindler's List was released in 1993.
 
I can't find Belfast in any of the theaters here. Has it gone from the theaters already?

On Friday, Belfast will be playing in the discount theatres here in Vancouver. Which means it will leave the first-run theatres. Perhaps it will return to theatres around Oscar time?
 
On Friday, Belfast will be playing in the discount theatres here in Vancouver. Which means it will leave the first-run theatres. Perhaps it will return to theatres around Oscar time?
If it gets many Oscar nominations, they will definitely bring it back.

I don't like B/W movies though. It has become a gimmick. Only Schindler's list was genuine.
 
So remember how good The Notebook was? It was based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. So I thought The Last Song (also based on a Sparks novel) might be a pretty good movie. It’s the movie where Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met (they later they got married -and divorced as well, but let’s not get distracted.) :P So I was hopeful about The Last Song. And it does have some good stuff to it, but boy were there a lot of romantic movie cliché’s in this one!! :eek: Cyrus plays a girl who has just finished high school and spends the summer with her father at his beach home. She does the new romance shuffle with Hemsworth and the finds out her Dad (Greg Kinnear) is dying from cancer. So much corny material for the cast to overcome. On the plus side, Cyrus has a strong screen presence, she’s probably more watchable than both Hemsworth and Kinnear. But I have to admit while watching this, I thought that the world of movies haven’t yet figured out how to best utilize what Cyrus has to offer. Also on the plus side is young actor Bobby Coleman who is so, so good as Cyrus’ younger brother. Unfortunately it looks like he isn’t making movies anymore. Ultimately the thing worth recommending this movie the most about is the beach volleyball scenes of a shirtless Hemsworth. :lol:

You're making an assumption that it was a deliberate choice between the two, when it's far more likely they had never heard of Irena Sendler. According to Wikipedia, her story was "largely unknown in North America until 1999, when students at a high school in Uniontown, Kansas, led by their teacher Norman Conard, produced a play based on their research into her life story, which they called Life in a Jar." That play was the basis of the Hallmark movie. Schindler's List was released in 1993.

Great info. But there's still the matter of the man's story being well-known while the woman's story was almost lost. The title they chose for the play, Life In A Jar is very powerful because
Irena kept contact information of the parents and children that were separated. She put all the info she had on a piece of paper, which was folded up and put into a jar. Once the jar was full, she buried jar after jar in a safe place for future reference.[/soiler]
 
I saw WSS tonight and loved it. Agree with many comments posted so far
Riff - that actor is great. So many young talents in this movie. I bet in the next 10-20 years we will be seeing many of them.
Ariana de Bose -was wonderful - would be cool if she got an oscar nom.
Rita Moreno was just wonderful and she is 90!
I really enjoyed all the dancing and choreography. The higher perspective/birds eye view was very effective and something you don't get to see in live theater.
I do find Ansel Elgort stiff or something.
I saw WSS on Broadway in 2009 or 2010 - when Karen Olivo won Tony for playing Anita. The choreography was amazing.
 
9/10 – Horror Noire: A History Of Black Horror – Have you ever seen a movie with a 100% rating at rottentomatoes.com? Horror Noire has that from critics (while having a healthy 69% rating from viewers). The title says it all and boy, does it pack a lot of film history into a trim 83 minutes. I found this documentary to be very informative. I like how they covered some films outside of the horror genre to add perspective to the over-all theme. My only complaint is that I wish they had given examples of the horror movies of the 90’s which led to the movie cliché of any black character seen on screen receiving a “ooh, he’s going to die first” response. Oh, and maybe that this was so enjoyable that it could have been a mini-series instead of just one too-short movie.

Trailer for Horror Noire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmyueIwsMlo
 
Great info. But there's still the matter of the man's story being well-known while the woman's story was almost lost.
I don't disagree. I just thought I'd point out that it was likely not a deliberate choice to tell one story over the other. And I don't mean to be argumentative, I'm simply curious... was his story that well-known before the movie was made? I certainly had no idea who he was.
 
Sandra, Tatum, Daniel and Brad; might be fun! The Lost City trailer: https://youtu.be/xohAPIRNzuo

Okay, that trailer made me laugh out loud numerous times. :lol: :lol: :lol: Everybody looks to be in top form. So glad to see Sandra Bullock back in a comedy, where she always shines. Interestingly, it will be released the exact same day as the other movie that you just posted about, Everything, Everywhere All At Once (March 25th).
 
Okay, that trailer made me laugh out loud numerous times. :lol: :lol: :lol: Everybody looks to be in top form. So glad to see Sandra Bullock back in a comedy, where she always shines. Interestingly, it will be released the exact same day as the other movie that you just posted about, Everything, Everywhere All At Once (March 25th).
I have a feeling this is going to be a sparkling year for films.
 
I decided to go retro and watch Casablance last night. It's the type of film I swear I have seen, but can recall only moments. After watching it, I'm still unsure whether I've seen the whole thing from start to finish it. It's of course a very strong movie. I'm not sure I felt as strongly about it as all the critics do, but I'm still thinking about many things about the movie after watching it...

* That song! What a brilliant song, As Time Goes By. I wonder why somebody every ten years records a new version and making it a classic for a new generation. Lady Gaga, how about a very understated version with just your gorgeous vocals shining through? Younger people should know this song. I see on wikipedia that it was rated the second greatest movie song of all time after Over The Rainbow. I can't argue with either placements. Sad that it wasn't nominated for best song at the Oscars. But it was an old song that was only a minor hit from eleven years earlier. And unfortunately Dooley Wilson never got recognition for his version as Sam because of a musician's strike. Wilson was unable to record a proper version for release to radio and instead, the eleven year old version by Rudy Vallee went from being a minor hit from the past into a current number one song.

* The wonderful frustration of not knowing who each character truly was. At least not until the very end of the movie!

* The final moment where we get to see
how selfless Humphrey Bogart's character was...on more than one level
. It makes me want to cry as I let this sink in deeper.

* Those famous lines! :eek: They are such common knowledge now, that when they are spoken on screen, one after another, they hit lit a ton of bricks. Will another movie ever have so many lines that stand out so many decades later? I swear that if there is a list of the most famous movie lines of all time, six of the top ten would go to Casablanca.

Anybody else ever hear of this movie? ;)
 
I decided to go retro and watch Casablance last night. It's the type of film I swear I have seen, but can recall only moments. After watching it, I'm still unsure whether I've seen the whole thing from start to finish it. It's of course a very strong movie. I'm not sure I felt as strongly about it as all the critics do, but I'm still thinking about many things about the movie after watching it...

* That song! What a brilliant song, As Time Goes By. I wonder why somebody every ten years records a new version and making it a classic for a new generation. Lady Gaga, how about a very understated version with just your gorgeous vocals shining through? Younger people should know this song. I see on wikipedia that it was rated the second greatest movie song of all time after Over The Rainbow. I can't argue with either placements. Sad that it wasn't nominated for best song at the Oscars. But it was an old song that was only a minor hit from eleven years earlier. And unfortunately Dooley Wilson never got recognition for his version as Sam because of a musician's strike. Wilson was unable to record a proper version for release to radio and instead, the eleven year old version by Rudy Vallee went from being a minor hit from the past into a current number one song.

* The wonderful frustration of not knowing who each character truly was. At least not until the very end of the movie!

* The final moment where we get to see
how selfless Humphrey Bogart's character was...on more than one level
. It makes me want to cry as I let this sink in deeper.

* Those famous lines! :eek: They are such common knowledge now, that when they are spoken on screen, one after another, they hit lit a ton of bricks. Will another movie ever have so many lines that stand out so many decades later? I swear that if there is a list of the most famous movie lines of all time, six of the top ten would go to Casablanca.

Anybody else ever hear of this movie? ;)
I love this movie. I watch every couple of years and always enjoy it.
I find it 'tight' - no wasted time, everything is important.
One thing I would love to hear from someone that has never seen the movie when they see it the first time - their reactions - as there are so many famous lines.

In college I took a poli sci classed called Politics and Propaganda and Film - unofficially called Flix with Fred (name of professor).
It concentrated on the WWII propaganda and films - saw Frank Capra's 'Why we fight series', a banned racist Disney cartoon against Japanese, a german propaganda film (professor stated he was showing all sides), Mrs Miniver and holocaust camps footage. Last class was 'Casablanc' and the teacher brought a keg of beer and a popcorn maker to class. The reading was interesting - just a great class.
Discussion for Casablanca was very interesting much discussion of Rick being the US, neutral and finally getting involved.
 
I decided to go retro and watch Casablance last night. It's the type of film I swear I have seen, but can recall only moments. After watching it, I'm still unsure whether I've seen the whole thing from start to finish it. It's of course a very strong movie. I'm not sure I felt as strongly about it as all the critics do, but I'm still thinking about many things about the movie after watching it...

* That song! What a brilliant song, As Time Goes By. I wonder why somebody every ten years records a new version and making it a classic for a new generation. Lady Gaga, how about a very understated version with just your gorgeous vocals shining through? Younger people should know this song. I see on wikipedia that it was rated the second greatest movie song of all time after Over The Rainbow. I can't argue with either placements. Sad that it wasn't nominated for best song at the Oscars. But it was an old song that was only a minor hit from eleven years earlier. And unfortunately Dooley Wilson never got recognition for his version as Sam because of a musician's strike. Wilson was unable to record a proper version for release to radio and instead, the eleven year old version by Rudy Vallee went from being a minor hit from the past into a current number one song.

* The wonderful frustration of not knowing who each character truly was. At least not until the very end of the movie!

* The final moment where we get to see
how selfless Humphrey Bogart's character was...on more than one level
. It makes me want to cry as I let this sink in deeper.

* Those famous lines! :eek: They are such common knowledge now, that when they are spoken on screen, one after another, they hit lit a ton of bricks. Will another movie ever have so many lines that stand out so many decades later? I swear that if there is a list of the most famous movie lines of all time, six of the top ten would go to Casablanca.

Anybody else ever hear of this movie? ;)
ITA—When I saw Casablanca it was in the ‘70’s and there were so much memorabilia sold that featured famous lines from the film so it was a bit disconcerting finally hearing them spoken. It might have been the first film that I thought had perfect casting. The leads and the supporting cast were so good. And some of the cast had direct ties to France. So when La Marseillaise played they weren’t acting. That moment still gives me chills. To me it is a perfect film; one of the best of all time.
 
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I decided to go retro and watch Casablance last night. It's the type of film I swear I have seen, but can recall only moments. After watching it, I'm still unsure whether I've seen the whole thing from start to finish it. It's of course a very strong movie. I'm not sure I felt as strongly about it as all the critics do, but I'm still thinking about many things about the movie after watching it...

* That song! What a brilliant song, As Time Goes By. I wonder why somebody every ten years records a new version and making it a classic for a new generation. Lady Gaga, how about a very understated version with just your gorgeous vocals shining through? Younger people should know this song. I see on wikipedia that it was rated the second greatest movie song of all time after Over The Rainbow. I can't argue with either placements. Sad that it wasn't nominated for best song at the Oscars. But it was an old song that was only a minor hit from eleven years earlier. And unfortunately Dooley Wilson never got recognition for his version as Sam because of a musician's strike. Wilson was unable to record a proper version for release to radio and instead, the eleven year old version by Rudy Vallee went from being a minor hit from the past into a current number one song.

* The wonderful frustration of not knowing who each character truly was. At least not until the very end of the movie!

* The final moment where we get to see
how selfless Humphrey Bogart's character was...on more than one level
. It makes me want to cry as I let this sink in deeper.

* Those famous lines! :eek: They are such common knowledge now, that when they are spoken on screen, one after another, they hit lit a ton of bricks. Will another movie ever have so many lines that stand out so many decades later? I swear that if there is a list of the most famous movie lines of all time, six of the top ten would go to Casablanca.

Anybody else ever hear of this movie? ;)
I saw it on DVD perhaps 10 years ago, then maybe 5 years ago. I have forgotten my reaction from 10 years ago But I do remember what I felt five years ago.

I thought it was a well made movie but I couldn't understand why it is considered one of the all time great movies. There are famous lines ('Here's looking at you kid' and 'we will always have Paris), famous song (As time goes by). Ingrid Bergman looked radiant and acted great. Humphrey Bogart acted very well too. Still it didn't seem to move me that much. I thought it was a good movie but not great.

May be there were subtleties that I didn't catch? May be I should watch it third time?

Sorry if I offended fans of this movie.
 
I saw WSS today and agree with many others. It was excellent.

It is probably the musical that I have seen more stage performances than any other so I have high expectations and was not let down. It was incredibly directed and the cinematography was amazing. The opening was kind of reminiscent of the opening of the original but gave it a totally different context. And the entry to the fight scene with the lighting and shadows was incredible.

I did like how they flipped some of songs with the performers which changed the context. Agree with everyone's comments about the actor playing Riff. Really good. Also the Chino role was different to the usual staging and gave him more importance which I thinked work better.

If you are going to do a version of something so iconic, make it unique and that was achieved for me.

Now we will just wait for the 100 skating programs of varying degrees of musical interpretation at international and local competitions next season. I can hardly wait :slinkaway.
 
I saw it on DVD perhaps 10 years ago, then maybe 5 years ago. I have forgotten my reaction from 10 years ago But I do remember what I felt five years ago.

I thought it was a well made movie but I couldn't understand why it is considered one of the all time great movies. There are famous lines ('Here's looking at you kid' and 'we will always have Paris), famous song (As time goes by). Ingrid Bergman looked radiant and acted great. Humphrey Bogart acted very well too. Still it didn't seem to move me that much. I thought it was a good movie but not great.

May be there were subtleties that I didn't catch? May be I should watch it third time?

Sorry if I offended fans of this movie.
No offense: How boring life would be if we always agreed. I wanted to add that I loved the glow and radiance that you see on so many black and white films of that age. I like today’s films but the black/white films look kind of flat to me without that glow.
 
I’m thinking about some modern movies that use black and white and I loved how it was used in Frances Ha, Ida, and Cold War. It added a sense of looking back and nostalgia for those films and it worked because that’s what those films are all about.

However, some modern films don’t seem to utilize it as well. I thought it would work for Mank but it seemed too kitsch but also not needed even if Fincher was trying to capture the old 1940s style of film with the sound and costumes and such. However, there were too many shots where it seemed clear Fincher was filming it like he was filming a color film and you really need to take care when you film in black and white. It’s a brilliant medium but if you’re going to use, then really use and have a reason for it.
 

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