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

[Buzz]

Black Panther Ryan Coogler director mistaken for bank robber

Ryan Coogler was arrested trying to withdraw money from his own bank account in Atlanta, Georgia.

www.bbc.com

 

[VGThuy]

Reviewer Sean O'Connell faces backlash from the cast of Pixar's upcoming Seeing Red because he said he couldn't relate to the movie because it was set in Toronto's Asian-American community and that it lacked universality.

‘Turning Red’ Cast Speaks Up After Controversial Review Was Called ‘Racist’ and Pulled Offline

A "Turning Red" review from CinemaBlend was removed from the website after being deemed sexist and racist on social media.

variety.com

WTF.

 

[MacMadame]

Reviewer Sean O'Connell faces backlash from the cast of Pixar's upcoming Seeing Red because he said he couldn't relate to the movie because it was set in Toronto's Asian-American community and that it lacked universality.

‘Turning Red’ Cast Speaks Up After Controversial Review Was Called ‘Racist’ and Pulled Offline

A "Turning Red" review from CinemaBlend was removed from the website after being deemed sexist and racist on social media.

variety.com

WTF.

That's what I said when I read your first sentence. Now if he said he couldn't relate to it because he's not a girl who ever went through puberty, I could see that. But otherwise...

Did you see his non-apology apology?

“I’m genuinely sorry for my ‘Turning Red’ review. Thank you to everyone who has reached out with criticism, no matter how harsh. It is clear that I didn’t engage nearly enough with the movie, nor did I explain my point of view well, at all. I really appreciate your feedback.”

My response to his original tweet is: now you know how the rest of us non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-Christian, non-mainstream viewers feel about 90% of the movies put out there. Yes, it is exhausting to constantly not see yourself in movies, tv shows, and books, but instead, have to project yourself onto characters not written for you or about you. Yes, it is exhausting sometimes. Get over yourself.

 

[VGThuy]

That's what I said when I read your first sentence. Now if he said he couldn't relate to it because he's not a girl who ever went through puberty, I could see that. But otherwise...

Did you see his non-apology apology?

My response to his original tweet is: now you know how the rest of us non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-Christian, non-mainstream viewers feel about 90% of the movies put out there. Yes, it is exhausting to constantly not see yourself in movies, tv shows, and books, but instead, have to project yourself onto characters not written for you or about you. Yes, it is exhausting sometimes. Get over yourself.

Right? Like if he kept his critiques to the story and the execution of it, then fine. It’s ok to not like a movie. But his whole original review was some write-up about “universality” and putting himself as the arbiter of what stories and settings are “universal” and what are not, and it just touched upon so much crap that your second quote expressed so well.

 

[Husky]

In an interview Kirsten Dunst said that she and the actor who played Peter (McPhee?) had an idea between them that Peter had killed his father.

I am just reading the book. No, this I would outrule. It's clear that the boy found him hanging from the ceiling after a very intimate conversation during which his father tells him that he loves Peter and Peter answers that he also loves him. Later he hears some noise from a room.

In fact it was Phil who "killed" the father. Not directly, but humiliating him in the bar, where Pete's father appears drunk, lecturing Phil about Greek culture sth that Phil knows better, then beating the poor father. He gets clean but loses all joy in life. About a year later he commits suicide.

I don't think that Phil would be much different in an open society. Before the first chapter begins all characters are introduced. Phil is described as "sadistic". AFAIK sadism is not caused by evironment or upbringing. I tend to believe that Phil was born this way.

If you are interested in multilayered movies with subtle symbolism I recommend the French movie Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie. Something between a whosdoneit and a gay lovestory. It had a similar effect on me like this movie. Shortly afterwards I was like: Ugh? Nicely photraphed but must I care? (I am a heterosexual woman) - Then I kept thinking of the REAL content till I finally got the solution. Hah! Honestly this was a shock. What a well-done piece of art. Unfortunately, it didn't get the recognition it should have though it was nominated for several awards.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Right? Like if he kept his critiques to the story and the execution of it, then fine. It’s ok to not like a movie. But his whole original review was some write-up about “universality” and putting himself as the arbiter of what stories and settings are “universal” and what are not, and it just touched upon so much crap that your second quote expressed so well.

I can't help but think of him as some "incel" writing from his parents' basement having never had meaningful interaction with female persons of his age during adolescence.

 

[Integrity]

I haven't seen any of the other movies nominated this year so it's pretty easy for me to root for this one, but is there anything else that was a strong contender that I should check out?

What sort of movies do you like? It's a strong movie year in my opinion, I did not dislike any of them (so far, I should finish up Drive My Car tonight).

 

[mjb52]

If you are interested in multilayered movies with subtle symbolism I recommend the French movie Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie. Something between a whosdoneit and a gay lovestory. It had a similar effect on me like this movie. Shortly afterwards I was like: Ugh? Nicely photraphed but must I care? (I am a heterosexual woman) - Then I kept thinking of the REAL content till I finally got the solution. Hah! Honestly this was a shock. What a well-done piece of art. Unfortunately, it didn't get the recognition it should have though it was nominated for several awards.

re: POTD, thanks for confirming the book makes the theory about Peter killing his father unlikely. That's what I thought but I read it a few months ago and my memory is in deep decline so I wasn't sure!

Stranger by the Lake looks right up my alley, I will check it out. I've seen Drive My Car - I liked it but it felt a little reliant on "big reveal" moments about the characters, although still in a more subtle art movie way. However, I did love all the stuff with the play, especially the sign language. It's one of those movies where I think the issue was more that my expectations were too high than that there was necessarily anything lacking in the movie per se.

 

[Husky]

Stranger by the Lake looks right up my alley, I will check it out. I've seen Drive My Car - I liked it but it felt a little reliant on "big reveal" moments about the characters, although still in a more subtle art movie way. However, I did love all the stuff with the play, especially the sign language. It's one of those movies where I think the issue was more that my expectations were too high than that there was necessarily anything lacking in the movie per se.

If you check it out, don't be shocked by the "porn" scene - it's necessary and a key moment that leads to the hidden content. (Hard to believe but it is.)

 

[mjb52]

haha thanks for the warning!

 

[Sylvia]

For those who get TCM, their yearly “31 Days of Oscar” month of films is underway:

TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar 2022

TCM's annual 31 Days of Oscar returns with a celebration of Oscar-winning films.

www.tcm.com

 

[watchthis!!]

Hector & The Search For Happiness is a box office bomb from 2014 starring Simon Pegg. When I was watching it, I kept thinking about the Ben Stiller American remake and how both movies were not able to pull me in and make me care about the central character...or the whole story in general. So I was surprised that there actuallywas no remake of this movie. Instead, the Stiller movie was a remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Hmm…these two movies sure felt like the same movie to me. Rosamund Pike is wasted in this movie as the girlfriend of Simon Pegg. And it’s one of those movies where a bland guy is with a knockout of a woman and it’s never explained how this could possibly happen in real life. Hector apparently finds happiness after travelling the world. Take a big guess as to where he finds it it! Skip this one.

 

[jenny12]

I can't help but think of him as some "incel" writing from his parents' basement having never had meaningful interaction with female persons of his age during adolescence.

Totally agreed. And if a critic really can’t appreciate movies unless he relates to them, should they be a critic?

As a kid, I always enjoyed movies about boys coming of age such as The Goonies and Stand By Me. There has seemed to be an assumption that the male experience (or white experience) in storytelling is universal and the female experience is narrow. It does boys good to be able to appreciate and relate to stories about girls. Perhaps if Sean O’ Connell was exposed to more stories about girls as a child, he wouldn’t have written such a stupid review.

 

[Cachoo]

I thought Turning Red was terrific. It is an allegory for the craziness that is puberty and boy did this film nail that. So relatable...

 

[MacMadame]

I thought Turning Red was terrific. It is an allegory for the craziness that is puberty and boy did this film nail that. So relatable...

I had trouble getting into it at first because there was a lot of girl screaming and boy craziness that I couldn't relate to. (None of my Jr. High friends were like that. We didn't care that much about boys and we never screamed.) But I gradually got into it and enjoyed it.

 

[watchthis!!]

I really enjoyed My Salinger Year, which was mentioned in this thread recently. Everything about this movie is strong, from the script to the cast to the direction. Great cast including Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Colm Feore and Brían F. O'Byrne (Emmy winner for Mildred Pierce). I was surprised to see that Qualley was the actress who played Ann Reinking in the Fosse/Verdon mini-series. I would never guess the same actress played these two roles. She also in Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood and will play Ginger Rogers in an upcoming movie. Her future looks bright!

 

[watchthis!!]

Yikes. Nobody has posted since I did a week ago. Has everyone gone into hibernation since the Olympics?

My latest viewing is Edge Of Winter, a thriller starring Joel Kinnaman and Tom Holland. The best thing about this movie is the performance of these two actors, moreso Holland than Kinnaman. Although I liked Kinnaman’s performance less because the writing of his character is lacking. He plays a father going through hard times, whose life is falling apart. His two sons are left in his care when his ex-wife goes on vacation with her new boyfriend. Kinnaman takes his two sons to a remote cabin…in the middle of winter. Things spiral out of control. While the premise of this movie has lots of potential, the writers don’t seem to have much understanding of mental health issues, so this part of the story falls flat in my opinion. Probably one to skip unless you’re a big Tom Holland fan and/or can enjoy a movie just for some nice winter-time cinematography.

 

[Buzz]

I’m waiting for Dr. Strange. Tickets aren’t even on sale yet!

 

[Seerek]

I was surprised to see that Qualley was the actress who played Ann Reinking in the Fosse/Verdon mini-series. I would never guess the same actress played these two roles. She also in Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood and will play Ginger Rogers in an upcoming movie. Her future looks bright!

Qualley was recently nominated for Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild lead actress in a TV mini-series for Netflix's Maid, where she was often in scenes alongside her mother Andie MacDowell.

 

[Vash01]

Watched a very old movie Blithe Spirit, starring a young Rex Harrison. It was very funny. I enjoyed it.

 

[misskarne]

Caught up and watched Turning Red, and I really enjoyed it. Maybe I could relate a little since I was also thirteen in May 2002 and some of it was painfully real.

I know a lot of the pearl-clutchy folks are wailing and whining about "they talk about periods!" which, massive eyeroll. After watching it, I fancy the real reason that type of person is getting pearl-clutchy is that the story emphasises that children are not extensions of their parents, have their own personalities, desires and ideas, and eventually grow up and might want a different path to their parents. I imagine a lot of the people who get pearl-clutchy about the discussion of periods are also the same type of person who does not want their kids understanding that concept.

 

[Jay42]

I've been on holidays for the last couple of weeks and after Worlds I finally made it to watching some of the movies I've recorded on my parents PVR from TCM so I finally watched Citizen Kane.

It's an excellent movie. The cinematography is gorgeous and I would love to see it in a theatre just to really take it in. I've also seen How Green Was My Valley though and it is easy to understand why How Green Was My Valley picked up all the Oscars that year, it would seem the Academy has been very predictable in the kind of movies it likes from the beginning and William Randolph Hearst really hated that the protagonist of Citizen Kane was at least partially based on him.

That said, I do struggle with the idea in general that any one movie can be considered the greatest movie of all time. Citizen Kane is excellent, easily one of the greatest movies of it's era. But film is not a static medium and things have changed to the degree that while it easily deserves being considered one of the greatest movies ever, so does Paddington 2.

I know Paddington 2 lost it's perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes a couple of months later, I'm just saying that both are excellent films worthy of being considered best of their time. As is Toy Story 2, the movie that replaced Paddington 2 as the top rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. It's due to the combination of amount of reviews as well as the actual rating.

I'm currently watching Born Yesterday, the movie that Judy Holliday won the Best Lead Actress Oscar for. She beat out Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard, Bette Davis and Anne Baxter for All About Eve and Eleanor Parker for Caged. The only movie I haven't seen is Caged. While that was one of the most competitive years for Best Lead Actress, I can see why Judy Holliday ultimately prevailed, her character should be incredibly annoying but Judy Holliday makes her endearing and likeable. 1951 was definitely an incredibly competitive year for the Oscars.

I watched The Misfits yesterday. It's the last movie Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe made. I still maintain that Marilyn Monroe is a better actress than she's given credit for. It's a very good movie and she's excellent in it. She more than holds her own with Thelma Ritter, Gable and Montgomery Clift.

 

[MacMadame]

Citizen Kane is on my top movies list. I saw it in college so it was in a theater but not a movie theater. It was very compelling.

I know a lot of the pearl-clutchy folks are wailing and whining about "they talk about periods!" which, massive eyeroll. After watching it, I fancy the real reason that type of person is getting pearl-clutchy is that the story emphasises that children are not extensions of their parents, have their own personalities, desires and ideas, and eventually grow up and might want a different path to their parents. I imagine a lot of the people who get pearl-clutchy about the discussion of periods are also the same type of person who does not want their kids understanding that concept.

I have heard and read so much crap about this movie. Clearly, it hit a nerve with a lot of conservative men. They absolutely did not understand it at all.

The interesting thing is that The Mitchell's vs. the Machines had similar themes and yet didn't get any flack that I saw. I wonder why. I did think The Mitchell's vs. the Machines was a better movie (better pacing and more fleshed-out characters). But I don't think that's why.

 

[Tesla]

Citizen Kane is on my top movies list. I saw it in college so it was in a theater but not a movie theater. It was very compelling.

I have heard and read so much crap about this movie. Clearly, it hit a nerve with a lot of conservative men. They absolutely did not understand it at all.

The interesting thing is that The Mitchell's vs. the Machines had similar themes and yet didn't get any flack that I saw. I wonder why. I did think The Mitchell's vs. the Machines was a better movie (better pacing and more fleshed-out characters). But I don't think that's why.

Maybe

Spoiler

they don't like that Tyler is a 4-Town fan.

I like the movie. My son loves it always wants to watch it.

 

[Buzz]

At first I didn’t another version of Batman was a good idea but I was wrong. The latest movie is a hit.

The Batman Is Officially The Biggest Box Office Hit Of The Year (For Now) - SlashFilm

Batman has kicked the box office's ass back into fighting shape.

www.slashfilm.com

 

[Japanfan]

Citizen Kane is on my top movies list. I saw it in college so it was in a theater but not a movie theater. It was very compelling.

I was a Film Studies major and think that Citizen Kane was the first movie I watched in a class. Didn't care for it then, don't think I'd care for it now.

 

[SandraMGfan]

I saw The Lost City this week.
The trailer was hilarious and clearly the actors loved being over the top so I was a bit worried the trailer would be the only funny part.
It was not! The entire thing is overly silly but hilarious - laughed through most of the movie and it was clearly needed.

If you want some light entertainment to put a smile on your face in the middle of all the current bad news, go!

 

[quartz]

I asked my husband to take me to see Lost City tonight - he was unaware of it, so I said “Sandra Bullock” and he says, OK!
I want to see it for exactly the reasons as @SandraMGfan.

 

[Yehudi]

It may be hard to believe, but the trailers for Everything Everywhere All At Once do not do it justice. It’s so much more than the “Average Joe/Jane gets sucked into a crazy adventure” trope. It tackles existential crisis, the reality of the American dream, teen and middle aged angst, and packages it in a hilarious mindtrip. The first 10 minutes might drag but once it gets going, it goes.

 

[Jay42]

It may be hard to believe, but the trailers for Everything Everywhere All At Once do not do it justice. It’s so much more than the “Average Joe/Jane gets sucked into a crazy adventure” trope. It tackles existential crisis, the reality of the American dream, teen and middle aged angst, and packages it in a hilarious mindtrip. The first 10 minutes might drag but once it gets going, it goes.

I've heard really good things about it. I'm looking forward to when it's available to watch where I live.