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

"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" was enjoyable to me. Sonic had been a part of my childhood growing up. I use to play the game and also watched the cartoon. So I found this movie to be somewhat nostalgic, which was nice.

Jim Carrey did a great job as the villainous Doctor Eggman, so much so that I find it hard to imagine anyone else playing the character.

The movie did a great job at mimicking a likeness to its videogame and cartoon origins which I appreciated. The 3 Hedgehog characters (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails) were all pretty much exactly as I remembered them to be.

This is one of those movies that I can watch multiple times, and still enjoy it.
 
Sorry to double post, my last day off from work so I went to see "Women Talking" today. Really beautifully done movie, and you don't know for sure what's going to happen at the end until you actually get there. The movie is very gentle and calm, slow-paced, but just wonderful.

That's all of the Best Picture nominations I'm going to watch. I don't see the need to watch either of the blockbusters, since the original Top Gun I hated, and the original Avatar bored me (and I've heard if you've seen the original Avatar, you have the plot for the reboot).
Have you read the book? I’m so wary of movie adaptations :fragile:
"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" was enjoyable to me. Sonic had been a part of my childhood growing up. I use to play the game and also watched the cartoon. So I found this movie to be somewhat nostalgic, which was nice.

Jim Carrey did a great job as the villainous Doctor Eggman, so much so that I find it hard to imagine anyone else playing the character.

The movie did a great job at mimicking a likeness to its videogame and cartoon origins which I appreciated. The 3 Hedgehog characters (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails) were all pretty much exactly as I remembered them to be.

This is one of those movies that I can watch multiple times, and still enjoy it.
My kids were on a sonic kick for awhile so we’ve watched that one a lot :lol: Jim Carrey is wonderful as that character. We sometimes tune out kids movies but that one we found enjoyable enough that usually we’d find ourselves watching.
 
Have you read the book? I’m so wary of movie adaptations :fragile:
I have not read the book and didn’t know it was an adaptation. I can say that the movie is strong and literate on its own from my point of view. I may have to read the book now!
 
I never saw the original Top Gun. I am getting Top gun Maverick on Netflix. Will I still understand the new movie?
 
I never saw the original Top Gun. I am getting Top gun Maverick on Netflix. Will I still understand the new movie?


Yes. You’ll have a lot more context if you also saw the first movie. But the second movie is certainly understandable on its own.

I liked Maverick quite a bit more than the original. The ego-focused, competitive macho jock vibe of Top Gun never appealed to me. But the theme of the middle-aged individual confronting their own limitations and problematic choices was much more relatable. 😃
 
Last night I watched an exceptional French drama called "A Kid" (the original French title is "Le fils de Jean"). I had probably seen the trailer at some point, so it was on my To See list, but didn't know anything more about this movie than that. But it was SO GOOD!! I don't want to say too much about the many reasons I liked this movie as I think that would probably lessen your viewing experience. But I can say that it is about a man in France who is contacted from Canada to say that his birth father (who he never had any contact with) has died. This man decides to fly to Montreal for the funeral. If you like strong dramas and are not afraid of sub-titles, you gotta see this one. The two main characters were both nominated for the French Oscars (the César) for their performances.

Trailer for A Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynv7-FgO0W8
 
Celeste and Jesse Forever is a romantic comedy drama written by and starring Rashida Jones. Andy Samberg plays Jesse, opposite Jones’ Celeste. The movie is interesting as it features two quirky lead characters in a movie quite different than anything we’ve seen in a romantic type of movie before. Nice to watch a movie that rarely goes into the direction you expect it to. Lots of other performers in this movie to enjoy including Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor and Eric Christian Olsen (NCIS: Los Angeles).
 
Celeste and Jesse Forever is a romantic comedy drama written by and starring Rashida Jones. Andy Samberg plays Jesse, opposite Jones’ Celeste. The movie is interesting as it features two quirky lead characters in a movie quite different than anything we’ve seen in a romantic type of movie before. Nice to watch a movie that rarely goes into the direction you expect it to. Lots of other performers in this movie to enjoy including Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor and Eric Christian Olsen (NCIS: Los Angeles).

Imo, Rashida really carried the movie (makes sense as she was co-screenwriter) , and yes it's a very different kind of arc for a romantic comedy (won't give away too many spoilers as to why it's different).
 
Ant Man and the Wasp Quantumania - This is a wonderful, weird, silly, fun movie! Definitely the MCU version of Star Wars meets Alice in Wonderland. Jonathan Majors and Michelle Pfeiffer were definitely the stars of the show! Stay for BOTH post credit scenes. They are worth the wait!
 
I watched a movie called "You People" on Netflix last night. It stars Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, David Duchovny, Nia Long and Eddie Murphy, and it's about an African-American woman who falls in love with a Jewish man, and then their families meeting each other. Moderately funny, I kind of expected a little more with this cast, but it was all right. Less than 2 hours long, so I didn't spend too much time on it!
 
"Jumanji: The Next Level" was more enjoyable to me than what I would have anticipated.

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Heart, & Jack Black working together served as a surefire way to deliver a reliably fun movie to watch from beginning to end.

Initially I was a bit concerned that the movie might be a bit too childish for me, but thought I'd take a chance with it nonetheless, and am glad I did.
 
Extraterrestrial is horribly cheesy sci-fi horror movie about five young people who go to a house in the woods and then battle extraterrestrials. Horribly cheesy as in very cheese as well as horrible...but in a fun, stupid kind of way. I recommend it if you have a thing for movie that make you roll your eyes, but you laugh along with it. The very cute Freddie Stoma plays the boy friend and some of you might remember Gil Bellows from the tv show Ally McBeal as the town's sherriff. And the kooky, pot-growing neighbour is played by Michael Ironside who you might have seen in a ton of things.
 
I started watching Top gun Maverick. It was very interesting but I was too sleepy to go on. After that I had a couple of very busy days, so I haven't picked it up yet. I did read the story of Topgun (1986) before I started watching this.

I have Tar at home. Will arch it after Maverick.
 
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Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks is a PBS documentary about Koko and Penny Patterson, a PhD student who taught a young gorilla sign language (Koko learned up to 300 words over time). Patterson's work moved on to learning about the inner workings of an animal's mind. At first I found this movie to be interesting as it covered the story from Patterson's point of view. Then halfway through, we got to hear from other people doing studies with animals and had to re-think my original thoughts. I wondered if it was right to seclude Koko (for the most part) from other gorillas for the sake of study (they usually live in groups of five to ten, and occassionally up to more than fifty). I enjoyed this, but ended up questioning whether Koko was treated well, or on some level lived a life of isolated semi-abuse.

Trailer for Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sesspfZKsq0
 
I watched The Power Of The Dog this past week. This morning I started watching the DVD extras. Then as I prepared to post about the movie, I googled whether Jane Campion was a gay filmmaker. Or not. (She was married to man once, they divorced in 2001. Stopped searching, so that's all I know.)

I found some reviews of The Power Of The Dog that represented my distaste (disgust?) for this movie.

Then I did a search here to see what others has posted about this movie. I couldn't keep reading. I feel sick.

So I'm not going to talk about the movie other than to say... Straight People. Tell your own f*ing stories. Leave gay stories to gay people to tell. And please, for the love of God, keep your homophobic bull**, however artful, to your ****ing selves.
 
Has anyone seen Cocaine Bear? The reviews I have read sound like it is a Snakes on a Plane type thing. As the title just says exactly what it is and is a whole bunch of stupid.
 
And it's based on a true story! :lol:
Very loosely. In real life the bear overdosed and died pretty much immediately.

I saw Cocaine Bear on Friday night, it is very much about a bear that accidentally consumes a bunch of cocaine and goes on a rampage but it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot. It is pretty gory, they really don't shy away from showing the bear eating people. But if you're into horror adjacent comedies it's definitely worth a look.
 
Very loosely. In real life the bear overdosed and died pretty much immediately.

I saw Cocaine Bear on Friday night, it is very much about a bear that accidentally consumes a bunch of cocaine and goes on a rampage but it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot. It is pretty gory, they really don't shy away from showing the bear eating people. But if you're into horror adjacent comedies it's definitely worth a look.
I can't watch this since it's based on a true story. That poor bear.
 
We watched Ford vs. Ferrari. For those who haven't seen it, it's a movie about car racing in the 1960s, with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Pretty good overall. We enjoyed it. It has a very classic story arc, and I can't say it's surprising in any way, but just a well-made movie, with quality production and good writing. The actors are all good. Matt Damon is still, um, very watchable :D , and Jon Bernthal has a fun turn as a young Lee Iacocca. Christian Bale and Catriona Balfe make their characters memorable. And even though I'm not very into cars, the car racing scenes are a lot of fun.
 
We watched Ford vs. Ferrari. For those who haven't seen it, it's a movie about car racing in the 1960s, with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Pretty good overall. We enjoyed it. It has a very classic story arc, and I can't say it's surprising in any way, but just a well-made movie, with quality production and good writing. The actors are all good. Matt Damon is still, um, very watchable :D , and Jon Bernthal has a fun turn as a young Lee Iacocca. Christian Bale and Catriona Balfe make their characters memorable. And even though I'm not very into cars, the car racing scenes are a lot of fun.
I thought it was a great movie and Bale and Damon was great fun in it.

There are two types of sporting movies that I think always end up good. Car racing and boxing. Two sports that I actually have no interest in.
 
I thought it was a great movie and Bale and Damon was great fun in it.

There are two types of sporting movies that I think always end up good. Car racing and boxing. Two sports that I actually have no interest in.

That's funny! I avoid boxing movies--just don't want to watch people beating on each other. But there have been a number of car racing movies that I've more or less enjoyed, such as Days of Thunder.
 
That's funny! I avoid boxing movies--just don't want to watch people beating on each other. But there have been a number of car racing movies that I've more or less enjoyed, such as Days of Thunder.
I’ve liked a bunch of car racing movies too, though I don’t generally have much interest. Rush was really good too. They make good date night movies for my husband and I that generally don’t agree on movies.
 
That's funny! I avoid boxing movies--just don't want to watch people beating on each other. But there have been a number of car racing movies that I've more or less enjoyed, such as Days of Thunder.
I hate boxing too. But movies like Million Dollar Baby transcend the brutality of it.

Rush was a great movie too.
 
I saw an old movie called I Remember Mama (1948). I’m not a lover of sappy dramas but this is a wonderful and charming little old movie. Definitely worth checking out.
 
How lucky was I to stumble upon "Remember The Night" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray? It's possible that one of you helped me on my way to this movie, even if inadvertently. I found a piece of paper at my computer and all that was written on it was "Barbara Stanwyck". So I checked out my local library and they had four of her movies. Remember The Night had the least number of copies, so that's where I started. And what a wonderful start!

The movie is about Stanwyck, who is caught shoplifting. She is brought before a judge but her trial is postponed until after the Christmas holidays. MacMurray is the prosecutor, who feels bad about Stanwyck spending all the holidays in a prison cell. He finds a way for her to post bail and discovers she has nowhere to stay...with jailtime at least she had a roof over her head and something to eat. MacMurray ends up taking her back to his home for Christmas, which is not far from where Stanwyck grew up. They stop by to visit her estranged mother and MacMurray gets a glimpse into what led Stanwyck to the type of life she now has.

I think that Remember The Night might be as perfect a movie as you can get. I'm surprised not only that I had never heard of it, but that it's not considered a classic. On top of that, it takes place at Christmas, which is a genre of movie that gets a lot of attention. Stanwyck and MacMurray are picture-perfect and every member of the cast is definitely on the top of their game. Elizabeth Patterson as Aunt Emma looked familiar, I found out that she played Mrs. Trumbull on I Love Lucy. The script by Preston Sturges can't be faulted...it balances both the sentimental and some toughness so well. There's more to say about the high level of the script, but I don't want to spoil anything. If you enjoy classic film...or just good movies, then this is a must-see. Have some hankies on hand, though.

Trailer for Remember The Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyeGZcHVwa8
 

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