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

PeterG said:
Whitney Cummings: I'm Your Girlfriend (Amazon Prime) - I've seen more recent stand-up from Cummings and quite enjoyed her concert. But in this one...boy, is she MEAN. And not that the topics she covers are not worthy of her anger.
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I used to speak to her when she was on the elepticals at Equinox years agoooo. she would read scripts while on them... either that or go over her stand up.
 
PeterG said:
7/10 - Loveless (DVD) - A 2017 drama from Russian about two parents separating and how the bitterness of their breaking up affects their son. When he goes missing, things unravel even more. The tone of this film is dark (obviously with the subject matter), but dark in that it's like the marriage (and the child along with it) are swirling down a sink drain...and the director takes us down into that hole as well. So not an enjoyable movie to watch...but one well made. This movie won the Jury Prize at Cannes (where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or as well). It was also nominated for best foreign language film at the Oscars, the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Trailer for Loveless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDWRXfwBdmU

6/10 - Brody Stevens: Live From The Main Stage (Amazon Prime) - I saw this comedian get mentioned on a talk show as being someone the comedy world lost (due to suicide as he suffered from bipolar disorder). This stand-up special is very different from most specials which have packed crowds of loving fans. Stevens never made the big time, but got to film this special as the final comic of the night after some bigger names had performed. I am unsure if it was set up this way to fit in with his act of being like a Rodney Dangerfield and not getting the respect he deserved. A lot of it seemed to be on-the-spot improvisation. It works better for him as an experienced comedian (in comparison to the Pete Davidson special I mentioned earlier).

Trailer for Brody Stevens, Live From The Main Stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFhWhp0grM4

4/10 - Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine (Netflix) - A sketch comedy program from the woman who because famous for lip-syncing Trump speeches on TikTok. I found this special to be very well put together, but the material didn't match the professionalism of the finished project. Disappointing considering the guests that took part in this special includes Maya Rudolph, Ben Stiller, Jon Hamm, Aubrey Plaza, Jane Lynch, Whoopi Goldberg, Winona Ryder, Marisa Tomei, Tommy Davidson and Helen Mirren.

Trailer for Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flU_swot5WI
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I watched 'Loveless' a few months ago. It was dark, as you say. That poor kid! The acting was very good, particularly in that important scene toward the end. Many Russian movies are pessimistic but some of them are still very good. This one is good and well made but I don't feel it is Oscar worthy. I could be wrong.

I have seen many Russian movies, and they often made me wonder why there is no bright spot. This movie is powerful in its pessimism. That is realism as they see it. Sometimes I wish they would not be so honest. A happy ending feels good Once in a while. For them it is just life, and movies are not escape from life, I guess.

I recommend 'Prisoner of the mountain', a different type of Russian movie.

Definitely avoid 'Lilia forever' even though the acting by the 14 year actress is phenomenal. It was too much for me.
 
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Watched there relatively old movies with Saoirse Ronan in them, on dvd.

Atonement - very good. Better than what I thought of it in the theatre. Ronan was fabulous.

Brooklyn- it is a good movie but I have a tough time calling it a great movie, the way some people did. Ronan was very good of course but Ifound the movie boring in some sections.

On Chesil beach - this was a pleasant surprise. I had not heard of this movie until recently. Based on a novel, which I have not read. So the final scene was powerful. I kept thinking 'what if...' for days afterward.
 
I enjoyed "Jane’s Journey", a documentary about the life of Jane Goodall. It covered her early life well and the beginnings of her time in Africa. Also covered is her travels around the world sharing what she has learned with everyone. It seems like she wished she could just spend all her time in Africa, but she knows it's important to reach out to people personally. My only complaint with the movie is that they included her son as part of the story, but that part felt like pieces of the story was missing. Everything else covered was well told though.


AngieNikodinovLove said:
I watched that with my father.

And had you not brought that up Im not sure I would have ever remembered that......

Wow.....
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Did you enjoy The Black Stallion anywhere near as much as me? I thought it would be more of a movie aimed at kids. But it didn't have that kind of feel to it. Just that it had a boy as the lead character.
 
watchthis!! said:
Did you enjoy The Black Stallion anywhere near as much as me? I thought it would be more of a movie aimed at kids. But it didn't have that kind of feel to it. Just that it had a boy as the lead character.
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I believe I did, but man that was a long time ago. I was a young child. But my dad and I would watch that together whenever it was on HBO or something back then
 
6/10 - Gemini Man (Amazon Prime) - I had forgotten that Ang Lee directed this. That's surprising in that I felt this movie worked as an action movie, but lacked connection between the characters on-screen. I would have guessed the opposite was more likely to happen with an Ang Lee-directed movie. Although he did direct Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and that had some pretty good action in it! Will Smith has two roles in Gemini Man and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Clive Owen co-star. I've enjoyed those two more in other projects. And something seemed off in Will Smith's scenes with...himself. (His CGI-self?) Maybe the CGI work done of his younger self wasn't quite technically there yet? But I did like this as a popcorn movie to distract me from the heat of the day. :)

Trailer for Gemini Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Budwd_uAnsk
 
I am watching Ladyhawke with Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer. I remember watching this all the way back in 1985 and cringing even then at the electronic synth soundtrack. It doesn't fit the style of the film at all. Once you get past that part it is still a pretty good fantasy/sci fi story about 2 cursed lovers. Doomed to forever be together and always apart. It's a fun blast from the past and worth the rewatch.
 
6/10 - Saw III (Blu-Ray) - Some very gruesome stuff...which actually only takes up about only five minutes of this 90+ minute film. I actually couldn't look at the screen during these scenes. But the story is good, unlike the previous movies where one story is the focus, this time there are three different stories happening at the same time. Ultimately we find out that they are all connected in quite an interesting way. And like the previous films, we see snippets of dialogue from earlier in the film all spliced together letting us see how there was much more to what was being said than we realized. And this one sets up Saw Four really well.

Trailer for Saw III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76K0UGvkqYU

5/10 - Awake (Netflix) - This crime action thriller stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a man with amnesia after living through a car crash where another vehicle drives him off the road. While he recovers in the hospital, we see police trying to solve a serial murder case. Meyers becomes a suspect and the rest of the movie is about him trying to prove his innocence...with having very little of his memory available to him. Great premise for a movie, but there are some stock characters and problematic plot points and character actions.

Trailer for Awake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7g4bCJxaBU

5/10 Morgan Murphy: Irish Goodbye (Amazon Prime) - I had never heard of Murphy before, but I saw her stand-up special listed on Prime and thought I'd check it out. She's pretty decent, but I'm not really into the politically incorrect (but not really) thing that some comedians are doing. Like telling homophobic jokes and then chuckling about how wrong those jokes are. Plus the slacker attitude isn't overly appealing to me. Still, she's a fairly good comic.

Trailer for Morgan Murphy: Irish Goodbye - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvt7LuHeahg
 
MacMadame said:
She's the only reason I'm going to see this one.
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I feel like there might be another good reason - can't think of what is is right now. :unsure:

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Clint Eastwood is really good in The Mule. It's the story of a World War II veteran who falls on hard times. Eastwood's character meets a young man who hears about how he is struggling financially. This guy talks to some people he knows who are involved with transporting drugs. Because Eastwood is old, white and a veteran, they believe he would make a good mule as no one would suspect him. Eastwood accepts the job on a one-time only basis, but when he sees how much money he can make and what he can do with this money (like paying for the repair of his local VFW building which closed up due to a fire) - he decides to continue his work as a mule.

Eastwood carries this movie well and he has surrounded himself with a top-tier cast, including Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Clifton Collins Jr., Taissa Farmiga and Andy Garcia.
 
Watched the movie Tully (Charlize Theron) on dvd. Pretty awful, IMO. It was just 1.5 hour long but I couldn't wait for it to end. 2/10
 
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6/10 - Hunting Grounds aka Valley of the Sasquatch (Amazon Prime) - One of those small, independent horror movies that is so bad it's good. Like maybe half-way through the filming, they ran out of their (incredibly small) budget and the director just said, "f*** it, let's just shoot what we can and Bob's Mom will do the special effects...and let's make this movie!!!" :lol: The actors aren't horrible, they just had a director who was busy with budgeting disasters, so they just did their own thing. David Saucedo as the irritating jerk that we just know will be made a pinata out of by the Sasquatchi first is fantastic in his role. I hated him! :D The special effects towards the end made me howl in laughter. Watch this one with a bowl of popcorn and throw a piece at the screen every time something awful happens. But eat quickly or all of your snack will be on the floor. :)

Trailer for Hunting Grounds aka Valley of the Sasquatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnyJQ22sUTs

5/10 - Test (DVD) - Another small independent film, this one is a gay drama from 2013. It's about some gay male dancers in San Francisco. (Another serving of stereotypes, please!) ;) It's 1985 and the test to find out if one is positive for A.I.D.S. is just being put into practice. The plot for this one is kind of lacking. In order to get the running time up to 89 minutes, they had to add about four (fairly long) dance scenes to keeping this movie from being a short film. The two leads are decent, especially the hunky Matthew Risch (Looking, Modern Family) as the bad boy.

Trailer for Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nwbb74D5fg

3/10 - Innerspace (DVD) - A 1987 sci-fi comedy starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short and Meg Ryan. The one where Navy aviator Quaid gets shrunken as part of a secret miniaturization experiment and resides for a while inside Martin Short. Who does his goofy dancing schtick that he did on SCTV. And then did on Saturday Night Live. And does again here. Quaid and Ryan are neglected, two straight men for Short to overstay his welcome in front of a camera. The movie is directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Explorers, The Howling) and executive produced by Stephen Spielberg. I'm guessing Steve chose a "hands-off" method on this one.

Trailer for Innerspace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kQDIosuZuo
 
watchthis!! said:
Clint Eastwood is really good in The Mule. It's the story of a World War II veteran who falls on hard times. Eastwood's character meets a young man who hears about how he is struggling financially. This guy talks to some people he knows who are involved with transporting drugs. Because Eastwood is old, white and a veteran, they believe he would make a good mule as no one would suspect him. Eastwood accepts the job on a one-time only basis, but when he sees how much money he can make and what he can do with this money (like paying for the repair of his local VFW building which closed up due to a fire) - he decides to continue his work as a mule.

Eastwood carries this movie well and he has surrounded himself with a top-tier cast, including Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Clifton Collins Jr., Taissa Farmiga and Andy Garcia.
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I saw that movie in a theatre when it came out and thought- this is a pretty good movie! I don't like Eastwood's political views but he is a good actor and director.
 
watchthis!! said:
The Black Stallion is one of those movies that was always in the back of my mind to see...and recently I finally got around to seeing it. And I loved it. From 1979 and starring Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Hoyt Axton (and an unknown young actor Kelly Reno), the movie is about a boy who has survived a shipwreck and finds himself stranded on a deserted island. The only other survivor is the horse he was captivated by on the ship and tried to give sugarcubes to. The horse had a trainer who used abusive methods, so now the horse does not trust humans. But over time on the island, the two form a bond and the boy eventually is able to ride the horse and speed across the beaches of the island. One day they are found by some fisherman and are returned home. When the people see how well the two ride together as a team, they move towards entering the horse in some races. Rooney was nominated for an Oscar for his role, but lost to Melvyn Douglas in Being There. The movie unfortunately didn't get a nomination for best picture, but it was a tough year: Apocalypse Now, Norma Rae, All That Jazz, Breaking Away and Kramer Vs. Kramer (which won) were the movies that got nominated that year.
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I loved those books when I was a kid (well I liked any horse books). So was really happy when I saw the movie and thought it was very good.

If you like horse movies, check out The Silver Brumby. Set in the Snowy Mountains in Australia is has Russell Crowe as the guy who tries to catch the silver brumby. Again another horse book series I read as a kid.
 
watchthis!! said:
Clint Eastwood is really good in The Mule. It's the story of a World War II veteran who falls on hard times. Eastwood's character meets a young man who hears about how he is struggling financially. This guy talks to some people he knows who are involved with transporting drugs. Because Eastwood is old, white and a veteran, they believe he would make a good mule as no one would suspect him. Eastwood accepts the job on a one-time only basis, but when he sees how much money he can make and what he can do with this money (like paying for the repair of his local VFW building which closed up due to a fire) - he decides to continue his work as a mule.

Eastwood carries this movie well and he has surrounded himself with a top-tier cast, including Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Clifton Collins Jr., Taissa Farmiga and Andy Garcia.
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Hey you are making great suggestions. I saw this at the cinema when it came out. Another very good movie from Clint. He really is an excellent director and film maker.
 
PeterG said:
3/10 - Innerspace (DVD) - A 1987 sci-fi comedy starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short and Meg Ryan. The one where Navy aviator Quaid gets shrunken as part of a secret miniaturization experiment and resides for a while inside Martin Short. Who does his goofy dancing schtick that he did on SCTV. And then did on Saturday Night Live. And does again here. Quaid and Ryan are neglected, two straight men for Short to overstay his welcome in front of a camera. The movie is directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Explorers, The Howling) and executive produced by Stephen Spielberg. I'm guessing Steve chose a "hands-off" method on this one.

Trailer for Innerspace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kQDIosuZuo
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I actually liked that movie at the time it came out. But it hasn't aged well.
 
Angel Has Fallen suffers in the way most films in a series do. The first is the best, the second is second best...etc. But this one is alright. There's a formula for the movies in this action thriller series. And they've got it down pat, so even though the previous films were better, this one is still enjoyable. There are three more movies planned, as well as some TV show spin-offs. Wikipedia says they might do TV spin-offs in different countries in their native language, which could result in new characters for the upcoming movies. Smart to pull in future viewers from around the globe to build up the box office potential. Nick Nolte is great in this as Gerard Butler's Dad. Others in this movie include Jada Pinkett Smith, Lance Reddick, Tim Blake Nelson, Piper Perabo and Danny Huston.

Aussie Willy said:
I loved those books when I was a kid (well I liked any horse books). So was really happy when I saw the movie and thought it was very good.

If you like horse movies, check out The Silver Brumby. Set in the Snowy Mountains in Australia is has Russell Crowe as the guy who tries to catch the silver brumby. Again another horse book series I read as a kid.
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Thanks, I will see if I can find The Silver Brumby. :)
 
I saw "True Romance" in the 90's and enjoyed it though it was on the violent side for me. But seeing it again was revelatory for the Tarantino script and that cast list---Patricia Arquette, Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Conchata Ferrell, James Gandolfini, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Bronson Pinchot, Maria Pitillo, Samuel Jackson, Michael Rappaport, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Saul Rubinek and MORE. Goodness!
 
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Got my tickets for Shang Chi! :cheer2: The reviews have so far been stellar and there are two post credit scenes, and rumour has it that one of those post credit scenes caused quite the ruckus.
 
Cachoo said:
I saw "True Romance" in the 90's and enjoyed it though it was on the violent side for me. But seeing it again was revelatory for the Tarantino script and that cast list---Patricia Arquette, Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Conchata Ferrell, James Gandolfini, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Bronson Pinchot, Maria Pitillo, Samuel Jackson, Michael Rappaport, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Saul Rubinek and MORE. Goodness!
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I have never seen it but now you mention it I will put that on my list.
 
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