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

[Cachoo]

I watched “Ron’s Gone Wrong” last night and was charmed. It is about children and the introduction of their “robot best friend” as the latest marketing gimmick. First the animation of these bots is creative and gorgeous. The story is of a lonely boy who gets a defective bot who is not connected to the network, their friendship and how it changes everyone around them. Good stuff…good message. On HBO-MAX

 

[mjb52]

Still haven't seen Ida, but Cold War was such a beautiful film.

 

[Tesla]

This trailer gives me a "Romancing The Stone" vibe. I didn't think the trailer was that funny or very interesting at all ...and then Brad Pitt showed up. Then my eyes perked up, LOL.

Sandra, Tatum, Daniel and Brad; might be fun! The Lost City trailer: https://youtu.be/xohAPIRNzuo

Oh, this is totally a Romancing the Stone remake. It looks like so much fun!

 

[Cachoo]

Oh, this is totally a Romancing the Stone remake. It looks like so much fun!

The trailer title on YouTube failed to mention Tatum and I thought he was the highlight: “I have snacks!” What a dork.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Channing Tatum I think is one of those very versatile actors and always worth watching. He is great at comedy but when he has a dramatic performance he can really turn it on (Foxcatcher). And he doesn't always need to be the star.

 

[Buzz]

Some much needed good news for cinemas.

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Lands Third-Biggest Global Debut Ever With $587 Million

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is turbocharging the global box office, generating $587.2 million over the weekend.

variety.com

 

[Vash01]

Watched the movie 'Spotlight' on dvd. Very good. I had seen it in a theater when it came out. I remember that it won the Best Picture Oscar. One of the few that deserved that award. I enjoyed it more on dvd because I was able to see more details. Excellent acting by all, good screenplay. I didn't remember it well, so it was almost like seeing it for the first time. 9/10.

 

[Jay42]

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.

I remember reading an article about black and white photography years ago that said when you want to take black and white photos you have to shoot like you're taking black and white photos. Don't go into it thinking about colour photography and what the colours look like. I imagine the same would hold true of shooting a movie. The black and white has to be used with intention otherwise it's just a gimmick to try and stand out without any real impact. I'm a big fan of black and white as a medium, both for movies and photography, but as a hobby photographer utilizing it well is still something I'm working on.

 

[MacMadame]

I'm a big fan of black and white as a medium, both for movies and photography, but as a hobby photographer utilizing it well is still something I'm working on.

Red shoots black! Light blue shoots white! That's all I know.

I remember them very clearly from my newsletter days back before computers. We'd edit with a light blue pencil and lay things out on graph paper with blue lines. I was also doing B&W photography then and it definitely is fun. But I prefer color.

 

[Cachoo]

I remember reading an article about black and white photography years ago that said when you want to take black and white photos you have to shoot like you're taking black and white photos. Don't go into it thinking about colour photography and what the colours look like. I imagine the same would hold true of shooting a movie. The black and white has to be used with intention otherwise it's just a gimmick to try and stand out without any real impact. I'm a big fan of black and white as a medium, both for movies and photography, but as a hobby photographer utilizing it well is still something I'm working on.

I've been watching "The Landscapers" on HBO-MAX mainly for David Thewlis and Olivia Colman. But the use of light on the program has been fascinating to me. They are bathed in so many colors and black and white. The show is not linear. They jump around in time and (in light.) I do wonder if the design will win any awards.

And now that I've seen the full series I wonder if Olivia Colman will win any awards. Good gawd she is great in this.

 

[Vash01]

Watched the movie The Last Song (2010) last night. Not bad at all. It had a 6/10 rating on IMDb so I had expected a really bad movie. It was entertaining. Mushy but that's what Nicholas Sparks novel based movies are. some are even good, like The Notebook.

I liked Miley Cyrus. I had never seen her in a movie (never watched Hanna Montana). I knew Liam Hemsworth from the Hunger games series and one movie with Kate Winslet (The dressmaker?). He looked a lot younger in The last song. Great chemistry. I think this was before their coupleness, and the brief marriage.

Loved the seaside scenery. My favorite part was when the sea turtles come out of the eggs and slowly move to the ocean. They were so cute! Not sure if they were real or digitally created. Probably the latter.

Overall I enjoyed the movie. It was all about relationships- father/daughter, mother/daughter, friends, brother/sister, and of course the main pair.

 

[vgerdes]

I liked Miley Cyrus. I had never seen her in a movie (never watched Hanna Montana). I knew Liam Hemsworth from the Hunger games series and one movie with Kate Winslet (The dressmaker?). He looked a lot younger in The last song. Great chemistry. I think this was before their coupleness, and the brief marriage.

Their relationship began during that movie, and they did the on again/off again dance for a long time before they actually married. They were even engaged twice.

 

[MacMadame]

Their relationship began during that movie, and they did the on again/off again dance for a long time before they actually married. They were even engaged twice.

This is always a sign not to get married but do people listen?! No, they do not!

 

[PeterG]

6/10 - Sisters of War is a 2010 Australian TV movie based on the lives of two women and their experiences in World War II. One is a nurse and the other is a nun. The movie takes place in 1942 at a small Catholic mission station on an island near Papau New Guinea, which is captured by Japanese forces. The story is about their unlikely friendship, how they strive to survive their circumstances and how their lives take very different directions after there are separated by the Japanese. I enjoyed this movie, but found some dialogue difficult to follow. That’s more about the audio track (no subtitles available!) rather than the accents. But it’s still worth a watch.

Trailer for Sisters of War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvLUcY2GRTE

 

[Cachoo]

6/10 - Sisters of War is a 2010 Australian TV movie based on the lives of two women and their experiences in World War II. One is a nurse and the other is a nun. The movie takes place in 1942 at a small Catholic mission station on an island near Papau New Guinea, which is captured by Japanese forces. The story is about their unlikely friendship, how they strive to survive their circumstances and how their lives take very different directions after there are separated by the Japanese. I enjoyed this movie, but found some dialogue difficult to follow. That’s more about the audio track (no subtitles available!) rather than the accents. But it’s still worth a watch.

Trailer for Sisters of War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvLUcY2GRTE

Oh my goodness that is Shiv from "Succession." I didn't know she is an Aussie! Anyway it looks like a good film. I just want to add that if I wore white there it would be dirty in a minute.

 

[Vash01]

Still haven't seen Ida, but Cold War was such a beautiful film.

Ida was a better film than Cold War.

 

[PeterG]

Oh my goodness that is Shiv from "Succession." I didn't know she is an Aussie! Anyway it looks like a good film. I just want to add that if I wore white there it would be dirty in a minute.

Sarah Snook is one of those actors who makes you think, "I've seen her somewhere before". Turns out I have seen her in Winchester (with Helen Mirren) and three wonderful Australian movies, Not Suitable for Children, Oddball and the Penguins and Holding The Man.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Sarah Snook is one of those actors who makes you think, "I've seen her somewhere before". Turns out I have seen her in Winchester (with Helen Mirren) and three wonderful Australian movies, Not Suitable for Children, Oddball and the Penguins and Holding The Man.

And she was in The Dressmaker which is another great Aussie movie.

Did they call Oddball "Oddball and the Penguins" for overseas release?

 

[Buzz]

Happy 73 birthday to Nick Fury himself Samuel L. Jackson!

https://twitter.com/PhaseZeroCB/status/1473353839470333962

 

[PeterG]

And she was in The Dressmaker which is another great Aussie movie.

Did they call Oddball "Oddball and the Penguins" for overseas release?

The Dressmaker is still on my To See list. As is The Glass Castle, another movie Snook is in.

As for Oddball, I think it was released here under that title but imdb.com has it under the longer title, so I used that for clarification purposes.

 

[Aussie Willy]

The Dressmaker is still on my To See list. As is The Glass Castle, another movie Snook is in.

As for Odball, I think it was released here under that title but imdb.com has it under the longer title, so I used that for clarification purposes.

Oddball was a really good movie.

 

[Buzz]

Dr Strange 2 teaser trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iPJqy2--Eg

 

[Cachoo]

"Being the Ricardos": Knowing this was an Aaron Sorkin script I was already in but I was so impressed by this cast AND by the story. There three big themes running through this story and all are interesting as well as the people in the cast and crew of "I Love Lucy." Initially you see the stress of running a show but you come to see how much these people mean to one another. And it was good to see the Lucy and Desi we don't usually see in "I Love Lucy." The actors nailed it on this one---all of them.

 

[Vash01]

It seems the old WSS dvd has arrived. I could see the new WSS in a theatre next week. Hopefully it won't be too crowded.

 

[PeterG]

5/10 – Talent Has Hunger is a 2016 documentary about master cello teacher Paul Katz and his students. Filmed over seven years, we get to see his child/teenage students become adults and how dedicated they are to giving up much of their life to their love of music. Overall I liked this movie, but it was a little dry. The final third of the movie, which focusses more on the students than on Katz, has much more pep to it than the rest of the movie. Perhaps the focus on Katz for the first two thirds of the movie should have evened out over the movie with as much focus on the students than on just the teacher.

Trailer for Talent Has Hunger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvnVRh2Z7xA

 

[watchthis!!]

33 Postcards is a sweet movie with an ample amount of rough edges to it which keeps it from every becoming too saccharin. The movie is about an orphaned Chinese teenager who is sponsored by a man from Australia (played by Guy Pearce). His donations allow her to get an education and when the choir she is a part of has the opportunity to travel to Australia to perform, she decides it is time to meet this man, his wife and their children. But she discovers he is not the person he described himself to be in his postcards to her. Zhu Lin plays the sixteen year old orphan, and her work here is beautiful. 33 Postcards is the first ever co-production between China and Australia. I really liked this movie.

 

[vgerdes]

"Being the Ricardos": Knowing this was an Aaron Sorkin script I was already in but I was so impressed by this cast AND by the story. There three big themes running through this story and all are interesting as well as the people in the cast and crew of "I Love Lucy." Initially you see the stress of running a show but you come to see how much these people mean to one another. And it was good to see the Lucy and Desi we don't usually see in "I Love Lucy." The actors nailed it on this one---all of them.

FYI this movie is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

 

[Seerek]

^
Nina Arianda and JK Simmons fared the best out of everyone, imo, kind of a shame their roles were relatively small. Alia Shawkat should have also been utilized more (but then again, is Sorkin really the best choice of writer to examine 1950s women in show business creative roles such as Marilyn Pugh Davis ?).

 

[MacMadame]

Anyone see Matrix Revolutions yet? We streamed it last night and about halfway through they just lost me. How many times is that damn Matrix going to reboot? Can we see people suddenly know martial arts? Be able to fly? I predicted every single "twist" and plot point except for one and I was only paying attention enough to not bother Mr. Mac by asking dumb questions.

 

[clairecloutier]

I saw the first 3 Matrix movies but, TBH, the only one I really remember much about is the first one. So I don't know if I will bother with this new one. My husband may watch it on his own.