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

John Wick 4: Saw this over the weekend and maybe I was in a bad mood or something but I didn’t think it was as great as the reviews would have you believe. It was good but not great. Just more of the same except he is taking his chaos international. I say 6 out of 10
 
I watched Call Jane, the recent drama about abortion rights in the late 60’s. Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver are the main stars with Banks as a housewife who chooses to have an ("illegal") abortion after she is told that childbirth could put her life at risk. Weaver plays the leader of a group of women trying to create easier access to abortion for women who have chosen that as their best option.
I found the movie uneven, the first part was overdramatic and sometimes kind of corny. There was awkwardness in the story, action and direction. But the movie picks up from there, but the direction remains weak. Phyllis Nagy is a first-time director and this is only her third credit in the movie world after a 2005 TV movie and then writing the screenplay for 2015’s Carol (which starred Cate Blanchett). Nagy’s first attempt at directing shows her lack of skill. Too bad, as the script is okay and the cast is amazing (which also includes Chris Messina and Kate Mara). They deserved someone with more experience for this movie. Maybe more experienced directors were scared to go near this movie because of the subject matter

Trailer for Call Jane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1pUnTsSQc
 
Late to it, but I finally got round to watching Banshees of Inisherin. It's fabulous. Gorgeous to watch, great performances, thought provoking, interesting etc.

I'm sad it didn't win any Oscars (did it?) but whatever.

I enjoyed it so much more than EEAAO, which I've tried to watch a second time, but just couldn't get through. I found it even more dull the second time round. Oh well!
 
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Please consider the following for Razzie Award nominations for next spring :

Worst Picture - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Worst Direction – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Worst Screenplay – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

And maybe create a new casting category for whoever keeps making Michelle Rodriguez play the exact same role over and over again. Have none of you seen her first movie, Girlfight, where she showed that she can really act?

A few good things about this movie include Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton). The deadpan delivery of his character is both spot-on and hilarious. And there are a few moments between Chris Pine and his on-screen daughter that are quite touching. But for the most part, this movie is like every Lord Of The Rings movie. Travel…fight…travel…fight…travel…fight. Storyline? Why bother? We’re going to spend one hundred million on CGI! Whoo-hoo!!!
 
PeterG said:
D'oh!! I cant believe my friend didn't correct me when I said that. Does this mean my friends aren't listening to me?? :wuzrobbed
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Um. :shuffle:

For people who are interested, DnD is a Table Top Role Playing Game. Everyone creates a character and then the "Dungeon Master" takes the group through a scenario they've either created from scratch or gotten from a book of scenarios. How the game goes is based on a combination of choices the team makes and rolls of the dice. And how much fun you have is a combination of how your team acts and how creative the Dungeon Master is.

I've never actually played it only because it wasn't around when I was playing RGP games. We started out playing something called Space Quest but our Space Master didn't like the tables of outcomes for mathematical reasons (there was a 20% chance the entire party would be killed and a 20% chance you'd win the moon on every roll regardless of what you were rolling for according to him) and ended up slowing replacing the tables and rules with his own. He was pretty good at it and we had a blast.

I'm up for a DnD movie though.
 
I watched "Argentina, 1985" and now I also count myself among those who wish it would have won the Oscar for best foreign film. It is both compelling and understated when you understand the obstacles one man and his trusted, young assistants faced when trying to bring justice for all of the kidnapped, tortured and murdered souls in Argentina. Smart, entertaining, soulful film...
 
I never played DnD but the movie was clearly pulling in items and characters from the game. It is probably going to be very nostalgic for anyone who has played the game. It was fun enough for an action fantasy movie and you don't need to understand the items they were featuring to enjoy watching it.
 
With a movie title like Troll Hunter…how could I not watch this movie? :D Troll Hunter is a 2010 fantasy movie from Norway and is of the “found footage” variety. According to some info online it is a “mockumentary”, but it didn’t appear to be done as a humorous movie in my opinion. The story is kind of interesting, that trolls actually exist and that they can grow as tall as 200 feet and can create a LOT of havoc. But the script is pretty lame, the characters quite stupid and the acting just so-so. The special effects are pretty good. They’re about the only good thing about this movie though.
 
MacMadame said:
Um. :shuffle:

For people who are interested, DnD is a Table Top Role Playing Game. Everyone creates a character and then the "Dungeon Master" takes the group through a scenario they've either created from scratch or gotten from a book of scenarios. How the game goes is based on a combination of choices the team makes and rolls of the dice. And how much fun you have is a combination of how your team acts and how creative the Dungeon Master is.

I've never actually played it only because it wasn't around when I was playing RGP games. We started out playing something called Space Quest but our Space Master didn't like the tables of outcomes for mathematical reasons (there was a 20% chance the entire party would be killed and a 20% chance you'd win the moon on every roll regardless of what you were rolling for according to him) and ended up slowing replacing the tables and rules with his own. He was pretty good at it and we had a blast.

I'm up for a DnD movie though.
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When were you playing RPGs? I was playing D&D back in 1977, when I was still in High School. It was pretty basic back then- just 3 (later 4) small rule books, and miniatures were pretty new. We pretty much winged it- there were no modules to follow. I don't remember Space Quest,the space RPG we played was called Traveller.

45 years later, we are still having gaming nights with some of the same people as back then.

I'm a geek. Sue me.
 
Here's a movie I'm surprised never came across my radar:

The Lost King

It stars Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan. This movie is based on a true story, with Hawkins playing an amateur historian who is unhappy at work. After seeing a play about Richard the Third, she dives deep into a historical exploration of his life and discovers that his long-lost remains might reside...in a Leicester car park.

Coogan co-wrote the script. He was Oscar-nominated for Philomena (starring Judi Dench), which won the BAFTA for adapted screenplay. Stephen Frears directs, he was Oscar-nominated for directing The Queen (Helen Mirren) and The Grifters (Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening).

Anyone hear anything about this one? It's possible that while it was released last October in the U.K., it has yet to be released to theatres in the U.S. Looks like a great movie.
 
cygnus said:
When were you playing RPGs? I was playing D&D back in 1977, when I was still in High School.
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Oh, then it must have existed. We played SpaceQuest back in 82-83. But we'd never heard of DnD back then. I think when we moved to California and stopped playing, I finally heard of DnD. So maybe 83-84?
 
PeterG said:
Here's a movie I'm surprised never came across my radar:

The Lost King

It stars Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan. This movie is based on a true story, with Hawkins playing an amateur historian who is unhappy at work. After seeing a play about Richard the Third, she dives deep into a historical exploration of his life and discovers that his long-lost remains might reside...in a Leicester car park.

Coogan co-wrote the script. He was Oscar-nominated for Philomena (starring Judi Dench), which won the BAFTA for adapted screenplay. Stephen Frears directs, he was Oscar-nominated for directing The Queen (Helen Mirren) and The Grifters (Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening).

Anyone hear anything about this one? It's possible that while it was released last October in the U.K., it has yet to be released to theatres in the U.S. Looks like a great movie.
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I'm really looking forward to this one. I stumbled upon the documentary about the woman being portrayed and her search for and finding of Richard III's grave. When he was then interred in Leicester, she was honored to be among the primary attendees of the service.
 
Finally watched Everything, Everywhere All at Once. I really loved it. My mother thinks there's something wrong with me--she hated it and my brother couldn't finish it; he loathed it. Bah. I enjoyed it and mine is the only reality of consequence. Since it won the Oscar, I am the the AlphaMatry of movies, and they're the raccoon versions (which makes sense, or not, if you've watched the movie)
 
Another Oscar nominee viewing:

I watched some of Turning Red and then set it aside for over a week. It wasn’t grabbing my attention, maybe even annoying me a bit. But maybe I wasn’t in the mood for it. Because when I continued with it today, I really enjoyed it. Now I’m unsure whether the beginning was weak, but the rest of the movie was strong…or if I was in a mood! :D Either way, this movie is definitely worth seeing. I swore the voice of the grandmother was Michelle Yeoh (it’s Wai Ching Ho) and had no idea who voiced the mother (it’s Sandra Oh)! So my voice recognition feature is not working. :lol: Another thing that surprised me is that the bubblegum pop songs in the movie were written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas. So some nice surprises with this movie.
 
Kruss said:
I'm really looking forward to this one. I stumbled upon the documentary about the woman being portrayed and her search for and finding of Richard III's grave. When he was then interred in Leicester, she was honored to be among the primary attendees of the service.
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Wasn't there some sort of discovery about the way he looked? He was always portrayed as ugly and misshapen when in fact he might have been hot? Or maybe that was another royal....
 
Matryeshka said:
Finally watched Everything, Everywhere All at Once. I really loved it. My mother thinks there's something wrong with me--she hated it and my brother couldn't finish it; he loathed it. Bah. I enjoyed it and mine is the only reality of consequence. Since it won the Oscar, I am the the AlphaMatry of movies, and they're the raccoon versions (which makes sense, or not, if you've watched the movie)
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From things you've said before, this checks out. ;)

PeterG said:
Another Oscar nominee viewing:

I watched some of Turning Red and then set it aside for over a week. It wasn’t grabbing my attention, maybe even annoying me a bit. But maybe I wasn’t in the mood for it. Because when I continued with it today, I really enjoyed it. Now I’m unsure whether the beginning was weak, but the rest of the movie was strong…or if I was in a mood! :D Either way, this movie is definitely worth seeing. I swore the voice of the grandmother was Michelle Yeoh (it’s Wai Ching Ho) and had no idea who voiced the mother (it’s Sandra Oh)! So my voice recognition feature is not working. :lol: Another thing that surprised me is that the bubblegum pop songs in the movie were written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas. So some nice surprises with this movie.
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I had trouble getting into it at first too. I found the beginning too frantic and loud and I wasn't getting into the friend group. But I did get into it after about 10-15 min.
 
Cachoo said:
Wasn't there some sort of discovery about the way he looked? He was always portrayed as ugly and misshapen when in fact he might have been hot? Or maybe that was another royal....
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King Richard had very bad scoliosis which helped visually to identify the bones that were found. I don't know much about how he was supposed to look, but Philippa Langley was very happy to have a forensic professional build what he may have looked like from his bones.

Here is an article about her story. This article was written in 2014.

King Richard has since been buried at Leicester Cathedral.
 
Scare Me is categorized at Wikipedia as a comedy horror movie, but I would call it a psychological drama about two people interested in the genre of horror stories. The movie plays as a filmed stage play with two (then three) actors talking to (at?) one another for almost two hours. Not much happens than talking until the last fifteen minutes of the movie. And that part is off-putting and somewhat confusing. All of this is a shame because there is some real talent with the two leads, which includes Josh Ruben who is also the writer and director of the movie, both jobs which he does well. But as strong as the script is, I didn’t like/enjoy the story (or the characters). Which makes me think of The Banshees of Inishereen. Well written and acted movie, but the story was irksome and the characters unlikeable. Which leaves me confused why people make a movie with characters we don’t like in a story that is unappealing. Not enough therapy sessions per week?
 
I watched White Heat with James Cagney and Virginia Mayo. One of the things I noticed in this film is the detectives using technology to track down the criminals. They spent a lot of time on the radio signal tracking and I can't really think of a film during that time period that relied that much on something besides the film detective smarts.

I also can't think of anyone that obsessed with mom that can still pull off the terrifying psychopath killer look. Cagney was brilliant. The idea of a mama's boy during that time period was such a contrast with the gangster role. Great role and you just accept the insanity of it all.

The last scene where Cagney is proclaiming "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" and laughing reminded me so much of Jack Nicolson's laughter as The Joker in Batman. They had that evil psycho chuckle down pat. I almost wonder if Cagney influenced Nicolson to a degree. I would love to play a clip back to back and see if Cagney's demented laugh matches up at all with my memories of Nicolson's Joker.

It's old movie night so Strangers on a Train will be next on my list.
 
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