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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 25, 2019 0:56:55 GMT
I haven't even seen that movie & now I love it too! For one thing, I want to visit the 'stans, and for another, the stately orchestral rendering of Hymne à l'amour in the trailer gave me good goosebumps.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 5, 2019 19:58:50 GMT
Doctor Sleep is pretty good, but I confess that I absolutely never imagined the little boy in The Shining ever growing up to become Ewan McGregor as a bearded alcoholic. At least he has finally perfected his American accent. I still have not recovered from how awful it was in A Life Less Ordinary, and that was more than 20 years ago. I didn't expect them to go back to the Overlook Hotel, but yes they did. And that was actually the weakest part of the movie.
I am tempted to read the book one of these days, but not yet.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 10, 2019 5:55:10 GMT
I saw two interesting social dramas recently.
Mike Leigh's Sorry We Missed You is about the horror of zero-hour contracts in the UK. The husband is one of those delivery people at Amazon and other companies who has to dash live crazy for a miserable wage, and the wife is a life assistant for old people on a very tight schedule that makes no allowances for having to clean up shit or other unexpected occurences. And then there's the teenage son in his difficult years...
The Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano movie Hors normes (English title: The Specials) is about a semi-official charity run by a Muslim and an orthodox Jew which tries to take care of all of the autistic children and adults for which the official places have no room or have had to get rid of them because they were too disruptive. On top of that it recruits young people in social difficulty to act as helpers. The autistic actors are authentic. The trailer is much more heartwarming than the content of the movie itself.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 10, 2019 12:55:06 GMT
I want to go and see midway. That is one of my favorite battles and very emblematic of the Americans. They suffered defeat after defeat and threw all they had in a calculated gamble against the enemy. Then they fought relentlessly getting their nose bloodied (8 attacks repulsed inc the slaughter of all outdated torpedoed bombers - uneder Waldron command if I remember well before catching the jams with pants down (cap fighters at sea level and most if the planes refuelling) and sunk 3 aircraft carriers in 5min. Just the kind of scenario for a rocky movie. I'll try to go with my daughter.
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2019 13:10:49 GMT
Isn't "Sorry we missed you" a Ken Loach movie? Sounds like his usual cheery subject.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 10, 2019 13:34:25 GMT
Yes, I don't know why I wrote Mike Leigh other than I am losing my mind. Ken Loach, of course. I want to go and see midway. I enjoyed Midway, including the wooden 1960's acting from all of the series B actors. That seemed to make it more authentic for some reason. It clearly tried to stay as close to reality as possible and it was good to see a review of what happened to all of the main characters later in the war in the closing credits. I suppose that is why no major studio wanted to finance the movie and the director had to go begging for financing in China.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 10, 2019 16:54:42 GMT
Whatagain, your daughter will go see that movie with you?! What a good girl she is. Even though I know war movies are an important source for learning history, I've always called them "boy movies" and never go see them. (I did go see A Bridge Too Far when it first came out and realized it wasn't an experience I needed to repeat.)
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 11, 2019 18:14:55 GMT
Levan Gelbakhiani absolutely sets the screen on fire in the Georgian movie And Then We Danced and yet this is his very first movie. It is a dance movie and he is a dancer. It is about a training school for the Georgian National Ensemble where the character played by Gelbakhiani is criticised by the director for not upholding Georgian national values. The director tells him "This isn't the lambada. There must be no emotion and just a portrayal of masculinity!" Well, the character Merab has a problem in that department. He loves to dance, and it shows on his face and in the way he moves. And he is not exactly a portrayal of masculinity in Georgian tradition. The director is a Swede of Georgian origin and had to learn to speak Georgian to make the movie. Anyway, Levan Gelbakhiani has been nominated as best actor at the upcoming European film awards and would richly deserve to win.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 11, 2019 20:16:59 GMT
The new Costa-Gavras movie Adults in the Room is a film that will only appeal to people interested in the perversions of politics (me, sometimes). It can't be called a political thriller since we know that Greece was not killed in the end, but it pretty much plays out like one, with the EU being the bad guy. And that is exactly true, although it isn't as simple as all that, except for the fact that Greece had completely fucked up and the EU absolutely needed to punish it. Unfortunately, this ignored the fact that Greece is a country full of living and breathing people, so demanding that salaries be lowered by 30% and then demanding that they be lowered an additional 30% was totally inhuman -- not to mention forcing the country to sell all of its airports and other assets of interest. In this particular case, the EU does indeed come across as supremely evil and heartless. Thank god that all of the matters with which it deals are not so relentless. Anyway, it all starts with the election of left wing Syriza coalition to power in 2015 to replace to corrupt previous government. This would have been fine, except that they had absolutely no experience in running a country. Greece was bankrupt, the EU was out for blood, and it all went downhill from there. The trailer shows that the EU is run almost exclusively by dour unhappy men.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 11, 2019 22:14:59 GMT
Well. My daughter reluctantly agreed to see midway but pointed out it may not be a movie for Marie. My wife abounded and someone adroitly steered the discussion towards maléfique. So we went the 4 of us to see maléfique. That we all liked.
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Post by bjd on Nov 12, 2019 6:41:26 GMT
My daughter went to see Adults in the Room and Costa-Gavras was there presenting his movie. She was not overly impressed with the movie but thought it interesting that CG was still in full rebellion mode at his age.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 14, 2019 21:28:50 GMT
So, I saw the new Polanski movie J'Accuse yesterday (international title: An Officer and a Spy), and no matter what you think of the director as a human being, it is an excellent movie. It takes the Dreyfus case into a different direction, from the point of view of the anti-Semitic scumbag who helped to have him convicted and then had doubts when investigating the evidence ("fake news," anybody?). But as we all know, the French army (like every army, even in the 21st century) refused to have its decisions challenged. The scumbag was thrown in jail, Emile Zola was thrown in jail... but Dreyfus was released in the end. Pardoned but not exonerated of guilt (that took quite a few more years). The scumbag and Dreyfus saw each other one last time after he was released and despised each other -- not quite a Hollywood ending, but that's the way real life is.
Visually, the movie is stunning.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 15, 2019 0:39:42 GMT
Well, it is part of the enduring topic of life vs art. I refused to seen The Pianist in a cinema, though I had read the book and the story fascinated me, but wound up watching it as a Radio-Canada televised film. I imagine I'll eventually wind up watching it in a similar setting, though I'd gladly lob sharp stones at that misogynist filth Polanski.
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Post by bjd on Nov 15, 2019 7:08:36 GMT
I read the Officer and a Spy book by Robert Harris a few years ago. It was very good and nobody comes off as a hero. Dreyfus is an unappealing person in it. I'm sure it's a very good movie.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 15, 2019 7:19:32 GMT
Dreyfus himself (Louis Garrel) hardly appears in the movie at all since he was off at Devil's Island. He comes across as very understandably bitter at the end but not a sympathetic character.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 15, 2019 18:27:32 GMT
Today, I wanted to keep out of the rain and cold for a lengthy time, so I went to see Le Mans '66. At least that is the title in most of the world -- in the U.S. it is called Ford v Ferrari because brand names are so much better. Matt Damon went through the movie like a robot. Christian Bale was much more interesting, as he always is when he portrays a weird person. But still -- race cars, noise, testosterone -- it was an ordeal for two and a half hours. I guess there is a public for this kind of movie.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 19, 2019 19:36:13 GMT
Today I saw the gritty Tunisian movie Noura Rêve (Noura's Dream in English). The subject is basically the fact that adultery is still a crime punishable by 5 years in prison in Tunisia. Noura's husband Jamel is in jail. He is a thief and a crook. She has fallen in love with nice man Lassaad and has filed for divorce, but it isn't easy. Her lawyer is against her with the argument that children need a father, etc. Just when things are looking up, Jamel is released from prison by a presidential pardon... and things go downhill rapidly. It is quite upsetting.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 20, 2019 15:30:03 GMT
Les Misérables by Ladj Ly is one of the most stressful movies that I have seen in years. It won the Jury Prize at the Cannes festival and is the French submission for best foreign film at the Oscars, since they have finally understood that their prissy period dramas do not interest the Academy.
It takes place in the very real bad suburb of Montfermeil where there was rioting in 2005. Most prospective tourists would probably cancel their trip to Paris if they knew how close it is to the city. It's about a small squad of police who patrol the area. There's the local cop from the area with African parents, the tough white racist, and the new guy who just arrived from Le Havre. Nobody understands why he would transfer to the worst area in France, but his ex moved to the Paris suburbs and he wants to be close to his son.
Montfermeil, at least the way it is portrayed, is an absolute nightmare. The Bronx at its lowest looks like a walk in the park in comparison. You have the drug dealers, the Muslim Brotherhood, all sorts of other lowlife, and the kids growing up completely wild with no parental control. The ambiguous ending is like a punch in the gut.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 22, 2019 20:15:03 GMT
I had been avoiding Hustlers because it just seemed too sleazy. But than I read that Jennifer Lopez had hopes of an Oscar nomination. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I didn't like it at all, but I will admit that J-Lo's performance is noteworthy, but most certainly not Oscar material.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 27, 2019 14:26:12 GMT
I found Knives Out mildly entertaining. Those big whodunits using fading stars who need to keep food on the table have something for everybody. Nevertheless, I figured out whodunit just by examining the poster.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 2, 2019 16:27:38 GMT
I hadn't seen a horror movie for awhile, so I decided that maybe I should go and see Countdown. As all of you know, it is about an app that tells you how long you have to live. Ha ha, all of the teens want it, what fun! Unfortunately, some of them are informed of their imminent death, and the app tells the truth. Oops. You can't delete the app from your phone, and even if you throw away your phone and buy a new one, it suddenly downloads to your new phone.
The plot is preposterous but still sort of fun. Plenty of ridiculous jump scares. Yes, the black guy dies as usual. After the final countdown is beaten with a trick, obviously the setting for a sequel is provided.
On a more serious note, I went to see Proxima, a very different take on space missions. It's about a young French astronaut about to participate on a one year mission to prepare for an upcoming Mars mission. The problem is that she is a single mother, and that is the focus of the film, not the space stuff at all. She has to leave her daughter with the German father. They have cordial relations, but it is very difficult for all parties concerned.
I was fascinated to see elements of the European and Russian space programmes, because until now we have only seen the NASA stuff. It was also pleasing to see vignettes honouring all of the women who have been to space over the years. Did you know that some of them have actually been to space 5 times?
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 3, 2019 15:38:00 GMT
Last Christmas is more a parody of a rom-com than an actual rom-com, but I am indulgent at this time of year. There were two movies left on this week's list and the other one is about a perfect nanny who completely takes over the family and ends up killing the children.
It is not a good movie at all, but it has some redeeming qualities. Emma Thompson is abominable as the Yugoslav mother, but she is also irresistible doing a parody of Meryl Streep in one of her 'accent' roles. The audience howled when she came up with the term "lesbian pudding."
And I did think it was clever that the first line of the title song gives away the complete plot of the movie.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 5, 2019 20:04:42 GMT
Well we went to see la reine des neiges 2 - Frozen 2. My daughters laughed a lot we didn't spend a bad time and went all home happy. Only problem is that marie is chanting the songs all day long.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 5, 2019 20:07:13 GMT
Byw i hate horror movies. But was your movie not kind of same as final destination ? Numbering one to ? 8 ?
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 5, 2019 20:41:47 GMT
Yes, Countdown obviously reminded me of Final Destination, except that everybody knew the exact moment they were going to die in advance, so I suppose that such a situation is a bit more stressful.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2019 15:44:54 GMT
I can confirm that the Star Wars movie is a ridiculous piece of crap. There is absolutely no reason to see it in 3D in case anybody is weirdly tempted. I am impressed that Carrie Fisher continues to act in these movies in view of her major health problems. She even got top billing in the closing credits.
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Post by bjd on Dec 21, 2019 16:53:06 GMT
Major health problems? She died at the end of 2016!
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2019 17:20:11 GMT
Yes, it is a very major health problem.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 25, 2019 16:09:16 GMT
In the past few days, I have seen two movies that could not be more different.
The Lighthouse is amazing, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. Stark black and white, square screen, bad things happen. Being considerably younger, Robert Pattinson has to masturbate a lot since other options for relief do not appear to be available.
And oh my god please forgive me, I actually went to see Cats today. It was the only movie playing at the proper time for me in a place to which I could get in spite of the transport strike. It is absolutely as bad as all of the reviews have said, maybe even worse. There is no plot (I suppose that the play was the same, but people only go for the supposedly showstopping songs.). I did not hear anything showstopping in the movie, but I will definitely say that Judi Dench and Ian McKellen should be ashamed of themselves because they did not need to do such a film to put food on the table, unlike most of the younger performers. Yes, the CGI fur is both creepy and bad and I was very disturbed by the flicking tails which were all added in CGI production. In spite of all of the horribleness, I was able to determine which singers and dancers have a chance at a future career but for a lot of the people on screen, this was definitely one shot.
Jennifer Hudson should also be ashamed for being in this movie. As for Taylor Swift, she is just a scatterbrain, serves her right.
Actually I quite liked the sequences with the singing and dancing slave mice (cats are evil) and also the excellent choreography of the dancing cockroaches, even though they were being eaten as they performed.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 25, 2019 17:36:36 GMT
I am still shuddering at how awful Cats was. But I'm glad that I saw it (not having to pay for it of course) because there would have always been that doubt if I hadn't gone.
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