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Post by Biddy on Dec 31, 2020 23:52:13 GMT
I recently watched 'Midnight Sun' and 'Wonder Woman 84'. Both were duds!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 5, 2021 19:34:50 GMT
I watched the DVD of The Lighthouse yesterday. Even though it needs a big screen to really appreciate all of the details (due to its small black & white high contrast format), the performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are beyond incredible. And since I have the DVD, I watched it a second time with the director's highly illuminating commentary about each scene. It is easy to understand why Robert Pattinson regularly wanted to kill him.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 5, 2021 22:31:18 GMT
The Lighthouse is “on our list” so I’m glad to hear APIAS’s eminent film critic K2 likes it! We stumbled upon ELIZABETH IS MISSING on PBS, and it was compelling. The lead actress was so completely in her character that I did not recognize her. www.imdb.com/title/tt8201352/From a user review: “I watched this stunningly powerful film with tears running down my cheeks. This is a no holds barred portrait of an elderly woman desperately trying to remember events of her youth while suffering with dementia. There are super supporting performances, especially from Helen Behan, as the put upon daughter dealing with the daily pain and trauma of seeing her beloved mother deteriorate. However, this is a tour de force performance from Glenda Jackson as Maudie. Her performance is raw and heartbreaking. Ms Jackson is still one of the world's greatest actors. Please watch this.” I couldn’t agree more.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 6, 2021 19:34:21 GMT
I watched Woody Allen's A Rainy Day in New York again today. When I had seen it at the cinema, it seemed like pleasant outdated fluff (if one can forget one's gripes against the director). This time, perhaps because I knew what would happen all through the movie (basically nothing), I still found the various performances interesting, but the movie itself is useless crap. But we had already decided that about what Woody Allen had been doing in recent years even before his morality was called into question.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 7, 2021 4:48:34 GMT
Watched UNCUT GEMS starring Adam Sandler as a jeweler with a gambling habit, a mistress and a whole lotta shady characters for friends and business partners. It’s a lot better than I’m making it sound and the tension as he gets himself in a hole and keeps digging kept me at the edge of my seat. I’m glad I don’t have his life. Nothing about it appeals to me. www.imdb.com/title/tt5727208/
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Post by rikita on Jan 17, 2021 1:13:30 GMT
last two movies we watched were the dvds my mom gave my to niece (fly away home) and to a. (the child and the fox) for christmas ...
i guess the first one is pretty well known, it is also already quite a few years old ...
hadn't heard of the second one before, but it was quite nice (though agnes cried a lot at one part of the movie) ...
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Post by Kimby on Jan 17, 2021 2:21:52 GMT
With limited selection at the library, and inspired by a PBS Directors show about Alfred Hitchcock, we picked up 4 Hitchcock films curbside. We are watching them in chronological order. They are: Suspicion (1941) starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine (who won the best actress Oscar for her performance), Notorious (1946) with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, To Catch a Thief (1955) featuring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly and Vertigo (1958) with James Stewart and Kim Novak. Having watched so many Hitchcock films recently, we were pleased to finally find a 2015 film that’s been “on our list” for awhile: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAULT. We watched it on Kanopy, a free streaming device available through the library that features documentaries and art films. The film focuses on footage from a weeklong interview that Trufffault invited Hitchcock to, in 1962, to talk about his films and his filmmaking. The two directors sit at a table with an unobtrusive interpreter and talk about films, with clips from the films used to illustrate the points being made. There are also asides with contemporary directors including Bogdanovich and Scorsese. Hitchcock was surprisingly natural and unpretentious. I expected him to be pompous. This project had the effect of elevating Hitchcock in public perception from a purveyor of light entertainment to an “artist”. Worth the watch. Here’s a review from IMDB: “The success of documentary is usually based on how much you already know and how much you learn about the main subject of the film. I knew a bit about Hitchcock, but I never dug deep into his archival footage or books written about him to understand the full psychology of the master of suspense. Hitchcock/Truffaut is a fascinating look into several of Hitch's films, and even some of Truffaut's, even if it is a little too short to call it a full exploration. Director Kent Jones gathers several of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Peter Bogdanovich, and David Fincher, to discuss Hitchcock's influence on the art of cinema and some of his most effective features. These commentators are certainly insightful, but you don't get enough from each of them to get full satisfaction. The film is based around a conversation between Hitchcock and Truffaut that took place in 1962. Truffaut, an up and coming filmmaker at the time, provides the viewer (or reader) a glimpse into what it would be like to interview the legendary filmmaker yourself. In many ways, Truffaut gets to ask all the questions any fan of Hitchcock has always wanted to ask. Whether it's addressing his catholic roots, sexual undertones in many of his features, his transition from silent film to talkies, the dreamlike quality to the films, or his iconic use of "god's eye" camera angles, it's all covered. As a film junkie, this type of coverage on one filmmaker is a dream come true. Again, the one thing I think the film could have improved upon was just giving more of everything and spending even more time on his expansive filmography. Spending a good chunk of time on Vertigo and Psycho was definitely needed, but I would love a more in-depth look at plenty of other films of his as well. However, overall, this documentary is a joy to watch, especially considering it's brilliant filmmakers commenting on Hitchcock, who is one of the greatest.” www.imdb.com/title/tt3748512/
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 16:55:00 GMT
I watched two favourite movies on DVD this weekend.
First was 1917 by Sam Mendes. I continue to find the cinematorgraphy stunning because even though it wasn't really done in "one shot," it looks like it was. (It would have only taken one day to film the movie otherwise.) The different scenes are stitched together so perfectly that I myself only detected 2 or 3 cuts when I saw it at the cinema.
But after I watched it, I watched it again with the director's commentary. He explains a few cuts but remains mostly evasive about how many there were. But he explains tons about the set construction -- they had to build more than a mile of trenches, both British style and German style. (The German ones were much better, of course.) Just about everything was faithful to the original battlefield. Fascinating.
And then I watched it again with the cinematographer's commentary. He explains each and every cut ("that's where the cart goes by") but also how the camera was transferred from cranes to rails to a two-man steadycam to a one-man carrier as the trench got narrower to make the scenes as long as possible without a cut. Plus what was real and what was fake on screen -- notably trees that had to be erased in certain scenes and ruins that were drawn in when necessary. I know that details like this are of no interest to casual viewers, but I am hooked on this sort of information. And it takes absolutely nothing away from the quality of the film to know how certain things were done, quite the opposite.
And I also watched the Spanish film The Impossible about the tsunami in Thailand in 2004. Even though the stars are purportedly Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, absolutely every review says that the real star is Tom Holland in his very first role in a feature film. He was only 14 then and not quite a newcomer to acting since he had starred in the West End production of Billy Elliot for a couple of years, but he is trule incredible in this movie. It's a true story and was completely faithful to the historical account. The Spanish family (who because British in the movie because moviegoers don't give a shit about Spanish families) oversaw the details and validated them. Most of it was filmed at the actual locations (hotel and hospital) with a big tank in Spain for the tsunami scenes and a scale model of the hotel for the flabbergasting destruction. (The hotel has been rebuilt since then, which made it possible to use for the opening scenes of the film.)
Anyway, I highly recommend it, but you have to be prepared for some very tough scenes.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 17:54:51 GMT
Mentioning Billy Elliot reminded me of another DVD that I watched starring the delightful Jamie Bell, the original Billy Elliott. Once again, Skin is a true story that stayed very close to reality, but I have to admit that it made me squirm, because frankly I am not a fan of these people. But it is important to know that they exist and how they react. I also squirm thinking about the 3 hours that Jamie Bell spent in makeup every day.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 25, 2021 15:35:41 GMT
We watched WESTERN last night, an homage to “westerns” by a female German director set in Bulgaria. Kind of a small film, IMO, slow-paced and brooding. Not my cup of tea, but the setting was lovely, and the non-professional actors were surprisingly good. www.imdb.com/title/tt5157326/
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Post by Kimby on Jan 25, 2021 18:10:06 GMT
JoJo Rabbit is wonderful. The child actors were fantastic and the imaginary friend portrayal of Hitler was campy and ridiculous and fun. (If Hitler can be fun.) Four thumbs up. www.imdb.com/title/tt2584384/
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 25, 2021 19:50:24 GMT
I know that Jojo Rabbit was well done and well acted, but it repulsed me. I am impervious to some sorts of humour/satire.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 25, 2021 19:54:07 GMT
Sorry, Kimby, but what ^he^ said.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 26, 2021 1:44:36 GMT
If you both have watched it and feel that way, I accept your reservations. If your opinion is based on hearsay then I urge you to give it a try. Do you have similar objections to The Producers, in which the play within the play was a musical with Springtime for Hitler as a featured song? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtime_for_Hitler
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 26, 2021 1:47:20 GMT
Kimby, I tried to watch it & probably got at least 30 minutes into it before deciding I didn't need to torment myself any longer.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 26, 2021 7:03:29 GMT
I saw it on the big screen a year ago. This was my review back then.
The Producers was fine back in its day.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 27, 2021 12:13:41 GMT
I watched Escape from Pretoria (filmed in Adelaide, South Australia). It is a tense true story from the days of apartheid but since most of the action consists of making wooden keys to get through all of the locks, it did not entirely satisfy me.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 30, 2021 5:14:13 GMT
Watched Almodovar’s PAIN AND GLORY, in Spanish with subtitles. A splendid film with excellent portrayals by leads Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz. www.imdb.com/title/tt8291806/From an IMDb users review: “With this gorgeous and unashamedly autobiographical memory piece, Pedro Almodóvar returns to his very best form and certainly gives us his best film in over a decade. "Pain and Glory" finds director Salvador Mallo, (Antonio Banderas in a career-best performance and clearly modelled on Almodóvar), looking back over his life and loves as he deals with his addictions, his chronic pain and a newfound appreciation of his work. It's a film that is both honest and deeply moving but one that is often very funny, too. Almodóvar wouldn't be who he is without that wicked sense of humour that made his early films so enjoyable but this is an altogether deeper and more profound film than anything he's done in years.”
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 31, 2021 13:19:14 GMT
I saw Mrs. Henderson Presents by Stephen Frears in olden times, but I watched it on TV again this morning, and it is still a pleasant piece of fluff.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 4, 2021 22:17:14 GMT
Netflix films this week. Watched The Dig the other day, based on the exxavation of the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon burial, the objects found there are still displayed in the British Museum. Highly recommend it.
Today we watched The Two Popes splendid film, Anthony Hopkins and Johnathan Price are flipping marvellous, a gentle but moving film. Even this hard arsed atheist shed a tear.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2021 23:39:09 GMT
I've been on the lookout for something entertaining but that is also quality viewing, so thanks for those two recommendations, Cheery.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 5, 2021 4:03:39 GMT
I watched a movie with Clementine Celarie tonight. A mix of a police investigation, with the officers half in love with everybody, especially if there is a 30 years difference in age, one who lost a lover to suicide, the other i didn't get it, investigating the death of a 34 years old french teacher whose 60 years old husband had killed her sixteen years old lover some years ago. Pfffffff. Good that i only saw the half of it, since i only watchedcit with one eye 😄😄
I am amazed by the number of french movie where one of he lovers is close to 70 and the other around 40 ... they could try to find closer ages, could they not ?
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2021 4:47:17 GMT
You could write a learned dissertation linking those films to the situation of the current president of France & his wife.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 5, 2021 7:42:56 GMT
You could write a learned dissertation linking those films to the situation of the current president of France & his wife. 😁 you could be my wife, she said the exact same thing ! Our conclusion was, should we have been the boy's parents we would not have been happy with the teacher ...
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 13, 2021 20:27:02 GMT
Just watching Crocodile Dundee. You sort of think you’ve seen it many times then realise it was years since you last saw it and only vaguely recall the plot.
Very entertaining!
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 20:35:16 GMT
There are so many movies like that where I discover that I have forgotten 90% of the plot because only two or three key scenes stuck in my head.
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Post by rikita on Feb 14, 2021 12:40:21 GMT
currently watching a documentary on a documentary website that someone posted in one of the forums ... the one i am watching is about screen use of teenagers (watching it in bits and pieces, usually during meals) - of course, one of the points is that kids do what they see from their parents, and i suppose we have a problem there, as agnes does see me at the computer a lot, and the "excuse" that i am working will work less and less, as she gets able to tell what is work and what is fun for me ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 27, 2021 15:23:20 GMT
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Post by questa on Feb 28, 2021 2:45:17 GMT
Just watching Crocodile Dundee. You sort of think you’ve seen it many times then realise it was years since you last saw it and only vaguely recall the plot. Very entertaining! "Call that a knife? Now THAT"S a knife" Has slipped into Ozzie language and is used to describe anything outstandingly good.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 28, 2021 5:47:13 GMT
We have finally got our internet sorted well enough to stream films offered free from our library’s streaming service called canopy. The offerings are not the huge commercial successes, but more documentaries, classics and lesser-known films, many that we’ve had “on our list” for years. You get 5 free films per month (per library card). We watched two this week: BEANPOLE is set in post-WWII Russia and follows two young women as they struggle to adapt to post-war life. The performances were so good that I was amazed to learn that it was the first film role for all four leads! The actress who played “Beanpole” is exceedingly tall and gawky and white-blonde, almost alien. The actress playing the returning soldier said little in words but spoke volumes with her facial expressions. www.imdb.com/title/tt10199640/The second film was a documentary called Monrovia, Indiana, and though it purported to be set post-Trump’s 2016 election, the first 2 hours (of 143 minutes) contained no political references. It’s a slice of life movie, depicting rural small town life in red-state mid America, aka “flyover country”. Nothing much happens. Corn grows, wind blows, people get haircuts and tattoos. The Freemasons meet to honor a brother who had served 50 years as a mason, the Lions Club met to vote on whether to fund a bench for outside the library. Neighbors met in a cafe to discuss their gallbladders. The Town Council meeting began with the pledge of Allegiance, and discussed an access road to a proposed subdivision. Bedtime intervened, so we missed the last 20-30 minutes. I’m thinking we didn’t miss much. The director is nonagenarian Frederick Wiseman who has directed many documentaries over his long career. www.imdb.com/title/tt8749146/
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