What was the last movie you watched?

[overthere]

Agreed. MATT DAMON.

Seen a couple more now since The Big Short(which is excellent)

The Revenant. Amazing cinematography, which pe4fectly captures the flat light as it actually is in winter. Shot mostly in Alberta, and the scenery is outstanding. I liked the soundtrack, which is mostly ominous. But alas DiCaprio is badly miscast, and Tom Hardy has a rare dud role IMO. I wasn't the only one cheering for the bear.

Brooklyn. It is a soft romance, something I do not often care for, but this is an exception. It's a simple story of a young woman making life decisons, torn between two worlds. Saiorse Rona is lovely and luminous in the lead role. It is gentle and a bit slow, but would make an excellent date movie. It is about as different from The Revenant as is possible.

Recommended.

[Guest]

MATT DAMON.

He's an expensive guy...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/it-would-cost-900bn-of-real-money-to-rescue-matt-damon-in-all-his-movies-a6789146.html

[Moonlight Graham]

Star Wars: A Force Awakens - 8/10. Action-packed, good acting and quality new characters. The directing was a bit off, very stylish using modern shot techniques (for better and worse) and not very "star warsy" at all. 90% of the plot is also a complete recycle of the the original trilogy, which got lame. Also, still far too many characters have CGI heads/faces when they could have old-school masks and animatronics like the original films. Entertaining but flawed film, certainly not worthy of the incredible hype and reviews.

Spotlight - 8.5/10, quality film on the Boston Globe's investigation into local child molestation by the Catholic Church.

Sicario - 8/10 - Emily blunt stars as a frustratingly naive and stupid FBI agent in a world of the Mexico drug cartels and crafty CIA agents. Tense and gritty film.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Moonlight Graham

[overthere]

A Perfect Day.

Disclosure: I went to this movie mostly because I have a serious man crush on Benecio Del Toro, who is IMO a great actor. It is the story of a 'day in the life' of a group of aid workers in the Balkans sometime in the 90s. They spend a dangerous time trying to accomplish a seemingly straightforward task: getting a corpse out of a drinking well. It is sad and funny, a commentary on the immensely frustrating and bureaucratic roles of UN peacekeepers and NGOs in difficult situations. I'd rate it higher if it did not have a somewhat annoying romantic theme.

7.5/10

[cybercoma]

I watched Crimson Peak recently. It seemed to fly mostly under the radar. Guillermo del Toro delivers yet another masterpiece in both writing and direction. This is a solid addition to the gothic romance genre and the way he created the ghosts as practical effects is brilliant. I especially liked his use of colour. The film has a gorgeous palette. 4.5/5

[kimmy]

I will make a note to watch that.

The last movie I saw was Deadpool. It was ridiculous, hilarious, insanely violent, crass, and thoroughly entertaining. It's a weird mash-up of super-hero movie, Seth Rogen comedy, and self-satire parody movie. It continually breaks the fourth wall, as the title character frequently speaks directly to the viewer, often to make wise-cracks about genre cliches. "who am I, and whose balls did I have to massage to get my own movie? well, here's my story..." "watch this. wait for it, she's going to do the super-hero landing. See? there it is! So hard on the knees." As he continues to bump into two characters from the X-Men franchise, he eventually asks "why are there just two of you? It's almost as if the producers didn't have the budget to hire more X-Men." It's like if Mad Magazine made a superhero movie.

Deadpool tells the story of the wise-cracking and possibly insane mercenary-for-hire Wade Wilson from Regina Saskatchewan ("Regina, the town that rhymes with fun!") and how he finds love, endures tragedy, and becomes the costumed menace known as Deadpool. The story begins in the middle of a blah-blah-blah the details really aren't important, because this movie is really just about the non-stop barrage of action and laughter.

This quickly became one of the top-grossing R-rated movies of all time, and it makes full use of the R rating by providing sex, violence, and extremely crude humor that would make Captain America blush. As the superhero movie genre becomes more and more crowded, this is one that provides something completely outside the box. It's definitely not for everybody, but this movie does what it intends to do and delivers aces.

-k

[overthere]

I loved Deadpool!!

I have come to loathe the genre of comic book Marvel drudgery of noise, action and dumbass plots. But Deadpool is funny, crass and self aware. Do not take your children unless they are adults.

Two very fggood ones seen erecently:

Mustang, a Best Foreign Film nominee, is a Turkish movie about 5 orphaned girls who run head on into old school Muslim values in a small village. Its very well done, the girls and one in particular do a terrific job. Strangers in a strange land. It bears no resemblance whatsoever to Deadpool.

Saw 10 Cloverfield Lane last night.

Wow.

I was not expecting the serious tension and sense of imminent doom in this movie. It just ramps up and up. I think it was made on a small budget, and if so it s going to make a load of money. I cannot say much about it without ruining the story , but it was very good.

[sharkman]

I saw Cloverfield Lane too. John Goodman rocked his character, seriously creepy.

[Lerxst]

Agreed. MATT DAMON.

Seen a couple more now since The Big Short(which is excellent)

The Revenant. Amazing cinematography, which pe4fectly captures the flat light as it actually is in winter. Shot mostly in Alberta, and the scenery is outstanding. I liked the soundtrack, which is mostly ominous. But alas DiCaprio is badly miscast, and Tom Hardy has a rare dud role IMO. I wasn't the only one cheering for the bear.

Brooklyn. It is a soft romance, something I do not often care for, but this is an exception. It's a simple story of a young woman making life decisons, torn between two worlds. Saiorse Rona is lovely and luminous in the lead role. It is gentle and a bit slow, but would make an excellent date movie. It is about as different from The Revenant as is possible.

Recommended.

The director was so hardcore, they filmed that movie only in natural daylight, which led to very short filming days. He also refused to use CGI enhancements, which also gives the film a gritty, natural look. This is one of the best movies and best looking movies I've seen in a reallllllllllly long time. AND it isn't a sequel!!

[Moonlight Graham]

Saw Zootopia. Was Zooriffic! 8.5/10

[kimmy]

We went to "Batman vs Superman" tonight. I knew it wouldn't be very good, but the Kim City downtown theatre is closing down this week, and this was my last chance to see a movie there, so I decided to go.

This movie was not specifically too good.

Visually, the movie has a Zach Snyder look, as do the action sequences. I've liked some of his previous movies, especially The Watchmen. In B vs S, Zach Snyder rehashes a lot of stuff that we've seen in some of his prior movies, particularly The Watchmen. The media and politicians musing about Superman are lifted straight from The Watchmen's analysis of how the world would react to Dr Manhattan. I am picturing the writers of B vs S watching The Watchmen, with a bowl of dank chiba-chiba and a whole lot of Fritos, saying to each other "whoa, dude, this is pretty heavy! We should include this in our movie! Call up this Snyder dude, like right now!"

Check out some of the names in the supporting cast: Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Holly Hunter as Senator Finch, Lawrence Fisburne as Perry White, Diane Lane as Clark Kent's mom, and of course Amy Adams as Lois Lane. And Kevin Costner even makes a cameo as Clark Kent's (deceased) father. They all outshine the principal characters.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor as across between his Mark Zuckerberg character (from The Social Network) and the Mad Hatter. It starts off entertaining, but very quickly becomes grating. Ben Affleck's Batman is a surly, angry dude who seems to drink a lot. Cavill's Superman is pretty wooden. Gal Gadot debuts as Diana Prince... by day she's a jet-setting art historian... by night she's also a jet-setting art historian but in sexier dresses. But when the stuff hits the fan, she dons the bronze corset and brass wristguards to become Wonder Woman. I think she's really only known for being in Fast And Furious movies... she looks amazing, has an intriguing accent, and doesn't have a whole lot of lines in this movie.

I think the most tedious thing about the movie is the complete lack of levity. I think I only cracked a smile once, when Holly Hunter discussed the virtues of granny's sweet tea as she unloads some Kentucky straight-talk on Lex Luthor. Other than that, it's all-serious all-the-time. No time for laughter or jokes here! Serious brooding to do!

There's a couple of inane dream-sequences that should have been left on the cutting-room floor. I don't know if that's Snyder's fault or the writers. One thing that isn't Snyder's fault is that in addition to all the other stuff he has to get to in this film, he also has to throw in some completely unrelated scenes to introduce characters who will arrive in future movies. In addition to Wonder Woman, who apparently gets her own movie some time next year, there are more heroes on the way. Why did the call this mess "Dawn of Justice"? Because they're following this with a Justice League movie. As Marvel/Disney did with creating a series of movies that led to the Avengers, DC/Warner Bros is attempting to follow in the same footsteps. With Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman meeting up in this movie, they're just a few Superfriends short.

-k

[cybercoma]

Alan Moore wrote Dr. Manhattan as a deconstruction of Superman. When DC later went the darker route with their comics they copied

heavily from Alan Moore's tone. BvS is an adaptation of those later books, so it's not unsurprising that you'd think they lazily ripped off Watchmen because that's pretty much exactly what the source material did.

[kimmy]

I've read the Watchmen a few different times in my life, and somehow got more out of it each time... I think I was just too dumb as a teenager to understand how much more there was. I also read Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, which actually came out a couple of months before Watchmen in 1986. Many elements of B vs S are lifted from that as well. Particularly the conflict between Batman and Superman and the resulting battle, obviously... but also some of the musings on how the world would react to superheroes. It seems that Moore and Miller independently arrived at pretty much the same the same conclusion. There's memorable panel in The Dark Knight Returns where Superman thinks to himself "They'll kill us if they can, Bruce. Every year they grow smaller. Every year they hate us more. We must not remind them that giants walk the earth." ...which is a theme in B vs S as well.

-k

[betsy]

Son of God (yesterday).

It's good and it adhered to the Bible.

Edited March 28, 2016 by betsy

[Guest]

I took the kids to see Zootopia and it was fantastic. Great animation, a solid multiculturalism, anti-prejudice, action based plot with a few jokes for the adults thrown in, made it a very enjoyable film. As a bonus, it's not a musical.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Guest

[Guest]

As a bonus, it's not a musical.

Always a plus. I never could see the attraction with musicals.

[betsy]

War Room.

It's a very enlightening take on how one uses prayer for "war."

It reminded me of my own testimonial experience - the time I gave a difficult situation in God's hands, and asked Him to do the battle for me. He did.

The last scene is so powerful.

Edited April 3, 2016 by betsy

[eyeball]

I watched Trumbo today. Made me realize why I'll remain a die-hard lefty through and through until the day I die. What a miserably vengeful act blacklisting of suspected communists was. A truly beautiful movie about a particularly ugly time.

[Guest]

I watched Trumbo today. Made me realize why I'll remain a die-hard lefty through and through until the day I die. What a miserably vengeful act blacklisting of suspected communists was. A truly beautiful movie about a particularly ugly time.

Sure, but didn't communists do some pretty bad stuff too?

[eyeball]

Not a single one that ran afoul of the HUAC.

Blaise Pascal only knew the half of it.

[Guest]

Not a single one that ran afoul of the HUAC.

Blaise Pascal only knew the half of it.

I guess, but then the HUAC never starved any Ukranians, so I suppose it all evens out.

[eyeball]

How so?

[Guest]

How so?

Well, they're both really mean.

[eyeball]

Have you seen the movie? The people whose lives were ruined were clearly very nice people. What ever point you're trying to make here is still only clear to yourself.

[Guest]

No, the last movie I watched new was "Downfall".

Sorry my point wasn't clear. It doesn't matter though.