The Favourite was a mixed bag for me. While the three female leads deliver spectacular performances, and some parts are great fun, I didn’t find the script as witty as many critics did, and the director’s style did nothing for me. (This is my first Yorgos Lanthimos film, btw. What is his obsession with fisheye shots?) On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed The Mule. It’s funny, moving and has a terrific cast—and it left me hoping Clint Eastwood continues to work, if only as a director.
Widows. Excellent flick, but you have to let the story develop. Some folks actually walked out. Short attention spans I guess.
The last movie I saw at a theater was TCM's presentation of Dr Strangelove back in 2016, so that should tell you where I am in regards to the current state of Hollywood and its "product."
I would like to see "The Favorite" but no way it's playing anywhere near me. Enjoyed "Ralph Breaks the Internet", thought it had a lot of heart. Didn't like "Bad Times at the El Royale". It should have been right up my alley but maybe the violence wasn't cartoonish enough.
The Wife-this was not any classic by any means but both Glenn Close and Jonathon Pryce were good-especially Close. She may get nominated but likely not. she is the put upon wife of a writer who wins the Nobel Prize. no spoilers here. saw it for $4 so it was worth that.
Three in the theaters this weekend: "Vox Lux" - About the best thing I can say about this one was that it was "interesting." Very well-shot and visually interesting, but the premise was weak, and it was basically half a movie of watching a shy girl who survived a mass shooting, followed by a half a movie of Natalie Portman playing an absolutely unrelentingly horrible person with no redeeming value. Plus the music was pretty terrible and generic - there's no way I believe she'd be selling out 30,000 seats with that crap. "Mary Queen of Scots" - Loved this. Fantastic performances from both leads. Maybe the best thing I've seen Saoirse Ronan do so far. Interesting use of a multi-racial cast (which the director fully owns as not being remotely historically accurate). "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" - Wow, I can't recommend this enough. Visually stunning, exciting, and very funny. Easily one of the best comic book movies I've ever seen.
There has to be some special "hook" in going to the theater. So my last two were Across the Universe (for the theater sound system) and Avatar (for the 3D). Avatar was the last one and that was like 6 years ago. I used to go all the time in the 60s-90s.
Vice Er... Holy, er, well, you know. I am quite possibly speechless. LOL Christian Bale and Sam Rockwell absolutely nail their roles. I don’t think I can say much else here.
Vickie and I saw this last night and yeah... it was freaking awesome! I about peed my pants during the Shakespearean segment. The director did a heck of a job, Brownie.
The Grinch, with my 7-year old daughter. She didn't like it, so we left before it was over to go ice skating. Was a good decision, because that actually was fun.
It is interesting how many children don't really care that much for even children's movies. Back in 2016 and 2017, I used to watch a seven year old, because her mother used to work nights and sleep during the day. I used to have her during many school weeks and she would stay with me 24/7. I have a nice collection of children's movies, but she rarely would pay any attention to them, if I put them on. She preferred to keep busy on her own. She makes video,s draws pictures, writes and plays, right up to the time that I would put her to sleep. She is very intelligent and could mostly care less about movies. When you speak to her, it is like talking to someone who is twice her age. I think that she will enjoy movies more when she is watching them with other children and when she gets older and has more age appropriate movies that are more intelligently written and produced. I did take he to the movie theater once and she did enjoy it. Growing up, I was an only child and had taught myself to read. By the time I got into elementary school and other children were reading Dr. Seuss books, I thought they were rather stupid myself. My reading was way beyond that level. I never associated my reading to any particular level as such. I do remember that we were given tests in the sixth grade and my reading level was 12th grade, 9-months. I loved reading when younger. At home alone, there was not really that much else to do. Anytime I brought a book home from the school library, I usually finished it that night. Today, children like to be challenged by things and movies don't necessarily provide that challenge.
saw Mary Queen of Scots. went in with low expectations and came out nicely surprised. Soairse Ronan is continuing to prove how good she is. the cinematography and art direction were first rate. script was also well done with nice historical accuracy-except one scene-according to my Anglophile wife. Margot Robbie did not have much to do unfortunately. worth seeing if you are into the british history.
In Lynchburg, Va., a grand old theater that had been closed for 60 -- yes, sixty -- years reopened in December. It closed so long ago that it was still segregated (the second balcony had its own entrance, ticket booth, and no access to the lower levels). The first event at the newly restored Academy Theatre -- with an interior staircase now connecting the first and second balconies -- was a ceremony to celebrate the building's integration, with Mavis Staples headlining the evening. Though for the most part, the Academy Theatre will be a live venue, it is fully set up to show movies. Indeed, on December 8, it hosted a Christmas movie marathon; for a flat $5, you could come and go as you pleased and watch some holiday flicks in a great old-time venue with no bad seats (I watched different films from the orchestra level and first balcony) and a brand-new sound system. I saw: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the TV special with Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft, which looked really good and was in its television aspect ratio Frozen It's a Wonderful Life (black & white) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Love, Actually I spoke with one of the PR people at the Academy Center of the Arts, the non-profit that is in charge of the theater, a smaller facility, and an art gallery, and she said that they had sold double the number of tickets they had expected to/budgeted for. I suspect that this will become a holiday tradition. There are lots of different Christmas movies they can show.
My wife and I just saw 4K restoration of Wings of Desire at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center. It was her 303rd film in the theater this year.
Mary, Queen of Scots A little slow getting started, but I ultimately liked it - mostly for Saoirse Ronan’s performance. Not my usual cup of tea, movie-wise, but worth seeing if you like Saoirse.
My first of the year "The Favourite" did not provide me with the best case for seeing films in the cinema as it appeared too dark, even in the daylight outdoor scenes, certainly in comparison with the trailer which I had seen several times (too many in fact) in other cinemas - it was perhaps a 2D film shown with 3D settings (?). As for the film itself I did prefer it to the director's previous two - 'The Lobster" and "The Killing of a Sacred Deer"; but for me 2009's "Dogtooth" remains his best work
I saw the trailer for Bumblebee and thought that it looked promising as a fun and entertaining movie. Saw Bumblebee today. I liked it much better than MPR. Here is basically an action movie, where you like the CGI robot and felt that he was more "human" than the real human's in MPR. Both Bumblebee and Poppins came out at the same time and were just about even in production costs and today, Bumblebee is about 40-M ahead of Poppins in world wide box office receipts. Saw Bumblebee today. Fun movie, liked it. Go see it. It is a very fun and enjoyable movie, more than you would expect.