'Return to Seoul' (2022) - interesting drama about a young woman returning to Korea to seek out her biological parents. Quite uncomfortable viewing at times, in a good way. Kept me off balance throughout.
I wanted to see (at the end) more of an acknowledgement of their covenant than the barely nod. Otherwise very exciting, engaging and loved the “on hold” sequence. Something we’ve all experienced.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 The Guardians films are the only Marvel movies I see. I went into this with some trepidation after reading some reviews saying it was inappropriate for kids because of what happens to some of the animals, and I guess I can agree with that, but don’t let that put you off as a grownup. This is such a great group of characters. I’m sorry to see them go. I enjoyed this film very much. More here: Rate The Most Recent Movie You Watched
Pamfir. Set in a Ukrainian village, present day but before the war, during the run-up to a pagan carnival where villagers wear outfits like haystacks with skull masks. Leonid, aka Pamfir (“Stone”) is a rough diamond who has been trying to make ends meet by working in Poland. He has a history of violence - he beat up his own father, who lost an eye in the fight - and is a former smuggler and occasional drug user. But he loves his wife and teenage son with a fierce passion. So when his son’s attempt to sabotage his return to Poland ends in disaster and a local gangster intervenes, Pamfir has no choice but to return to his old smuggling ways. It’s a strange, gripping tale of loyalty, love, corruption and evil set in a beautiful land most of us only know from the horrors on the news. Recommended.
What's Love Got To Do With It (no connection to the Tina Turner song) starring an adorable Lily James as a filmmaker, who was raised next door to a Muslim family. Her best friend from childhood is the boy next door, who has become a doctor, and he tells her that he is going to have an arranged marriage. So she decides to make a film about the whole experience of Westernized Muslims doing the traditional approach. In most ways, it's a very predictable romantic comedy, but damn it, sometimes you want that. Emma Thompson plays her mom, who is constantly saying culturally insensitive things, but means well.
Our second film of the day was a repeat viewing, Guardians of the Galaxy 3. In Dolby Cinema. The third film was Jodi, a Punjabi language film set in the 1970s, about a singer-songwriter, and the woman he loves. Despite one of my best friends being Punjabi, I'm not really crazy about that music, but it was an enjoyable story with compelling attractive leads.
Tonight's film was Blackberry, with Jay Baruchel as the founder of the company that produced the phone that once had 45% of the entire market. Interesting story that I didn't anticipate ever being made into a film.
The Lady Bird Diaries An excellent documentary that uses Lady Bird Johnson's tape recorded thoughts and observations as narration for news footage from November 22, 1963, until the Johnsons left the White House in January 1969. She was a formidable woman, an astute political advisor to LBJ and way ahead of her time. I have a newfound respect for her after seeing this film.
Saw this yesterday. Incredible that this is Park Ji-min’s acting debut. She is extraordinary as the central character, born Korean but brought up French and unsurprisingly very unsure of her identity or her place in the world. Based on a true story, but deserves to be seen as a brilliant piece of film-making and acting.
I saw this yesterday. As you say, it was an interesting story. Although I remember when Blackberries were ubiquitous, I knew nothing about the company. I enjoyed it, but it’s definitely the kind of film that one can see at home. Although these days, it’s almost impossible to see anything at home unless you subscribe to ten streaming different services. I try to see every movie I’m interested in at a theater now, because I know the chances I will be able to see them at home for a reasonable cost have dropped drastically. Back in the day, there was Netflix DVD for the rough equivalent of what one streaming service costs these days, and you could get any movie you wanted.
Now that I'm thinking about it, it's really a story about the seduction of an innocent - how Jay Baruchel's character went from starting a business to do good work, have fun with his friends and provide jobs to his hometown, to being soulless corporate executive exporting manufacturing to China.
At one point in the movie, I was wondering “who the heck is this guy?” He had changed his appearance so much I did not recognize him!
We're out for another day of the movies. Thing was a big budget Bollywood movie, that I discussed in the Bollywood thread. The second was a tiny little indie film called Fool's Paradise. Charlie Day plays a mute, mentally deficient man who gets discovered by a producer (Ray Liotta in his last role) because he's absolutely identical to a spoiled drunken Method actor. It's an homage to Being There, but a really old fashioned movie - a throwback like Brain Donors. We enjoyed it, but I don't know if we could really recommend it to anyone.
I saw "Pearl" by Ti West today. Yesterday I watched "X" at home in preparation for it, since I hadn't seen it yet. "X" was a great homage to the slasher films of the 70's, but "Pearl" was even more impressive. Mia Goth's performance was fantastic and disturbing, especially her long monologue at the end, done in one take. Wow. Can't wait for "Maxxxine" to come out. The only thing that bugged me slightly, were the parts where Pearl's mother speaks German. As a native speaker, I couldn't help but noticing a foreign accent. She did a decent job, but you could clearly hear that she's not a native speaker (which she was supposed to be). Why don't they hire real Germans for roles like this? They can't be too hard to find. The same goes for characters of other origins as well, of course. But that's just a minor point (and kind of a pet peeve of mine). Apart from that, the film was great I sure will watch it again.
I saw "You Hurt My Feelings" last weekend with a friend. We both disliked it. Since it deals with an unusual form of "betrayal" in a marriage, it comes with potential. However, it gets so wrapped up in minutiae related to the lives of its dull, annoying characters that it becomes a chore to watch. And I really tire of movies about whiny, pampered well-off New Yorkers. Woody Allen wore out that genre decades ago, and very few filmmakers bring anything positive to the concept. Admittedly, being pampered New Yorkers doesn't mean that they don't go through the same relationship ups and downs suffered by everyone else, but it does tend to make the roles unrelateable - and often insufferable. "Hurt" lacks the insight and cleverness necessary to make it a worthwhile character journey. You just want an asteroid to land on everyone and end your own misery.
It's not the last movie I've watched in a theater, but I may be one of the very few people who saw Survival of the Dead in a theater, in New York City. It was released directly to VOD/streaming, but the distribution company gave Romero's final film a couple of token screenings in NYC, and maybe a couple of other cities.
