Film Reviews - what have you seen lately, what did you think?

Captain Sasquatch

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First Man.

As someone who has been a NASA geek from childhood (grandfather was a NACA and NASA engineer), I can confidently say that no other film or production has nailed NASA space flight like this one did. As for the rest of the film, it was also brilliant. I remember thinking when this film was announced that it'd be kinda tough to make an interesting movie about Neil Armstrong since he really wasn't that remarkable personality wise. But Gosling nailed the role, Claire Foy was fantastic, and Chazelle mixed in the perfect amount of drama and action. I'll say that the shaky cam was a bit much at times watching on a big format screen, but that's my only minor complaint. Moon landing scene was incredible. I'm glad we went 30 minutes out of our way to catch this one in a large format Dolby theater just for the moon landing and Gemini 8 scenes. Great film.


And as far as the whole flag controversey is concerned, a few things should be noted. 1. The astronauts planted the flag together because the pole was incredibly awkward and difficult to plant, Armstrong didn't do it by himself. 2. The picture of the astronaut saluting the flag is of Buzz Aldrin, not Neil Armstrong. 3. There's a clear shot in the film of the LEM on the Moon with the American flag next to it. 4. This movie wasn't about #murica beating the Soviets (although it did touch on the space race at times).
 

jaywalker72

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I will say the whole flag discussion really hurt this movie at the box office -- I know I wasn't excited because of it -- having been burned by preachy Hollywood movies over the years. But Ox told me that, much like you just said, it was far from that, and a worthy successor to Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff in NASA movie history.

Irony is that there are plenty of people who hate "patriotic" movies and NASA in general that are thrilled by the so-so box office -- the same type of folks that the "What? No Flag?" people are likely opposite.

You can put this at the feet of the producers for not getting in front of this better, or Gosling for botching the quick sounder that got parroted all over, or an overeager offense society that failed (like me) to investigate beyond that moment to see the truth for itself.

I will be seeing it as soon as I can - and believe that this movie will be stronger long term than it is in the short term.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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I will say the whole flag discussion really hurt this movie at the box office -- I know I wasn't excited because of it -- having been burned by preachy Hollywood movies over the years. But Ox told me that, much like you just said, it was far from that, and a worthy successor to Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff in NASA movie history.

Irony is that there are plenty of people who hate "patriotic" movies and NASA in general that are thrilled by the so-so box office -- the same type of folks that the "What? No Flag?" people are likely opposite.

You can put this at the feet of the producers for not getting in front of this better, or Gosling for botching the quick sounder that got parroted all over, or an overeager offense society that failed (like me) to investigate beyond that moment to see the truth for itself.

I will be seeing it as soon as I can - and believe that this movie will be stronger long term than it is in the short term.
The fact that it was going up against Venom and A Star Is Born didn't help, either. It'll do well in awards season.

Anyway, if people want a "rah rah America" space movie, get Clint Eastwood to make one. He can call it American Astronaut or something else ridiculously heavy handed.
 

jaywalker72

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The fact that it was going up against Venom and A Star Is Born didn't help, either. It'll do well in awards season.

Anyway, if people want a "rah rah America" space movie, get Clint Eastwood to make one. He can call it American Astronaut or something else ridiculously heavy handed.
Didn't he do that Space Cowboys flop?
 

Detroitgator

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The fact that it was going up against Venom and A Star Is Born didn't help, either. It'll do well in awards season.

Anyway, if people want a "rah rah America" space movie, get Clint Eastwood to make one. He can call it American Astronaut or something else ridiculously heavy handed.
You're young. ;)
space-cowboys-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg
 

gingerlover

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The Foreigner - Stars Jackie Chan and Peirce Brosnan. Chan plays a Vietnamese immigrant living a peaceful life in London with his teenage daughter. One day a bomb set by a group trying to bring back the IRA goes off and his daughter is killed in the explosion. He goes daily to the police station for updates, but noone can provide him any information and his heartbreaking past is revealed. He decides to take matters into his own hands and goes to find the people responsible.

Pierce Brosnan plays a former IRA member who is now a government official in Ireland. He is trying to figure out who is doing the bombings to put a stop to them internally before to much is learned that he doesn't want to come out about the past. This is where the two begin to cross paths and a game of cat and mouse begins as both hunt for the people responsible. Going beyond this begins to get into spoiler territory.

I recorded this movie as one of those I'm bored lets give it a try things. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The actors all do very well in their roles and the story lines, although confusing at times if you are not paying attention, all come full circle at the end. If you are looking for a descent movie to watch I would recommend this. 6.5/10.
 

TLB

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^^Love Chan (how old is that guy now?). Will give this a look.
 

Detroitgator

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The Foreigner - Stars Jackie Chan and Peirce Brosnan. Chan plays a Vietnamese immigrant living a peaceful life in London with his teenage daughter. One day a bomb set by a group trying to bring back the IRA goes off and his daughter is killed in the explosion. He goes daily to the police station for updates, but noone can provide him any information and his heartbreaking past is revealed. He decides to take matters into his own hands and goes to find the people responsible.

Pierce Brosnan plays a former IRA member who is now a government official in Ireland. He is trying to figure out who is doing the bombings to put a stop to them internally before to much is learned that he doesn't want to come out about the past. This is where the two begin to cross paths and a game of cat and mouse begins as both hunt for the people responsible. Going beyond this begins to get into spoiler territory.

I recorded this movie as one of those I'm bored lets give it a try things. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The actors all do very well in their roles and the story lines, although confusing at times if you are not paying attention, all come full circle at the end. If you are looking for a descent movie to watch I would recommend this. 6.5/10.
I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed this one
 

gingerlover

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^^Love Chan (how old is that guy now?). Will give this a look.

He’s at least in his mid 60’s I would think. He plays this a little more straight. His Kung fu comes out some but not for humorous spots like his older movies. He even goes Chinese Rambo a little at one point (the first one). I actually think he only gets around 30-40% of the time on screen. A lot of the movie focuses on Brosnan who does a fantastic job.
 

Gatordiddy

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Not only is Dr. Smith a women but Judy Robinson is an AA girl. Can you say Hollyweird SJWism?

Haha- yep.
Speaking of D&I in movies these days:

“Another criticism of The Force Awakens(TFA) and The Last Jedi is that the new hero, Rey, is a girl-power “Mary Sue” (a hopelessly idealized and flawless character). In TFA, the first time she steps into the Millennium Falcon, Rey turns out to be a better pilot than the legendary Han Solo ever was. By the film’s second act, Rey is able to use mind-control powers that it took Luke Skywalker three movies to develop. She also has a heart of gold.”

Star Wars & Culture War: Critics Focus on Social Justice and Politics over Quality | National Review
 

divits

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First Man.

As someone who has been a NASA geek from childhood (grandfather was a NACA and NASA engineer), I can confidently say that no other film or production has nailed NASA space flight like this one did. As for the rest of the film, it was also brilliant. I remember thinking when this film was announced that it'd be kinda tough to make an interesting movie about Neil Armstrong since he really wasn't that remarkable personality wise. But Gosling nailed the role, Claire Foy was fantastic, and Chazelle mixed in the perfect amount of drama and action. I'll say that the shaky cam was a bit much at times watching on a big format screen, but that's my only minor complaint. Moon landing scene was incredible. I'm glad we went 30 minutes out of our way to catch this one in a large format Dolby theater just for the moon landing and Gemini 8 scenes. Great film.


And as far as the whole flag controversey is concerned, a few things should be noted. 1. The astronauts planted the flag together because the pole was incredibly awkward and difficult to plant, Armstrong didn't do it by himself. 2. The picture of the astronaut saluting the flag is of Buzz Aldrin, not Neil Armstrong. 3. There's a clear shot in the film of the LEM on the Moon with the American flag next to it. 4. This movie wasn't about #murica beating the Soviets (although it did touch on the space race at times).
Just saw it today and liked it but probably not as much as you did. I thought they did a very good job of showing what kind of guy Armstrong was. He was like a lot of engineer type guys who make up in smarts and logic what they lack in warmth and emotion. America (including TV types) wanted him to be more of a John Glenn type of personality but that just wasn't him and I think some people at the time were a little miffed about it. I thought the movie over did the whole spinning thing in a lot of scenes. And I found it to be pretty slow moving in general. They could have edited about 20 minutes out. In fact, some guy who apparently came to see it by himself fell asleep in his comfortable reclining movie chair and was snoring almost as loud as the rocket engines on lift off. The whole theater was cracking up. Also, the whole flag thing was a nothing burger.

Having been around long enough to have newspapers, books and toys dating to the original Mercury astronauts I've always been fascinated with NASA too. I remember the Moon landing like it was yesterday. The Moon walk was at around 11PM and our family watched it on our black and white TV. My parents realized much more than I what a huge deal it was and my mom cried. As a former fighter pilot my dad was more concerned with how they flew the LEM.

The Right Stuff is still my all time favorite NASA movie.
 

gingerlover

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Halloween (2018) - The wife and kid are out of town so I snuck over to see this. The Halloween series is easily my go to series this time of year with 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and H2O being on AMC most of the month. Lets not mention the one with Busta Rhymes or the dreadful Rob Zombie takes.

This one basically erases everything before it and plays as a sequel to the original. I thought the timeline of 1, 2 and H20 was fine, but they definitely needed to correct the damage they did in other movies. Basically Lori Strode has become a doomsday type person waiting for the day he gets out. She even forced her daughter threw training and it has put a strain on her family. Sure enough when they transport him he escapes and starts running havoc in the neighborhood. Some of the stuff is gory, but quick for the squeamish. Basically she decides to hunt him down.

What it got right. They tried to embrace some of the suspense of the original. They even brought back the original guy to play him to show his age as well. The things she planned over a 40 year period are not that far fetched and were pretty realistic. Will Patton plays the cop who was a rookie in the original and does a good job. Jamie Lee knocked her part out of the park playing a doomsday crazy lade. There is also a kid in the movie for a short amount of time that is hilarious. They needed him around a little more. This would have been a good way to end the series for now, but money means sequels. He was back to just being a strong crazy guy rather than a supernatural being. His vulnerability shows at parts of the movie.

What sucked a little. A couple of the kills were to predictable and unfortunately the biggest ahole doesn't even come close to getting killed. Went a little to fast at times and the ending leaves open plenty of room for another one. They also have another doctor obsessed with him and I feel his part could have been eliminated and the movie might have been better. Once again with these movies a little bit of predictability comes into play.

Overall a worthy inclusion in my lineup of slasher films. If your a fan of the series you will like this one. 7/10. If your not into these then skip.
 

gingerlover

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Hotel Artemis - The one where Jodie Foster runs the secret hotel for criminals. Basically a near future where everything is lawless people come to her hotel for safety and care. Essentially one night someone breaks the rules and it all falls apart. People that do or don't trust each other, and it gets far to confusing. There also aren't many people in this film that you care about and anything they could do to make you care is to vague or they don't explore enough. Batista's character is probably the best one and that says something about your movie. They also wasted Jeff Goldblum as he was barely in the movie. 4/10

Skyscraper - The Rock tries to be Die Hard. Basically he is a vet with an leg amputation. He is hired in China to be the head of security for this new state of the art building. Terrorist attack and he has to rescue his family who are trapped on the top floors while navigating the motivations by his boss and the terrorist. This movie is a turn your brain off and see a few cool things happen. None of it is very good other than the fact it has the Rock who has become this generations Schwarzenegger. I feel like a lot of the decisions made in this was to put something out in China for the payday. Your standard no substance action movie 5/10

Destination Wedding - Caught this on Amazon with the wife. It has Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. They are the only two characters in it with the rest just being in the background. They meet on the way to a wedding and both are very cynical people that don't do well in relationships. They pall around and fall in love. The dialogue is funny at times, but that's about it. Take out the dirty language and sex and its a Hallmark movie. 4/10. The wife might rate this higher.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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SQ and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody this afternoon. Now I'm a huge Queen fan, so I've been waiting for this release quite literally for years, as it went through a variety of rewrites, recasts, fired directors, new producers, and other delays. It hasn't gotten the best of reviews, which I understand, but for anyone who even has a passing interest or liking of Queen and their music, it's highly enjoyable.

My one big problem with it, and I knew this going in, was Freddie Mercury's story was sterilized and sugar coated by request of Brian May and Roger Taylor. I understand they want to protect their old friend's image, so I get it, but I feel like the film could have had a better emotional impact if they had been willing to show more of Freddie's darker side. They touched on it a bit, but largely left it as more of a "family friendly" retelling of his personal life and drug use. I will say that Rami Malek's performance was outstanding. From what I understand, he spent countless hours of countless days perfecting Freddie's on stage presence, which had to be painstaking and extremely difficult. Freddie isn't known as the best lead man in history for no reason.

I feel like if they had made this a straight Queen biopic instead of trying to tell a more whitewashed version of Mercury's life with the band, it would have been better as a film. Having said that, I still loved it. They absolutely nailed every single performance set piece, there were some good laughs and some very emotional moments, and the Live Aid scene was the stuff of legends. I had straight goosebumps the last 15 minutes of the film. They also did a phenomenal job with costume and makeup design, so look for it to get nominated for those come Oscar season.

In summation, if you're a big Queen fan, get out and see this film in a theater. If you're not a big Queen fan, re-evaluate your taste in music and go see it anyway.
 

ThreatMatrix

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SQ and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody this afternoon. Now I'm a huge Queen fan, so I've been waiting for this release quite literally for years, as it went through a variety of rewrites, recasts, fired directors, new producers, and other delays. It hasn't gotten the best of reviews, which I understand, but for anyone who even has a passing interest or liking of Queen and their music, it's highly enjoyable.

My one big problem with it, and I knew this going in, was Freddie Mercury's story was sterilized and sugar coated by request of Brian May and Roger Taylor. I understand they want to protect their old friend's image, so I get it, but I feel like the film could have had a better emotional impact if they had been willing to show more of Freddie's darker side. They touched on it a bit, but largely left it as more of a "family friendly" retelling of his personal life and drug use. I will say that Rami Malek's performance was outstanding. From what I understand, he spent countless hours of countless days perfecting Freddie's on stage presence, which had to be painstaking and extremely difficult. Freddie isn't known as the best lead man in history for no reason.

I feel like if they had made this a straight Queen biopic instead of trying to tell a more whitewashed version of Mercury's life with the band, it would have been better as a film. Having said that, I still loved it. They absolutely nailed every single performance set piece, there were some good laughs and some very emotional moments, and the Live Aid scene was the stuff of legends. I had straight goosebumps the last 15 minutes of the film. They also did a phenomenal job with costume and makeup design, so look for it to get nominated for those come Oscar season.

In summation, if you're a big Queen fan, get out and see this film in a theater. If you're not a big Queen fan, re-evaluate your taste in music and go see it anyway.

Liking every pop radio hit they had doesn't make you a Queen fan, poser.
 

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