Forum Index > Full Moon Saloon > Movie reviews
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostThu Jul 04, 2019 12:21 am 
Some of these I watched a while ago. Been on a bit of a Felicity Jones kick. "Albatross" was decent but not a feel good movie. She's about to go to university. Her father is an author with a nearly terminal case of writer's block. Her parents fight constantly. They run a second rate little hotel. A newly hired member of the cleaning staff (played by Jessica Brown Findlay) throws everything into chaos. Interesting that Hollywood doesn't have a corner on the market for casting actresses much older than the age of the character they are playing, the Brits do it as well. Although their characters were supposed to be about 17 Findlay was around 22 and Jones was around 28 (now that's quite a stretch, but she definitely looks younger than she is). "Chalet Girl" was released the same year. In this one Jones was a former competitive skateboarder that gave up competing after her mom died in a car accident. She's stuck going nowhere in life, takes a job working for an obscenely rich family at their chalet in the mountains in Austria. She eventually takes to snowboarding and is a natural at. I really enjoyed this, fun movie. Good cast, Bill Nighy is always good, also Brooke Shields, Sophia Bush, Tamsin Egerton, Ed Westwick. Mostly British cast but a few Americans and a few from other parts of Europe. Much of it was filmed in Austria and Germany, beautiful mountain scenery. "Storm Boy" took a while to get going but was well done. Mostly in flashbacks, but goes back and forth between different time frames. A grandfather (Geoffrey Rush) telling his granddaughter about the pelican he saved and raised when he was a boy. Jai Courtney played his father in the flashbacks, different type of role for him. Set in Australia. Nice, heart felt, bittersweet story. The pelican steals the movie.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
GaliWalker
Have camera will use



Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 4916 | TRs | Pics
Location: Pittsburgh
GaliWalker
Have camera will use
PostFri Jul 05, 2019 9:01 am 
"Spider-Man: Far From Home" was excellent. It was funny, there were lots of character driven interactions, and the first of the two post credits scenes really ratcheted up the stakes for Spider-Man. It's easily one of my favorite Marvel movies, possibly because it felt unshackled after the end of the Avengers chapter.

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostThu Jul 11, 2019 1:04 pm 
A couple more Netflix originals that were entertaining, decent enough. "When We First Met" is a time loop/repeat/try to change the past scenario. Adam Devine is trying to figure out a way to end up with his dream girl Alexandra Daddario rather than getting friend zoned. No matter what he does there are unintended consequences and he keeps messing everything up. Drags a little maybe 3/4 of the way thru, but overall it was fun. I wasn't familiar w/ her but Shelley Hennig, Daddario's best friend, kind of steals the show. "The Last Summer" is an ensemble movie about a group of recent high school graduates in Chicago trying to enjoy their last summer together before they go separate directions for college or whatever else they are doing in life. Some comedy but more romantic drama. It jumps around between different characters and plots but the main pair is K.J. Apa and Maia Mitchell, just a couple of all American kids from...Australia and New Zealand. I enjoy Halston Sage, she was also one of the more prominently featured cast members.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostThu Jul 11, 2019 10:08 pm 
I saw Spiderman: Far From Home this week at the Seattle Cinerama (what an great theater!) - almost as good as the previous Spiderman film, and that's high praise from me as that still ranks as one of my favorite Marvel films! The comedy and action were excellent, and I particularly enjoyed the villain.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostFri Jul 12, 2019 7:08 pm 
The Dawn Wall is a bit of a companion piece to Free Solo, or maybe a contrast. It was good, but too long. Caldwell's partner's struggles to complete a traverse pitch just dragged on and on and on and took up way too much film time. I understand it's what happened, but the documentary needed to be streamlined. Also, it was pretty weird that they presented Becca as Tommy's girlfriend...until the last 15 or 20 minutes of the film when they let you know they are married and had a little boy at the time of the climb. That was just a strange choice, seems like that should've been a bigger part of the narrative. Granted I've never made a documentary, but I feel like this was a significant and obvious mistake. Probably contrast is a better description of the 2 films. While Caldwell's route was much more technically difficult, Honnold had zero margin for error. The two endeavors are not really all that similar. Also Honnold did it in a matter of hours, Caldwell was on the wall for 3 weeks. I guess that makes the 2 climbs about as different as a 100 meter dash and a marathon. Both are running, but not the same thing at all.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostWed Jul 24, 2019 10:29 am 
I didn't have real high expectations for "Shazam!", the previews looked so silly, but I gave it a try. I quit about halfway thru, then pushed thru the next day. I did not enjoy it. To me it was a failed attempt to remake "Big" as a superhero movie (and there was one obvious homage to "Big" so I'm really not off base with this claim). It was missing most of the charm and Zachary Levi is no Tom Hanks. And as goofy as the film was, there was an odd tonal dissonance with some horror elements. That was really odd. "Teen Spirit" was an entirely different kind of experience. Starring Elle Fanning as an aspiring singer trying out for a British singing competition TV show. It was slow paced, but I enjoyed it for the most part. The finale was a good payoff.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostThu Jul 25, 2019 11:35 am 
"Summer Night" is a slice of life movie with a large cast set in a small town where not much really happens and isn't really plot driven, so it all comes down to the characters. For me it worked. A bunch of 20 somethings looking for a good time and wading thru romantic entanglements. Not really big names but a number of familiar faces to me, a few I didn't know. I do have to say though that it is remarkable how attractive everyone seems to be in this small town. Must be something in the water. suuure.gif

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostMon Jul 29, 2019 7:52 am 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
I didn't have real high expectations for "Shazam!", the previews looked so silly, but I gave it a try. I quit about halfway thru, then pushed thru the next day. I did not enjoy it. To me it was a failed attempt to remake "Big" as a superhero movie (and there was one obvious homage to "Big" so I'm really not off base with this claim). It was missing most of the charm and Zachary Levi is no Tom Hanks. And as goofy as the film was, there was an odd tonal dissonance with some horror elements. That was really odd.
I really enjoyed "Shazam!" - honestly one of my favorite super hero movies of the year lol. Yes, it could be said that the goofiness and horror elements clashed, but that's actually one of the things I love about it.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostMon Jul 29, 2019 8:00 am 
"Sing Street" was a lot of fun. Very well written and acted - a charming little film with excellent original music that I was shocked to learn was actually performed by the lead actor.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker



Joined: 16 Dec 2001
Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics
Location: Cle Elum
Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker
PostMon Jul 29, 2019 5:56 pm 
Avengers: Endgame available tonight after 9pm on iTunes.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostTue Jul 30, 2019 11:39 am 
NacMacFeegle wrote:
I really enjoyed "Shazam!" - honestly one of my favorite super hero movies of the year lol. Yes, it could be said that the goofiness and horror elements clashed, but that's actually one of the things I love about it.
Sometimes our taste in movies aligns, sometimes it doesn't. The great thing is my opinion is inconsequential. If you enjoy a film, it's all good.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostTue Jul 30, 2019 11:49 am 
"The Disaster Artist" got a lot of buzz. I finally got around to watching it. I haven't seen "The Room" that it is tied to. It's a strange movie. The older Franco apparently nails his portrayal of Tommy Wiseau. IMO probably the best part of the movie was Seth Rogen and Paul Scheer as actual professionals in the movie industry trying to help Wiseau make his film, but he was so clueless and off the wall that they were in an impossible situation. I vaguely remember when "Tiger Eyes" came out, never saw it. Based on a Judy Blume book, never read any of her stuff. Gave it a try recently. Not at all the typical teen drama. Some of the characters were a bit one dimensional, but the leads did a wonderful job. It's mostly a story about learning to deal with grief. Very powerful and well done.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostSat Aug 03, 2019 9:40 pm 
I watched the "Assassin's Creed" movie adaptation this week - man was it bad! I was interested in it because I thought it might be kind of like the "Prince of Persia" movie adaptation, which I really enjoy - after all, "Assassin's Creed" was originally developed as a "Prince of Persia" video game! There was the core of a good movie there I think, but I think way too much was cut, or perhaps just the wrong stuff was cut. Essentially it's two different movies - one set in a sci-fi future and one in an alternate history past. The stories are supposed to interconnect, and they might have if the film had more time, but as it is you feel like you are trying to watch an interesting movie on TV and someone keeps changing the channel when things are getting interesting. They should have cut the entire future sci-fi portion and focused entirely on the past. Ironically, this is what the games ended up doing. Speaking of the games, I've played several in the Assassin's Creed series. They do an amazing job of meticulously re-creating interactive historical settings. They generally have interesting stories, engaging game play, and state-of-the-art graphics. The premise of the movie is certainly interesting, but the meat of the story is far blander fair than what can be found in the games. The CGI is also completely terrible in the movie, looking dated compared to movies decades older. It's so bad that in particularly acrobatic action sequences you can clearly tell where actors suddenly transform into hideous CGI monstrosities. Clearly the people who made this knew it looked terrible, because they tried to cover up their mistake by literally burying the movie in dust. Every historical scene is seen only through a heavy veil of brown haze that transforms characters and scenes into a morass of sepia shadows. One of the worst omissions from the movie are the historical characters that were so much fun to interact with in the games - from Leonardo DaVinci to George Washington, the games gave practically every historical figure a secret life as an Assassin or a Templar. In the film we only get Christopher Columbus for a single scene near the end. It's sad that this film turned out so poorly, as the premise of the "Assassin's Creed" franchise could have lent itself to all kinds of unique and exciting movies. I got the impression that who people who made this film just read the synopsis of the a few of the games and put no effort into understanding their source material. The result is disappointing indeed.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
olderthanIusedtobe
Member
PostSat Aug 03, 2019 9:51 pm 
lol.gif Video game based movies have a fairly dismal history, but Hollywood just keeps trying. They seem to usually seem to miss the mark on the core of what made the game franchise popular. They all seem to suck at timing, the movies coming out way after the game reached its peak in popularity and pop culture relevance.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Malachai Constant
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny
Malachai Constant
Member
PostMon Aug 19, 2019 10:57 am 
Idocracy 2006 Mike Judd now available on Hulu darkly prophetic up.gif up.gif

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Full Moon Saloon > Movie reviews
  Happy Birthday speyguy, Bandanabraids!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum