[Toni]

[gb]

Saw Adrift at the Crest. What an intensely emotional movie. Shailene Woodley is absolutely stellar in her portrayal of an amazing woman who survives 41 days adrift on the Pacific Ocean.

[MtnGoat]

thanks ski, that will be a great distraction while I'm hitting the stairclimber. Which is also how I watched all the Winnetou movies as well.

[mike]

RE: Adrift, the real story. Tami was out for at least 24 hours. When she woke up the boat was in ruins and Richard was gone. She never saw him again. (I know Tami)

[Ski]

[Ski]

It Conquered the World (1956 - Roger Corman) A very young Peter Graves thwarts the efforts of a very young Lee Van Cleef (with hair!) when he attempts to collude with an alien from Venus who plans to take over the Earth. Another Corman low-budget pot-boiler full of thrills and chills, crazy monster costumes, and a couple cool 1950's cars. The sound of the exhaust on that 1955 Buick Special convertible is worth the price of admission. Broderick Crawford never had anything that cool. Again, Beverly Garland provides some great eye candy.

[gb]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

"Leave No Trace" is really good. Not about LNT principles. A military vet with PTSD and his teenage daughter are living off the grid, camping in forests and moving periodically. They get busted illegally camping in Forest Park in Portland and hit the radar of the CPS system. Excellent performances from Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie. Very quiet, understated film, I found it mesmerizing and heartbreaking.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Hit and miss with a bunch of movies this week. Shut down "Downsizing" after 45 minutes. Not interesting and I didn't care about any of the characters. "Game Night" had a few chuckles but overall was fairly disappointing. I like most of the actors/actresses involved but something didn't quite work. Had a decent twist that was ruined by the movie continuing another 20 minutes and jumping the shark 2 or 3 times. Biggest take away was that Lamorne Morris (Winston Bishop from tv's New Girl) does a killer Denzel Washington impersonation. "Spinning Man" was a fairly intriguing cat and mouse game between Pierce Brosnan's detective and Guy Pearce's philosophy professor...until the whole thing collapsed at the end. Both of the leads were good but Minnie Driver upstaged them both. "Midnight Sun" is a YA romance that I found enjoyable. I was surprised to find out that xeroderma pigmentosum (can't be exposed to sunlight at all) is a real thing, although it was probably dramatized somewhat in the film. Stars Arnie Schwarzenegger's son Patrick and Bella Thorne. Rob Riggle was great as Bella's father. I'd never heard of Quinn Shephard before, she did some scene stealing as the best friend. Reminds me a bit of Olivia Thirlby, who I'm a big fan of, who has also done plenty of scene stealing as a minor character/best friend/younger sister type. "Gemini" seemed to be trashed by critics and film goers alike. I thought it was decent. Noirish, not really a thriller. I'm a big fan of Lola Kirke, she made it interesting enough for me. I've always like John Cho as well.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

"Beirut" was an intriguing political thriller starring Jon Hamm. I never watched the tv show Mad Men but he's been solid in a number of films I've seen him in. Rosamund Pike was good as well, I've always liked her. Twisty plot, a bunch of different parties involved with different agendas, never quite sure who you could trust or believe.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I usually enjoy Wes Anderson's films but "Isle of Dogs" was a bit too weird/quirky for me and not as charming as his other works. Didn't like it as much as his previous animation "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

[Ski]

Attack from Space - 1965 Actually two Japanese shorts edited together to make one "made for American television" movie. The recently departed Ken Utsui stars as "Starman", the caped superhero sent by the high council of the Emerald Planet to save the Earth from an attack by the Sperhions. The ending includes one of the longest and most ridiculous fight scenes in movie history in which "Starman" single-handedly beats the crap out of the entire Nazi-saluting Sperhion army while laughing at them.

A deserved 3.6 (out of 10) on IMDb

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Caught a matinee of "Mission Impossible: Fallout" recently. This franchise consistently delivers. Some breathtaking action scenes and stunt work. Beautiful locations around the world. Convoluted, twisty plot. Solid cast. Brings back several characters from the previous film and mixes in some new blood, including Superman...I mean Henry Cavill. Something just popped up on my radar, I don't remember it being in theaters at all but it's on DVD now. "The Vanishing of Sidney Hall." A bit of a tough watch, constantly jumping back and forth between multiple time frames, and fairly slow paced. Worth watching though. Fairly intriguing and haunting. Logan Lerman plays a writing prodigy who disappeared after his second novel, not far removed from high school. His story is incrementally revealed on screen. Good cast of both younger (Elle Fanning, Blake Jenner, Maragaret Qualley) and veteran actors (Nathan Lane, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Monaghan, Tim Blake Nelson).

[GaliWalker]

[olderthanIusedtobe]