EmmaMcG said:

the favourite (2018) 4/5 cousins compete to be the queen's favourite in 18th century england. it undeniably bums me out a bit to see lanthimo moving away from the disturbing idiosyncrasies of his previous films, but he found enough icy cruelty and absurdity to make this very carefully made period drama engaging & interesting. i'm not sure it will ultimately claim the same sort of love i have for the lobster & dogtooth, but if nothing else it's good to see him growing & adding new arrows to his quiver rather than just revisiting old transgressions.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Anne looked more like a horse instead of a cat.

EmmaMcG said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

The good thing is it can all be reboooted no problem. How many Spider-Man reboots have ve had in the last couple of decades? DC will get there. I think they know they went the wrong direction. Whatever we think of them, I think all of the recent movies made money.

Justice League was a major financial disappointment. That's why they have seemingly put an end to the DCEU. They're calling it "Worlds of DC" or something now and they're moving away from the shared universe thing. It's probably a good thing seeing as they've already proven that they can't do it right anyway. I kind of wish Warner would just sell DC to Disney so we could get a proper DC universe going. Warner have a terrible history with superheroes. They start off well and then it all goes downhill. The first 2 Superman movies were great. Then we got Superman 3 and 4, which are crap. Supergirl was also a travesty. Things picked up with Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Then they fired him and Joel Schumacher made Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, almost killing the entire superhero genre. Then came the Nolan trilogy which ended with The Dark Knight Rises, a truly boring movie packed with plot holes, a crap Catwoman and a very disappointing villain. And now we have the DCEU, which was never that good to begin with and just when they release a movie that shows signs of getting back on track, they cancel the shared universe aspect. It's almost like they're purposely fucking it up. Sell it to Disney so we can see Batman join the Avengers. They might as well.

or luke skywalker vs. darkseid...

'into the spider-verse' - yeah, pretty much perfect. a feast for the eyes and ears and heart and mind. so many respectful nods to creatives who carried the torch for years unnoticed. bill sienkiewicz' kingpin, for sure. a lot of howard chaykin. some kirby collage and more kirby krackle than you'll ever see on a comics page (i enjoyed the opportunity to explain to my son what 'kirby krackle' is). plenty that i'm sure i didn't/wouldn't catch. i'll probably see it again before it leaves the theater. easily the best spider-man movie and one of the better movies, period, i've ever seen.

iZsaZsa said:

peedub said:

Un conte de Nöel / A Christmas Tale (2008) - The troubled Vuillard family is no stranger to illness, grief, and banishment, but when their matriarch requires a bone-marrow transplant, the estranged clan reunites just in time for Christmas.

I like to save my favorite Christmas movie for viewing on Christmas Eve. 5/5

EmmaMcG said:

sexton said:



In Bruges (2008) - Guilt-stricken after a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.

As much of a Christmas classic as Die Hard in my opinion. 5/5

If you liked In Bruges, you would probably like The Guard. It was directed by the brother of the director of In Bruges, who is also a producer on it. Very good movie. Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle star in it. Its kind of like an Irish version of Lethal Weapon.

I've seen The Guard multiple times and like it a lot too!

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

iZsaZsa said:

Anne looked more like a horse instead of a cat.

To me she looked hot!

I meant like one rather than the other...

peedub said:

EmmaMcG said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said: Justice League was a major financial disappointment. That's why they have seemingly put an end to the DCEU. They're calling it "Worlds of DC" or something now and they're moving away from the shared universe thing. It's probably a good thing seeing as they've already proven that they can't do it right anyway. I kind of wish Warner would just sell DC to Disney so we could get a proper DC universe going. Warner have a terrible history with superheroes. They start off well and then it all goes downhill. The first 2 Superman movies were great. Then we got Superman 3 and 4, which are crap. Supergirl was also a travesty. Things picked up with Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Then they fired him and Joel Schumacher made Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, almost killing the entire superhero genre. Then came the Nolan trilogy which ended with The Dark Knight Rises, a truly boring movie packed with plot holes, a crap Catwoman and a very disappointing villain. And now we have the DCEU, which was never that good to begin with and just when they release a movie that shows signs of getting back on track, they cancel the shared universe aspect. It's almost like they're purposely fucking it up. Sell it to Disney so we can see Batman join the Avengers. They might as well.

or luke skywalker vs. darkseid...

'into the spider-verse' - yeah, pretty much perfect. a feast for the eyes and ears and heart and mind. so many respectful nods to creatives who carried the torch for years unnoticed. bill sienkiewicz' kingpin, for sure. a lot of howard chaykin. some kirby collage and more kirby krackle than you'll ever see on a comics page (i enjoyed the opportunity to explain to my son what 'kirby krackle' is). plenty that i'm sure i didn't/wouldn't catch. i'll probably see it again before it leaves the theater. easily the best spider-man movie and one of the better movies, period, i've ever seen.

I really liked Stan Lee's cameo although--and maybe it's just me-- he came across a bit as a con man. I'm sure you think that fits him perfectly.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

The Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) 8.5/10 What a great movie. Rarely will you see a movie where you are amazed at how good the script and dialog is. All the background characters are well written too. ANd not stylistically well written like Mammet or Aaron Sorkin, but realistically. It feels like a slice of life of 1957. Tony Curtis and Lascaster both play against type and play truly awful people who destroy peoples lives for a buck as gossip journalists. The character played by Burt Lancaster is so disturbing because he takes himself seriously and you know there are people in the media today who are just as bad. (The movie is based on a real-life gossip columnist) And the cinematography is amazing and goes so well with the realistic gritty dialog. I hadn’t heard so much great smack-talk in a movie since probably ever. [Edited 12/27/18 13:12pm]

This is my favorite New York City film.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) A predictable but a nice bit of escapism and fluff. I give it a 3.5 out of 5

Death At A Funeral (2007)

Funnier than that one.





Death At A Funeral (2010)

Funny.

Introducing the First-And-God-Let's-Hope-The-Last-Movie-Review-Probably-More-Suitable-For-The-Politics-And-Religion-Forum!

ADVANCE WARNING - Last night I saw a political movie about a very controversial American politician. I have strong political views. Some of them will be expressed in this review, but only as few as i can possibly get away with and still be true to my core. If you hate me and want to debate me, come on over to the P&R forum, as there are plenty of threads on which we can argue.

So anyway - I got dragged to the local mall's multiplex Booze (but no Chow and let's be honest - Booze is all that really counts, even if it is just multiplex-quality pinot noir) Theater to watch "Vice". This movie is about Dick Cheney, who I regard as one of the more evil men on this planet.

So, so many problems with this movie, but you know what? After the first few minutes I said - Hey, RodeoSchro! This movie is pretty cool! Maybe they CAN make a movie that doesn't have Arnold or Sylvester or The Predator or Double Secret Probation and yet still be good!

I should have remembered the Prince Rule For A Successful Life - "I am always right. Even when I'm wrong, I'm right".

I am always right. "Vice" didn't have an Arnold, or a Sylvester, or a The Predator, or Double Secret Probation. All "Vice" had was bad guys. No good guys. None.

How in the heck can you enjoy a movie where there isn't anyone to root for?

You can't.

Although, the director (his name is McKay, who cares what the first name is) tried at first to make Cheney look like a not-entirely-bad guy. Sure, he flunked out of Yale and sure, he got in bar fights. He was kind of a badass! Hard to believe now, but he was; or, at least Fat Young Christian Bale was a badass. But he was also a loser. A GIANT loser. He was a dude with no future at all.

But then - viola! his wife Lynne (a true-life villianess if there ever was one) reads him the riot act and the next thing you know, 'ol Jed's a millionaire. And the next thing you know after that is that Dick Cheney is a Congressional Intern.

You know who else was a Congressional Intern? Me!

My Congressional Intern Experience was completely different than Dick Cheney's. For one thing, I didn't get to pick who I worked for. None of the interns I ever met did, either. No, you worked for whatever elected politician that your dad had given lots of money to. At least, we did.

But Dick Cheney gets to pick his Congressman - or at least he gets to pick what party he works for. But he has no idea what party he's in. Which is weird. Who goes to Washington, D.C. to work in Congress for a Congressman and yet doesn't really know if he's a Republican or a Democrat? My friends, in real life that does not happen. And it didn't happen in 1983, either (that's when I was an intern).

I was going to boycott this movie on account of I just despise Dick Cheney and could not imagine spending $0.01 of my money to watch a movie about him. But then I read that Steve Carrell was playing Donald Rumsfeld, so I spent $51.00 of my money to see that.

Sadly, Steve Carrell completely bombs in this role. Rummy is a guy I despise about as much as Dick Cheney but he's a dude with an incredible life story. Love Rummy or hate Rummy, you have to respect all the jobs Rummy held. But Steve Carrell plays him basically as Michael Scott with a better suit.

Did you know I once stalked Rummy? Not actually stalked, but I dang sure went looking for him one night. I wanted to have a drink with him and possibly tell him how badly he screwed everything up.

As my faithful readers know, we have a place in Northern New Mexico. So does Rummy! His is outside Taos and there was this awesome locals bar there called The Blinking Light (guess what was outside). Legend had it that Rummy showed up there every Friday and Saturday to drink.

Back in 2011 I had a buddy come up for a ski weekend. We were drinking at this hotel in Taos and met a nice older couple celebrating the man's retirement. "What did you retire from?" I asked. "The government" he said. "What part?" I asked. "I can't tell you, but it has three letters and two of them are C and A" he said. "Aha!" I replied, because I can spell "CIA" when spotted the "C" and the "A".

They were locals and I asked them if it was true Rummy drank every weekend at The Blinking Light. "He sure does," Mr. CIA said. "Awesome!" we said. "We want to have a drink with Rummy, so that's where we're headed!" But the guy looks at his phone and says, "Don't waste your time. He isn't there tonight. He's at a book signing event in Virginia". "How do you know that?" "I have his calendar on my phone." "We thought you were retired." "Well, they still give me some good stuff."

Yeah, right. Sure they do. My buddy and I went to The Blinking Light. We looked and looked, but no Rummy. No Rummy at the bar. No Rummy at a table. No Rummy in the men's room. No Rummy anywhere. "Is this the place where Rummy drinks?" we asked the bartender. "Yeah, but he's not here tonight. He's in Virginia, signing copies of his book".



Rummy falls in love with Cheney and somehow gets Cheney a job at the White House. Then Nixon gets the boot and somehow Cheney becomes Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff. There's actually a lot more to these "somehow's" but "Vice" skips over that.

One day Cheney's youngest daughter comes home crying. "Susan broke up with me!" she says. "Oh, by the way - I like girls". Lynne Cheney says they'll keep this a secret forever but Dick says that they'll love her no matter what. Why "Vice" tries to make it look like Dick Cheney has a heart is indeed a great mystery but in fact, Cheney is on the record supporting same-sex marriage.

The movie kind of skips around between 9/11 and the past but ends up with Cheney meeting a fall-down drunk George W. Bush at a party back in the 80's. The later they meet when George W. Bush gets the nomination for president in 2000.

Now, the way I read the story when it was actually happening was that George W. Bush asked Cheney to do a VP candidate search and after conducting an "exhaustive search" Cheney told W that, "The best guy for the job is me!" But in the movie, W practically begs Cheney from the get-go to be the VP and Cheney finally reluctantly agrees after W pretty much says Cheney can run the entire government.

Let me interject some defense of George W. Bush.

You see, W wasn't always...wait. I assume you've picked yourself up off the floor? You got your jaw back to where it's supposed to be? The smelling salts worked and you're conscious again? Good! I know that was as surprise!

As I as saying. George W. Bush may have been an absolute cretin as president but he wasn't always a cretin. While he was certainly not the Second Coming of Winston Churchill when he was Texas's governor, he was able to form a complete sentence.

There used to be this liberal dude named Lionel who had a liberal radio talk show on that liberal XM Radio service. Being a conservative, I of course listened to liberals whenever I could. One day during George W. Bush's presidency, Lionel was railing about what a cretin W was. (Now, this could have been just about any episode of Lionel's show, as W was a cretin pretty much from Day 1 to Day You're Outta Here.)

But Lionel said, "He wasn't always a cretin! Listen to this!" and played a soundbite from W's gubernatorial debate against Ann Richards - a formidable foe if there ever was one. W spoke about Texas's educational system and he used words with three, four and sometimes even five syllables! Honestly, you would have been impressed.

Then Lionel played a more recent soundbite of W getting confused about fish or how doors work and said, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THAT GUY'S BRAIN?!?" I don't know but the difference in coherence was amazing.

I thought they played Bush as too much of a cretin in this movie. But who knows? Maybe not.

They sure played Cheney as a truly evil guy by this time, though. Basically Cheney took over the government. He had offices in the Senate; the House; the Pentagon; and the CIA. These were in addition to his Vice President's office (the one with the man-sized safe which to my regret, was never mentioned). He did it all, including convincing Colin Powell to ruin his reputation by giving false/sketchy information to the United Nations in justification of our invasion of Iraq.

The movie shows Cheney getting his rocks off with war and torture and all that fun stuff for a few years, then Barack Hussein Obummer is sworn in and Cheney's out of a job.

Cheney's oldest daughter Liz runs for the GOP nomination for Senate in the Cheney home state of Wyoming. She's getting creamed in the polls because her opponent says Liz Cheney is soft on banning gay marriage. He even sends robocalls to everyone in Wyoming saying that Liz Cheney supports gay marriage. The horror!

Well, it IS a horror if you're a Wyoming Republican. So to mitigate this horror, Liz Cheney goes on Wyoming's version of "Pawnee Today", hosted by Wyoming's male version of Joan Callamezzo. Liz Cheney triumphantly says, "I OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE, WYOMING'S MALE VERSION OF JOAN CALLAMEZZO!" Of course Liz Cheney's gay sister sees this on TV and weeps uncontrollably. She then accuses Dick Cheney of goading Liz Cheney into doing that even though it throws Lil' Sis completely under the bus and probably out of the family.

Now THAT is the Dick Cheney we all remember.

The most controversial scene in the movie is the one and only after-credits scene. Throughout the movie, the McKay director dude intersperes some scenes with focus groups in them. These are focus groups from the 80's, back when GOP pollster Frank Luntz tested terms like "climate change" and "border security" and "War on Terror" with Patriotic Americans so as to use them in a way that would cover big cities in Liberal Tears. (It worked, too.)

The last focus group scene though, is current. Some dude in a football jersey says "Vice" is too liberal. Then an America-hating libtard says that they had to vet all the stuff in the movie, so it has to be true, right? But the Patriotic American in his football jersey ain't buying that "vetted and verified facts" crap and calls the libtard a "libtard". The libtard rejoins with, "At least I didn't hire that orange Chee-to to screw things up!" The Patriotic American accuses the libtard of liking Hillary Clinton, and then physically assaults him.

This McKay dude tries too hard. He screwed up "The Big Short" the exact same way. In fact, The McKay Gang made both "The Big Short" and "Vice". For future reference, The McKay Gang is McKay; Christian Bale; Brad Pitt; Steve Carrell; and now Will Ferrell.

Also in fact, I warned that my "The Big Short" review might end up in Politics and Religion - just like I warned in the first paragraph of this review. I am prescient. And also optimistic because while The McKay Gang has not really done a very good job with these last two movies, I hold out hope that next time The McKay Gang will pick a non-political topic and make a movie that not only looks good, but is good, too.

"Vice" is a movie with no one to root for. What's worse, you know that the bad guy wins, because Cheney is rich and not in prison where he belongs. Plus, he has someone else's heart now, which doesn't seem fair.

Therefore, "Vice" gets only 1.5 Drinks With Rummy out of (I wish I'd had) Five Drinks With Rummy. Although, I want to say - I'm not sure I'd bet against Cheney if he ever came up against The Predator.

.

[Edited 12/27/18 16:55pm]

SHORTER REVIEW OF "VICE":

Sure, Christian Bale imitated Dick Cheney really good. But Rich Little imitated EVERYONE and he never got an Oscar, so that kind of tells you what I think about the concept of getting fat or skinny for a movie role.

RodeoSchro said:

sexton said:

peedub said:

or luke skywalker vs. darkseid...

'into the spider-verse' - yeah, pretty much perfect. a feast for the eyes and ears and heart and mind. so many respectful nods to creatives who carried the torch for years unnoticed. bill sienkiewicz' kingpin, for sure. a lot of howard chaykin. some kirby collage and more kirby krackle than you'll ever see on a comics page (i enjoyed the opportunity to explain to my son what 'kirby krackle' is). plenty that i'm sure i didn't/wouldn't catch. i'll probably see it again before it leaves the theater. easily the best spider-man movie and one of the better movies, period, i've ever seen.

I really liked Stan Lee's cameo although--and maybe it's just me-- he came across a bit as a con man. I'm sure you think that fits him perfectly.

yeah. i thought it was fair and respectful while still scraping a little closer to the truth than i think has been offered by previous episodes of the stan lee legend.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) - During an adventure into the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

It wasn't nearly as bad as some fans made it out to be. I can see how the droid L3-37 could have annoyed some people, but I thought she was funny--not much different than K-2SO in Rogue One or C-3PO. Maybe it's because I like the actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge from the TV show Fleabag who voiced L3. 3/5

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

RodeoSchro said:

SHORTER REVIEW OF "VICE":

Sure, Christian Bale imitated Dick Cheney really good. But Rich Little imitated EVERYONE and he never got an Oscar, so that kind of tells you what I think about the concept of getting fat or skinny for a movie role.

I see this tomorrow, were there there major factual errors? [Edited 12/27/18 20:35pm]

Other than my recollection on how Cheney led the VP search, I can't think of any.

saw aquaman.. it was ok... maybe 2 and a half stars... for perspective i'm not really into superhero movies. I thought the latest thor was just ok... and i'd say black panther is the most overrated movie i've ever seen... not the worst film... but the most ovearrated

i quite like jason mamoa... but his acting chops are never going to set the world on fire... i think amber heard was a really poor casting choice... just didn't work for me... they needed someone more enigmatic

Bandersnatch. One of the few movies i'd like to have my time back from. Makes no sense.

the draughtsman's contract (1982) 3.5/5 enjoyably bizarre period piece, if slightly reserved by the standards of other peter greenway films that i've seen. it's pleasantly languid, moves along at a nicely deliberate but never slow pace that lets you appreciate the scenery & costumes, doesn't overstay its welcome, and leaves a nice open-ended ambivalent aftertaste.

love (2015) 2/5 american in paris upends his life when he & his girlfriend have a 3-way with their neighbor. filled with graphic, unsimulated sex scenes.

gaspar noe's enter the void is ridiculous & overblown & way too long yet somehow is the greatest & most perfect movie to me.

there's not a whole lot to this one, unfortunately. i'm not sure if it's porn or not. i'll leave it to smarter people to be the final authorities on such matters. there certainly are a few reasonably steamy scenes, particularly in the early going, one quite ingeniously scored by funkadelic's maggot brain. has no one else ever done that before? if not, then maybe that sole fact justifies this thing's existence.

but yeesh, this is a tedious, endless dirge. it's hard to believe that noe, whose previous films hummed with such energy & drive, made something so bereft of ideas & fun. apparently his 2018 release is meant to be much better, & hopefully i'll be able to catch that soon. i'll always be interested in whatever he does, but no more like this please.

[Edited 12/30/18 6:53am]

White Girl (2016)

A promising film with a solid cast ruined by gratuitous drug use, sex scenes and violence. Hopefully this first-time feature director, Elizabeth Wood, learns from this.

I just started watching "Bird Box" on Netflix... so far this is crazy!

The Favourite (4.5 of 5). Not for those who need a protagonist, but so very well done. The acting was wonderful, especially Olivia Coleman who created a queen unlike any other. I imagine it will do well with academy award nominations, including up to three for acting(Coleman for Best
Actress, and Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz). While I can understand why the Golden Globe gave it a nomination for Best Comedy/Musical Picture given it's dark humor, it is neither light hearted nor a laugh riot. All of my companions found it "disturbing'. If this doesn't scare you away, go see it!

gandorb said:

The Favourite (4.5 of 5). Not for those who need a protagonist, but so very well done. The acting was wonderful, especially Olivia Coleman who created a queen unlike any other. I imagine it will do well with academy award nominations, including up to three for acting(Coleman for Best
Actress, and Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz). While I can understand why the Golden Globe gave it a nomination for Best Comedy/Musical Picture given it's dark humor, it is neither light hearted nor a laugh riot. All of my companions found it "disturbing'. If this doesn't scare you away, go see it!

i've actually bumped my rating of the favourite up to a 5 (4 initially) because it's rattled around my head & refused to leave since the day i saw it, & i love it when anything has that effect on me.

speaking of disturbing, at my boxing day screening of the favourite, i had the pleasure of being seated next to a kid who could not have been more than 6 years old, i reckon. & he & his dad & (i assume) older brother stuck through it to the end, from the man masturbating through his pants at the beginning right up to the (spoiler, i guess) naked man being pelted with pomegranates.

it's a funny old world, sometimes.