Movies (Warning, Spoilers Guaranteed)

A thread for the discussion of movies - comments, criticism, interpretations, etc.

Unfortunately the forum has no spoiler tags but I don't think the discussion will be as interesting without being able to discuss films in their entirety - so if you're worried about seeing spoilers this may not be the thread for you. Personally I will give a spoiler alert when I am about to post one and some white space below it to give those that don't want to see spoilers a chance to avert their eyes.


Some that I've really enjoyed lately:


Get Out - A thriller / horror flick directed by Jordan Peel of Key & Peele fame. It plays with a lot of tropes about race, and I think there was an interesting allegorical component about African Americans being pressured to abandon their culture to fit into a majority white society. It was one of the kinds of movies I love best, where at some point you think to yourself "just what in the hell is going on here?" I really enjoyed it.


The Girl With All the Gifts - I love zombie movies, at least the well-done ones, but even I must admit that the genre is getting stale. There's just not much innovation and what there is generally takes it to more ridiculous, tongue-in-check directions (like "Zombeavers") than straight-faced horror. This movie was a breath of fresh air, giving a unique perspective on a tired genre. Don't miss it if you like zombie movies.


The Zookeeper's Wife - Not a movie I would have watched of my own volition (I saw it with someone else who wanted to), but I'm glad I did. I really had no idea what it was about and during the idyllic opening sequences thought it was going to be a bore fest...then I saw "Warsaw 1939" on the screen and I knew it was going to be a ride, and it was. This one reminded me to give things outside my usual preferences a chance. Great flick.

Bumping once in case anyone wants to talk movies (of any kind) and didn't see. If not I'll let the thread die a natural death after this.

I've been on a documentary kick lately, so here are some of my recent favorites:

Going Clear - An in-depth look at the Church of Scientology, including the history of the church, the life of L. Ron Hubbard, and interviews with former members.

Beware the Slender Man - Talks about the two girls in Minnesota who attempted to kill their friend as a 'sacrifice' to the Slender Man, the Internet boogeyman.

The Keepers - A Netflix series following the unsolved murder of a nun in Baltimore, who was believed to have been killed as part of a cover-up of abuse in the school where she worked.

Skinheads USA - Filmed in 1993, a camera crew follows a group of white supremacists in Alabama led by Bill Riccio.

Ohlahoma City - Discusses Timothy McVeigh's motivation for planting a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City by examining Ruby Ridge and Waco.

Going Clear - An in-depth look at the Church of Scientology, including the history of the church, the life of L. Ron Hubbard, and interviews with former members. Originally Posted by JdeHog

I also like documentaries and saw this one as well. It was good.

A recent one I watched that I liked was "That Sugar Film", which is about how pervasive and destructive sugar is in modern diets.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Going Clear - An in-depth look at the Church of Scientology, including the history of the church, the life of L. Ron Hubbard, and interviews with former members. Originally Posted by JdeHog

I also like documentaries and saw this one as well. It was good. Originally Posted by SpankyJ

I'll add my endorsement of that one, but I've had a fascination with Scientology since an old girlfriend got suckered into their con. It was eye-opening.

I've had a tendency to watch documentaries myself. A couple will probably be of interest only to the Star Trek fans here...

Chaos on the Bridge: The story of the creation and the first several seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Hosted and directed by William Shatner.

The Captains: Another Shatner driven Star Trek project. Shatner interviews the actors who have played the various captains of Starfleet ships (and Deep Space 9) in the Trek franchise (Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula), along with other significant Star Trek actors. Supplementing this one is a series of half-hour interviews, The Captains Close-up, each one featuring one of the actors who played the most important Starfleet commanders.

Trekkies and Trekkies 2: Denise Crosby takes an in-depth look at the Star Trek fan phenomenon.

I do have other interests besides Star Trek, though:

The People vs. George Lucas: a highly entertaining look at Star Wars and Star Wars fandom.

Trinity & Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie: fascinating look at the development of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons and testing from the original Trinity test through China's test of its first nuclear device in 1964. Ok, William Shatner did narrate this one, but I'd have still loved it if someone else suitable had narrated it (e.g., a Orson Welles or a Morgan Freeman; if Gilbert Gottfried had narrated it would have lost something).

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan: an examination of the career of SFX/stop action animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen. The interviewees in this one constitutes a Who's Who of filmmaking greats.

Sriracha: a documentary about "rooster sauce", the oriental hot sauce with the cult following (if you have Amazon Prime, you can stream this one for free on Amazon's Prime Video service).

The Search for General Tso: about one of the favorite dishes at any Chinese restaurant.

Ok. I'll stop for now.

Cheers,

bcg

Jiro Dreams of Sushi - documentary about a master sushi chef who is obsessed with creating perfection and his son that is struggling to live up to his legacy. It might sound boring but I found it captivating and I didn't even like sushi at the time I watched it several years ago.

Did anyone see Nocturnal Animals with Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams? Pretty good movie I thought, until the end when it just seemed like another cop out ending that stops abruptly and doesn't resolve anything. Then I realized that was the point - the main character was left hanging, with no resolution and I think the movie ended that way intentionally to give the viewer a similar feeling to what she had.

Saw Valerian this weekend. It was OK. Great visuals, lots of action. Maybe a little too much - it actually got a little monotonous after a while. A little less action, a little more plot development would have been a good trade, I think.

Saw Valerian this weekend. It was OK. Great visuals, lots of action. Maybe a little too much - it actually got a little monotonous after a while. A little less action, a little more plot development would have been a good trade, I think. Originally Posted by SpankyJ

I've been drooling over the trailers for that one for months now. I may have to go see it some weekend. Is it being shown in IMAX or 3D at all? The visuals make it look like a good candidate for either of those formats.

I've been drooling over the trailers for that one for months now. I may have to go see it some weekend. Is it being shown in IMAX or 3D at all? The visuals make it look like a good candidate for either of those formats. Originally Posted by JdeHog

Don't know, I just saw in a regular theater and it was quite impressive visually even there. It would be a crying shame if not.

Saw Valerian yesterday in 3D.....while the effects were nice I struggled to get past the bad acting and the plot. Would like to have my time and money back for that one

Not really a movie, more of a lecture. Brittany texted that I should watch this. She is so smart that when she is impressed by something it is always good. Jordan Peterson is a Psychologist. He was at Havard but now is at a Canadian university. He is a very impressive speaker and basically gives a blueprint on how to live a successful life. He was giving a series of lectures about the psychology of Bible stories. His 6th lecture was an intro to Noah and the 7th was about Noah. However, this was more
About the Psychology about how to recognize problems in your life and to confront them to prevent chaos. He says Noah can be read as an unbelievable childrens story but is basically a story that is symbolic about how to confront and deal with impending chaos. I usually hate psychological babble but I am telling you that this guy is brilliant. It is not Christian or anti-Christian but more a primer about life. It was pretty incredible.

Look up on YouTube,,,,Jordan Peterson Bible VI psychology of the flood and if you like it VII walking with God. You will not regret it if you need info how to raise children and improve relationships, especially conflict resolution. Brittany strikes again as always.

Saw Valerian yesterday in 3D.....while the effects were nice I struggled to get past the bad acting and the plot. Would like to have my time and money back for that one Originally Posted by dtf2246

Also it was REALLY long for an action movie.

Hmm, I thought I wanted to see The Dark Tower but it is getting panned quite brutally.

Hmm, I thought I wanted to see The Dark Tower but it is getting panned quite brutally. Originally Posted by SpankyJ

I saw it this past weekend,and I'm still on the fence about it. I love the books, and was excited to hear that a movie adaptation was finally on the way, but wasn't too sure about 8 books getting compressed into one movie. I liked the action sequences and the casting choices for Walter and Roland. Wasn't too thrilled that Jake was the central focus of the movie, however.