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billyweeds
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:10 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Syd wrote:
Had a difficult viewing of "Promising Young Woman," which was the first film I'd seen in a cinema for over a year, and it was advertised as a comedy which it is anything but. Maybe a black comedy, but really it's a revenge drama, and not a bad one. It's really hard to review, and I don't think it deserves any Oscars.


Disagree. Carey Mulligan is beyond brilliant, and gets my vote. The movie is also wonderful IMO. And, yes, not a comedy, though it plays like a romantic comedy much of the time. The chemistry between Mulligan and Bo Burnham is wonderful.
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Befade
Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:43 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
First film I saw in a theatre, too Syd. That made it even more thrilling. An unusual story and an unusual role for Carey Mulligan, one of my favorite actresses. But now that I’ve seen The United States vs. Billie Holiday I’m completely blown away by Andra Day. And no one outdoes Anthony Hopkins....I don’t think Chadwick Boseman does. Ma Rainey was not a particularly wonderful movie. Repetitious yes.

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Befade
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:27 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
Bart.....I think you would like Nomadland for the scenes of South Dakota and Nebraska. It was a good movie for landscapes. They filmed in Quartzsite, AZ which is a town I’ve stopped in many times on my way to CA.

It will be a strange phenom if that movie wins an Oscar. It’s such an unusual and unfamiliar lifestyle with an older woman as a hero. I guess the premise is that such a woman can create a lifestyle for herself that is not dependent on family connections or comfort physically or financially and be happy. It’s difficult to find pleasure in looking at Francis McDormand’s face continuously. But that may be just me.....

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bartist
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:59 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Thanks, B. I posted on it a few weeks ago.


bartist wrote:
I found Nomadland fairly easy to relate to, having spent much of my life in the west, and meeting people with that nomadic spirit. Places on her circuit, like Scottsbluff NE, South Dakota badlands, Mendocino coast, all very familiar to me. Frances McD brings that air of melancholy, mixed with toughness and humor, that makes the film seem quite real. Hard for me not to think, at the end, that she should head back to "Dave" in Mendocino and his very welcoming extended family.


I liked the Buddhist perspective implicit in the film, that experiences matter more than things. And yet she's really attached to her camper, a reminder that our material things keep tugging at us, and represent an anchor in reality. And memory.

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Syd
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Over the Moon is one of the nominees for Best Animated film (which it won't win because Soul is sweeping the awards). This tells the story of Fei Fei, a Chinese girl whose mother tells her the story of the Moon Goddess Chang'e and her lost love, and when the mother dies and the father finds a new wife, Fei Fei can't accept and determines to build a rocket to take her and her pet rabbit to the Moon so she can meet the Moon Goddess (and the rabbit meet the Jade Rabbit). Her bratty new stepbrother is a stowaway. And, of course, she meet the Moon Goddess, who is selfish and vain, but things are more complicated and involves both their lost loves and a missing gift Fei Fei was supposed to bring. Apparently the Moon Goddess can create enough atmosphere so the three new arrivals and the Lunarian civilization can exist.

Often saccharine, and way too many forgettable songs, except for "Wonderful" and the lovely "Love Someone New" sung by Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) and Chang'e (Phillipa Soo, who has a beautiful voice, but unfortunately has to sing a disco number at one point). Sandra Oh is the new stepmother but doesn't get to sing.

This is a production of Netflix and Pearl (a Chinese joint venture with Dreamworks--in fact it used to be known as Oriental Dreamworks). It comes very close to being a very good film, and gets moving as you approach the end. I was in tears during "Love Someone New." Animation is often pretty and sometimes too cutesy.

The film is dedicated to Audrey Wells, who wrote the screenplay and died in 2018, so it took a couple of years to adapt her screenplay. Her best-known screenplay is probably The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She also wrote and directed Under the Tuscan Sun.

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Ghulam
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:31 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY
While "Another Round" from Denmark was a good movie, I do not know how they could have given the Foreign Film Oscar to any movie other than the Bosnian "Quo Vadis, Aida". And I thought the documentary "My Octopus Teacher" was a fraud perpetrated on us. The only worthwhile documentary was, IMO, "Time".
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Syd
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:15 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
You underestimate the pedalogical abilities of cephalopods. Otto Octavius got a PhD and was a respected lecturer, inventor and physicist before he turned into a supervillain.

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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament
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bartist
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:15 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I didn't watch, but there were reportedly some experimental features of the 93 rd Oscars.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/04/oscars-2021-experiment-review/618694/

Given the number of contenders that could only be accessed on streaming services we don't subscribe to, or in theaters here for one week and that week we missed, I'd say it will likely be another year before we've seen most of them.

Re My Octopus Teacher being "a fraud perpetrated on us, " I'm certain many suckers were involved.

Anthony H is now the oldest winner on record of the best actor award.

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:47 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Gotta keep tooting my own horn here. I'm the male lead in a movie called "Psycho Ape!" which is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It's kinda like "Airplane!" in that it makes fun of a lot of other movies, but the plot is modeled after "Halloween." A killer gorilla escapes from the Detroit Zoo, and I as the zookeeper am chasing him. The movie makes no logical sense, but it's sort of like John Waters meets the Marx Brothers. On IMDb it currently enjoys an average score of 9 out of 10. Not bad for a micro-budget movie with zero publicity. You can stream it on Amazon Prime Video for $1.99. The link is www.tinyurl.com/yy37v7fo

WARNING: there's a ton of obviously fake blood. The movie is about as scary as your typical Roadrunner cartoon.


Last edited by billyweeds on Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Befade
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:49 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
I tend to be anti Amazon. It’s just too big. So I’ve missed some of their movies. ($1.99 is a nice price though). I just saw that a local theater has the Judas movie and the Sound of Metal. Should I drive an hour to see them?

Bart, I really think Nomadland should have won cinematography. Wasn’t the landscape of this country the main character? The reason Fern didn’t want to be tied down?

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:12 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Befade wrote:
I tend to be anti Amazon. It’s just too big. So I’ve missed some of their movies. ($1.99 is a nice price though). I just saw that a local theater has the Judas movie and the Sound of Metal. Should I drive an hour to see them?

Bart, I really think Nomadland should have won cinematography. Wasn’t the landscape of this country the main character? The reason Fern didn’t want to be tied down?


I disliked "Mank" intensely but thought the cinematography win was justified. It had real style. "Nomadland" was a better movie, but not remotely as good as "Minari," which was hands down the best film of the year. (Aside from "Psycho Ape!") Smile
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bartist
Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 11:37 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Finally watched Uncut Gems. Firmly in category of "it's really well done and I don't want to watch this," so I bailed after the first half. I really couldn't stand the jeweler, especially the way he talked to people. Used people. His whole attitude to life, his family, mistress...found it maximally squirm-inducing. Sandler does a terrific acting job, will give him that.

When Kevin Garnett (how perfect is his name, in this movie?) leans on a glass case and breaks it, I thought "good for you, Kevin, now how about the guy's jaw next? "

Just imagine going into a shop, being treated like a gullible idiot, some schmuck following you around telling you he knows exactly what you want because he's like practically your bestest buddy ever in how he knows you so well.

I'll leave with this question: did anyone find his character in any way sympathetic?

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Befade
Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 3:14 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
This was a movie I started watching and left very early. I’m watching White Tiger now. I thought it was a thriller but no, it’s kind of goofy. Having been to India it’s more interesting to me. Alas.....it is devastating what’s happening there.

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gromit
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 2:26 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I thouroughly disliked Uncut Gems.
I thought the ending was incredibly stupid.
Don't think i liked one thing about the film.
Probably (negatively) reviewed it here at the time ...

Here was my main rant against the film.
And wasn't Sandler basically doing a sub-par Pacino impression throughout?
The characters, music and editing all rubbed me the wrong way.
And I thought the script was dumb as well.

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bartist
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 9:04 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Thanks, I found and reread your pearls of wisdom (ha!) on UG.

A couple posts above, Billy puts it on his Best Films list, so it's a mileage may vary experience for sure.

We were going to go see The Father, but we had a week when we misplaced several household items and had weathered several fairly ridiculous chats about where they could be, and search missions involving pawing through laundry and shining flashlights under furniture, so we opted to skip a dementia film. Ultimately we dumped all blame on the cats. We will have to be sure and keep cats around as we get older, for this purpose.

What's funny is our searches usually turn up some missing object, but rarely the one we were seeking.
"Hey, I found that battery compartment cover on the travel clock that went missing last year! "

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