What recent films have you seen?

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mrsl
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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.
Lomm:

A car is considered an antique after 25 years, so why shouldn't a movie of 25 to 30 years be considered old? . . . Right?
Anne


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Lomm
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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I saw Furious 7 last night, just my second trip to the cinema this year. I'll be there a lot more as the blockbuster season gets underway now. Anyway, I love this goofy, unbelievable, over the top action franchise. More of the same for me, with a poignant send-off of the late Paul Walker unabashedly written right into the film. It was very nice, and literally brought a tear to the eye. As the films have always been about family and emotional attachments between the characters, it did not seem as out of place as one might think is such a wild, violently explosive franchise.
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movieman1957
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Foxcatcher

It stars Steve Carrell as the eccentric and finally crazy John du Pont and his story (obsession) with sponsoring the US Olympic wrestling team and eventual murder of one of them.

Some time in the mid80's duPont asked wrestling brothers Mark and David Schultz to come to his estate and train and put together a team for the Olympics. The younger brother was a gold medalist and accepted the offer. The older brother, David, would not come - at first. du Pont becomes more and more involved not only with the team but eventually as mentor. Later David, after obligations fulfilled and for the right price comes to town. As du Pont begins to lose it he is more stern. He dismisses Mark and becomes upset enough with David that he finally and surprisingly murders him. (It's not a spoiler as it was big news at the time.)

This film was of some interest because it happened not far from the town where The Bride's cousin lives (with whom we watched it) and was huge news at the time.

The film, I found, tedious beyond words. It is 2 hours and 15 minutes of demonstration on minimalist acting by everyone involved. Long periods of staring are followed by long periods of little conversation with long pauses between them. The only reason we stayed with it was to see how they handled the post murder hold out by du Pont. The way the film handled proceeded to elicit cries of frustration from having sat through two hours of boredom and almost dismiss what at the time was a several weeks siege between du Pont and the local police. In the film it is handled in a manner of moments and gives no sense of the drama that was to have gone on in real life.

Apparently, du Pont took to his home and held off the police in the form of having a military tank like vehicle that had a gun mounted on it. They waited for weeks for him to give up. There may not have been a shot fired but the film gives no sense of it at all. Finally, the local police had the power cut off and when he came out of the house to check on it they captured him.

Though loved by some critics and getting several best actor nominations I found almost nothing that good about it. Even not really knowing the history of the story seeing it was just a long and painful journey. If not for the hope of some sort of improvement near the end would have left it long before the end.

For those of us watching the movie would have been helped if they had spent less time on the wrestling and more time on the post murder siege.

All in all a complete waste for me.
Chris

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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Every time I saw previews for FOXCATCHER, I thought, "Um...OK." And? This is my reaction to most modern movies. I'm sure many of them are good. Some are probably great. They just don't inspire me to spend two hours finding out! And the big Oscar winners. 10 Oscars! 20 Oscars! 600 Oscars! Yeah? Sorry. I'm just not interested!
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Just back from a showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron. As an unabashed comic book fan, I loved this movie. It really felt like watching the comics I grew up reading come to life, just as most of the Marvel Studios films have. The emphasis on heroism, on saving lives of innocents, marks a striking difference between this and the DC Man of Steel attempt at booting a comparable cinematic universe.
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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We saw Fast and Furious 7 last week and really enjoyed it. We've only seen F&F 5 all the way through and only the middle and end of F&F 6, but we had no problem following the back story. The filmmakers did a really good job of handling actor Paul Walker's death in a moving tribute at the end of the film. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson are great fun and definitely know their wheel house appeal. Was not expecting to see Kurt Russell subbing for Johnson in the middle of the film so that was a nifty surprise. And the door was left for Russell to return in another film. Great action scenes and the movie wears its heart on its sleeve for all to see.

On Friday night we saw Woman in Gold starring the always wonderful Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds is cast very much against type in this legal drama and rises to the occasion quite well. Mirren is her always wonderful self as Maria Altmann who takes on the Austrian government in an effort to regain what was stolen from her family during WWII. Katie Holmes provides support as Reynolds wife but the film is mainly about the relationship between Mirren and Reynolds and Mirren's relationship to the Klimt painting of the title. The transitions from past to modern day are seamless and the film doesn't get bogged down in legal mumbo jumbo. Well worth seeing.
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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If you love George Miller films, are a fan of the Mad Max films and/or think Road Warrior is the best of the trilogy or just love action adventure films, RUN, don't walk, to get in line for Mad Max: Fury Road.

Saw this film the other night at a pre-release studio screening and fell in love with it.

George Miller last directed an action adventure film 35 years ago with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome but at 70 years old, Miller schools today's young turks (who think CGI and superheroes are the end all be all) in not only how to make a film but one with a minimum of CGI, incredible cinematography, amazing stunts, a terrific cast that includes Elvis Presley's grand-daughter as well as Lenny Kravitz's daughter and story that shows an amazing depth and heart at its very human center.

Tom Hardy slips into Mel Gibson's muddy boots and never looks back. The story is set in the years since Thunderdome and Max is still haunted by those closest to him that he could not save and those he barely knew that he could not save (his young son seems to have been replaced by a daughter if I am remembering my Max history correctly). Charlize Theron matches him every step of the way as Furiosa, the woman on a mission that in the old days would have seen a man playing her character.

There are shout-outs to John Ford, Budd Boetticher and others.

I don't want to give spoilers because this film needs to just be experienced.

Trust me when I say, there is nothing like it on the big screens of cinema today.

Stop reading this and go see it. NOW!!!!
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moira finnie
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

Post by moira finnie »

Someone I know saw the Mad Max reboot too. He had to go home and be quiet for a long time afterwards, in part because he needed to chill after all the action! I guess because it was so intensely entertaining. Not sure it's for me (having seen one too many dystopian views of the future in my time) though the reviews seem to indicate it is a very good remake.

I'd love to see the Klimt film with Helen Mirren. It's fun to read each of the descriptions of contemporary films seen through SSO members' eyes. Thanks for posting each critique, guys.
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Not sure it's for me (having seen one too many dystopian views of the future in my time)
Moira,

That's actually one of the best things about the film. After having helped establish the dystopian view of the future in the original Max trilogy, Miller kicks it up a very big notch and seems to be saying to every director who has followed him making the future even more grim and more washed out in an effort to out-Max him that they missed the whole point of what he was telling them.

The film is awash in vivid color compared to usual washed out, grim landscapes and the characters are nothing like the morose characters who seem to populate way too many of those films.

I can understand why your friend needed to chill after seeing it. It is an incredibly tense ride.

But one well worth taking.
Lynn in Lake Balboa

"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."

"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese

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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Lomm wrote:Just back from a showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron. As an unabashed comic book fan, I loved this movie. It really felt like watching the comics I grew up reading come to life, just as most of the Marvel Studios films have. The emphasis on heroism, on saving lives of innocents, marks a striking difference between this and the DC Man of Steel attempt at booting a comparable cinematic universe.

I saw this movie the Avengers: Age of Ultron three times already and it's the best MARVEL movie bar none. What you said Lomm right here rings true.
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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I went to Mad Max this past weekend as well and agree with the above posts. It's a wild ride but well worth it.
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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Silly and entertaining fluff is how I'd describe "The Kingsmen." Colin Firth plays a spy in the most secret sense of the word where he recruits the son of former colleague killed on a mission years before. Their job is to stop madman Samuel L. Jackson from culling a significant number of people to help stop global warming.

Some of it is stiff upper lip proper English behavior mixed wit high tech gadgets and high tech stylized action scenes.

Often entertaining and sometimes quite violent it becomes the comic book ending that it apparently is based on. At that point it becomes a little too much for my taste. However, if comic book stylings are your forte have at it.

It does have a good sense of humor scattered about. That part I liked the best.
Chris

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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Draft Day stars Kevin Costner as the GM for the lowly Cleveland Browns and what he has to do with the upcoming draft. For the topic it covers it is a pretty good film. I have no idea how it would play to anyone who isn't a football fan. There is some humor along with the drama of getting the best man he can get for his team. A little family drama goes on just to remind us that these people are human too.

Costner and Jennifer Garner are fine. I am too fond of Dennis Leary as the coach but I'm not to fond of Leary anyway. It's a pretty smart film.

I also saw "The Equalizer" recently. Lynn wrote about it last fall and I'll gently disagree about her thought of any similarity to the series. Other than the basic premise of a man with special talents helping people who can't help themselves I thought very little of it was the same. Denzel Washington is pretty good in the part. He has a history but no one really knows anything about him. He is an insomniac with a subtle but obvious OCD component.

He takes on helping a young prostitute who is being treated too roughly and finds he is dealing with a Russian organization that means business. Plenty of good if a little improbable action is scatter about with a pretty interesting climax in a Home Depot like store. There is plenty to like but I am more inclined to think to check your memories of the series before you sit down.
Chris

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Re: What recent films have you seen?

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Chris,

Totally agree with you on Kingsman! We knew very little about the film when we saw it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Samuel Jackson makes a great bad guy in this one.

Loved the humor and thought the scientist in the beginning was the actor who played Mad-Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. Didn't recognize Mark Hamill at all!

Really look forward to the sequel!
Lynn in Lake Balboa

"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."

"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese

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