What movies in theaterical release have you seen and recommend?

alisonb said:
The Upside is a remake of the Intouchables not a ripoff of it....

What’s the difference between a remake and a ripoff? The French seemed to be aggrieved (if you can believe internet comments). I haven’t seen either, waiting for the release in January but would’ve been happy to see the original. 

Movie and TV history is filled with rip-offs. Nothing new. Several years back everyone was telling me to go see Woody Allen’s “Match Point”. Afterward  I told them that it was nothing but “A Place in the Sun”. If u live long enough and see enough movies this will happen quite often. And Woody did not do so much as offer a speckle of credit to the original film ( which may have itself been a remake).

It's a little harsh calling them rip-offs. People re-do movies all the time - whether explicitly or as homages. Nothing wrong with that. Calling them rip-offs implies dishonesty on the part of the film-maker. Why do you think that?

drummerboy said:
It's a little harsh calling them rip-offs. People re-do movies all the time - whether explicitly or as homages. Nothing wrong with that. Calling them rip-offs implies dishonesty on the part of the film-maker. Why do you think that?

 I guess if one might think that the creators of the original piece deserve some compensation...

Holmes and Watson is taking quite a critical drubbing.   The trailer was reasonably enticing (for an obviously goofy bromance kind of comedy).

Loved Green Book  

Liked The Old Man and the Gun 

Liked Holmes and Watson

Loved Vice

Liked Spiderman into the Spider-verse

Hated Aquaman (is it over yet)?

Liked The Favourite.

Oh and really liked Bohemian Rhapsody.   Mostly because I was at Live Aid and saw that performance.

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

drummerboy said:
It's a little harsh calling them rip-offs. People re-do movies all the time - whether explicitly or as homages. Nothing wrong with that. Calling them rip-offs implies dishonesty on the part of the film-maker. Why do you think that?

 I guess if one might think that the creators of the original piece deserve some compensation...

 I don't think sources of inspiration require compensation. But in the case of a quite deliberate remake of, let's say, a foreign film into English, which is what started this thread tangent, I'm sure those required to be compensated are.

Compensation is nice but so is public acknowledgment. What’s the story on intellectual property?

I liked The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Recommended.

eta: oops. not a theatrical release. Netflix.

drummerboy said:
I liked The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Recommended.


eta: oops. not a theatrical release. Netflix.

Actually, both. Some Netflix movies have a limited theatrical release as well so they are eligible for Oscars and/or because the producers and director want it to be seen on the big screen. This was one of those.

I liked the Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and Zoe Kazan chapters, really disliked the first one.

I thought that was Liam Neeson. I liked the first chapter - nice and goofy. I didn't care for the last chapter much, but the rest was top notch.

I liked the first one the best.  I thought it was hysterical.

sbenois said:
I liked the first one the best.  I thought it was hysterical.

 The "suicide" of the gunman in the saloon was particularly inspired.

I saw Vice tonight. Loved it.

Saw The Mule today.  Loved it.  

I saw The Favourite last week. Hated it.

I saw It’s Spinach, and I say the hell with it.

angelak said:
I saw Vice tonight. Loved it.

 I saw it today.  Great!   

I saw The Mule this week and I was prepared to dislike it. Clint Eastwood, the Republican chair talker and all. But I found it charming and fun if a bit silly. He created a fascinating character and embodied it fully. Of course no one does grizzled like Eastwood and this was grizzle to the max. The opening scenes of the character in "better times," in a seersucker suit, were eye-popping because who ever sees Eastwood as a charming, smiling, flirting bloke?  The film could have been much grittier, with the drug cartels and violence, etc., but it was a bit light-hearted with some funny moments. Overall I liked it a lot.

LOVED The Green Book.   The performance between Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen was breathtaking to watch.  Such tension deep under the surface.  BRILLIANT.

Shoplifters

It may be only at The Claridge in Montclair

NY Times has given its annual list of films which should be nominated for Oscars, and both critics recommended Happy as Lazzaro, which I hadn't heard much about. Written and directed by Alice Rohrbacher. Highly recommend, now on Netflix.

last night I saw “Can You Ever Forgive Me” with Melissa McCarthy and Richard T. Grant. 

I loved it. I think it’s her best movie yet. And I’ve loved RTG since “Withnail and I” which i recently learn d was his first film. 

What a great movie. 

I loved it as well. 

I saw a Lebanese drama called Caperneum that was sad, stunning and eye-opening. It stars a 12-year old boy whose performance is absolutely miraculous. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes festival. I saw it in the city at Film Forum. It's worth a trip to the city.

Also saw ARCTIC about a guy whose cargo plane crashes in the Arctic and he spends the duration of the film trying to get back to safety. I liked it very much. It's a quiet, slow and somewhat realistic survival film.

Lastly, this weekend I saw What Men Want with Taraji P. Henson, the remake of the Mel Gibson epic. It was distracting, at best. I enjoyed the original film What Women Want with Gibson and Helen Hunt. I like Henson and think she can be very charismatic and funny. (She's no Tiffany Haddish, though. That woman kills me.)

Cold War and They Shall Not Grow Old, both playing at the Maplewood Theatre, are great films.  Cold War is a Polish movie, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, the director of the film masterpiece Ida, that features gorgeous, award-winning black and white cinematography.  It's about a passionate love affair between two people coping with the dangers of the Polish Communist regime throughout the '50s and '60s.  They Shall Not Grow Old is an amazing documentary, directed by Peter Jackson, which is composed of silent film footage from WWI, to which he added a soundtrack of actors voicing the soldiers' words as identified by lip readers.  He also carefully and artfully colorized the footage.  These aspects of the film, combined with voiceovers of interviews with WWI soldiers, convey one of the clearest depictions of what it was like on a WWI battlefield that I have ever seen.  

Elle_Cee said:
Cold War and They Shall Not Grow Old, both playing at the Maplewood Theatre, are great films.  Cold War is a Polish movie, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, the director of the film masterpiece Ida, features gorgeous, award-winning black and white cinematography.  It's about a passionate love affair between two people coping with the dangers of Polish Communist regime throughout '50s and '60s.  They Shall Not Grow Old is an amazing documentary, directed by Peter Jackson, which is composed of silent film footage from WWI, to which he added a sound track of actors voicing the soldiers' words as identified by lip readers.  He also carefully and artfully colorized the footage.  These aspects of the film, combined with voiceovers of interviews with WWI soldiers, provide one of the clearest depictions of what it was like on a WWI battlefield that I have ever seen.  

 I'd really like to see They Shall Not Grow Old. I thought it was in very limited release. I'll look for it this weekend.

I finally saw Vice this weekend. It's silly and flippant in parts but does a very good job of describing the lies and manipulation (poor Colin Powell - played here very nicely by Tyler Perry of all people) that led to Iraq, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and ISIS and the destabilization of the world. These were global crimes that should be memorialized and taught. Personal power was Cheney's blood and he destroyed so many people and institutions to get it. Not a perfect film but in the end, an important film and very much well worth seeing.

Christian Bale is absolutely terrific as Cheney. He catches the subtleties of this monster's demeanor perfectly.

Fun casting note: look for LisaGay Hamilton, an actress I've always liked from Men of A Certain Age, unrecognizable under makeup as Conoleeza Rice. Actually the makeup throughout is stunning.

angelak said:
I loved it as well. 

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:
last night I saw “Can You Ever Forgive Me” with Melissa McCarthy and Richard T. Grant. 
I loved it. I think it’s her best movie yet. And I’ve loved RTG since “Withnail and I” which i recently learn d was his first film. 
What a great movie. 

 A 3rd vote for this one. Great movie.