Let's Talk Movies #36 - 2020 - Yep it is a new decade

[Seerek]

For me, Bong Joon-Ho's best works are still Mother and Snowpiercer, but it's still good to see him finding a wider audience.

 

[cocotaffy]

For me, Bong Joon-Ho's best works are still Mother and Snowpiercer, but it's still good to see him finding a wider audience.

I personally loved Memories of murder, I found many similar qualities in Parasite, my two favorite of his so far. Okja is quite interesting too. I have yet to watch Mother though.

 

[Vash01]

I finally saw ‘1917’. It is stunning. It deserved all the awards it received.

 

[Vash01]

I saw Just Mercy today. Very good. Jamie Foxx was very good in the role of the unjustly convicted black man. He was nominated for SAG but not for the Oscar for a Supporting actor? Michael B. (?) Jordan was also very good but there was too much competition for best actor nomination.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. I enjoyed it. It certainly didn't pan out the way I expected but I didn't know much about the story.

 

[Vash01]

Finally saw Joker today. Joaquin (sp?) Phoenix is simply brilliant. If any other actor wins the best lad actor Oscar this year, it will be a wuzrobbed. The movie had the violence that I had read about but it was palatable because it was in line with the character of the story. With some other movies I hate the gratuitous violence that is not needed.

 

[mrr50]

I finally saw ‘1917’. It is stunning. It deserved all the awards it received.

Just saw 1917 and it is everything all others have written.

 

[VGThuy]

Finally saw Joker today. Joaquin (sp?) Phoenix is simply brilliant. If any other actor wins the best lad actor Oscar this year, it will be a wuzrobbed. The movie had the violence that I had read about but it was palatable because it was in line with the character of the story. With some other movies I hate the gratuitous violence that is not needed.

I honestly think Antonio Banderas deserves it after watching both performances.

 

[Vash01]

I honestly think Antonio Banderas deserves it after watching both performances.

I saw both and my vote goes to Phoenix.

 

[Vash01]

I saw the Oscar nominated animated films. Last year I had really enjoyed them. Not so this year. Many of them were snooze worthy. They showed eight total. The only one I really liked was ‘Sister’ which is Chinese. The Czech republic’s ‘Daughter’ was rather awful, with characters with unevenly painted faces and totally confusing. The last one ‘Maestro’ was cute but too short. The bird and the whale had beautiful paintings, that’s all. The movie about jump starting a plane was interesting but I didn’t get the point of it. ‘Hair love’ was boring but had a touching ending. I May have fallen asleep during the Irish movie - can’t remember it’s title. It may have been the one with the Matterhorn, with two climbers and one man being pulled by them. It was the most ridiculous movie. Are the animations getting too creative?

It is hard to tell which one will win,but my vote goes to ‘Sister’. It was simple, direct, and touching.

Tomorrow I plan on seeing Oscar nominated Live Action Short films. Last year I had enjoyed all except the one that won the Oscar. I have lowered my expectations now.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I saw both and my vote goes to Phoenix.

I have seen both. I liked Pain and Glory personally more than Joker. But I do have to give it Phoenix on the acting front. He was pretty incredible.

I did love seeing Banderas in a Spanish movie again.

 

[annie720]

Saw Marriage Story last night. Thought the screenplay was weak but the performances were very good.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Saw 1917 on Friday night. GREAT movie - especially in how it the showed the emotion and the visuals of the war. I think it deserves to win the Best Picture Oscar - and I’ve also seen Irishman, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Ford v Ferrari.

The only other Oscar Best Picture movie I want to see is Parasite. Apparently, it’s quite good. Not a fan of seeing Little Women or Jojo Rabbit.

 

[Vash01]

Saw the Oscar nominated live action shorts today. Most of them were good. My ranking is as follows-

1. Saria (about an orphanage in Guatemala. Chilling)

2. A Sister ( my favorite- suspenseful)

3. Brotherhood (another chilling movie, but too much blood for me)

4. Neighbor’s window

4. (Tie) N... Football club (about two kids and a donkey)

Some humor in the last two.

I think Saria will win the Oscar.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Saw the Iscar nominated live action shirts today. Most of them were good. My ranking is as follows-

1. Saria (about an orphanage in Guatemala. Chilling)

2. A Sister ( my favorite- suspenseful)

3. Brotherhood (another chilling movie, but too much blood for me)

4. Neighbor’s window

4. (Tie) N... Football club (about two kids and a donkey)

Some humor in the last two.

I think Saria will win the Oscar.

Where are you watching these?

 

[ilovepaydays]

Where are you watching these?

Not sure about Vash, but AMC theatres usually does a showcase of the Oscar nominated short films. They also do a couple of marathons of the Best Picture nominees (in case you ever want to sit in a theatre for 8-10 straight hours).

 

[Aussie Willy]

I was hoping they would be streamed online somewhere.

 

[Vash01]

Where are you watching these?

At the AMC theatres that are about 5 miles from my new residence (1 mile from my previous residence). Last year I had to go to Harkins theatres in Scottsdale to watch these. So happy they are so convenient this year.

ETA- I noticed a couple of typos in my original post. I have corrected those.

For the nominated short documentary category I Will need to go to Scottsdale.

I am waiting for the documentary features. I have not seen any Of these.

I have seen just two foreign language nominated films this year. ‘Parasite’ and ‘Pain and glory ‘

 

[Vash01]

Has anyone seen Song of Names? It sounds interesting but it has poor reviews. I may still see it.

 

[Seerek]

Saw Marriage Story last night. Thought the screenplay was weak but the performances were very good.

That's the thing - this was somewhat of a missed opportunity in terms of Marriage Story's overall impression. You have some effective individual scenes which in isolation would approach "master class" scene study, and Ray Liotta and Alan Alda are underrated in their contributions (imo).

An unrelated comment:

I still think Greta Gerwig's not getting enough credit for how she was able to re-shape the narrative structure of Little Women to give a gentle nod to how things have changed/not changed in 2020.

 

[VGThuy]

I also now think that it’s not a coincidence that Noah Baumbach’s best movie, IMO, had Gerwig heavily involved as writer/lead actress.

 

[Vash01]

TBH I didn’t feel that Little women and Gerwig’s earlier movie with Ronan (Lady Bird?) were that great. They were kind of good but not really great. Of course it will be good to see more women win the Oscars, but sadly the number of women directors is too small. Statistics go against them.

I don’t feel that Gerwig was that great as Director. Sure we see undeserving men get it sometime, but most of them are deserving and many who are deserving get left out.

 

[VGThuy]

I disagree as do many critics including some of the top critics who named her the best director of the year. It’s all subjective but I think people feel she was snubbed are in good company.

Regarding Lady Bird, I agree with this write up explaining Gerwig’s masterful directing:

‘Lady Bird’: Why Greta Gerwig Deserves a Nomination, and Our Masculine Conception of Good Directing

Why Greta Gerwig Deserves a Nomination, and Our Masculine Conception of Good Directing.

www.indiewire.com

And yet, for those who believe in the concept of auteurs and that the best films are ones in which we can feel the personal vision and personality of the filmmaker in every frame, “Lady Bird” is elevated far above other enjoyable coming-of-age stories because it is clearly comes from a distinct voice. That the film’s rhythms and personality fit so nicely with Gerwig’s unique screen presence as an actress only strengthens this sense of a handcrafted film and the arrival of a fully formed, mature filmmaker.

Take the film’s opening: Driving home from visiting colleges, Lady Bird (Ronan) and her mother (Metcalf) share a cry at the conclusion of their book on tape, “The Grapes of Wrath.” Ronan’s “I wish I could live through something” line prompts an epic, but we assume common, mother-daughter fight — introducing the family’s financial situation and Lady Bird’s desire to go to school in New York — and it concludes with her jumping out of the moving car while her mother screams in horror behind the steering wheel. Cut to Lady Bird in her school’s chapel with a cast on her arm. An upbeat, but intentionally ordinary and toned-down track from composer Jon Brion fills the soundtrack.

The order of events is something that might make sense in a Pedro Almodovar or Wes Anderson film, yet Gerwig’s filmmaking possesses none of Almodovar’s stylized zaniness or Anderson’s diorama artifice. She plays it straight. Gerwig juxtaposes moments like this throughout the film, certainly sometimes for a laugh, but never with hint of irony or remove. Over the Brion track, what follows is a deceptively breezy montage that, in just a few minutes, amusingly introduces us to over a dozen significant characters and another 15 relationships. This accomplishment from an exposition standpoint is mind boggling, but it is thoroughly entertaining and more importantly visually introduces us to major conflicts — the cause of unspoken tension with her best friend, Lady Bird’s uneasy relationship with religion, and many more — that resonate and deepen as the film unspools.

This is Howard Hawks-level work. Gerwig is driving 200mph around hairpin turns, humming a song and making it look and feel like a stroll in the park. “Lady Bird” is every inch as painstakingly planned out and precise in its complexity as “Dunkirk,” but without an inch of the directorial flex. To say this is mostly Gerwig’s incredible script is to ignore the tradition — from Billy Wilder to Noah Baumbach — of directors who constantly rewrite until they find unique ways to balance dramatic truth and comedy. For them, the script is like sheet music for the song playing in their head, which are tuned so every note is perfected before being taken to collaborators who must be conducted to play the same piece of music.

The article also talks about Hollywood, the Academy, and even film schools and film audiences’ conditioning to recognize certain things as “good” directing aka more masculine styles.

I explained in an earlier movie thread why I was utterly in awe of Gerwig’s handling of Little Women, the way she took a story that was told on film three previous times (not counting all the TV movies) and took a straightforward book with a very straightforward timeline and turned it into an essay and commentary on the book, the author, and women in 2019-2020s while still being able to tell the story mostly straight. Her editing skills and the way she had such a handle on the material really was awe-inspiring. She drove that movie and made the original material alive and fresh despite everything working against it (not the book but the fact that it is 2019-2020 and there were already beloved previous adaptations with all of us having some nostalgic attachment and others being fatigued of the material).

 

[Vash01]

Saw Ford v Ferrari yesterday. Very well made, although at times the car racing got to me - speed in particular. The engineering part was interesting though I didn’t understand all of it.

Christian Bale is a fantastic actor. I say that every time I see him in a movie. He should have received the Best actor Oscar nomination. I didn’t know the story of Ken Miles because I am not into car racing. Surprising ending.

 

[Buzz]

Saw Bad Boys for Life today and really enjoyed it. It did feel slow at times but at least it does not have “the force” fixing everything.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Saw Ford v Ferrari yesterday. Very well made, although at times the car racing got to me - speed in particular. The engineering part was interesting though I didn’t understand all of it.

Christian Bale is a fantastic actor. I say that every time I see him in a movie. He should have received the Best actor Oscar nomination. I didn’t know the story of Ken Miles because I am not into car racing. Surprising ending.

I agree about Christian Bale. He is one of the best and most interesting actors of these times. If he is in it I will be interested in seeing it.

 

[Integrity]

I haven't watched all of The Irishman. But a problem I had with it was that when they made De Niro character younger in appearance, his body in terms of look and movement looked like a guy in his 70s. Make up and CGI doesn't cover up that stuff.

I'm slowly making my way through The Irishman. I agree with you, and those blue contact lenses are not helping matters.

 

[Vash01]

I'm slowly making my way through The Irishman. I agree with you, and those blue contact lenses are not helping matters.

I plan to see it tomorrow and I am dreading it- sitting in a theatre for 3.5 hours is too much.

 

[Vash01]

I saw the Oscar nominated short documentaries today. All were very well made. I don’t remember the title of every film but I associated them with the country they are about.

My top 2 are almost a tie.

1.’Skateboarding in a war zone’- girls in Afghanistan learning to skateboard and go to school. They called this Skateistan. The girls were adorable. While they were afraid of the Taliban, they focused on getting education and learn skateboarding. Some heroic characters- their teachers.

2. ‘In the absence’- About the Korean boat disaster in April 2014 where many school age kids were killed. It shows the incompetence of the Korean authorities and surprisingly, their court decided that their president must be removed from the office for misuse of power. I wish we had that kind of system. Very powerful film. Good enough to win.

3. ‘Life overtakes me’ -About refugee kids who were so traumatized in their own countries that they went into a coma like condition. Sweden is resisting giving asylum to refugees. Many families from the former USSR feared for their lives and ran to Sweden but as shown in this documentary only one of three families of such kids was granted asylum. Other cases are pending.

4. ‘Walk run Cha Cha’- Refugees from Vietnam who have settled in the USA decades ago, have made a life for themselves while preserving their culture. An older couple (may be 50s or 60s) learned to dance and perform. Their love for each other is shown in their performance to ‘We’ve only just begun’ to close out.

5. ‘St. Louis Superman’- Former House Rep Frank Bruce in Missouri, whose brother (Chris Harris) was killed by gun violence at age 9, introduced and passed a bill to protect young people. He resigned due to his health problems. There is a lot of ‘Black lives matter’.

 

[Vash01]

I didn’t go to see The Irishman after all because I am not feeling well today. Hope to feel well enough to see Marriage Story tomorrow. If I have enough energy I may see Harriet too. One of the discount theatres is showing these. Still no sign of Two Popes. Not sure if I can stream it on Netflix. I may skip the Irishman.