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

[Aussie Willy]

I watched Frankenstein on the weekend with a friend who hated it. I thought it was okay. The costuming and production design was pretty amazing.

My favourite Frankenstein movie is Young Frankenstein .

 

[ilovepaydays]

Meanwhile, over at A24, this satire marking campaign meeting for Marty Supreme happened……

 

[ilovepaydays]

Last weekend, I got to see an early showing of Hamnet. Being that it doesn't open in the U.S. until next week, I will put my review in spoiler.

Are you a Shakespeare fanatic? A fan of Chloe Zhao's films? Do you love watching Jessie Buckley and/or Paul Mescal? Do you mind getting at least teary while watching a film? Then you will want to see this!

Spoiler: My Review of Hamnet

My overall score for Hamnet is 9.4/10. This is my pick (unless Marty Supreme is INSANELY better) for Best Picture. And I think OBAA, as beautifully shot and put together as it was, could have some problems because it's lost so much money. Typically, Academy voters don't like to vote for box office bombs.

Hamnet is the story of William (Paul Mescal) and Anne/Agnes (Jessie Buckley) Shakespeare and their courtship, marriage, and how the death of their son Hamnet led William to create his greatest tragedy, Hamlet.

What's GREAT:
1) Jessie Buckley. This is her Oscar to lose. I don't see anyone else coming close to her performance.
2) Paul Mescal. He's definitely getting nominated for Best Supporting Actor. But can he beat Sean Penn (OBAA) and Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)? I don't know.
3) Direction and Cinematography. Zhao did a superb job here and the film looked incredible from start to finish.
4) Screenplay (Chloe Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell). The dialogue used throughout the film is probably the best I've seen this year.
5) The score (Max Richter) throughout this film is top-notch.
6) Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet) probably had the best child performance I've seen in years.
7) The film shows the first performance of Hamlet. Hamlet was shown perfectly - which I think was absolutely required for this entire story to work.
8) There were quite a few people who were teary/crying as they left the theater.

What's MEH:
1) This film includes dealing with the horrific illness, death, and grief of a young child. If that is something that bothers you, I highly suggest skipping this and selecting a different film.
2) This film is based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. O'Farrell connected Hamnet's death to Shakespeare creating his legendary tragedy, Hamlet. However, there's not 100% definitive proof that links Hamnet with Hamlet. I could see that making viewers irate if/when they find that out.

 

[vgerdes]

My favourite Frankenstein movie is Young Frankenstein .

The entire cast was perfect. Mel Brooks' humor at its peak.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Last weekend, I got to see an early showing of Hamnet. Being that it doesn't open in the U.S. until next week, I will put my review in spoiler.

Are you a Shakespeare fanatic? A fan of Chloe Zhao's films? Do you love watching Jessie Buckley and/or Paul Mescal? Do you mind getting at least teary while watching a film? Then you will want to see this!

Spoiler: My Review of Hamnet

My overall score for Hamnet is 9.4/10. This is my pick (unless Marty Supreme is INSANELY better) for Best Picture. And I think OBAA, as beautifully shot and put together as it was, could have some problems because it's lost so much money. Typically, Academy voters don't like to vote for box office bombs.

Hamnet is the story of William (Paul Mescal) and Anne/Agnes (Jessie Buckley) Shakespeare and their courtship, marriage, and how the death of their son Hamnet led William to create his greatest tragedy, Hamlet.

What's GREAT:
1) Jessie Buckley. This is her Oscar to lose. I don't see anyone else coming close to her performance.
2) Paul Mescal. He's definitely getting nominated for Best Supporting Actor. But can he beat Sean Penn (OBAA) and Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)? I don't know.
3) Direction and Cinematography. Zhao did a superb job here and the film looked incredible from start to finish.
4) Screenplay (Chloe Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell). The dialogue used throughout the film is probably the best I've seen this year.
5) The score (Max Richter) throughout this film is top-notch.
6) Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet) probably had the best child performance I've seen in years.
7) The film shows the first performance of Hamlet. Hamlet was shown perfectly - which I think was absolutely required for this entire story to work.
8) There were quite a few people who were teary/crying as they left the theater.

What's MEH:
1) This film includes dealing with the horrific illness, death, and grief of a young child. If that is something that bothers you, I highly suggest skipping this and selecting a different film.
2) This film is based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. O'Farrell connected Hamnet's death to Shakespeare creating his legendary tragedy, Hamlet. However, there's not 100% definitive proof that links Hamnet with Hamlet. I could see that making viewers irate if/when they find that out.

Thanks for the review. I hadn't heard of it but I am interested.

Did you see All is True? The Branagh film about Shakespeare. Branagh is so hit and miss in his characters and this one was more miss than hit. But his version of Hamlet was amazing.

And speaking of Shakespeare, last night my sewing group watched Luhrmann's R&J. I think it is one of the best modern film adaptations of a Shakespeare. Even though it is nearly 30 years old it still stands up so well and appears fresh and modern. And the use of the Shakespearean language feels totally believable for the context of the movie. Plus I loved his creation of tension and then release (like the moment Romeo meets Juliet). Also amazing soundtrack too.

 

[ilovepaydays]

I just got home from watching a double feature, including Wicked: For Good. Being that we are still in its opening weekend, I will put this review in spoiler.

Did you love the first Wicked film last year? Then you will probably enjoy this. But if you were just MEH last year, you can probably pass on this until it goes to streaming.

Spoiler: My Review of Wicked: For Good

My overall rating for this film is 7.5/10. My rating for the first Wicked film last year was 8.4/10. This film is the second act of the 2003 musical. There are two new songs in this film that aren't in the musical - "No Place Like Home" and "The Girl in the Bubble".

What's good:
1) Like the first film, Cynthia Erivo basically made this second film come together.
2) Costumes. Paul Tazewell is winning a second Oscar. He won last year and some might not like it if he wins two Oscars for essentially one project. But IMHO, he was robbed for not winning for West Side Story (Really? Cruella? ), so he should have two Oscars anyway.
3) Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande did a very good job and will probably get nominated during awards season. Should they actually win? NAH.
4) The production design was excellent. I'm not sure if this will also win the Oscar for Production Design, though.

What's MEH/bad:
1) I am now beyond convinced that this REALLY should have been one film. The pacing of this film just......dragged.
2) The slapping/dueling/fighting sequence between Glinda and Elphaba was just too ridiculous to watch.
3) I felt like the story still.......didn't....really.....end. So, Fiyero was turned into a scarecrow (which they didn't bother to show that?) and he and Elphaba just ended up walking away from Oz through the desert? And Glinda is just looking out while the Grimmerie lights up for her? And that's it?!

 

[ilovepaydays]

I also watched The Running Man today in theaters. My overall rating: 7.0/10. If you dystopian action films with a lot of gore, you'll enjoy this. But the plot in the first thirty minutes felt a bit empty even though it got a bit better afterwards. And a movie can't be overall bad when Coleman Domingo and William H. Macy are in it.

Rant: Are they desperate to find the next Tom Cruise or Matt Damon to make $$$$$ action films? Because Glen Powell can't carry a film like this. He just can't. I think he was miscast in this - they should have gone with someone like a Sebastian Stan. I'm not sure who else would have been better for a role like this, but that's one suggestion.

 

[Jay42]

I also watched The Running Man today in theaters. My overall rating: 7.0/10. If you like dystopian action film with a lot of gore, you'll enjoy this. But the plot in the first thirty minutes felt a bit empty even though it got a bit better afterwards. And a movie can't be overall bad when Coleman Domingo and William H. Macy are in it.

Rant: Are they desperate to find the next Tom Cruise or Matt Damon to make $$$$$ action films? Because Glen Powell can't carry a film like this. He just can't. I think he was miscast in this - they should have gone with someone like a Sebastian Stan. I'm not sure who else would have been better for a role like this, but that's one suggestion.

I had two problems with The Running Man, first off it felt more like a regular action movie than an Edgar Wright movie. I'll admit I still haven't watch Last Night in Soho (he's not a very consistent writer for women so I keep putting it off), but I've seen everything else outside of the home movie he directed when he was like 18, he's got a style that usually lends itself well to these kinds of movies (see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World more comic bookey sure, but it still makes sense in showing his style as a closer comparison to The Running Man than his other work) and this just... didn't have that.

My second issue is that this movie really has a lot of relevance to now and it just doesn't go anywhere with it. They could have actually said something but instead what we got was honestly a pretty toothless action movie where the most interesting characters were the supporting ones and Glen Powell is just there to run around. It's telling that a lot of the momentum is sucked out of the movie after Michael Cera's part is finished and he's only in the movie for about 5 minutes.

 

[Vash01]

On my long flight I watched the movie The Forgiven. I sampled half a dozen movies before I settled on this. The main reason was Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain.

The acting was superb, particularly Fiennes. The cinematography and sets were wonderful. The story of conflicting cultures was interesting but I felt that it was not the right movie to see on a flight. It was too intense for me.

I was shocked by the ending. I didn’t see it coming.

I felt that it was a good movie that had the potential to be excellent. I wish I had seen it in a movie theatre or at least on a large tv screen.

I was very surprised by its low rating 6.0 on IMDB. It was more like a 7-7.5 movie.

I read that it’s based on a novel. Not sure if I want to read the novel but I would like to see it again in a ‘normal’ environment.

The passenger next to me was watching two Brigette Jones movies and had fallen asleep while watching Love Actually. I hated BJ movies so I would never try to entertain myself with those. The choices of movies were very limited. I tried Superman and left it after 5 minutes. I may not mind it in a movie theater.

I rarely enjoy watching movies during flights. I did enjoy the movie about Stephen (Steven?) Hawking but that was long ago.

 

[made_in_canada]

I just got home from watching a double feature, including Wicked: For Good. Being that we are still in its opening weekend, I will put this review in spoiler.

Did you love the first Wicked film last year? Then you will probably enjoy this. But if you were just MEH last year, you can probably pass on this until it goes to streaming.

Spoiler: My Review of Wicked: For Good

My overall rating for this film is 7.5/10. My rating for the first Wicked film last year was 8.4/10. This film is the second act of the 2003 musical. There are two new songs in this film that aren't in the musical - "No Place Like Home" and "The Girl in the Bubble".

What's good:
1) Like the first film, Cynthia Erivo basically made this second film come together.
2) Costumes. Paul Tazewell is winning a second Oscar. He won last year and some might not like it if he wins two Oscars for essentially one project. But IMHO, he was robbed for not winning for West Side Story (Really? Cruella? ), so he should have two Oscars anyway.
3) Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande did a very good job and will probably get nominated during awards season. Should they actually win? NAH.
4) The production design was excellent. I'm not sure if this will also win the Oscar for Production Design, though.

What's MEH/bad:
1) I am now beyond convinced that this REALLY should have been one film. The pacing of this film just......dragged.
2) The slapping/dueling/fighting sequence between Glinda and Elphaba was just too ridiculous to watch.
3) I felt like the story still.......didn't....really.....end. So, Fiyero was turned into a scarecrow (which they didn't bother to show that?) and he and Elphaba just ended up walking away from Oz through the desert? And Glinda is just looking out while the Grimmerie lights up for her? And that's it?!

How is it on the scary front? Comparable with the first one? Mini mic wants to see it at the theatres but I’m worried it’ll be a bit much, she’s only 6. The flying monkeys in the first one scared her a bit.

 

[ilovepaydays]

How is it on the scary front? Comparable with the first one? Mini mic wants to see it at the theatres but I’m worried it’ll be a bit much, she’s only 6. The flying monkeys in the first one scared her a bit.

I would say the scariness in the visuals is about the same. But the overall story is a bit darker, which I guess is also the case with the second act of the stage musical (which I haven’t seen).