All Things Movie/Documentary Reviews/Recommendations Thread

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BleedGopher said:
Last night we rented The Way Way Back, with Steve Carell. It's a "coming of age" type of movie, and a great departure for Carell compared to his traditional comedy roles he plays. It did well at the Film Festival's and if you liked Juno and those type of movies, you'll like The Way Way Back, although Juno was better. Go Gophers!!
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Loved that movie! Favorite of the year.
 

BleedGopher said:
Last night we rented The Way Way Back, with Steve Carell. It's a "coming of age" type of movie, and a great departure for Carell compared to his traditional comedy roles he plays. It did well at the Film Festival's and if you liked Juno and those type of movies, you'll like The Way Way Back, although Juno was better.

Go Gophers!!
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We just watched that one as well and both liked it. It was interesting to see Steve Carell in a different kind of roll.
 

BleedGopher said:
Last night we rented The Way Way Back, with Steve Carell. It's a "coming of age" type of movie, and a great departure for Carell compared to his traditional comedy roles he plays. It did well at the Film Festival's and if you liked Juno and those type of movies, you'll like The Way Way Back, although Juno was better.

Go Gophers!!
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I agree 100% with all of that.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I did see "Good Ol' Freda" when it was playing here at the Film Society. Very worth seeing, especially if you're a Beatles fan.

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That is the one I missed at the festival. Thanks for reminding me of it. I think the Beatles were fab.
 



Just watched "Good Ol'Freda". One of my favorite doc's related to the Beatles. Really well done.
 

We went to American Hustle for a New Year's Eve matinee. I almost fell asleep. Good, solid movie overall, but sincerely a boring movie until about halfway through. It doesn't deserve a tenth of the hype/accolades it's receiving. I'd say 6/10, maybe 7/10 if I'm being generous.
 

dpodoll68 said:
We went to American Hustle for a New Year's Eve matinee. I almost fell asleep. Good, solid movie overall, but sincerely a boring movie until about halfway through. It doesn't deserve a tenth of the hype/accolades it's receiving. I'd say 6/10, maybe 7/10 if I'm being generous.
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Big fan of Amy Adams (Jennifer isn't too shabby as well). I have a feeling those two will be enough for me.
 

tikited said:
Big fan of Amy Adams (Jennifer isn't too shabby as well). I have a feeling those two will be enough for me.
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I'm a huge fan of both, Lawrence in particular. Lawrence is barely in the movie, and Adams is drastically under-utilized. I'm a huge fan of virtually everyone in the movie - Cooper is probably my favorite actor, and Bale is right up there. You might not realize (I didn't) that there's even a cameo from a huge name actor. You'll like it, but prepare to be underwhelmed (assuming you've bought the hype like I did).
 



dpodoll68 said:
I'm a huge fan of both, Lawrence in particular. Lawrence is barely in the movie, and Adams is drastically under-utilized. I'm a huge fan of virtually everyone in the movie - Cooper is probably my favorite actor, and Bale is right up there. You might not realize (I didn't) that there's even a cameo from a huge name actor. You'll like it, but prepare to be underwhelmed (assuming you've bought the hype like I did).
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My wife is super excited (her words not mine) to see it, so I know she is the one to be underwhelmed. I have become easy to please lately.
 

Just watched Blackfish tonight. Interesting look into how orcas used to be taken from the wild, how dangerous it can be for the trainers, and how the conditions aren't good for an animal like that.

I'm not sure I would have ever taken my kids to a place like Sea World even before seeing this.
 

BleedGopher said:
Last night we rented The Way Way Back, with Steve Carell. It's a "coming of age" type of movie, and a great departure for Carell compared to his traditional comedy roles he plays. It did well at the Film Festival's and if you liked Juno and those type of movies, you'll like The Way Way Back, although Juno was better.

Go Gophers!!
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Finally got a chance to watch TWWB, and the whole family was just captivated by it - and they've become a picky audience. I liked Juno a great deal, but I'll take this over that. It reminded me of "Little Miss Sunshine," and not just because of the common cast members. Both movies I didn't want to end.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Just watched Blackfish tonight. Interesting look into how orcas used to be taken from the wild, how dangerous it can be for the trainers, and how the conditions aren't good for an animal like that.

I'm not sure I would have ever taken my kids to a place like Sea World even before seeing this.
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I posted about this a few months back, but no one responded. Glad to see someone else saw it. Sea World has always seemed a bit creepy/trashy and this film confirmed my initial impressions.

Since seeing the film, I've followed news on Sea World pretty closely. Regardless of how you feel about the issue of whales in captivity, the side story of how Sea World has handled this from a PR and business perspective, along with how influential a documentary and social media can be is quite interesting. Not only did acts such as Willie Nelson and Heart (along with 7 other acts) pull out of Sea World's annual music festival, which will likely end up canceling one if their largest annual events, but they were advocating against going to the park after watching the film. The stock is down ~25% since the film came out (it was just post-IPO though). It'll be interesting to see what happens with this as time goes on. It seems like it is more than the normal PETA crowd this time.
 



GophersInIowa said:
Just watched Blackfish tonight. Interesting look into how orcas used to be taken from the wild, how dangerous it can be for the trainers, and how the conditions aren't good for an animal like that.

I'm not sure I would have ever taken my kids to a place like Sea World even before seeing this.
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Just saw that to. Just plain cruel...
 

kellyleeks said:
I posted about this a few months back, but no one responded. Glad to see someone else saw it. Sea World has always seemed a bit creepy/trashy and this film confirmed my initial impressions.

Since seeing the film, I've followed news on Sea World pretty closely. Regardless of how you feel about the issue of whales in captivity, the side story of how Sea World has handled this from a PR and business perspective, along with how influential a documentary and social media can be is quite interesting. Not only did acts such as Willie Nelson and Heart (along with 7 other acts) pull out of Sea World's annual music festival, which will likely end up canceling one if their largest annual events, but they were advocating against going to the park after watching the film. The stock is down ~25% since the film came out (it was just post-IPO though). It'll be interesting to see what happens with this as time goes on. It seems like it is more than the normal PETA crowd this time.
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I think Sea World made a huge mistake by not participating some way in the documentary.

Does this documentary change anyone's opinions about zoos? I never really thought about how the animals got there. I guess I always assumed they were animals that were hurt and/or protected.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Finally got a chance to watch TWWB, and the whole family was just captivated by it - and they've become a picky audience. I liked Juno a great deal, but I'll take this over that. It reminded me of "Little Miss Sunshine," and not just because of the common cast members. Both movies I didn't want to end.
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Anyone else seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower? For some reason, we hadn't seen it until tonight. Another coming of age movie, although a little bit different.

It was a pretty powerful movie in my opinion. We really liked it.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Anyone else seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower? For some reason, we hadn't seen it until tonight. Another coming of age movie, although a little bit different. It was a pretty powerful movie in my opinion. We really liked it.
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I liked it.

It was a rare case where I liked the movie better than the book.
 

Saw American Hustle Sunday. Really liked it. The slow parts were the best imo. I like the parts of movies/books/plays/etc. that ease into the action. I like the "getting big" or "the beginning" time periods of stories, so that explains that I guess.

Oh, Amy Adams is worth the ticket price by herself.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Anyone else seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower? For some reason, we hadn't seen it until tonight. Another coming of age movie, although a little bit different.

It was a pretty powerful movie in my opinion. We really liked it.
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Yeah, I caught it on one of the movie channels a few months back. Much better than I expected.
 


American Hustle

American Hustle's time period and pacing reminded me of Argo, which i thought was a better movie, better editing. AH has better acting. Liked AH just thought it was a bit slow the first half also.


tikited said:
Saw American Hustle Sunday. Really liked it. The slow parts were the best imo. I like the parts of movies/books/plays/etc. that ease into the action. I like the "getting big" or "the beginning" time periods of stories, so that explains that I guess.

Oh, Amy Adams is worth the ticket price by herself.
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I saw Gravity also and I loved the effects and the ending/symbolism was neat. Gravity and AH are both good movies. Not sure if it's a weak year if they are the front runners. I still need to see 12 years a Slave and the Wolf of WS.
2011 might be my favorite year for movies with: the king's speech, black swan, inception, the fighter, the social network, and even true grit as high quality films.
 



march madness said:
I saw Gravity also and I loved the effects and the ending/symbolism was neat. Gravity and AH are both good movies. Not sure if it's a weak year if they are the front runners. I still need to see 12 years a Slave and the Wolf of WS.
2011 might be my favorite year for movies with: the king's speech, black swan, inception, the fighter, the social network, and even true grit as high quality films.
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I'll see your 2011 (wasn't a big fan of King's Speech or Black Swan, but certainly grant you the others) and put up 2008/9 against it-Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (and that's not to mention Milk, Doubt, Benjamin Button which I either didn't like or didn't see, but were highly regarded by many). That is the recent year that pops into my head when I think of great batch of movies.

And of course, 1994 was a particularly memorable year-Forrest Gump won best picture, but I would imagine that many/most people would cite Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption as superior films if asked today, and this was also the year that Hoop Dreams and The Lion King were released. And I have to mention Tombstone here too, with Val Kilmer in his finest performance as Doc Holliday.
 

1994 wouldn't be recent to me. But I would count Shashank as a top 5 movie of mine, and Pulp a top 15 so that is a great year!
2008 had the dark knight, wall-e, gran torino, the wrestler, and foreign films:-departures, slumdog, let the right one in, in bruges--might be my favorite year for foreign films! I felt the hurt locker was a tad over rated. Agreed it was a great year. I didnt see Frost, Revoltionary R, Vicky, or milk. Doubt and Benjamin were quality films too.
 

I overlooked Gran Torino, which I loved, maybe Clint's last great/very good film? I recommend Frost/Nixon and Revolutionary Road strongly-enjoyed both of these dramas a great deal. I do believe Hurt Locker was a year or two after these movies; it won the Best Picture Oscar in its year, as Slumdog won it in 2008.

On another note, I finished watching Wolf of Wall Street tonight. It was a rollicking good time, and DiCaprio sure put on an Oscar worthy performance. Profane, obscene, and as drug-laced as any movie I can recall. Laughed my *** off at several moments. Really felt like a companion piece to Good Fellas-based on true story, narration by main character, takes us through the rise and then the fall, Johan Hill playing the unpredictable sidekick role done so memorably by Joe Pesci, very similar except stock brokers vs. the mob. Big thumbs up.
 

The Real Story and Lesson of BSCAM

The Real Story of ABSCAM:

What is the American hustle? Is it quintessentially American to make wealth any way you can, to do it as quickly as possible, and to wheel and deal and bribe and con as if that’s the natural order of things? America, so it seems, was founded on swindling the natives, kidnapping Africans, the scams of the robber barons, the sins of the gilded age, the Teapot Dome scandal, the Boss Tweeds, the Huey Longs (All the King’s Men), and the Richard Nixons (All the President’s Men). Moral and political corruption, the very heart of the American hustle, seems to have been with us always. Ask Americans just a few decades ago (or, indeed, Indians today) and they might say that graft is just how things get done. But think of corruption today and we would all accept nothing but a zero-tolerance policy.

Go and watch the new David O. Russell film American Hustle, and you’ll see a very loose version of the Abscam caper of 1978 to 1980, the FBI sting that bagged six members of the U.S. House of Representatives, one U.S. senator, the mayor of Camden, New Jersey, city councilors of Philadelphia, and an Immigration and Naturalization Service official..

Weinberg did start a firm called London Investors, and for a large nonrefundable upfront fee, he promised to secure for his clients huge loans that would never materialize. One of his victims was Vegas singer Wayne Newton, who was one of the lucky ones since he was only duped out of $850. Weinberg said the suckers were so eager that some of them got taken twice, although this doesn’t seem so crazy if you think about the high interest rates of the stagflation years.

By this time he had divorced Mary and married his mistress Marie, who’s named Rosalyn in the film and played by Jennifer Lawrence. With a new wife came a new mistress, and in the movie she’s named Sydney Prosser, played by Amy Adams, and she impersonates an English noblewoman, calling herself Lady Edith. In real life she was Evelyn Knight, who was actually English, and she was so beautiful that Weinberg would introduce her as Lady Evelyn (changed to Diane in Greene’s book to protect her identity) to use her in his scams, and nobody thought she was anything but nobility. (She actually almost left Weinberg for Wayne Newton.) She didn’t have a big part in Weinberg’s cons and he didn’t really tell her what he did—until one of the victims sued him and the feds had an arrest warrant out for this “Lady Evelyn.” At which point Weinberg, who was facing a grand jury himself, agreed to help the FBI with four cases if charges against her were dropped. In fact, Weinberg had already been an FBI informant for years. Because he always delivered, they wanted to hook him for more..

But many Americans, as well as Congress and the Justice Department, were deeply ambivalent, and some thought the whole Abscam affair was basically entrapment. In the end, Sen. Harrison “Pete” Williams of New Jersey, Reps. John Jenrette of South Carolina, Raymond Lederer and Michael “Ozzie” Myers of Pennsylvania, Frank Thompson of New Jersey, John Murphy of New York, and Richard Kelly of Florida, all of them Democrats except for Kelly, were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1981. Kelly fought his case on the grounds of entrapment but ultimately lost. Thompson initially didn’t take the money; Weinberg had to go after him a second time. Another Penn. congressman John Murtha and South Dakota senator Larry Pressler escaped indictment because they never took the case of money offered them.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...n-of-the-abscam-sting-in-american-hustle.html
 

coolhandgopher said:
I overlooked Gran Torino, which I loved, maybe Clint's last great/very good film? I recommend Frost/Nixon and Revolutionary Road strongly-enjoyed both of these dramas a great deal. I do believe Hurt Locker was a year or two after these movies; it won the Best Picture Oscar in its year, as Slumdog won it in 2008.

On another note, I finished watching Wolf of Wall Street tonight. It was a rollicking good time, and DiCaprio sure put on an Oscar worthy performance. Profane, obscene, and as drug-laced as any movie I can recall. Laughed my *** off at several moments. Really felt like a companion piece to Good Fellas-based on true story, narration by main character, takes us through the rise and then the fall, Johan Hill playing the unpredictable sidekick role done so memorably by Joe Pesci, very similar except stock brokers vs. the mob. Big thumbs up.
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Kind of spoiler alert: Revolutionary Road is a very good movie but is so depressing it will ruin your week-end. I don't think I have ever left a movie feeling as bummed out as I did with RR.
 

I will see Wolf soon thanks for the write up. I recently watched Prisoners and the Place behind the Pines. Prisoners was a very good suspense movie and "Place" was good but slower paced.

coolhandgopher said:
I overlooked Gran Torino, which I loved, maybe Clint's last great/very good film? I recommend Frost/Nixon and Revolutionary Road strongly-enjoyed both of these dramas a great deal. I do believe Hurt Locker was a year or two after these movies; it won the Best Picture Oscar in its year, as Slumdog won it in 2008.

On another note, I finished watching Wolf of Wall Street tonight. It was a rollicking good time, and DiCaprio sure put on an Oscar worthy performance. Profane, obscene, and as drug-laced as any movie I can recall. Laughed my *** off at several moments. Really felt like a companion piece to Good Fellas-based on true story, narration by main character, takes us through the rise and then the fall, Johan Hill playing the unpredictable sidekick role done so memorably by Joe Pesci, very similar except stock brokers vs. the mob. Big thumbs up.
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