All Things Movie/Documentary Reviews/Recommendations Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
We finished a short documentary mini-series called Worst Roommate Ever. Each episode talked about a different story. Then the last two were about Jamison Bachman, a serial squatter. I did not realize that is a thing. The laws are completely messed up in how they protect these people. Essentially people answer a craiglist ad for a roommate. They pay a month or two of rent, get comfortable there and then stop paying, essentially taking over the place. The owner of the home or apartment can't legally change the locks to kick them out. Have to go through the legal eviction process that can be very difficult, expensive and time consuming. It's horrible.

Here is a link explaining it. Crazy.

rentredi.com

What are Serial Squatters & How to Avoid

Serial squatters are squatters who move from rental to rental without ever being a legal tenant. It’s very important to protect homes and rental properties from illegal occupants who put tenants, roommates, and landlords all at risk
rentredi.com rentredi.com
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The laws are even crazier in England (at least they were the last time I was there). I talked to the rental property owner about it and agreed that it is insane (funny how criminals have so many rights). He said he liked it back in the day when one way to deal with them was to simply beat them. They usually left after that.
 

tikited said:
The laws are even crazier in England (at least they were the last time I was there). I talked to the rental property owner about it and agreed that it is insane (funny how criminals have so many rights). He said he liked it back in the day when one way to deal with them was to simply beat them. They usually left after that.
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In the documentary series, that guy went to law school and studied this stuff so he knew everything about the law for every situation.
 

saw an item that Warner Brothers is planning to do a remake of one of the greatest "creature features" of all time - "Them!"

if you're not a fan of 50's sci-fi and monster movies, "Them!" is the movie about giant ants. It's actually a lot of fun - snappy dialogue and a good cast, led by James Arness and James Whitmore as an FBI agent and police officer leading the search for the ants. several other actors turn up in small parts, including Fess Parker and Leonard Nimoy.

this new version is being directed by the guy who did the "Werewolf by Night" feature for Disney+.

what has me worried is that the director said this new version will deal with immigration issues. what that has to do with giant ants, I have no idea.
 

Babylon. Baby-long.

Well...it was something. It kept me interested for a couple of hours but unfortunately, the move is 3+ hours. Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva all give really good performances.

It reminded me quite a bit in terms of style and plot of Boogie Nights. Babylon actually has more sex & drugs than Boogie Nights though. No judgement.
 

Ope3 said:
The Banshees of Inisherin is just a splendid movie. Wonderful. Best of the year (so far). Great to see Brenden Gleeson & Colin Farrell paired together again.
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Colin Farrell nailed his acceptance speech for Best Actor at the Globes tonight. Well deserved.
 



Gopher_In_NYC said:
Look forward to seeing it and glad he figured his life out before it was 2 late.
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It's well worth it as I mentioned when I saw it, hopefully I have not heightened expectations too much.

While Farrell got the hardware, his co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon & Barry Keoghan are all equally as good. They were all Globe nominees. I will go out on a limb and predict The Banshees of Inisherin will win the SAG Ensemble Award.
 

Oscar Nominations were revealed yesterday. In terms of the Best Picture nominees, while there were several not on the list that I liked (Emily the Criminal, Hustle & The Menu), there was nothing I would say was "snubbed".

This would be my ranking of the nominated films I have seen already:

1. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
2. “The Fabelmans,” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers

Those 2 are far and away my favorites, and I have a hard time deciding the most deserving.

Others I saw:

3. “Tár,” Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
4. “Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
5. “Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
6. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers

Haven't seen yet:

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“Triangle of Sadness,” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
“Women Talking,” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

variety.com

Oscar Nominations 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere’ Leads With 11 Nods, Followed by ‘Banshees’ and ‘All Quiet’

See the full Oscars 2023 nominees.
variety.com variety.com
 

Just watched "When the Levees Broke" by Spike Lee. Was pretty young when Katrina happened so didn't remember a lot of the details.

But man. What a complete disaster by the US government. Failed every step of the way.
 



in Movie news - James Gunn, the new head of DC comics properties for WB/Discovery, came out with plans for their revamping of movies and TV shows based on DC characters.

Gunn says they have a 10-year plan divided into Chapters. in the 1st chapter, these movies are planned:

Superman: Legacy. (in 2025 with a new, younger actor playing Superman)
The Authority (based on the Wildstorm comic book series)
The Brave & the Bold (A Batman movie with Batman raising his son Damian Wayne- with a new actor playing Batman)
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
& Swamp Thing

Gunn also said that the Matt Reeves 'Batman' movies will continue, but are considered to be "Elseworlds" movies - meaning they do not exist in the same continuity as the main DC movies.

there are also a number of TV shows planned for HBO Max.
 

An interesting story I came across on the 93 floods and a man convicted (more than likely wrongly convicted) for breaking a levy. Life for a 100% circumstantial situation is crazy.

 


I saw Avatar 2 last night, and I did like it better than Avatar 1, marginal thumbs up for me.

It's visually spectacular, especially the underwater life on Pandora. Knowing the general world and rules, meant they could devote more time to the actual story which I found interesting.

The kids, even when they are pretty much brats are much more likeable so it's easier to have a rooting interest. Though, it feels if the "Sky People" from Earth fail in what I suppose is 2070, we are kind of screwed here on the 3rd Planet From the Sun. The only real baddie is the Colonel (reincarnation).

Nit picks:

- Not sure it needed to be that long again.
- Not big on the reincarnation/clones. Too much of a multi-verse feel. Does anyone really truly die or can they come back in some other life form?
- Confused by what happens with the human form of Jakesully, though for the story it was better than the back-and-forth confusion in Avatar 1.
- I'm sick of the Colonel as the villain. Hopefully there are a different adversaries in the subsequent films.
- While good, I don't think it has any business being nominated for Oscar/Best Picture. Perhaps that's more of a comment on how weak the current field is for movies. The only reason I watched it was in an effort to see each film. At least it wasn't a waste of time.
 
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Nominated for Oscar Best Picture, Triangle of Sadness has the most epic, graphic puking scene since Stand by Me.
 

Ope3 said:
Oscar Nominations were revealed yesterday. In terms of the Best Picture nominees, while there were several not on the list that I liked (Emily the Criminal, Hustle & The Menu), there was nothing I would say was "snubbed".

This would be my ranking of the nominated films I have seen already:

1. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
2. “The Fabelmans,” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers

Those 2 are far and away my favorites, and I have a hard time deciding the most deserving.

Others I saw:

3. “Tár,” Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
4. “Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
5. “Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
6. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers

Haven't seen yet:

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“Triangle of Sadness,” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
“Women Talking,” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

variety.com

Oscar Nominations 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere’ Leads With 11 Nods, Followed by ‘Banshees’ and ‘All Quiet’

See the full Oscars 2023 nominees.
variety.com variety.com
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I did wind up seeing all 10 Best Picture nominees. I rank them in this order:

1. The Banshees of Inisherin
2. The Fabelmans
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. Tár
5. Top Gun: Maverick
6. Avatar 2
7. Triangle of Sadness
8. Elvis
9. Women Talking
10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

While there have been several films to win Best Picture in recent memory that I certainly would not have given the hardware, I have to go back to Lord of the Rings 3 for one that I did not even like.

Pretty confident that is what is going to happen tonight as I have a hunch #10 is going to win.
 
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Ended up watching the ID (Investigation Discovery channel) documentary over the weekend about Jared Fogle, the Subway Guy, "Catching A Monster".

I have to say, me and the Mrs. found it pretty disappointing, not very good. The woman who was the primary focus of the documentary was just not a very likable person at all. Sees herself as some kind of hero/martyr it seems for starters. Secondly, good grief, the time she spent talking to Fogle and baiting him and baiting him and leading him felt like absolutely textbook entrapment. It's also hard to believe she would have taken things as far as she did with Fogle if she wasn't a "journalist" and her end game was some game-changing piece of muck-raking literature.

Fogle is not a good person who has some serious issues and is in jail where he belongs, no doubt about it. But this particular documentary was just not very good. They make it clear that neither the FBI nor the Indiana State Police wanted anything to do with this production.

I was looking for a lot more honestly, but at least it gives you an idea of what went down
 



As for the Oscar show itself, I thought it was solid. Kimmel did just fine. It's a long show, but never seemed to really plod along more than normal. Good move having a pair of presenters handing out awards 2 at a time. The Lenny Kravitz in Memoriam tribute song was really good.

While I was not big on Everything Everywhere All at Once, I did not have a problem with them sweeping each acting award that they racked up:

Supporting Actor - Ke Huy Quan
Supporting Actress - Jamie Lee Curtis
Leading Actress - Michelle Yeoh

All are likeable, campaigned well on interview shows and gave enthusiastic emotional acceptance speeches. All of their performances were stellar, the story and editing just not connect with me. I am sure Janet Leigh and Tony C are quite proud.

With Harrison Ford giving out the Best Picture award, pretty cool to see an Indiana Jones-Short Round (Quan) reunion on stage when that won.

Also while I would have voted for Colin Farrell over Brandan Fraser, again can't really argue that decision. I think because I preferred The Banshees of Inisherin much more than The Whale, I was hoping Farrell would win. Fraser though is quite humble and gracious, so all good.
 

So I guess now the Oscars are more about giving it to the person for whom it makes the best story, rather than just who performed the best?

Maybe it has been that way for a while.


Just watch so few movies these days.


Think the hour-long episode format has won the day. Let’s you go more in depth while also not exhaustion the viewing in any one sitting.
 

Gophers_4life said:
So I guess now the Oscars are more about giving it to the person for whom it makes the best story, rather than just who performed the best?

Maybe it has been that way for a while.

Just watch so few movies these days.

Think the hour-long episode format has won the day. Let’s you go more in depth while also not exhaustion the viewing in any one sitting.
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It's an inexact science to begin with as, how does one "judge art"? It's completely in the eye of the beholder, though sometimes it's flat out obvious regarding a performance (ie Daniel Day Lewis repeatedly).

Yes, it's been that way for a long while. Go back to Paul Newman winning Best Actor for The Color of Money 1985. Totally a Career Achievement award. It's not even close to a Top 10 performance in his filmography. It just happened to be his time.
 

Well hit just seemed like all three of the EEAAO acting awards were those.

Were any of them actually the best performances? Doubt it.

They all were just really good stories.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Well hit just seemed like all three of the EEAAO acting awards were those.

Were any of them actually the best performances? Doubt it.

They all were just really good stories.
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I would even say Fraser fits in the "best story" narrative. Out of the limelight for more than a decade, playing a sympathetic character.

As for EEAAO, they were all good. I can't argue that they were not the "best performances."

Take Best Actress, Michelle Yeoh was up against Cate Blanchett essentially head to head. In a vacuum, I would guess voting would be pretty split. However, given that Blanchett has won twice already, that alone gave Yeoh a leg up on a pretty stellar career herself. Out of hundreds of movies, boiling down to just the Top 5 the differences are going to be really minute as far as determining THE best.

I would have voted for Michelle Williams though. She's had 5 Oscar nominations but no wins. She's due. Good story, for some other time.
 

Ope3 said:
It's an inexact science to begin with as, how does one "judge art"? It's completely in the eye of the beholder, though sometimes it's flat out obvious regarding a performance (ie Daniel Day Lewis repeatedly).

Yes, it's been that way for a long while. Go back to Paul Newman winning Best Actor for The Color of Money 1985. Totally a Career Achievement award. It's not even close to a Top 10 performance in his filmography. It just happened to be his time.
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can't remember who said this - but I remember seeing a quote a number of years ago from (I think) one of the nominees for Best Actor. He said, as I recall, that the only way to truly judge Best Actor would be to have all of the nominees play the same role, because that would be a true comparison.

now that I think about it, might have been Al Pacino. It was something like, "if you really want to judge us, have everyone play Hamlet" or something like that.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Ended up watching the ID (Investigation Discovery channel) documentary over the weekend about Jared Fogle, the Subway Guy, "Catching A Monster".

I have to say, me and the Mrs. found it pretty disappointing, not very good. The woman who was the primary focus of the documentary was just not a very likable person at all. Sees herself as some kind of hero/martyr it seems for starters. Secondly, good grief, the time she spent talking to Fogle and baiting him and baiting him and leading him felt like absolutely textbook entrapment. It's also hard to believe she would have taken things as far as she did with Fogle if she wasn't a "journalist" and her end game was some game-changing piece of muck-raking literature.

Fogle is not a good person who has some serious issues and is in jail where he belongs, no doubt about it. But this particular documentary was just not very good. They make it clear that neither the FBI nor the Indiana State Police wanted anything to do with this production.

I was looking for a lot more honestly, but at least it gives you an idea of what went down
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I had a similar interest in watching this but have heard other similar reviews. That it just wasn’t good.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I had a similar interest in watching this but have heard other similar reviews. That it just wasn’t good.
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He got hooked up with a real bad guy, a real sick f'k; Russell Taylor, the guy that he hired to run the Jared Foundation. A real disgusting bastard, planted cameras all over the bedrooms of his teenage stepdaughters, among a pile of other shit. They nailed Taylor and basically Taylor brought Fogle down with him.

The woman I mentioned was just a creeper; some dead-end journalist who set her sights on bringing Fogle down. She recorded conversations with Fogle for I think at a minimum of 2-3 years, trying to get him to incriminate himself, which is illegal as hell. Took her stuff to the authorities on several occasions and while they probably took her claims somewhat seriously and looked into it on their own, they kind of told her what she's doing is illegal and not a good idea.

For us it was a waste of 3 hours. I would imagine there would be more documentaries like it down the road, and probably with a lot more substance and better produced.
 

Ope3 said:
I did wind up seeing all 10 Best Picture nominees. I rank them in this order:

1. The Banshees of Inisherin
2. The Fabelmans
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. Tár
5. Top Gun: Maverick
6. Avatar
7. Triangle of Sadness
8. Elvis
9. Women Talking
10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

While there have been several films to win Best Picture in recent memory that I certainly would not have given the hardware, I have to go back to Lord of the Rings 3 for one that did not even like.

Pretty confident that is what is going to happen tonight as I have a hunch #10 is going to win.
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Thank god I'm not the only one. I could not believe that movie. And I'm pretty open minded when it comes to "unique" styles.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Thank god I'm not the only one. I could not believe that movie. And I'm pretty open minded when it comes to "unique" styles.
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I've thought about revisiting it in case I missed something, but I can't really think of a film where a repeated viewing changed my thinking from negative to positive. Most of the time I dislike it even more and kick myself for investing even more time.
 


I think I agree with the Academy on this one. EEAAO was probably the best new movie I saw last year.
 

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