The "last movie I saw" thread

[frank ryan]

Searching. I thought it was a solid thriller. A father's daughter goes missing and he combs through her social media etc. looking for clues and realizes how much he doesn't know. A solid B grade from me.

[Northwestcoug]

Has anyone seen “The Three Identical Strangers” Documentary (I did not see a post about it here)?

I have had co-workers recommend it. That is is well done and pretty shocking.

I am hoping PAC has it on his list to see and provide his review.

I am sure some of you older member may have remembered this story as it was national news back in the 80’s. The three identical twins separated at birth and adopted out.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/c-OF0OaK3o0




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just saw this yesterday. I recommend it also. It is a crazy story. It was sobering to contemplate the 'nature vs nurture' argument watching it. There are some things that are just too hard to overcome. Life is hard.

I am racking my brain trying to remember any news reference about this, but I don't remember any of it. The documentary sure made it look like it was a national story.

[jay santos]

A Star is Born

Slight spoilers ahead

Wife's turn to pick, and I wasn't excited to see this, despite its high IMDB rating, trailers made it seem like a rags to riches feel good movie with a country music theme to boot.

But wow, really powerful film. The first 20 minutes or so could be a perfect short film with the rags to riches theme, but done in a little bit more artsy way than expected. Then the film pivots into a character piece with great acting, scene pacing, and dramatic build up going away from the feel good story and getting gritty and real and almost a little too dark. I think this will probably get a lot of Oscar buzz.

Great debut for Bradley Cooper as a director. Was not expecting that.

[falafel]

A Star is Born

Slight spoilers ahead

Wife's turn to pick, and I wasn't excited to see this, despite its high IMDB rating, trailers made it seem like a rags to riches feel good movie with a country music theme to boot.

But wow, really powerful film. The first 20 minutes or so could be a perfect short film with the rags to riches theme, but done in a little bit more artsy way than expected. Then the film pivots into a character piece with great acting, scene pacing, and dramatic build up going away from the feel good story and getting gritty and real and almost a little too dark. I think this will probably get a lot of Oscar buzz.

Great debut for Bradley Cooper as a director. Was not expecting that.

I want to see this.

[Surfah]

I want to see this.

We saw this tonight. It's winning awards.

[Commando]

Venom. :rockon2:



Panned by the critics but secretly maybe my favorite Marvel movie. Definitely liked it way more than any ‘Avengers’ flick.

[frank ryan]

Venom. :rockon2:



Panned by the critics but secretly maybe my favorite Marvel movie. Definitely liked it way more than any ‘Avengers’ flick.

I thought it was super mediocre.

[Commando]

I thought it was super mediocre.

I guess you're not alone if rotten tomatoes is accurate at all. I just really love the character of Venom and I'm a fan of Tom Hardy's acting. So much fun and maybe a little more satisfying than it should be for one of these superheroes to just be murdering people without prejudice. I mean- he's an alien! Why would he adhere to our middle-American morays in the slightest except out of deference to his host? I got a big kick out of that dynamic in the context of the ever-PG-13 Marvel universe.

[smokymountainrain]

i walked out of venom. my daughter told me how it ended when i got home and it sounds like it got better had i been patient. probably stayed for about the first half of the show, and holy hell - so dumb. and to be fair, i came in not knowing a thing about venom other than my son told me he's one of the bad guys in spiderman.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I’ve been engrossed by the U.S. space program since making my own space capsule after Alan Shepard’s initial flight in 1961 (I was eight, so give me a break). I’ve enjoyed The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Hidden Figures and other movies about the program in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and First Man is as good or better than those, but it’s something very different. Some will find it very slow at times, as it examines Neal Armstrong’s motivations and psyche, and sometimes director Damon Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) gets a bit ponderous. But the action sequences are expertly done and very harrowing, with death seeming a near certainty multiple times. It instills a new appreciation for what our space pioneers were able to achieve.

It’s also interesting to do a compare and contrast with the ‘60s and now. For example, Armstrong’s humility, shyness and reserve vs. today’s social media usage in which one makes public announcements about the most trivial of deeds. And it’s interesting that following First Man’s premiere, several commentators ripped on the movie for not showing Armstrong and Aldrin planting the U.S. flag on the moon (although one can see the flag in the background). Such criticism exemplifies the current fixation on superficialities when it comes to patriotism, and yet the depiction of JFK’s stirring call to go to the moon, and the countless untrumpeted sacrifices made by so many great Americans to get there, make First Man among the most patriotic of movies.

[Uncle Ted]

I’ve been engrossed by the U.S. space program since making my own space capsule after Alan Shepard’s initial flight in 1961 (I was eight, so give me a break). I’ve enjoyed The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Hidden Figures and other movies about the program in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and First Man is as good or better than those, but it’s something very different. Some will find it very slow at times, as it examines Neal Armstrong’s motivations and psyche, and sometimes director Damon Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) gets a bit ponderous. But the action sequences are expertly done and very harrowing, with death seeming a near certainty multiple times. It instills a new appreciation for what our space pioneers were able to achieve.

It’s also interesting to do a compare and contrast with the ‘60s and now. For example, Armstrong’s humility, shyness and reserve vs. today’s social media usage in which one makes public announcements about the most trivial of deeds. And it’s interesting that following First Man’s premiere, several commentators ripped on the movie for not showing Armstrong and Aldrin planting the U.S. flag on the moon (although one can see the flag in the background). Such criticism exemplifies the current fixation on superficialities when it comes to patriotism, and yet the depiction of JFK’s stirring call to go to the moon, and the countless untrumpeted sacrifices made by so many great Americans to get there, make First Man among the most patriotic of movies.

Yeah, that is what I don't get... you see the flag all over the place. It is on their space suits, on the LEM, planted on the moon, etc. I don't see what folks are upset about. They should be more upset letting a dumb Canadian play Neal Armstrong.

I was really disappointed that they left out was the story about the broken circuit breaker switch. That potentially could have left them stranded on the moon with no way of firing the LEM's rocket engines.

After scribbling the notes, as he and Armstrong prepared to leave the Moon, Aldrin writes, "I noticed that the ascent engine arming breaker push/pull switch was broken. Apparently during movement wearing our large space suit 'backpacks,' either Neil or I bumped into this panel and broke off that particular switch."

This was not good.

"Mission Control verified that the switch was open, meaning that the engine was currently unarmed. If we could not get the engine armed, we could be stranded on the Moon."

One small switch. One giant problem.

So Aldrin quickly started thinking of a solution. He didn't need help from a complex computer analysis, because the situation did not involve a complex computer. It was a simple switch. "As it turned, out," Aldrin says, "the very pen I used to record these notes was the perfect tool to engage this circuit breaker." Which is exactly what happened.

There wasn't much explanation about the 1201/1202 navigational computer errors either. That was potentially a huge problem as well since the computer was suppose to help them land on the moon but kept overloading with on the radar data. Armstrong, being the claim guy he was, just ignored that problem and landed the LEM himself without the aid of the computer with only seconds of fuel left. The director really missed a great opportunity in this movie to make it much more of a triller but clearly that wasn't his point.

[PaloAltoCougar]

...
I was really disappointed that they left out was the story about the broken circuit breaker switch. That potentially could have left them stranded on the moon with no way of firing the LEM's rocket engines.


There wasn't much explanation about the 1201/1202 navigational computer errors either. That was potentially a huge problem as well since the computer was suppose to help them land on the moon but kept overloading with on the radar data. Armstrong, being the claim guy he was, just ignored that problem and landed the LEM himself without the aid of the computer with only seconds of fuel left. The director really missed a great opportunity in this movie to make it much more of a triller but clearly that wasn't his point.

That's interesting, UT, and thanks for the link. During the descent, as they called out things like "1201 error!," my wife leaned over and said, "I wish I knew what was going on." "Me, too!" You're right the focus was just on Armstrong and much less on the play-by-play, but as you note it would have made for a more exciting experience to know better what was happening.

It was also interesting to see how clunky the switches and instrumentation were, along with the handwritten notes taped to their dashboards.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yeah, that is what I don't get... you see the flag all over the place. It is on their space suits, on the LEM, planted on the moon, etc. I don't see what folks are upset about. They should be more upset letting a dumb Canadian play Neal Armstrong.

I was really disappointed that they left out was the story about the broken circuit breaker switch. That potentially could have left them stranded on the moon with no way of firing the LEM's rocket engines.



There wasn't much explanation about the 1201/1202 navigational computer errors either. That was potentially a huge problem as well since the computer was suppose to help them land on the moon but kept overloading with on the radar data. Armstrong, being the claim guy he was, just ignored that problem and landed the LEM himself without the aid of the computer with only seconds of fuel left. The director really missed a great opportunity in this movie to make it much more of a triller but clearly that wasn't his point.

I remember that. Everyone back in mission control was about to have a heart attack by the time they touched down.

[RC Vikings]

It was also interesting to see how clunky the switches and instrumentation were, along with the handwritten notes taped to their dashboards.

That's what struck me also. It's amazing what they were able to accomplish in that short of time and what they had at the time. As someone who is very claustrophobic I'm not sure how they did it, I was uncomfortable just watching the movie.

[Moliere]

I’ve been engrossed by the U.S. space program since making my own space capsule after Alan Shepard’s initial flight in 1961 (I was eight, so give me a break). I’ve enjoyed The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Hidden Figures and other movies about the program in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and First Man is as good or better than those, but it’s something very different. Some will find it very slow at times, as it examines Neal Armstrong’s motivations and psyche, and sometimes director Damon Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) gets a bit ponderous. But the action sequences are expertly done and very harrowing, with death seeming a near certainty multiple times. It instills a new appreciation for what our space pioneers were able to achieve.

It’s also interesting to do a compare and contrast with the ‘60s and now. For example, Armstrong’s humility, shyness and reserve vs. today’s social media usage in which one makes public announcements about the most trivial of deeds. And it’s interesting that following First Man’s premiere, several commentators ripped on the movie for not showing Armstrong and Aldrin planting the U.S. flag on the moon (although one can see the flag in the background). Such criticism exemplifies the current fixation on superficialities when it comes to patriotism, and yet the depiction of JFK’s stirring call to go to the moon, and the countless untrumpeted sacrifices made by so many great Americans to get there, make First Man among the most patriotic of movies.

Thanks for the review. I’m excited to see this one. The documentary series “When We Left Earth” is great and helped me appreciate even more what those guys were doing. They weren’t just brilliant engineers and pilots, they were freaking daredevils.