The "last movie I saw" thread

[Non Sequitur]

Hell or High Water - Late to the party on this one. Really liked it. All the actors were great. The rubbing our noses in check cashing, payday loan, etc. billboards was a bit much, and some of the scenes felt like they were from a different movie (beating the random gun-toting thug, for example), but on the whole it was pretty entertaining. Ending felt like a stretch but the final scenes were good even if far-fetched.

I got halfway through it, but it wore on me. I like Ben Foster and wanted to love the movie a lot. Maybe I'll have to give it another look.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hacksaw Ridge. Incredible story. Did a little research and discovered that while much of the pre-war part of the movie was fictionalized, the battle story was accurately portrayed.

[Northwestcoug]

I liked Hell or High Water. I thought the acting was solid and it was an interesting story. Like others have said, I got a little tired of the bleakness of Midwestern life hitting me over the head at times, but it was central to the story. I'm not sure if it's Oscar worthy, but it's a good show.

Of the Oscar contenders I've seen, I would rank them:

Manchester by the Sea
Arrival
La La Land
Hell or High Water

I still want to see Lion, Moonlight, and Fences. I'll wait for a boring night to stream Hidden Figures. Not sure If I'll watch Hacksaw Ridge; I've been burned by Mel Gibson movies before.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I liked Hell or High Water. I thought the acting was solid and it was an interesting story. Like others have said, I got a little tired of the bleakness of Midwestern life hitting me over the head at times, but it was central to the story. I'm not sure if it's Oscar worthy, but it's a good show.

Of the Oscar contenders I've seen, I would rank them:

Manchester by the Sea
Arrival
La La Land
Hell or High Water

I still want to see Lion, Moonlight, and Fences. I'll wait for a boring night to stream Hidden Figures. Not sure If I'll watch Hacksaw Ridge; I've been burned by Mel Gibson movies before.

There is definitely some of Mel's over-the-top style on the battle scenes. But the battle sequence is reasonably true to history. An amazing story.

[creekster]

There is definitely some of Mel's over-the-top style on the battle scenes. But the battle sequence is reasonably true to history. An amazing story.

AGreed. Well worth seeing, IMO.

[Armenag]

Ride with the Devil - Ang Lee's epic about the Border War between the Bushwhackers and the Jayhawkers. Strange but loaded cast - Tobey Maguire as the lead, with Skeet Ulrich, Simon Baker, Jim Caviezel, Jewel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey Wright, Mark Ruffalo, Margo Martindale, and Tom Wilkinson. Follows Maguire's time with the Bushwhackers. Good but not great. Lots of beautiful scenery and helpful in understanding the conflict and its awfulness to some degree but it's a bit weirdly paced -- all the action is at the start and end (it culminates with the Lawrence Massacre), with some slow stretches in the middle. Watched the Director's Cut, which I understand fleshes some of the relationships out a bit more. Recommended if you're interested in the time and place, but otherwise probably not worth seeking out.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Get Out. I dislike horror movies mostly, and haven't seen one in years, so I went to this with low expectations that were exceeded, by a lot. More than just a horror movie, it has some interesting takes on race relations with some funny caricatures of white liberals attitudes towards blacks. "I would have voted for Obama a third time if he could have run," the dad (Bradley Whitford) assures his daughter's black boyfriend, who plays the protagonist perfectly. "I've met Tiger Woods," assures a family friend, "He's the best!"

I won't divulge any of the plot or the conclusion (which isn't quite as good as the movie overall), as it's fun to experience the movie without any preconceptions (I hadn't read any reviews or spoken with anyone else about it, but I'd love to do so now). Rated R for violence and language, but I've certainly seen and heard worse. The horror is mainly in the growing sense of trouble, which is as it should be. Currently at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes--a surprisingly entertaining time at the movies.

P.S. There's a TSA security guard who's hilarious throughout the movie. I have newfound respect for these dedicated public servants.

P.P.S. The movie was written and directed by Jordan Peele (of Kay & Peele). This was apparently his first attempt at both, but you wouldn't know it; the guy has some serious skills. Oh, and don't even watch the trailer if you haven't seen it yet. I'd seen it earlier this month and it's a poor set-up for the full experience.

[Commando]

I'm going to watch this ^ I'll be back to discuss.

[Katy Lied]

On Get Out:

This movie is only able to mock liberal whites in America; the movie plot wouldn't work to mock conservative or racist whites. ("My family is racist and I'm racist too, but I really love you and come home to meet my family")

On Lion:

I really liked the movie, but then, I knew I was going to love it so I dont know if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will contribute my experience with adoptees and google maps to the movie narrative.

When we adopted our older boys, one of the the first things they did on the computer was to go to Google Earth and find their orphanage. They showed me where their soccer pitch was, where their outdoor toilet was, what building they slept in. They would look at google earth quite often in the early days, especially when they were feeling homesick. When we were over there adopting them, the older one asked if we could take them to their home village, about 3 hours away by car and 6 hours away by bus. They wanted to see if their great-grandmother was still alive (she wasnt) and see some other family friends and relatives. They had not been home for 6 years, yet the older boy gave us directions straight to the location-- there was no doubt that he knew where he was once we exited the freeway. Of course, our sons were literate, they knew the address of the orphanage, so they were not truly lost like Saroo Brierly. There must be something about childhood memories that cements your space in the universe so you remember where to go.

Matviivka.jpg

[Jeff Lebowski]

On Get Out:

This movie is only able to mock liberal whites in America; the movie plot wouldn't work to mock conservative or racist whites. ("My family is racist and I'm racist too, but I really love you and come home to meet my family")

On Lion:

I really liked the movie, but then, I knew I was going to love it so I dont know if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will contribute my experience with adoptees and google maps to the movie narrative.

When we adopted our older boys, one of the the first things they did on the computer was to go to Google Earth and find their orphanage. They showed me where their soccer pitch was, where their outdoor toilet was, what building they slept in. They would look at google earth quite often in the early days, especially when they were feeling homesick. When we were over there adopting them, the older one asked if we could take them to their home village, about 3 hours away by car and 6 hours away by bus. They wanted to see if their great-grandmother was still alive (she wasnt) and see some other family friends and relatives. They had not been home for 6 years, yet the older boy gave us directions straight to the location-- there was no doubt that he knew where he was once we exited the freeway. Of course, our sons were literate, they knew the address of the orphanage, so they were not truly lost like Saroo Brierly. There must be something about childhood memories that cements your space in the universe so you remember where to go.

[ATTACH]7796[/ATTACH]

Very cool, KL.

How old are your boys now?

[jay santos]

The Shack. Thank the black female God in heaven, this is not and will never be the last movie I saw. Wife is going with a girlfriend. Dodged a bullet there.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I should probably put this in the Trump thread, but since it's funnier if one has actually seen Get Out, I'll put this here:

[youtube]TllKdcjgJCI[/youtube]

[jay santos]

The Shack. Thank the black female God in heaven, this is not and will never be the last movie I saw. Wife is going with a girlfriend. Dodged a bullet there.

She's back and it was sooooo good, I just have to go with her to see it again.

[Armenag]

Denial - Based on the true story of Irving v. Penguin Books, where a holocaust denier (Timothy Spall) brought a libel suit in the UK against American professor Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz). Decent but not great. The legal strategy is interesting but there's just not a lot of drama in it. They try to wring some out of Lipstadt's coming to grips with the fact that her legal team doesn't want to put her or any holocaust survivors on the stand, but they try to get too much out of it. Despite a good cast (Tom Wilkinson plays her barrister), it feels a lot like a made-for-TV movie. The case was important and the legal team did a great job (as far as I know, anyway), but at the same time it's about expensive lawyers out-maneuvering one pro se litigant with racist, crackpot ideas. I was disappointed it didn't get more into why people deny the holocaust, despite explicitly talking about how there's always an agenda the denier won't admit to. In this case the movie basically just said Irving was racist and that was it. Not worth seeking out but not a bad watch. As with any movie touching on the Holocaust, it did have some very affecting scenes. Yet another reminder of how crazy UK speech laws are.

[Topper]

She's back and it was sooooo good, I just have to go with her to see it again.

Bring your earplugs and listen to a game in the ear she can't see. I just read the reviews. It looks awful.