The "last movie I saw" thread

[jay santos]

Haha. Nailed it.

I talked my wife into watching it with me. "Trust me, honey, I hear that it is a great movie." She is pissed and my credibility took a hit.

I kept hoping something would happen to make it more interesting. Nope. It just plods along.

hmm, I loved it. I can't explain it other than several of those scenes were just very moving to me. I thought the director and actors did a great job building the dramatic tension and connecting us to the emotion with the dialogue, acting, music, editing, etc. But I'm not good at explaining these things. Summon:

[PaloAltoCougar]

For Walter and the Dude, I guess I’ll weigh in here with the apparent intellectual heft of Donny, but I’m with Jay in my assessment of Manchester by the Sea. Ignoring Walter’s wonderfully dismissive declaration that no reasonable person could ever vote for Affleck over Washington (apparently hundreds of critics as well as the AMPAS voters are all irrational), I thought both performances were very good, and with the possible exception of Gosling, any of the best actor nominees would have been deserving.

Yes, Affleck was a morose loser, but I liked the way he conveyed multiple facets of character at once during the period following the tragedy. He was sullen, but I thought his performance reflected a person struggling to be in the present, while at the same time seeming very distracted, as if trying to remember, or forget, something happening elsewhere. My favorite scene (the final one with him and the superb Michelle Williams) is a fine example of that. I understand you two found his performance pretty one-dimensional, but I thought it was quite a bit more.

And JL, sorry the wife didn’t like it. I knew the movie was of a type my wife wouldn’t enjoy, so I went alone with her enthusiastic approval. I think I would have enjoyed it less if she’d been along.

It wasn’t my favorite movie, and I wish it had had a better ending. But weeks later, I still think about the characters as real people, hoping they’re doing better, and wishing for a better ending to their lives, not just to the film. That for me is the sign of a good movie. You can certainly argue with my conclusion, but not with my experience…

[Northwestcoug]

PAC nailed it. The characters come across as real people. That's just good acting, y'all.

[Commando]

I loved it, too.

[creekster]

I thought Manchester by the Sea was a fabulous film. I agree with PAC that it is a film that sticks with you, that you think about and consider over time. And there are not many films that do that for me. Fences, by comparison, was a very good film, but the main thing I took away from it was just how much acting Denzel did. I don’t think of the character or what he faced or how he dealt with. Moreover, it is likely true that the character played by Casey Affleck matched his own personality very closely, although I don’t know. But the thing is I never thought about his personality in the film. I never thought “wow, he is really acting (which is what I kept thinking in Fences)” all you thought about is what the character was doing or what was happening to him. . Some people are just meant to play certain roles. The perfect example of that, for me, is George C. Scott playing George S. Patton. He was raised up to play that role, even though that was really just him to large degree. So that’s not a meaningful criticism, IMO, it just means Affleck was lucky Damon was too busy.

I think it is a mistake, btw, to view MBTS only through the best actor award lens. It is more than Affleck’s performance. It’s about place and experience and how we are shaped and molded by fate and place. . The film was about penance and redemption, about experiencing and causing great tragedy and trying to pay for and overcome it. Affleck’s character loses everything, including his own soul, and is then forced to find it again due to the needs of others for whom he becomes responsible. I think that as a father it would be hard to watch the film and not feel the tremendous sense of loss and guilt and self-loathing that Affleck’s character feels. And the struggle that he experiences as he tries unsuccessfully to atone for his failures, as he struggles to overcome the blow that life, and place, had dealt him is played out in both subtle actions and reactions as well as in broad and obvious strokes. He does not want to go back. But he does, in a manner of speaking, to do what he must do.

PAC points out the virtuosity of the scene between Affleck and Williams. It was painful and poetic. It was so real. So genuine. You feel as though you were watching two people live their lives, rather than watching someone acting about their life. There are other moving moments. The scene in the police station following the end of the interrogation was surprising but also very real and gut-wrenching.

This is a small and quiet movie. It requires only your attention and empathy. In fact, I think it demands empathy, it wrests empathy from you even if you are reluctant to give it. But if you do give it, your own life is enriched through that empathy.

[creekster]

Haha. Nailed it.

I talked my wife into watching it with me. "Trust me, honey, I hear that it is a great movie." She is pissed and my credibility took a hit.

I kept hoping something would happen to make it more interesting. Nope. It just plods along.

In some ways this is a fair comment, even given my enthusiasm for the film. It does plod along at times. Just like life plods along.

[Pelado]

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.

Watched this one last night. As far as the pre-war part being fictionalized, do you mean he didn't really give her a feather he found in the woods?

Pretty amazing story. I think the best part was the interviews at the end.

I also watched Oasis:Supersonic. Much of their rise to fame coincided with my mission trip, so before watching the documentary, I couldn't have named a single song of theirs. I figured I'd probably recognize a few while watching. I was a little surprised that there was only one that I knew I had heard before. There was another toward the end of the show that sounded familiar but it might just be they were replaying a song I'd heard earlier in the program.

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[Walter Sobchak]

I thought Manchester by the Sea was a fabulous film. I agree with PAC that it is a film that sticks with you, that you think about and consider over time. And there are not many films that do that for me. Fences, by comparison, was a very good film, but the main thing I took away from it was just how much acting Denzel did. I don’t think of the character or what he faced or how he dealt with. Moreover, it is likely true that the character played by Casey Affleck matched his own personality very closely, although I don’t know. But the thing is I never thought about his personality in the film. I never thought “wow, he is really acting (which is what I kept thinking in Fences)” all you thought about is what the character was doing or what was happening to him. . Some people are just meant to play certain roles. The perfect example of that, for me, is George C. Scott playing George S. Patton. He was raised up to play that role, even though that was really just him to large degree. So that’s not a meaningful criticism, IMO, it just means Affleck was lucky Damon was too busy.

I think it is a mistake, btw, to view MBTS only through the best actor award lens. It is more than Affleck’s performance. It’s about place and experience and how we are shaped and molded by fate and place. . The film was about penance and redemption, about experiencing and causing great tragedy and trying to pay for and overcome it. Affleck’s character loses everything, including his own soul, and is then forced to find it again due to the needs of others for whom he becomes responsible. I think that as a father it would be hard to watch the film and not feel the tremendous sense of loss and guilt and self-loathing that Affleck’s character feels. And the struggle that he experiences as he tries unsuccessfully to atone for his failures, as he struggles to overcome the blow that life, and place, had dealt him is played out in both subtle actions and reactions as well as in broad and obvious strokes. He does not want to go back. But he does, in a manner of speaking, to do what he must do.

PAC points out the virtuosity of the scene between Affleck and Williams. It was painful and poetic. It was so real. So genuine. You feel as though you were watching two people live their lives, rather than watching someone acting about their life. There are other moving moments. The scene in the police station following the end of the interrogation was surprising but also very real and gut-wrenching.

This is a small and quiet movie. It requires only your attention and empathy. In fact, I think it demands empathy, it wrests empathy from you even if you are reluctant to give it. But if you do give it, your own life is enriched through that empathy.

It demands as much empathy as a drunk driver does that inadvertently kills three kids. So, really, none at all.

But good news... the Beauty and the Beast reboot is coming out this weekend! If there isn't a better object for empathy than that poor Beast, then I don't know what is.

[All-American]

It demands as much empathy as a drunk driver does that inadvertently kills three kids. So, really, none at all.

But good news... the Beauty and the Beast reboot is coming out this weekend! If there isn't a better object for empathy than that poor Beast, then I don't know what is.

I refuse to see that movie on moral principles.

[creekster]

It demands as much empathy as a drunk driver does that inadvertently kills three kids. So, really, none at all.

But good news... the Beauty and the Beast reboot is coming out this weekend! If there isn't a better object for empathy than that poor Beast, then I don't know what is.

To the contrary. He didn't drive while drunk. That's the point. It was a momentary and very minor lapse. A minor forgotten thing and it happened while he was trying to thoughtful and safe and yet, even then, his life fell apart. If you think you've never taken a similar risk or made a similar mistake in your life then you are either very young, have a very bad memory or you're lying.

[Commando]

To the contrary. He didn't drive while drunk. That's the point. It was a momentary and very minor lapse. A minor forgotten thing and it happened while he was trying to thoughtful and safe and yet, even then, his life fell apart. If you think you've never taken a similar risk or made a similar mistake in your life then you are either very young, have a very bad memory or you're lying.

No, I think he's saying that nobody whose life has ever been shattered by the tiniest lapse of care deserves any empathy.

[Walter Sobchak]

I refuse to see that movie on moral principles.

Because punography?

To the contrary. He didn't drive while drunk. That's the point. It was a momentary and very minor lapse. A minor forgotten thing and it happened while he was trying to thoughtful and safe and yet, even then, his life fell apart. If you think you've never taken a similar risk or made a similar mistake in your life then you are either very young, have a very bad memory or you're lying.

You're right. I can't remember the last time I was drunk and put the safety of my kids at risk... or, I'm just too young to have crossed that bridge quite yet. But rest assured, when I finally grow my pubes and am able to buy some booze, I'll re-watch the film with a new-found empathy for drunk dudes that needlessly put their own lives, and the lives around them, in harm's way.

[creekster]

Because punography?




You're right. I can't remember the last time I was drunk and put the safety of my kids at risk... or, I'm just too young to have crossed that bridge quite yet. But rest assured, when I finally grow my pubes and am able to buy some booze, I'll re-watch the film with a new-found empathy for drunk dudes that needlessly put their own lives, and the lives around them, in harm's way.

Nice. It's good to be perfect I guess. I'm not. But I suppose if you are perfect you can't relate to the guy. Good for you.

[Walter Sobchak]

Nice. It's good to be perfect I guess. I'm not. But I suppose if you are perfect you can't relate to the guy. Good for you.

Let him who has not been charged with manslaughter cast the first stone, thus saith the Lord.


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[Jeff Lebowski]

I refuse to see that movie on moral principles.

So I take it you object to Disney trying to normalize beastiality?