Complete Unknown (Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon)

Two good actors, one lame movie. I really thought it would
be better. It could have been a great movie.

I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" last night with my husband. I've always enjoyed that one.

I took my daughter to see Trolls last week. Wow, its very colourful and over-the-top but great fun and yes there's some fantastic music in there.

I watched The Invisible Women, about Charles Dickens' mistress. I'm not particularly a fan of period dramas but this was good. A bit grim in parts as you'd expect of a film involving Dickens, but overall a very enjoyable and beautiful film.

There are a couple of scenes where the main character is striding along a bleak, grey beach and her costume reminds me of Stevie in her Rock a Little outfits, and the scene in Hold me where she is traipsing through the sand in her high heel boots.

Down to the last episode.
This series is mental.

Actually I went to theater twice these two weeks.
Just watched
Dr. Strange (good)
Your name (not bad)

None so far but I will get into the Christmas spirit watching movies and specials online for FREE in weeks to come.

Me too! Looking forward to Sunday.

For those not yet watching they're apparently all now streaming on the HBO site.

Gran Torino. I wasn't disappointed.

These violent delights have violent ends...

A mind bender of a show.

The Wall - Roger Waters (2015)

Impressive and depressing at the same time.
Difficult to watch. And surprisingly the sound
wasn't that spectacular. The cut scenes while
touching would have been best either before
the concert or after. Not during as it ruins the
flow.

10 Cloverfield Lane

A little scary in places. And it did
make me jump a few times.

Fathers & Daughters (Russel Crowe)

Not exactly a feel good movie.

The Magnificent Seven (Denzel Washington)


For me Westerns aren't usually favorites anymore. I think
you need someone larger than life to play the lead. An actor
like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood comes to mind. Maybe
I've become too old to enjoy the genre.

Denzel Washington is one of my most favorite movie actors
of current. And he does a decent job in this movie. But there
are too many cliches. I'd go through them but there are too
many to list. Plus I don't want to spoil it for anyone that's
interested.

Well okay, just one. The unending supply of bullets. Still it's
not a bad movie. The sound was very good I must say.

During this holidays I've watched:

1) Brave
First Disney movie. I liked it, I liked the ancient scottish setting and the lack of the classic prince-princess Disney romance. I appreciated that it was centered around familial love and in particular the mother-daughter relationship. Also I really loved the jokes and gags that concerned men and their kilts. And the bears.

2) Rapunzel
Second Disney movie. I actually liked it a little less than the previous one even if it is generally considered superior. I have to say that the horse was one of the best and funniest Disney characters I've ever seen.

3) The Nightmare Before Christmas
Third Disney movie and also my traditional family Christmas watch. Obviously I love it and almost everyone has seen it, but I'm still amazed by how well this movie has aged, it doesn't seem to have almost the same age as me.

4) Bridge of Spies
I couldn't watch it from the start because of an error of my dear old father, but I could see that it was truly a beautiful movie. Tom Hanks did an amazing job in this role but from what I've seen the movie depended all from him and his character. I expected more from the historical description of the setting, but maybe it's because I only saw the second half.

5) Wreck-it Ralph
Fourth and last Disney movie, at least for now. Not bad but during the first part it wasn't remarkable and it didn't become truly consistently funny and engaging until the second half, when he entered the "Sugar Rush" game. However the heart-warming and not so predictable end redeemed the first part of the movie.

Finally saw Rogue One today. It's such a shame the Star Wars prequel trilogy wasn't made in the same vein as this film; much more in keeping with the style of the original film. It makes me yearn for a complete remake of the prequels (sorry, Mr Lucas).
Princess Leia's appearance at the end was made even more poignant following Carrie Fisher's passing- I really welled up.
Overall I think I actually prefer Rogue One to The Force Awakens; A good job by the relatively inexperienced director Gareth Edwards- he should be considered as a director for future Star Wars films.

1. Rogue One - liked it but didn't love
2. Manchester By The Sea - overrated, sort of liked it but would not want to set through it again
3. Fences - overrated, sort of liked it but would not want to set through it again

Watched a Robert Kelly standup on Netflix a few nights ago. Good stuff!

These two were a waste of my time...

THE BFG (2016)

and

Pete's Dragon (2016)

I can sit through most movies but the BFG I fast forwarded
through probably half of it. And Pete's Dragon was so bad
that I stopped watching it.

Standoff with Lawrence Fishburn is a new-ish action thriller on Netflix right now. It's good!

Just watched Silence by Scorsese. I expected much more. Also at some points I couldn't wait for it to end.

I want to see that.

Oh it wasn't a bad movie. It's just that if you're expecting something like his previous efforts you'll likely end up confused. There were a couple of scenes in which the special effects in my opinion were unintentionally humorous and ruined a bit the dramatic effect. Some indigenous characters in particular were grotesque, and although it was surely sought after, it somehow stood like a sore thumb among the generally dark atmosphere of the movie. Also I feel the hystorical setting wasn't totally proper and the clash of the cultures and the inner general conflict of the protagonists weren't fully rendered. Basically it made me want to read the novel.

To end the parabola of the movies I've watched during the holidays:

6) The Aristocats
This movie is still funny but I hadn't realize until now that I've watched it from a grown-up point of view how much it's dated. The backgrounds, the designs and the effects are so lackluster. However the music and voice acting are totally amazing to this day.

7) Aladdin
This one instead aged much better, although probably in part it's because it's much newer. However the Genie is one of the most fantastic characters I've ever seen.

8) The princess and the frog
This I'd already seen it when it first came out in theatres but I still enjoyed it. I like that it actually featured cultural references to the time and place in which it's settled, New Orleans in the roaring 20s, the jazzy songs are cute and the voodoo man is a very good villain.

Basically during Holidays we want to watch cartoons.

These last two weeks I've seen T2 Trainspotting, who is in my opinion an unnecessary sequel, and Hidden Figures that instead is a very good movie.

Yesterday I've watched The Theory of Everything in honor of Stephen Hawking's death and I cried like a baby.

These are the 2018 movies I've seen so far this year:

Great-ish
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsevd) - Overwhelmingly emotional; a devastating ending; the most moving child performance since... . Probably the best movie of the year so far; I went in knowing nothing about it and it constantly surprised and astounded.

Double Lover (Francois Ozon) - Super hot and dreamy direction; gets deep into intimacy but in a wiiilld thriller format; stars my movie girlfriend Marine Vacth.

Jeannette — The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Bruno Dumont) - A French rock-metal musical version of Joan of Arc, amazingly profound.

Waiting for the Barbarians (Eugene Green) - More French esoterica, but really lovely call to turn back the barbarians within.

Near-Great-ish
15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood) - Clint is on a roll, mixing docurealism with patriotic emotion and suspense.

Mom & Dad (Brian Taylor) - The most jaw-dropping American movie of the year so far; Seriously, RENT IT ON ITUNES RIGHT NOW YOU WILL THANK ME EVEN AS YOU DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING (it's fun!)

Death Wish (Eli Roth) - The movie-political coup of the year; really b*llsy and strikingly made.

Good-ish
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra) - Lives up to its title: a thrill-ride with Liam Neeson.

Tombstone Rashomon (Alex Cox) - Not my favorite Cox film, but he's an OK Corral geek and it shows, and this mockumentary, like an inverse of Eastwood's film, deals with complex ideas about history and legend and American myth.

Okay-ish
Souvenir (Bavo Defurne) - Gay filmmaker tells straight love story about a fictional gay diva icon, which should have starred Isabelle Adjani instead of Huppert.

Hurricane Heist (Rob Cohen) - Fun, with a likable cast, but not as expert as Twister ("in the arms of a storm!") or as magnificent as the definitive Into the Storm.

Bad
The Party (Sally Potter) - A really twisted, nihilistic post-election party that should have been more fun than it turned out (especially from my beloved Potter of Orlando and Ginger & Rosa and Rage fame).

Pathetic
Please Stand By (Ben Lewin) - I used to think Dakota Fanning was a good actress. Wha' happen'?

Braven (Lin Oeding) - Stupid, but the ending kill-the-bad-guy move was pretty cool actually.

Murder On The Orient Express
Didn't know Hercule Poirot was a super hero.
Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the movie.

Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan)
A little boring. I wish Ronan would get better
roles to play. I do think she's better than this
movie.

Just saw Mr. Holmes, I appreciated its elegant depiction of themes like aging, illness, regret and generational confrontation.

The Shape Of Water
Or should it be called the creature from the black lagoon?
I thought I might like it better since this was directed by
Guillermo del Toro. Just wasn't what I expected.

Thought I'd be able to show my nephews (aged 12 and 9),
but nope!

How could you ever think you could show to your children nephews a movie by Guillermo del Toro?

Manchester by the Sea a couple of days ago. Very good. Emotional.
Mona Lisa Smile yesterday. Meh.
Took my daughter to see Peter Rabbit at the cinema today. Ahhhhh- lovely film. I thoroughly recommend.

You're probably right.

I was mostly thinking about what Pan's Labyrinth
looked like. I wanted them to see something like that.
But it too was pretty rough.

Phantom Thread

Since this is supposed to be the last film
for Daniel Day-Lewis I had to give it a try.
He of course was brilliant. The film though
was incredibly boring.

Annihilation

I watched this because of Alex Garland. It was
a disappointment. Very boring.

Adrift

A hard movie to watch. Didn't know it was
based on a true story. What some people go
through.

Jurassic Park Kingdom of the Whatever

Exciting and thrilling! Well-crafted suspense filled with thrills and chills. It reminded me a little of Cukor's Dinner at Eight.