Let's Go the the Movies!
Jul. 5th, 2016 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilda_eliseThe month started out slow, movie-wise, but soon picked up speed. Some excellent movies, but some not so good.
June 2 - This Property Is Condemned (1966)
In this film adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, Alva is a radiant Southern belle who clashes with her oppressive mother, Hazel. Hazel is trying to force Alva to take an affluent husband, but the young woman has eyes for Owen Legate, a handsome city slicker visiting their tiny Mississippi town. Hazel disapproves of Owen and forces him to stop seeing her daughter. In an act of revenge, Alva takes up with her mother's beau, J.J.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake, Jon Provost
I’ve seen this movie several times over the years, and still don’t know how I feel about it. Most of the characters, including Wood’s, aren’t at all sympathetic, so it’s hard to know who to root for, but that’s often the case with Williams’ plays. Redford is wonderful (as always *g*) but I’ve always felt that Wood was over-rated. She is here, in any event.
June 4 - Secret In Their Eyes (2015)
A tight-knit team of rising investigators, along with their supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Director: Billy Ray
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina, Michael Kelly
A compelling who-done-it that keeps you guessing. Roberts is outstanding as a grieving mother.
June 8 - The Revenant (2016)
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck
An entertaining chase movie that I felt went on a tad too long. Not to mention that too often the action relies on either some amazing coincidences, or some truly amazing bad luck. Plus, I thought the ending was kind of lame. And while DiCaprio does a really good job, I think the Oscar should have gone to Eddie Redmayne.
June 9 - Answers to Nothing (2011)
Against the backdrop of a missing girl case, lost souls throughout Los Angeles search for meaning and redemption and affect each other in ways they don't always see.
Director: Matthew Leutwyler
Stars: Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Zach Gilford, Dane Cook
I almost turned the movie off when the first scene was a guy wanting his girlfriend to spit sperm into a specimen cup after giving him a blowjob, and then a minute or so later, a black character tells her psychiatrist (the same guy,) that she doesn’t like black people. Weird. But I stuck it out, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting movie.
June 10 - Shrink (2009)
Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients.
Director: Jonas Pate
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Mark Webber, Keke Palmer, Robert Loggia
An odd movie that could have been much better. Spacey does his best, but it’s not enough to lift this movie out of mediocrity.
June 11 - Best of Enemies (2015)
A documentary on the series of televised debates in 1968 between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley.
Directors: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
Stars: Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, Dick Cavett, Paul Newman, Christopher Hitchens, Arthur Miller, Noam Chomsky
I remember my dad watching Buckley’s Firing Line. Buckely came across as an extremely intelligent man, but seeming to enjoy tearing people down. He found his match, and more, in Vidal. The clip where Buckley totally loses it, is priceless.
June 16 - The Big Wedding
A long-divorced couple fakes being married as their family unites for a wedding.
Director: Justin Zackham
Stars: Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams
Diane Keaton has done some great “late in life couple” movies (5 Flights Up, Darling Companion, Something’s Gotta Give,) so I was looking forward to seeing this one. But this is one of the dumbest, cliché ridden movie I’ve ever seen.
June 20 - Where To Invade Next (2015)
To learn what the USA can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer.
Director: Michael Moore
Stars: Michael Moore, Krista Kiuru, Tim Walker
Not exactly what I imagined, and not one of his best, though there were some interesting items sited that, yes, I’d love for us to have.
June 21 - Last Days In Vietnam (2014)
During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only--or to risk treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can.
Director: Rory Kennedy
Stars: Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Stuart Herrington
Compelling look at the mistakes made by those in charge, the acts of humanity by those below them, and the general confusion of most, in those final days. That same confusion seems to have followed us into the Middle East.
June 26 - Fireflies In the Garden (2008)
The Taylor family is devastated by an accident that takes place on the day their matriarch is due to graduate from college -- decades after leaving to raise her children.
Director: Dennis Lee
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Julia Roberts, Ioan Gruffudd
An intriguing premise which left too much unanswered. The ending was far too pat; dysfunctions like this family has don’t go away because of one event–or over night.
June 30 - The Finest Hours (2016)
The Finest Hours (2016)
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
Director: Craig Gillespie
Stars: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana
An interesting and solid movie. Not great, but not bad, either. Amazing story, in any event.
June 2 - This Property Is Condemned (1966)
In this film adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, Alva is a radiant Southern belle who clashes with her oppressive mother, Hazel. Hazel is trying to force Alva to take an affluent husband, but the young woman has eyes for Owen Legate, a handsome city slicker visiting their tiny Mississippi town. Hazel disapproves of Owen and forces him to stop seeing her daughter. In an act of revenge, Alva takes up with her mother's beau, J.J.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake, Jon Provost
I’ve seen this movie several times over the years, and still don’t know how I feel about it. Most of the characters, including Wood’s, aren’t at all sympathetic, so it’s hard to know who to root for, but that’s often the case with Williams’ plays. Redford is wonderful (as always *g*) but I’ve always felt that Wood was over-rated. She is here, in any event.
June 4 - Secret In Their Eyes (2015)
A tight-knit team of rising investigators, along with their supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Director: Billy Ray
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina, Michael Kelly
A compelling who-done-it that keeps you guessing. Roberts is outstanding as a grieving mother.
June 8 - The Revenant (2016)
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck
An entertaining chase movie that I felt went on a tad too long. Not to mention that too often the action relies on either some amazing coincidences, or some truly amazing bad luck. Plus, I thought the ending was kind of lame. And while DiCaprio does a really good job, I think the Oscar should have gone to Eddie Redmayne.
June 9 - Answers to Nothing (2011)
Against the backdrop of a missing girl case, lost souls throughout Los Angeles search for meaning and redemption and affect each other in ways they don't always see.
Director: Matthew Leutwyler
Stars: Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Zach Gilford, Dane Cook
I almost turned the movie off when the first scene was a guy wanting his girlfriend to spit sperm into a specimen cup after giving him a blowjob, and then a minute or so later, a black character tells her psychiatrist (the same guy,) that she doesn’t like black people. Weird. But I stuck it out, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting movie.
June 10 - Shrink (2009)
Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients.
Director: Jonas Pate
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Mark Webber, Keke Palmer, Robert Loggia
An odd movie that could have been much better. Spacey does his best, but it’s not enough to lift this movie out of mediocrity.
June 11 - Best of Enemies (2015)
A documentary on the series of televised debates in 1968 between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley.
Directors: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
Stars: Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, Dick Cavett, Paul Newman, Christopher Hitchens, Arthur Miller, Noam Chomsky
I remember my dad watching Buckley’s Firing Line. Buckely came across as an extremely intelligent man, but seeming to enjoy tearing people down. He found his match, and more, in Vidal. The clip where Buckley totally loses it, is priceless.
June 16 - The Big Wedding
A long-divorced couple fakes being married as their family unites for a wedding.
Director: Justin Zackham
Stars: Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams
Diane Keaton has done some great “late in life couple” movies (5 Flights Up, Darling Companion, Something’s Gotta Give,) so I was looking forward to seeing this one. But this is one of the dumbest, cliché ridden movie I’ve ever seen.
June 20 - Where To Invade Next (2015)
To learn what the USA can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer.
Director: Michael Moore
Stars: Michael Moore, Krista Kiuru, Tim Walker
Not exactly what I imagined, and not one of his best, though there were some interesting items sited that, yes, I’d love for us to have.
June 21 - Last Days In Vietnam (2014)
During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only--or to risk treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can.
Director: Rory Kennedy
Stars: Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Stuart Herrington
Compelling look at the mistakes made by those in charge, the acts of humanity by those below them, and the general confusion of most, in those final days. That same confusion seems to have followed us into the Middle East.
June 26 - Fireflies In the Garden (2008)
The Taylor family is devastated by an accident that takes place on the day their matriarch is due to graduate from college -- decades after leaving to raise her children.
Director: Dennis Lee
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Julia Roberts, Ioan Gruffudd
An intriguing premise which left too much unanswered. The ending was far too pat; dysfunctions like this family has don’t go away because of one event–or over night.
June 30 - The Finest Hours (2016)
The Finest Hours (2016)
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
Director: Craig Gillespie
Stars: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana
An interesting and solid movie. Not great, but not bad, either. Amazing story, in any event.
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no subject
Date: 2016-07-05 08:39 pm (UTC)Thanks for the recs.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-06 10:23 am (UTC)I seem to recall them showing Nixon a couple of times, but not as an interviewee, just older clips.