Re: Good (or bad) Movies PART 2

[LennG]

It's been a while since we sat and watched our usual Friday Night movie, but last night we had a chance to continue tradition and we watched the latest in a seemingly endless parade of 'Ape' movies, this one 'War For the Planet of the Apes'.
So where to begin. I was always a fan of the first few 'Ape' movies, with the original Planet of the Apes, just a true classic now. Then they really started getting silly with it, so I just couldn't watch anymore. Later on they redid the original with Mark Wahlberg which really didn't amount to much. Later still, they thought to revive it once again, because now, with computer graphics they could do wonders with these apes and special effect. Which now brings us to the latest chapter and by my voice, hopefully to the Hollywood higher ups, the last in this series. There is nothing more you can do.

So, here we are Apes vs Humans. Caesar is still in charge of the Apes, and a military colonel, played wonderfully by Woody Harrelson is in charge of the humans, now an Army. Caesar is all for peace but the Colonel is not and wants them eliminated. So the over 2 hour movie is just that, only instead of battles, get talk, and more talk and still more talk. I understand that this movie got pretty good reviews, which leads me to think that the series may not be dead, but I didn't find this movie all that interesting. They tried to make it more intellectual, I guess, by prodding into the minds of Caesar and the Colonel, which did come down to one dramatic battle towards the end, but FOR ME, I was dissatisfied with the movie overall. 

If you are into these 'Ape' movies and cannot get enough of them, see it, you probably will like it. Going in, I fully expected to like it and it's not that I disliked it, it was OK, but I found it slow and a bit boring. The Apes talk in such a slow, drawn out process where I almost nodded off a couple of time.

I would recommend it if you 'LOVE' the Ape movies. I would not recommend it for young children as there is violence, several 'nice' character do get killed, but no cursing and no sex, not even monkey style.

[The Chief]

In as few words as possible, what exactly is "monkey style"?

[LennG]

In as few words as possible, what exactly is "monkey style"?

come on Chief, your old enough to figure that one out.   

[jimv]

Lenny, you remarked that the first on is a real classic.  I'll leave it at that.  I have seen NONE of them after that.

[LennG]

last night my DW was playing with my grandchildren, so myself and my son wanted to watch a movie. Several we wanted to watch weren't available then, so we settled on a sort of low budget, mystery type movie, 'Wind River' starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen  and another cast of people I've never heard of. But that didn't make too much difference.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl

Jeremy Renee is a hunter for the Fish & Game commission in a remote area near Lander, WY. His main job is to control wildlife encroachment into populated areas. He's called on by the tribal chief from the local reservation, to which he has family ties, to help solve the death of the daughter of one of his Native American friends. We learn that his own 16 year old daughter was raped and left to die in the wilderness a few years before. That case was never solved. He blames himself because he and his wife were gone for a weekend get-a-way when she disappeared from an unchaperoned party at his house. The FBI sends only one agent to investigate, so he agrees to help her and the chief find out who caused the death of the girl.

I liked this movie. It had a very quiet undertone, and Renner was quite good in his role. It held my interest most of the way, just with a few slow spots. There isn't a whole lot of action and NOTHING get blown up, so I would call this a sort of Adult type mystery. There is some shooting, some killings, but overall, it is very well done and I would recommend it to anyone.

I would not let children see this as you can see thru the storyline it is more for adults and, as I said, there are killings and blood.

If you want an enjoyable couple of hours spent in the high mountains of a very cold Wyoming, see it, I think you'll like it.

[jimv]

Yesterday I got "Victoria and Abdul" and today I watched it.  Judi Dench gave her second great impersonation of Queen Victoria.    I found it to be an extremely interesting movie & it held my attention throughout.  Acting was excellent!  But, I'd only recommend it to History buffs or Anglophiles.  It doesn't fit into today's  type of sensational blow-em-up type movies.  Let's put it this way; if you enjoyed "Mrs. Brown," you'd enjoy this film.

[LennG]

Gosh, we haven't watched any recently releases in quite some time, but that doesn't mean we have stopped watching movies. So many 'older' movies have been viewed the past few months, some good, some bad some I just marvel at 'old school Hollywood'.. Anyway, being it the Holiday season, we have started watching the big 4 of holiday movies that we watch every year.

Miracle on 34th St (old version)--one of my all time favorite movies. Edmund Gwenn is just perfect in the part of Kris Kringle and add to that the remarkable supporting cast, well, I would watch this movie even it if weren't the holiday season. I remember when this was on every Thanksgiving Day and now before Christmas. I know many of the lines by heart, but once it starts we are hooked for the next couple of hours.

A Christmas Story--On every year continually for 24 hours on Christmas Eve thru the next day and we ALWAYS manage to watch the entire movie, even if not on one sitting. Even before I got fixated on this movie, I was a huge Jean Sheppard fan (the author and storyteller). If you never read other things by him and you like stories like a Christmas Story, you will love the others. Anyway, I think everyone knows the story of Ralphie and his desire for that Red Ryder BB gun, and let's not forget that lamp. That has become an American icon all by itself. Funny though, the boy who stars in the movie, Peter Billingsly who was so great in that part, never really did another thin of note in Hollywood. But anyway, just a holiday tradition and I can't wait till Monday to watch it again.

A Christmas Carol--How many versions of this have been made and most are all pretty good. I happen to really like the one where George C Scott plays Scrooge, but the all time best was Allister Simms version as Scrooge. Again, we all know the story, probably all grew up on it, and there are parts that sort of drag a bit today, but once it gets going and just to marvel at Simm's Scrooge, especially after he wakes up Christmas morning, is just a joy. We have already watched it and still love to revisit it every year.

Last, but not least is my DW's favorite ALL TIME movie, It's a Wonderful Life. I'm sure there are people out there that do not like this movie, though I haven't met them. Just a wonderful story that grabs you and never lets go. When it came out it was a hit, nominated for 5 Oscars and only won one for the new way they made snow. Later fell out of favor, but when it started showing up on in the 60's, on basically every late night TV channel, people started watching again and it became maybe the best of all the holiday movies. To this day, when Harry comes in, at the end, and toast his brother, I still get a tear in my eye. It really gets to you.
On a side note, we went to a lecture on the making of It's a Wonderful Life, the other day and learned some great facts about how it was made, the cast and why they were selected and several very interesting trivia on the movie. Today only 2 cast members are still alive, ZuZu (who was named after a cookie, out at that time--Jimmy Stewart says when he returns and hugs her, ZuZu, my little Gingerbread cookie) and one of the boys who played one of the kids at the beginning.
Cary Grant was the original cast member for George Bailey, but the movie snagged before production and he couldn't do it. Frank Capra then insisted on Jimmy Stewart, who just returned form WWII and was in a deep depression after the war. Capra personally visited Stewart and basically conned him into doing it and, as we say, the rest is history.

Anyway, there are my Holiday movie watches and all, even knowing them so well, are still enjoyable and it wouldn't be a holiday season without all of them.

[jimv]

Excellent list, Lenny!!!  Some comments:

I agree that Scott's "Christmas Carol" was top notch.  Still I prefer Sims' one more. 

"...Wonderful life" was a flop when it first came out.  As you said, it picked up it's appeal when its copyright ran out & it was shown on just about every TV channel in the country.  I love it!  An absolute fabulous cast!

Two Stanwyck movies are Christmas classics also - "A Night to Remember" & "Christmas in Connecticut."

Another one that I like very much is "I'll be Seeing You" with Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten & Shirley Temple.

Then, of course, there's the worst named Christmas movie, "In the Good Old Summertime."

[LennG]

Some other great choices Jim.

So many people think of White Christmas when they think of holiday movies, but the only real redeeming thing about this dud of a movie was Bing singing t he title song.

[LennG]

I know I ma very late to the party with this movie, but I finally got around to watching 'Dunkirk' in it's entirety last nite. I know there was a topic on this movie when it first came out, but I'm not sure it was ever really reviewed. So here goes just my take on it.

I am a huge fan of 'war' and military type movies, especially historical dramas that tell a story that many, many, too many Americans just never learned in school or really had no interest in learning. For my part, too many of these so called 'historical' dramas spend too much time on Hollywoodizing rather than on real facts.
Myself, I know of the story of Dunkirk but not really into all the details, which got me to look it up and read some things about the real events.

I feel the movie captured a small part of what Dunkirk was about. I do not know if the director wanted to tell the story of Dunkirk or just sort of follow a small group of the soldiers and have you feel what they felt and what they went thru? So, overall, the movie was good. Myself, I didn't get the feel that it was a superior type movie though. It told the story it wanted to tell, but if it was the intent to tell the story of Dunkirk, I felt it failed overall.
I know this movie got great reviews, picture of the year maybe, but overall, myself again, I really didn't get into the movie to feel part of the action and story.
Dunkirk was a huge success story for the British overall, and gave newly elected Winston Churchill something to try and build on. Overall Dunkirk was a huge disaster for the British and the French, but the Germans 'blew it big time' by not advancing on the trapped soldiers and wiping them all out. But that is a story for anot4her discussion.

So, I would recommend the movie, especially to anyone who knows nothing of the Dunkirk evacuation, how it was done etc. But overall, it will not be in any top 10 movies of mine, of the year and especially war genre movies.

[jimv]

When it first came out, I "reviewed" it.  (I don't know how many pages back.)  But, I was disappointed just like Lenny.  I always felt the biggest part of the Dunkirk story was the British private boat owners who  too their boats across the Channel to pick up the soldiers. (It was a major part of "Mrs. Miniver.")  This movie gave it only token mention.

[LennG]

Jim

Not to belabor this movie as there were some really good moments/ But, as I said, we just do not know if the director was trying to tell the story of the evacuation of Dunkirk or just tell the story of a few participants?

Myself, it seemed to jump just a but too much, from the Navy, to the Infantry, to the RAF. It was a sort of mish mash of events that were tried to be blended together.

I would have told the story another way.

[jimv]

So would I.

[Jim143]

To touch on Christmas (time) movies that are always playing in our house this time of the year - 5 versions of A Christmas Carol.  I love both the Sims and Scott versions, We throw in the 1938 version for good luck.  My wife loves the Patrick Stewart & Kelsey Grammer versions.

Follow that up with a must in our house: Scrooged with Bill Murray and of course A Wonderful Life.

Other "honorable" mentions that we like to watch are Christmas Vacation, Grinch, and while not technically a Christmas movie, it does take place around Christmas time - Better off Dead (I usually watch that one alone or with the boy when he is home. But all know "I want my two dollars!)

I was floored the other night when we watched the Sims (1951? version) - On the info for the movie, under cast and crew, it listed the "Undertaker" being born in 1879.  Granted, the movie came out 66? years ago, and most of them have long since passed on, but sitting here in 2017 watching an individual that was born in 1879 just blew my mind.  I didnt have the heart to look at the birthdates of the actors from the 1938 movie.

[jimv]

In the 1938 "Christmas Carol," Gene Lockhart played Bob Cratchit, his wife Kathleen played his wife and his daughter June played one of the children.  June later became famous for playing "Lassie's Mother."