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The Last Film You Saw - 2017


Athena

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Just watched this too and was prepared to hate it because of all the changes but in fact enjoyed it .. probably because I knew it didn't stick that closely to the book. Hubby enjoyed it too though he hasn't read the book (and he did intend to but that's out of the question now .. he knows the twist!) I thought Emily Blunt was pretty fab.

The book is a million times better but I've seen far, far, worse.

 

Anyway, it was our Valentine's movie :D Not very romantic but there you go. I don't really do rom-coms :blush2:  

 

I hadn't read the book, so it was all a big surprise. Emily Blunt was excellent. Not a rom-com fan either, PoppyS, with a few exceptions (eg Love Actually and Bridget Jones)

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We went to the cinema yesterday to see La La Land.  The cinema website and another website I checked said it was 95 minutes, but it actually turned out to be two and quarter hours!  :o  But, I absolutely loved it from start to finish.  I can understand why it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I adored it.  Can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can watch it again. :wub:
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Yesterday we watched Batman V Superman. I liked it okay but I had a couple of issues with the film. There were too many characters, sometimes I couldn't remember who a certain character was. I admit it's partially because of my lack of skills in telling people apart. If two people look alike (in my eyes), I find it hard to tell them apart (it's an autism thing I think). I particularly recognise people by their hair (colour and hairstyle) so if two people have similar hair I find it difficult to tell them apart (and it's one of the reasons why it upsets me when people's hair suddenly looks very different after a major haircut). I also felt the movie was a bit too long, but my boyfriend wanted to watch the extended edition (Ultimate Edition?) so that could be why. I have trouble watching longer films so that doesn't help. There were some good scenes in the film that I quite enjoyed. I wasn't 100% keen on the ending (but it does make sense when you consider the history of DC's universe).

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Yesterday we watched Batman V Superman. I liked it okay but I had a couple of issues with the film. There were too many characters, sometimes I couldn't remember who a certain character was. I admit it's partially because of my lack of skills in telling people apart. If two people look alike (in my eyes), I find it hard to tell them apart (it's an autism thing I think). I particularly recognise people by their hair (colour and hairstyle) so if two people have similar hair I find it difficult to tell them apart (and it's one of the reasons why it upsets me when people's hair suddenly looks very different after a major haircut). I also felt the movie was a bit too long, but my boyfriend wanted to watch the extended edition (Ultimate Edition?) so that could be why. I have trouble watching longer films so that doesn't help. There were some good scenes in the film that I quite enjoyed. I wasn't 100% keen on the ending (but it does make sense when you consider the history of DC's universe).

 

I am sure I would find Batman V Superman way way way too long even without the benefit of autism  ;)

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I have decided NOT to waste a day off watching John Wick 2. My friend has already seen it and said it was not good. And he is really easy to please when it comes to this sort of film, so if he said it's bad it must be a complete stinker. 

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Yesterday we watched Batman V Superman. I liked it okay but I had a couple of issues with the film. There were too many characters, sometimes I couldn't remember who a certain character was. I admit it's partially because of my lack of skills in telling people apart. If two people look alike (in my eyes), I find it hard to tell them apart (it's an autism thing I think). I particularly recognise people by their hair (colour and hairstyle) so if two people have similar hair I find it difficult to tell them apart (and it's one of the reasons why it upsets me when people's hair suddenly looks very different after a major haircut). I also felt the movie was a bit too long, but my boyfriend wanted to watch the extended edition (Ultimate Edition?) so that could be why. I have trouble watching longer films so that doesn't help. There were some good scenes in the film that I quite enjoyed. I wasn't 100% keen on the ending (but it does make sense when you consider the history of DC's universe).

 

The first time I watched this, I found it boring and fell asleep after an hour. Hubby was determined to like it so repeatedly watched it until he 'got it'. :D It was better the 2nd time round, but it wouldn't feature in my top 10 films!  It's way too long and bloated.

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I have decided NOT to waste a day off watching John Wick 2. My friend has already seen it and said it was not good. And he is really easy to please when it comes to this sort of film, so if he said it's bad it must be a complete stinker. 

 

I watched the original John Wick the other day for the first time and it was enjoyable enough, but I did end up falling asleep 20 mins before the end (I seem to do that a lot lately :D).  I do like the video that's going around showing what would have happened if John Wick had died but the dog had survived. :D

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I am sure I would find Batman V Superman way way way too long even without the benefit of autism  ;)

Good to know it's not just me :).

 

The first time I watched this, I found it boring and fell asleep after an hour. Hubby was determined to like it so repeatedly watched it until he 'got it'. :D It was better the 2nd time round, but it wouldn't feature in my top 10 films!  It's way too long and bloated.

Good to know it's not just me who had trouble! It wouldn't feature in my top 10 films either, there are much better films around.

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Went to see Hidden Figures this evening.  Loved it, - a real must-see film.  The three lead actresses, Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae are outstanding, but the support is equally good.  It's an important story-line too, historically.  One of those films I want to shout from the rooftops, "Go and see it!"

 

Incidentally, Henson's performance for me knocked socks off Emma Stones's in La La Land (I haven't seen the others yet, but will see Portman's on Saturday), as did the film overall and the soundtrack, but no Oscar nomination.  What planet is the Academy on?

Edited by willoyd
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Went to see Jackie tonight.  There are some really good films around at the moment, and this is certainly one of them. 

 

Built around an interview of Jackie Kennedy by an unnamed reporter around a week after the JFK assassination (but based on one she gave to Theodore H White at that time) with much of the 'action' told in flashback, it examines the immediate aftermath of the shooting from Jackie's perspective.  It also provides an insight into how the JFK legend, particularly that of the White House as Camelot, came into being through Jackie Kennedy's determination that JFK's funeral would ensure he left his mark - there is a very telling moment in the film where Jackie questions the staff of the ambulance taking JFK's body to the autopsy as to whether they had heard of James Garfield, William Taft or Abraham Lincoln, the obvious results reinforcing her desire to model JFK's funeral on Lincoln's, even in the face of an awareness expressed by Bobby later on that the administration's abrupt demise had horribly limited its tangible achievements.  As Jackie says early on in the interview, the truth is what is written, and she's determined that it's the legend that will be written - and it is, almost literally as she insists that "There will be more great presidents, but only one Camelot" is included in the reporter's interview report.

 

Portman's portrayal is mesmerising, enhanced by the camera work which is amost claustrophobic in its intimacy.  The complexity, contrariness and self-contradiction of a woman under enormous emotional stress in such a publicly exposed position is vividly portrayed.  I also found the structuring of the plot enormously powerful, particularly in the way we don't see JFK himself until late on in the film, and images of those stunning moments in Dallas even later.  When they come, they are violently shocking - even though it's all well known history. 

 

So, that's two excellent films in three days - both, coincidentally, centred around contemporaneous events.  I've previously commented that I was surprised that Taraji P Henson hadn't received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Well, Natalie Portman has, rightly so.  I'd go further. This morning the Oscar report on the Today programme suggested that Emma Stone was favourite to win.  To my mind, that would be an absolute travesty of justice - Emma Stone is good, Henson is excellent, Portman, admittedly with a gift of a part, is extraordinary.  Again, I've not seen the others, but it is going to have to be something outrageously good to be better than this.  There are some good, largely understated, supporting performances too, especially from Peter Sarsgaard (Bobby Kennedy), Richard E Grant (Bill Walton) and Greta Gerweg (Nancy Tuckerman), although I found John Hurt just a little OTT for my taste.

 

Oh - and the score is amazing too.  Sorry if it sounds as if I'm getting at La La Land (I suppose I am - I found it all a bit underwhelming and even disappointing), but the soundtracks of both Hidden Figures and Jackie were better too - much better.  Jackie probably has the edge though.

Edited by willoyd
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Oh - and the score is amazing too.  Sorry if it sounds as if I'm getting at La La Land (I suppose I am - I found it all a bit underwhelming and even disappointing), but the soundtracks of both Hidden Figures and Jackie were better too - much better.  Jackie probably has the edge though.

 

Jackie's composer is Mica Levi, I'm a fan of her work in Under the Skin. I haven't seen Jackie yet, but I enjoyed La La Land's soundtrack. As for the Oscars, I'd be glad if Casey Affleck and Mahershala Ali got their awards, because I thoroughly enjoyed their performances - however, there's so much I haven't seen that I don't have an opinion on who should win. From the films I watched, I preferred Manchester by the Sea's plot, but I felt La La Land and Moonlight were better directed.

Edited by woolf woolf
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Testament of Youth which was/is on the BBC iPlayer. Sobbed through most of it .. excellent (the film not the sobbing .. though I do like a good cry every now and then :blush2:) I want to read the book, I've been meaning to for ages. I remember hearing an extract years ago and it absolutely rocked me. 

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I haven't seen Jackie yet, but I enjoyed La La Land's soundtrack.

I enjoyed it, but for a musical I found it rather bland - only one song came close to sticking, and that really only because they kept repeating it.

 

As for the Oscars, I'd be glad if Casey Affleck and Mahershala Ali got their awards, because I thoroughly enjoyed their performances - however, there's so much I haven't seen that I don't have an opinion on who should win. From the films I watched, I preferred Manchester by the Sea's plot, but I felt La La Land and Moonlight were better directed.

I've yet to see those other two - I'm hoping to get to Manchester by the Sea on Wednesday. So, like you, I'm fairly neutral on who wins, but of what I have seen, La La Land is definitely the most ordinary. It really doesn't stack up on 14 (?) nominations, and some of the nominations are only explicable in that it's a film about Hollywood, so nice familiar territory for the Academy members. In the Best Actress alone, it's inexplicable to me that Stone got a nomination ahead of Henson and Adams. I think it's particularly odd because, at least for me, there seems to actually be some really good stuff around this year. Could be a cultural thing though - I was chatting to two of my neighbours and both commented that they didn't know anybody directly who thought LLL was particularly special, and most felt it had been simply overhyped.

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Yesterday we saw Suicide Squad. I liked this movie more than Batman V Superman, it seemed to drag a bit less. I'm not big on villains, I much prefer the heroes, so I found it surprising that I did actually like the film. Not as much as some of the best Marvel ones, but I was able to sit through it and enjoy it.

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Manchester By The Sea tonight.  Little wonder that Casey Affleck won the best actor Oscar - superb performance.  Moving story of how a man's brother and son, along with various ex-wives and other relatives, handle the aftermath of his death.  Lee Chandler (Affleck) reluctantly returns to Manchester By The Sea, and not only has his brother's death to handle, but also the unexpected guardianship of his nephew, and the ongoing consequences of an horrific incident that eventually explains his reluctance and character.  I found it completely immersive, and was amazed when the credits started rolling - was that really two hours?!  The third in a row of outstanding films.

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