What Movies Are You Watching?

[AmeliaJane]

Went back and realized we have not had a general movies thread since 2011!

I had bad luck with movies for awhile but recently hit several that I liked:

Coraline: This stop-motion movie for children is fairly creepy, being based on a book by Neil Gaiman, but is really well-done. It would be a good Halloween watch if you don't want something really scary, and I liked the strong central character, who has more of a personality than you often find in animated movie heroines.

Whip It: Another movie with a strong young heroine. I was not convinced a movie about roller derby in Texas was going to do a lot for me, but in the end I liked it a lot. It was very warm-hearted, especially in the relationships with her family.

Battleship: This was not nearly as bad as the reviews made me expect--if you like human vs. aliens w. explosions, it was a perfectly respectable entry into that genre (just try to ignore the whole board game connection). It's not going to win any Oscars, but I had a good time with a bowl of popcorn on a Friday night.

What have you seen lately?

[MaryHu]

We watched "In Darkness" a true story about Jews in Nazi occupied Poland living in the sewer to avoid detection. They were there for 14 months. It's interesting how the sewer worker who was helping them goes from exploiting them for money to really caring about them. It also raised the question for me "Are there no conditions so bleak, horrible, hopeless, filthy and disgusting that won't cause humans to cease copulating?" Not a film for kids.

In the extras was an interview the the sole remaining survivor whose book "The Girl in the Green Sweater" was the basis for the movie. The film maker didn't know until after the film was made that any of these people was still alive. The author married a man who was saved by Oskar Schindler (sp?) of "Schindler's List" fame.

[MaryHu]

Also saw "Bernie" recently. What a strange and funny film. It's about the nicest guy in a small Texas town who kills the most hated woman in town and no-one wants to convict him. They had to move the trial!

[iris lily]

I've been on a documentary kick.

The last film I saw in a theater was 2016: Obama's America which is a documentary about Dinesh D'souza's theory of what makes Barack Obama tick. I had read up on the book and had read excerpts from it, and I didn't think that the film presented any new information.

A couple of other documentaries, one about our local organization that does work with street dogs, another about one about female artists, and Jesus Camp, were all fairly forgettable.

Last week I watched on dvd After the Wedding, a 2006 ?Danish? film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It was really very good and that plus several Scandinavian films I saw months ago convinced me to start up a Bergman film fest.

[Rogar]

I've been sort of in the movie doldrums, but a couple I enjoyed over the summer were The Three Stooges movie, which was just as silly and meaningless as the old series, but very good. And Geronimo: American Legend, which is an older classic western with supposedly accurate portrayal of the historic events and period detail.

[Square Peg]

DH and I went and saw Hysteria this weekend. Given the saucy material, I didn't expect it to be so sweet, but it really was.

[CathyA]

Last night we watched "Signs". I really like that movie, and I like being scared in that kind of way.....without gore.

[ToomuchStuff]

"Are there no conditions so bleak, horrible, hopeless, filthy and disgusting that won't cause humans to cease copulating?"

I think not. It is in ones DNA, and while some do struggle against it, the numbers and growing population, mixed with poor area's (where it is the entertainment), speak for themselves.

Only watched one movie this year, and have some old gift cards that still have money left on them. Coming into this year, this looked like the year of the remake with TON's of old rehashed idea's. The Avengers was entertaining, but when I was a kid, I liked comics. Considered that hotel movie about India, but didn't make it out to see it.

[AmeliaJane]

I liked "Signs" too! I have not cared for most of his recent movies, but M Night Shymalan did a great job with the "atmospheric scare" in his early work.

[RosieTR]

We saw Prometheus in the cheap theater (it's on DVD now I think). It got good reviews but darned if I could tell why. Maybe I should have watched the Alien series beforehand but it seemed just another run-of-the-mill sci-fi meets horror, without any of the creative psychological freakiness of the first movies. We also saw the Avengers which I liked more though it's pretty much on the high end of the typical hero action movie. In some cases it seems like every genre is getting very cliche, even indie films and documentaries. I would like to see Cabin in the Woods and also Seeking a Friend for the End of the World because at least they seem like a little bit of a different take on the typical movie. We'll see.