'Selfless'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I'd intended to see The Post today, but a migraine coma derailed my afternoon moviegoing and I feel way too groggy and dizzy to go to an evening show now. Maybe tomorrow afternoon.
I'd also vaguely like to see Darkest Hour, but not enough to see a 2-hour spinach movie that starts at 9:40 pm.
I agree entirely with Vonnie about I, Tonya.
I have been hearing amazing things about Paddington 2.
I suspect it will suffer the same fate as Babe 2: Pig in the City (also an unexpectedly great sequel that didn't find its audience).
I always thought Gremlins 2 was a better movie than the first one.
Paddington 2 has been a massive hit in the UK and it's extremely well reviewed. It's no Pig in the City. But yeah, go see it.
The animated pop-up book sequence which Vonnie mentions is an homage to the Paddington TV series British kids grew up with in the late '70s and early '80s. Paddington was a little 3D model and everything else was drawn in 2D, and it was narrated by Michael Hordern. It was lovely. Lots of it on youtube.
Going to see The Shape of Water today, using moviepass for the first time.
Saw The Post yesterday and enjoyed it. It was beautifully cast. Streep was wonderful, as usual, but so was Carrie Coon and, well, everyone. I did not think Hanks' performance was weak, but it just can't live up to Robards in the same role. There were a couple of Spielbergian on-the-nose moments, but also some wonderful subtlety. I love that Graham saying "I'm not speaking to you right now" and turning away was such a tiny moment but said so much about her taking her power. I heard a couple of gasps in the audience.
I saw it today and liked it very much. I think The Shape of Water suits my sensibilities better, but I kind of want this to win Best Picture so it underscores how the press is *supposed* to report on political corruption.
But this second movie is on another level. It is a hilarious and heartwarming delight, and is honestly fucking magical in some of its visual imagination. There is a sequence involving a pop-up book that was so lovely, it made me well up and took my breath away. The characters, especially the damn bear, will give you ALL the feelings.
I haven't seen either Paddington movie, but this is a little bit of how I feel just having watched Brigsby Bear, which came out earlier this year. I don't know if it is streaming, but I got it on DVD from the library. So sweet and sad and heartwarming. Highly recommended.
Also, I finally got out to Phantom Thread. I don't really get the Rebecca comparisons. In fact, I rather think they led me astray regarding how to interpret the characters at first.
I liked it, but it didn't wow me. Except for the score, which I agree was magnificent. I suppose I don't see why it is a love/hate movie either, but, then again I hated both The Master and Inherent Vice and other people don't understand that. Still, I was happy to finally see something by PTA that I liked again though I don't expect it to dethrone There Will Be Blood or some of his other earlier stuff for me.
I saw The Greatest Showman last night. It was fun, and I'll watch Hugh Jackman singing and dancing his heart out as often as he wants to do so. But I suspect The Shape of Water will stick with me a lot longer. It's like comparing cotton candy and lobster rolls—there's not a lot of similarity between them (aside from the fact that they're both movies).