Seen Any Good Movies Lately?

Killers of the Flower Moon was good, but not great. We enjoyed it.

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Anatomy of a Fall was interesting, but not amazing.

We’ve had so many discussions in our house about what will win best picture. And these devolve into discussions about best at what.

We watched Anatomy of a Fall a few days ago on streaming. It’s a long movie so we spread it over 2 nights, which is probably not ideal but how we do it at home. My spouse loses patience after about an hour if he’s not captive in a movie theater. I like it better after thinking about it for a few days and also reading the New Yorker review: “Anatomy of a Fall,” Reviewed | The New Yorker. There’s a huge portion of courtroom scenes interspersed with some flashback scenes and a few present time “after court” scenes. As a retired lawyer I was distracted by how procedurally different the trial in Grenoble was from an American criminal trial. I have no idea how realistic a depiction it was of how such trials are conducted in France but it amazed me as an American because of how freewheeling and chaotic it seemed: the defendant interrupting and arguing with the expert witness, the prosecutor engaging in total speculation without evidentiary foundation (that part reminded me of the Amanda Knox trial in Italy, with the prosecutor speculating about the female defendant’s supposed sexual motives). But the style, viewed as cinematic techniques, kept my interest even if puzzling and kept me guessing: what really happened?

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Not a movie, but a mini-series - “Alexander: The Making of a God” on Netflix. We binge watched it last weekend and thought it was well made.

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We’re enjoying it, too. You can tell it’s very low-budget, but it’s fascinating. The one woman historian who uses her hands so dramatically is a little distracting, though. :sweat_smile:

We saw “American Fiction” yesterday. Much better than I expected and while very entertaining, it also gave me a lot to think about.

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We stumbled “Rustin” upon this last night and thought it was good. My husband is older and remembered more of the era, but we both learned a lot. Lead character Baynard Rustin had double challenges of being black and gay in the 60s.

It is from Higher Ground Media (produced by the Obamas). We watched their “American Symphony” last month and will check out more of their titles.

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Finally watched Nyad. Absolutely loved watching Bening and Foster as real 60-something women. Great role models–both them and the women they played. (And realized I’ve been watching Jodie Foster since we were both kids and she was on Courtship of Eddie’s Father!)

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I loved Nyad too! Great subject matter (inspiring), well-done movie, and excellent acting! Particularly Josie Foster - she seemed to capture all the mannerisms and spirit of the person she played, so well!

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Netflix movie: “forgotten love” – really enjoyed it. It’s in polish; you do need subtitles; and my husband would not like it. But i did! its about a surgeon who loses his memory in the 1920s. . . . . I enjoyed; hopefully someone else will chime in!

Anyone see They Shall Not Grow Old? Looks very good but would love some feedback.

It’s very good - worth the watch. I saw it in the theater when it came out. The details are now fuzzy, but I remember walking out of the cinema rather awed. Really brilliant and emotional restoration of WW1 footage.

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@taverngirl we saw that movie, “They Shall Not Grow Old”. Wow and double wow. All original war footage from over 100 years ago. It starts out in black and white, smaller screen footage and then changes into color, full screen. You are right there in the war, and it’s all real. Incredible how they added color to this film. This is a must see film. It blew me away how often you see the soldiers smiling, under the worst of circumstances, and then I realized, duh, it’s because this is real, not a movie. They see someone filming them, they smile. Unlike actors, who are pretending that the camera isn’t there.

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“The Holdovers”. Very good.

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Free! Perfect for Black History Month.

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I read it before there was kindle, loved it but it was a heavy (literally) book.

We watched The Holdovers last night. We didn’t like it. Too slow and I didn’t like the ending.

I thought the ending was great. At the risk of spoilers…
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Everyone ended up in a better place and Hunham actually did make a difference in someone’s life.

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That’s one interpretation of the movie’s ending, but not mine.

Another one here who finally watched Nyad on Netflix. I enjoyed it (much more uplifting than Killers of the Flower Moon :wink:); husband liked it. But now I feel guilty that I don’t exercise enough!

I did really like how they interspersed historical footage with the movie, and the end credit scenes.

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