Yes, that’s one of my favorite movies in awhile. Gives you a lot to think about. It will be interesting visiting Poland in May.
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actually made it a double feature with 2000 original and it had a seamless segue.
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Watched Back in Action (Netflix) – it was predictable but OK. With this cast (Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, and a wildly underutilized Glenn Close) I guess I expected more.
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I had some free time for a change, and watched The Six Triple Eight yesterday (Netflix) - what a great film about a part of our US military history that is likely to be buried. I hadn’t heard of this battalion before and am impressed by who they are.
I recommend this film to anyone interested in the history of women in the military.
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I also watched this yesterday and enjoyed it very much.
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Watched this documentary last night.
https://films.nationalgeographic.com/sugarcane
The atrocities were not limited to Canada.
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I watched this yesterday — I knew it would be hard , but wasn’t prepared for the emotion. I am impressed with the filmmakers restraint in speaking with a quiet voice. The horror speaks for itself plenty loud enough.
Movies rarely make me cry, but this one did. Highly recommended nonetheless.
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I saw 2 movies in the past 2 days – The Platform and Trap. One was a “good movie” that on paper I should have liked, but I did not enjoy. One was not a “good movie”, but I really enjoyed it.
The Platform is a low budget Spanish movie involving a pit-like prison with 2 person cells in hundreds of descending levels. Food is lowered one by one through the levels, so prisoners on top levels eat in abundance, leaving little food for prisoners at the bottom levels, many of whom starve. Cells are shuffled each month. Some other movies of this genre have been among my favorites such as Cube (1997 version) and Snowpiercer. The Platform is acted well with good cinematography and direction, in spite of the low budget. It also has an interesting plot. Yet I did not particularly enjoy it.
My biggest issue was the blatant metaphor for the socioeconomic class system being constantly shoved down my throat. Plot events seemed to be driven by the best way to repeatedly hammer down the class metaphor and corresponding message, rather than to make the movie interesting. Each character represents a particular portion of society, such as the black guy who tries unsuccessfully to climb to the level above or the upper class administrator who voluntarily becomes a prisoner with her toy dog, with hopes to change the system by shouting to the people in cells below her to only eat the portions she sets aside. I would have preferred to instead focus on better understanding the prison world – both how it operates and how it came to be? Is it intended to be in our world? Is it possible to escape? I liked the idea of the protagonist trying to descend to the bottom of the pit, on the platform, but was unsatisfied with the conclusion and what he found at the bottom . I also found the gore and style of food gourging unpleasant to watch.
Trap is a M. Night Shyamalan thriller involving a Dexteresque style sympathetic psychopath killer who discovers the concert he is attending is a trap by FBI to catch him, with police and agents surrounding exits and checking everyone who leaves the concert.
The main problem with the film is it wants to be an intelligent cat and mouse game, where detective and criminal are each thinking 10 steps ahead of each other; but it does so using plot armor, unrealistic decisions, and coincidences. For example, just before the serial killer is about to press the fire alarm he hears the FBI agent warn agents that the serial killer realizes he is cornered is likely to create a diversion by pressing the fire alarm, so check every male who leaves during the commotion. With that warning, he chooses a different strategy. The serial killer is only able to be successful through wild coincidences and characters making bad decisions like this. The characters often made decisions inconsistent with their personality to facilitate plot events, and some of the acting was noticeably bad, particularly M Night Shalaman’s daughter (was not given role because of her acting ability). Trap also doesn’t have the shocking twist that MNS movies are famous for and many viewers expect.
Nevertheless, I found Trap really fun to watch and enjoyed it. While the movie could not possibly occur in real life, I still couldn’t predict what was going to happen. The premise of a serial killer at a concert with swarms of teenage girls swooning over a popular singer that to the audience seems nothing special also makes a really interesting background. I particularly enjoyed the interactions with Jody’s mom, trying to smugly act like she and her daughter are the better family, yet has trouble controlling her daughter who screams with jealously when her frienemy gets to go on stage. Parts of the movie feel like a relatable satire about typical suburban life.
We watched Joy: The Birth of IVF tonight. We’ll watch anything with Bill Nighy and weren’t disappointed. Even though we knew the ending (beginning?), the story was captivating and well told. We both shed happy tears at the end, although the epilogue was bittersweet.
Hurray for science!
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I just finished watching a Netflix movie this afternoon. The name of it is “Here”. It’s a different movie, and touching and made me sniffle at the end.
Not to give anything away, but my teary emotions might be because we bought my parents home they lived in for 17 years (last home they bought before moving to Florida). We’ve been here for 30. So it’s been a major part of our lives. My kids know no other home.
Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Kelly Reilly (Beth from Yellowstone), Michelle Dockery.
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Agree! Movie critics gave a bunch of thumbs down to Here, but we loved it. A side note: this is not apparently a made for Netflix movie. It was in the theaters briefly and is now available on several streaming platforms, including Netflix. We watched it on Prime. The unusual thing about the movie is that the camera filming the action never moves from a single spot. This is what drove the critics crazy, apparently. Worked for us!
Our house is not new. It changed ownership several times before us. I researched the previous owners a little and found some interesting stuff. So yes, the movie resonated with us.
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First time I’ve encountered this. I searched Netflix for Here and it said it is not available on ad-supported plans. So I checked Prime Video and it is only available to buy or rent. Oh well.
It was in theaters not so long ago, so maybe that’s why it is not a freebie yet. We had digital rewards $$ for Prime so it was “free” to rent for us.
Hmmm, I just double checked Netflix. It was free. We don’t have ads.
The camera not moving is what made it so cool. I’m going to have to read their reviews.
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We do have ads. That’s why I couldn’t get it.
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Same here. I’ve been waiting for this to come to a streamer I have. This is the first time I’ve been a second class Netflix citizen on my ad-supported plan. The dvd is now in my hold queue at the library. (Referring to the movie “Here” in case that got lost in the discussion.)
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think of it as a sequel to eyes wide shut
We’ve had Netflix for so long I didn’t even know they do ads.
I was unimpressed. There was a lot of grumbling about Kidman not getting an Oscar nod, but I’m not on that list .
Two people who usually like Nicole Kidman said that movie was pretty bad.
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