[mutabor]

  Hidden Figures (2016)  6.5/10

 
Nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
 
Looks like one of the major films of the year.
 

Oscar Nominations 2017: 14 for ‘La La Land,’ and 6 for Black Actors

Oscar voters showered the neo-musical “La La Land” with 14 nominations on Tuesday, a tie with “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for the most in Academy Award history. But the academy also moved past two #OscarsSoWhite years by honoring six black actors — a record — and including diverse films like “Moonlight,” “Fences” and “Hidden Figures” in the best picture race.

 
Looking forward for anti-Trump speeches by many winners at Oscars ceremony and overall anti-Trump atmosphere while praising diversity, minorities rights. Also bet that "Moonlight" will win Best Picture.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
Nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
 
Looks like one of the major films of the year.
 

 

 
Looking forward for anti-Trump speeches by many winners at Oscars ceremony. Also bet that "Moonlight" will win Best Picture.

Don't give a Flyin F over what the nominations are. No performance in that film was in any way outstanding. More likely than not this is purely kneejerk reactionism from the Academy over their pasting for overlooking significant performances by non white actors in the past.
 
 Oscarworthy was actually Will Smiths performance in Concussion.  That got ignored for several reasons. One his ties to Scientology, Two his previous performances. So while the politicos will give Zeta Jones an Oscar because hubby lobbied for it, pure performance in a film gets overlooked.
 
If that is a major film of the year we can thank the Academy for sparing us the financial burden of of watching a film in 17 and wait to spend our money until 2018.
 
  Think of the Oscars as a film version of HF, fanboyism and political cowtowing will always push the chaff to the top

 

[mutabor]

   
  Think of the Oscars as a film version of HF, fanboyism and political cowtowing will always push the chaff to the top

 
The Oscars are very powerful in the world. Many people watch movies just because they won or were nominated at Oscars. 

 

[Hutnicks]

   
The Oscars are very powerful in the world. Many people watch movies just because they won or were nominated at Oscars. 

That does not in any way make them a reflection of the calibre of the films they hawk. Take a giant step back and see them for what they are. A marketing ploy originally designed to help actors gain leverage against a horribly lopsided studio system which paid the talent nothing. Now exploited to the point where things are so out of balance that an Oscar win is worth as much as the GDP of many small countries to an actor or director. It's consumerism at its very worst and the crud turned out in Hollywood now reflects as much.

 

[WraithApe]

 
The Vampire - 5/10
 
Not a classic by any means, but not without its charms, including some amusingly rudimentary transitions and fearsomely bushy eyebrows. Just an old-fashioned B movie really, typical of the era. The title's a bit of a misnomer - it's more Jekyll and Hyde than Dracula.

 

[Br777]

La La Land - 5/10
 
I honestly don't get it. There was just nothing special about this movie and I'm not being a hater.  I have nothing against a good musical, but this just wasn't that.  The acting was fine, but that was about it. the plot was boring, the ending was weird, the music was not particularly great, nor the singing or dancing. 
I honestly do not understand why this movie got anything but a collective "meh" from moviegoers or critics.  Do people really love seeing emma stone and ryan gosling together THAT much?
 
I definitely don't see this movie as oscar material, not even close, not to mention everywhere I look the positive comments and reviews seem sparse at best.

 

[tdockweiler]

Beetlejuice - 6/10
 
This used to be a favorite as a kid, but now I can barely finish it. Hard to believe this came out when I was 8 (now 36!)
 
Liked the waiting room scenes, Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice and the soundtrack. Not much else.
The first 20 minutes are actually the best part of the movie and not much happens!
 
BTW I can't believe "Sully" wasn't nominated for Best Picture.
"Hidden Figures" didn't deserve a nomination for that. Same goes for "Arrival".
I gave Hidden Figures a 9/10 though.

 

[mutabor]

del

 

[WraithApe]

  Hidden Figures
 
Reviewers write about how this film is about important social message but they don't write about artistry of this film. But even when they write about quality of the film per se they use such phrases as "a crowd-pleaser", "feel good movie", "populist" - the type of a movie which shouldn't get permission in a serious film festival like the Cannes for example ( in main program). When populist feel good crowd-pleasers crowd film festivals it will lead to degradation of movie making as an art.
 

 
Maybe you should see it and judge for yourself? You seem very interested in what everyone else is saying about it...

 

[mutabor]

del

 

[WraithApe]

 
I know what I will see. The only difference will be shades of criticism: firm dislike ( 5/10), moderate dislike ( 6/10), whatever ( 7/10). 

 
Maybe so, but I'd still be more interested in getting your take on a film you've seen than in reading a bunch of quotes from anonymous critics. As a general rule. 

 

 

[Hutnicks]

Norwegian Ninja (2010) 7/10 (on the so bad its good meter)
 
 
A thousand Krone and a bag of fritos budgeted cold war spoofer which takes notorious Norwegian espionage convict Arne Treholt and turns him into one of the Kings own Ninjas working undercover to defeat both the Soviets and the Americans. Rips on the political situation abound and a lot of the humour is lost in the almost incoherent direction and editing. By the time you catch up with the plot by piecing everything together it's too late. Conceptually brilliant but past B quality in execution, they took too many of their own jokes and put them in the script which makes it a grind.
 
 Still, the secret island training camp protected by Feng Shui and the set up is good. This could have been Scandinavia's "Big Trouble in Little China" with a better budget and a couple of rewrites.
 
Watch this if you have a weakness for really bad films that make you laugh.
 
Split (2016)  9/10
 
                                      Lost the single point due to M Night not being able to check his impulses near the end (which, given the nature of the film he really should have). Forgive the ending by simply looking at it as Shyamalan's realization that this is his best film since Unbreakable and it is less trite. To the film. Wildly over the top take on MPD and it's ramifications will have the medical profession screaming with outrage. Hey it's just a film.  Funny there was no transgender protests over Silence of the Lambs back in the day.
 
 A stunning film at that. The minimal cast here lets the director get back to his most creative and work the living daylights out of the leads. McAvoy gets to sink his teeth into a role that actors dream of ( I bet Dan Radcliffe is suicidal at not getting a shot at this one) and makes more than the most of it. His performance is brilliant from his first frame right up to the end. Betty Buckley, dear lord have not seen her since 8 is Enough was on the TV a waaay back, gets a workout here to. Well played as an anchor and relief to the diabolical goings on. Anya Taylor-Joy makes up for the ever so deadpan Morgan with a performance that could well have been stampeded over by McAvoy's but manages to hold her own quite well here. The backstory is just enough and does not distract from the film, something M Night was excellent at in his earlier films and lost his touch for later on. This is efficient film making at it's best, no fat in there and it plays out faster than it's runtime would have you believe.
 
 I'd rate this as Shyamalans best film and it is the only one of his since Unbreakable that I would watch again.

 

[tdockweiler]

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage - 8/10
 
Some bad acting and special effects, but I actually really liked this. Nicolas Cage did OK here I thought.
The reviews are a bit unfair, but I can understand why some would hate this movie.
I think this one must be pretty accurate, but i'm sure they added some extra nonsense at the start of the movie.
 
Best scenes where when they were out on the ocean on life rafts and trying to stay alive with sharks all around them (150-200 at one point).
These scenes were done way better than in "Unbroken", which I found to be a TERRIBLE movie. Angelina Jolie and the screenwriters ruined his amazing story.
 
It's also better than "Emperor" which has even worse acting. Some parts reminded me of that.
There's also a TV movie of the USS Indianapolis story that's really good too.
 
This movie cost $40 million to make and for that i'm still a bit surprised the special effects were so bad.

 

[Hutnicks]

Sea of Trees (2015) 3.5/10
 
 
  What could have been an intriguing West meets East film here is completely destroyed by the most foolish of coincidences ever committed to film. Instead of a creepy supernatural vibe you get

 
Inducing occurrences which, by the third instance are so expected that any big "surprise" the film may have had you see coming a mile away. I would have expected Van Sant to be a little more savvy and not pander to the pablum crowd.
 
 Good Will Hunting......this ain't.

 

[tdockweiler]

Against the Sun - 9.5/10
 
Found this to be a real hidden gem. It's about 3 WWII pilots who are lost at sea. It's based on a true story.
Sadly, this only made $5,000 at the box office. It's free on Amazon prime.
For being a low budget movie, the acting is actually really good. The special effects are convincing enough too.
 
 
 
A Man Named Ove - 9/10
 
Found this to be kind of inspiring and made me think a lot about certain things. I really need to read the book.
I could totally relate to this movie.
Unfortunately they really piled on the sad scenes towards the end and it got a bit ridiculous.
At times I felt like I was watching Forest Gump X10. I still loved it though. Haven't seen a movie this sad in awhile. It's not depressing or a downer though.
I will eventually watch this one again. Reminded me a lot of "Schultze Gets the Blues", which is a way more restrained movie and nowhere near as sad.
This is still at some theaters but you can already rent it.