So you didn't like American Hustle?

Looked to me like they're both movies starring Christian Bale in an unrecognizable makeup job, with Amy Adams, based on a true story, with some drama and some dark comedy. I was delayed and just saw AH this year but I really enjoyed it a lot.

I thought Locke was a little too much like an abstract film project initially, but I’m enjoying this rewatch.

It is a little boring having the camera locked onto a guy in his car for 90 min, but Tom Hardy has to be one of the best actors for the job. Really impressive how he keeps subtly shifting characters every time he gets a different phone call.

I loved it.

The Favourite - this is good but not Metacritic 90 good. Emma Stone's accent is flawless. She's an impressive actor. I'm a huge Olivia Colman fun and thought this wasn't one of her best performances - obviously not a popular opinion.

If anything, Vice seems like a political version of The Big Short or Wolf of Wall Street.

Beautiful Boy - Amazon original that was Golden Globe nominated.
Good movie about drug addiction, Steve Carell plays the father.

I am so glad that back in the day I never tried Meth or Heroin.

The Big Short somewhat, and maybe W from what I recall. Not WoWS.

I liked it. One of my favorite parts was when they do the Fox News guy who runs the focus groups. Somewhat instructive actually about messaging/wording, perhaps some on the left will be inspired.

Also liked Bumblebee about as much as Spiderverse, both decent. I liked Spider-Man: Homecoming significantly better than Spiderverse.

The Innocents (1961) Horror movie about a governess that believes the children she is taking care of are possessed.

Pretty tame by today's standards. The creepiest part was Deborah Kerr making out with a young boy.

It's on Amazon? I thought it was in the theatres.

Yes.

Shirkers 2018

A documentary, available on Netflix, that chronicles a woman’s 25 year attempt to make a film in Singapore.

Don’t read anything about this.

JUST WATCH IT!

I absolutely loved this movie. It’s like being enveloped in a giant Meta-film blanket. If you love movies you will love this!

Top five of the year for me.

Grade: A

Saw Bad Times at the El Royale at my cheapo theater. I liked this one! Had some nice weird little touches but also felt like a fairly coherent story, which isn't that easy to carry off. Very strong cast too, with my boy Jeff Bridges leading the way.

i lasted about half way through. the whole thing was just lame to me. i couldn't care about the characters and the whole "everything" line b/w son and dad just erked me, they didn't explain it. i probably should watch it the whole way through , i am known for giving up on movies.

i am gonna go see spider verse.

Glass is getting hammered by the critics. I will still probably watch it just for McAvoy.

I'm in. I'll be flying home from Vegas on the one day it's showing in town, and will have just enough time to get to the theater from the airport.

Will review...

Wish I saw it in theatre. I watched it on Netflix.

They did explain it. Evidently you quit watching before it was explained.

Lol at needing it explained and not deducing what it meant before being explained. It was corny. But beside the point.

The movie is as close to real life family drama dealing with an addict as it gets.

Can’t think of a movie that has nailed it better.

Mid90s - One of my favorite movies of the year. My guess is if you are from 80’s-90’s surf, skate or freestyle world you will love it.

Before We Vanish (2018) I learned about this Japanese film from the best movies of 2018 2+2 thread. Watched on Hulu. Interesting to see its throwback style resembling the old Twilight Zone episodes. At its core it is about the "human condition" and morality but that is set within the plot of a low budget science fiction film about an upcoming alien invasion to destroy all humankind. Mostly there is a lot of dialogue and some martial arts fights and some simple special effects, automatic weapons, and aliens taking over human bodies, and all of it is a old-fashioned. You definitely can't guess what will happen in this plot since it is so weird. One nihilistic human voluntarily cooperates with the aliens. A wife re-examines her relationship with her husband and with her work. A Japanese Christian priest tries to explain the human concept of love to an alien. I'm not sure yet the ending makes sense, but the film was definitely worth watching for me for its guts. Grade B+.

Vice was better than I expected. Lot of the reviews I read thought the movie was too gentle on Cheney, I didn't get that vibe in the slightest. Director has an interesting style of telling stories through relentless fourth-wall breaking that sometimes gets tedious but is always memorable. It's a remarkably complex political story that should be for politics wonks only but the way it's presented makes it easy enough for general audiences to follow.

Vice I liked it overall but thought it has some tonal issues I really like McKay's tongue in cheek style but the last third of the movie where it starts to get serious the movie seems to fall flat or go on for too long. Still think the movie is good but there's something about the tonal shift that I didn't like.

Escape Room Just a fun, popcorn thriller. Some cool visual set pieces, dumb plot but overall fun. Probably not a "good movie" and I wouldn't recommend it but if you want to watch something and not think too much, this is fine.

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead Documentary that chronicles Orson Welles and the filming of The Other Side of the Wind.

This was interesting to me because I like movies and really like Orson Welles. Watching Huston, Bogdanovich and Rich Little was fun, as was seeing all of the behind the scenes footage. However, the documentary itself was sort of not good. It took me three sittings to get through it. I think "movie people" will like it, but I don't think it would be that interesting to others.

I thought it went really well with The Other Side Of The Wind, which I watched first.

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse It's so refreshing to see a superhero film that dares to take risks. It's more inventive in every way than any of the Marvel movies, while doing what they do better. The action scenes in this are actually well edited, comprehensible and have a sense of physical impact despite being animated. The animation is fantastic throughout; I'm not sure how to describe it but it is stunning, just look at some clips. Such a fun film.

Personal Shopper (2016) Kristen Stewart is excellent as Maureen, a young woman in Paris whose twin brother has recently died. Her grief and loneliness are intensified because she and her brother were psychic mediums, and he told her that he would try to contact her in some way from the spirit world, if it existed, after his death. She tries hard to receive his contact and does get contacted in various ways but is unsure if it is really him or somebody mysterious other. A murder occurs. Maureen engages in a mysterious phone texting sequence that is especially good. The movie is spooky, and psychological, and unpredictable, and I really liked it. I shouldn't since it was difficult to understand and may frustrate viewers. After I found some of the director’s comments, I think I figured out most of what he was doing. Grade A-