It's Back: Exceelent Movies I've Seen Lately

[Gregg]

My just turned 27 year old daughter came for dinner and a movie last night. We found out that she had never seen The Sting.

It is now one of her favorite movies.

The 1973 box office hit (about $900m in today's dollars) was nominated for 10 Academy Awards winning 7 including Best Picture. Mrs. Gregg and I had not seen it in many years. It was good for a revisit and to see the joy on our daughters face as a first timer.

[heyelander]

Saw Thor this weekend finally. At times it went too far with the goofy side of things. It seemed more like a movie about love and personal growth than a MCU movie, which I was fine with. There was a part in the middle which I felt was extraneous, but apparently it's the part that sets up new movies, so I guess that was a necessary accommodation. All that said, I enjoyed it. Not the best MCU entry, bottom quintile probably, but not an outlier bad movie like Thor 2 or The Eternals. I had a good time.

[revo]

Saw Thor this weekend finally. At times it went too far with the goofy side of things. It seemed more like a movie about love and personal growth than a MCU movie, which I was fine with. There was a part in the middle which I felt was extraneous, but apparently it's the part that sets up new movies, so I guess that was a necessary accommodation. All that said, I enjoyed it. Not the best MCU entry, bottom quintile probably, but not an outlier bad movie like Thor 2 or The Eternals. I had a good time.

I took the kids to see it yesterday. I nearly dozed off a few times. One guy behind me definitely did, he was snoring pretty loudly.

It was OK. Definitely bottom rung of the MCU

[revo]

I don't know how I feel about this!!!!!

[Gregg]

I don't know how I feel about this!!!!!

That is NOT Fletch!!

I am a fan of Jon Hamm and will gladly watch the movie. I don't care what you call him but he is not Fletch.

[revo]

Watched Elvis last night, and went into it not expecting much. But it far outperformed my expectations, and Austin Butler was so amazing as Elvis, I would say he's a top Best Actor oscar contender. In fact, the only thing drawing the movie back, surprisingly enough, was Tom Hanks' portrayal of Col. Tom Parker, who he gave an interestingly odd and sometimes indecipherable accent that, if you watch film clips, sounded nothing at all like the real Parker. Not exactly sure why that happened, and Hanks' performance probably drops the movie by a half a star. I would go so far to say it was the worst performance of Hanks' storied career. Still, if you can get past that, it's highly enjoyable. Probably a Best Picture contender as well.

[madducks]

Watched Elvis last night, and went into it not expecting much. But it far outperformed my expectations, and Austin Butler was so amazing as Elvis, I would say he's a top Best Actor oscar contender. In fact, the only thing drawing the movie back, surprisingly enough, was Tom Hanks' portrayal of Col. Tom Parker, who he gave an interestingly odd and sometimes indecipherable accent that, if you watch film clips, sounded nothing at all like the real Parker. Not exactly sure why that happened, and Hanks' performance probably drops the movie by a half a star. I would go so far to say it was the worst performance of Hanks' storied career. Still, if you can get past that, it's highly enjoyable. Probably a Best Picture contender as well.

Looking forward to this one. I'm expecting the bluray in the mail next week. Yeah, i'm a collector (probably about 800) instead of a streamer. Plus, i'm also a big fan of dvd extras. Sometimes the extras are longer (and better) than the movie. Any other movie collectors here?

[madducks]

Watched Elvis last night, and went into it not expecting much. But it far outperformed my expectations, and Austin Butler was so amazing as Elvis, I would say he's a top Best Actor oscar contender. In fact, the only thing drawing the movie back, surprisingly enough, was Tom Hanks' portrayal of Col. Tom Parker, who he gave an interestingly odd and sometimes indecipherable accent that, if you watch film clips, sounded nothing at all like the real Parker. Not exactly sure why that happened, and Hanks' performance probably drops the movie by a half a star. I would go so far to say it was the worst performance of Hanks' storied career. Still, if you can get past that, it's highly enjoyable. Probably a Best Picture contender as well.

I found "Elvis" to be disappointing. It was like watching a collection of music videos with a single movie scene inserted in between the videos. I prefer more story telling than this movie provided. And there was so much focus on Colonel Parker that Elvis almost seemed like the supporting role. The soundtrack was all over the place with rap music and even a Backstreet Boys song which didn't fit in at all with the time period. Now I need to rewatch the Kurt Russell "Elvis" movie from 1979 to remove the bad taste that this movie left me with.

[revo]

Confess, Fletch opened this weekend in a limited release of 517 theaters, but it bombed with just $124 per theater per day (just $260k gross nationwide).

[heyelander]

Is anyone excited about Avatar? Am I way off base that this seems like an incredibly expensive passion project for Cameron that no one wants or needs? I remember the last one being pretty neat from a visual respect, but I didn't really like any of the characters or find the world particularly compelling. On a scale of 0-10 my interest level is at about a 1.

[Pauly]

Am I way off base that this seems like an incredibly expensive passion project for Cameron that no one wants or needs?

Im pretty sure the folks at Disney would vehemently disagree with that last part. This is about to be marketed to the hilt.

[chancellor]

Is anyone excited about Avatar? Am I way off base that this seems like an incredibly expensive passion project for Cameron that no one wants or needs? I remember the last one being pretty neat from a visual respect, but I didn't really like any of the characters or find the world particularly compelling. On a scale of 0-10 my interest level is at about a 1.

Pauly's right that it'll get marketed to the hilt, but I pretty much agree with you. Plus, it's been about 12 years since the original came out, right? Even those who liked the movie and may have had something more of connection to it....man, that's a long time for a follow up.

[Ken]

Im pretty sure the folks at Disney would vehemently disagree with that last part. This is about to be marketed to the hilt.

My kids are excited

[heyelander]

My kids are excited

so you are about half excited?

[Ken]

so you are about half excited?

There are 2 of them, so I'm full excited.