What Movies Did You Watch in December 2020?

The Right Stuff: 7/8 Yep still good. Lots of favorite scenes. One of the most important was to salvage Grissom's reputation. Though I think most forget that part.

Moneyball: 5/8 Had never seen it. Had a binomial distribution so what’s not to like. Enjoyed the characters, I will probably rewatch.

Soul 6/8 Terrific premise. I looked forward to it. Not quite pulled off. I enjoyed the main characters and the setting. Mostly I couldn’t sync with the movie. Scenes that grabbed my interest were too short and there were long scenes that I couldn’t wait to be over. I'll probably rewatch just to see if I missed something that would have made it more focused to me.
 
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WW1984: 3/8 My favorite bits of the first movie was the charm of seeing the world through new eyes and the alternate WWII history which makes this character unique. This didn’t have that charm and the character had no real world purpose. Went more for a comicy vibe than a comic character in a real setting.

Didn’t seem to know what it wanted to say. Like the first movie, it started in flash back to give the premise of the movie, winning fairly is the only way to win. Lost focus many times and then really jumped the shark. Turns out winning by cheating has a happy ending, regardless you just killed probably thousands.

Wiig, no. Only okay as the bumbling nerdy and terrible as the villain. Pine played, Pine. Same shtick as Star Trek. Gadot wasn’t given much to do but be arm candy.

I could see no purpose behind the 1984 setting other than making a demeaning Reagan characiture. Used a villain those not familiar might think was created for the movie to represent a certain real person. But no. He was created in comics years ago, to represent a certain real person and was a convenient, probably purposeful go to. This was distracting. Spoilers (in the comics, in one of DC’s alternate.. realities, WW snapped his neck because he wouldn’t promise to behave).
 
eastisbest said:
The Right Stuff: 7/8 Yep still good. Lots of favorite scenes. One of the most important was to salbage Grissom's reputation. Though I think most forget that part.

Moneyball: 5/8 Had never seen it. Had a binomial distribution so what’s not to like. Enjoyed the characters, I will probably rewatch.

Soul 6/8 Terrific premise. I looked forward to it. Not quite pulled off. I enjoyed the main characters and the setting. Mostly I couldn’t sync with the movie. Scenes that grabbed my interest were too short and there were long scenes that I couldn’t wait to be over. I'll probably rewatch just to see if I missed something that would have made it more focused to me.
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Been waiting for the Right Stuff to go on sale. Don’t want to pay $16.


I also recommend the show on Disney+. It’s been pretty good as well.
 
The Trial of the Chicago (8) 7. 7/8 I suppose there is a lot of changing of reality that would be objectionable to some but I enjoyed it, so. 7pts. A definite rewatch for me.
 
PantherProud said:
Been waiting for the Right Stuff to go on sale. Don’t want to pay $16.


I also recommend the show on Disney+. It’s been pretty good as well.
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On sale? I don't understand? I'm talking about the movie, not the series. "Yep, STILL good." I didn't care for the portion of the series I did watch.
 
The Crown: season 4: 6/8 About the 3rd episode I was determined not to like it, poorly done about characters I didn’t like. Bored I finished and ended up liking it. Has some definite high points.
 
eastisbest said:
On sale? I don't understand? I'm talking about the movie, not the series. "Yep, STILL good." I didn't care for the portion of the series I did watch.
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Yes, been waiting for the movie to go on sale. Vudu has it at $14.99 right now. They do sales every week. It will be on sale at some point.
 
Purplemojo said:
White Christmas (1954) - Watched it again for the nth time. Good film with great musical numbers. I am a sucker for Rosemary Clooney. Everyone knows that Rosemary got her start at WLW in Cincinnati. I didn't realize until yesterday that her co-start Vera-Ellen grew up in Norwood and took dance lessons with that other famous Cincinnatian, Doris Day.

Two things always distract me when watching the film; Crosby seems too old and stiff for his role and Vera-Ellen is too darn thin. Crosby's singing and Vera-Ellen's dancing make up for it though and Danny Kaye is always a joy to watch.

6/8
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Vera-Ellen ~35-23-35 :love:

Did you spot Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer?

:>---

SALT
 
PantherProud said:
Yes, been waiting for the movie to go on sale. Vudu has it at $14.99 right now. They do sales every week. It will be on sale at some point.
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Been so long since I bought anything, I'd forgot you could do that. Amazon has it for $10. How good are the sales on Vudu?
 
PantherProud said:
There’s a $5 sale pretty much every week anymore.
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Also, if you have a Movies Anywhere account, it will link all of your streaming accounts, provided the movies are from a participating studio.

For example, I just bought The Right Stuff on Prime Video, which is linked to my Movies Anywhere account. So The Right Stuff is also now in my Movies Anywhere, Vudu, FandangoNow, iTunes (Apple TV) and Google Play libraries (all linked through Movies Anywhere). So whichever app you prefer to watch your library on. For me its Vudu.

iTunes also regularly has $5 sales.
 
A Christmas Story (1983) 6/8 Christmas Eve tradition, always catch the 10 pm run on TBS/TNT

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) 5/8 Still holds up. Not my favorite movie with Martin or Candy, but always worth a watch

Mean Girls (2004) 5/8 I always like this movie, Lindsay Lohan before she went off the rails. A lot of laughs, a little cheesy at the end but overall a solid coming of age type comedy.
 
eastisbest said:
On sale? I don't understand? I'm talking about the movie, not the series. "Yep, STILL good." I didn't care for the portion of the series I did watch.
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The series got better as it moved along. Not sure how far you made it but I felt similar at the beginning. Does tell different parts of the book than the movie did. Also a decent documentary on disney+ about the mercury astronauts.
 
WW84 - Big disappointment, if you can call watching Gal Gadot for 2 1/2 hours disappointing. Terrible story, making no sense and having no perceivable continuity. Knowing it was bad, I would have still watched it, just to see Gadot. She is an uncommon beauty.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why they skipped over WWII. There was a picture in the shot scanning her apartment, but the era was completely skipped by the people in control of the franchise. Maybe, having addressed WWI, which was a refreshing take, they felt dealing with WWII and Nazism would be redundant, even through that was the era of her comic book origin. Her, being an Israeli in real life might make dealing with the evils of the Holocaust very compelling.

3/8 for movie
10/10 for Gal Gadot
 
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Two with a common theme and one actor in common.

Shawshank Redemption. 8/8 still good.

The Power of One. 6/8 Terrific but brief performances by Morgan Freeman (learning to do prison?) and first credit of Daniel Craig. Follows the formula a bit. Does get the chills when it should and the choke-ups when it should. Easy to like or hate characters. Not a lot of grey here. Set pre and post WWII (with an early appearance by nuclear cooling towers) S. Africa and filmed 1992 which would be during the apartheid transition gives it a nice historical setting on two counts. Well worth the watch. The first part much moreso than the second but still good second half. Accents can be a bit strong so subtitles aren't a bad idea.

edit: my cooling tower snark was off base. Curious as to why they'd let such an error slip, I googled. That type tower was invented by the Dutch in 1918 and would seem consistent with a WWII era S. African setting.
 
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Anyone see The Outpost yet?
Picked it up cheap and hope to watch soon.

Was supposed to be released in theatres over the 4th of July weekend.

Read the book and loved it a number of years ago. True story, Afghanistan.
 
eastisbest said:
The Crown: season 4: 6/8 About the 3rd episode I was determined not to like it, poorly done about characters I didn’t like. Bored I finished and ended up liking it. Has some definite high points.
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I'm to the point with The Crown that I got to with House of Cards. I've made enough of commitment to it over the last 3 or 4 years that I want to stick with it but part of me is ready for it to be over. The episode with the guy who snuck into Buckingham Castle went way too into the realm of fiction.

I had a tough time with Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher. I think that may have more to do with becoming comfortable with her in other roles rather than her actual performance.
 
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clarkgriswold said:
I'm to the point with The Crown that I got to with House of Cards. I've made enough of commitment to it over the last 3 or 4 years that I want to stick with it but part of me is ready for it to be over. The episode with the guy who snuck into Buckingham Castle went way too into the realm of fiction.
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Investment:; That's what pushed me through too, plus you know, sitting around the house a lot.

Though I liked a bit of the previous episode (favorite child), the Fagan ep actually is what turned this season around for me. The guy did supposedly get in there twice, the first not discovered until after the second. After that, who knows exactly how much was fiction? They used to character to express a bigger plot point that was failing IMO with the unsympathetic Thatcher character. To me, the Fagan - Queen dialogue reflected much better the liberal-conservative viewpoints than anything they did with Thatcher, did it quicker and without an overt bias. Plus for me he was easy to root both for and against, depending upon what he was up to. And it meant less Margaret, Charles and Diana. The later episodes did have scenes and stories between Charles and Diana that I enjoyed.
 
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eastisbest said:
Though I liked a bit of the previous episode (favorite child), that episode actually is what turned this season around for me. The guy did supposedly get in there twice, the first not discovered until after the second. After that, who knows? They used to character to express a bigger plot point that was failing IMO with the Thatcher character. To me, their dialogue reflected much better and more fairly the liberal-conservative viewpoints than anything they did with Thatcher, did it quicker and without an overt bias. Plus for me he was easy to root both for and against, depending upon what he was up to. And it meant less Margaret, Charles and Diana. The later episodes did have scenes and stories between Charles and Diana that I enjoyed.
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Interesting perspective eastisbest.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Interesting perspective eastisbest.
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I might just rewatch that to see if it was what I thought.

The writers do take a strong "product of their environment" approach to the plots don't they? That annoys me to a point it seems to absolve the characters from their wrongs. On rewatch, I might focus on that and not like the scene at all. ?
 
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eastisbest said:
I might just rewatch that to see if it was what I thought.

The writers do take a strong "product of their environment" approach to the plots don't they? That annoys me to a point it seems to absolve the characters from their wrongs. On rewatch, I might focus on that and not like the scene at all. ?
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Very true. As we've discussed before, I really like the historical aspect of shows like The Crown and wish it was the greater focus. In a world dominated by TMZ and the National Enquirer, there's enough rumor based sensationalism out there.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Very true. As we've discussed before, I really like the historical aspect of shows like The Crown and wish it was the greater focus.
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Me too. The English seem to do more of that. I can find multiple movies/series on about any King or Queen. I'd like to see someone do a "West Wing" treatment of George Washington or Grover Cleveland. Come-on, they elected him twice. He married his own daughter. Has to be story-line there.

Finding England WW2 homefront movies, made during the wars years isn't much of a challenge. Finding non-romance US homefront movies has been a challenge. I'd like to find some about the industrial revolution, pre - WWI. There's Edison and Tesla flicks but they hardly capture the expansion IMO. If they can make a movie about a windshield wiper, one about whoever figured out how to cut and package bacon has to be oscar worthy.
 
eastisbest said:
Me too. The English seem to do more of that. I can find multiple movies/series on about any King or Queen. I'd like to see someone do a "West Wing" treatment of George Washington or Grover Cleveland. Come-on, they elected him twice. He married his own daughter. Has to be story-line there.

Finding England WW2 homefront movies, made during the wars years isn't much of a challenge. Finding non-romance US homefront movies has been a challenge. I'd like to find some about the industrial revolution, pre - WWI. There's Edison and Tesla flicks but they hardly capture the expansion IMO. If they can make a movie about a windshield wiper, one about whoever figured out how to cut and package bacon has to be oscar worthy.
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I have enjoyed the History Channel's Men Who Built America series. They did a decent job with industrial revolution magnates and movers.
 
clarkgriswold said:
I have enjoyed the History Channel's Men Who Built America series. They did a decent job with industrial revolution magnates and movers.
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sounds interesting. Is it documentory or movies? Movies about those personalities would be of interest but I'm looking also for fiction set in that era. I was misleading when I mentioned Edison.
 
eastisbest said:
sounds interesting. Is it documentory or movies? Movies about those personalities would be of interest but I'm looking also for fiction set in that era. I was misleading when I mentioned Edison.
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The original season, the Men Who Built America was a documentary series that used actors to portray men like Carnegie, Morgan, Ford, Rockefeller, Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, Vanderbilt and others. They then expanded off of that for series like The Men Who Built America: The Frontiersman focusing on men like Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson. There was also a Food That Built America focused on men like Birdseye, Post, Hershey and Kellogg and The Cars that Built America focused on men like Henry Ford and the Dodge brothers. I think there's another season of the Foods that Built America premiering soon.

None of these series is great but they're decent. You're not going to get an extensive or deep history lesson but they are entertaining.
 
The Frontiersman series sounds interesting too. I'll give both a try. Not sure how much time I want to invest in frozen peas though. Besides, looks like they forget the best one: General Mills. ;)
 
thavoice said:
Anyone see The Outpost yet?
Picked it up cheap and hope to watch soon.

Was supposed to be released in theatres over the 4th of July weekend.

Read the book and loved it a number of years ago. True story, Afghanistan.
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I think I have seen this one. That should tell you what I thought of it.
 
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