Rate The Last Movie You Saw - 2

[Down by the River]

Just an update on Eye in the Sky, what I loved about the movie (and I loved a lot of things about this movie) was that it focused on a single event and all the decisions that need to be made, all the scenarios that need to be considered, for one single air strike. I think the scenes with the Attorney General, Justice Minister, General, et al. were brilliant in capturing just how gray an area these decisions are. One side would make a point that I'd agree with and then the opposite side would immediately make me re-think what I initially believed was the right decision. 

 

I also thought the portrayal of American leaders (not the soldiers) was a bit too on the nose with their quick decisions/failure to reflect... but then again maybe that is what is happening or at least is what will happen.

 

EDIT: Also, I love Helen Mirren. She's still got it at 70.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Down by the River

[Blue Jay 22]

Have any of you seen the new Ghostbusters yet? They say not to judge a book by its cover, but the previews look awful to me. I can't imagine a team of 4 with 2 of them being Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones turning out ok.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Blue Jay 22

[Monty]

2 hours ago, Blue Jay 22 said:

Have any of you seen the new Ghostbusters yet? They say not to judge a book by its cover, but the previews look awful to me. I can't imagine a team of 4 with 2 of them being Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones turning out ok.

After I took @D-Money's advice and watched The Other Woman, I make a point not to watch comedies featuring an all female cast.

[Svengali]

21 hours ago, Monty said:

While my career ultimately led me to working with purchasers in manufacturer facilities, feed mills, and construction sites, I went to university for Psychology to eventually become a marriage counselor. During my studies, I worked in prisons and hospitals, working with people who had mental health issues; which is where my passion working alongside them came from. And while I eventually chose a different career path, I still find time to donate to be there for those with mental health issues. My wife and I have a friend who has mental health issues and my grandmother (RIP) had mental health issues, so am fairly close to it personally as well.

 

As for your second part, "what is it in this film that you relate to? Was it the possibility of mental illness being hereditary?" I have no worry of developing a mental illness. If it happens, it happens; but that isn't what I relate to. The portrayal of mental illness was certainly interesting and handled very well, which definitely adds to it; however, coupling that portrayal with a marriage that one of the most accurately portrayed, loving one I've seen on film really kept me captivated.

 

Many times, whether IRL or on film, people make flippant comments like "How can John/Jane stay with Jane/John? He/she is being treated so poorly and they are in a terrible marriage. Don't they know they can just leave and start over?" When people boil marriage down to something that you can just run away from, no matter who you are, it's sad; and it's sad because that's what many people do. However, the portrayal of Shannon and Chastain's marriage in the film was one of true love and understanding. Not only in what they said, but in what they didn't say. Even when you know your spouse is having issues, you support them publicly (Chastain in the cafeteria).

 

It was heartbreaking to watch, but both Shannon and Chastain did such amazing jobs in their respective roles. To me, as a married man of 12 years and having gone through ups and downs myself (as has my wife), while neither of us have mental health issues, it was like looking in a mirror.

 

Aah great stuff. And great that you still donate time to help as well. Your reasons for loving the movie make so much sense you could have done a mic drop and walked away from the keyboard in slow motion. (and I was worried that I might have asked you too personal a question)

 

My lack of experience with helping those with mental illness (and not having any friends or relatives with [severe] mental illness) combined with the fact that I could only compare the way the marriage was portrayed to long term relationships I've been in (though not even half as long as your 12+ years) resulted in me being left to focus almost solely on his "artless, humourless, repetitive life" as I saw it. That's why I didn't connect with it and also why until ten minutes ago I wasn't sure what it was you could relate to.

(but I did get to amuse myself by constantly trying to guess the colour of the next shirt in his Mark's Work Warehouse spring collection) 

So, with your knowledge of marriage, what's your opinion on Blue Valentine?
(that one I actually did quit, it was such an awful relationship that I couldn't bare to watch it anymore, though will likely give it another chance one of these days)

[Alflives]

22 hours ago, Monty said:

The first sentence is key, before I comment on the second.

 

While my career ultimately led me to working with purchasers in manufacturer facilities, feed mills, and construction sites, I went to university for Psychology to eventually become a marriage counselor. During my studies, I worked in prisons and hospitals, working with people who had mental health issues; which is where my passion working alongside them came from. And while I eventually chose a different career path, I still find time to donate to be there for those with mental health issues. My wife and I have a friend who has mental health issues and my grandmother (RIP) had mental health issues, so am fairly close to it personally as well.

 

As for your second part, "what is it in this film that you relate to? Was it the possibility of mental illness being hereditary?" I have no worry of developing a mental illness. If it happens, it happens; but that isn't what I relate to. The portrayal of mental illness was certainly interesting and handled very well, which definitely adds to it; however, coupling that portrayal with a marriage that one of the most accurately portrayed, loving one I've seen on film really kept me captivated.

 

Many times, whether IRL or on film, people make flippant comments like "How can John/Jane stay with Jane/John? He/she is being treated so poorly and they are in a terrible marriage. Don't they know they can just leave and start over?" When people boil marriage down to something that you can just run away from, no matter who you are, it's sad; and it's sad because that's what many people do. However, the portrayal of Shannon and Chastain's marriage in the film was one of true love and understanding. Not only in what they said, but in what they didn't say. Even when you know your spouse is having issues, you support them publicly (Chastain in the cafeteria).

 

It was heartbreaking to watch, but both Shannon and Chastain did such amazing jobs in their respective roles. To me, as a married man of 12 years and having gone through ups and downs myself (as has my wife), while neither of us have mental health issues, it was like looking in a mirror.

Vows?  "Sickness and in health".  Perhaps marriage is about accepting obligation and responsibility too?  

[Heated Blue]

15 hours ago, Blue Jay 22 said:

Have any of you seen the new Ghostbusters yet? They say not to judge a book by its cover, but the previews look awful to me. I can't imagine a team of 4 with 2 of them being Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones turning out ok.

I watched it with the wife a few days ago.  It was a lot better than I thought it would be after seeing the trailers.  It was decent but not great.  It got a little crude at times but that seems to be the standard with new movies.  Definitely not a show for kids. 

 

I would watch it again but not if I had to pay for it.

[Monty]

1 hour ago, Svengali said:

So, with your knowledge of marriage, what's your opinion on Blue Valentine?
(that one I actually did quit, it was such an awful relationship that I couldn't bare to watch it anymore, though will likely give it another chance one of these days)

I stopped watching after the first 5(ish) minutes. Wasn't in the mood. Might give it a try again.

 

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Vows?  "Sickness and in health".  Perhaps marriage is about accepting obligation and responsibility too?  

Sad that those vows, at least North American culture, largely mean nothing anymore.

 

I should have added that my step mother (who I barely see and only came into my life after I was married) also has mental health issues. Nothing serious, but it still causes issues. Anyway, my dad has been married to her for 10 years now, and when my brother (king d*ckhead) found out, he said to me: 

 

"Well, dad should just leave her if she's making his life difficult. He didn't sign up for that." 

 

Swell.

[D-Money]

31 minutes ago, Monty said:

I stopped watching after the first 5(ish) minutes. Wasn't in the mood. Might give it a try again.

 

Sad that those vows, at least North American culture, largely mean nothing anymore.

 

I should have added that my step mother (who I barely see and only came into my life after I was married) also has mental health issues. Nothing serious, but it still causes issues. Anyway, my dad has been married to her for 10 years now, and when my brother (king d*ckhead) found out, he said to me: 

 

"Well, dad should just leave her if she's making his life difficult. He didn't sign up for that." 

 

Swell.

I have one of those brothers too. Can be decent and charming...until the moment he needs to put himself out for others.

 

Divorce is a strange beast, and I speak from experience. In many ways, mine couldn't have gone any better: a clean break (no alimony) with no children, and haven't had any contact since. And the woman that became wife #2 is awesome - going on 11 years now.

 

But the whole concept of marrying a person, committing to them, becoming a family...and then just discarding them for a new spouse/family is just terrible. It's not something that should be taken lightly, and the impact that it has on a person cannot be understated...even when it's as cut-and-dry as mine.

 

[Monty]

4 hours ago, D-Money said:

I have one of those brothers too. Can be decent and charming...until the moment he needs to put himself out for others.

 

Divorce is a strange beast, and I speak from experience. In many ways, mine couldn't have gone any better: a clean break (no alimony) with no children, and haven't had any contact since. And the woman that became wife #2 is awesome - going on 11 years now.

 

But the whole concept of marrying a person, committing to them, becoming a family...and then just discarding them for a new spouse/family is just terrible. It's not something that should be taken lightly, and the impact that it has on a person cannot be understated...even when it's as cut-and-dry as mine.

 

On the first part, almost exactly how I would describe my eldest brother. This is also a brother who left his wife on his son's 1st birthday. He left his wife, 4 year old daughter, and 1 year old son AT the first birthday party  

 

He then knocked up a second girl and then says sh*t like "If she is making his life miserable, he should just leave her." Well done, brother. You're a shining example of why every sports star thanks their mom and not their dad.

Edited July 20, 2016 by Monty

[Monty]

6 hours ago, Svengali said:

(and I was worried that I might have asked you too personal a question)

I'm an open book. Nothing is "too personal" for me. Whether I know the person or not, any skeletons I have are no different than what billions of people throughout history have dealt with. I'm not unique or special in that regard. So to that end, I'm of the belief that sharing is needed for our society to grow.

 

"It takes a village" and all that garbage.

 

7 hours ago, Svengali said:

My lack of experience with helping those with mental illness (and not having any friends or relatives with [severe] mental illness) combined with the fact that I could only compare the way the marriage was portrayed to long term relationships I've been in (though not even half as long as your 12+ years) resulted in me being left to focus almost solely on his "artless, humourless, repetitive life" as I saw it. That's why I didn't connect with it and also why until ten minutes ago I wasn't sure what it was you could relate to.

It certainly is a film I know I appreciate a lot more due my marriage, and knowing a little bit about "baby steps" when it comes to mental illness.

 

Near the end of the film, when it came time to leave the shelter and Shannon said that his wife and daughter should go first. When she said "I need you to go first" (or something close to that). So much raw emotion in Chastain. Another terrific example where so much was said with so little dialogue from her. It was imperative, not only for himself, but also for their marriage and for their daughter that he be the one to open the shelter and lead them out.

 

Love, love, love this film.

[Svengali]

20 hours ago, Monty said:

I'm an open book. Nothing is "too personal" for me. Whether I know the person or not, any skeletons I have are no different than what billions of people throughout history have dealt with. I'm not unique or special in that regard. So to that end, I'm of the belief that sharing is needed for our society to grow.

"It takes a village" and all that garbage.

That's, hmm ... I like that, (and I always like reading about fellow CDCers) but at the same time revealing personal stuff is scary to me because we're posting in public, not in a PM. 

(plus I'm a low-post-count guy: mustn't ever cause a scene as a low-post-count guy, haha)

 

20 hours ago, Monty said:

It certainly is a film I know I appreciate a lot more due my marriage, and knowing a little bit about "baby steps" when it comes to mental illness.

These last two pages, where is the (how shall I put it?..) "cutoff" point for the mental illness we're talking about? I assume we've been meaning delusions and hallucinations and "worse", correct? (just making sure, because if it includes "lesser" things, then half the people I know have a mental illness and I have helped friends get through depression, a couple of them extremely bad cases, one of which took a huge toll on me because it slowly wore me down over the course of a couple years [though no resentment there, it is what it is] followed by one that was on the verge of suicide but helped her change her outlook on life)  (I am the one who everyone comes to, people tell me everything, I am also a huge magnet for "colourful characters" everywhere I go, I'm not totally sure why but it has something to do with me being very calm and quiet and a full-eye-contact with strangers person haha).  Sorry about all the brackets, I kept adding thoughts as I typed.

 

20 hours ago, Monty said:

Near the end of the film, when it came time to leave the shelter and Shannon said that his wife and daughter should go first. When she said "I need you to go first" (or something close to that). So much raw emotion in Chastain. Another terrific example where so much was said with so little dialogue from her. It was imperative, not only for himself, but also for their marriage and for their daughter that he be the one to open the shelter and lead them out.

Love, love, love this film.

I like how he was pleading with his daughter in that scene and you could see him being crushed by her unsure hesitation and a growing fear of him. I almost thought he was going to grab her in a fit of anger for a split second, but he didn't, which made it somehow even more heartbreaking knowing that he was a gentle guy. A lot of great acting in it from those two. (maybe even "those three", ha)

[riffraff]

28 minutes ago, Svengali said:

That's, hmm ... I like that, (and I always like reading about fellow CDCers) but at the same time revealing personal stuff is scary to me because we're posting in public, not in a PM. 

(plus I'm a low-post-count guy: mustn't ever cause a scene as a low-post-count guy, haha)

 

These last two pages, where is the (how shall I put it?..) "cutoff" point for the mental illness we're talking about? I assume we've been meaning delusions and hallucinations and "worse", correct? (just making sure, because if it includes "lesser" things, then half the people I know have a mental illness and I have helped friends get through depression, a couple of them extremely bad cases, one of which took a huge toll on me because it slowly wore me down over the course of a couple years [though no resentment there, it is what it is] followed by one that was on the verge of suicide but helped her change her outlook on life)  (I am the one who everyone comes to, people tell me everything, I am also a huge magnet for "colourful characters" everywhere I go, I'm not totally sure why but it has something to do with me being very calm and quiet and a full-eye-contact with strangers person haha).  Sorry about all the brackets, I kept adding thoughts as I typed.

 

I like how he was pleading with his daughter in that scene and you could see him being crushed by her unsure hesitation and a growing fear of him. I almost thought he was going to grab her in a fit of anger for a split second, but he didn't, which made it somehow even more heartbreaking knowing that he was a gentle guy. A lot of great acting in it from those two. (maybe even "those three", ha)

Good on you 

[riffraff]

10 clover field lane.

 

been meaning to watch for a while.

 

goodman was pretty "good"

 

overall a meh for me unfortunately.  The ending and final scenes was crap imo 

 

5/10

[Monty]

21 minutes ago, riffraff said:

10 clover field lane.

 

been meaning to watch for a while.

 

goodman was pretty "good"

Don't you mean he was pretty good, man?

[thejazz97]

The Breakfast Club is really solid.

[GLASSJAW]

the night of - part 2: 10/10

 

OMG. could this show be better? the tension, the visuals/camera work, the atmosphere, the acting. this is just shockingly good television. 

Edited July 22, 2016 by GLASSJAW

[Down by the River]

6 hours ago, GLASSJAW said:

the night of - part 2: 10/10

 

OMG. could this show be better? the tension, the visuals/camera work, the atmosphere, the acting. this is just shockingly good television. 

It didn't have quite the same plotline tension of the first week, but I've definitely noticed some great camerawork to create tension. This was a great little summer surprise.

[Monty]

Wife is gone for a few weeks, renovations to my entire house, so can only stay in my bedroom when I'm at home. So Netflixing like there is no tomorrow.

 

Prometheus - 7.5/10

 

I've seen this 4 times now. I understand why people don't like it, but I enjoy it.

 

 

Stranger Things - 8/10

 

I actually finished the series last Sunday. The only part that didn't seem developed as fully as it should have was that of Matthew Modine and his "organization". Otherwise, good performances all around. And this was the first time since Beetlejuice where Winona Ryder actually seemed liked an actress and not just "there".

 

 

The Do-Over - 0/10

 

I make a point to not watch Adam Sandler films. The last one I watched was PTA's "Punch Drunk Love", and that's because it's a PTA film. Otherwise, hard pass on everything Sandler. However, it was 1am and I wanted to put something on while I tried to fall asleep.

 

I don't know if I threw up because I'm feeling sick, or because this movie sucked. Either way, it was terrible.

[Svengali]

Sicario - 8/10
Strange to watch that particular genre of movie and love it based almost 100% on the visuals/ cinematography and barely give a damn about the plot.
Also, not sure how I feel about this trend of movie scores having one deep rumbling note blaring out like the walker things from War Of The Worlds or something ... I remember it happening in Gravity as well when the debris came flying at them and tore everything apart.
(it also drowns out quiet actors like Benicio del Toro , I barely heard a thing he said, which stinks because I dig that guy)

 

[Down by the River]

55 minutes ago, Svengali said:

Sicario - 8/10
Strange to watch that particular genre of movie and love it based almost 100% on the visuals/ cinematography and barely give a damn about the plot.
Also, not sure how I feel about this trend of movie scores having one deep rumbling note blaring out like the walker things from War Of The Worlds or something ... I remember it happening in Gravity as well when the debris came flying at them and tore everything apart.
(it also drowns out quiet actors like Benicio del Toro , I barely heard a thing he said, which stinks because I dig that guy)

 

This was basically my only criticism of the movie.