S and I saw Cold War last week. It’s a very interesting film, different from the film I thought it was going to be from the trailer, which I found off-putting. It is also frustrating, or at least the female lead is so. The ending is…well, you have to see it. All I can say is that I’m sill thinking about it a week later.
@BingeWatcher , also see if you can find a place to see the miniseries Testament of Youth. A superb British TV production, circa 1980, based on Vera Brittain’s autobiography of the same name.
Testament of Youth is one of my favorite books. I’ve seen the 2014 movie with Kit Harington, but did not realize there was a mini-series. It looks like the whole series is on Youtube.
I’m watching a 2017 British movie, “Journey’s End,” set in World War I. It is engrossing, grim, well-acted. The actors include Paul Bettany and Sam Claflin.
@mathmom, I had no idea there was a movie of Testament of Youth! I’ll be looking it up immediately. I also had no idea there was a movie of Journey’s End. In both cases, the books are interesting reads.
The British novelist, Pat Barker, has written a number of really excellent books set in the period, the first of which, Regeneration, is particularly great IMHO. Cannot recommend it too highly.
We just watched An Old Man and a Gun (or whatever the title is) last night. Kinda disjointed and slow. I liked Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek. Boy Robert Redford did not use enough sunscreen in his youth however.
I’m a Gerard Butler fan and a big fan of his older movies when he was starting out as an actor. I watched One Last Kiss on Amazon Prime and enjoyed it. Set in Scotland with great performances from the main characters.
I finally (!!) saw Free Solo last night and I found it very enjoyable.
After seeing the movie, I realized my brain I had pre-formed an idea of what kind of man would do this sort of adventure climbing, and --whoa-- I was really off-base re: his “type”.
Nice surprise, and for sure it added to my enjoyment of the film.
@surfcity I enjoyed Redford and Spacek in An Old Man and a Gun. Agree that Redford hasn’t aged well. On the othe hand, I think Sissy Spacek looks good–she’s 69!
Saw “They Shall Not Grow Old” a couple of weeks ago. It was more interesting and educational than entertaining, if that makes sense.
BTW - if you’re considering buying a Sinemia membership, don’t do it. I bought a year-long membership last summer and it’s not worth the hassle to purchase tickets. I won’t be renewing.
This week I’ve watched Three Identical Strangers, Sentence, and Rust Creek…all pretty good and free on Demand so there’s that too. Watched an old Paul Newman as well “Nobody’s Fool”, again, pretty good.
I pretty much binge-watched Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy which has a superhero theme, this time involving a “family” of supernatural kids mysteriously born on the same day. Cool music, great acting and family dysfunction kept me hooked!
We saw “The Wandering Earth” yesterday, which I’ve read is the 2nd highest grossing Chinese movie in history. It’s a Chinese science-fiction “blockbuster.” I’m not sure if it’s widely available at US theaters. I saw it near San Francisco, where we get a lot of movies from China because of the large Chinese population here.
Spectacular visuals, totally incoherent dialog. I took a year of Mandarin, and just from being able to pick out occasional words and phrases, I could tell the subtitles were way off. Netflix bought it, so it will be available there sometime in the future.
@Midwest67 - go a little deeper and look for the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown (I know Amazon prime has it). So good! I also loved 20 Feet From Stardom.
I saw They Shall Not Grow Old last weekend, and I found it very interesting. It’s hard to say I “enjoyed” it, because it is a documentary about war, and it was honest and sad.
Will anyone be tuning in to HBO tomorrow (or after) to watch the documentary Leaving Neverland (and perhaps Oprah’s town hall afterward)? My own personal view of Michael Jackson being a pedophile has shifted 180* - and I credit the “me too” movement for that - and I am grateful because I really do think we need to believe them when someone comes forward -