I saw Gloria Bell yesterday with a movie group I organize. None us were nearly as impressed with it as the critics were.
Thanks for posting. The trailer looks good, but I had a feeling the movie itself could go either way.
There were definitely fighter pilots who were not (and probably some who are still not) supportive of having female fighter pilots. However, men openly jeering at the Air Force Academy, and yelling, “You’ll never be a pilot,” is ridiculous. I get that they’re trying to build a background story, the victorious women triumphing over all those cruel men, but the exaggeration is irritating to me. Hopefully my husband (a USAFA grad) will ignore the offensive portrayal and still see the movie.
I finally got to see Free Solo on the big screen - I’d DVR’d it when it was on NatGeo, but boy oh boy, am I glad I held out for a theatrical screening. What a great film in every way! I wasn’t the only one in the theater that audibly gasped several times.
Sunday evening I went to see Gloria Bell. I liked it, didn’t love it. There is an appeal though watching a movie that’s, in essence, not ‘really’ about anything, other than the ordinariness of a person’s world. They did a good job portraying that, from her ho-hum job (insurance saleswoman?), her car (Honda Accord) and even her apartment, which she rented (I had a tough time with that one, it was pretty big and lux, even by LA standards). No fancy make up or clothing, and no real flash. Which I liked. What I didn’t like, (no spoilers) was that the (male) director and producer (in my very humble opinion) took some liberties that I just don’t think a female director/producer team would have. I would like to chat with Julianne Moore about that actually. Overall I gave it a 6/10.
My wife saw Gloria Bell yesterday with her women’s group. I think she liked it more than some of you. She thought it was Julianne Moore’s best performance as an actress.
Saw Captain Marvel. It’s very much a women’s superhero film and not a documentary. Hollywood uses its dramatic license for a reason. The reverse aging of Fury and Colson looked much more natural than Kurt Russell or Jeff Bridges but it was only 20+ years. CGI gets tiring.
Just saw Bohemian Rhapsody and Star is Born. Both were well done but bittersweet to me. (Thanks, United—good chance to catch up on movies via long flights.)
I saw Us today. The acting was great. I enjoyed it but didn’t love it (unlike Get Out, which I thought was fantastic).
DH and I saw The Mustang today and both liked it very much. Excellent performance by Matthias Schoenaerts. I’ve been in love with him since seeing Far From the Madding Crowd.
@JZMOM2 I will have to add that movie. I watched Far From the Madding Crowd for Carey Mulligan and enjoyed the 3 lead actors and story. I also saw three other movies with Matthias, A Little Chaos, Suite Francaise and A Bigger Splash. Good actor.
We also saw Us this weekend, but we loved it. The acting, the score, the visuals… it was near pitch perfect for what we wanted out of it. A couple of plot holes, sure, but there really was no way around that imo.
With Us, you can’t think too hard about the plot holes and have to just accept the premise. What a wild movie, I can’t get it out of my head. I’m interested to hear Jordan Peele speak more about his intent - I think I “got it” but there are still a few things I’d love to hear more about.
If you don’t mind subtitles, I very much liked The Guilty (Den Skyldige) which is about an emergency response worker. It’s practically a one man movie, but very tense.
I also recently enjoyed an older bipic, slow and PG, called The Fencer. Prime has it in the family movies section.
I saw Mary Poppins Returns (cheery but sadly no toe-tapping or melodic songs) and also Fantastic Beasts and Grindenwald (confusing but amazing CGI). H and I both need to see the latter movie again to understand it better—there was A LOT to absorb!
Next flight, I think I will see RBG and “On the basis of Sex.” I saw the trailers and they looked promising.
Glad United had the movies available.
“Just saw Bohemian Rhapsody and Star is Born. Both were well done but bittersweet to me”
We saw both recently as well. While I enjoyed the musical soundtrack of Bohemian Rhapsody for its nostalgia and because it is just great music, I could never buy Rami Malek as Freddie and therefore could not lose myself in the movie. I spent the two hours thinking about how Malek’s portrayal was overwrought and it was a distraction for me.
My husband and I both fell asleep watching A Star is Born.
We also watched Vice today. I appreciate Christian Bale’s performance. I learned some background about Cheney I didn’t know. However, I thought some of the cinematic devices came across as trying to be too clever and didn’t add to the film. I also didn’t like how the whole history of how he got involved in Halliburton was entirely skipped over.
All in all, as far as Oscar contenders go, I think it was a very weak year.
I watched Beautiful Boy on Amazon Prime Video last night. Very good, I thought. Really shows how addiction becomes a nightmare for the entire family.
“The Beach Bum” got a good review in the newspaper, but it’s being panned on Rotten Tomatoes. Matthew
McConaughey is my celebrity crush, so I will go see it!
@MaineLonghorn, my D loves almost everything that A24 puts out, so it’s been on our radar. We love him too.
We loved Captain Marvel last night—escapism with lots of special effects but fun!
Went to see Avengers Endgame last weekend and thought it was a very satisfying conclusion to this phase of Marvel movies. Saw it on IMAX, and it was worth the extra money. Endgame is 3 hours long, so skip the soda at the concession stand.