I’m in the ‘Frozen Neutral’ group. Okay, but no Mary Poppins.
My daughter the Disneyphile, loves it. But only Anna. Not Elsa
Star Wars VIII.
Very engrossing.
Lots of story line.
If you attend a showing at an odd time of the day, the crowds are surprisingly light.
Of course, when the school children are let loose…you are out of luck.
Saw Lady Bird. Solid film. The story telling felt a little scattered.
Wanted to add I saw a preview for “Phantom Thread” with Daniel Day Lewis - looked great. I thought he retired from acting. Maybe this was his last film?
I’m surprised that Lady Bird hasn’t gotten more discussion on CC, given the theme - I felt that it touched very close to home, with the mother-daughter thing and focus on hte final year of high school before college. I called my daughter to talk about it with her, but she hadn’t seen it yet – but it’s at the top of her must-see list (so she has promised me a more in-depth conversation later). My daughter and I are very different than the mom & daughter in the movie, but to me it felt like we lived through the same experiences and feelings, and definitely had many of the same conversations. We didn’t say the same things and our conversations didn’t come out the same way… but they began the same way and dealt with the same issues. So it definitely resonated deeply with me.
Saw five recent movies, but only moderately entertained by Three Billboards, The Orient Express, and Thor–all chosen for me by my teenage constituency.
Three Billboards’ main character was weirder than Frances McDormand’s usually weird characters, and flintier than Lily Tomlin in Grandma–if you saw that. If you thought Grandma was unbearable, you will hate Three Billboards.
Thor Raganor was not nearly as witty as I had been led to believe. Insider actor ad-libbing was barely diverting and didn’t compensate at all for the apparent lack of full script.
Wonder, on the other hand, had me from the beginning: I teared up off and on but I never stopped caring. First class acting from all the leads, and from incidental players you never heard of before.
Also selected for me was Coco, which was utterly vibrant; Not only was it an endorsement of a much-beleaguered culture, but it was also a celebration of music and artistry that splashed far beyond the cultural perspective, to universal persuasion and great fun. (Just try to resist it you Scroogey curmudgeon!)
–Such a relief to get away from animations like Slowpoke Rodriguez and Speedy Gonzalez, finally. Finally!
I loved the original Orient Express movie. This one was good, and I generally respect KB, but a remake seemed as unnecessary as his overblown mustache. Michelle Pfeiffer’s role was expanded but incorrectly for the character. As a whole, it just wasn’t as true to the book’s motives as the original.
Looking forward to LadyBird and Star Wars.
The trailer for LadyBird made me laugh aloud, though it might not be a good movie to see for mothers and daughters, as the film’s fight their way through it, I’ve read. This is Christmas, a time for peace.
The first I heard of Ladybird is when D walked in the house from college late yesterday and asked if we could go see it together. I nixed it for last night but we will go sometime over the next few weeks, its nice that she wants to see it with me I think. We did stay home and watch Detroit which was long but very good and informative.
@IvyGrad09, Lady Bird doesn’t focus exclusively on the mother-daugher relationship and it isn’t all fighting. Many tender moments between all the characters.
Saw Ladybird last night, loved it and can’t wait to talk about it with my d’s. Loved the characters and thought very well acted, directed, an homage to Sacramento or the entire push/pull of separating and moving on and how it captured so much of high school life/drama and the issues surrounding haves/have nots and how that plays out for many in real life.
The Shape of Water: The Little Mermaid meets Last Tango in Paris.
Actually, frame by frame it’s visual poetry. Del Toro seems to be at his peak. His storyline is bizarre as usual, but the film carries the weight of its emotional and artistic legacy. That includes the nightmarish industrial spy paranoia of the movie Brazil, the texture and palette of Bergman, and–thrown in for sheer entertainment gluttony–a classic B & W song and dance number.
Del Toro’s just a really interesting filmmaker who draws deeply from the well.
Saw it a few hours ago.
Saw Star Wars. So touching to see Carrie fisher alive and well. I’m so glad mark Hamill had a good role in this, I’m sure he could use the press and the money.
Is Star Wars VIII okay for kids under 10?
People die, but nothing up close. Just planes shot up. There were many children in the theatre
Great, thanks! 
Ladybird gave me a bit of a shock. Our youngest went to Catholic HS, we argued about affordable college choices, H is often the “good guy”, and yes, I am often tired and over-worked. We had a lot of mis-behavior senior year and the summer before college. Too soon and too close to home! But, good movie!
@Midwest67 – I know what you mean. Some of those fights and the carefully aimed barbs hit a little too close to home. Can’t say I was rooting for the young Lady 100% of the time. But agreed – very good movie.
I think it was balanced though in the portrayal of the daughter and mother, at least by the end of the movie. It provided an honest, evenhanded look at mother/daughter relationships, IMO, and I think that is one reason it is so well liked. It rings true and a lot of us can find some similarities in our own experiences as mother and daughter.
Yes - one of the things I liked best about Lady Bird was that no one was perfect. Every character was flawed – even Lady Bird was really mean to her friend Julie and not very understanding of her mother. That’s what made the movie so realistic.
Plus, I really liked those opening scenes where Lady Bird and her mother are visiting colleges, and her mother goes off on her diatribe about community college to prison and back to community college.
I also like the scene where the brother’s girlfriend talks to Lady Bird about her mother.
Every character, even supporting roles, was well developed and well acted.
I was bored through the first half of Star Wars but thought it picked up in the second.
My constituency loved it. Afterward we took a long walk and they discussed the movie for more than an hour.
Favorite character: Rey.
Not buying Laura Dern as a military leader. (D said she looked like a professor of Women’s Studies.)
It was great, however, to see women as central characters, leaders, and heroes.
Now we’d like to see aliens treated as equals too.