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I saw Mr Holmes last night and really liked it-- although I also found it quite wrenching and ugly-cried quite a bit during the final half-hour. This was in part because I'm middle-aged, which means my dad is pretty elderly, and while he's still sharp I'm beginning to see functional changes that made parts of McKellen's performance hit me pretty hard. Linney was really good in a hard role (also,

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) Milo Parker was also very good, and I loved the relationships between him and Holmes, and him and his mother.

McKellen, though-- he was so good as the frail elder who was sometimes very sharp and sometimes lost, and I worried about him every time he walked more than ten steps or climbed a flight of stairs. And the contrast with younger, smugger Holmes-- who still put too much faith in his tremendous gifts and couldn't see his own limitations or really understand what goes on behind the surface for other people-- seemed to get stronger all the time as the memories went on. And of course that's a function of the way we remember, the emotional overlay, as much as anything, which is the point.

Really liked the characters in the actual remembered case, and the actors who played them.

Also Frances De La Tour, because she is a treasure of a character actress and such fun in everything.

So yeah, I really liked it. I grant you it was slow, but I seemed to be in the mood for slow last night, so that wasn't something that bothered me much.

McKellen, though-- he was so good as the frail elder who was sometimes very sharp and sometimes lost, and I worried about him every time he walked more than ten steps or climbed a flight of stairs. And the contrast with younger, smugger Holmes-- who still put too much faith in his tremendous gifts and couldn't see his own limitations or really understand what goes on behind the surface for other people-- seemed to get stronger all the time as the memories went on. And of course that's a function of the way we remember, the emotional overlay, as much as anything, which is the point.

I think this is what affected my mother most when she saw the film. The strong person becoming frailer reminded her, I think, of my grandmother. I should sense her tensing and gasping at some points. It wasn't the detective film she thought it might be and I don't think she enjoyed it as much as she thought she might but I put that down to the strength of Ian McKellan's acting. Because we both know how an older person moves and acts, it's pretty ingrained, and can spot a 'performance' a mile away, if that makes sense.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was grand but I thought I'd find it more entertaining. The mother loved it of course. Things blowing up and people throwing action movie style punches and kicks - she loves that!

Today we saw The Man from UNCLE. My partiality for Cavill not withstanding, it was great fun. And Armie Hammer, well hello sir! I think the only other film I saw him in was Mirror Mirror, to be honest with you. He's very tall. And the clothes. I was coveting a couple of Alicia Vikander's outfits.
If I say I'm going to see it again, would you judge me? Oh who cares! I'm going to see it again!

I too saw The Man from UNCLE and I really enjoyed it - slightly irritating Ocean's Eleven-style flashbacks notwithstanding. It was the first time I really got Henry Cavill as an actor - he has a quiet charisma that would lend itself to darker roles very well. As for Armie Hammer, I was really impressed with his non-verbal acting (like those moments when he was about to Hulk-out), but his accent was pretty solid too. His chemistry with Alicia Vikander was very sweet as well, but I was disappointed that

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Is that too much to ask for?

I've already seen The Man From UNCLE twice, so I won't judge you QueenSix.

I was really surprised the movie reviews were so meh. I thought it was fantastic fun, and also fun to look at. It's just a good time at the movies. I loved all three main actors/characters, and Alicia Vikander's outfits in particular were amaaazing.

You should all go see it!

vwlphb wrote:I've already seen The Man From UNCLE twice, so I won't judge you QueenSix.

I was really surprised the movie reviews were so meh. I thought it was fantastic fun, and also fun to look at. It's just a good time at the movies. I loved all three main actors/characters, and Alicia Vikander's outfits in particular were amaaazing.

You should all go see it!

You're a good enabler friend, vwlphb. I don't expect movies I like to be universally adored but the way some of the movies are treating this film, I wonder if there's a bit of an agenda there. Like, they don't like Guy Ritchie but don't want to come out and say it? I wonder because the Radio Times film editor has a vlog (I didn't watch it) asking why they made a film out of a series nobody under the age of 54 remembers which I find very odd logic because it's not like people of all ages aren't rediscovering TV shows all the time. Sometimes a TV show with a less high profile might be cheaper to purchase the rights or something along those lines but that doesn't mean they shouldn't revive it in some way if they have an idea. I dunno. I just found it a bit insulting. I mean, I'm not in my 50s but I saw the show in reruns at one point and it's not like they can't fucking google it!

I swear the more online movie reviews I read, the more I miss Roger Ebert. Even though I didn't always agree with his assessment of films, I respected his critique because he actually gave thought to why he didn't like something. It wasn't just a "I didn't like this therefore it sucks" type review that seems prevalent now in some quarters.

Grainne Mhaol, re: your spoiler text - Me Too!!!

I went to The Man From UNCLE today. I've been a fan of the show since I was twelve or so and one of the local channels used to play reruns late Thursday nights. I obviously couldn't stay up after midnight on a school night, so Dad used to wake me after the late news so I could watch it. I had such a crush on Illya, and I've been hoping this movie would be good.

It was a lot of fun, especially the chase scenes and the character banter. According to some background stuff I found for the show, the original intent was for Napoleon and Illya to be wary of each other and prepared to kill each other if they had to. So the antagonism, while not at all true to the way the show turned out, wasn't entirely out of place.

Henry Cavill was a wonderful Napoleon Solo. Just perfectly suave and cocky and handsome-- I was even willing to overlook his preposterous new backstory.

Loved Alicia Vikander, who was adorable and whose outfits were perfect. I was so glad

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I've only ever seen Armie Hammer in Mirror Mirror and to be honest his performance under the "Puppy Love" potion was so funny I will love him forever. And he was terrific in the role he was given, but that was not Illya Kuryakin, or at least he was nothing like Illya from the TV show. I got over it, but with Cavill being as Napoleon as he was, I found myself wishing Hammer got to be at least a little bit like the Illya I used to crush on.

The main villain needed some context, and the longer the movie went on the more it bothered me. Okay, I know there is a long tradition of

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and the more that didn't happen the more annoyed I felt.

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It didn't ruin the movie for me but it was a major distraction.

I also expected the iconic theme music to play at the end and was a little disappointed when it didn't. I stuck around for about half the credits but maybe it did play right at the end.

I would definitely go to a sequel, especially if Cavill got to introduce himself as an agent of the U.N.C...L.E, the way he did in season one...

I saw Man from UNCLE today too.

I felt it was better than the C- Run Pee gave it. It was fun and fluffy, with a fabulous soundtrack. I want Armie Hammer and Henry Cavil to be in every buddy movie from now on.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was a great deal of fun.

Saw The Man From UNCLEtoday. I loved everything about it. It's stylish, well paced, funny, and has a great score / soundtrack, A ++ all around. I loved the costumes and the villain's awesome eye makeup, and the action was kind of cartoon-y but not ridiculous. The scene where Solo and Illya are arguing over how to dress Gaby is hilarious, but played so straight-faced by the actors that it's really understated. It's not even a little bit hyperbolic to say that Henry Cavill is the most beautiful man alive (sploosh), but Armie Hammer looks great here too.

We saw Straight Outta Compton on Saturday night and I thought it was really good. It was long, but as someone who was just slightly too young to know much about NWA and their origins, it was definitely interesting. Though in reading up about the group last night I discovered just how much stuff they glossed over (Dre's history of domestic violence in particular), which is not great.

But yeah, Ice Cube's son? Spitting image of him.

I saw The Martian in 3D tonight. I highly recommend the 3D. It was amazing. The whole movie was amazing. I think my favorite part was

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bookworm wrote:I saw The Martian in 3D tonight.  I highly recommend the 3D.  It was amazing.  The whole movie was amazing.  I think my favorite part was

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I didn't see it in 3d, but I enjoyed it. That said, the lightness rather than gloom doom and death was a little...jarring? I mean I liked it, but it was very unexpected.

Also, I wanted Matt Damon to have a long distance romance with the cute satellite tech watching him on earth.

I saw Crimson Peak tonight.  It was beautifully done, though with some definite horror movie flaws.  Tom Hiddleston was in fine form as the moody, suffering, hollow-eyed, Bryon-esque love interest.  It was so over the top, which I guess was the point.  I definitely see it getting nominated for costume and set design in awards season.  It was a waste of Charlie Hunnam, IMHO.  

The thing that really annoyed me was

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bookworm wrote:
The thing that really annoyed me was

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How about

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Yeah, that too.

Saw The Martian last night and this is the first time I have ever regretted reading a book before seeing the film based on it. It was well done, with wonderful performances but there was literally no suspense for me. Having read the book, first though, I have an issue with what they did with Park's character:

Spoilering just in case:

Naughty Zoot wrote:Saw The Martian last night and this is the first time I have ever regretted reading a book before seeing the film based on it. It was well done, with wonderful performances but there was literally no suspense for me

I didn't read the book, but I felt no tension or suspense either. There's an inbuilt problem of Mars being so far away from Earth (so there isn't the instantaneous feedback you get when watching a film like Apollo 13) but for some reason Ridley Scott compounded the problem by filming all the NASA scenes like a sitcom. All of the interactions between characters were flat, and I was constantly distracted by the casting of big-name actors in nothing parts. The weird Judd Apatow-esqe humour that went through it also undercut any sense of tension they were trying to create with Watney.

All of Matt Damon's scenes struck me as odd too. I enjoyed the science stuff, but tonally the scenes were thrown off by the running gag of Jessica Chastain's disco music.

There were chunks of it I liked - like the long section in space with Watney's crew mates - and I got the impression that it could have been edited into a tight, tense movie, if only Ridley Scott had been willing to cut out some of the fat.

I also was sort of meh on it, it was perfectly fine, but I kept comparing it to Apollo 13 and it failed that comparison.

I saw Sicario the same day, and I thought it as fucking great, and I really hope Emily Blunt isn't jobbed out of a nomination under some bullshit argument that she "disappears" from the film, she's not on screen for, like, 10 minutes so shut up internet.

I also recently saw Goodnight Mommy which is nicely creepy and totally sadistically bonkers in the end.

I saw Burnt last night, Bradley Cooper's new film. It was good, thought not as much about the process of cooking the food as I had hoped (the way Chef was). More about his path to redeeming his reputation and righting the wrongs from his time in Paris as a famous chef with addiction problems while he tries to get a third Michelin star. Still, a good story despite being a little light on some of the themes, and the plating and styling of the food was spectacular.

Love the Coopers was not a good movie. It was really depressing, disjointed, muddled, and none of the characters were sympathetic. The only people I didn't want to go off and lead a horrible life were Soldier Joe and Patrolman Percy. You deserve better than them Joe and Percy!

The Night Before, which is pretty much exactly what you think it is, with a few sacrilegious jokes subbed for the expected dick jokes (some of those, too). It's very dependent on the charisma of JGL and Anthony Mackie (and the ability of Seth Rogen to commit to and sell dick/crucifixion jokes). It's not great, but I laughed.

I went to a screening of Sisters tonight. It was really funny and I liked it a lot. It's a shame it's coming out this weekend.

The reverse of what happened with Mad Max and Pitch Perfect, you mean?

I saw Room, which is the story of of a woman kidnapped and held for years by her captor in a Ariel Castro-like situation, with a child conceived after her abduction. It's very good and surprisingly light (not like a comedy or anything, just not brutally wrenching) for the topic. The true credit goes to the child actor, who is phenomenal. I don't know if it's the script or the actor, but the kid works in a way that 90% of child performances don't. Brie Larson is good as the woman, but the kid is amazing.

I cannot wait to see Room. Have you read the book, Binky? Because the book had a very similar tone to what you're describing. A brutal situation, but told form the kid's point of view, and weirdly not as gut-wrenching as it sounds like it should be. It was such a terrifically enthralling read.

We saw The Revenant last night, because I'm going to try and see all the Best Picture nominations, and man, did my husband and I both NOT like it. It is basically

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I knew it wouldn't be the sort of film I would enjoy, but man, I did not want to dislike it completely.