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I saw The Magnificent Seven on the weekend, and I didn't think it was terrible. There were some good things about it, but I wish we would have gotten less of Chris Pratt's character and more of the other characters. And I never thought I'd write that. But his character was dull, and the others could have been interesting, had they explored them at all. Denzel was the lead so he got a lot, but his character was interesting, if predictable. I want to know more about the other five.

However, my biggest beef is with the lone female character.

Spoiler:

Queen of Katwe is a whole lot of fun-- yes, it's a Disney/ESPN collaboration so you pretty much know it's a triumphal arc, but I felt like it earned the triumph. And the cast was uniformly incredibly appealing, especially the chess-playing children-- the young actress playing Phiona, the lead, was just terrific, but there were lots of excellent performances. Also, someone behind us had brought young kids, and their horrified reaction during a smoochy scene between the chess coach and his (awesome!) wife was hilarious.

The new Star Wars. It's very good, I've seen it twice so far. But parents be warned. This isn't a movie for the kids.

Spoiler:

It's the darkest Star Wars to date. Hopefully the next one will ease off, but I'm not counting on it.

Red Wolf wrote:The new Star Wars. It's very good, I've seen it twice so far. But parents be warned. This isn't a movie for the kids.

Spoiler:

It's the darkest Star Wars to date. Hopefully the next one will ease off, but I'm not counting on it.

I loved Rogue one, but it was also so dark, I'm not sure I ever want to see it again.

I loved Rogue One - I found it so exhilarating that I didn't even mind the downbeat tone. To me it was a vast improvement over The Force Awakens. It referenced the original movies but did it subtly, feeling very much like its own movie. The characters felt a little thin at times, but they were archetypes much like Luke and Han Solo in A New Hope. We were given enough time to get to know them enough to care about them, even though we already knew the outcome. The pacing was a little slow at first, but I appreciated that it took its time, given the hectic pace of the final battle. The acting, direction, cinematography, editing, effects were all fantastic.

One small thing that bothered me was

Spoiler:

Gripes aside, I really, really enjoyed it. It felt like an old-fashioned fantasy adventure movie - the kind I thought wasn't made any more. Definitely going back for another viewing.

Finally saw Rogue One, and yes, holy darkness, Batman! A Snarker over on Facebook remarked that it was pretty much a World War II movie, and I very much agree-- Rebel air bases always remind me of Fighter Command anyway, but there were a bunch of visuals that called several other WWII classics (and other phases of the war) to mind. Which was probably the reason I spent the whole movie waiting for one of the characters I especially liked to either turn or chicken out.

The characters didn't inspire affection in me the way characters did in the original movie or in The Force Awakens, but neither did the characters in The Guns Of Navarone, so I'm cool. (I did spend a lot of time going "hey, it's that guy!" and went right to IMDB afterward to try and figure out where I had seen them before.)

I did like the choices about how certain on-the-side-of-the-angels characters were vivually portrayed, and I appreciated a certain grittiness that was absent in the (three) other Star Wars movies I've seen. I don't want it to invade Rey and Finn's world, but I'd definitely watch another "here's how we got to where we are" film with the same tone.

I did kind of blink at a location whose name I cannot remember but appeared to be Mordor. Although I appreciated how it was used.

Yeah, not going to see it nine times or anything, but I liked it.

Saw and quite enjoyed Rogue One. I did have one quibble with the storyline but I've already forgotten it, so it clearly didn't bug me too much.

I feel less gracious about La La Land. Yes, it's another movie by Hollywood about Hollywood, I knew that going in, but it was surprisingly dull and plodding. The musical numbers are sort of cute but there are only a few and none of the songs are memorable. I love Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, and they're both fine in it but have little chemistry together...and the (theoretical) chemistry is pretty much the entire plot. Each of their characters make big choices I'm not convinced they would make, although people do things I don't expect all the time so I can live with that criticism. Also, there is a lot of jazz music. A LOT. I like jazz fine but I was super bored by the jazz after a while. Not least because this film is over 2 hours long, and it feels even longer! Really, 1.5 hours would've been plenty of time to cover every interesting beat and most of the uninteresting ones.

It's not even close to the worst film evah, but I can't recommend it. Unless you want to listen to several 2-3 minutes sections of various kinds of jazz mixed in with some forgettable songs. And marvel at how huge Emma Stone's eyes are compared to Ryan Gosling's.

I saw Sing over the holiday. I was really looking forward to it because all the trailers and ads were so cute. And the movie started off stunningly. And then went nowhere. It had so much potential and just squandered all of it. And one of the story lines was just left hanging. I waited through the entire credits because I was SURE that we would see something that wrapped it up, but nothing. Not even a tease to a sequel, just dropped the story line and never went back to it.

That being said, there were good parts to it. Great music, some very funny moments. Nick Kroll's pig character brought most of the funny. It just should have been better.

I was sad we didn't learn anything about Gunther. I wanted to know his story. Maybe we'll get an all-Gunther movie.

I found La La Land charming enough-- though I could probably watch Emma Stone read the phone book, so...

But I have to say, the songs mostly did NOT work for me because the sound mix on them was TERRIBLE. I was constantly straining to HEAR THE WORDS, and thus nothing popped.

I saw Hidden Figures yesterday, and it was amazing.  Even though you know the ending, they still did a decent job of generating tension.  I liked how the movie showed that the women were held back by preconceived notions of gender AND race.

Also, as a librarian, I have never been so happy to see someone steal a library book.

bookworm wrote:I saw Hidden Figures yesterday, and it was amazing.  Even though you know the ending, they still did a decent job of generating tension.  I liked how the movie showed that the women were held back by preconceived notions of gender AND race.  

Also, as a librarian, I have never been so happy to see someone steal a library book.

It was so great. There was applause in my theatre at the end. I went mid-afternoon on a Saturday and it was so crowded my friends and I had to sit way down front and still couldn't sit together. And the little boy next to me was just as into it as his mother. I think I'll wait a week to give everyone a turn and then go back!

I saw La La Land this afternoon and found it very endearing, but somewhat disposable. The musical numbers were well executed, but I felt they were struggling to find a tone in the early scenes - the 'unearned jollity' of the songs was a bit distancing, but then the story kicked in and I started to enjoy it.

Emma Stone was totally adorable, as was Ryan Gosling, who showed a real knack for comedy and was a lot more animated than I've seen him in some other films, which I appreciated. I think they got around both of them not being the world's greatest singer/dancers pretty well, but as RiverThames mentioned, whoever did the sound mix should have been fired. Not only was I straining to hear what the singers where singing about, but in the scene where Mia and Sebastian were walking on the Warner Brothers' lot, I could see that the dialogue didn't synch with their lips, which was pretty shocking in such a glossy production.

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot but it didn't really stick with me. I'm not sure if it was the bittersweet ending or the fact that it didn't really end up knowing what it wanted to be, a romantic drama/comedy or a lush escapist fairytale. It never completely came together for me.

My face just leaked for two hours watching Lion. The little kid is so good in it.

We saw that a couple weeks ago, and my in-laws just saw it today. Apparently, my MIL couldn't even talk about it to my husband, hours after they'd watched. That movie is wonderful, and a LOT.

Moonlight. Everyone needs to see it. It is so...moving. My heart hurt at the end. The little boy in the first section is amazing and Mahershala Ali deserves ALL the awards. It is beautiful filmed and takes characters that too often stereotypes in media and makes them complicated and frustrating and heartbreaking and human.

katesti wrote:We saw that a couple weeks ago, and my in-laws just saw it today. Apparently, my MIL couldn't even talk about it to my husband, hours after they'd watched. That movie is wonderful, and a LOT.

I haven't seen it yet, but just based on the trailers I think Dev Patel has done the best non-Australian Australian accent ever (besides Kate Winslet, who's done it twice now with great success). I'm really looking forward to seeing it soon.

Has anyone else seen Logan Lucky yet? I've seen it twice (I was on vacation when it opened so I went, and then friends wanted to go and I went again) and I found it entertaining but maybe not quite as much gleeful fun as I was hoping. I was ever so slightly let down.

Also have seen Dunkirk... more times than I should probably confess to. In my own defense, when am I going to get to see real live Spitfires in a movie again? Also, and I think this was a common reaction, Jack Lowden as the Scottish RAF pilot was a delightful discovery. Although having seen him play a Spitfire pilot I am not at all sure I need to see him in anything else! :D

I found it entertaining but maybe not quite as much gleeful fun as I was hoping.

Funny, that is actually exactly the impression I got from the trailer.

Coneycat, I loved Dunkirk too. And (in addition to lovely performances from Mark Rylance and Nolan's regulars) it was so great to see many excellent performances from new-to-me faces. The guy who played Peter, both young soldiers from the "beach" storyline, and yes, the RAF pilot. I'd happily see it again!

Carrie Ann wrote:Coneycat, I loved Dunkirk too. And (in addition to lovely performances from Mark Rylance and Nolan's regulars) it was so great to see many excellent performances from new-to-me faces. The guy who played Peter, both young soldiers from the "beach" storyline, and yes, the RAF pilot. I'd happily see it again!

Fionn Whitehead was a revelation, and I was just astonished at how good Harry Styles was as the third beach solder, in a much bigger and more complex role than I expected. And the interactions between Mark Rylance and the young guy who played Peter were wonderful. (Also wonderful? The number of kids on Tumblr going "But can we talk about the dad? Because he was a great dad." Mark Rylance was so good.)

Also, in IMAX you get the full effect of the Merlin engine dopplering across the screen. Although it's the appearance of the little ships that make me cry-- it seems to choke me up more every time I see the movie.

It's been YEARS since I had the urge to go back to a movie over and over-- I think the last one was Master & Commander but I'm going to be really sorry when Dunkirk leaves theatres!

My current "Okay I really need to stop going to see this again" movie is Baby Driver. It is so good! And there is something very visually satisfying about watching it.

vwlphb wrote: My current "Okay I really need to stop going to see this again" movie is Baby Driver. It is so good! And there is something very visually satisfying about watching it.

Baby Driver is so good on so many levels. I really should have gone back to that one a couple of times too!