The Movie Reel

[britbox]

those are all great! I would add Where Eagles dare.

And then... there are some movies which are more fantasy but have a certain aspect to them that makes me want to offer them..... Inglorious Bastards and this will shock some... Starship Troopers. There's a certain quality to it which gives an angle on the life and relationships of soldiers that jibes, even if it's fantasy.

Inglorious Bastards was good. Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon are also on my list. Not a film, but Band of Brothers is a terrific box set following the progress of Easy company. I liked Warhorse but the most chilling I've seen was a Russian movie called Come and See. Not a feel good factor film but extremely well made.

 

[britbox]

Christmas Movies...we usually watch one of the Scrooge/Christmas Carol adaptations every year. I also associate Gremlins and Ghostbusters with Christmas. Love Actually is cheesy but has that seasonal feel good factor. I like it.

 

[Horsa]

Christmas Movies...we usually watch one of the Scrooge/Christmas Carol adaptations every year. I also associate Gremlins and Ghostbusters with Christmas. Love Actually is cheesy but has that seasonal feel good factor. I like it.

What is your favourite version of Scrooge?

 

[britbox]

What is your favourite version of Scrooge?

I don't have a particular favourite. We've got some old black and white adaptations that reallly capture the essence but the newer adaptations like the Patrick Stewart version are good too.

 

[Horsa]

I don't have a particular favourite. We've got some old black and white adaptations that reallly capture the essence but the newer adaptations like the Patrick Stewart version are good too.

There are some good versions. My favourite is the Alistair Sims version but I also like Patrick Stewart's version & the 1935 version.

 

[britbox]

I forgot to mention this magical classic. I watch it every year.

 

[Federberg]

it's funny when I first watched this movie as a kid, I thought Travolta's character was the epitome of cool. Seeing clips of it now, I recognise the character. And it's actually darkly tragic. This is a guy who is the king of the dance floor, but has no life outside of it. He's going nowhere in life. And even the women who rush to sleep with him invariably leave him quickly after when they recognise that he's nothing off the floor...

 

[Federberg]

surely one of the most iconic scenes in film history. The other major scene in this movie apparently traumatised Ned Beatty in real life for years after..

 

[don_fabio]

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is a pretty decent war movie.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I watched Maestro on netflix dont bother watching it, talk about over acting from Bradly Cooper from the start to finish, Casey Mulligan who played his wife, was okay in places, both chain smoked, it really didnt show how Bernstein became a great conductor, the film was all over the place, it was a disappointing film from start to finish.

 

[tented]

I watched Maestro on netflix dont bother watching it, talk about over acting from Bradly Cooper from the start to finish, Casey Mulligan who played his wife, was okay in places, both chain smoked, it really didnt show how Bernstein became a great conductor, the film was all over the place, it was a disappointing film from start to finish.

Agreed. We watched about the first 20 minutes, then turned it off. It should have been titled “Bradley Cooper Chews the Scenery as Leonard Bernstein.”

 

[Moxie]

I watched Maestro on netflix dont bother watching it, talk about over acting from Bradly Cooper from the start to finish, Casey Mulligan who played his wife, was okay in places, both chain smoked, it really didnt show how Bernstein became a great conductor, the film was all over the place, it was a disappointing film from start to finish.

Agreed. We watched about the first 20 minutes, then turned it off. It should have been titled “Bradley Cooper Chews the Scenery as Leonard Bernstein.”

I figured I'd see the film before responding to this, and I did today, in a good theatre. Honestly, I don't know how anyone expects Bradley Cooper to play Leonard Bernstein without being rather over-the-top...Lenny was a larger-than-life person. It's a biopic, and that WAS the guy.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Cooper, but I love Bernstein, and Carey Mulligan. I liked the film a lot. I found the acting was across the board good. Cooper did rather disappear into Bernstein for me, most of the time, and I thought Carey Mulligan had a great emotional arc. I thought that focusing on their relationship was interesting and complicated. Yes, they chain-smoked, and it killed them both. You want to re-write the 1950-70s?

Showing how an artist becomes a great artist is tough to do, though I think they hit on some moments, one in him describing it in an interview with Edwin R. Murrow, I think? (Another great chain-smoker.) And when he conducts Mahler late in the film. (A long take, and very emotional.)

Biopics have to decide what they're going to focus on, and this one went for his life with Felicia. I think it was an interesting choice, and Mulligan held up her end. But they tend to be episodic, not plot-driven, and that can seem boring for some. I'm fine if others don't like it, but I also found the camera work interesting, and I liked the mix of b/w with color. Bottomline: I thought it was a good film, and a good, sincere and serious film.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I figured I'd see the film before responding to this, and I did today, in a good theatre. Honestly, I don't know how anyone expects Bradley Cooper to play Leonard Bernstein without being rather over-the-top...Lenny was a larger-than-life person. It's a biopic, and that WAS the guy.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Cooper, but I love Bernstein, and Carey Mulligan. I liked the film a lot. I found the acting was across the board good. Cooper did rather disappear into Bernstein for me, most of the time, and I thought Carey Mulligan had a great emotional arc. I thought that focusing on their relationship was interesting and complicated. Yes, they chain-smoked, and it killed them both. You want to re-write the 1950-70s?

Showing how an artist becomes a great artist is tough to do, though I think they hit on some moments, one in him describing it in an interview with Edwin R. Murrow, I think? (Another great chain-smoker.) And when he conducts Mahler late in the film. (A long take, and very emotional.)

Biopics have to decide what they're going to focus on, and this one went for his life with Felicia. I think it was an interesting choice, and Mulligan held up her end. But they tend to be episodic, not plot-driven, and that can seem boring for some. I'm fine if others don't like it, but I also found the camera work interesting, and I liked the mix of b/w with color. Bottomline: I thought it was a good film, and a good, sincere and serious film.

That is your opinion, I was looking forward to watching it, I am also not a fan of Cooper, he did over act in my opinion, I found the film all over the place, it never allowed how Bernstein became a great conductor, it switch back and forward, the film was based too much on the relationship between his wife and also his gay lovers. Quite frankly it was a waste of my time.

 

[Moxie]

That is your opinion, I was looking forward to watching it, I am also not a fan of Cooper, he did over act in my opinion, I found the film all over the place, it never allowed how Bernstein became a great conductor, it switch back and forward, the film was based too much on the relationship between his wife and also his gay lovers. Quite frankly it was a waste of my time.

I did say it was my opinion, and I was careful about that. I said I'm fine if you didn't like it. I just said how it played for me.

 

[Moxie]

You know what I didn't like much was "May/December." And I like Todd Haynes, and Julianne Moore.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I did say it was my opinion, and I was careful about that. I said I'm fine if you didn't like it. I just said how it played for me.

In Sydney it had really bad reviews, though if there is a movie I am interested in, I watch it myself, which I did with Maestro.and made up my own mind

 

[Moxie]

In Sydney it had really bad reviews, though if there is a movie I am interested in, I watch it myself, which I did with Maestro.and made up my own mind

I'm with you. I try not to read reviews of a film I'm interested. I prefer to decide for myself. But, hey, sometimes you agree with the bad reviews.

 

[tented]

I figured I'd see the film before responding to this, and I did today, in a good theatre. Honestly, I don't know how anyone expects Bradley Cooper to play Leonard Bernstein without being rather over-the-top...Lenny was a larger-than-life person. It's a biopic, and that WAS the guy.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Cooper, but I love Bernstein, and Carey Mulligan. I liked the film a lot. I found the acting was across the board good. Cooper did rather disappear into Bernstein for me, most of the time, and I thought Carey Mulligan had a great emotional arc. I thought that focusing on their relationship was interesting and complicated. Yes, they chain-smoked, and it killed them both. You want to re-write the 1950-70s?

Showing how an artist becomes a great artist is tough to do, though I think they hit on some moments, one in him describing it in an interview with Edwin R. Murrow, I think? (Another great chain-smoker.) And when he conducts Mahler late in the film. (A long take, and very emotional.)

Biopics have to decide what they're going to focus on, and this one went for his life with Felicia. I think it was an interesting choice, and Mulligan held up her end. But they tend to be episodic, not plot-driven, and that can seem boring for some. I'm fine if others don't like it, but I also found the camera work interesting, and I liked the mix of b/w with color. Bottomline: I thought it was a good film, and a good, sincere and serious film.

It’s quite possible to have a biopic about a famous person — even an over-the-top or quirky famous person — and not have the actor or actress do the I‘M ACTING! bit.

Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia and Iron Lady; Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote; Renee Zellweger as Judy; Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking. They were able to give us the essences of their real-life people without coming across like a mediocre college play.

There’s no doubt other actors could have successfully portrayed Lenny. The problem is Cooper. He has shown on several occasions he’s ultimately an actor with a limited range who, like so many before him, has gotten as far as he has in large part due to his looks.

 

[Moxie]

It’s quite possible to have a biopic about a famous person — even an over-the-top or quirky famous person — and not have the actor or actress do the I‘M ACTING! bit.

Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia and Iron Lady; Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote; Renee Zellweger as Judy; Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking. They were able to give us the essences of their real-life people without coming across like a mediocre college play.

There’s no doubt other actors could have successfully portrayed Lenny. The problem is Cooper. He has shown on several occasions he’s ultimately an actor with a limited range who, like so many before him, has gotten as far as he has in large part due to his looks.

Very different characters, but I know what you're saying. As I said, I don't like Bradley Cooper much, and he's the reason it took me so long to see this film, and I have plenty of reasons to want to see it, including friends involved. Despite that, I thought he was good as LB. It worked for me.

 

[tented]

Very different characters, but I know what you're saying. As I said, I don't like Bradley Cooper much, and he's the reason it took me so long to see this film, and I have plenty of reasons to want to see it, including friends involved. Despite that, I thought he was good as LB. It worked for me.

I think Julia Child (Meryl Streep), Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), Capote (PSH) and Lenny had similarly over-the-top, distinct personalities, but only one of those performances made me cringe.