Tag: three sentence movies

The suspicion I developed while catching up with Alden Ehrenreich’s oeuvre prior to the release of this film was confirmed: Erinrich is a little too stiff to properly carry off a young Han Solo. That unfortunate fact aside, I enjoyed the standard adventure plot of this movie. I think the interesting parts of this story–L3-37 and Qi-ra*–were unfortunately overlooked, which made for a movie that wasn’t quite as awesome as it could be.

Cost: $5.35
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12 (after attempting to watch it at McMenamins St. Johns Theater, an attempt that was thwarted by a broken projector. The nice part about living in Portland, the land of the many movie theaters, is that we had our admission refunded and headed for another theater. We even stopped along the way to buy supplies for the yard rehab project.)

*When someone says, “I’ve done terrible things!” more than once, that is the plot I’m interested in. What terrible things has she done? Are they really that bad? Has she really done terrible things, or has she just moved on from this relationship? Does she plan on continuing doing terrible things in the future?  I would be interested in watching the reveal of all of these things.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/solo_a_star_wars_story.html

Hoo-boy can Diablo Cody write mundane normal life in a way that is both interesting and realistic. I loved that this movie easily could have had a villain–checked out husband Mark Duplass–but there wasn’t because he wasn’t the bad guy, there is no bad guy, there’s just life. Charlize Theron is her usual excellent self, and I loved watching the relationship between Theron and Tully (Mackenzie Davis) develop over the course of the movie.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst by myself, which was too bad because it’s one to discuss afterward.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/tully.html

Sorkin brings the dialogue, as he is wont to, and Chastain and Elba bring the sizzle, as they are known for. I’m a fan of a steely woman, some bad choices and a conundrum or two, so this movie worked for me. As usual, the “based on a true story” aspect was annoying* though there was Michael Cera as a skeevy actor/poker player, so that was fun.

Cost: $1.50 via Redbox
Where watched: at home with Matt, who tried to resist Sorkin’s dialogue, but was pulled in by the first scene.

*It distracts me because I find myself wondering just how much of it was real.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/mollys_game_ver3.html

Recommended by one-half of the Cube Critics, I started watching because I enjoy the rat-a-tat dialogue of Amy Sherman-Palladino but do not have the time to watch 150+ episodes of the Gilmore Girls. This has some annoying TV things–continuity from episode to episode; sometimes the characters can feel very one note–but every episode has funny lines, an engaging hook and–my favorite–includes a choreographed dance number.*  It’s too bad that this only ran for 18 episodes, but they are a fun and interesting 18 episodes.

Cost: free via Freeform (I got to once again experience the fun TV-watching exercise of muting the commercials. There were five of them and they played repeatedly. )
Where watched: at home

*There are also three generations of characters (teenagers, 30-something, woman of a certain age) and I enjoyed seeing a variety of older actresses rotate through as minor characters.  I suspect many of them regularly turn up in Sherman-Palladino ventures.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/tv/bunheads_ver2.html

Chris Evans’ directing debut* that will be of interest to everyone who likes Before Sunrise-esque movies.  In this case, Evans is in town for a big audition (he plays trumpet) and Eve has just missed the last New York-to-Boston train. While this movie has been done, the performances were engaging, the mechanization keeping the actors together felt real and overall, this was a nice film for a Sunday afternoon.

Cost: free from Netflix
Where watched: at home

*DVD extras have a quote from Evans that says something like: “My first time directing, I figured, why not make it easier and only have two people in it?”

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/before_we_go.html

Continuing the psychological thriller theme of the day, Matt and I watched this post-anniversary dinner. Matt’s presence was essential to my viewing; during one scene I was so scared, I bit his finger. This was a complete and total perfect movie experience with the story zinging in different directions, keeping us guessing; by the next day my enthusiasm dropped a notch or two when I realized that Rebecca Hall’s character existed only as something to drive the plot.*

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home with Matt.

*Aside from, at times, making choices that were completely out of character, she was, by the end, quite literally a vessel.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/gift.html

This was one of those movies where I was completely engrossed while watching and then the entire world fell apart once I left the movie theater.* However, the acting was so good and the movie was so scary, I don’t much mind that this was a perfect movie-going experience and not a perfect movie-ruminating experience. Both Blunt and Krasinski have excellent faces for this kind of peril.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: The Laurelhurst Theater with S. North.

*For example: the creatures at times had variable hearing–that scene in the poster was one example; how, exactly does winter work, with all that crunchy snow and doors that have to be closed?; I also question how the fields were planted with corn but without the use of any animal or machine.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/quiet_place.html

I knew from the trailer this was going to be a movie I would love as it included striking colors, an engaging main character, and a moment that made me laugh out loud. The movie delivered, with a gentle humor that kept going throughout.* The physical comedy** was a treat, as was Fiona Gordon’s French accent that was so bad even I winced, and I look forward to other movies by Abel & Gordon.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

*In the DVD extras, Abel & Gordon comment on how much of modern humor is sarcastic and mean, and that they work to avoid that in their comedy.
**The DVD extras also include a primer on the type of comedy Abel & Gordon do, which is called Burlesque. This is not what we in America think of Burlesque, but a comedy tradition with a long history in France.

I include the trailer so you can see if it’s a movie you would love:

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/paris_pieds_nus_ver2.html

First of all, this is one of those movies where the male main character is insufferable through most of the film,* however, it should not stop you from watching, because this movie is brilliant. The acting**/plot/setting/everything is great and you will do best if you follow the advice on the poster, written before they had the handy word, “spoiler”: “It’s climaxed by the 10 breath-stopping minutes you’ve ever lived! Don’t reveal the ending–please!”

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

*I will throw him a small bone in that medical practices in the 1950s infantilized the patient in a way I would have found insufferable.
**Una O’Connor as the housekeeper! Marlene Dietrich as the wife! Tyrone Power as the husband and murder suspect! Even Elsa Lanchester as the insufferable Nurse Plimsoll was great.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1957/witness_for_the_prosecution.html