Friday
Sep252015
What's on your cinematic mind?
Friday, September 25, 2015 at 11:35AM 
You've been suspiciously quiet. Have you hibernated through summer -- f*** u bear schedule -- to emerge refreshed for the best film season?
What movie are you thinking about right now? What are you seeing this weekend?
Reader Comments (39)
I've just seen Sirk's There's Always Tomorrow again. Oh boy I F*CKING LOVE Barbara Stanwyck.
Because you do not watch HTGAWM you missed Viola Davis' first onscreen lesbian kiss. This will never leave my mind. I loved it!
I am thinking about Room, which I've been thinking about since your review-the last time you seemed this adamant about a movie was Short-Term 12, and that ended up winning my Best Picture, so I'm ecstatic for the potential!
I'm seeing Stonewall this weekend, mostly because I want to see what the fuss is about.
Jennifer Jones, Greer Garson. Marsha Mason.
And non-alliteratively Anne Bancroft, Jane Fonda, Kathy Baker, Taraji P. Henson.
Lanthimos, Winslet and British royalty. Who needs sex?
The Excorcist remake. I don't actually like the original but remakes always make me unreasonably hopeful. I'm an optimist.
Saw Grandma on Wednesday. (Liked it.)
Seeing Sleeping with Other People in a few hours (VERY EXCITED).
Sicario is next on the list.
What movies am I thinking about right now?
Victoria, Carol: hoping they are all that.
Shortbus: no idea why this popped into my head.
No movies for me this weekend. It's TV, TV, TV...
Saw Sicario last night. Wow.
remakes always make me unreasonably hopeful. I'm an optimist.
Ewww
I read a review of The Martian yesterday which mentioned that the Mars scenes were filmed in the same location as Lawrence of Arabia, so I'm thinking of a David Lean weekend.
I'm thinking about the avalanche of must see movies coming in the next month, and wondering how the hell I'm going to find time to see everything. Just to be clear: this is a super good problem to have.
Carol, The loabster and The Martian, in particular its ridiculous diverse cast. also Arabian Nights Volume 2 and Luísa Cruz's NEAT performance in it as the judge. Oscar worthy IMO. I'm really hoping that the Academy nominates said film, even though I know that it probably won't happen. But 'till they announce the nominees, a boy can dream right?
They're remaking The Exorcist?! That is a classic film that should not be touched in any way. It is cinematic perfection. I am about to projectile-vomit.
Sad, but not shocked, Stonewall is supposed to be so bad. Debating seeing Everest still. Seemingly the only one pumped for The Walk.
Can we talk about Sam Smith's Bond theme? Because oh dear. Not all songs have to be epic and grand but that one is totally underwhelming.
Stonewall
Sam Smith's Spectre theme
:-[
I'm thinking Foreign-language Oscars. Canada just chose "Félix & Meira" as its candidate for this year:
http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/telefilm-canada-announces-that-felix-et-meira-is-canadas-selection-for-the-best-foreign-language-film-oscar-in-2016-529555241.html
Also, The Austrian candidate "Goodnight Mommy" opens here today, and I'm looking forward to seeing it on the weekend.
I'm going to the firdt day of NYFF. Bob Fosse and Gene Tierney. Heaven.
Looking forward to The Martian next week. I'm ready for an entertaining big spectacle of a film.
Thinking about double featuring Barbarella and Flash Gordon. About watching The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with my friends in 16mm. Little Shop of Horrors Saturday night in 35mm with the original ending which I'm not crazy about. And then... Maybe I'll see Sicario...
STinG - this sounds ike possibly the greatest or at least the campiest sci-fi weekend of all time.
I've watched With a Song in My Heart three times in the past week. I have no idea why. Maybe it's the costumes. Maybe it's my undying love for Thelma Ritter. Maybe it's the two scenes with Robert Wagner, which are really lovely (I had no idea!). I feel like when people talk about movies with "heart," they mean this one.
Well, now I'm thinking about "Writing's on the Wall." Needs more bottom (no pun intended). I like my Bond themes with a little more bass in the orchestrations and voice (male or female).
I'm thinking about terrible movies! Last week I was at a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a limited selection of DVDs to watch. I saw two GOOD movies during the week:
50/50
Your Sister's Sister
And one acceptably bad movie with some redeeming qualities:
Secondhand Lions
And then it was all downhill from there:
I Am Number Four
Beastly (two bad Alex Pettyfer movies)
Couples Retreat (I did not laugh even once)
And probably a couple more than I have totally blocked from my memory. Really, there wasn't enough wine in the building to make these movies palatable.
Oh yeah, another bad one: The Adjustment Bureau.
I've been thinking about how some of the worst or most inconsistent directors (Tyler Perry, Ryan Murphy) keep our most undervalued or forgotten actresses working.
The Adjustment Bureau is not bad!
On the eve of it's limited release, I'm thinking of Stonewall and "representation" and "reappropriation" of historical events in film. And how many and varied the accounts are of that particular evening and whether or not how Emmerich (and, it must be said, his screenwriter) did or did not "change" the events even matters. I've concluded that all this can only possibly be solved by seeing the damn thing.
my favorite director of the moment, Lanthimos, hiring the most overrated actress of her generation, Kate Winslet - I hate that. But I have to trust that he knows what he's doing.
After all, he also hired Colin Farrell, whom I'm not a fan of either, for The Lobster, and apparently he's pretty good in that movie.
Ulrich, you should be more bothered by his casting of Emma Stone.
I'm thinking about "Love & Mercy," which I saw again last night. I hope it isn't forgotten in the holiday rush of movies yet to be seen. I am hoping for nominations for both Paul Dano, and most especially, Elizabeth Banks. She is a goddess!
Just made my list of what to see in the cinema before Christmas:
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Visit, The Martian, The Walk, Theeb, Amy, Spectre, The Second Mother and Bridge of Spies. And probably some that still hasn't been listed.
Saw "Love and Mercy" and was very divided on it. More good than bad, I think, but it overplays its villains in the worst way. Giammatti only lacks a mustache to twirl, but it also indulges in that biopic way where we have the advantage of perspective so they throw in a lot of scenes of people loudly doubting a Misunderstood Genius just so we can feel superior for Getting It. Ick. Banks and Cusack are wonderful; Dano is... also in this movie.
That James Bond song is a dud.
Otherwise, seeing SICARIO and this year has officially become "a really good one". Between that, GIRLHOOD, MAD MAX, QUEEN OF EARTH and SAINT LAURENT, I have five absolute top-rate movies I'll be thinking about for years to come. I can only hope they're joined by some more in the tail end of the year.
3rtful - I don't agree that I should be more bothered about the casting of Emma Stone, 'cause I really like Emma Stone.
But having said that, she has to do an English accent, and is she capable of that? Maybe it'll help her that her boyfriend of many years has an English accent...
But there is a chance she'll stick out like a sore, modern thumb in 17th century/18th century England.
charlie G -- thelma is WONDERFUL in that movie. her dancing seen is joy.
glenn -- i like it more than i am apparently supposed to.
dave -- you didn't like dano? it's the best i've ever liked him i think
Nathaniel - Dano doesn't harm the proceedings too much, but he's not value added, either. They hand him the weaker part of the narrative and enlist him in another of the film's dicier decisions, making mental illness seem twee.
Other stray movie thoughts: I wonder how many teens accidentally saw "Grandma" when trying to remember the title of "The Visit"?
Ads for the Fassbender/Cotillard Macbeth have been all over the tv this weekend and I couldn't be more excited for its release next week. Macbeth AND The Martian all on one weekend really does make it feel like The Oscar Season has arrived in the UK
We've seen a lot of live theatre this week, including Hamlet, and have been discussing our favorite film/ stage performances.
Diane Venora, best Gertrude; Julia Stiles, best Ophelia; Charleton Heston, best Player King; Alan Bates, best Claudius.
Stage performances we wish we had seen: Ben Whishaw as Hamlet (when he was 23); Diane Venora as Hamlet for the Public Theater; Ian Charleston as Hamlet.
Stage performances we've seen and liked: Keanu Reeves as Hamlet; Tom Rooney as Polonius.