Movie Recommendations - not necessarily too hot

These came with some critical acclaim but not often mentioned ...

Heat- underrated. De Niro & Pacino ... outstanding flick.

Cinderella Man- my take-away was ...how in the hell did I never hear of this story as a man in my 40s. Great movie.

Master & Commander - if you like historic pics, it was fantastic. Russell Crowe was as good as it gets.

Mystic River- Eastwood’s best directed film IMO. Definitely not uplifting but incredibly well written & acted. Fantastic film.

 

Not Zola. Way too dark. I thought it would spoof my beloved city, but it was hard to watch. Well acted, but just way too dark

 

Some personal favorites:

Man On Fire (action drama, one of Denzel’s best in my opinion)

Into the Wild (Sean Penn’s adaptation of Christopher McCandless life)

Arrival (Beautiful Sci-fi masterpiece)

Parasite (dark comedy about class struggle)

Lost in Translation (ultimate jet lag movie with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansen)

13 Assassins (dark-edged samurai remake)

Momento (Christopher Nolan crime thriller)

Silver Linings Playbook (dark comedy with a stellar cast)

LA Confidential (Hollywood crime noir)

Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe’s coming of age story)

Whiplash (psychological drama about a young jazz drummer and his bully teacher)

Drive (Ryan Gosling neo-noir drama)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (brilliant science fiction romance with Jim Carrey)

The Adjustment Bureau (Matt Damon sci-fi)

The Notebook (always gets me teary eyed)

Blue is the Warmest Color (foreign lesbian romance drama)

 

Most of the rotten tomatoes critics liked it. The audience slightly less but still positive. I watched very late so I may have been too tired to appreciate it. But nonetheless it seemed like a great cast but in the end there was really very little compelling plot wise about it, at least to me.

 

That's a good list.

 

Do these count? LOL

 

Just watched Summer of Soul on Hulu. Excellent

 

You need to listen to the rewatchables podcast. Their favorite movie is Heat and they quote it extensively.

 

Concur re. Ciderella Man. True story in 30's and prototype of Rocky b4 that was even conceived. Ron Howard did awesome job recreating era and MSG in particular.

 

I've got it saved and plan to watch soon. The trailer showed a cornet player - Don Cherry? Maybe with the Ornette Coleman group. As a jazz and RnB enthusiast, I'm really looking fwd to it.

 

Saw The Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt on Amazon. If you have realistic expectations, it’s good. Good balance of action for me and drama for my wife. It’s a tad far fetched (such as I never knew untrained people can easily fire an automatic rifle), but it was still worth my time.

 

Agreed. Mindless escapism

 

Watching Sons of Liberty now (dvrd this AM). Its excellent. If you saw it, is hbos john adams comparable/similar?

 

Oblivion
The Martian
Warm Bodies
Elvis & Anabelle
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

 

I’ve watched two movies recently that I would like to non-recommend: The Tomorrow War and Without Remorse. Both stupid. Don’t waste your time.

 

I enjoyed Tomorrow War. I wasn't expecting anything great and found it a fun diversion for a couple of hours. Award winner? Absolutely not? Have I seen WAY worse? Definitely.

 

I've been waiting for them to make Without Remorse for years. Very disappointed with what they turned it into.

 

Tom Clancy adaptations just don't work post-Cold War. As dumb action movies go, it wasnt unwatchable, but the geo-political stakes were basically incomprehensible. Oops the CIA killed some Russians in our own Middle East war just doesnt hit the same in 2021.

 

Damn fine list.

 

Agree. I dont mind stupid scifi but The Tomorrow War was a decent concept with a decent cast, a better than decent CGI production, but was not a decent movie.