Movies
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The couch seating is unique, comfortable and nice, but could use more leg room. ↩︎
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To be clear, Tammy has seen the Shining many times. She just didn’t feel like watching again. ↩︎
McFarland, USA. Nice feel good movie for the whole family. Even Tyler watched the whole thing and I thought he might get bored.
Zootopia. Very good movie. Amazing animation. Fun story.
Spotlight
Tammy and I saw Spotlight last night, part of our watching each Academy Award Best Picture nominee. I was blown away. It was a fabulous movie and I can see why it won the award. It also highlights the critical role of journalism in our society, the kind of journalism that is happening less and less. The movie does a great job of showing how this massive scandal was being covered up. It’s also interesting to watch the movie while this issue continues to reverberate through the Catholic church. The story isn’t done being written yet.
Tammy asked me if I would give Best Picture to Spotlight or The Big Short, which I thought was fabulous. I would have given it to Spotlight but it was interesting to consider. I thought they were both fabulous movies with amazing acting, great cinematography and incredibly gripping. I felt like the edge went to Spotlight for the somewhat silly reason that it is “more serious”.
Room
Tammy and I are trying to watch most (all?) of the best picture nominees. Room was an interesting movie with a lot of depth. The movie has two distinct halves, in the room and then after. Almost like two different movies in a way, and both very good. The acting from Jack, the kid, is amazing.
The Big Short
We saw The Big Short last night and I was simply blown away. Parts of it hilarious, suspenseful, gripping. It had me hooked all the way through. As a story on what really happened it’s also terrifying. See it for some amazing acting, or great cinematography or just for a night at the movies. But take some time as well to just think about what you saw and how much of it is real.
Barista
Watched Barista last night. For coffee lovers, this is a fun movie that will intrigue you with creative drinks and coffee culture. How about some distilled coffee?
It will also make you cringe when you see someone going on and on about coffee, and realize you do that too.
Thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Loved the Peanuts Movie.
The Martian
Great movie. Very entertaining. As usual, book was better and the movie cut out a lot of stuff but still highly recommend.
Tammy and I went to Ex Machina this evening. Cool sci-fi movie with a very good story. Recommended.
Had a great time watching “The Imitation Game” with #TeamSPS this evening. Fabulous movie about a giant of computing!
Whiplash
Tammy and I went to see Whiplash last night at the renovated Uptown Theater1. Really good film about the ridiculous effort that must be put in to be great at something, in this case music. In addition to the storyline your treated to wonderful music and some stunning drumming on screen. Purchased the soundtrack on the way out of the theater.
Watched Chef tonight! Somewhat surprisingly good movie with lots of fun kitchen scenes. Not going to challenge you to new places, but a great way to spend a Friday evening.
I finally got a chance to watch We Are Legion. Very good.
Watching Fresh tonight. I have no need to know anything more about this topic. I believe I’ve read and seen all I need to, but it seems too important to not stay focused on it.
The Shining
Friday night I had my friends Jim, Tom and Tim over for the first “movie night” in our new family room. I’ve been wanting to watch The Shining for a while, but Tammy wasn’t interested1. I’m not much for watching any movie by myself, much less one of the most disturbing horror movies of all time.
The Shining has kept a firm place in my psyche for over two decades. I don’t remember when I first saw it, but I do know that I was most likely far too young to see it. When I was a kid I had a ridiculously good imagination and if a room was dark, like when you go to sleep at night, I could see clearly whatever was in my head. The Grady twins were often in my head after seeing it.
It’s still a fantastically freaky movie but now I can appreciate the cinematography and the delightful cadence of the dialogue. I don’t know if there is any movie that has so many pauses in dialogue that just leave you hanging there. If your curious to learn more, the Shining Wikipedia page is a good starter and then the essay Hidden Meanings in the Shining by Bill Blakemore as well as Mazes, Mirrors, Deception and Denial by Rob Ager. Both of these leave you with a much deeper appreciation of everything going on in the movie.
If you haven’t watched the Shining, or if it’s been a while, read some of those essays and give it another watch. Details will pop out from everywhere, but you’ll still be terrified. 😊
Margin Call
I can’t remember where I first saw Margin Call referenced. The movie depicts a 24-hour segment of the 2008 financial crisis. I’m a sucker for high-finance movies (Wall Street, Boiler Room) and knew I wanted to see it right away. Then I saw the cast and that Kevin Spacey was in it, one of my favorite actors. I was happy to see it on iTunes as an “in theater rental” so we watched it in the new family room last night.
It was an odd movie. The movie has 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, which honestly surprises me a bit. I think if you took some of the star power out and just went on the screenplay it would be much lower. Spacey is awesome, as always. The pacing of the movie I think is what had me off. It would go for long moments at a crawl and then without transition speed along. Similar to one of my favorite movies, Glengarry Glenn Ross, there are no heroes here.
If you watch it, share your thoughts. I’d love to know what others think of it. The Margin Call website is one of the better movie websites I’ve seen though.