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What movie did you watch last week? (04/09-04/15)


I mainly watched a Netflix TV show this week so I decided to share with you some of the best movies I saw a few days before the IMDB boards were shutdown.

This Week:

Sandy Wexler(Netflix 2017): I wouldn't like to be the actual guy whom Adam Sandler was portraying because it was one of the worst characterization ever.  Highly irritating, I warn you. There was some funny situations, some good cameos but that's about it. 90% of the movie feels cheap. Since I quitted 1h20mins into it (there was still 40mins to go!) but I might come back and finish it when I'll be bored, I'll give it 3/10

13 reasons why (Netflix 2017): 10/13 episodes watched. It's good and there is no bad episodes but there is no great one either. I started my binging strong and then it slowed in the past week because it's getting a little bit repetitive and heavy-handed. (I started watching it 3 weeks ago.)

Older viewings:

Close encounter of the third kind (1977 DVD Directors cut): It was my first time seeing it and I would qualify it of pure entertainment. Just fun throughout. The acting was adequate, the special effects were great indeed, the music worked well, the overall ambiance was unique and there was not one dull moment. I bought the collector edition for nine bucks and I'm very happy I did it. 8/10

Apocalypse now (1979 bluray): I meant to knock one big title off my watchlist and it was either this or the godfather. I'm very glad I picked this one. It's a true war masterpiece and an instant favourite.  As you learned in last week's thread, The doors is my favorite band so right off the start, I was pleased. I started with the original version but after an hour in, I thought it was going by so fast that I switched to the redux version. Ahh yeah, a 3 hour grand voyage. The cinematography is stunningly beautiful, the story is gripping and there is so much attention to details. There's choppers, lights, a boat, flares, guns, smoke, a tiger, playboy bunnies, acid tabs, weed and wonderful people. I mean, what's not to like? Or love? Duvall has great lines like " Charlie don't surf" or  "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Beats both Platoon and Saving Pvt. Ryan. 10/10

C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005 DVD): it's my second favorite French-Canadian movie but probably the best Quebec movie ever made. It took Jean-Marc Vallée 10 years to write this masterpiece. Top notch on all levels. 9.5/10

Children of men: I am discovering this director and I am just amazed by him. The way he shoots the scenes make them feel so real it's scary. I went into this one blindly, as I never watched the trailer, and found myself glued to my seat as it unfolded marvellously. Every single thing that happens on the screen has an effect on me. From the acting to the story to the cinematography (oh! The cinematography!) everything was pretty much flawless. I had heard a lot of praises about this movie but always had my doubts. I was wrong and they were right. It's gripping, breathtaking and unique. Un chef-d'oeuvre mon ami. Right up there, underneath The Pianist. 9/10

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I love Children of Men. It's an amazing film. I'm still to see Apocalypse now properly (meaning not in a half sleeping/dreaming state).

Prisoners (2013) Two little girls are kidnapped. While the police investigates, the father of one of them takes matters into his own hands. Bad things happen. I liked it a lot. Very atmospheric and tense. The performances I thought were great, especially Jake Gyllenhaal and Melissa Leo.

The Lake House (2006) “Time travel” romance. Except no one actually goes back through time, they just… wait. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock fall in love through corresponding via a magic time post box. Separated by an impossible distance in time (TWO WHOLE YEARS) would the two lovers ever meet? It had its moments, but so many choices in this movie made no sense to me.

Mediterranean Food (Dieta mediterránea, 2009) Sofia likes to cook. She’s very good at it. She also likes Toni and Frank. She marries Toni, but after a bunch of years, she decides “Why not both?”. And the three of them live happily ever after, eventually. It was a very fun romantic comedy. I enjoyed it a lot.

In July (Im Juli, 2000) Daniel leads a pretty boring life. Juli likes Daniel. So she sells him a Mayan sun ring and tells him to look for a sun and that’ll be the love of his life. But the idiot only goes and finds the wrong sun (girl). Through happenstance they end up traveling together across Europe to Istanbul. A lovely, inventive and fun movie.

The Method (El método, 2005) A corporation holds a final assessment of candidates for a high level position during an IMF & World Bank Summit. While the demonstrations rage on outside, the candidates are being assessed by the corporation using the mysterious Grönholm method. One by one the candidates are removed from the running. People are tested in all sorts of ways. I’ve seen it a few times now, and I love it every time. Very interesting and the performances are great.

Rendez-Vous (2015) A Dutch family moves to France. While they renovate the wife’s mother’s house another Dutch guy takes advantage of her inheritance and plots something. The wife has an affair with a good looking French man, struggles with spaghetti, gets pregnant, kills a guy, bla bla bla. There were “twists”, there were “turns”, and it all amounted to nothing. I didn’t understand what the point of this story was. Didn’t care for it.

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Even wide awake Apocalypse Now has a dreamlike quality to it... it's a great movie but very slow and meandering (especially the director's cut). In July is a good film that most people haven't heard about.

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Really enjoyed te atmosphere of Prisoners too. Great film. 8/10

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Yes, there were scenes which were just plain grim, accentuating the premise of the film.

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Yep, even the temperature if I remember correctly

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Prisoners was good. The Lake House not so good.

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I've added two of your movies to my "Watchlist": In July and The Method.

In July: went on Imdb to look it up and it turns out I've already watched it. I don't remember anything about it but I gave it an eight, so I guess it's worth a look. I've seen a couple of Fatih Akin's films; he's a bit heavy-handed but I like his films more than I dislike.

The Method: sounds like an interesting concept. Never heard of it.

This week I watched:
1) The Hunger Games quartet- never read the books and really had no interest in watching it but I decided to keep my husband company and...they're not bad. I can see why the books were so popular. The first film is awful, the second one is good, third and fourth ones are hindered by wooden performances. My takeaways: Jennifer Lawrence cannot act; can't believe that I found Liam Helmsworth to be the best actor out of the three leads; and, Elizabeth Banks is amazing as Effie Trinket.

2) The Neon Demon: beautifully shot, great soundtrack, lots of dark humor, and strong performances. This is a strange film, and quite fun if one likes off-kilter films.

I liked the Lake House more than most. It's not good but Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock somehow make it work for me. Hate the original Korean version though.

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The only other Fatih Akin movie I've seen is Soul Kitchen. I enjoyed it a lot. Some time in the future I should check out more of his stuff.

I read the The Hunger Games books first, so the movies didn't impress me much. And say what you want about Jennifer Lawrence's acting, at least she was cast age-appropriately in these movies.

I didn't know The Lake House was a remake. And yes, Keanu and Sandra Bullock are the reason it was watchable for me too.

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Your review of The Lake House made me laugh! It's a preposterous movie. I like the lead actors but the plot is just so silly.

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I saw the first Hunger Games and found it very average. Lawrence leaves me indifferent 99% of the time.

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First the band looked wired
Then the band looked tired
Sluggish and a little slow
He's walking through the set
As drunk as he could get
And what the hell was wrong with joe?



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Thank you for not smoking: loved it too! 7.5

Clerks 2: again, agreed. 6.5

And yeah, as I mentioned in my review, I did switch to the extended version 1hour into the movie.

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Oh, you wanted me to actually Read your reviews. Got it. :P

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Haha!

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I've been meaning to watch 300 - its on Netflix.

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You are so beautiful to me.

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thank you

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Yes, and then look into the history behind it which is fascinating.

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🍹

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I love Thank You for Not Smoking too. It's so funny. I need to watch Diary of a Country Priest again. I had sort of a bad experience the first time I saw it. In college I wanted to see it so badly and it was playing at a little theater and I dragged some friends to see it and they hated it. They wanted to kill me afterward. I was never allowed to pick a movie with that crowd again!

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I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real

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Haha! I can't remember a lot about it. I think there was a part where a horse or a mule is mistreated and those kind of scenes are not the easiest to watch. Maybe I'm misremembering. No, we're still friends but I did take a lot of ribbing over the years (e.g. "It was worse than that priest movie!"). Oh well, need to see it again sometime. You can pick mine too!

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Life.


😎

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Stonekeeper, I agree with all your ratings. I've never seen C.R.A.Z.Y but it sounds very good. My favorite thing about Close Encounters of the Third Kind is that Francois Truffaut plays a scientist in it. I love him as a director so I always thought it was so cool that Steven Spielberg got him to play that small role in his movie. There must be some good story about how that happened.

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If you ever get a chance to watch it, please do. Although it has a lot of references for Quebecers, its still a great piece of cinema.

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The Quick and the Dead and American Ninja 2. Both were great.

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