mrcellophane

I watched it last month. I'm a huge fan of long form documentaries and loved it. I've been raving about it to anyone who will listen.

Of the five documentary nominees, I've seen three (O.J. ; Life, Animated ; 13th), and this batch is the best that we've gotten in a number of years. I'll have to look into purchasing Fire at Sea when it comes out. The art museum theater near me is showing I'm Not Your Negro in March so I won't get to see it before the ceremony.

ntnon

The Lobster (30m in) is hilarious. It's like a(n even more) surreal episode of People Like Us, the BBC mockumentary series. I hope it stays this good. And wins something.

lisadoris

O.J. is amazing but I don't think I'll watch it again for this challenge because that's 10 hours! I'm Not Your Negro is already listed on my calendar for Friday and I can't wait. James Baldwin is one of my favorite authors.

Since it's black history month I'll share this tidbit: four of the five directors in the documentary feature category this year are black.

pacaway

Thanks for that list!

13 Hours is also on Netflix (in Canada at least).

pacaway

Watched Dead Man Walking on a friend's non-anamorphic DVD while watching their baby while they went to a hockey game (go flame) last night. Believe it or not, that was a first time view for me. I didn't realize that it was written AND directed by Tim Robbins! Talented guy!

Going to Moonlight with a work friend tonight.

mrcellophane

Yeah, I'm skipping it too since I just watched it. FYI, American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, the fictionalized miniseries, is now available on Netflix Instant. I'm not sure if I'll get around to it before the Oscars, but I'm excited to watch it.

Thanks for the tidbit! I had no idea. DuVernay is the only director I was familiar with. I'm planning on watching her film Selma later this month.

Indy24LA

Watching Groundhog Day in honor of Angela Paton.

lisadoris

So once you finished the entire film did your initial opinion hold? If so, can you please explain this film to me? I wanted to like it but I found it to be too mean-spirited to be funny but it could just be that I don't have a sense of humor anymore.

pacaway

Went into Moonlight completely blind last night (which is my favorite way to go into ANY movie but rarely happens). I hadn't even seen a trailer. It was not at all what I was expecting. It was very slow... v e r y s l o w!! The themes were many and very thought provoking and the film definitely leaves you time to think about them during it. I think this movie is going to stick with me for a long time and I'm going to appreciate it more and more as time goes by and I forget how long it took to make its points. Don't take me wrong. I don't mind slow burn movies, but I went to this with a friend from work and I could see her fidgeting in her seat and looking at her watch and it was distracting. On my own I may have eaten this movie up.

pacaway

Every year the seems to be one or two big category films that is impossible to see between nominations and awards night. It looks like it is going to be Fences for me this year.

shadokitty

Started to watch Hotel Rwanda, this morning, on Starz Black, but then things came up and I had to leave before the movie was over. Was looking forward to getting a good start to the day too, with a good movie. I forget what year it was, but I believe I watched it for a previous challenge, and I know I enjoyed it.

Mao

I've decided to have even more fun with the challenge this year by seeking out films that others have put on their lists.

My main goal is to watch as many of this year's nominees as I can before the ceremony, but I usually go into this blind each year. That, and I try and steer clear of films I've watched in previous challenges.

Anyone up for a weekend or day to watch something on someone else's list?

mrcellophane

Sounds intriguing! However, I've got like a mountain of stuff to get through! I'll have to peruse the lists more and see if I can find some stuff.

I just finished watching My Cousin Vinny which was a lot of fun! Is it bad to believe that Marisa Tomei deserved her Oscar? I thought she was phenomenal! Joe Pesci was a riot, and Ralph Macchio was adorable.

Mao

Whenever this comes up, I have to chime in.

No.

I think the Academy got it right that year....it's a wonderful performance and stood out from the others, plain and simple. It's still a very solid film.

lisadoris

Yeah I love My Cousin Vinny and Tomei was a hoot. It's long past time the Academy rewarded comedic performances.

So I tried to see I Am Not Your Negro yesterday but it was sold out, Ugh! I'll try again today. Instead of James Baldwin I ended up doing a "based on a true story" day with Dallas Buyer's Club, Spotlight, and Sully. All solid films though I would not have voted for McConaughey over Ejiofor for Best Actor that year.

pacaway

If anyone else is in Canada, OJ: Made in America is available on CraveTV

ntnon

The Internet says Snow White was released exactly 79 years ago, on Feb 4th, 1938.

Trevor

This might be the first month where I'm not going to be able to complete my personal checklist. Haven't figured out a way to make anything Godzilla-related fit.

ntnon

Yes, more or less. About an hour in, I had to pause, and for some reason wound up reading about it a bit and saw that several people were overwhelmed by the first (hotel) part, and then underwhelmed by the second (woods).

I can see that. But as a whole, I think it worked well. Could have been better, perhaps, but I definitely enjoyed it and will buy it.

It could be a bit too bleak - and certainly I think it takes a turn from surreal/funny to savage/sature - so... maybe it was mean-spirited. But I rather think that's part of the point: it's criticising and critiquing attitudes to relationships; particularly (to me) the disconnects between cultural assumptions and requirements. So:

1. a) You must be in a relationship.
1. b) It must be REAL.
...but 1. c) "real" includes faking similarities and basing life-choices on such common ground as having a limp.

2. a) The necessity of being completely compatible.
2. b) Including (white?) lies to accentuate similarities (see 1.c)
....but 2. c) The extreme 'tests' required to 'prove' such compatibility invariably go too far and create/exacerbate incompatibility.

There's the juxaposing of the need/desire to escape the strict rules of the hotel with the alleged "freedom" of the forest... which actually has even stricter rules. It showcases the ridiculousness of extremes - life isn't a choice between prefect relationship or Nothing Ever. There are shades of gray in between.

I liked the choice of a lobster. It's the classic over-thought response to being given three wishes undercut by ridiculousness and the latter savaging of the bizaare choice. I like the crazy story of the limper visiting his mother (wolf) - "I didn't know which one she was" "I wanted a hug" - it's a classic truth-in-fiction sequence of moments of logical idiocy.

The need to prove a relationship in the City brings in shades of ID cards and reigstries of the Right Type of People - timely and timeless - as well as the bureaucracy-gone-mad style of governance seen in Brazil (etc.) right alongside the ineffective implementation when the guard just waves them on anyway.

Then there's the triangle of opposing views that so accurately sums up so much of modernity as seen with the visit to the parents: a need for a relationship; a rule against relationships requiring it be faked; a complete uncomfortableness with Public Displays of Affection, despite the semi-necessity of same to 'prove' the truth of the lie.

Scapegoats. Public shaming. Promoting some bizarre behaviours and decrying other, more normal, ones. Killing the messenger. Living off the system while outside the system. Compromise in a rigid-rule society. Over-reactive punishment. Arbitrary time limits. Disproportionate rewards for disproportionate behaviour. The limits of friendship (and betrayal). Wanting to bring things down from the outside, but not. Self-mutilation in the pursuit of happiness. A child being a tool to distract arguing parents(!) There's a lot of uncomfortable truth packed into those comic flourishes and literal/mataphorical moments.

I don't think I got all of it. I don't necessarily think everything worked - the surreal nature of the main plot didn't really seem logical or consistent (but, it was surreal, so it doesn't need to be) - nor did I get some of the (presumed] symbolism and analogies.

But overall, I found a great deal to be amused (and appalled) at. A whole swathe of topics and subtopics to think about. And a dangerous amount of reality in a very-fictional film.

I watched Ex Machina and Her and Lars and the Real Girl, too. And there are some intriguing overlaps in those four films - treating the abnormal as normal; dangers of extrapolating from relatively-reasonable starting points; complexities and oddities of relationships - and, critically, what is NORMAL and ACCEPTABLE, and why. Specifically, which relationship of the several shown is the more "real", the more reasonable/durable/laudable/fake. Whether manipulation and lying and changing oneself to suit another is acceptable, creepy, normal, other...

I may add American Beauty (today) to that list, too. It's deep and complex in similar - and different - ways.

(Mind you, Snow White has some weird relationships and romantic thoughts to muse on, too! Relationships may the theme I see everywhere this year. Damnit.)

ntnon

I feel the need to write more, now.

If I weren't a) busy, b) easily distract-, c) trying to watch stuff, d) really not qualified, e)tc., it'd be tempting to try and distill some of things I'm watching into a really weird book of Relationship Advice Gleaned from Films

1 - Singin' in the Rain: it's important to be on the same page; Lena thinks the for-show displays are real; Don has to be humbled before he can forge a real relationship; Cathy needs to be honest about her knowledge and interests.
1b. Mooning over someone and hunting them down is a good starting point for an eventual healthy relationship...
1c. Dignity, always dignity. And a healthy dose of rose-tinted spectacles. And a lot of PDAs.
2 - Mrs. Miniver: Love and respect and friensship comes in many forms between many people; grandmothers/mothers/husbands/across classes/between relative strangers.
2b. Get married quick - someone may die.
2c. Death can strike anyone at any time; life well and honorably while you can. Be humble. Be decent. Be true.

ntnon

The Lone Ranger brings in the heartache and difficulties of two people being in love with the same person. Touches on the lengths people will go to for love - and revenge - and even plays with the notions of long-distance relationships playing out differently. Dan is always away, for Just reasons. John will always be away for Just reasons. But Dan is clearly seeking distance and law because he doesn't feel he has, or has earned, the love of his wife. So he loses himself in his job and loses her. John would rather be with her, but is drawn to doing what's Right... and thag subtle shift in motive and priority means she'll always be there for him. Definite shades of the Superman story there. And truth, presumably, about the nuances of strong relationships.
Plus, the man and his horse. And healthy mockery between friends.
Cyrano de Bergerac is nothing but musings on love and honesty and selflessness and manipulating feelings... for good reasons. There's endless debate to be had about what would (not) have been (changed for the) better had Cyrano been upfront and honest earlier. If he'd told her immediately, would she have distanced herself from him for good? Would she have returned to him when she found her putative lover to be shallow? What would have happened if Cyrano hadn't told his white lie when Christian died? Could there have been years of happiness if Roxane had known/guessed/been told the truth before she discovered it? Are words more important than looks; are feelings possible to distil into flowery phrases? Is it admirable or short-sighted to demand wit at all times..?

ntnon

Compare and contrast:

The relative cheerfulness of Chris Pratt with the sadness of Noomi Rapace when told about Samantha in Her. And those different reactions contrasted with the happiness at the idea of, and the then horror/concern when Lars actually introduces, his girlfriend to his brother and sister-in-law in Lars and the Real Girl.
The acceptance of the many (without prodding) of the human/OS relationship in Her vs. the forced-acceptable (with prodding) of the human/doll relationship in Lars and the Real Girl.
Covert dishonesty in Ex Machina vs. Overt (eventual) honesty in Her. Truth hurts; do lies always hurt more? Could there have been happiness if Samantha had compartmentalised and never revealed the scope of her conversations?

ntnon

Read some news.
Must be time to get round to American History X.

shadokitty

Maybe you can make up for it next month by watching extra Godzilla?

Or you can make a stretch to giant gorillas. Both Mighty Joe Young films are eligible, and the 1976 and 2005 versions of King Kong are eligible.

Earlier today, I caught Rocky III, on AMC. I've always loved the Rocky films, though didn't care that much for V. One day, I suppose I should watch Creed. I followed that up with a cartoon short on YouTube, 'Jolly Little Elves'. And thanks to watching that, I've had the song, 'The Dunking Rhapsody' stuck in my head ever since.

lisadoris

Thanks for the analysis ntnon. I might have to re-watch The Lobster with your perspective in mind and see if I appreciate it a bit more.

Watched the Star Wars prequels yesterday in anticipation of re-watching Rogue One today. I didn't dog the prequels as much as other folks when they were first released. The Phantom Menace seems to get less tolerable as time passes and not just because of Jar Jar Binks.

In the meantime it's Super Bowl Sunday and that means its time for lisa's annual Godfather re-watch. While everyone else is focused on the gridiron, I'm chillin' with the Corleone family. At 6am EST I started the first one. Let the games begin!