What ruined it for me was the pointless violence. I understood the violence in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Django, and Jackie Brown. There was a purpose for the violence in those films (IMHO), and sometimes I even found the violence creative or clever in his films. But not in in this. The violence seemed solely for shock value. It never moved the story along, it didn't give me any insight to the the perpetrator nor victim, it wasn't creative in any kind of way. It was just violence for the sake of violence. And for three hours? I felt terrible after watching it.

From the interview Orema posted, looks like the director (a white guy) Haynes thinks he is qualified to direct a lesbian story becuase he has lesbian friends. (???!!!) I can assure him he does not know how white working class lesbians go about their lives, and (also from the interview) neither did Highsmith nor the screenwriter. That is so Insulting. The book is even more guilty becuase it was told more from Therese's' point of view. it is less a story about unexpected love, than a story about a rich/poor power dynamic--- and written by the one on the powerful end of that dynamc -- is just like any Harleqin romance, but with an assumed-to-be aspirational lesbian who conducts her relationships badly. #Snore.

And I hoped a gay man might figure out how to make hot sex scenes at least. Again, insulting.

The book and film are from a salacious semi-autobiographical pulp novel. Super! I wish they had filmed it that way, we might have enjoyed it, like watching an 50s version of the L Word (which some people enjoyed). But an earnest mash-up of that Barbie doll Karen Carpenter story and "far from heaven"? No thanks.
It might win awards because of the topic (the Oscars loooove outsider movies) and because of the star power, but I would not recommend that movie to someone who either is a lesbian or wants to know anything about my life.
(Also I kept expectng Blanchett to start speaking Elvish- she played the role with Galadriel's facial expression. Guess there aren't enough rain-splattered taxi cab windows to shoot through in the woods.)

After re-reading this, it sounds like I had a strong reaction -which can be a positive review. Alas, I was there with a friend so couldn't leave, or woukd have, like I did during "Blue is the most lukewarm color," another dud.

It certainly rmade me re-commit to making my own films. I can't bear to see white people (men) telling People Of Color stories, men telling women's stories, cis actors playing trans roles, and so on, and all this being shown in theaters that aren't accessible.

The Danish Girl
 

The Danish Girl



Liked it, especially Alicia Vikander.

(I went to the fancy-shmancy theatre with the reclining seats. It was nice, but I don't mind the usual seats in the regular movie house since I dont' have back issues.)

Just saw The Danish Girl as well. I brought plenty of tissues, but didn't really need them. The film was beautiful and captured the period in a text-book fashion. But for me something was missing...I can't quite put my finger on it.

Redmayne, who I think is a fine actor, just didn't do for me in this role. I wanted his character to have the impact on me like that of Vikander. He didn't. Yes, it was beautiful and I liked the pace, too. I just wanted more from Redmayne.

Buena Vista Social Club (1999) Director: Wim Wenders
Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González

Aging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who traveled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.

I had seen this once before and just happened to catch it again on tv recently! It's excellent :movieguy:

From Variety.com

Oscar nominees for the 88th annual awards were announced on Thursday morning live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The ceremony, hosted by Chris Rock for the second time, will be held on Feb. 28 and air live on ABC.

Here is the full list of nominees for the 2016 Oscars:

Best motion picture of the year:
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Spotlight”

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Bryan Cranston in “Trumbo”
Matt Damon in “The Martian”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”
Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl”

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Cate Blanchett in “Carol”
Brie Larson in “Room”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Joy”
Charlotte Rampling in “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale in “The Big Short”
Tom Hardy in “The Revenant”
Mark Ruffalo in “Spotlight”
Mark Rylance in “Bridge of Spies”
Sylvester Stallone in “Creed”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Jennifer Jason Leigh in “The Hateful Eight”
Rooney Mara in “Carol”
Rachel McAdams in “Spotlight”
Alicia Vikander in “The Danish Girl”
Kate Winslet in “Steve Jobs”

Achievement in directing:
“The Big Short” Adam McKay
“Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller
“The Revenant” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Room” Lenny Abrahamson
“Spotlight” Tom McCarthy

Adapted screenplay:
“The Big Short” Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
“Brooklyn” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“Carol” Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
“The Martian” Screenplay by Drew Goddard
“Room” Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

Original screenplay:
“Bridge of Spies” Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
“Ex Machina” Written by Alex Garland
“Inside Out” Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
“Spotlight” Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
“Straight Outta Compton” Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

Best animated feature film of the year:
“Anomalisa” Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
“Boy and the World” Alê Abreu
“Inside Out” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
“Shaun the Sheep Movie” Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
“When Marnie Was There” Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best documentary feature:
“Amy” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
“Cartel Land” Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
“The Look of Silence” Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Best foreign language film of the year:
“Embrace of the Serpent” Colombia
“Mustang” France
“Son of Saul” Hungary
“Theeb” Jordan
“A War” Denmark

Achievement in cinematography:
“Carol” Ed Lachman
“The Hateful Eight” Robert Richardson
“Mad Max: Fury Road” John Seale
“The Revenant” Emmanuel Lubezki
“Sicario” Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design:
“Carol” Sandy Powell
“Cinderella” Sandy Powell
“The Danish Girl” Paco Delgado
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Jenny Beavan
“The Revenant” Jacqueline West

Best documentary short subject:
“Body Team 12” David Darg and Bryn Mooser
“Chau, beyond the Lines” Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Adam Benzine
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“Last Day of Freedom” Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Achievement in film editing:
“The Big Short” Hank Corwin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Margaret Sixel
“The Revenant” Stephen Mirrione
“Spotlight” Tom McArdle
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling:
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared” Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
“The Revenant” Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
“Bridge of Spies” Thomas Newman
“Carol” Carter Burwell
“The Hateful Eight” Ennio Morricone
“Sicario” Jóhann Jóhannsson
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty
“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”
Music and Lyric by David Lang
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”
Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

Achievement in production design:
“Bridge of Spies” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
“The Danish Girl” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson
“The Martian” Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
“The Revenant” Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

Best animated short film:
“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

Best live action short film:
“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Achievement in sound editing:
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Mark Mangini and David White
“The Martian” Oliver Tarney
“The Revenant” Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
“Sicario” Alan Robert Murray
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Matthew Wood and David Acord

Achievement in sound mixing:
“Bridge of Spies” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
“The Martian” Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
“The Revenant” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects:
“Ex Machina” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
“The Martian” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
“The Revenant” Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

Ugh, I want to veg out today and watch every Alan Rickman film I can think of.

:candle:

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/201...r-nominations/

20 Oscar (acting) nominations.
20 white people.

White supremacy continues in Hollywood. Please let these statistics inspire you to support Women/People of Color film festivals.

You're doing much better than me. I'll be doing good if I see all the flicks nominated for Best Pic. I usually don't see all the ones nominated for Best Pic, but I'm determined to catch them all before Feb 28.

I finally watched Silver Linings Playbook. I give it 3.5 out of 5. It was entertaining, but I felt like it was trying to go somewhere that it never got to.

The Revenant



Good and engaging, but bloody. The music was very nice, too. I would watch it again if it wasn't so bloody.

The Revenant -

More graphic than I was expecting, but it added to the over all sense of brutality and beauty. It was interesting how the violence was juxtaposed with these beautiful scenic images of the landscape.

Ok I'll post
 

I just finished watching PUSH....
the second time I've seen this but its been a while since the first time.
It makes one think that maybe people have telekinetic powers. I wouldn't mind having a special power...I would want to be one of the fighters of the group,:superman:

Carol - I finally walked out after about an hour, though my first inkling was at about 25 minutes. I was so bored I literally couldn't sit there any longer.

Don't bother :(
 

A big disappointment. Thought it would be on par with Se7en with such an investment in the cast. But sadly I wasted an hour of my life before calling it quits on this very poor thriller.

Why is this still the case when the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a POC?! :blink:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...rq5z5t9jpg.jpg