Last movie you watched......

Finally saw "The Post" at the discount theater and ... well, I'm glad I only paid $3.

Obviously a lot of us have a soft spot for newspaper movies, especially one about such an important freedom of the press case. But "The Post" is a movie that's more admirable than entertaining — compared to, say, "Spotlight," which was very entertaining AND admirable.

The difference to me is "Spotlight" took the time to show how the topic of the Globe's investigative efforts — sex abuse by Catholic priests — fit into society as a whole and Boston's heavily-Catholic region in particular. "The Post" was more about Katharine Graham and her struggles to grow into her role as publisher. As a character profile, Streep and "The Post" is a strong movie; I was expecting something different, I guess.

 

I would love to talk about this movie with you over a drink. I think the theories I read online are wrong.

 

In the sense that’s more like mother! than it is literal sci-fi?

 

Trying to do this without spoilers...

No, in the explanation of what happened to Oscar Isaac's character. There seems to be a consensus that he is the seated one in the camera scene. I don't know about that.

 

I recently saw Snowden. And like "The Post" - while I agree that the decision to publish is a weighty one - just being on the receiving end of a document dump doesn't make for a great journalism movie.

 

Saw Black Panther in Cape Town (god, it was nice paying a total of 19 dollars for two large Cokes, a large popcorn and five boxes of candy). At one point my wife said they were speaking Xhosa because she knew what they were saying. "No, I think it's made up," I said in my best mansplainer voice. "It's Xhosa," she affirmed.

The Wakanda of ‘Black Panther’ isn’t real, but its language is

 

He may not be. There’s a line that would suggest that.

At any rate, I think the movie is more about our interiors than exteriors. In that way, like Melancholia. (Which I like perhaps a little more than this.)

 

Watched Baywatch the other day. I knew it was going to be terrible, but it did pick up the Razzie for "so bad it's good" - it wasn't even that. It was just a weird deal. In some places it was trying to be a satire of the TV show, in others it seemed like it was mocking it - bad ideas all around. If they stuck with spoofing the "Zac Efron trying to redeem himself" type story it might have been funny, but in parts it was actually sincere. Really weird. The special effects looked bad, the photography was bad - how do you make a beach movie and have every character look like they're in a shadow? I'm hoping most of the $70 mil budget went into Johnson's pocket, because his interplay with Efron is about the only thing interesting.

 

Saw Red Sparrow last night. Was really hoping for better even after my wife told me it was getting panned. Sadly it disappointed. It was obvious they had three ideas in pitching the movie, two of which involved gritty violence or Jennifer Lawrence getting naked. The movie had trouble linking what good plot ideas it did have and the ending was a mess.

 

Game Night. It was funny. Mrs.Abbott laughed out loud, often. I thought it was very funny. JasonBateman and Rachel McAdams are very funny. It’s worth seeing.

 

Jackie Chan in The Foreigner. Premise seems hokey but overall a fairly enjoyable 90 mins, patience in storyline will be rewarded.

Murder on Orient Express remake. Ummmm, Branagh as Inspector Piorot(sp?) is distracting. I know its a hard role but the mustache was beyond distracting.