All Things Movie/Documentary Reviews/Recommendations Thread

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Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is Keanu considered an 'A' list actor? Admittedly I don't follow Hollywood very closely, but it seems like he hasn't done anything notable since the Matrix which is going back probably 15 years now.
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He seems to work only when he wants to since those films. Though some of those films have done well, particularly overseas. The Lake House released in '06 cost $40 million and grossed $114 million. The Day the Earth Stood Still, released in '08 was made for $80 million and grossed $233 million. Even 47 Ronin released in '03 and kind of a pet project of Reeves' made $151 million. Problem was it cost $175 mill.

Now the 2 John Wick movies, released in '14 and '17 respectively, had combined budgets of $60 million and grossed $259 million. They are presently filming John Wick 3 for release next year. Those probably put him back in the running.

Just looked and he's got 3 films coming out this year and 4 more projects in the pipeline.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is Keanu considered an 'A' list actor? Admittedly I don't follow Hollywood very closely, but it seems like he hasn't done anything notable since the Matrix which is going back probably 15 years now.
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He's had recent success with the John Wick movies. John Wick 3 just started shooting.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is Keanu considered an 'A' list actor? Admittedly I don't follow Hollywood very closely, but it seems like he hasn't done anything notable since the Matrix which is going back probably 15 years now.
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I still think that Keanu Reeves is an "A" list actor. Sure.....he's not pulling down 10+ million per movie anymore.....but he commonly takes a cut of the movie's profit which can be A LOT. He made WAY more from the Matrix movies than he was paid for making the movie. And the John Wick movies are pretty damn good.
 

‘Friday Night Lights’ New Film Taps Director David Gordon Green

“Stronger” and “Pineapple Express” helmer David Gordon Green is in final negotiations to direct Universal’s reimagining of “Friday Night Lights.”

Sources tell Variety that the movie is not a sequel to Universal’s 2004 film starring Billy Bob Thornton, nor is it based on NBC’s TV series with Kyle Chandler. Instead, it’s a new property, though still focused H.G. Bissinger’s non-fiction book about the 1988 Permian High School Panthers as the new Texas football team makes a run towards the state championship.

The original film, directed by Peter Berg, brought in a modest $61 million at the domestic box office. The property gained momentum when NBC and Berg turned it into a TV series, which garnered critical acclaim as well as an Emmy win for Chandler in its five-year run.

Since the show ended, Universal has thrown around the high idea of returning to the Texas city of Odessa, considering both a sequel to the Thorton film and feature film based on the Chandler character. The studio finally decided to pursue a story with a completely different setting and cast of characters, while still focused on the world of high school in Texas and the impact it has the community.

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/friday-night-light-david-gordon-green-1202720026/

Go Gophers!!
 

Donovan said:
Regardless of your politics, I highly recommend Chappaquiddick. The actor playing Ted is one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. If you hate dramas and generally only like action flicks, you'll probably find it too slow.
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Incidentally...

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Finally caught "Avengers: Infinity War" this weekend.

Not a perfect movie, but entertaining. Warning - if you haven't seen at least some of the previous Marvel movies, this one could be hard to follow. Even at over 2-1/2 hours, there are a lot of characters and a lot of separate plots and sub-plots unfolding, so the action jumps back-and-forth between various sets of characters at different locations.

With a lot of the super-hero movies, the big issue has been weak villains. With that in mind, the movie really tries to build up the villain (outer-space bad guy Thanos) as more of a 3-dimensional character, and give him some motivation for his actions. But, that in turn means less screen time for the heroes, with some only having a few lines in the entire movie.

Bottom line, if you like big action movies, this one has plenty of action, with some character moments thrown in.

Again - avoiding spoilers - this is the first part of the story, so the ending may catch some viewers off-balance. The next movie in the series is coming out next year, and will have a lot of plot lines to resolve.
 

This 10-hour documentary looks all sorts of awesome.

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Go Gophers!!
 

Martina Navratilova Documentary to Be Produced by Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine is developing its first feature-length documentary about tennis legend Martina Navratilova in partnership with Glenn Greenwald and Suzanne Gilbert.

The documentary will explore Navratilova’s achievements as a social justice pioneer told through Greenwald’s personal lens as a gay child growing up in Reagan-era Florida. The documentary will examine Navratilova’s impact on him as his childhood hero, how people find role models, and what people seek when they feel isolated, judged, or cast aside by society.

“The issues raised by Martina’s legacy resonate now more than ever, which is why it’s so important to tell her story to new generations of engaged young people who may not be aware of the vital role she played in shaping expectations around female identity and LGBT equality,” said Charlotte Koh, head of digital media and programming for Hello Sunshine.

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/martina-navratilova-documentary-reese-witherspoon-1202811524/

Go Gophers!!
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is Keanu considered an 'A' list actor? Admittedly I don't follow Hollywood very closely, but it seems like he hasn't done anything notable since the Matrix which is going back probably 15 years now.
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A list or not, he's a national treasure.
 



Section2 said:
A list or not, he's a national treasure.
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I hope you are not being sarcastic.....because I agree.

Oh....and I FINALLY got around to seeing Sicario. Deserved every accolade it was given. Benicio Del Toro was GREAT. It's shocking that he wasn't AT LEAST nominated for an Academy Award.
 

TheWrap: Iceman Returneth: Val Kilmer Back for ‘Top Gun’ Sequel With Tom Cruise

Val Kilmer will star opposite Tom Cruise in the “Top Gun: Maverick,” an individual with knowledge of the production told TheWrap.

Kilmer will join Cruise in the long-awaited sequel to Tony Scott’s 1986 action blockbuster, in which Cruise’s aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is now a mentor to a new generation of U.S. Navy fighter pilots.

A rep for Paramount declined to comment on the casting of Kilmer, who has been spotted around the San Diego hotel the studio has been using since production began last week.

https://www.thewrap.com/val-kilmer-iceman-top-gun-maverick/

Go I feel the need—the need for speed!!
 

BleedGopher said:
TheWrap: Iceman Returneth: Val Kilmer Back for ‘Top Gun’ Sequel With Tom Cruise

Val Kilmer will star opposite Tom Cruise in the “Top Gun: Maverick,” an individual with knowledge of the production told TheWrap.

Kilmer will join Cruise in the long-awaited sequel to Tony Scott’s 1986 action blockbuster, in which Cruise’s aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is now a mentor to a new generation of U.S. Navy fighter pilots.

A rep for Paramount declined to comment on the casting of Kilmer, who has been spotted around the San Diego hotel the studio has been using since production began last week.

https://www.thewrap.com/val-kilmer-iceman-top-gun-maverick/

Go I feel the need—the need for speed!!
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I know I am in the minority, but I hated Top Gun. One of my least favorite movies of all-time.
 

tikited said:
I know I am in the minority, but I hated Top Gun. One of my least favorite movies of all-time.
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Everything about it was disappointing, including that Berlin went full ballad pop.
 



Went to "Won't you be my neighbor?" the other night. Pretty good overall. Kind of amazing how emotional people got towards the end. Very interesting clip from very, very early on about a wall. Very sad parts towards the end from twits blaming Fred for kids being soft.
 


My son and I (along with a bunch of his basketball teammates) went and saw Uncle Drew. A fun basketball movie, I thought the NBA players who played older characters did a really nice job, for the type of movie/entertainment it is. Kyrie (Uncle Drew) had a great dig at Chris Weber's character about only having one timeout left!

Go Gophers!!
 

Went to see "Ant-Man and The Wasp" yesterday with 5 other people, two of which had major misgivings about seeing it. We all enjoyed it. If you haven't heard, it stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and Hyundai. Well, Hyundai isn't in the official cast list, but they seemed to get a hell of a lot of screen time.

A good movie that was also a model of product placement.
 

10 years since the Dark Knight came out. Going to re-watch this weekend.
 


You like Robin Hood? Because there are 7 Robin Hood movies in development

Just remember that Robin Hood is in public domain.


In 2015, when we were all so young and the future seemed so bright, we reported that four movies based on Robin Hood were in development, ranging from gritty reboots of the classic story to different gritty reboots of the classic story. It seemed like a lot, especially since we were just coming off of the days when a dozen Frankenstein adaptations were in the works and the brief window when every TV network wanted some clever twist on Wizard Of Oz. A lot can happen in just a few years, though, including the launch of three additional Robin Hood-based projects. Counting Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton’s Robin Hood, which looks more like a medieval Green Arrow movie and is coming out in November, that brings us up to seven movies about Robin Hood.

NME deserves credit for breaking this down, but let’s look back at the projects we already knew about. The four we had in 2015 where the aforementioned Robin Hood, originally called Robin Hood: Origins, a version from Sony called Hood that was said to be like Mission: Impossible and would also set off a Robin Hood cinematic universe, a version from Disney called Nottingham & Hood from a script by Brandon Barker, and a take from Warner Bros. that we’re just going to assume was different from the others in some way. Last year, Margot Robbie jumped into the game with Marian, a movie she’s set to star in about Maid Marian becoming a vigilante after Robin Hood is killed...

https://news.avclub.com/hopefully-you-like-robin-hood-because-there-are-7-robi-1827693870
 

Just finished The Staircase about the Mike Peterson murder case. I didn’t realize that the first part was released in 2004. What’s everyone’s thought on the case?

I don’t know if he’s guilty or not, but I was shocked he was found guilty. I wonder how much his being bisexual played into that. As crazy as the whole trial was, I kinda think the owl theory makes the most sense. For some reason the documentary doesn’t cover any of that theory, but there’s articles about it all over the internet.
 

bemidjigopher said:
One of my favs. Was way off on Heath Ledger, he may have out done Nicholson

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I think he was way better. I used to think the Nicholson performance was great, but over time, I feel Jack is just playing himself with makeup on.
 

I'm not a big superhero guy. I guess I'm a bit of a batman fan, as I love all three Nolan movies and the first Burton film.

However, I am excited about a new superhero movie coming out.

I don't know how many of you have seen Unbreakable, which is a movie I really liked except for the ending, due to a lack of sequel. However, the sequel is coming out almost 20 years later in January. It's actually the third film, as the second one (split) came out last year. Split really isnt a sequel (I havent seen it), but shows Bruce Willis at the end of the movie, showing its in the same universe.

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Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is Keanu considered an 'A' list actor? Admittedly I don't follow Hollywood very closely, but it seems like he hasn't done anything notable since the Matrix which is going back probably 15 years now.
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Man oh man, I just watched a movie on Netflix that he directed and acted in, Man of Tai Chi. Really don't know if I can recall worse acting. He was absolutely atrocious. Wow. (I'm one of those idiots that HAS to finish the movie. Painful.)
 
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I watched the original about a decade ago but I watched the additional episodes recently. Remember this whole doc is from the point of view of the defense, you don't hear from anyone on the prosecution side including his one daughter who won a wrongfull death claim against him.

I think the owl theory is about a 5% thing, while Mike Peterson killing his wife makes about 95%.

I love true crime.
Evil Genius was great.
The Jinx, about Robert Durst, might be my favorite.
 

Anybody else watching The Sinner with Jessica Biel? It's not a movie, it's a series on netflix.
 

bottlebass said:
Anybody else watching The Sinner with Jessica Biel? It's not a movie, it's a series on netflix.
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I watched the first season and have been recording the second season, just haven't started it yet. The first season wasn't bad, wasn't great; we'll see what happens in the second season.

I just got done watching "Condor" on the Audience channel on DirecTV. Not too bad, I enjoyed it for the most part.
 


I saw a couple of recent documentaries:

- Three Identical Strangers: really interesting documentary. The first half was a pretty fun watch, the second half was a bit dark. Very well done.

- 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers: I've watched quite a few 9/11 documentaries, each more heartbreaking than the last. This was very well done and impactful.

Go Gophers!!
 

Long Shot on Netflix is a good short documentary. About a guy who was arrested for murder but video of him at a Dodgers game that same night helped his case. There was even video footage from a famous TV show that helped.
 

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