What Did You Rent Last Night?

[eclair]

I looked up "under rated comedies" and one of the suggestions was A New Leaf, 1970, Walter Matthau, Elaine May. It's a funny, weird comedy, and we really enjoyed it. If you want to see Doris Roberts wink at Walter Matthau several times, this is the movie for you!

[ratscabies]

A New Leaf is great.

Last night and this morning, I binged 11.22.63. It was really good.

I celebrated Biden’s election by putting down the Seth Abramson book and reading 11.22.63. It may well have knocked The Stand into second place on my favorite King books list.

The miniseries was not as good as the book (duh), I thought it was really well done, even with the liberties and edits it did.

Franco may be a colossal ass in real life, be he killed this role.

[scarlet]

I wholeheartedly agree with you about the book 11.22.63 and sadly disagree about the miniseries. I was so disappointed in the changes they made.

I caught "The Ides of March" the other night. Hadn't seen it in years. It's not a bad movie, at all, but some of the dialogue is rough.

[zwinter]

I liked both the book and minseries of 11.22.63. I read that King originally had a different ending, and had his son read it who pointed him in a different direction. I totally believe that--especially later King, I love the first 3/4 then it goes off the rails (Duma Key, anyone?). This only skidded a little.

[Binky]

Flower, on Hulu. Filmed in 2016 and I can’t believe it made it out in the wake of Me Too, honestly. It’s trying to be a quirky comedy, but is entirely based on sexual misconduct situations and planting doubts about sexual abuse victims/complaints. I mean, it thinks it’s about a precocious teenage girl being quirky, but it’s also by three men who seem to have some questionable/wholly gross male ideas about teen girl sexuality. It’s not a bad movie in that the actors are engaging and energetic (Lea Thompson’s daughter has great screen presence)... but I wanted to send all the characters and also the writers to therapy. I feel like many people might find this movie upsetting and offensive than funny and quirky.

[lea1977]

We watched Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar. What a ridiculous movie. I am not an American and was sort of fascinated by their accents. Where in the United States do people sound like that or was it a movie thing? This movie did make me laugh and download the dance remix of My Heart Will Go On. Jamie Dornan was the last person I expected in this movie.

[famvir]

I’m from the Midwest and they just sound normal. No Fargo rural, no Blues Brothers Chicago, no south Canadian. Really. I hear people every day that sound like that. Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe south city Minnesota.

[Ladybug]

Promising Young Woman. I give it a 90 out of 100. There were some moments that had me scratching my head, but overall, I thought it was a really effective, disturbing exploration of how white men are protected and sexual assault victims are further victimized by institutions and society. Carey Mulligan is outstanding. I read that the filmmaker was also really influenced by Britney Spears's song "Toxic" and I noticed that in several scenes CM is made up to look very similar to Britney. The instrumental version of "Toxic" they use in the film was perfect. Also, justice for Paris Hilton and "Stars are Blind."

And I was very happy that they didn't shy away from

SPOILER: Click to show

blowing up the "nice guy" trope. I loved seeing her absolutely destroy her boyfriend after she found out he participated in the assault of her friend. I didn't want him to have a redemption arc. He was just as bad as all the other dudebros in this movie.

[scarlet]

I saw Promising Young Woman months ago and I still think about it. SUCH a good movie.

Also, Emerald Fennell

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}deliberately cast actors known for playing 'nice guys' to make her point, which I think was brilliant.

[laurenj]

Kramer vs Kramer (which came out the year I was born). What a strange movie. That was not at all what I was expecting, I guess I was expecting more of a War of the Roses kind of vibe?

The color tones of the movie were depressing as hell, as 70s cinema often seems to be, and the decor of the homes and offices was just godawful

Meryl Streep's character was an enigma, wasn't in the movie all that much, and made some very odd choices so I'm baffled that this was an Oscar winning performance.

I guess because I'm viewing it so far removed from its time and it's a time I wasn't really conscious of, being zero years old, but I definitely don't get how this movie was considered Oscar worthy. Even as an exploration of the relatively novel-at-the-time concept of divorce, it didn't feel that deep. But again, maybe it would have seemed different to people at the time.