Current Movies - Thumbs UP or Thumbs DOWN

[MaryJanet]

Thanks for the review!

Did you watch it in a theater?

Yes. We were given allocated seats which were socially distanced.

I should've said this first time around but Nomadland is about the community of people who choose to live in vans and travel around. It's based on a book.

 

[ronott1]

Yes. We were given allocated seats which were socially distanced.

I should've said this first time around but Nomadland is about the community of people who choose to live in vans and travel around. It's based on a book.

Movie theaters are not open here at all!

I hope we can get past this surge here in California soon

 

[Peep_Show]

"The Empty Man"

Being cooped up, you burn through a lot of streaming movies. So whenever anything drops as new on Redbox, it's like "Fresh meat!" Such was the case with "The Empty Man" which dropped yesterday on Redbox. I love getting virgin disks because they're, well, pristine and not full of scratches and greasy fingerprints that tend to cause skips in viewing.

Anyway, the movie starts out pretty engaging enough. Feels a little like M. Night Shyamalan fare. There's a tale of hikers in the Himalayas and their misfortunes, then fast forward to another tale in Missouri. The characters are well-fleshed out and the story is compelling. It deals with the summoning of demons/spirits much like Slender Man, Bloody Mary, La Llorona, Lola Montez, and the Candy Man. Misfit teenagers double-daring each other. The Empty Man legend has it that you can hear him on the first night, see him on the second, feel him on the third when he comes to get you. Woven into unraveling what has beset St. Louis is a tale of adultery and shame and cults. The movie is fairly interesting in a "Let's guess where this is going" kind of way. Then... I don't know. The climax of the movie feels like the author bugged out and somebody tried to finish the story for him, leaving the connectable dots on another page. If you go by the timeline, it doesn't make sense. If you take it for supernatural, it doesn't make sense. Too many "Well, what happened to...?" details left hanging that don't fit into either scenario. [If someone could watch this movie and fill in the blanks and let us know, I'd be real appreciative!]

Directed by David Prior and based on a Boom Studio graphic novel. Starring James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root, Joel Courtney, Sasha Frolova and others. The film runs 137 minutes.

ADDENDUM:
Ha! Husband and I were postulating that maybe the director died of Covid or something. Close. A google search revealed David A. Prior, director, died in 2015. That might explain it! However, the director of this movie was David Prior... No middle initial and different birthdate entirely, so no handy excuse for the mangled ending.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks for the review!

 

[Peep_Show]

"Radium Girls"

This dropped on Netflix streaming last night. Highly recommend this movie! Based on historical scandal involving the United States Radium Corporation which was in existence from 1914 to 1970, it details the plight and fight of the Radium Girls, those sweatshop women in 1925 who toiled at the factory (renamed American Radium in the film) dipping their brushes into radioactive material, followed by tipping on their tongue to get a finer point on their paintbrushes, then painting face dials of watches for $.01 each and whose health was uncaringly compromised by their sweatshop-like and corporate bigwig bosses despite the fact that the effects of radium on the human body were more than evident. They took the company to court for occupational safety allegations. Interspersed with the story of discovery and uphill fight is fabulous vintage footage of the times.

Starring Joey King, Abby Quinn, Scott Shepherd, Susan Heywood, Cara Seymor; Directed by Ginny Mohler and Lydia Dean Pilcher; Produced by Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner.

 

[CluckerFamily]

"Radium Girls"

This dropped on Netflix streaming last night. Highly recommend this movie! Based on historical scandal involving the United States Radium Corporation which was in existence from 1914 to 1970, it details the plight and fight of the Radium Girls, those sweatshop women in 1925 who toiled at the factory (renamed American Radium in the film) dipping their brushes into radioactive material, followed by tipping on their tongue to get a finer point on their paintbrushes, then painting face dials of watches for $.01 each and whose health was uncaringly compromised by their sweatshop-like bosses despite the fact that the effects of radium on the human body were more than evident. They took the company to court for occupational safety allegations. Interspersed with the story of discovery and uphill fight is fabulous vintage footage of the times.

Starring Joey King, Abby Quinn, Scott Shepherd, Susan Heywood, Cara Seymor; Directed by Ginny Mohler and Lydia Dean Pilcher; Produced by Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner.

I need to watch this!
Our local High School did a Radium Girls play last year and it was very good!

 

[ronott1]

"Radium Girls"

This dropped on Netflix streaming last night. Highly recommend this movie! Based on historical scandal involving the United States Radium Corporation which was in existence from 1914 to 1970, it details the plight and fight of the Radium Girls, those sweatshop women in 1925 who toiled at the factory (renamed American Radium in the film) dipping their brushes into radioactive material, followed by tipping on their tongue to get a finer point on their paintbrushes, then painting face dials of watches for $.01 each and whose health was uncaringly compromised by their sweatshop-like and corporate bigwig bosses despite the fact that the effects of radium on the human body were more than evident. They took the company to court for occupational safety allegations. Interspersed with the story of discovery and uphill fight is fabulous vintage footage of the times.

Starring Joey King, Abby Quinn, Scott Shepherd, Susan Heywood, Cara Seymor; Directed by Ginny Mohler and Lydia Dean Pilcher; Produced by Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner.

Thanks!

 

[drumstick diva]

Thank you, I want to see that. Makes me think of the "Silkwood Movie," where Cher (as Karen Silkwood) discovers the alarm to warn her of radiation doesn't work & she has had quite a dose of it. BTW Cher was very good in her part

 

[MaryJanet]

Hi everyone! I saw Ammonite recently. It took itself so seriously I ended up finding it funny. I kept giggling at the serious bits.

Anyway, it's the fictionalised story of Mary Anning who was an early palaeontologist who found the first ever specimen of an ichthyosaur which can still be seen today in the British museum. According to Wikipedia, the Mary Anning inspired She sells seashells by the seashore. Like most other women at the time, she was excluded from the scientific community. The film focusses on one of her friendships, which is portrayed as sexual.

The acting is brilliant. Kate Winslet plays Mary Anning and Saoirse Ronan plays Charlotte Murchison.

The best part was when frail and pretty Charlotte slipped over in the backyard in the rain in all her heavy skirts and ringlets, and a chicken in the film cracked up laughing! That was it for me, my giggling started too and I couldn't stop.

3 out of 5, for the amazing acting and locations. Shame it turned out unintentionally funny. Lots of sex scenes, don't take children unless you're prepared to do a lot of explaining.

 

[ronott1]

Hi everyone! I saw Ammonite recently. It took itself so seriously I ended up finding it funny. I kept giggling at the serious bits.

Anyway, it's the fictionalised story of Mary Anning who was an early palaeontologist who found the first ever specimen of an ichthyosaur which can still be seen today in the British museum. According to Wikipedia, the Mary Anning inspired She sells seashells by the seashore. Like most other women at the time, she was excluded from the scientific community. The film focusses on one of her friendships, which is portrayed as sexual.

The acting is brilliant. Kate Winslet plays Mary Anning and Saoirse Ronan plays Charlotte Murchison.

The best part was when frail and pretty Charlotte slipped over in the backyard in the rain in all her heavy skirts and ringlets, and a chicken in the film cracked up laughing! That was it for me, my giggling started too and I couldn't stop.

3 out of 5, for the amazing acting and locations. Shame it turned out unintentionally funny. Lots of sex scenes, don't take children unless you're prepared to do a lot of explaining.

Thanks so much for the review!