What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

See for Me (2021; dir Randall Okita) is a movie with a decent premise (visually impaired person needs help from an app-based service to "see" the home invaders she's faced with), but it's a muddled mess that left me questioning what the lead character, Sophie, was really up to.

So let's get that out of the way: it's a bad movie on its own terms. What I really found objectionable, though, was that they chose to make Sophie almost completely helpless--one scene shows she has a cane, but she never uses it, instead stumbling around or asking for help. We're supposed to accept that after almost four years of being impaired, she's either neglected or rejected the kind of navigation training that would allow her to lead an effective life. And, of course, she's bitter. The worst thing about this was, for me, the fact that making her reasonably capable would not have impacted the plotline at all, yet the filmmakers went for the helpless victim angle. The alternative can be done--and, in fact, was done in 1967's "Wait Until Dark," based on a play and starring Audrey Hepburn.

Nearly made it through West Side Story last night but gave up when the tv accidentally switched off and we realized no one had been watching for half an hour. I have never understood its appeal, mainly because its songs don't work for me in the slightest. I did appreciate the beautiful cinematography and production design, but really wish it had been updated with better music and a faster paced story. Plus Ansel Elgort was so horribly miscast that every scene with him in it was so distracting.

I have never understood the appeal of musicals and I'm an opera fan. West Side Story is no different. I mean, I realize there's entertainment value there and there are obviously legions of fans for both versions and musicals in general, but the genre just doesn't do anything for me.

Jackwraith wrote: I have never understood the appeal of musicals and I'm an opera fan. West Side Story is no different. I mean, I realize there's entertainment value there and there are obviously legions of fans for both versions and musicals in general, but the genre just doesn't do anything for me.

Does this include Rocky Horror/Shock Treatment and Little Shop of Horrors?

I don't mind a musical. But the interesting thing was during West Side Story, my son asked what our favourite song from The Sound of Music was, and we all had different opinions and conceded there was 6 or 7 good songs there. But in West Side Story, maybe 'America' and that is it. 'Somewhere', 'Maria' and 'I Feel Pretty' are ok but not inspiring. The rest are so dull.

jpat wrote: See for Me (2021; dir Randall Okita) is a movie with a decent premise (visually impaired person needs help from an app-based service to "see" the home invaders she's faced with), but it's a muddled mess that left me questioning what the lead character, Sophie, was really up to.

I've not seen it yet, but isn't the film Don't Breathe basically this premise except the blind guy (Stephen Lang) turns out to be really really good at hunting down and killing the home invaders? It's on my watch list.

Jackwraith wrote: I have never understood the appeal of musicals and I'm an opera fan. West Side Story is no different. I mean, I realize there's entertainment value there and there are obviously legions of fans for both versions and musicals in general, but the genre just doesn't do anything for me.

I find it jarring when a character is speaking and abruptly breaks into song. I don't hate musicals, but the format feels uncanny to me.

Saw The Eyes of Tammy Faye last weekend. Eh. It really felt like a TV movie (do they still make those) rather than a feature film. They do a pretty good job of portraying Tammy Faye as an endearing, sympathetic victim and all of the other big name Christians as greedy, selfish, shitbags. I generally think Jessica Chastain is fantastic, but I have a particular hang-up about actors doing "impersonations" rather than acting. So I guess she's good here, but I wouldn't have thought it Oscar-worthy (but the Academy loves bio-pics).

Watched CODA last night. It's really good, but not great. The deaf actor playing the father deserved the Oscar, but I don't think this was really Best Picture worthy. The plot seemed bog-standard and predictable, but it was the nuance and details added by having deaf central characters that made it interesting. There were a lot of scenes with the deaf cursing or using vulgarity that felt like a showy flex-- "See! Deaf people can be crude, too!" I'm not bothered by coarse language at all, it just seemed heavy handed (can I use that metaphor about sign language?).

I'm not a musical fan, but I like My Fair Lady. I guess I should watch Hamilton sometime. One day I had a coworker tell me, "I'm WFH today. Don't pester me from 10 AM until you hear from me, because I'm trying to get tickets to go see Hamilton in Cleveland." I think she did, too.

jason10mm wrote:

jpat wrote: See for Me (2021; dir Randall Okita) is a movie with a decent premise (visually impaired person needs help from an app-based service to "see" the home invaders she's faced with), but it's a muddled mess that left me questioning what the lead character, Sophie, was really up to.

I've not seen it yet, but isn't the film Don't Breathe basically this premise except the blind guy (Stephen Lang) turns out to be really really good at hunting down and killing the home invaders? It's on my watch list.

Don't Breathe (and presumably the sequel, which we haven't seen) is basically See for Me flipped, yes. The former has its own problems, but it's certainly better than See for Me.

Shellhead wrote:

Jackwraith wrote: I have never understood the appeal of musicals and I'm an opera fan. West Side Story is no different. I mean, I realize there's entertainment value there and there are obviously legions of fans for both versions and musicals in general, but the genre just doesn't do anything for me.

I find it jarring when a character is speaking and abruptly breaks into song. I don't hate musicals, but the format feels uncanny to me.

If I make it to a meet up where you are, I will be sure to do this frequently. And with a dance number.

"I'm moving all these armies into Irkutsk because I am the very model of a modern major-general..."

WadeMonnig wrote: Does this include Rocky Horror/Shock Treatment and Little Shop of Horrors?

I've never been a particular fan of Rocky Horror. It's OK, but now it really feels completely passé. Little Shop gets a bit of a pass for being a decent comedy SF film, of which there are fewer than most would think that actually have some quality; Galaxy Quest may be the best of them. But, even then, I probably would've been more interested in seeing more of Steve Martin as the dentist (in the more recent version) than hearing more singing.

Moonshot - Not to be confused with Moonfall. Also, this movie has nothing to do with the moon. The best way to explain the type of movie is it would make a good double-feature with the recent Love & Monsters. The main character is a goofy guy who works as an assistant to a robot barista and wants to move to Mars. Like L&M, this is nothing special but a pleasant enough movie with some genuinely funny bits.

I ought to watch Tammy Faye. Used to go to PTL back in the day just for their mile of Xmas lights display but damn, was that whole set up impressive.

Did they cover the Jessica Hahn stuff? That's about all I still remember other than the "I ran I to Tammy Faye" tshirts back in the day.