Manda's MovieWatch

I’ve been very excited about this movie and I wasn’t disappointed! A beautiful story about friendship, science, adventure and sacrifice. Absolutely worth seeing, I’ve read the book and the only miss in my opinion for anyone who hadn’t: is understanding just how lost, confused & desperate Grace is when first waking up in space from his coma. Piecing it together in the movie feels a little too quick and easy. Also just how advanced Rocky’s science knowledge is. I love that they both have to save each other. Ryan Gosling did an incredible job in this “Tom Hanks & volleyball” type of role. This is worth getting to the theater and watching on the big screen! 1 watch check, Ryan did stay awake but struggled- it is a little long!

Ok hear me out. I resisted this one but after it won Best Animated Film, I gave in and I’m glad I did. Yes it was a little silly, and sometimes felt like a bunch of Snapchat filters set to fun pop music but there’s a deeper message in it that’s important. When you let dark thoughts in & start to believe the negative things your brain is telling you, it only leads to a dark place. We all have to fight off the demons- the main characters here do it through song. Imagine the song was a bunch of young girls belting out “this little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine” and you might see this film in a new light:as this generation’s version of you go girl. Give it a shot and try to just enjoy the silly. 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and yes it’s fine to stream/rent.

First my apologies, I’ve not been as great about making posts for movies I’ve seen this year. I never posted about Train Dreams or F1 and here it is Oscar time again! My pick for Best Picture is Hamnet but I’m not confident it will win…I hope it does and I hope you see it, it’s really good. I will say that Sinners surprised me and might be a dark horse here. I hope it wins some of the many categories it’s nominated in, my best guess is score. I feel like One Battle After Another is more about recognizing the director than the movie itself although the characters in that story were brought to life with amazing acting. I’m also going to give a shout out to what I think should win the best documentary feature: The Perfect Neighbor. You should watch that and how fascinating to watch a story unfold mainly through body cam footage. The other solid movie that needs recognition somewhere was Frankenstein…makeup, costume, production design -something! Lots of great contenders all around though, enjoy the Oscars- I know I will!

My favorite thing about a movie is when it transports you to a different time/place. This movie takes you to Brazil in the late 70’s. A dicey time of political corruption. The story follows Marcelo as he fights to get his life back after it was stolen from him. Wagner Moura as Marcelo is a stand out and his performance is Oscar worthy. My only beef with this movie was the sub plots that left unanswered questions. 2 watch checks, Ryan would fall asleep in this one for sure (he’s not a fan of subtitles). Better on a big screen, but ok to stream.

Not my favorite. Watching a dysfunctional family working through grief is tedious and not what I want in a movie. I prefer a clever plot. If you’re a Woody Allen fan, maybe this is for you- but I was bored. Maybe it was a little too lost in translation for me? I’m scratching my head on the Best Picture nomination for it. 4 watch checks, Ryan would be out like a light immediately- I almost fell asleep myself. You can watch this one at home.

I guess this is branded as a comedy- and Leo is pretty comical in it, but the storyline doesn’t feel that funny, more like poking fun at revolutionaries. It’s an entertaining story with some unbelievable elements. It was good, but not as great as I expected. DiCaprio & Del Toro are the standouts here. 2 watch checks, Ryan would stay awake for sure and this one is better in the theater to stay engaged in this loopy story.

Loved this one. Not deep or complicated, just a story about two people who found each other and share a love of Neil Diamond music. I love true stories about good people. Watch it for a feel good fix and enjoy some awesome music. Very impressive job by Jackman & Hudson in this one! Only 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and it’s great to stream at home.

My favorite part about this film is the cheeky nod to Emma Stone’s often talked about alien resemblance. She wholeheartedly embraced that criticism and ran with it -way to get the last laugh Emma! As a movie this was good, original and one that feels so relevant with such rampant conspiracy theories everywhere. Emma Stone & Jesse Plemons make this movie. It wasn’t amazing IMO but it was a solid film if you like the dark and the odd. Not sure it warranted a best picture nom though: 3 watch checks, Ryan did stay awake (but barely) and you can definitely stream it at home.

I’m not a huge fan of horror films, but I’m a fan of this movie. The first half of this movie is a cinematically beautiful 1932 time period piece. However, it’s hard to enjoy that because you know there’s something darker coming. When the darker hits, it hits hard. I love the music in this movie and the nods to monster lore. It was very entertaining. 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and you can stream this one.

I will be honest I was not excited about seeing this movie. I went with a friend who really wanted to see it, but it was better than I thought it was going to be. not sure that’s much of an endorsement, but usually movies like this don’t surprise me. This was a clear remake of Coppolla’s 1992 Dracula film but basically both are based on Bram Stoker’s novel but veer from the book with the love story plot. This film went a step further than Coppola, making me somewhat empathetic for Count (Prince?) Vlad. I don’t do well with copious amounts of spit/blood hanging from characters mouth (ewww) and this film had a lot of that. Christoph Waltz is a highlight (how does he make this all amusing?). Two watch checks, Ryan would stay awake, I’d recommend the theater over streaming if possible- Elfman’s score is also a highlight.