Chalco
Chalco's JournalConclave
Saw this yesterday. Highly recommend it. The acting, cinematography, casting, set design, music, directing and story line are outstanding. A rare experience, to see all the parts click together.
It starts a little slow but hang in there, the tension increases more and more and the ending is quite a surprise.
Map of new transit to LAX?
Is there a link to the proposed new transit to LAX?
I can't find one in the article in the LA Times.
Cancelling LA Times?
Is anyone cancelling the Times after the owner directed the Editorial Editor not
to take a position in the presidential race. She was in the process of writing
the piece designating Harris as the Time's selection and was shut down. She
resigned her position.
My Brilliant Friend on Max
Hi,
I hadn't watched Season 3 before, but really loved it, then Season 4 came
and boy was I shocked. They changed the actors for most of the adults.
They claimed it was because of the time difference. I can understand
changing the two child actors who were about 3 and 7 in Season 3 but
not the adult actors. Seems like only maybe 4 or 5 years had elapsed.
I really liked the former adult actors, especially the stars playing Elena,
Lila and Nino.
Took me awhile to get used to the new actors. I still don't like them, but
I'm going along for the story.
Anyone else?
The Substance
Saw this movie yesterday. One of the worst movies every made. In my opinion.
The story is, an older woman (50 years old) is tired of how old she looks (she didn't look old to me)
decided to use this method of injections, etc. to become younger. The deal is she is her younger self
for 7 days then automatically goes back to older self for 7 days. Repeat.
It sounded like an interesting premise, however, it was boring. And, spoiler alert, the young and
older selves are not even aware of what happened on the alternate days.
Everyone around us in the movie theatre as soon as it was over stood up and said "That's the
worst movie ever!"
I wonder what you all would think.
The Stranger, a series on Netflix
Finished all 8 episodes. The tension in this series is palpable. I really liked all the twists and turns.
Shocked by the ending. I'll leave it at that.
Anyone else see it?
Daddio
Saw Daddio starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson at a theatre in LA with a talkback afterwards with writer/director Christy Hall.
I'll put this out front: I'm not a fan of Sean Penn.
Back to that later. About one-third way through I said to myself, this is the best writing I've ever seen. (As a playwright myself, I always study the writing.) There are two characters stuck in a taxi after an accident on the highway who are forced to talk to each other given the situation. The dialogue is the only action. We only see for the most part their faces and upper bodies. The dialogue is multilayered, subtle, funny and deep.
Sean Penn is superb. Emotive and sharp. Looks and feels like that character he plays, a taxi driver. A couple of nights ago I watched Jimmy Kimmel interview him on his show. Penn walked in obviously not interested in being there. Kimmel worked on him and got him to be sociable. One of the questions he asked Penn was how he came to do the part. Penn said that Dakota lived nearby. He was at home and heard someone knocking on the door. He was not expecting anyone. He opened the door and there was Dakota. She reached out and handed him the script "Check this out. I think you'll like it," and she left. He read it, called her and said, "I'm in." Kimmel showed a scene from the film, then, he said there needed to be a break and more with Sean Penn after it. Usually when Kimmel says that the interviewee stays and they chit chat. Instead Penn got up, shook Kimmel's hand and left. The character he played in the film would have acted differently.
Dakota was equally superb.
The film opens June 28. Go see it. Let me know what you think!
Forgot to add: At the talkback I was extremely impressed with the writer/director. She had written several theatre plays before and had them produced but made very little money (which is true for writers in theatre) so she decided she had to get more credentials so she applied to Julliard. As part of the application she had to submit a script. She submitted Daddio. A couple of weeks later the person in charge of selecting new students told her that the script was better than any he'd ever seen and she did not need to have any more education. He asked her if it would be ok for him to give it to an agent that could help her turn the play script into a movie script. She said yes, and the rest is history. She is probably about 35 years old. She's never directed before but everyone around her on the set were experienced and helped her along the way.
Bad Behavior
I attended a free preview showing of Bad Behavior last night which included a talkback afterwards
with one of the producers. The theatre was filled up. When the film ended half of the people left
and didn't stay for the talkback. Did they not like it?
I would have to say it was incredibly complex, psychological, semi-thriller. The acting was excellent.
The script was excellent. The story is about a woman who goes to a quirky silent retreat to get a
handle on her relationship with her daughter. The woman is played by Jennifer Connelly and the daughter by
Alice Englert who also wrote and directed the movie.
The daughter is not at the retreat. The plot goes back and forth from the mother in the retreat with lots
of odd things going on and the daughter who seems to be a stunt person on a movie set. Bizarre things
happen, jolting plot twists and great dialog with characters showing both there humble and ugly sides.
I wont give away the ending. Some people might not like it, but my husband and I were mesmerized.
In the talkback the producer revealed that the director/writer/actor was Jane Campion's daughter in real
life. Interesting factoid.
Hit Man on Netflix
Has anyone watched this?
I think it's fantastic. Great script, great acting. Loved the main character. I wasn't familiar with him but
now he's one of my favorites. Let me know what you think.
Wildcat
Here's my review I posted on IMDB:
Wildcat: I Have Trouble Finding Words
May 2024
As my title suggests, it is hard to describe how I feel about this movie. By the middle I was overwhelmed with emotion. By the end I was meditating on life. This movie is so profound, original, well-crafted and executed. Melding her stories with her life may be difficult for some to follow but hang in there. As Flannery says in her opening comments, fiction is reality. The fiction writer that she was was a dark soul who lived to dig deep and find meaning in every aspect of life. Whether the meaning was positive or negative didn't matter. She had to live as long as she could and created other lives to live them as well. After seeing the movie I had to come home, sit outside and contemplate.
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As you can see, I really, really liked this movie.
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Florida, then, Maryland, now California
Current location: California
Member since: Tue Nov 23, 2004, 06:31 PM
Number of posts: 1,402