The first movie made a lot of money, and inspired a new generation of fanboys and girls, but the second one was probably a better movie. I believe Carradine and Thurman both received Golden Globe nominations for acting, and I think I remember Roger Ebert saying Thurman deserved an academy award for the second film.

I miss Roger Ebert. He was reliable.

EASY RIDER

if you want to be a biiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddd!!

nik nik nik firecracker.

Serenity

I've wanted to see this for a while, just cos I've heard so many good things about it, but I started to lose interest about 10 minutes in. I kept with it, hoping it'd get better and I'd see what all the fuss was about but in the end I was just glad when it finished.

O MAN. you didn't see firefly first?

serenity is not a great movie in itself, but it's teh closing of a great TV show that never got a fair chance by the network that produced it.

it was cut short without an ending, so the movie was the ending

it was changed multiple days, debuted during the world series... total clusterfuck in the pre-a-la-carte days of TV

Ah that makes sense. It did seem like I was coming into it in the middle of something. Although ultimately it felt like one of those films/tv shows that, as much as I try, I'm evidently just not programmed to really like - a bit like Asian food (except Westernised Chinese), or Robert Plant's voice.

No man, you NEED to watch Firefly. Please! You owe it to yourself.

Took me a few episodes to get on board, but once I did, I was on. fucking. board. And while the final episode is one of the great bottleneck episodes in TV history, it didn't even attempt to wrap up the story. So watch that shit, and then rewatch Serenity.

I sometimes hold out hope for a sequel. The mythos could support a trilogy of excellent sci-fi films. Excellent stuff.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

I liked it a lot more this time than I seem to remember when it 1st came out.

The first Trek suffered from too many star wars comparisons, when it is instead a meditation of life, humanity, and the vastness of time and consciousness..... it is slow compared to space battle movies but I like it.

The Wolfpack

I was really looking forward to seeing this but it ended up not being really what I expected. I definitely didn't expect it to be that depressing.

Wow... you were watching and remembering films in 1979?

I was going to say something about how much older you are than I thought, but... well, did a bit of math and realized I didn't want to start taking about who is and isn't "old." ;)

I don't hate it as much as most people do, but it's a miracle that a sequel as strong as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ever even happened.

I would've been about 9 but remember being taken to the cinema to see it and not really understanding it, and basically just wishing it was more like Star Wars.

Gimme Danger.

not revealing but, very fun to watch. bonus for some little unseen footage of early Stooges. it was like a low tech anti mini doc.

Cavemen. childhood classic. not still funny but charming.

JACKIE - Not very good. Natalie Portman, who I usually like, annoyed me a lot by the end. Could've/should've gone a lot deeper.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA - Basically a literary short story (although it's actually an original script). Little plot, jumbled timeline, elliptical ending. Casey is really, really is good in this.

MOONLIGHT - Touching, boring, beautiful. The beginning was great; I really felt I was in this Miami beach neighborhood. The Artiness of the thing was a drag, I thought.

HIDDEN FIGURES - Sappy, corny, sugary. But darn it. That ending really does grab the heartstrings.

FENCES - Filmed theater. Expertly crafted on every level. Very boring as a film; riveting as theater. I had to take an intermission.

ARRIVAL - About 90% of this is a great, potentially classic sci-fi film for those of us who generally don't like sci-fi. But there's about 10% that kind of annoyed me. Plus Amy Adams has an odd nose.

What about Hell or High Water? Seen that one?

If so (or even if not) which of these do you think will grab Best Picture this year? I've seen exactly none of them, but from what I've been reading, I feel like it's a Manchester By The Sea v. Moonlight showdown. Maybe Oscar can partially make up for the Grammytrocities by picking Moonlight.

I hear Manchester is just grueling. Like, obscenely sad. Almost a melodrama.

MANCHESTER is certainly sad, and doesn't deliver a huge emotional release at the end. If HIDDEN is a crowd pleaser, MANCHESTER is a crowd dis-pleaser. I seriously doubt it'll win, although it might actually be the best. It was the closest to real life, at least.

Haven't seen Hell, Hacksaw, LaLa or Lion. Might watch Hell but the others just don't interest me. LaLa if I skip the songs.

I'm looking forward to Scorcese's SILENCE. How bad can it be? A Marty mis-step still beats out most of the competition, as far as I'm concerned.

No Oscar predictions, except Casey. I'm not confident what other people like or want out of movies.

Amy has an adorable nose!!

watched a pretty decent robot movie the other night, Automata. Certainly didn't make any new ideas, but the old tropes were well done. Dystopia, robots getting free from humans, good and bad humans, etc. Nice scenery of the badlands, which looked to be filmed at the Salt Flats or some similar place. Well cast with Antonio Banderas, Robert Forster, Tim McInnerny, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen. Kind of a cheezy ending, but for sci fi fans, like me, you should give it a watch...

never heard of it!

Really, really beautiful and emotional movie.

I liked her "before" nose. But we know Hollywood demands a specific tiny "white" nose. wonder why???