Oh I'm sorry, Did I Break Your Conversation........Well Allow Me A Movie Thread by S&T

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they should do a living single movie

like how they done sex in the city

like khadijah is a powerful editor, regine is a fashion actress, max a high power lawyer and sinclaire a famous actress

but make it more like adult and contemporary to black women dating struggles of older women
 
Review: Dark Comedy ‘Gringo’ Uses Its Mexican Location as a Prop and Wastes a Stacked Cast for a Boring Greed-is-Bad Narrative
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http://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/...copley-thandie-newton-and-amanda-seyfried.php

I don’t know stuntman-turned-director Nash Edgerton’s life, but Gringo does not feel like a movie created by someone who has ever actually been to Mexico. Or, let me refine that—a movie created by someone who has ever actually been to Mexico and thought to pay attention to more than kidnapping scares and cartel nightmares. Theoretically Gringo is a comedy, but unless you think David Oyelowo’s high-pitched screaming and Charlize Theron’s foul-mouthed sexual come-ons are hilarious, then you’ll laugh as little as I did.

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This movie is trying to tell three or four stories at the same time with an ever-increasing cast of characters, but mostly all of the characters are abhorrent, and each subplot lasts too long. The film focuses on the titular “gringo,” Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo), a middle-management executive at the Chicago company Promethium Pharmaceuticals who is swimming in debt. His accountant tells him Harold is in the red mostly because of his wife, Bonnie (Thandie Newton), an interior designer whose only client is Harold’s boss, the co-president of Promethium, Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton), and who has rung up $18,000 in unpaid credit card bills alone.

But Bonnie and Richard are the only people Harold has in his life, and he thinks he owes particularly everything to the latter, who gave him his job. Yet when Richard starts acting weird—keeping Harold out of meetings, accompanying him to a trip to their Mexican factory, which Harold had previously managed alone—Harold starts getting suspicious. And it doesn’t help that Richard and the company’s other co-president, Elaine Markinson (Theron, of the upcoming Tully), are raging *******s who belittle Harold and talk down to their Mexican employees at every opportunity.

“Yo quiero Taco Bell,” Richard says to his Mexican employee to prove that he’s conversational in Spanish (he’s not); “Do they not sell condoms down here?” Elaine sneers when she arrives in another employee’s office, which is positively covered with photos of children, and then follows it up with “If you can take care of 35 kids, I think you can handle one drug dealer.”

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Because, yup, Promethium is somehow tangled with a drug-dealing cartel down in Mexico, and the deal that Richard and Elaine are planning does not include Harold. But the way that Harold plans to get them back—a faked kidnapping, for which he is demanding a $5 million ransom that could help him run away from his disappointing life in Chicago and start again—becomes more complicated than he planned. So Richard and Elaine are trying to con Harold, Harold is trying to con them, Richard is also conning Elaine, Elaine finds out a secret that turns her against Richard, and then there are subplots with underwritten characters for Amanda Seyfried (who will hopefully have more to do in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, a wish I never thought I would put out into the universe) and Sharlto Copley, and there are also plenty of unnamed Mexican characters who stand around waiting to either steal from one of the Americans or get shot by cartel members. Because Mexicans, they’re all criminals,didn’t you know?

Gringo is trying to be a black comedy, but its sense of humor is fundamentally ugly. The female characters are all hoodwinked by men and driven to extremes because of it—one of them gains weight, one of them is a hardened ***** (because of daddy issues, of course). Pretty much all the men aside from Harold are aggressively selfish and totally casual about murder. And Harold himself is given a “nice guys finish last” narrative that doesn’t allow for any real depth or nuance. In his only conversation with Seyfried’s character, he shares with her that his Nigerian uncle is one of those email scammers who asks for Americans to send him money, and he’s become really successful because of it, while his father is a poor man. It’s unclear whether we’re supposed to respect the uncle for going after what he wants or judge the father for being naïve and passing his ethical code down to his hapless son. Which is it? What is Gringo actually trying to say about, well, anything?

For the most part, it’s low-key racist and sexist, like when Bill Maher appears in a cameo to say of Harold, “Chicago, Nigeria, Mexico—I’m surprised the guy lasted as long as he did,” or when Richard says to Harold, “Your life is gonna look like a rap video,” or when Seyfried’s character asks of Harold, “You have a really cool accent. Are you Jamaican?” (Seyfried’s other most unfortunate line of dialogue is when she excitedly tells Harold, “I love Harry Potter, I’ve read every single book!” Yeah, girl, you and most children.) In trying to present a cast of characters in which pretty much everyone is terrible, Nash Edgerton also fails to make any of them interesting, relatable, or even believable, using his Mexican setting and its citizens as props in a boring story about capitalist greed.

Oh yeah, and Paris Jackson is in this. I don’t know why, either.
 
What a Cast... and What a Terrible Waste of Their Talent: Gringo is an Offensively Unfunny Attempt at a Black Comedy-Thriller

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ensively-unfunny-film-writes-BRIAN-VINER.html

Here’s a film worth avoiding, albeit for very different reasons.

Gringo is a horribly misbegotten stab at a black comedy-thriller, directed by former stuntman Nash Edgerton.

It features David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried and the director’s brother Joel Edgerton, and I recommend it only if you want to marvel at how a talented cast could be so spectacularly wasted.

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Gringo is a horribly misbegotten stab at a black comedy-thriller, directed by former stuntman Nash Edgerton

Oyelowo plays Harold, a mild-mannered middle-manager, originally from Nigeria, in a Chicago pharmaceuticals company. Edgerton is his obnoxious boss, Richard, who affects to be Harold’s friend while having an affair with his wife (Thandie Newton).

In league with an equally unpleasant colleague, Elaine (Theron), with whom he is also having sex, Richard has a dodgy scheme going with, yes, a Mexican drugs cartel.

This requires the unsuspecting Harold to make regular business trips to Mexico, where, after discovering that he is likely to lose his job, he decides to fake his own kidnapping and run off with the ransom money.

Naturally, things go terribly wrong, not least because, according to a screenplay that might have been strung together from a series of Donald Trump’s tweets, Mexico is populated only by petty thieves and murderous brigands.

In the unlikely event of Guillermo del Toro subjecting himself to Gringo, the Oscar-winning director of The Shape Of Water might wonder why he wasted his breath on stage the other night, when he suggested that his native country is not, in fact, an unsophisticated backwater.

It is here. But such caricatures could be tolerated if they served a funny plot and snappy dialogue.

Gringo tries strenuously to extract comedy from murder, torture and embezzlement, and Oyelowo mugs his heart out at the centre of a ludicrously convoluted narrative, but in the end the only effective joke is on those who have forked out for a cinema ticket.

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Sharlto Copley, David Oyelowo and Joel Edgerton at the 'Gringo' film premiere after party in Los Angeles in March
 
head of the class was a classic 80s sitcom :lol:

i downloaded gringo. might watch it next week.

i watched a quiet place the other day. jim halpert is turning out to be kinda talented. suspense was great! the “solution” at the end had a real m. night signs feel to it and not in a good way. like are you fricken serious that nobody on the entire planet figured that **** out but this little kid lucks into it? the very ending of jim going ch-chak with the shotgun was satisfying. 6.6/8
 
I grew up a Marvel guy but read quite a bit of DC comics & graphic novels. For me, there no better super hero movies than Nolan's Batman trilogy... One thing his movies have that virtually none of the other movies have are emotional centers... The end of Dark Knight where Jim Gordon is pleading with Two Face for his son's life. Maybe its bcs I'm a father but it catches me in the feels every time especially when the Mrs. Gordon screams out as Batman makes his move on Two Face. Same when the Po Po come to tell Mrs. Gordon Jim died.... When Harvey goes berserk when Rachel dies... The cinematography & not relying on CGI but actual stunts... And OMG the score. These s@#t turd super hero movies don't have an iconic theme for any of them.... Nothing a little kid would hum while playing with action figure. My son used to hum the various Star Wars scores while playing & same with the Nolan Batman scores... :frown: I wish his schedule would allow him to take a stab at a Bond movie...

Can't wait to see this... Brolin is really coming into his own... :lol: @ "Is that your brother? I don't wanna kill the pool guy." New trailer.
 
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Solo.....

I had ridiculous expectations for Rogue One. And they were met. I didn't have crazy expectations with Solo, and they were far exceeded.

That, was really good. A space western, heist-y, gritty, complete with character re-introductions, the origins of Han and Chewie meeting, them meeting Lando, the Sabaac game(s) all of it, really well done.

The blaster, the Falcon, the dice, the cameo ( :wow: ) the ending for Q'ira (proving that these characters will be around for a while)

Lando was terrific. I mean, damn. He was perfect. Billy Dee shook. The way he even said Han's name was perfect.
Q'ira was beautiful as ever, charming, always felt mischievous, but certainly worth risking it all.
Chewie was doin work, and now we see a little of why he is so loyal to Han who freed him, AND saved his life, hence, life debt.
Kessell run was outstanding, but I've never been a big fan of the huge alien things they love, but we are in space, we've seen a million diff species already, so I get it. I would rather have kept that just ships tho, like if that was a Star Destroyer sucked into the maw instead of a giant alien. But that's a small complaint.
The humor was very much toned down after TLJ. I don't know if that was on purpose, because I felt like Rogue had a lot of humor in it for such a depressing movie, this one had just a dry sense of humor, not the over the top stuff. (like Han saying he had 30 armed men and then the Falcon taking off :lol: )
Woody did a great job as Beckett. Dude was slick with those blasters.
Correllia :wow: :pimp:

I thought the Star Destroyer in the maw was going to be Dalaa. :lol: :nerd:

The numbered films all have the sleek, stylish, sexy sheen to them, the gleaming color, the brightness, all of it feels the same.

Rogue and this one both had a grimey-er feel about them, muted colors, not the pristine visuals, like this is what they are going for, is a tonal difference in the standalones.

With the way the film ended, and the news of Mangold/Fett, we now have a younger Han, Chewie, Lando, Q'ira, Maul, Fett, Jabba, Boskk, Enfys Nest all in play. To me, that feels like a completely separate world/universe they can use to show the underground so to speak, and still use the Empire/rebellion as non central pieces which I thought they did great in Solo. The Empire was around, but not the presence of all the other films. Just additional obstacles the heros/villains need to work around.

I still believe with that set of characters in play, a potential Vader cameo with Fett, if you add Thrawn into that mix, we could play in that 18 year gap playground for a looooooonnnnnnngggggg time.

Then you throw in a distinctly different Old Republic era to the mix, alternate films every 6-8 months, and you will have a tremendous "new" generation built.


As for the kid that played Han. I was impressed. He was ALWAYS going to be the weak link, we all knew he was not Harrison. But he did a great job, despite all the rumors, acting lessons, etc etc, he did fine. (minus the speaking wookie :lol: ) One thing I was kinda expecting was a punch or cut on the chin to kinda tie that together, kind of an Indy nod to Harrison's scar. He wasn't great, but he was tasked with an impossible role and held his own. He isn't worn down yet, he's not the grizzled vet, he's just a gifted, brave pilot who walks his own path. I thought he handled that well. Kept the humor down, didn't try to one line everything, and just played his part. 2-3 movies from now, we may see some more of the Han humor, the wiseness, etc.

7/8
 
I felt the humor and its approach was also all Howard. I tend to notice his sensibilities in a movie like this.

Didn't agree (with everything) or enjoy the movie as much as you but like the review.
 
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Patti Cake$ 6/8

Wish this chick was a real rapper.I enjoyed the music the most. Enjoyed most of the story. Acting was really good.

Handled the cultural appropriation/culture vulture issue well.

The Tale 5.5/8

This was ****** up. Okay overall.

It was really disturbing seeing Jason Ritter play a pedophile. Especially given the context and how half of it was portrayed in an attempt at romance given how the victim remembered it.

And this was some real pedophilia. This girl is 13 and looks 10. So disturbing cuz this is one of those ongoing things, happens in the 70s, by someone the victim knows and trusts (her track coach).

It was pretty ****** up to see someone realize upon reflecting they were a victim of rape and pedophilia.

Elizibath Debicki is in this as the other pedophile but she's fine as **** as usual. Didn't bother me as much even though she's quite frankly the more insidious pedophile that facilitates the abuse, joins in on it, and tries to expand it. Maybe the accent threw me off.

Common was also in this as the fiance of the victim. A smaller role but he had his scenes. It was just interesting seeing him in this role. Nothing cliche or stereotypical. Son seems dedicated to expanding his acting range.

This was all a true story, written and directed by Jennifer Fox.



Some good news

Amazon Picks Up The Expanse for Fourth Season

:nthat:

I haven't watched Amazon shows before figuring I shouldn't be adding to my long list of ahows I currently watch and just catch all the good ones after they end and just binge them.

I'll most likely binge this next season of The Expanse. Happy it got another shot. Wasn't sure this season would be a proper end.
 
Amazon also had a show Patriot which I loved. They ok’d another season but no word on when it drops... it’s like a packaged that shows it shipped but never got delivered. >D
 
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