Movies for January, 2024: The Boys in the Boat and The Holdovers

     Carl Carlson is hosting our January 10 meeting at 7 p.m., and the movies to see are:

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

     A 1930s-set story centered on the University of Washington's rowing team, from their Depression-era beginning to winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Director:  George Clooney

Writers: Daniel James Brown, Mark L. Smith

Stars: Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner and Peter Guinness

The Holdovers (2023)

     A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go.

Director: Alexander Payne

Writer: David Hemingson

Stars: Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa

How to find streaming services for movies: 

http://justwatch.com    

Scores for December 2023 Movies

Average rating on a 10-point scale

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) 8.3 (8 voting)

The Heiress (1949)  7 (8 voting)

Films of Merit

Six Feet Under, a series (2002-2005)

Doc Martin, a series (2004-2022)

Golda (2023)

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021) 

Movies for December, 2023: Killers of the Flower Moon and The Heiress

      Don Nugent is hosting our Dec. 6 meeting at 7 p.m. on Zoom, and the movies to see are:

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

       When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one -- until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

Director:  Martin Scorsese
Writers: Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese, David Grann
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone

The Heiress (1949)

    A naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.

Director:  William Wyler

Writers: Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz, Henry James

Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson

How to find streaming services for movies: 

http://justwatch.com

Scores for November 2023 Movies

Average rating on a 10-point scale

The Duke (2020)   6.7 (10 voting)

The Covenant (2023) 6.3 (8 voting)

Films of Merit

Home (2020)

All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

The Burial (2023)

The Pacific (2010)

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Buddymoon (2016)

A Million Miles Away (2023)

MotherFatherSon (2019)

Summerland (2020)

Movies for November, 2023: The Duke and The Covenant

  Jon Lee is hosting our Nov. 11 meeting at his beach house on Boiler Bay, and the movies to see are:

The Duke (2020)

     In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60-year-old taxi driver, steals Goya's portrait of the 

Duke of  Wellington from the National Gallery in London.

Director: Roger Mitchell

Writers: Richard Bean, Clive Coleman

Stars: Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney and Stephen Rashbrook

The Covenant (2023)

     During the war in Afghanistan, a local interpreter risks his own life to carry

an injured sergeant across miles of  grueling terrain.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Writers: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim and Sean Sager

How to find streaming sources for movies:

https://www.justwatch.com 

Scores for October 2023 movies

Average rating on a 10 point scale:

Seven Samurai (1954) 7  (7 voting)

Dersu Uzala (1975)  7.3 (7 voting)

Films of Merit

Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (2022)

Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret (2023)

Obit (2016)

Foundations (2021)

Suits (2011-2019)

Country Music (2019)

The Pacific (2010)

Movies for October 2023: Seven Samurai and Dersu Uzala

 John Cleary is hosting our Oct. 4 meeting, and the movies to see are:

Seven Samurai (1954)

Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

Stars: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

Dersu Uzala (1975)

The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Yuriy Nagibin, Vladimir Arsenev

Stars: Maksim Munzuk, Yuriy Solomin, Mikhail Bychkov

How to find streaming sources for movies:

https://www.justwatch.com

Scores for September 2023 movies

Rating on a 10-point scale: 

The Matrix (1999)  7.3 (7 votes)

Bicentennial Man (1999) 5/ (7 votes)

Films of Merit

Jules (2023)

Painkiller (2023)

Jury Duty (2023)

Narvik (2022)

Peace by Chocolate (2021)

Reservation Dogs (2021)

Trial (1955)

Enchanted April (1991)

Sabrina (1995)

Dahaad (2023)

Movies for September 2023: The Matrix and Bicentennial Man

 

Bill Triest is hosting our September 6 meeting, and the movies to see are:

The Matrix (1999)

When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he
discovers the shocking truth – the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil
cyber-intelligence. 

Director:  Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Writers: Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss

Bicentennial Man (1999)

An android endeavors to become human as he gradually acquires emotions.

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers: Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Nicholas Kazan 
Stars: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill 

How to find streaming sources for movies:

https://www.justwatch.com

Scores for July 2023 movies

Barbie (2023)    7.6 / 3

Oppenheimer (2023)    7.75 / 8

Films of Merit

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023) 
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Season 4 (2023)
Hijack (2023)
The Day After Trinity (1981)
Silo (2023)
The Social Dilemma (2020) 

Movies for August 2023: Barbie and Oppenheimer

Nic Bentley is hosting the August meeting and the movies to see are:

Barbie (2023)

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Director:  Greta Gerwig

Writers: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae

Oppenheimer (2023)

The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Kai Bird, Martine Sherwin
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon

How to find streaming sources for movies:
https://www.justwatch.com

Scores for July 2023 Movies

The Counselor (2013)  5.2 / 10

The Road (2009) 5.1 / 10

Films of Merit

• Armageddon Time (2022) -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10343028/
• Jaws (1975) -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/mediaviewer/rm1449540864/
• 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090570/
• Babett’s Feast (1987) --   https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090570/mediaviewer/rm1991156993/
• Casa Susanna (2022) -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21875250/mediaviewer/rm2089553153/
• We Are Lady Parts (2021) -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10846104/mediaviewer/rm859489793/

Movies for July 2023: The Counselor and The Road

Jon Lee is hosting the July meeting, and the movies to see are: 

The Counselor (2013)

A lawyer finds himself in far over his head when he attempts to get involved in drug trafficking.

Director: Ridley Scott

Writer: Cormac McCarthy

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Barden, Brad Pitt, Bruno Ganz, Rosie Perez, Sam Spruell, Toby Kebbell, Edgar Ramirez, Ruben Blades, Natalie Dormer, Goren Visnijic, Daniel Holguin, Chris Obi, Richard Cabral, Provence Maydew, Paris Jefferson, Dar Dash, Alex Hafne

The Road (2009)

In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.

Director: John Hillcoat

Writers: Joe Penhall, Cormac McCarthy

Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee

How to find streaming sources for movies: 
https://www.justwatch.com

Scores for June 2023 Movies

Faraway (2023)   5.44 / 10

The Birdcage (1996)  6.50 / 10

Films of Merit 

• Love and Death (2023) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14586350/
• Still: A Michael J Fox Movie (2023) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19853258/
• The Freshman (1990) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099615/
• We’re the Millers (2013) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/