Over the past few weeks and months I have been watching plenty of films on television. In the run up to Christmas it was mostly Christmas films, some of them good, some of them utterly forgettable. But I also watched other stuff. One of those I saw was 'A Dog's Purpose' and its follow-up 'A Dog's Journey'. Both lovable films with the main 'man' being Bailey the Dog as he lives his (occasionally her) life as a dog to different people, yet all the time coming back to the same person (the character played by Dennis Quaid) or his granddaughter (played by Kathryn Prescott).
Another animal film I watched was 'Cats'. Based on the work by TS Eliot, it was turned into a musical years ago by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a while ago they made it into a film. It got really bad reviews, but I loved it. I really did. I thought the sets were gorgeous, the actors were good and I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.
Staying with an animal theme, I recently saw 'Finch' on Apple TV. There are only three real actors in the whole film: Tom Hanks who plays the main character Finch, Caleb Landry Jones who plays Jeff and Seamus who plays Goodyear. It is an apocalyptic film in that it takes place after some 'wipe out humanity' event which is never specified and Finch is suffering from radiation sickness. He has to look after his dog though and for that purpose he builds a robot, which will have to look after Goodyear the dog after he cannot any longer. There are a few other voice characters and sight characters, but these three carried the whole film. I have always liked Tom Hanks and here he proves it again. This film could easily shine at the Oscars!
No animals for the next film: 'Mum's List'. But plenty of tissues were needed for this film based on a true story. Rafe Spall plays Singe and Emilia Fox plays his wife Kate. Following the death of Kate, it shows hos Singe and their two sons cope and deal with that. Flashbacks show how the two met, what they went through and how and why Kate ended up with a list to follow. Rafe Spall was great as a bewildered and scared father, he made the story very real.
The last film I want to give attention to this time around is 'Kalte Füsse' (Cold Feet). It is a German film and even though it wasn't a tear jerker or thought provoking, it did give me an hour and a half of enjoyment.
When Denis breaks into the Austrian winter cottage of rich business man Raimund he gets mistaken for the new nurse by Raimund's granddaughter Charlotte. In order not to get busted Denis decides to play along. It is quite slapsticky and crude in places, but I do on occasion love that kind of humour.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteI loved the Dog films too... and envy you having access to Finch. I can only hope it gets released from under Apple's grasp one day. Hmmm, the other two probs wouldn't make my short list... YAM xx
Like Hilary: free access after buying an iPod last year. Will not renew however, as there is not enough on there to make it worth it for me. I still have a couple of months to go though.
DeleteWe've seen the first two and, like Yam, hope the Tom Hanks movie (and Greyhound - also a Hanks movie) get released by Apple TV+ someday so we can see it. The last two movies look nice too but I can't find them available anywhere I have access to.
ReplyDeleteFrench sounds good, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Cats. I hope you find more good things to watch.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the two Tom Hanks films mentioned on Apple+, but only because I bought a new phone and good three months free access. I think that was all I watched, both very good and am sure they will be more widely available soon. I have seen Mum's List too, very emotional, but great acting as you say by Rafe Spall.
ReplyDeleteI bought an iPod last year and got a full year's free access! Strange that. I don't watch much though and will most likely not continue after the free period is up.
DeleteMum's List saw me blubbering throughout.
I am a fan of those two movies. I happen to be a be a big fan of Josh Gad. Of course I like Dennis Quaid too! CATS was interesting. I had never seen it before and I liked the story. I do like musicals. We don't have Apple TV so I haven't seen Finch but am a huge fan of Tom Hanks. I haven't heard of the other two. I love watching movies!
ReplyDeleteWe've been taking some time to watch some movies here too lately. We're trying to catch up on the Marvel superhero ones. There are so many we haven't seen, and it's like putting together a big puzzle to figure out how they all link together. We'll have to check out your recommendations too!
ReplyDeleteHumor can be such a nice break for the tear jerkers. Looks like some good flicks. Hubs
ReplyDelete