Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About The Elderly

-

 

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is about films that focus on characters of a certain age. *EDIT* I realize now after reading a few other posts that this topic was supposed to be about movies FOR the elderly and not necessarily about them but I'm not re-writing this. I think they work.

1) Nebraska

Woody (Bruce Dern) drags his son on a roadtrip from Montana to Nebraska. This is one of the few instances where I like a modern film in black and white. I was pleasantly surprised by it. 

2) Beginners

While this movie is from Ewan McGregor's point of view, I'm using it here because of Christopher Plummer's wonderful (and Oscar winning) performance. He's so sweet.

3) Up

The elderly couple that made all the unsuspecting Pixar fans bawl in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I really adore UP and Carl as a character.

Comments

  1. joel65913December 10, 2020 at 8:36 AM

    I expected to love Beginners but ended up merely liking it. The performances were great though.

    Conversely I only thought I'd think Up was just okay, you know me and animation but everyone was praising it so I decided to watch and ended up loving it. So sweet and touching.

    I still haven't gotten to Nebraska though I do want to see it.

    Like you I thought this was supposed to be about the elderly but about and for sort of are co-mingle.

    Cocoon (1985)-A group of seniors in a Florida rest home stumble upon a swimming pool that because of an alien "cocoon" hidden within has become a fountain of youth. After taking a dip they are rejuvenated and have a great deal of fun during their second fling at being young. Don Ameche won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role.

    Out to Sea (1997)-Charlie and Herb (Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon) are retired long time friends. Schemer Charlie manages to convince Herb to take a cruise as a chance to meet women but what he doesn't tell him is that they are to be dance instructors on board! Complications ensue!

    Louisa (1950)-Hal Norton (Ronald Reagan) suggests to his sweet but somewhat meddlesome mother Louisa (Spring Byington) that she should find some other interests outside their home when she gets too involved in the lives of his wife and kids. Louisa takes his advice and starts dating the local grocer Henry Hammond (Edmund Gwenn-Miracle on 34th Street's Kris Kringle). All is well and good until Hal's boss Abel Burnside (Charles Coburn) takes a fancy to her too and suddenly the Norton's placid life takes a crazy turn with Louisa in the middle of a late life love triangle! Sweet film with delightful performances by the three leads.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 10, 2020 at 11:20 AM

      The funny thing is I hated Up the first time I saw it, and it wasn't until I had a kid myself and he got really into it that I started appreciating it more. I've yours I've only seen Cocoon. That was one we had on VHS growing up that I didn't love. Out To Sea sounds familiar, I probably remember trailers but haven't seen the film itself.

      Delete
  2. BirgitDecember 10, 2020 at 9:26 AM

    I have seen all 3!! I really liked Nebraska as it was quite quirky and June Quib( I think I got her name right) was hilarious and touching. Beginners was good, not great, but good and I did love Plummer. Up was so engaging, touching, funny and I loved that dog and bird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 10, 2020 at 11:18 AM

      I liked Nebraska a lot more than I expected to, that was a huge surprise. It's June Squibb! Close enough lol

      Delete
    2. BirgitDecember 11, 2020 at 7:10 AM

      Bummer! I knew I got her name wrong and that’s a shame as she is so good. It seems I got the theme wrong. Maybe it should have had the title state films about seniors instead of for seniors. Oops for me.

      Delete
  3. thevoid99December 10, 2020 at 4:36 PM

    I think you're on the right track. Plus, we share a pick with Nebraska which I think is a great movie. Plus, I like the other 2 picks and yes. Elderly would like these films including Up. It's a film they can watch with the grand kids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 10, 2020 at 9:29 PM

      Definitely. It works even with me misunderstanding the topic. lol

      Delete
  4. DellDecember 10, 2020 at 8:24 PM

    Nebraska is popular this week. That's okay because it's a great film. Of course, Up is fantastic, too. Haven't seen Beginners.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 10, 2020 at 9:29 PM

      Beginners is cute, you should give it a watch some time.

      Delete
  5. Cinematic DelightsDecember 11, 2020 at 6:56 AM

    Nice picks! I really enjoyed Beginners; I must watch it again sometime.
    Up is a wonderful choice and Nebraska is definitely on my 'to watch' list after seeing so many other bloggers mention it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JayDecember 11, 2020 at 7:28 AM

    Great picks, I would pretty much die on the sword of any of these.

    ReplyDelete
  7. SJHoneywellDecember 11, 2020 at 10:30 AM

    Anybody who can watch the opening of Up without breaking down is not human. Some of the purest storytelling ever created on film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 12, 2020 at 11:40 AM

      That was so unexpected too. I think that's what made me so angry about it the first time I watched, I was not prepared to cry 5 minutes into a Pixar film.

      Delete
  8. GetterDecember 17, 2020 at 4:13 AM

    I think there's not much difference between for/them in these movies indeed. It was a difficult week I guess because I imagine when I'm 70 I'll be still drooling after Chris Evans and Marvel movies etc. :D

    I have seen Beginners only, it's a good one. Up scares me, I don't want to cry :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 17, 2020 at 7:22 AM

      Right? I can't imagine my Chris Evans crush going away either lol

      Delete
    2. GetterDecember 21, 2020 at 6:25 AM

      Imagine him like grey and still hot.. hopefully not the Arnold kind... like I think he will age well. Let's see. lol

      Delete
    3. Brittani BurnhamDecember 21, 2020 at 8:26 AM

      He'll definitely have the silver fox thing going on.

      Delete
  9. WandererDecember 17, 2020 at 2:09 PM

    I think you got confused because you had change the wording of theme. I had used "for the elderly" instead of "about". But yeah, often movies about the elderly were made with a senior audience in mind.

    Anyway I love UP. It packed so much emotion in that first few minutes and it was silent too wasn't it?

    I want to see Beginners, heard good things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 17, 2020 at 8:08 PM

      Yeah, I'm not sure how I went wrong there considering I just copy/paste your list into a draft every year. lol

      Delete
  10. Sonia CercaJanuary 12, 2021 at 9:13 AM

    I skipped this week because I couldn't be bothered to think about movies for the elderly haha.

    I haven't seen Beginners but I loved the other two.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more