The All Things Movie Thread

[LadyCrimson]

I watched that documentary about Fred Rogers, Won't You Be My Neighbor the other day. I liked it a lot, not only for learning a bit more about the man but the occasional social commentary re: his hopes for tv as a medium for helping/teaching children vs what the environment of how popular children's entertainment often ended up becoming.

[algroth]

Watched Brick and Looper

 

I did actually like Brick but didn't really care much for Looper. It might have been my dislike for time travel that just made me be a view it a little more critically but I thought that it had a lot of holes in the story. Maybe as a don't really think about it type of movie I might have enjoyed it more. I did like it more than TLJ though so there's that.

 

I'll upgrade Johnson from 0-1 to 1-2.

 

I feel Looper has some of the same issues present with The Last Jedi to be honest. It's flimsy as a house of cards when it comes to internal logic and narrative, I'm not too sure that there is much in the way of something wanting to be said either. But it is entertaining to me due to Rian Johnson's sheer technical invention and virtuosity. That sequence where the protagonist finishes his last mission and we see the rest of his life up to his "Bruce Willis phase" pan out is absolutely superb, as is the whole escape sequence early on, involving that character whose limbs are gradually cut off in a past timeline and so on. I loved inventive moments like those, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts essentially.

 

Where do you stand on the Breaking Bad episodes?

[ShadySands]

I've never watched Breaking Bad. I know it's supposed to be great but the subject matter has absolutely zero appeal to me. Same with the Wire, just not something I care to see.

 

I've said before that I kind of liked the things Johnson was trying to do in TLJ but they didn't work for me in the context of a middle Star Wars movie and maybe I'd like his own stand alone trilogy much better. I think that still stands.

Edited April 21, 2019 by ShadySands

[LadyCrimson]

It's flimsy as a house of cards when it comes to internal logic and narrative,

I think you could say that about just about every single time-travel story ever. Some do a lot better at techo-babbling and faking it, some just go with humor winkwink, but the whole paradox thing always gets in the way at some point.

 

"You realize of course if we give him the formula, we may be altering the future."

"Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing?"

 

You can't really look for logic in time travel plots, you just have to go with it and enjoy (or not...) on a visceral what-if level or something.

[ShadySands]

^Which is generally why I don't like time travel

[LadyCrimson]

^Which is generally why I don't like time travel

I'll take it that you're not a huge fan of boogey-men movies then either. 

 

...the time travel stuff I've liked wasn't really because of the time travel, more for the morality/personal choice questions they often pose perhaps. Or just because it was silly fun (eg Back to the Future, ST Voyage Home).

[ShadySands]

I don't have a problem with those you mentioned because it's more silly. When it's serious business time travel as opposed to timey wimey stuff I think is where it differs for me.

[Keyrock]

I have no issue with time travel in shows and movies as long as said movie or show is consistent in following the rules that it itself sets. Time travel is such a complicated issue and there are so many different theories by people way smarter than me that I won't pretend, even to just myself, to be any kind of authority on the subject and call bull**** on how it's portrayed in movies based on my own ideas of how it should work. As long as they remain consistent, and that's easier said then done when handling something as complicated as time travel, then I'll happily go along with a movie's concept of time travel. The moment the movie starts to contradict its own time travel logic my bull**** radar goes off and any and all investement I had in the time traveling plot goes out the window.

[algroth]

 

It's flimsy as a house of cards when it comes to internal logic and narrative,

I think you could say that about just about every single time-travel story ever. Some do a lot better at techo-babbling and faking it, some just go with humor winkwink, but the whole paradox thing always gets in the way at some point.

 

 

Sure, but some films conceal the inconsistencies better than others. Looper I found to be especially distracting in this sense.

[Gromnir]

I don't have a problem with those you mentioned because it's more silly. When it's serious business time travel as opposed to timey wimey stuff I think is where it differs for me.

 

time travel is a cheap and hackneyed plot device unless is done for laughs.  unavoidable paradox gets a presumptive fu from Gromnir 'cause it leaves us with mental equivalent o' brain freeze. worse is when writers use time travel as a %$#&ing reset button to invalidate one hour o' movie or half a season o' episodes.  wtf?

 

 

we watch helpless as nick destroys himself.  we know what is coming as soon as we know is time travel, but we steel self and try to sit through the movie/show... as we internal beg for nick not to go where we know he is going.  you can watch that scene a million times, and nick is gonna blow his brains out every time no matter how much you plead with him. is same with time travel movies.  

 

$#@&ing hate time travel, case we didn't make clear how much we loathe time travel.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps am glad you enjoyed brick.  

Edited April 21, 2019 by Gromnir

[ktchong]

Endgame spoilers

 

Avengers: Endgame has  time travel. 

Another spoiler:  Two main characters (i.e., two original Avengers since Phase 1) die.

Another main character (also an original Avenger since Phase 1) leaves the MCU, most likely permanently with no chance of returning.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Amentep
Please put all spoilers in spoiler tags

[algroth]

59 minutes ago, ktchong said:

Avengers: Endgame has  time travel. 

Another spoiler:  Two main characters (i.e., two original Avengers since Phase 1) die.

Another main character (also an original Avenger since Phase 1) leaves the MCU, most likely permanently with no chance of returning.

**** off with these spoilers, please.

Edited April 25, 2019 by algroth

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah, since I don't care about Avengers much (and won't see it until it's on Netflix or whatever anyway) I have completely spoiled myself from other forum threads. It sounds like it goes pretty much how I figured it would, which makes me go "eh."

But most seem to enjoy it as a fun ride, which is mostly what these films are about, right, so I'm sure most will like it.

Edit:  did the video embeds become like 3x larger, they're all "in my face" now. heh

Edited April 25, 2019 by LadyCrimson

[Serrano]

For anyone who’s going to see Avengers Endgame, there are no post credits scenes.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Serrano said:

For anyone who’s going to see Avengers Endgame, there are no post credits scenes.

That's bizarre. Although one other MCU movie did this as well, I remember because we waited for the credit to wrap up and a guy from the theatre showed up and was like: Guys, don't bother, there's no extra scene in this film.

I just can't for the life of me remember which one. Not much of a surprise given the sheer number of them. I'm kind of expecting it was Age of Ultron, but I'm not sure. Talking about the mini-scenes that happen after the credits, not the regular post-credits scenes though.

[Amentep]

Please put potential spoilers in spoiler tags. It may be a new look, but spoiler tags still work.

If your posting fake spoilers, please don't.  Since I haven't seen the film, I have put the spoilers in a spoiler tag on the chance it is legit.

[LadyCrimson]

Just FYI: the spoiler tags do not work if you are using the Default forum theme. (blue/white)

Edit: nevermind, not true. I had to allow a script, which is up to the user to allow/not allow if they use such browser tools.

EditEdit: if you're using a scriptblocker tool, it's the amazonaws one you have to allow, or you won't be spoiler-protected.

Edited April 25, 2019 by LadyCrimson

[Amentep]

New thread: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/109221-the-blockbuster-oscar-bait-movie-thread/