The Blockbuster Oscar Bait Movie Thread

[213374U]

The Matrix 4 is happening

Look, I like Keanu as much as the next guy but...

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by 213374U
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[algroth]

It smells like a cash grab, considering how the Wachowski sisters' last few projects have done and so on. That said, this is a cool video on the Matrix sequels:

 

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, algroth said:

It smells like a cash grab, considering how the Wachowski sisters' last few projects have done and so on. That said, this is a cool video on the Matrix sequels:

(video)

 

am kinda with numbers on this. we didn't see a need for the sequels, so we sure don't recognize a good  reason for a 4th short o' a cash grab.

alternative: perhaps is a sunk-cost fallacy issue? wachowskis is so invested that they cannot get themselves out of the matrix. just one more movie (or one more trilogy) will save their vision? and one more. and one more. 

HA! Good Fun!

[algroth]

**Oops, wrong thread >.<**

Edited August 22, 2019 by algroth
D'oh

[Agiel]

People are wondering how Trinity and Neo play into a direct sequel to the original trilogy and here I am hung up on how the Resistance gets out of the Matrix now that pay phones aren't a thing anymore.

[LadyCrimson]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:25 PM, 213374U said:

The Matrix 4 is happening

Look, I like Keanu as much as the next guy but...

Yeah, I read about this elsewhere and shook my head. I admit to being mildly curious what excuses they'll come up with to explain/get past the way the 3rd film ended, but not enough to be all that interested in watching it. Maybe when I'm stuck in bed with a cold someday. But whatever. Maybe it'll surprise us.

[algroth]

I'm quite intrigued by this. The trailer may seem a bit "budget Interstellar" but looking at the names associated with this film it has the chance of being something quite special. James Gray's a pretty interesting director, Hoyte van Hoytema (also responsible for Interstellar) is in my opinion the finest cinematographer working today, Max Richter is an excellent composer, and the cast should be quite strong too. Then again it could all turn out to be a bit Counsellor too.

[LittleArmadillo0]

Just watched Sunset Boulevard it was very good and extremely melodramatic. 

[InsaneCommander]

 

[Raithe]

Caught John Wick 3 finally.

Strangely unsatisfying by the end of it. It has some good moments, and it's interesting how they flesh out more of the underworld as such. But it didn't really have the emotional payoff or story depth, and by the end of it, the action sequences were feeling a bit tiring. That, and once again a semi-cliff hanger ending to it all.

[InsaneCommander]

Kit Harington Will Play Black Knight In The Eternals

[algroth]

[algroth]

More Guillermo del Toro-produced horror films.

[Lexx]

So I watched Avengers Endgame now and... It was ok I guess.

Seems I'm really not the type for these movies, because as always, I don't get what all the hype was about. It's not a bad movie, but didn't felt like the next coming of christ either.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, they're whatever. Stop bothering if you know they're not for you - that's what I did, .

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). Yes, that's the name of the film. Quite possibly the slowest movie I've ever seen and that I will ever see in my entire life. Clocking in at nearly 3 and a half hours, this film features zero camera movement - no panning or zooming of any kind, thereby moving only through hard cuts in between some ridiculously long single takes - and more or less just shows the daily routine of a mother going through her chores. There were a lot of really nice things about this film, including the aesthetic, the unique filming style, the main character portrayal, the presumed themes and symbology...but it kind of overstayed its welcome for me. I can easily see this being a great deal many people's "most boring film of all time" for how indulgently slow and long it is on top of how few events of typical movie noteworthiness happen (there's just about exactly one scene like that, actually, and it's arguably the weakest scene of the movie). Overall, it was more of an...interesting see than a necessarily strictly enjoyable one, but that's just me.

[LadyCrimson]

"Terminator Dark Fate"  - 1st film of a planned trilogy, produced by Cameron (who now owns the rights to the franchise again I guess)

...wait, wait.  How did I not hear about this earlier?  *watches trailer from a few months ago*

...that was fairly lackluster and doesn't feel like a fresh new take, just yet another dull plot retread. Some of the effects in the trailer looked terrible, too. I could say more but I'll refrain.

...I predict large curiosity box office opening weekend then a very sharp drop-off after that. One never knows for sure, but the trailer didn't convince me that, even with Cameron's help, the franchise could be jumpstarted again.
...it did make me want to watch T2 again.  *pulls out her bluray disc*

[Keyrock]

Any excuse is a good excuse to watch T2. That movie absolutely still holds up today. It's the quintessential 90s action flick.

[algroth]

Patrick continues to be my favorite YouTube film essayist.

Edit: God dammit, didn't realize there was a bait and switch involved following the excellent first five or so minutes. Still, a fun and endearing watch.

Edited August 26, 2019 by algroth

[Keyrock]

When I was a wee lad and first got into Star Wars,  the force users seemed the most interesting aspect to me, because space wizards. As I got older I grew less and less interested in the space wizards, to the point where I now find them to be the least interesting thing about a rapidly less and less interesting franchise. To that end, I care slightly about The Mandalorian and not at all about whether Rey has turned to the dark side in the latest main series teaser.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Keyrock

[Amentep]

I've never really thought the Force was the most interesting thing about Star Wars.  There were a lot of questions about it after the first film, but there were always other things that was interesting as well. But I also didn't lose my mind when the prequels were aimed at family audiences, nor did I lose my mind because THE LAST JEDI wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread like so many people did.  

[Keyrock]

What really killed my interest in the Star Wars movies is how much the series leans on deus ex machina. It's a useful plot device, but only if used sparingly. The amount of times the heroes in Star Wars are put into an unwinnable situation and I guess it's all over now... BUT WAIT! Incredible coincidence and luck happens! (which, of course, can be hand waived away as the will of the force, or whatever) It's a get out of jail free card the series' writers use way too often to get out of corners they've written themselves into, which leads to lazy and, quite frankly, terrible writing.

[Amentep]

Luck and coincidence was a significant part of the old serials (particularly cliffhanger resolution) that Star Wars hearkens back to.  The first Flash Gordon serial resolved several cliff-hangers by having Flash be rescued (usually by Princess Aurora) rather than getting himself out of the predicament.  Other serials are worse with deus ex machina and luck (Batman caught in a mine explosion in a cliffhanger sees the cliffhanger resolved by...Batman standing up, unharmed.  Green Hornet gets shot at point blank range falling out of a window is resolved by...revealing that Green Hornet fell before the shot was fired, and was on the first floor so just rolled to safety).  So to me I see it part of the tradition that Star Wars continues.

[Keyrock]

Yeah, I absolutely include the original trilogy in my critique of overuse of deus ex machina.  I don't think tradition is a good enough excuse for continuing to overuse the same tired plot device. Just because your weird uncle has a tradition of getting blackout drunk at family get togethers and passing out in a puddle of his own puke doesn't make it alraght that he keeps passing out in a puddle of his own puke.

The new series has it's own faults, namely giving us one of the worst protagonists ever. I probably don't need to go over how Rey is a Mary Sue, and Luke was kind of a Mary Sue also, but at least he had to struggle. He sucked with the light saber at first. He got his ass handed to him by his pops the first time the fought, etc  Rey is instantly the best at everything. Never held a light saber before... 5 minutes later she's the greatest swordswoman on the battlefield. She thwarts off the powers of a sith who has been training his whole life with zero force training. She hops into the Millennium Falcon turret, having never fired one before and is instantly the best gunner in the galaxy.

The goal of having a strong female protagonist for girls to look up to is an admirable one, but in the process the writers went waaaaaaaaaaaaaay overboard and robbed Rey of the very thing that makes us cheer for the protagonist, them being the underdog, failing, getting defeated, then dusting themselves off and finally triumphing. Rey can never be the underdog because she is perfect and the best at everything from the start. Where's the struggle?

[Amentep]

The tradition argument is about traditional storytelling rather than traditional family entanglements, I don't see them comparable at all.  Hero stories are what they are.

I have some theories about Rey that might make sense of her character, but I'm not really all that bugged by her being competent at stuff.  Unlike Luke, Rey had been doing hand to hand combat with her staff (as demonstrated by her use of it) whereas Luke had primarily used blasters from what we're told/shown in the first film (and we don't see Anakin getting a sabre so have no clue how he took to one).  Like Anakin and Luke both she's able to hop into unfamiliar machines and use them to shoot down enemies as each did (exactly how many hours had Luke logged in an x-wing while working as a moisture farmer?).  The one example you give that doesn't have a precedent in Anakin or Luke (that I can think of) is being able to hold off Kylo Ren, who hasn't exactly covered himself with glory to that point in the series, lacking the emotional control of a Jedi or the 'at all costs' focus of the Sith.  She's unable to do anything against Snoke until Ren intervenes despite the fact that she had nominal training at that point, indicating that had she encountered a more competent or better trained Sith the outcome would have been different.

[Keyrock]

I don't see how skill with a physical staff transfers over to a light saber, which has zero weight to it, outside of the handle. That's like saying skill with a halberd gives you proficiency with a dagger. They're both melee weapons, but that's where the similarities end.

As for traditions, bad traditions are bad traditions. We shouldn't continue them just for the sake of continuing them. I don't see tradition as an excuse for piss poor writing. At one time, the vast majority of women in cinema were damsels in distress and jealous love interests, but we evolved past that. At one time we had comedies with black face, but we evolved past that. I have a dream that one day we can make hero stories with nuanced characters, a plot that makes sense, and heroes that can overcome obstacles using clever thinking and resourcefulness, rather than blind luck.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Keyrock