The Best Musical or Comedy Drama Action Film thread (THIS IS THE GENERAL MOVIE STUFF THREAD)

[Skarpen]

2 hours ago, ktchong said:

So I watched the first episode of Netflix's The Witcher last night.  

Wrong thread friend. This should go to TV. 

In other news. In an unprecedented (at least to my knowledge) move Universal Studios is sending and updated version of their latest movie release "Cats". 
So we are in an era of "patching" the movies...

Hey Larry did you see the latest Avengers?

No man, I will wait for at least two patches and I heard they are reshooting the ending.

[ShadySands]

Just watched Star Wars 9

That was easily my favorite of the new trilogy

Edited December 23, 2019 by ShadySands

[Keyrock]

4 hours ago, Skarpen said:

Wrong thread friend. This should go to TV. 

In other news. In an unprecedented (at least to my knowledge) move Universal Studios is sending and updated version of their latest movie release "Cats". 
So we are in an era of "patching" the movies...

Hey Larry did you see the latest Avengers?

No man, I will wait for at least two patches and I heard they are reshooting the ending.

I can't wait to beta test incomplete movies for studios in early access.

[injurai]

I beta tested Hidalgo years ago, before the final edit was done. Not sure if it was prior to reshoots, I was too young to be savvy about those things. Nor do I remember how far before theatrical release I saw it, but I'd probably place it 4-6 months prior. It's the only time I've ever done something like that, and I'm not sure how to come by that sort of opportunity again.

[algroth]

The Rise of Skywalker was worth it:

 

[Bartimaeus]

Just finished watching that minutes ago. Sounded like everything I didn't like in The Force Awakens amplified many times. I will continue to not watch Star Wars. It's not an easy job, but someone has to do it (...okay, actually, it's trivially easy because all things Star Wars died for me with Attack of the Clones, so you all should join me).

Edited December 23, 2019 by Bartimaeus

[algroth]

25 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Just finished watching that minutes ago. Sounded like everything I didn't like in The Force Awakens amplified many times. I will continue to not watch Star Wars. It's not an easy job, but someone has to do it (...okay, actually, it's trivially easy because all things Star Wars died for me with Attack of the Clones, so you all should join me).

Did you not enjoy KOTOR II, Bart?

[ShadySands]

33 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Just finished watching that minutes ago. Sounded like everything I didn't like in The Force Awakens amplified many times. I will continue to not watch Star Wars. It's not an easy job, but someone has to do it (...okay, actually, it's trivially easy because all things Star Wars died for me with Attack of the Clones, so you all should join me).

Star Wars bring dead to me actually made me enjoy it a lot more. Don't get me wrong, it's not a good movie, but I was entertained.

[injurai]

Ever heard a "genre song" from a genre your intimate with, written just for some film/show that totally misses what's good about that style? Ever peruse the posts in r/badwomansanatomy? Ever read fantasy that was a derivative of a derivative of a derivative of Tolkien? Ever take a test on a copy of a copy of a copy of the original test the teacher wrote a decade ago?

Star Wars today feels like that. Probably because it is that. I legit loved Kotor because it was significant departure from SW staples. The aesthetics looked different, like it truly was a thousand years earlier. Star Wars is worse about being a degrade after image though. Because it also feels like a recreation of an imitation of a derivative of a copy of a rehash of a film, that while had charming fantasy elements, really found it's legs in good plotting. SW has been taken over by world building, and the characters within the world become subsumed by the setting. And it's the setting that is the grievous simulacrum of the original.

Another thing, in OG SW you had people that carried themselves in ordinary ways. Now every character looks like they are stunting. Everyone wants to be the badass in Star Wars, even the elderly advisors. The plot all the time is about how spry and with-it it everyone is. Everyone walks or runs with a super hero posture, someone lacking confidence instead comes off as confident while claiming not to be, and really they just are uncertain. (Rose.) It's like entire substrates of humanization are left out to somehow elevate the epic setting, it's like I'm watching a dramatization of a religious legend. And that feels awful. Actually I don't think it was as bad in TFA, but TLJ and every other new thing they've put out suffers from this. It gets worse as the characters (allegedly) grow into competency.

I'll probably see the film in the coming weeks with family, but it's been bizarre to see the tonal shift of the franchise. Hardly anything is salient anymore but of course that matters not to kids who mostly engage in the franchise by self-inserting themselves into the world. I know I did, but even I knew as a young kid that the prequels somehow threw out the rich(er?) [not claiming this is Lawrence of Arabia] substrate of the originals.

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, algroth said:

Did you not enjoy KOTOR II, Bart?

Didn't play either it or the first. Never thought it looked like a game I would enjoy the gameplay mechanics of - had a huge amount of trouble with Neverwinter Nights 1/2 as it was, even though I'm a huge BG/PST nerd (the switch from 2D to 3D was not kind on CRPGs in either gameplay or verisimilitude for me, even when I was trying to play them in the mid-2000s).

@injurai Characters acting like actual grounded people is definitely something that tends to be missing in "epic" series, whether it be games or movies. Characters being perfect is not good - characters being "cool" all the time is not good, either. I don't want characters that are total clowns (prequels, anyone?), but most of my favorite characters from any type of media have flaws, make mistakes, attempt to learn from those mistakes, occasionally reflect upon themselves and their behavior and the way they perceive the world, have rare character moments define, evolve, and fit them, but also occasionally suffer setbacks that lower them. People live and breathe, and tend to experience a wide variety of emotions when placed into unusual or dangerous circumstances - candid, human moments make the great moments, whatever form they may take for a given character, all the more special while also making the character (and the work as a whole) more believable and relatable.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

Took the kids to see Star Wars early this morning and it was a blast! Adam Driver is my new favorite person in the world. For me it was a good rebound after I thought episode 8 and Solo were a bit of duds. I know there were some complaints out there about it being just a bunch of fan service moments, but I don't understand who else they shoud be trying to serve. As a Star Wars fan, it was fun and endearing. Also, C3PO was at the top of his game.   

[Bartimaeus]

Okay, I am a big fat liar hypocrite. My buddy was rewatching all the Star Wars in preparation of this pile of crap coming out, and I somehow managed to convince him that watching the Holiday Special was integral for bridging the gap between A New Hope and Empire. Unfortunately, he made it a requirement that I had to sit through it with him.

Suffice to say, Star Wars has always been a total sham. What an uncomfortable viewing experience.

(e): Here's some images from it that I took for all of you:

Yes, that is Boba Fett riding a dinosaur. Yes, he really did debut in the Holiday Special.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Stir, whip, stir, whip, whip, whip, stir!

[Raithe]

I did find it amusing that Cats had a patch rushed to the cinemas.

Apparently the digital version they initially sent out to cinemas hadn't actually had all the final touchups done to it, hence a cat with a human hand and wedding band, etc.  So they literally sent a patched version out to update the digital media cinemas had already...

Patching, it's not just for software these days.

[algroth]

https://twitter.com/wifeclipse/status/1209164762115969025

Please don't fix this.

Edit: COWARDS. They took the tweet down. Here's another wonderfully horrifying Cats scene:

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by algroth

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I saw Cats. This is entirely accurate and I wish the world would end. https://m.imgur.com/a/QBU5BJm

[ktchong]

Finally saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  It is  bad movie, BUT it DID save Star Wars from the Last Jedi mess.  Everyone could have known the movie after the Last Jedi would turn out to be a big mess after Rian Johnson f-cked over Star Wars. Johnson totally destroyed the internal and logical consistency of the Star Wars universe. There was really no easy way to continue the sage or fix the messes crapped out by Rian Johnson in the Last Jedi.

HOWEVER, J.J. Abrams actually DID somehow fix the mess... but at the expense of a making a good, entertaining movie. Abram had to rushed through all the expositions to explain away all the messes created by Rian Johnson, without any time left for characters or story. The Rise of Skywalker gave us a good explanation as to why Leia could wield a high-level Force power in the Last Jedi, (i.e., Mary Poppins in space,) and why Mary Sue Rey was so powerful in the using the Force without any prior training, (which contradicted all the previous movies and TV series that had told us about how the Force was supposed the work; Rey's ridiculous mastery of the Force without any training also marginalized Anakin who was supposed to be the "Chosen One" and most powerful Force user in Star Wars history, Luke, Yoda, and millions of Jedi who had come before Rey, all of them had to trained hard for years and years before they could use telekinesis to move even a small object. Rian Johnson completely f--ked over all the other Jedi and the Force, and broke the internal consistency of the Star Wars universe.) The Rise of Skywalker has more or less fixed many of the f--k-ups created by Rian Johnson.

The Rise of Skywalker was a bad movie on its own: it is too rushed, it is one exposition after another, it does not have any character moment or an interesting story. HOWEVER, this final movie actually DID fix and find ways to explain away (almost) all the BS Rian Johnson had put in the Last Jedi. For that , I give Abrams credits and respect. The Rise of Skywalker is a bad movie, but it savaged the Star Wars universe from Rian Johnson and the Last Jedi.

(Not everything was corrected: for example, there was still no good explanation why the Resistance in the Last Jedi could use a starship to slice through a destroyer -- but the Rebel Alliance or anyone else had ever used it before if that tactic was so simple and effective. It retroactively opened up so many plot holes in all of the previous movies with spacer battles.)

[ShadySands]

We were discussing the movie briefly at a Christmas party last night and the consensus was generally the same. It was probably the best follow up we could get, though not in an absolute sense, and it was a rare occurrence where it probably would have benefited from being split into two movies. Too much left out and too much crammed in.

Nobody saw Cats but everyone was excited for the new Wonder Woman.

Edited December 26, 2019 by ShadySands

[injurai]

Saw The Irishman. Didn't realize it had a historical placing prior. Solid film, the whole 3.5 hours of runtime was filled with meaningful plot. One of the better long dramas I've seen in a minute.

[kirottu]

18 hours ago, algroth said:

https://twitter.com/wifeclipse/status/1209164762115969025

Please don't fix this.

Edit: COWARDS. They took the tweet down. Here's another wonderfully horrifying Cats scene:

 

It's like some sort of existential horror. Person in a catsuit is eating people in roachsuits. One person takes of takes of her catsuit to reveal she had another catsuit with clothes underneath. What does it mean? What does it all mean?! 

[Blarghagh]

Dolemite Is My Name was indeed quite entertaining, thanks for the recommendation Hurlshot. 

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, TrueNeutral said:

Dolemite Is My Name was indeed quite entertaining, thanks for the recommendation Hurlshot. 

Alright, I think that makes it 4 for 4 on happy viewers. This might be the closest thing we've ever had had to a consensus on the forum! Dolemite is the name and all you forum lurkers know the the game!

[Raithe]

Watched that Aladdin remake.

Dang it, it's one that is fairly decent for the most part, it just fails to catch the magic of Robin Williams and suffers from that comparison. 

Still, it catches a lot of the feel of Arabian Nights, and now I have the urge to track down the old Sinbad films or the Thief of Baghdad

[LadyCrimson]

Rented "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

Strange movie. Lots of fantastic and/or hilarious moments and bits. Brad Pitt just gets more and more awesome as he ages (that and the roles he chooses). But overall for this specific movie the lack of ... plot? story? not sure how to describe? ... made it not a favorite. Maybe I just didn't like/care about any chr. but Brad Pitt's - vs. liking all the chrs. in Pulp Fiction, say. Regardless, still lots of things to admire/like in it, don't regret seeing it.

[injurai]

2 hours ago, Raithe said:

Watched that Aladdin remake.

Dang it, it's one that is fairly decent for the most part, it just fails to catch the magic of Robin Williams and suffers from that comparison. 

Still, it catches a lot of the feel of Arabian Nights, and now I have the urge to track down the old Sinbad films or the Thief of Baghdad

I think the major sin of that movie is how they tried to pad out the Jasmine sub-plot. It seemed really hamfisted and turned her from a strong female character, into a character that had to spin a narrative of being strong, only to be extra-ineffectual and need extra saving. Absolutely bizarre. But if I'm being honest, this sort of backfiring is really common with female characters.

Otherwise I enjoyed it, and Will Smith's take on genie wasn't half bad.