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

[Amentep]

Into Darkness is the only one I've seen once. I plan on rewatching all the movies, so will see it again but it really didn't work for me on my one viewing.

 

But then again I love TMP... 

 

[Zoraptor]

I certainly wouldn't rate Into Darkness as good; but I had managed expectations so it was at least entertaining.

Unfortunately, I simply found TMP... boring. Which is the one thing that will always mean I don't like a movie. I seldom like the standalone episodes of the same style either. If I were to do a rewatch I wouldn't skip it though, haven't seen it for ages and tastes change.

[majestic]

  

  

10 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Also has to be said, when they sort of tried to get away from the derivative you got The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson's expectation subversion; and a significant number of fans would have swapped that happily for 100 minutes of Wicket and Jar Jar getting into 'hilarious' hijinks instead.

The Last Jedi suffered from being a bad film, in addition to being a comedy with sci-fi elements instead of a fun sci-fi romp with some comedic elements. Trying something new doesn't truly rank among its faults so much, at least for me. Subverting expectations can also be good, just not in a middle film of a trilogy. Jar Jar Abram's plot threads from The Force Awakens were all pretty much standard Star Wars and/or fantasy fare so a little subversion might have been a good idea, but taking a complete dump on its legacy didn't work out.

For all its issues I still liked how Kylo chose the Dark Side and tempted Rey the moment he had any agency. I dislike Snoke being disregarded because I am, for all my other faults, a man of simple pleasures. I like me a mystery or two and quite frankly, and Snoke ultimately being of no consequence was... disappointing. Him being a manufactured front for Palpatine even more so, but that's something else entirely. The whole situation could have been salvaged by Kylo Ren assuming the mantle of the unredeemable antagonist that Star Wars generally works with, but Disney lacked the commitment to follow through and wanted him redeemed, so there we are.

8 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

But as I said before, y'all take Star Wars too seriously. Watch them all through the eyes of a 10 year old kid, and you will have a good time. It's fun in space! Colorful sword fights! Cute robots and creatures! Daddy issues! 

Empire is quite clearly the best of the movies, I'd rank Return as equal to the original film right after that though. I've said that before in several other threads, being a complete space battle nerd it's impossible for me to not enjoy Return of the Jedi, warts (well Ewoks) and all, but I can - objectively - understand why people would rank it as the least of the original trilogy. I don't think it deserves to be put beneath Revenge of the Sith or Rogue One.

That said, it's not unreasonable to want a fun space romp to be a competently made film, and entries seven through nine of a universe to stick to its own rules would be really nice, and I'm not even going to begin to talk about how the choices for the later films make the earlier ones seem silly or pointless. What exactly was the point of Anaking choosing his son over the Emperor? Palpatine's alive, Luke isn't. GG Disney, GG.

7 hours ago, Amentep said:

I'm looking forward to watching Star Trek Discovery

There's still time to turn back. Don't... just don't. Spare yourself the pain of watching Klingorks lay siege to the United Federation of Gondor. Or an angel from the future appearing to help humanity escape Skynet's apocalypse. 

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

The only Star Trek movie I disliked was TMP. All the others (yeah, even Into Derpness) have their good points and were worth at least one watch. Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country I'd rate as genuinely excellent.

The Undiscovered Country is great because it is also a showcase on how to deal with current political situations within the Star Trek universe. Unlike one of these recent shows, what was that? Star Trek Picerd or something. Heh.

[213374U]

4 hours ago, ShadySands said:

It's all so much better than I remember it being but then after watching the new stuff so is Enterprise.

That sounds like it's been a long road, getting from there to here...

[majestic]

19 minutes ago, 213374U said:

That sounds like it's been a long road, getting from there to here...

I think I'm the only person to like the Enterprise theme song. The one from the first two seasons, not the changed one from the later two. On the other hand I also like Meat Loaf, so maybe there is something wrong with my (music) taste.

[LadyCrimson]

The only reason I liked Into Darkness was because of Benedict.   He's also the only reason I watched Dr. Strange.  At this point however I may have to skip any future superhero or absurd Hollywood blockbusters he does. Not even he can save such movies for me anymore. 

Into Darkness was ok for the most part, to me, as mindless action entertainment, and alt. timeline gobblygook until the moment when Spock does that certain something and my brain just shut down/couldn't take it at that point. 

TMP's first half is so snore inducing, but the actual idea behind it was kind of interesting. Couldn't save it tho. You could sorta say that about ST V, too.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

TMP's first half is so snore inducing, but the actual idea behind it was kind of interesting. Couldn't save it tho. You could sorta say that about ST V, too.

TMP is a 45 minutes Star Trek episode stretched to feature film length, with a hefty dose of "look, we now have the budget for proper special effects!" mixed in, but Star Trek was far from the only TV show to have failed in the attempt - although one of the few to get a second (and third, and fourth, and, and, and...) chance to do it right. They sometimes did, but even then had more misses than hits.

The one attempt I thought most disappointing was X-File's Fight The Future. TMP was at least good Trek, Fight The Future was a mediocre X-Files myth arc episode. I'm not sure Stargate SG-1's Ark of Truth and Continuum count, being direct to video offerings, but they were middling at best as well.

So what else do we have then? Oh, that wonderful A-Team movie. Now that was...

[ShadySands]

Space Cop.

[majestic]

9 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Space Cop.

Party's over guys, the clown has arrived.

Hehe.

[Skazz]

"Every single aspect of making movies is a giant pain in the ass. And... it's never worth it."

What is the source, you may ask?

Spoiler

 

 

[Orogun01]

13 hours ago, majestic said:

TMP is a 45 minutes Star Trek episode stretched to feature film length, with a hefty dose of "look, we now have the budget for proper special effects!" mixed in, but Star Trek was far from the only TV show to have failed in the attempt - although one of the few to get a second (and third, and fourth, and, and, and...) chance to do it right. They sometimes did, but even then had more misses than hits.

The one attempt I thought most disappointing was X-File's Fight The Future. TMP was at least good Trek, Fight The Future was a mediocre X-Files myth arc episode. I'm not sure Stargate SG-1's Ark of Truth and Continuum count, being direct to video offerings, but they were middling at best as well.

So what else do we have then? Oh, that wonderful A-Team movie. Now that was...

You're absolutely right about the X-Files but I still hate you for saying so.

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, Skazz said:

"Every single aspect of making movies is a giant pain in the ass. And... it's never worth it."

What is the source, you may ask?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

The behind the scenes of that was pretty good. They will often say that they can see what a filmmaker was going for or imagined something would be like vs. what actually got put on film, because when you have a horribly limited budget and a horribly limited amount of personnel (who might be loyal and enthusiastic, but nevertheless of relatively low professional skill), it's very, very difficult to make a genuinely good film. There's a reason B-movies get treated on a totally differently scale from Hollywood studio-made movies. Actually, it's all the more mystifying when those movies with relatively unlimited resources turn out so horribly over and over.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Bartimaeus

[Skazz]

I'm of the mind that restrictions and limitations force you to think out of the box and ultimately feed your creativity. When one is allowed to do almost everything, it's very easy to get locked into the most obvious things.

[Gfted1]

18 hours ago, majestic said:

Oh, that wonderful A-Team movie. Now that was...

Lets not say things we cant take back. Still the only movie Ive seen where someone flew a tank.

[Hurlshort]

I never understood the negativity about the A-Team movie. It was a silly fun show and the movie was in the same vein. 

[Amentep]

On 5/9/2020 at 3:26 PM, majestic said:

TMP is a 45 minutes Star Trek episode stretched to feature film length, with a hefty dose of "look, we now have the budget for proper special effects!" mixed in, but Star Trek was far from the only TV show to have failed in the attempt - although one of the few to get a second (and third, and fourth, and, and, and...) chance to do it right. They sometimes did, but even then had more misses than hits.

TMP allegedly never got a proper edit due to effects shots not being done in time, so the original version of the film (as opposed to the us tv premire longest, or Ray Wise's director's cut) has some pacing issues. 

6 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

I never understood the negativity about the A-Team movie. It was a silly fun show and the movie was in the same vein. 

My biggest problem is that, in making Face the person 'running' the mission, they made Hannibal superfluous.  

[Raithe]

I think everyone can agree that Wrath of Khan was where pretty much all the ingredients went together as good as they could, and gave us the blueprint for what a Star Trek film could be.

As to Into Darkness..  I thought Benedict played the character that was written well, I'm just not sure I'd agree it was a well-written Khan. You had the cold, calculating intellect and ruthlessness, but none of the charm and joviality. Where was the figure that could inspire loyalty unto death from his followers and could tempt his enemies into becoming his allies and turn on their friends?

[Hurlshort]

I was just excited to see Robocop back on the screen again. His death is pretty much the perfect Peter Weller moment, and it makes the entire movie worth it.  

[Zoraptor]

9 hours ago, Raithe said:

I thought Benedict played the character that was written well, I'm just not sure I'd agree it was a well-written Khan. You had the cold, calculating intellect and ruthlessness, but none of the charm and joviality. Where was the figure that could inspire loyalty unto death from his followers and could tempt his enemies into becoming his allies and turn on their friends?

Yeah, and that's perhaps the single most disappointing thing about the film since the potential was actually there. You're not meant to 'know' that BC is playing Khan at the start they had a great opportunity to show the charm and manipulation side properly in the first half setting up his plot and actioning it, and the ruthless side later post reveal. It was a technically good performance from BC, but I ended up thinking that character wise Tom Hardy's Bane (!) was actually a more convincing Khan analogue.

If one were to be charitable one might say that they deliberately tried to steer away from a Montalban style performance due to it being iconic, but if so it was a mistake. Then again since it's JJ that's probably overthinking it, and he was too busy doing 'clever' stuff like reversing Kirk's 'Khaaaaaan!!!1111!!!' line to pay attention to irrelevant details like characterisation.

[majestic]

I had a good laugh when Khan said who he was. It's so obvious that the secene is just there because the audience is familiar with him. Space Seed hasn't happened in the Kelvin timeline so it... it really means nothing to the entire cast of the film.

"My name is KHAN!"

"Okay, 'sup homie? I'm like Kirk the Hothead and this is Spock who is totally without emotions except when the script says he's emotional. We're cartoon copies of better written characters from the past. A bit like you. No, exactly like you. Heh. Brewskie?"

Also Starfleet must really suck if they need theh help of someone whose knowledge is three hundred years out of date to help them design weapons (and even then Khan was a leader, not a scientist or engineer). Whose brilliant idea was that again?

Bah. This movie is dumber than the Transformers films, and it's Star Trek. Supposedly. Sigh.

[LadyCrimson]

Anthony Daniels, you're awesome.

 

[Raithe]

 

[majestic]

Without that scene we would have never gotten this:

 

Everything else is interpreting way too much into Lucas' intentions. He just wanted a flashy fight scene.

[Amentep]

On 5/9/2020 at 3:26 PM, majestic said:

TMP is a 45 minutes Star Trek episode stretched to feature film length, with a hefty dose of "look, we now have the budget for proper special effects!" mixed in, but Star Trek was far from the only TV show to have failed in the attempt - although one of the few to get a second (and third, and fourth, and, and, and...) chance to do it right. They sometimes did, but even then had more misses than hits.

The one attempt I thought most disappointing was X-File's Fight The Future. TMP was at least good Trek, Fight The Future was a mediocre X-Files myth arc episode. I'm not sure Stargate SG-1's Ark of Truth and Continuum count, being direct to video offerings, but they were middling at best as well.

So what else do we have then? Oh, that wonderful A-Team movie. Now that was...

There are tonnes of TV shows that had movies.  Even more if you're counting movie reboots like A-Team.  Off the top of my head -

• Batman: The Movie (original cast)
• 21 Jump Street (reboot)
• Absolutely Fabulous (original cast)
• The Equalizer (reboot)
• Dad's Army (both)
• Fantasy Island (reboot)
• The Fugitive (reboot)
• The Flintstones (cartoon during original run, live action reboot)
• Scooby Doo (live action sorta reboot sorta continuation of series)
• Mission: Impossible (reboot)
• Man From UNCLE (movies made from tv eps with new footage for european market + reboot)
• George of the Jungle (live action reboot)
• Peter Gunn (continuation of series; movie just called GUNN)
• Transformers (cartoon movie follow up, reboot live action)
• GI Joe (cartoon movie, live action reboot)
• He Man and the Masters of the Universe (reboot movie)
• Get Smart! (revival with original characters, reboot)
• Are You Being Served? (original cast)
• The Beverly Hillbillies (reboot)
• Miami Vice (reboot)
• Dark Shadows (2 movies with original cast, reboot)
• The Monkees (follow-up to the series, called HEAD)
• The Munsters (movie with most of cast after series cancelled)
• The Addams Family (reboot)
• Pennies from Heaven (condensed retelling of series)
• Quatermass (condensed retelling of series)
• Quatermass II  (condensed retelling of series)
• Quatermass and the Pitt  (condensed retelling of series)
• Quatermass Conclusion (re-edited version of series)
• The Brady Bunch (reboot)
• Doctor Who (reboot during the series run)
• Doomwatch (original cast I think)
• Bewtiched (sorta reboot sorta meta)
• The Dukes of Hazzard (reboot)
• Our Miss Brooks (continuation of series)
• Charlies Angels (reboots)
• Police Squad! (continuation of series)

[213374U]

On 5/9/2020 at 1:10 AM, majestic said:

I think I'm the only person to like the Enterprise theme song. The one from the first two seasons, not the changed one from the later two. On the other hand I also like Meat Loaf, so maybe there is something wrong with my (music) taste.

I too liked the whole Enterprise intro, including the theme. Never understood the complaint that a Star Trek show's theme must be orchestral only -- they even omitted the Star Trek part from the title to pre-empt that (to no avail). They could have maybe used Archer's Theme for the intro, but I think it would have detracted from a certain... innocent charm (?) that was an undertone I really liked in the series.