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

[ShadySands]

He may genuinely love the Picard show, I like a lot of bad stuff too, but his fawning over it in a those clips was a bit over the top. Obviously those clips were included to be made fun of and maybe they aren't as bad in the full context of the show but I'll probably never watch The Ready Room to find out.

Edited May 21, 2020 by ShadySands

[Skarpen]

Well it seems we will get Zack Snyder's version of Justice League next year. 

[Gromnir]

On 5/20/2020 at 8:07 AM, Hurlshot said:

Lloyd Alexander was my jam growing up. I'd say we are due for a revisit to Prydain. I still use the name Taran for basically all my fantasy RPG characters.

we have championed lloyd alexander more than once on these boards. when we mention how the best and most often overlooked fantasy authors is those who crafted books for a younger audience, lloyd alexander is getting frequent mention along with the likes o' madeleine l'engle, norton juster, and neil gaiman, to name only a few.

that said, while we do much enjoy the prydain books, am gonna observe our favorite lloyd alexander series is actual westmark. is fantasy, but perhaps not in the way folks tend to think o' fantasy. no magic. 

regardless, if hurl has not read westmark, we highly recommend. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

[Hurlshort]

27 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

regardless, if hurl has not read westmark, we highly recommend. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

I haven't read it. Growing up it was a lot harder to find certain books, and I don't remember those being readily available (still have a copy of Time Cat.) I'll have to give them a try. Plus I can bug my kids to read them after I finish. My daughter just finished The Giver. We had some great discussions about it, but I think it suffers from having a sequel where the fate of Jonas and the baby are revealed. It was more powerful in the 90's when I read it and it was completely up to interpretation.

I also got the audio book version of The Hobbit for my son, and he is hooked on it.

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

I haven't read it.

quick notes:

westmark is best book in the trilogy and am most ambivalent 'bout the final volume. is always disappointing when the final volume o' a series is least memorable.

am actual envious o' kids these days 'cause they have a chance to read gaiman's the graveyard book while still young.  

and to bring back to movies, miss peregrine's home for peculiar children is fun and excellent books which may be ignored 'cause o' a forgettable movie. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Zoraptor]

5 hours ago, ShadySands said:

He may genuinely love the Picard show, I like a lot of bad stuff too, but his fawning over it in a those clips was a bit over the top. Obviously those clips were included to be made fun of and maybe they aren't as bad in the full context of the show but I'll probably never watch The Ready Room to find out.

I'd presume Wil would like to appear in Picard, if possible. It's the only show Wesley could sensibly appear in, and being less than effusive publicly would not be a good look.

[Amentep]

Warning - slightly gorey:

 

[majestic]

8 hours ago, 213374U said:

Funny story. Wheaton has likely not seen that scene (from Q-Less), because he went with a DS9 watching guide that leaves it out, for his first time through the show. I'd say Q makes for fun -if not necessarily good- Trek so that makes it worth recommending especially as it's the only appearance of the character in the entire show, but what do I know.

So yeah, pretty much the opposite of a Trek authority as majestic said. In his defense (ugh), I don't think he's never presented himself as one.

When I first watched Encounter at Farpoint I hated Q as a character and the entire species as a concept. I still don't care much for the concept of a race of actual gods because that's much more at home in other sci fi (the Ancients and later Ori in Stargate were fine, albeit subject to some ludicrous changes throughout the show and the target of some really bad writing) but I started to enjoy the character of Q and even the other Qs that show up later and finally made my "peace" with Encounter at Farpoint once I watched the commentary on the DVD sets about how Roddenberry was forced to pad it out to a feature length pilot with the material done for a single episode.

Except Amanda. Ugh. No puppies, you can't be here. At least the episode was a fun commentary on how characters like Q can ruin a show by being able to handwave everything - at least I'd like to think that was the point.

For someone who Twatters a lot about how annoying people are at the theatre and how he can't enjoy the artists vision when someone munches popcorn next to him or talks he sure has no regard for his fellow Trek alumni. Sure DS9 - like any Trek show - can use some trimming on repeated but certainly not on a first time viewing. Applied to TNG that would drop a lot of episodes where he shows up. And by a lot I mean every single one, really, except for The First Duty.

Looks more and more like Mr. Wheaton really is the obnoxious douche he initially played on The Big Bang Theory, but who knows, that would be giving Chuck Lorre credit where it most definitely isn't due.

[Raithe]

I caught "Message from the King" on Netflix.

Feels very much like an old-school style film, low-key and that focus on telling the story.  Chadwick Boseman as a mysterious man from South Africa arriving in LA to track down his sister after getting a phone call from her requesting help that was suddenly cut off. Trying to solve her last known moments, he slowly unravels how her life went off the rails as she was pulled into the sleazy underbelly of noir Los Angeles. Luke Evans and Alfred Molina are just a couple of the main characters involved in it all.

It even has a nice little twist to what you're expecting when the film follows him home in the ending.

[majestic]

On 5/22/2020 at 11:06 PM, Raithe said:

It even has a nice little twist to what you're expecting when the film follows him home in the ending.

Message from the King was a good movie indeed, except for one part very near the ending where King gets beaten up heavily but is mostly okay afterwards, while an earlier - less severe - beating has a more realistic effect on him. That was distracting.

I really thought he'd be a gang member himself. Turns out he's a detective. Not bad, all in all.

 

[Raithe]

 

[LadyCrimson]

When you can never seem to find a "new" movie you like anymore, so you go back to some old faves.

Glory, Rob Roy, Ed Wood, Cool Hand Luke. 

I still find the end sword fight in Rob Roy one of the best. Not only the camera work/choreography of it but the fact there is no music/score, which imo highlights the tension. Could of used a bit more wide angles but other than that.
And Ed Wood, the scene with the fake octopus fight gets me every time. 

[Raithe]

 

[Hurlshort]

Sooooo excited for Bill & Ted.

edit: I've been trying to watch Mortal Engines. It is ponderous.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Hurlshot

[LadyCrimson]

^ Mortal Engines had some interesting concepts but yeah ... it kind of fell on its face.

We watched MI:Fallout last night.  It felt like one of those old-school (sorta) popcorn movies, where any logic or realism (even in the sense of the film's world) is tossed out the window and you're just along to enjoy the crazy camera action sequences. Especially that helicopter chase, LOL.  Like when you laugh at the computer virus solution (among other things) in ID4 yet still enjoy it. Also knew the bad guy soon as they introduced him. It was the mustache.    There's less humor then I recall in the first couple (I haven't watched all of them) and the plot is such that you hardly have to pay attention. I watched it while also playing slots on my tablet.    Anyway, to me it feels like an absurd B movie with A action.

I hear there's going to be two more for the series soon (filmed back to back).  I admire Cruise's physical dedication to his films (stuntwork etc) but maybe the series should end there. Isn't he late 50's? Although, I find him sorta more humanly believable than someone like Stallone for some reason. More everyman, less cartoon, I guess.

Best thing about MI (all variations) is still those first notes of the theme, tho. 
-------------------

Edit:  An original series theme and opening. If you don't blink you can see George Takei (Sulu) at around 13 seconds in.

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[Volourn]

I liked Mortal Engines. It had issues for sure but there were some really good parts.

[Amentep]

 

[LadyCrimson]

Watched an anime film called A Whisker Away.  Because, cats.  It's a cute youth fantasy story about a highschooler who can turn into a cat and uses it to escape her family life issues and be close to her crush.  Lessons will be learned and all that stuff. Ending is a little lackluster maybe, but it's fairly charming, for the type of genre.

[Bartimaeus]

On 5/4/2020 at 12:37 PM, injurai said:

Leon the Professional was not the product of the right script and right director. The original was much more of a Lolita exploitation film, and the actors feeling uncomfortable worked with the executives to salvage the movie. It's a solid film, but more a product of chance than anything else.

Yeah, some time after watching it, I learned that the director is an actual bonafide pedophile that wanted to do way weirder and grosser stuff with the film, and it was pretty much a miracle that it turned out as well as it did.

The Handmaiden (2016). I forgot I had gotten this a while back, forgotten who made it, had no idea what it was about before starting it. Whoops. That was different.

[LadyCrimson]

Watched a little film called Searching, from a couple years ago I think. Stars John Cho.  Daughter goes missing and looking for clues to find her. A film I've meant to watch for ages and never got around to it.

It's entirely shown "on-screen" - pc monitors with "facetime", chat rooms, videos, text msgs, search engines etc as the father looks for clues on daughters laptop and communicates with others etc. They used  the tactic pretty well - could have been boring but it's not.  The ending was a little too quick and pat but overall effective for its method.

Edited July 4, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[Bartimaeus]

The Red Turtle (2016). Bleh. Highly rated, but I have little to no appreciation for visual storytelling, and this was a very dull Little Baby's First Art, so it was not for me.

[Raithe]

For a little call back, an interesting article on Kids and how it affected them in the two decades since..

Pocket Worthy - Legends Never Die ; Two decades after a low-budget film turned Washington Square skaters into celebrities, the kids from “Kids” struggle with lost lives and the fine art of growing up.

 

[Raithe]

Hard to decide just which thread to put this...

 

 

[Raithe]

The Old Guard.

Nicely done Netflix adaption, no wasted moments to it, although a couple of elements have that slightly comic book style forced aspect to it.

Charlize Theron smoothly plays the part Andy, the leader of a small band of immortals who act as covert mercenaries who has "forgotten more ways to kill than most entire armies learn" and has been around so long she can't remember when she was born, or what her mother or sisters looked like. Of course, modern day arrives, and shenanigans ensue when someone unearths their secret and wants to hunt them down to disect and use as cures for the human condition.  To help tell the story to the audience, you also get the introduction of the first "new immortal" in a couple of centuries, so a lot of it is answering her questions on what the hell is happening to her.  All set up with an ending that screams "this is potential franchise" for Netflix to run several more films following it.

I think the one major misstep to it is it has a very forgettable soundtrack for the most part, so that slice of emotional punch is missing.  And I suppose it can depend on just how many stories of weary immortals struggling to deal with always losing friends and families who age and die while they carry on you can take....

[Hurlshort]

I enjoyed The Old Guard as well. Charloze Theron is always good swinging weapons around. Seems set up for anothee film, for sure. Kind of funny that big pharma is the new villain in today's world.

Music was off, for sure.