The Cinema and Movie Thread

[Raithe]

17 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

kinda enjoyed rambo. keep in mind we were kinda young when the first rambo movie were released, but particular noteworthy am thinking brian dennehy took an admitted by-the-numbers bad lawman villain role and made it memorable. by the early 80s a substantial portion o' americans had changed their pov regarding vietnam and there were considerable sympathy for veterans o' that conflict, so rambo were playing to sympathetic audiences. as such were good timing for the release and overall rambo was an entertaining film with at least some kinda message you could embrace to make you feel better while you enjoyed a bit o' the ultra-violent. 

second rambo were our last rambo. writers/directors changed the course o' the franchise and we saw no reason to continue to follow the road they had chosen for the rambo. is not as if stallone and the makers o' rambo owed us anything, but we liked the character from the first movie, so we felt a bit cheated by rambo ii. couldn't forgive those involved for, from our pov, ruining something we had appreciated.

HA! Good Fun!

 

Well you have to remember, in the book First Blood the movie was adapted from, Rambo dies at the end. Stallone got them to change the script so Rambo was more sympathetic to the audience, didn't actually kill any policemen, and survived. The following films were purely hollywood action and didn't have any of the original stories thematics.

[Malcador]

Kirk Douglas' idea would have been legendary, had they gone with it -http://www.manlymovie.net/2017/04/how-kirk-douglas-almost-ruined-first.html

"The plan to include Kirk Douglas snowballed into something I never expected.  He said to me: ‘Here’s what I want.  At the very end of the movie I should kill you.  The audience sees a cop car driving away and as it disappears into the fog a hand reaches up to the rear view mirror.  The camera turns up and we see me.  It turns up a bit higher and I’m wearing your headband'”.

[Achilles]

On 1/11/2022 at 1:00 PM, Raithe said:

Well you have to remember, in the book First Blood the movie was adapted from, Rambo dies at the end. Stallone got them to change the script so Rambo was more sympathetic to the audience, didn't actually kill any policemen, and survived. The following films were purely hollywood action and didn't have any of the original stories thematics.

Hard to believe but both the first Rambo and Rocky movies were "message" films.

Something something you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain

[Amentep]

 

[Chairchucker]

The Eternals came out on Disney Plus this week so now I've seen it.

 

Rather enjoyed it actually.

[ShadySands]

4 hours ago, Chairchucker said:

The Eternals came out on Disney Plus this week so now I've seen it.

Hoping to check it out this week.

E: I also finally saw the second Spiderman, Always Never Very Far From A Long Way Home or something, and I liked it despite the very dumb things that have to happen to make the movie work.

Edited January 13, 2022 by ShadySands

[Raithe]

Just watched through The Eternals.

I kind of enjoyed it. It's a different pace to the rest of the Marvel films. The story beats mostly work well, when taken with the various spoilers that come out as the film progresses.

I'm actually interested to see where they go with the follow-up.

[Raithe]

Also, something that people might have missed the other month and be interested in:

Variety - ‘Dracula’ Producer Hammer Films Teams With Network Distributing to Form Hammer Studios

The U.K.’s Network Distributing has sealed a deal with iconic British horror label Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd.

Network’s managing director Tim Beddows and financial director Jonathan Lack and Hammer CEO Simon Oakes will head the new company.

The new entity will manage and control Hammer’s interests in its vast library of content such as “The Woman in Black” (2012), “Let Me In” (2010), “Dracula” (1958), “The Abominable Snowman” (1957) and “The Quatermass Experiment” (1953). Hammer Studios will invest substantially both in restoration and new production development from both its owned and newly created IP.

The restoration plans are in keeping with Network’s ethos, as it is a well-known brand for film aficionados, mining the vaults of TV companies and film studios since 1997, unearthing cult programs and films and making them available on home video and digital formats.

[Raithe]

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Shang-Chi. I expected martial arts and got cgi with discount Cthullu instead. I guess it's cool to see a Marvel movie that doesn't feature a swole white guy named Chris but there is still an overwhelming sameness to all of these movies.

Don't Look Up. Took me several settings to finish this. It's not particularly funny and didn't really work. Like too many would be satires, it underestimates how bad and weird things really are.

[Raithe]

Daniel Radcliffe Will Bring Weird Al’s Weird Life to the Small Screen | Tor.com

Let it never be said that Daniel Radcliffe has not picked interesting roles in his post-Harry Potter career. From a farting corpse (pictured above) to Allen Ginsberg, he has been out there living his best actorly life. And now he’s taken the next step in his creative evolution, signing on to play “Weird” Al Yankovic in a biopic that will air only on the Roku Channel.

The summary for the upcoming film explains:

The biopic holds nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.

[Hurlshort]

Shang-Chi featured San Francisco, so I dug it. Also Awkwafina is a fantastic sidekick. Also Karaoke. Also Sir Ben Kingsley. 

It was more enjoyable than the Eternals for me, which took like 3 sittings to finish. It was probably a bit more serious than I would have liked. Also it bothered me that they were living with the Aztec, and some of them were all upset when the city of Tenochtitlan erupted in violence with conquistadors besieging the Aztec (when the reality was there were many other tribes fighting alongside the Spanish.) The Aztec sacrificed tens of thousands of people on a yearly basis, so it seemed strange to hone in on this specific moment as the worst of humanity.

But hey, I nitpick. I liked the gardens of Babylon.

[Agiel]

Having grown up watching the Cantonese dub for Doraemon (a small fraction of the apparently 1700+ episode series) this review convinced me to take a look at the movies in spite of the absurdly high standards I hold 3D-animated films over 2D:

 

Will say there's some pretty good slapstick to be found, and I genuinely found the storyline with Nobita's grandma touching, given that I still have a living grandma who doesn't have much time left.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The Deep House: A mediocre horror film that mostly takes place underwater, which makes it very hard to follow in places. It's nothing profound and the jump scares are telegraphed. Honestly I wouldn't recommend it unless you have time to spare.

Antlers: A very good horror film. Early on it creates a dense foreboding atmosphere filled with trauma and this permeates the whole film. The monster only shows up for a fraction of the runtime and was extremely creepy, but the film manages to stay terrifying long before it shows up and stays terrifying afterwards. A solid recommendation for horror fans.

Lamb: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What the **** did I just watch? I really enjoyed it, but it is a very slow burn that certainly goes places you might not expect by knowing the premise of the film. I'm not sure how to say more without spoilers, but it's a very beautiful and thought provoking film. Yuge recommendation to people with a high tolerance for weird ****.

[Achilles]

EDIT: I suck. Should have been the tv thread.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Achilles

[LadyCrimson]

"...and Théoden could not be overtaken."

Theoden is/was always one of my favorites. I probably like him more than Frodo, truth be told. 
Sure, he was written/done fuller/better in prose, but his movie version still resonates (much due to the actor who played him) and I loved that they at least put those few seconds in the film of his white horse suddenly pulling ahead of the front.

[Bartimaeus]

On 1/20/2022 at 12:36 AM, LadyCrimson said:

"...and Théoden could not be overtaken."

Theoden is/was always one of my favorites. I probably like him more than Frodo, truth be told. 
Sure, he was written/done fuller/better in prose, but his movie version still resonates (much due to the actor who played him) and I loved that they at least put those few seconds in the film of his white horse suddenly pulling ahead of the front.

I think Theoden and Eowyn were my favorite characters of the movie trilogy - I'm trying to think of anyone I like better than those two, and I'm coming up pretty blank. Odd that it'd be father and daughter NIECE out of a pretty large cast of characters, and not even one of the main characters - especially odd because neither of those characters appear in Fellowship of the Ring, which I think is easily the best film out of the three. Out of the main cast, my favorite characters were probably Merry, Pippin...and Gandalf? I'm not sure, but I do know Legolas is easily the worst out of everyone - his entire character is half saying really obvious or over-dramatic things and half cartoony comic relief and not much else, .

On 1/19/2022 at 8:55 PM, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

Lamb

I'm seeing a lot of "movie was beautiful but utterly daft, do not watch" and "masterpiece, you must watch"-type ratings for this one.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Bartimaeus
remembered that eowyn was theoden's niece, not daughter

[Keyrock]

Gollum was the highlight of the LotR movies for me.

[Amentep]

5 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

Gollum was the highlight of the LotR movies for me.

Would you say the part added great value to the film?  That Gollum was...precious?

...

...

I'll get me coat.

[uuuhhii]

don't look up

was expecting a decent comedy

end up being a pretty good movie

still doesn't feel crazy or dumb enough to reflect reality

[bugarup]

Watched "Mamma Mia!" yesterday (not quite on my own full will but eh). If Larian of Divinity games fame started doing movies, this would be it. Cringed in every second scene and wanted to strangle every character. Yikes. 

[Lexx]

Just watched Netflix' Don't Look Up and now I'm depressed.

[Amentep]

 

[Raithe]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Domestic Box Office Equals 2016 Movie (movieweb.com)

[Keyrock]

Wish Upon (2017) - While I don't generally like horror movies, with some notable exceptions, "horror" movies that fail in hilariously spectacular fashion are my jam. It's a monkey's paw tale. There's a mystical Chinese music box that will grant you 7 wishes, but they come at a price. It's really stupid and there are some entertainingly ridiculous deaths. The ending of the movie is *chef kiss*. Unlike my 2021 MotY Malignant, I'm convinced that the comedy in this movie is unintentional, which makes it all the more glorious, and it's a more entertaining movie throughout. That said, Wish Upon only reaches the wonderful, glorious level of over the top stupidity that is Malignant's masterpiece of schlock third act for 2 amazing moments near and at the end. It's absolutely worth watching for those 2 moments alone, though, and it's not boring (for all the wrong reasons) before that.