The Cinema and Movie Thread

[Keyrock]

43 minutes ago, Raithe said:

I did actually appreciate both movie attempts at Hitman Agent 47.

 

On other matters:

Fine choice to play Connor MacLeod. The more important question is who will play The Kurgan? 99.9% chance it won't be as good a Clancy Brown's performance, he was not so secretly the best part of the movie.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Willy's Wonderland

Nicolas Cage doesn't talk for an hour and a half while working as a janitor. I enjoyed it immensely.

[Keyrock]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife. This movie should have been called Ghostbusters: Overcorrection.

I mean, I get why the movie is like this. They formed a new company which should have been called Wishful Thinking Inc. and then their first outing Ghostbusters (2016) was a spectacular failure that not only bombed but then they attacked their fanbase in a misguided desperate attempt to garner sympathy, which may have temporarily worked, but didn't translate to ticket sales. Then even the pathetic, greedy sympathy plea failed when people realized that the movie was simply bad.

Now they had a pissed off fanbase and a company in the red, so they hastily put together a movie built almost entirely on nostalgia and starring kids, because nobody can hate on kids except cynical, black-hearted monsters, like me. I'm not against including some bits of fan service if you already have a solid identity and story in place and the fan service is just icing on the cake. You shouldn't make a cake out of just icing. This movie panders and leans on nostalgia so hard that it's pitiful.

[Amentep]

On 2/18/2022 at 4:44 PM, Malcador said:

Now I remember I saw Wing Commander.

Also saw it in theaters.

On 2/18/2022 at 4:55 PM, Malcador said:

Annihilation undid all of that.

Saw MK: Annihilation on a double bill with Alien: Ressurrection. 

[majestic]

9 hours ago, Amentep said:

Also saw it in theaters.

Saw MK: Annihilation on a double bill with Alien: Ressurrection. 

You seem to watch an awful lot of dreck at the theater.

I mean, sure, I also watched many an Uwe Boll film, saw Annihilation and Wing Commander, but out of those the only one I went to the theater for was Alien: Resurrection, which happened to be one of the more miserable nights of my life. Dunno, spending 10 hours at the theater for a back to back showing of all the Alien films (with a midnight premiere for Alien: Resurrection) turned my brain and my ass into mush.

Of course, I didn't actually learn anything from the experience and went to the same ordeal for Lord of the Rings' Return of the King, which was even worse... better films to be sure, but even longer. By the time Return of the King ended, the film having ten scenes I thought were the end was just torture, all I wanted to do was stand up and walk about for a bit.

edit: Alien³ also has the distinction of being the only movie I fell asleep at while in the theater. I can barely fall alseep next to a running TV (flickering lights and irregular sounds, yeah, no), so being able to sleep through half of a film at a theater should explain how great that experience really was. Also kinda ended up wishing I slept through the fourth, not the third. Damndest thing.

Edited February 20, 2022 by majestic

[Amentep]

28 minutes ago, majestic said:

You seem to watch an awful lot of dreck at the theater.

I used to see most major genre releases (and a lot of minor ones) in the theater. But I also have a high tolerance for bad filmmaking if it hits the right tone (I watched Plan 9 from Outer Space without need of hosts spoofing it).

I actually liked Alien: Ressurrection but admittedly that partially may be because MK:A made it look good. I probably like 4 more than 3 too,  but I don't think I've ever really forgiven its failure to be a true sequel to Aliens.

[Gfted1]

17 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Ive read that the plot is EXACTLY the same as the original Ghostbusters...Gozer, the Key master, the Gate keeper.

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

Ive read that the plot is EXACTLY the same as the original Ghostbusters...Gozer, the Key master, the Gate keeper.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife references EVERYTHING from Ghostbusters (1984). Even insignificant details and throwaway lines are referenced, spoken about in hushed tones, and treated like the most important things in the universe. And yes, another thing Ivo Shandor built and Gozer the Gozerian, it's the same exact villains from the original. The level of pandering is off the charts.

Edit: Also, CGI Harold Ramis made my skin crawl. It looked better than CGI Peter Cushing and they dedicated the movie to him, which is all well and good, but I am really uncomfortable with using dead actors via CGI. It's creepy as ****. I wish Hollywood hadn't opened that can of worms.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Keyrock

[Amentep]

I thought Afterlife was fun, but wasted Ivor Shandor. 

Then again, I think the original is venerated far outside its actual merits. Its a fun film, but that's about it.

[Guard Dog]

I watched News of the World on HBO Max tonight:

 

I read the novel it was based on a few years ago. The novel tells a bigger and longer story but this was a pretty faithful adaptation as movies go. It's definitely worth your time if you like historically authentic movies. 

[Amentep]

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

I would like to see that new "The Batman" movie sooner than later, because Pattison and good "pro" and customer reactions, but I'm not sure I can convince hubby to go to the theater for the first time in years to do so.  >.>

[uuuhhii]

On 3/3/2022 at 12:35 AM, Amentep said:

 

 

really like the visual style of this trailer

hope it get more popular

[Keyrock]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:35 AM, Amentep said:

 

 

The Sony Pictures logo doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but otherwise this looks like it might be a fun movie.

[Amentep]

 

[Sarex]

Damn you're fast.

[majestic]

That's just going to be the best film ever. It has to be. It cannot be anything else.

[Keyrock]

On 3/9/2022 at 3:10 PM, Amentep said:

 

On the one hand, the vast majority of Nic Cage movies over the last 10 years where he's crazy, wacky Nic Cage have been utter dog feces and far and away his best movie during that period, Pig, had him doing a serious, emotional performance. On the other hand, this looks like a proper Hollywood production and not a Redbox movie. The trailer does make it look fun. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Keyrock

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

26 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

On the one hand, the vast majority of Nic Cage movies over the last 10 years where he's crazy, wacky Nic Cage have been utter dog feces and far and away his best movie during that period, Pig, had him doing a serious, emotional performance. On the other hand, this looks like a proper Hollywood production and not a Redbox movie. The trailer does make it look fun. 

Willy's Wonderland was pretty good, though Nic doesn't talk once through the whole movie as he battles possessed animatronics. 

[Achilles]

44 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

his best movie during that period, Pig, had him doing a serious, emotional performance.

The other "good" Nic Cage movie is Adaptation

[Bartimaeus]

Schindler's List (1993). It's my first time seeing it, and it was pretty good as entertainment, but I felt somewhat...frustrated with the second and critical half due to some seemingly needless Hollywoodisms. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't still powerful, though, and I suppose that's what counts most.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). French film that had an obscenely high rating everywhere that I checked. The short of it is that it is a period piece (early 19th century?) about a woman who has been hired to paint the portrait of another young woman - the latter of which who does not realize that she is being painted, for she has refused the idea altogether for complicated personal reasons. The last portraitist was able to complete everything but her face, and so our main character must befriend the woman and do the best she can in between seeing her. Now that I've written all that out, the entire idea sounds horribly contrived. It's also terribly slow, basically nothing happens...and yet, it was pretty good - the final act kinda got a little off-kilter compared to the rest of the film, but I can mostly forgive it. Don't think I'd necessarily rate it as the #72 best film of all time, though.

[Keyrock]

11 minutes ago, Achilles said:

The other "good" Nic Cage movie is Adaptation

Adaptation was 20 years ago, but yes, it's one of his better movies post-Con Air (which is what I consider the end of his "golden era"). I'll add Mandy as a more recent good movie he's done. The National Treasure movies were also a decently fun watch, though I wouldn't go so far as to call them good.

[Raithe]

 

[Maedhros]

I rather liked the new Batman film. It's rather low key, so not neccesarily something you need to watch at the cinema. More a crime thriller than a superhero film.

It should have been at least 15 minutes shorter, and a few scenes annoyed me - but overall good. Also, best portrayal of Gotham so far.

[Raithe]

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