Movies you've seen recently

[Raithe]

On the random movie stuff...  Some interesting commentary from Kevin Bacon on transitioning from movies to tv, a little bit on Tremors and a few other bits and pieces.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRZwKclddg

[Blarghagh]

Watched the entire Back to the Future series this week for obvious reasons. Biff certainly goes from "awful creep" to full-on insane quickly. His grandson Griff is so overacted that I'm sure he had a lot of fun playing it.

[Raithe]

For that Halloween mood..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWxJaBZcQl8

[ShadySands]

New Joker photo

 

I saw the Martian and Trainwreck recently and I enjoyed them both for what they were

[Oerwinde]

Ugh... Such a terrible joker.

[Barothmuk]

I like it. It's like Heath Ledger's Joker ****ed some tacky slav mobster.

 

Although to be fair I hate cape**** and think people take it far too seriously so I'm hardly the target audience.

[Blarghagh]

He's called the joker because the ho's he pimps are funny looking.

[GhoulishVisage]

I'm not a huge fan of the Joker design myself, but I've come up with a few reasons why I think his appearance might work:

1) Theory: he used to have a more traditional look until he killed Robin and was arrested for it. He got his tattoos and grill while in prison. He'll be breaking out of prison for the first time since he killed Robin during the events of Suicide Squad, and subsequently causing mayhem that the Squad has to clean up.

This being the first time he's broken out also explains Batman's retirement. He retired after catching the Joker and putting him away after Robin's murder.

 

2) Theory: He's a narcissist. He loves his own mystique that he cultivates and deliberately makes into a "brand". Hence his tattoos that all are some variation on the "Joker" theme, except for the Robin one, which he got because of his crowning achievement of killing Batman's sidekick. Hence the Lamborghini with the HAHAHA license plate and tacky suits.

He's got a sort of 80s cocaine dealer from Miami vibe around him in those shots.

 

3) Theory: The DCEU Joker is a gang-leader. We saw his squad busy firing guns in the trailer, but it is possible that this isn't a once off thing that he hired some thugs for. Perhaps he has a stable base of operations that he uses to expand his influence.
Those look like gang tattoos, and the Joker having a gang that ink themselves to tie in with his image fits my earlier narcissist theory.
Additionally Ayer said that the Joker's look was based off of the looks of Mexican drug cartels, so yeah.

Edited October 27, 2015 by GhoulishVisage

[Blarghagh]

I watched the Extended version of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. I didn't really want to, but I needed to know one thing. If this ****er finally died:

 

 

SPOILERS To save everyone the trouble of having to watch even more pointless battle scenes, yes he does indeed die and it is the only satisfying moment that was added.

[Tale]

I finally watched the Rogue Cut. With Star Wars on the mind lately I'm very wary of watching these extended cuts, especially ones with changes this significant, but it was overall very good.

 

Quite a few scenes are slowed down and I think most of the added stuff show character. Rogue herself is completely pointless, but most of the runtime is simply extending old scenes with more banter. The truly new scenes are things like Rogue's rescue, which is intercut with Magneto's attack on the Pentagon, which is lots of fun.

 

The only addition I didn't particularly like was Xavier flying the jet. Sadly, Sir Stewart does not sell being a pilot.

 

 

RE: Hobbit

 

I think I'm going to skip even getting Battle of the Five Armies. I have the first two, but I've already determined that I'm pretty much never going to watch them again. So why bother? I guess I kept hoping Battle of Five Armies would be good and save the trilogy, but that never happened.

[Barothmuk]

I still think the first one was okay. Barely remember the other two.

[Blarghagh]

I'm lucky in that my parents are massive fans of the franchise so they got it and I just borrowed it from them the next day. I liked the Hobbit movies more than most people and I still don't think they're worth owning.

[Hurlshort]

It took me forever to get through the 2nd one.  We had it on the DVR and just chipped away at it for about a month.  I haven't even looked at the 3rd one, but I'm certainly not going to buy it.  It's not like they are bad movies, just way too long.  

[Blarghagh]

Someone made a recut of all three movies into one four hour story that was pretty good. It had a few disjointed moments though.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I watched Once Upon A Time In Mexico and enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Tale]

It took me forever to get through the 2nd one.  We had it on the DVR and just chipped away at it for about a month.  I haven't even looked at the 3rd one, but I'm certainly not going to buy it.  It's not like they are bad movies, just way too long.  

I'll disagree and say that they're bad movies.

 

Well produced, but still bad. With awkward tonal shifts and action sequences that drag.

[Hurlshort]

 

It took me forever to get through the 2nd one.  We had it on the DVR and just chipped away at it for about a month.  I haven't even looked at the 3rd one, but I'm certainly not going to buy it.  It's not like they are bad movies, just way too long.  

I'll disagree and say that they're bad movies.

 

Well produced, but still bad. With awkward tonal shifts and action sequences that drag.

 

 

I think shortening them all down to about 90 minutes would fix most of that though.  You wouldn't have time for the dragging action, and it might even be moving fast enough to not notice the tone changes.  But who knows.  

[GhoulishVisage]

Watched two horror movies yesterday:

 

Pandorum:
I heard this was a spiritual successor to Event Horizon, and so being a big fan of that I decided to watch it.

In an entirely personal opinion I preferred Event Horizon's more supernatural approach opposed to Pandorum's scientific one.

Had some clever visual elements and an enjoyable plot. Good use of practical effects for the monsters.

While I preferred Event Horizon it was still great.

Recommended if you like sci-fi horror.

 

Sinister:
Pleasantly surprised by this one.
Instead of jump-scares every five seconds the movie is content to build a slower atmosphere of dread with only the occasional loud-noise-boo moment.
The movie is really great and I heartily enjoyed it, although I feel the final jump-scare was so bad and out of place that it slightly soured my otherwise universal goodwill to the film.
Recommended if you like spooky-house horror.

Anyhow, two great movies.

Ghoulstamp of approval.

Edited October 27, 2015 by GhoulishVisage

[Blarghagh]

Other than that final jumpscare, Sinister also had that surreal and slightly laughable tracking shot where all the little ghost children kinda just run by one by one. Otherwise, fantastic horror film though. I'll definitely take a look at Pandorum, since I was lacking a horror movie to watch this weekend.

 

Oh, I totally forgot to mention, this weekend I watched Inside Out and I wish someone had warned me because that movie relentlessly and shamelessly manipulates your heart strings. Nooo, Bing Bong! I assume not a single child had any idea what was going on in this movie, though.

[GhoulishVisage]

Keep in mind that it's a lot like Event Horizon in that you have to be able to enjoy it despite its warts, and it has a few of those.

It's sort of like The Descent mashed up with Event Horizon. The plot is a bit by-the-numbers, but I thought it was executed well.

[Gfted1]

I liked Pandorum and was actually surprised by the twist ending.

[Tale]

Pandorum is great. I watch it almost anytime it's on TV. It's probably top 5 Space Horror films.

 

Heck, I'd say top 3, but then we'd get into an argument about whether Aliens is actually a horror film.

[Amentep]

Personally I prefer Pandorum to Event Horizon, mostly because I think Event Horizon fell apart in the end (IIRC, to be honest I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theaters upon original release).

[GhoulishVisage]

mostly because I think Event Horizon fell apart in the end (IIRC, to be honest I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theaters upon original release).

 

You're right, it did. But I think that while Pandorum might have had a more consistent quality throughout I feel it never managed to hit he highs that Event Horizon did either.

Event Horizon was full of fantastic imagery and memorable moments. Everybody remembers "Where we're going we don't need eyes to see", the creepy latin, the burning man walking through the water, the frozen body falling etc.

Pandorum didn't really have any moments that made me go "woah". It was good, It did some neat stuff with lighting and colors, It had some great moments and some cool twists and writing. It just didn't really have that part that sticks out to you as amazing when you think back on it.

Edited October 27, 2015 by GhoulishVisage

[Raithe]

Cinemablend - How Kurt Russel Feels about Big Trouble In Little China remake

 

 

 

Several months ago the internet echoed with a collective, "wait, what?" when it learned that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was on board to star in a remake of the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. While many thought it was an odd choice for a remake, the fact is that remakes and reboots seem to be Hollywood’s primary focus these days so most people were less shocked, and more resigned to the fact that of course this was going to happen at some point. It turns out one of those people who’s simply resigned himself to the facts of modern movie making is the original film’s star, Kurt Russell.

Russell was being interviewed by Collider when they asked him what he thought of the planned remake. Like other fans of the film, his feeling are all over the place.
 

I guess it’s that time now. Hey, you know, nothing’s sacred. Why not? Go get it, good luck. … I don’t know what their reasons are for remaking the movie, but I hope that they have the right reasons, and I hope that they do it well and good luck. What can I say? I don’t know, I don’t have thoughts other than that. Hang in there, good luck, go get em.

 

There’s actually a lot to unpack here. Russell starts with the same knee jerk reaction that most fans of Big Trouble had, "is nothing sacred?" He then follows that up with wishing them luck but it seems like he’s doing that because, well, what else is he going to say? The key statement is that he hopes they have the right reasons for moving forward with the remake. Russell talks about how when he and John Carpenter remade The Thing they were actually making a more direct adaptation of the short story it was based on than the original film had been. That was their reason. Russell doesn’t mind them doing a remake. He objects to them doing it without a real point.

So, is there a point to the Big Trouble in Little China remake? Honestly, it doesn’t really look like it. While The Rock has previously said he has "nothing but love and respect" for the original, he hasn’t made any comments about any new direction they’re looking at taking or a particular focus they want to make. The fact is Rock has already said this is an idea where they might all take a swing and miss, then scrap it. If that’s the case, it doesn’t sound like they really have a reason for making the film. That doesn’t mean they can’t find their reason sometime during the scriptwriting process, but it doesn’t start things in a good place.

Kurt Russell’s response to the reboot is at least slightly more optimistic that that of John Carpenter himself, who has said he’s ambivalent about working on the new movie until he sees the paycheck. The screenwriting team of Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who are also handling the Power Rangers reboot, have the unenviable task of writing the script for the new cult classic. Maybe they’ll find the hook that will make it all worthwhile.