Movies You've Seen Recently Thread

[algroth]

I thought Wonder Woman was a mess, personally. Gal Gadot is completely miscast as the character, but most of all she served absolutely no purpose to the overall narrative. It's a film that was in serious need of trimming down and writing Wonder Woman out would have not only kept the story pretty much identical to how it was already, but also removed a good 45 minutes of superfluous material. I agree that she could have an interesting backstory and I for one believe her solo film holds the most promise of all these post-Nolan DC films... but she was out of place in this specific film.

 

I'm also not sure what blame Nolan should get (if any) for this latest incarnation of DC comics. I don't adhere to the false notion that his films are restricted in the use of CGI but he does integrate it pretty convincingly to the whole, especially when compared to just about every other big blockbuster there is around. I think the action films, the sombre tone, the gloomy filters in Man of Steel were all Snyder, and owed more to his previous films than any Nolan one. At the very least he did tone down on some of the frantic editing for BvS.

Edited December 3, 2016 by algroth

[Volourn]

The nu DC films are awesomesauce. PERIOD.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Volourn

[Meshugger]

Arrival.

 

What a bore. Things happened because of plot. I recommend Slaughterhouse Five for musings about 5-dimensional aliens or Solyaris(1972) for philosophical musings about humanity instead.

[ShadySands]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7tuoTbe1MU

[Gromnir]

video

am disliking baby groot the same way car commercials with puppies and babies annoy us.  writer/producer/director is trying to massage our cute reflex and it comes off as contrived and cheap.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgP0aUKlmNw

 

converse, am feeling sympatico with drax.  gonna need see how it all balances, but we did like the first iteration. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps is now the season when we can post grinch videos w/o folks raging over out-of-season christmas content. 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Gromnir

[CoM_Solaufein]

Wonder Woman was the best part.  They merely hinted at a complex backstory for her, and I think that was for the best.  Unlike Superman and Batman, whose backstories are thrown around like a sack of bricks.  Poor Batman and his dead parents, lets show his mom get killed twice, show the gravestone of his parents over and over again, etc.  Audiences have terribly short memories, so we need to get them emotionally invested over and over again.  Also lets have Superman talk to Kevin Costner on a mountain for some reason.  

 

The movie works too hard to try and create an emotional impact.  It lacks charm and any sense of fun.    

When she arrived to help out Batman and Superman against Doomsday, that's when the movie started to kick off for me. Now I'm intrigued to see her movie when it comes out. What made her turn her back on humanity? From the brief info that was shown, she appears to have helped out the Allies in the first World War. She was reluctant at first to offer any help until Doomsday arrived.

[ManifestedISO]

Diana is relevant no matter where she goes. JLA, BvS, IADC, my lunch box, doesn't matter, superfluous is not a word in Amazonian vocabulary.

[algroth]

Diana is relevant no matter where she goes. JLA, BvS, IADC, my lunch box, doesn't matter, superfluous is not a word in Amazonian vocabulary.

That was not proven with BvS unfortunately.

Edited December 4, 2016 by algroth

[Raithe]

The latest reboot...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjHgzkQM2Sg

 

It looks like they want to push the action-horror more than the pulpy action-comedy. Plus it does have a certain.. Mission Impossible with Mummies! vibe to it.

[algroth]

The latest reboot...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjHgzkQM2Sg

 

It looks like they want to push the action-horror more than the pulpy action-comedy. Plus it does have a certain.. Mission Impossible with Mummies! vibe to it.

Yeah, I basically called it Mummy: Impossible on a Whatsapp chatroom when we were addressing it. It doesn't look very good, and also Russell Crowe looks possibly like the least Dr. Jekyll-like Dr. Jekyll you can cast in the role. Mostly at this point I'm hoping it does badly and sinks another would-be cinematic universe. The last thing I want is for all blockbusters to get further enfranchised and become more and more a product devoid of any semblance of artistic vision or innovation. And sure, it's arguably not the place in which to look for either, but both elements exist and are largely what make the best blockbusters what they are.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Inferno with Tom Hanks. Pretty average. These Robert Langdon movies seem to be declining in quality imo.

[Calax]

Batman's original appearance he sported a gun. Which he used. In 1940 issue he used the bat plane to gun down men who'd been turned into giant monsters by Dr. Hugo Strange.

 

However there were already complaining about comics and kids and National Periodicals made a line wide mandate - their heroes didn't kill.

 

This held until at least the 1980s when comics had completed their transition to the direct market and had primarily changed to an adult oriented product.

 

However it should be noted that the 1989 BATMAN film also had Batman killing thugs during the bell tower fight (and fir the record, the people who complained about Superman killing Zod in MAN OF STEEL forgot he killed all the Phantom Zone criminals in one version of his origin - an act that led the character to adopt his no killing stance)

 

As an aside, National's no-kill stance was not the industry's norm and most Golden Age Heroes had some deaths on their hands - even Fawcett's Captain Marvel often seen as one of the most whimsical charcters/series.

ALso Superman went a mite bit insane after killing the people to the point he exiled himself (leading to his first meeting with Mongul). The difference between him and Batman, that I can see in reference to their no-killing (and guns) policy is that Batman's usual reason for "No Guns" is baked into his storyline of "Guns killed my family" as a simple convenient tie in.

 

I'm eager for the WW movie, but I feel like the BvS movie didn't really need her. Mostly because she showed up without explanation and seemed designed to just be written out with almost no work being needed. Her presence also gives a giant plot hole to the movie of "why not give her the spear instead of letting Supes do it?" I remember watching it and thinking she was a henchwoman for Luthor or somebody.

 

The other major issue I had with the story is that they decided to go with a Martin Shkreli type for Lex Luthor, when his entire bit for the past 3 decades (and more) is basically "Ruthless CEO" in the Robocop archtype. He's not the type who'd have his office be "In this corner of the food court!". He'd have his office be the entire top level of the building, and just to **** with people he'd have his apartments be the second level.

 

I mean, for a good 10-15 years Lex was a guy who gets phenominal cosmic powers, and conjures a business suit before saving the world. That's literally the primary form of contact an entire generation had with him (beyond Kevin Spacey, being Gene Hackman)

[Guard Dog]

I was having one of my frequent bouts of insomnia last night and I was watching this movie on HBO called Crimson Tide. It's a submarine move from like 10 years ago with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. They were both outstanding as you might expect. The premise is (if you haven't seen it) a group of Russian rebels take over a missile base and promise to fire their ICBMs at the US if their demands are not met. So the President orders the US to DEFCON 3 and ultimately the sub receives orders to fire a sortie of Trident medium range nuclear missiles at the Russian base. But before they order could be confirmed things happen and radio communication with CICPAC is knocked out. The captain and half the crew want to follow the order, the other half want to get confirmation. Yadda yadda, 45 minutes later they find out the order has been cancelled and the missiles were not fired. At the end there is an inquiry to determine who was right.

 

Why the hell would the President order a nuclear missile strike to take out a Russian base? 10 Trident missiles alone could cripple everything in Russia west of the Urals for a generation or more. A  handful of cruise missiles launched from the Med would have done a better job in half the time without destroying the entire country and starting WW3. That didn't makes any sense. And another thing. The real Russian government would not pussyfoot around with a rogue military unit the way they did in that movie. They would have been dead to the last man before that whole mess even made the news. 

 

It was a good movie but it had some major holes in the plot. I just can't get past that.

[BrotherFerg]

I went to see Arrival, I thought it was just okay, but something tellls me that maybe a lot of it went over my head. I'm not very smawt

[Meshugger]

Sicario

 

Best movie about the drug war since Tropa de Elite, watch already if you haven't. That's an order.

 

I can't believe how the director went from making this excellent thriller into making a snoozefest like Arrival, sheesh.

[Gromnir]

I was having one of my frequent bouts of insomnia last night and I was watching this movie on HBO called Crimson Tide. It's a submarine move from like 10 years ago with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. They were both outstanding as you might expect. The premise is (if you haven't seen it) a group of Russian rebels take over a missile base and promise to fire their ICBMs at the US if their demands are not met. So the President orders the US to DEFCON 3 and ultimately the sub receives orders to fire a sortie of Trident medium range nuclear missiles at the Russian base. But before they order could be confirmed things happen and radio communication with CICPAC is knocked out. The captain and half the crew want to follow the order, the other half want to get confirmation. Yadda yadda, 45 minutes later they find out the order has been cancelled and the missiles were not fired. At the end there is an inquiry to determine who was right.

 

Why the hell would the President order a nuclear missile strike to take out a Russian base? 10 Trident missiles alone could cripple everything in Russia west of the Urals for a generation or more. A  handful of cruise missiles launched from the Med would have done a better job in half the time without destroying the entire country and starting WW3. That didn't makes any sense. And another thing. The real Russian government would not pussyfoot around with a rogue military unit the way they did in that movie. They would have been dead to the last man before that whole mess even made the news. 

 

It was a good movie but it had some major holes in the plot. I just can't get past that.

the only counter argument we would offer to plausibility o' plot is  a rogue russian military operation woulda' seemed less far-fetched to a movie audience in 1995.  there were more than one movie which played on widespread fears o' chaos in russia and the former soviet union during the early-to-mid 90s.  at least one o' the bond movies had some kinda failure of russian military command and control, yes?

 

oh, and just 'cause

 

 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps added a second video.  

Edited December 9, 2016 by Gromnir

[algroth]

Sicario

 

Best movie about the drug war since Tropa de Elite, watch already if you haven't. That's an order.

 

I can't believe how the director went from making this excellent thriller into making a snoozefest like Arrival, sheesh.

Can't say I was too fussed with Tropa de Elite myself (found it too caricaturesque), but Sicario I did love, and it's currently my favorite film of 2015. Its style and tone did remind me a heck of a lot to some of the past "war on terrorism" films like Zero Dark Thirty and Syriana too, which I also loved. Quite dark and disturbing, extremely tense, and Benicio del Toro's incredible in this.

 

There's also a sequel in the works right now. Not sure I'm looking forward to it, but we'll see how it goes.

[ShadySands]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/12/10/former-deadpool-2-director-tim-miller-addresses-left-project-believe/

[Lexx]

 

Sicario

 

Best movie about the drug war since Tropa de Elite, watch already if you haven't. That's an order.

 

I can't believe how the director went from making this excellent thriller into making a snoozefest like Arrival, sheesh.

Can't say I was too fussed with Tropa de Elite myself (found it too caricaturesque), but Sicario I did love, and it's currently my favorite film of 2015. Its style and tone did remind me a heck of a lot to some of the past "war on terrorism" films like Zero Dark Thirty and Syriana too, which I also loved. Quite dark and disturbing, extremely tense, and Benicio del Toro's incredible in this.

 

There's also a sequel in the works right now. Not sure I'm looking forward to it, but we'll see how it goes.

 

 

Weird. I thought Sicaro was mediocre. It was kinda like... I don't know, it just went on. And then suddenly it became the story of a dude who wants revenge for his family. At the end of the movie I thought this is one of those that I will never watch for a second time.

[algroth]

 

 

Sicario

 

Best movie about the drug war since Tropa de Elite, watch already if you haven't. That's an order.

 

I can't believe how the director went from making this excellent thriller into making a snoozefest like Arrival, sheesh.

Can't say I was too fussed with Tropa de Elite myself (found it too caricaturesque), but Sicario I did love, and it's currently my favorite film of 2015. Its style and tone did remind me a heck of a lot to some of the past "war on terrorism" films like Zero Dark Thirty and Syriana too, which I also loved. Quite dark and disturbing, extremely tense, and Benicio del Toro's incredible in this.

 

There's also a sequel in the works right now. Not sure I'm looking forward to it, but we'll see how it goes.

 

 

Weird. I thought Sicaro was mediocre. It was kinda like... I don't know, it just went on. And then suddenly it became the story of a dude who wants revenge for his family. At the end of the movie I thought this is one of those that I will never watch for a second time.

 

It's the mood and the tension that made it for me more so than the strict storyline, which is largely rather typical war on drugs fare. Taken plot point by plot point I can agree that there's not much to it, but it is the style and the virtuosity with which the story is portrayed that made it into a great film for me.

[Hurlshort]

Keanu - Hilarious and ridiculous.  If you enjoy Key and Peele, this is them at their best.  

 

Self/Less - This was panned pretty badly by critics and viewers, but I was looking for something not too serious to watch and I like Ryan Reynolds, so I gave it a shot.  First off, the shooting locations alone were worth a watch for me.  They start in Trump's personal apartment in NY.  It was a fun glimpse into that whole baroque palace.  Then it moves to an awesome place in New Orleans.  Really it was like an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.  The story was a bit silly, but it wasn't really badly acted, and the action was decent.  It was better than expected.  

[Raithe]

The Magnificent Seven.

 

The remake with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Martin Sensmeier taking the roles of the seven "gun men" hired to defend a small village/town from the evil robber baron and his army of mercenaries.

 

It hits all the notes of a western, has the requisite music, the panning shots of the horizon and glorious west, fairly well-done gunfights and righteous vengeance. All the actors are good in their roles, it just doesn't really hit anything out of the park. It's a decent western with nothing really outstanding. So, worth the time to watch it, but not one I'd spend overlong hunting up.

[Gorgon]

Sucide Squad.

 

It's just as bad as they said. 

[algroth]

Sucide Squad.

 

It's just as bad as they said. 

It's worse.

[Blarghagh]

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Extremely schizophrenic. There's a good lighthearted adventure romp about a muggle being dragged along with a wizard to save some animals buried under a dark story about abused children and twenty tons of setting up an arc for further movies. The lighthearted adventure romp is great, the rest of it not so much.