Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

[Raithe]

While waiting on Hollywood to sort things out...

 

Sandman short gets fan made movie

[Keyrock]

I just got back from Atomic Blonde.  Solid spy action movie.  Charlize Theron was great, as per usual.  James McAvoy poured the dirtbag routine on a bit too thick to keep the suspense up, so the twists were a bit predictable.  Still not a terrible plot, just nothing special.  The star of the show was the action, particularly the fight scenes, which were Wickian (on par with John Wick [very much a compliment]).  There is one rather lengthy fight sequence in particular which is all types of rad and super duper brutal.  They definitely left it open to a sequel, and I hope they make it a franchise (they probably will if it makes money, everyone is trying to make everything into a franchise these days) as I'm very much down with Charlize Theron as a super badass action hero. 

[Amentep]

Watched the Dark Tower over the weekend.

 

Truth in Advertising, I had an unrevised version of the Gunslinger (from 1988) and was never able to get into it so never really paid much attention to the Dark Tower other than reading musings about how all of King's other work fit in.

 

Its sort of a throwback action film; classical structure, classical story beats.  Its not a ground breaking spectacle (which, for fans, may be enough to break the film for their enjoyment) but I thought it was a film that succeeded at its mild ambitions.

[Gromnir]

 

I had an unrevised version of the Gunslinger (from 1988) and was never able to get into it so never really paid much attention to the Dark Tower other than reading musings about how all of King's other work fit in.

 

 

 

similar experience.  back in the late 80s we were kinda shocked to realize we enjoyed a couple king short stories, and so a friend loaned us the gunslinger. couldn't get past the first 60 pages after multiple attempts.  never finished a king novel, but am thinking a few o' his short stories is actual underrated by the new yorker crowd.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

I loved the Dark Tower series many years ago (back when it was still 7 books, rather than 8 ), but I wonder how well it translates to movies ? (judging by the reviews, not very well)  It might work better as a TV series as the books are very much a slow burn.  I mean, there are certainly moments of intense action, but overall it's a very slow moving epic that spans a very long time with long periods of downtime.  Purposely so, there is very much a point to it being an extremely long and tedious journey.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Keyrock

[Malcador]

Finally saw Wonder Woman, was alright, nothing too amazing.  Found the fight scenes kind of meh for the most part, but wasn't a boring watch..  Had a feeling I knew the guy who played Sameer, he was in the music video for Gunman's World.

[Lexx]

Ive read the Dark Tower books a few times and love them still today, but yeah, sometimes King is just way, way, way too wordy. Last few times I read the books, I simply skipped all the boring and longwinded parts... which in the end made it a much shorter experience... but a better one. I think he really needed a good editor to cut all the overflow.

[majestic]

Ive read the Dark Tower books a few times and love them still today, but yeah, sometimes King is just way, way, way too wordy. Last few times I read the books, I simply skipped all the boring and longwinded parts... which in the end made it a much shorter experience... but a better one. I think he really needed a good editor to cut all the overflow.

 

Overflow doesn't really cut it I think. Wizard and Glass is 800 pages of backstory for what's worth maybe a hundred pages of useful history and Wolves of the Calla is a 700 page retelling of The Magnificent Seven (down to the characters joking that the plot it feels like The Magnificent Seven) with the only purpose to have the party split up at the end.

 

I liked the two books on their own but in terms of fitting into the Dark Tower story King could easily have fused them into a 300 page gap filler between Blaine (who rhymes with Pain!) and Susannah giving birth without missing anything.

 

edit:

 

And to think he actually released another book with backstory for everyone who didn't have enough of it during Wizard & Glass.

Edited August 8, 2017 by majestic

[LadyCrimson]

Re: IT the new film

 

The trailer would have me believe the movie will have better creepy atmosphere than the mini-series (not hard to do, really). I liked the mini-series ok (the spider-IT was poorly done, tho), especially the children's sections, but I don't mind new adaptations of it either. That said, I always have reservations about King film adaptations of his long novels, simply because of length. King's short stories or novella's usually transfer to film better. Maybe if they made it a two-movie type of film thing. I'd rather wish for a new mini-series, like Netflix doing it, or HBO, or Amazon, or whoever.

 

And for me, young Stuttering Bill will always be Jonathan Brandis (RIP). I thought he was perfect casting back when. The kid in the film trailer doesn't appeal to me at all.

[Amentep]

The new IT film is only the kids story from the book; the story of the adults will not be told in this film.  In a way its probably the best way to pare the novel down for a singular film.

[Blarghagh]

Re: IT the new film

 

The trailer would have me believe the movie will have better creepy atmosphere than the mini-series (not hard to do, really). I liked the mini-series ok (the spider-IT was poorly done, tho), especially the children's sections, but I don't mind new adaptations of it either. That said, I always have reservations about King film adaptations of his long novels, simply because of length. King's short stories or novella's usually transfer to film better. Maybe if they made it a two-movie type of film thing. I'd rather wish for a new mini-series, like Netflix doing it, or HBO, or Amazon, or whoever.

 

And for me, young Stuttering Bill will always be Jonathan Brandis (RIP). I thought he was perfect casting back when. The kid in the film trailer doesn't appeal to me at all.

 

The producers said the trailers mostly used takes of Stuttering Bill unused in the film, because the stutter could ruin the flow of the trailer. Weird, but that's what they said.

 

Jaeden Liebenher's actually a pretty good kid actor though. I saw him in Aloha (**** film) and Playing it Cool (an actually good romcom) and he was good in both. I'm more excited about Finn Wolfhard as Richie though - perfect casting. That kid is hilarious.

[Raithe]

Finally got around to watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

 

Entertaining, amusing. Treads the boards between being campy space pulp adventure with dashes of serious emotion and philosophy hidden in the background.

Do kind of wonder why Stallone rated opening credits since he was basically a cameo - who, okay, had like 3 brief scenes in the total film. Was caught out by Michelle Yeoh's cameo, a nd the voice of Miley Cyrus?

 

Of course, I've now got the GotG Inferno song stuck in my head on loop.

[Katphood]

 

Would love to see T2 in 3D.

[majestic]

 

Would love to see T2 in 3D.

 

I don't know if I should be excited to finally see a good Terminator movie at the theatre again or annoyed with the obvious cash grab.

[Lexx]

Wait, how do they turn the 2d movie into 3d? Some cheap trickery or what?

[Amentep]

When it's not shot in 3d, as I undestand it, someone has to go back and digitally manipulate each image to create the depth field.

[Gorgon]

Stupid gimmick in any case. 

[injurai]

The only good 2D -> 3D conversion I've seen is Lion King 3D,

[teknoman2]

 

The male lead actor is woefully miscast.

 

I really do not understand their choice here at all - Valérian is a little old and more of a classic sci-fi cowboy, who relies on his quick-draw and smooth talker skills to get him out of trouble. With Laureline being the actual competent one of the two.

 

While I have respect for DeHaan in some of his other roles, he's way too young and the role was written much more like a renegade Commander Shephard. Didn't fit the source material at all.

 

as i said elsewhere, the trailer for this turned me away. i knew nothing of the original comic when i saw the trailer. i heard of it in passing in reviews of the movie but this opinion is what i formed just from the trailer, before i even knew there was source material.

the trailer shows 2 unknown characters that look to be in their late teens be the top special agents of a federation of 1000 civilizations. a federation that big yet unable to defend itself from a threat that can end it in just 12 hours and somehow, these 2 teenagers are supposed to be capable of finding and eliminating that threat. the premise itself is outlandish, considering we do not deal with established and known characters (and world) from whom we know what to expect. so a 2 hour film they need to cram in all we need to know about the characters and all we need to know about the world they live in just to make a plot that is based on an outlandish premise feel coherent. and so the question comes naturally to mind "with all that, where will they find the time to fit a compelling story in all this", followed instantly by the scene of the 2 flirting on the beach which just sends the answer "they can't, this will be a bad film with no substance".

and the reviews i've seen seem to confirm it

[Amentep]

Funnily enough, neither lead is played by a teen, nor are the characters supposed to be teens in context of the story.

[algroth]

 

This looks lovely.

[Hurlshort]

I'm stuck near work for a couple hours before my Back to School Night, and I'm thinking about catching a movie. I'm having trouble deciding between Atomic Blonde, Lucky Logan, or Spiderman. Suggestions?

[algroth]

Spiderman's the only one I've seen of the three and it's very good, worth watching. I heard good things about Logan Lucky too, but mixed things about Atomic Blonde. If you haven't yet, I would definitely recommend Dunkirk though.

[Amentep]

Spider-man is good, but 2 hrs 13 min if time is a factor. Like algroth can't vouch for the other two.

[Hurlshort]

Spider-Man is probably my best bet, it starts the earliest and is at the closer theatre to me. Thanks everyone!