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

[Raithe]

The most recent King Kong type movie was on HBO. Kong: Skull Island, I think?

 

First half hour: "Why are they focusing so much on intro-ing these people when half are likely to be dead soon?"

2nd half hour: "See?"

When Samuel L Jackson first encounters Kong: (me shouting) "Ahab has found his white whale! bwhahaha"

 

Had some fun action and requisite humor bits (and Tom Hiddleston was lookin' good if I may say so) but eventually even the popcorn-entertainment value wore off what with all the "we don't own the world, *they* do" nonsense. That said, it's the first "Kong" movie where the attempt to make Kong sympathetic kind of worked on me. A tiny bit. It's lonely being one of a kind.

 

The fun thing is that the Honest Trailr for that film was actually written by the Director of it.  And he does a whole "Things wrong with this film, there is NO character development in the entire thing. They are who they are at the end of it that they were at the start of it."

[Blarghagh]

That movie was worth it simply for the moment of that one dude's heroic sacrifice getting entirely kong-blocked.

[ShadySands]

Finally saw the latest Thor movie. I laughed a lot and it had some cool visuals but I still felt that it was lacking that special something

[Malcador]

Watching Black Hawk Down at work, just noticed that the guy playing Gordon is Jamie Lannister

[injurai]

Watching Black Hawk Down at work, just noticed that the guy playing Gordon is Jamie Lannister

 

That movie has everyone who ever existed in it.

 

Same with Band of Brothers.

 

Which is funny because when I watch both of them I mostly had never scene most of the actors before.

[kellyon]

We Are Still Here  6/10
I know it's a popular horror thing recently, with stuff like House of the Devil & It Follows, to give off a timeless feel, as though the movie could be set in the golden age 70s/80s. But man this one took it to another level. Feels like it time traveled from 1988, like something I would have rented on vhs as a kid. First half had a fresh take on the new england haunted house genre, creepy vibe, nicely shot, bad acting but that kind of added to the appeal. Then it goes gonzo with splatter deaths, terrible effects, bad ghostmonster costumes, the works.

[Hurlshort]

I watched Kong: Skull Island. Man, that movie started off really well and just died. Considering they want to make a whole monster universe, why didn't they just slow the story down and do a trilogy? They just rushed through so much content that could have been great. I mean the whole tribal thing is basically a footnote.

[Fiach]

Going to Justice League tonight with my two sons, really looking forward to it.

[injurai]

 

fun fun fun

[LadyCrimson]

^ I'll rent this movie purely to listen to and watch Cumberbatch do that circle-hands stuff some more.

[injurai]

Man, Dr Strange was one of the worst marvel movies... I even liked Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange.

 

The surgery scene was awesome though. Redeemed the movie, but who that final act was **** in general.

[LadyCrimson]

but who that final act was **** in general.

 

Yeah, it rather was. I only rented Dr. Strange for Cumberbatch and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

I still enjoy the superhero/Marvel films in a generic popcorn chuckles kind of way but it doesn't do tons for me and even renting them has become not much of priority. 

[algroth]

I liked the final set-piece with the whole "I've come to bargain" loop. I do think the film is very creaky from a narrative perspective throughout, however.

[injurai]

I liked the final set-piece with the whole "I've come to bargain" loop. I do think the film is very creaky from a narrative perspective throughout, however.

 

I agree it was pretty neat and refreshing, but just almost every good scene seemed like a disjoint idea that had to be stitched together.

[Raithe]

 

I liked the final set-piece with the whole "I've come to bargain" loop. I do think the film is very creaky from a narrative perspective throughout, however.

 

I agree it was pretty neat and refreshing, but just almost every good scene seemed like a disjoint idea that had to be stitched together.

 

 

To be fair, that was pretty much the Dr Strange comics for any "major" storyline.

Lots of disjointed acid trips tied together in a rather loose framework, that had very little connection to reality because it was magic and weird dimensions rather than sci-fi space that people kind of understood.

[Sarex]

Thor seems to have fallen victim to Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, way to many jokes crammed in. Raiden-Thor was cool though.

[algroth]

 

I liked the final set-piece with the whole "I've come to bargain" loop. I do think the film is very creaky from a narrative perspective throughout, however.

 

I agree it was pretty neat and refreshing, but just almost every good scene seemed like a disjoint idea that had to be stitched together.

 

Yeah, I agree. Generally speaking, Doctor Strange is a good case study of what mistakes to avoid whilst making a superhero origin story, especially compared to something like, say, Wonder Woman. For starters, an issue that is present in most origin stories and which is in my view at least the cardinal sin for these narratives, is that the whole first half of the story where the protagonist acquires his powers, trains them, and builds his superhero persona is often completely extraneous to the overarching conflict, responding to pretty different motivations and not really moving the actual conflict of the story forward. Doctor Strange goes to have his hands fixed, learns about magic, begins to train in this art so as to - one would presume - overcome the condition his hands are in, or just to know more because who wouldn't want to know more about magic; however, how does this tie at all with the whole plot surrounding Kaecilius and Dormammu? How does this whole sequence progress that conflict further? Contrast that with Wonder Woman: in that story the whole training montage and epiphany regarding the protagonist's powers are all in service of the primary conflict, the objective being throughout that of ending Ares and thus ending 'evil' so to speak. The villain in this case is introduced through the origin story itself, and the whole 'origin' half of the film is made in service of moving this conflict further as well as presenting and building the character of Wonder Woman. Yes, it's true that Kecilius is introduced in the very first scene of Doctor Strange, but he's then not to be seen again and not really relevant until halfway through the film, where his re-introduction sets the conflict once more in motion in some of the weirdest ways possible, involving a few location jumps and so on as well - I recall feeling like a whole reel had been removed somewhere amidst that sequence when I first saw it.

 

And that's only one of the issues, really... Mordo and Wong's characters are all over the shop, especially during the final act. The training sequence itself does a pretty poor job in conveying *how* Strange acquires those powers, with the sequence where he is finally able to cast his first spell occuring off-screen... The film generally seems to show a bunch of things in this sequence that feel like they are there because "they should be" in an origin story but never seems to understand what they're supposed to be telling. The rules that are laid out and explained through these sequences are all set to be broken without much repercussions in the future, and all to eventually throw the rulebook off a window so as to use magic for the sake of comedic effect... It's a mess, yeah, and contrary to what Raithe says, I don't think you can forgive the film for featuring the same faults as the source material as it is its own work and should, in the hands of a more capable director or writer, have recognized and ironed out those flaws if they existed in the first place; though I do think plenty of scenes are individually worth picking out from the lot, and I do like the way the whole epiphany is handled, both visually and narratively.

Edited November 30, 2017 by algroth

[LadyCrimson]

Rented "The Hit man's Bodyguard."

 

Expected stupid silly action film and pretty much that's it. Action is action, comedy comes from the odd-couple forced-into-situation buddy formula. Starts off ok, predictable but watchable. Reynolds and Jackson serviceable but neither escapes the main typecasting they're known for.

 

That said, it's still playing as hubby is next to me watching and I'm here posting. Make of that as you will.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah that movie was watchable, but anyone can pretty much cover the whole experience by watching the trailer.

[kellyon]

Becoming Bond - 8.5/10
 
Having never seen a Bond film I didn't think this would be of any interest to me but I thought it was well done documentary about George Lazenby.  I had heard the name before and it is unfortunate he was the butt of all jokes in Hollywood for walking away from the Bond franchise but once he tells you why you will gain the utmost respect for him.  He's had quite the life, not bad for a former car salesman.

[Fiach]

Becoming Bond - 8.5/10

 

Having never seen a Bond film I didn't think this would be of any interest to me but I thought it was well done documentary about George Lazenby.  I had heard the name before and it is unfortunate he was the butt of all jokes in Hollywood for walking away from the Bond franchise but once he tells you why you will gain the utmost respect for him.  He's had quite the life, not bad for a former car salesman.

Must check that out, it sounds interesting. The first Bond movie I was able to watch the whole way through was Goldeneye and that was because of the game on N64, I liked the Daniel Craig Casino Royale, but was never bothered to watch any of the others all the way through.

[algroth]

Damn, I missed Guillermo del Toro's AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/7hjmvn/guillermo_del_toro_here_director_gamer_tequila/

[ShadySands]

Oh lord Jesus, it's a fire

 

Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Is Really Happening, and Will Be Rated R

 

If you thought that report about Quentin Tarantino directing a Star Trek movie would just fade into away into the Hollywood turnaround machine, you thought wrong. Deadline reports that Tarantino is beginning work on the project, and Paramount has agreed to make his dreams of an R-rated Trek movie come true. Because if a Tarantino movie exists without rapid-fire profanity and blood-splattering, is it really a Tarantino movie at all? The director is also currently sizing up screenwriters. Contenders include Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer, and Drew Pearce, each of whom would bring an entirely different sensibility to the table

 

I love Trek and I like Tarantino but I don't want that peanut butter in my chocolate

[injurai]

Oh lord Jesus, it's a fire

 

Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Is Really Happening, and Will Be Rated R

 

If you thought that report about Quentin Tarantino directing a Star Trek movie would just fade into away into the Hollywood turnaround machine, you thought wrong. Deadline reports that Tarantino is beginning work on the project, and Paramount has agreed to make his dreams of an R-rated Trek movie come true. Because if a Tarantino movie exists without rapid-fire profanity and blood-splattering, is it really a Tarantino movie at all? The director is also currently sizing up screenwriters. Contenders include Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer, and Drew Pearce, each of whom would bring an entirely different sensibility to the table

 

I love Trek and I like Tarantino but I don't want that peanut butter in my chocolate

 

I'm totally game. I think Tarantino is enough of a fan of classics to honor the franchise.

 

It makes me wonder though. Tarantino announced that he plans (not set in stone, but he reinforced at the time about being adamant) that he'd retire from films after his 10th. Death Proof not counting for that final. His reason is he didn't want to stay past his prime.

 

But ST would make is tenth and final film. I'm guessing it won't count, or his plans have already shifted a bit.

 

I think I'll be fine with Tarantino even employing many of his trademarks elements if he at least stays true to the ethos of the franchise. Most of his films are snapshots into the story and lives of morally duplicitous or bankrupt people. I hope ST isn't about that, but I'd be fine some red shirts meet a grisly end.

Edited December 8, 2017 by injurai

[Hurlshort]

I'm guessing Tarantino's ST would just be a couple crew members stuck in a cave on a planet talking a lot and trying to figure out who the bad guy is. Which I'd totally watch.