Cinema Paradise - the Movie Thread Transformed

[Gritino]

I dunno, when they announced Solo I can't recall hearing many responses other than "why?". I never expected it to do good. Thought the same for Rogue One though, and I was wrong on that.

 

The anthology films = good

 

The sequel trilogy = bad

[injurai]

I enjoyed Rogue One, but after watching Solo I went back to watch the Half In The Bag for it and Rogue One. I pretty much agree with they're take, but I realized something in addition.

 

It's really just the SW universe that I'm interested in as a character at this point. It's just a neat world to get lost in. Rogue One I loved seeing the temple and I thought it's destruction was cool. The shield planet was neat. This is the problem though with these new movies. The character's and stories are starting to take a backseat to the world, and the world tends to be half-rehash, and half something familiar set against the backdrop of the SW universe. The force is also being severely under-explored, and instead they are spending too much time trying to rewrite the audience's perception of the force. I could excuse the side-stories for being somewhat half-baked, but TLJ really really gutted the most fascinating and promising parts of TFA. So now TFA is half rehash and half dead ends... how the hell did LucasArts allow that to happen? At least the prequels where all building to something with intention, those films had more of an issue as films and people's expectations of the sorts of films they were to be getting. The new films are better constructed sure, but they've forgotten the whole purpose of a film or film series. They just don't deliver a story, they explore and meander and act as if they are too big to fail. The hubris has begun to seep at the seems.

[ShadySands]

I would kind of agree with the dude from RLM saying that Star Wars is just creatively bankrupt if it wasn't for the KOTORs and SWTOR (Sorry, I never EUed beyond that). So I guess I'm just left with Disney/Kathleen Kennedy doesn't know what to do with it.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

Nice, we went from "this character is missing half her nose and a good chunk of her lips" to "eh, she has a cosmetic scar I guess" 

[SonicMage117]

Rogue One was great because they said "Hey, We're going to do EXACTLY the opposite of what George Lucas has ever done and make it work." Thus proving Disney can push Star Wars films easily as well-written and designed as the old trilogy.

 

And Rogue One did indeed have better writing, twists and stuff that fans didn't necessarily like because they never seen that approach, this may or may not have been a hard pill for some to swallow. I figured that fans of the classics would rejoice/celebrate in this but... Anyhoot, Solo, on the other hand was an idea of fan service that turned out to be the joke of the franchise. At the same time, many fans are happy to see that "New" Star Wars can be bad, doesn't matter to me if it's Disney's fault, it's still Star Wars and there's no seperation of old and new in the end, mainly because people don't stereotypically think "original trilogy" when you say Star Wars. That time has passed long ago. Nevermind that Kylo Ren is being dubbed "The clumsy sith" as you may recall, Darth Vader also had a nickname or two. Which movies do you guys think actually have better characters and character development? The whole "I am your father" is one of the most cliche tales of time yet falsely favored for being some kind of twist.

 

Time to dig out the old Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga teeheehee

[Zoraptor]

If anything Rogue One is the most Lucas like of the Disney era, since it has similar core influences. At its heart the original trilogy was based on pulp stuff like Flash Gordon, and explicitly influenced by 7 Samurai, and Rogue One has a number of notable comparisons to both- older influences but they check out. It also had the most memeable dialogue of any Disney era movie, another thing Lucas was known for. That was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. In contrast the other sequels tended to be... unmemorable, dialogue wise, which in many ways is worse than being bad.

 

It's not much like the prequels, but the prequels' influence was more classic Tragedy than pulp scifi and Kurosawa.

 

Funnily enough the feedback I've seen for Solo from fans is far more positive than it was for either TFA or TLJ despite how it's been professionally rated as worse.

[Gritino]

If anything Rogue One is the most Lucas like of the Disney era, since it has similar core influences. At its heart the original trilogy was based on pulp stuff like Flash Gordon, and explicitly influenced by 7 Samurai, and Rogue One has a number of notable comparisons to both- older influences but they check out. It also had the most memeable dialogue of any Disney era movie, another thing Lucas was known for. That was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. In contrast the other sequels tended to be... unmemorable, dialogue wise, which in many ways is worse than being bad.

 

It's not much like the prequels, but the prequels' influence was more classic Tragedy than pulp scifi and Kurosawa.

 

Funnily enough the feedback I've seen for Solo from fans is far more positive than it was for either TFA or TLJ despite how it's been professionally rated as worse.

 

Solo wasn't a bad movie.

 

Really, the problem with the sequel trilogy is that it's essentially a half-assed rehash of the OT; the anthology films actually tell a different story and so naturally, people feel like they're actually watching something they haven't seen before rather than watching the same story but with different actors.

[injurai]

I would kind of agree with the dude from RLM saying that Star Wars is just creatively bankrupt if it wasn't for the KOTORs and SWTOR (Sorry, I never EUed beyond that). So I guess I'm just left with Disney/Kathleen Kennedy doesn't know what to do with it.

 

Yup, along with the notion that the SW universe is actually quite small. More so now than ever it feels.

[SonicMage117]

If anything Rogue One is the most Lucas like of the Disney era, since it has similar core influences.

I think you mean The Force Awakens.

 

Rogue One is more like Star Trek than Star Wars for "Various" reasons. I'm looking past the edgey current way of modernized writing (I'm talking about the older Star Trek episodes). Qeustioning of moral grounds, making irrelevant characters the center piece, racial formation vs segragation, mixed relationships - that's just the start. The list literally goes on, these are impending topics that Lucas never dared to touch, but Roddenbury did.

 

So kudos to Disney for actually doing something different with Rogue One that Lucas never had the guts to do. They brang Star Wars to be a bit more relevant and relatable then it was then. Heck, perhaps that may be why alot of long time fans are upset with Disney too (excluding the ever appearing nonsense of "Oh it's Disney so you know they'll mess things up", of course).

 

 

 

Solo, on the other hand, is something that started as a bit of a love letter to fans but unfortunately ended up (in eyes of the majority) to be a middle finger to fans.

 

Personally, I'm just happy they're not staying in Lucas's comfort zone. The franchise is evolving and people don't like change, it doesn't have to do with carbon copying stories or bad quality. I fear, it's almost like "fans" want Disney to fail with Star Wars so they'll sell it off... like anyone would do a better job at this point though.

[Katphood]

Watching 'And Justice For All' together with my cats, they seem to be enjoying it a bit more than I am.

[Amentep]

[Bartimaeus]

Grave of the Fireflies. What a piece of crap...is sort of what I thought when I watched this the first time many years ago when I was younger and utterly abhorred all anime and anything anime-esque. And also it was when I was kind of forced into watching it because of and with somebody else, and in Japanese. Now slightly more mature because of age and having already broadened my horizons by enjoying other Ghibli movies, this second time around was very different. Instead of being unable to enjoy myself, I merely wanted to shoot myself in the face. Just kidding, it was very good - completely different experience, was pretty much like I hadn't seen it. I can see why I hated it the first time I saw it, though - for somebody not at all acquainted with the genre, or pretty much anything Japanese outside of Nintendo games...and being stuck watching a little child cry for a not insignificant amount of the screen time...watching it with somebody else...I can see why I didn't like it. Would not recommend to somebody who hasn't seen any other Ghibli movies - try something more fun like Totoro or Kiki's first.

I've also been re-watching some of the others. The biggest change in perception has been Whisper of the Heart, which I initially thought was great, but upon watching it again, discovered that I unfortunately really just absolutely loved it, and it easily became my favorite (and a top 3 favorite film period - it really strikes me how this just seems like a film that was made specifically for me, and that's a really special feeling that I don't think I've ever had about any movie before, which ALMOST catapults it to a rating I've never given any movie before, but which I have decided to remain a little more objective about for the time-being). I must've been like half-asleep when I watched it the first time, since it felt like I was seeing it for the first time again. There were some other slight shifts, but this is basically how the ratings turned out:

9.0: Whisper of the Heart
​8.5: My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle
​8.0: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke
​7.5: Pom Poko, Porco Rosso, From Up on Poppy Hill, Only Yesterday
​7.0: Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle in the Sky
​6.5: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, When Marnie Was There, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
​
This should be the end of my Ghibli posts, I think. So, finally, I'd like to give a shout-out to this poster of Nausicaa that I kept seeing in a "top 100 movies of all time" list that I initially completely ignored, but began to intrigue me and slowly wore me down enough to give it a shot. You were the real MVP.

​

​

 

[injurai]

My favorite Miyazaki film is The Wind Rises, I'm surprised you are stopping short of the end.

[SonicMage117]

What is Ghibli, exactly? I've never seen a Ghibli movie but I know Ni No Kuni was a Ghibli game.

[Bartimaeus]

It's a Japanese animation company very renowned for its writing. Well, their animation, too, but if their writing was bad, nobody would care as much.

My favorite Miyazaki film is The Wind Rises, I'm surprised you are stopping short of the end.

Yeah, technically, the three I haven't seen are My Neighbor the Yamadas, Tales from Earthsea, and The Wind Rises. I don't expect to care for the former two, while yes, I am interested in the latter, but didn't really expect to write or talk about it. Maybe it'll prove me wrong, though.

[Blarghagh]

Thwy are to anime what Pixar is to CG animation.

[algroth]

 

It has Interstellar written all over it, and the trailer is definitely cut to practically look like a Nolan film, but regardless it does look very good. Very much looking forward to it.

[injurai]

 

It has Interstellar written all over it, and the trailer is definitely cut to practically look like a Nolan film, but regardless it does look very good. Very much looking forward to it.

 

Looks great to me, I'm not really seeing Nolan vibes. The tone is pretty severe, I wonder how the movie will ultimately play out.

[redneckdevil]

watched infinity wars and then hans solo right after.

infinity wars was ****ing awesome! 

hans solo surprised me and made me fall in love with stars wars again since i havent been in love with them since watching the first 3 on cable in the 80s with my dad when i was a kid.  the prequels and all after just meh to me but hans solo i loved it! awesome cast, enough mix of story and action, and love seeing how he got the ship and chewie and so forth.  definitely gonna buy hans solo when it comes out on blue ray.

[Fiach]

Grave of the Fireflies. What a piece of crap...is sort of what I thought when I watched this the first time many years ago when I was younger and utterly abhorred all anime and anything anime-esque. And also it was when I was kind of forced into watching it because of and with somebody else, and in Japanese. Now slightly more mature because of age and having already broadened my horizons by enjoying other Ghibli movies, this second time around was very different. Instead of being unable to enjoy myself, I merely wanted to shoot myself in the face. Just kidding, it was very good - completely different experience, was pretty much like I hadn't seen it. I can see why I hated it the first time I saw it, though - for somebody not at all acquainted with the genre, or pretty much anything Japanese outside of Nintendo games...and being stuck watching a little child cry for a not insignificant amount of the screen time...watching it with somebody else...I can see why I didn't like it. Would not recommend to somebody who hasn't seen any other Ghibli movies - try something more fun like Totoro or Kiki's first.

I've also been re-watching some of the others. The biggest change in perception has been Whisper of the Heart, which I initially thought was great, but upon watching it again, discovered that I unfortunately really just absolutely loved it, and it easily became my favorite (and a top 3 favorite film period - it really strikes me how this just seems like a film that was made specifically for me, and that's a really special feeling that I don't think I've ever had about any movie before, which ALMOST catapults it to a rating I've never given any movie before, but which I have decided to remain a little more objective about for the time-being). I must've been like half-asleep when I watched it the first time, since it felt like I was seeing it for the first time again. There were some other slight shifts, but this is basically how the ratings turned out:

9.0: Whisper of the Heart

​8.5: My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle

​8.0: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke

​7.5: Pom Poko, Porco Rosso, From Up on Poppy Hill, Only Yesterday

​7.0: Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle in the Sky

​6.5: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, When Marnie Was There, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

​

This should be the end of my Ghibli posts, I think. So, finally, I'd like to give a shout-out to this poster of Nausicaa that I kept seeing in a "top 100 movies of all time" list that I initially completely ignored, but began to intrigue me and slowly wore me down enough to give it a shot. You were the real MVP.

​

​

 

Grave of the Fireflies was the name of the guild in which I was a member, in a MMO called Ryzom.

[Fiach]

Went to see Jurassic last night. Good movie, great animation, even though most of it was a set up for the threequel, they still finished the story decently and you get the exposé by Jeff Goldblum as to why it's called Jurassic World.

[Gfted1]

Thor: Ragnorak

 

It was entertaining, but dare I say, a little too slapstick-y.

[Bartimaeus]

I actually saw that yesterday, too. I sort of thought the same thing, except that it wasn't totally a negative, because the previous two movies were completely overly-serious snorefests. Though I did think the pacing was really jarring at times, and cut-back-to-pointless-boring-villain-of-the-week every ten minutes or so didn't help. But thank goodness they cut out all the human characters, because they were all absolutely dreadful. I think I might actually hate Natalie Portman - she's such a dead weight in every film I've seen her in with the exception of like Leon. Overall, it wasn't too shabby. It was weird that Thor in this movie is the same character as the previous two, since they weren't terribly alike.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[algroth]

Wait, what? The first Thor was totally taking the piss, it was arguably the most openly comedic of the first wave of MCU films what with the whole fish out of water and overt "no longer a god" type slapstick throughout. I thought it was good fun myself (actually I've enjoyed all Thor films on a more consistent basis than I have those of any other Avenger, though it's not saying a terrible lot either).

[Volourn]

Watched Ragnorak last night. Easily the worst of the three Thors.