Cinema Paradise - the Movie Thread Transformed

[LittleArmadillo0]

Even with season 3 cancelled is it still worth a watch?

[Zoraptor]

Yes.

 

It's extremely shlocky and low budget, obviously, but well worth watching. Bonus if you've ever seen Hercules/ Xena as they reuse a bunch of actors from them near 20 years on.

[Lexx]

It's a bit of a shame, because I thought season 3 was a lot better than season 2. Also the ending of season 3 made me want to see more. :/

[LittleArmadillo0]

I think I'll check it out then!

[ktchong]

The truth about Star Wars is... the only good Star Wars movies were the classic trilogy and Rogue One.  

The prequel trilogy sucked.  That is not a controversial opinion.  

The Force Awaken was above average.  Maybe.  Probably.  It rehashed a lot of old stuff from the classic trilogy.  Looking back with hindsight, I think the seeds for a lot of the problems in The Last Jedi were planted in The Force Awaken: i.e., Rey being a Mary Sue, Finn being a pointless distraction that serves no real narrative purpose, Kylo being a pathetic villain who does not scare or threaten anyone, The First Order being a senselessly powerful and well-resourced organization that came out of nowhere, etc., etc.  

 

J.J.  Abrams, who has a track record of disrespecting and discarding canon of an established franchise to suit his visions, planted the seeds for the inevitable fall of the Star Wars franchise just as he had planted the seeds for the current ongoing disintegration of the Star Trek universe.

 

So The Last Jedi was just so awful that it might have already killed the franchise. 

 

Solo was either average or below average.  Honestly I am not sure.  It was just okay, I suppose.  It did not blow me away (like Rogue One did.)  Given that Rogue One outperformed and was so well-received,  Solo - being the follow-up "Star Wars Story" movie to Rogue One - should have done well at the box office.  Yet it bombed.  IMO, The Last Jedi was the reason for the loss of audience and fan interest in Star Wars.

 

So really the Star Wars franchise only exists to continue to leech off the success of - and nostalgia for - the classic trilogy.  The classic trilogy is really the only standout movies in the entire franchise.  Everything else was just *meh*.  Even the unexpectedly good Rogue One is directly tied/led into the classic trilogy.

I am not boycotting Star Wars like so many angry/former fans are.  However, after The Last Jedi, I have completely lost interest in Star Wars.  After The Last Jedi, I find it hard to get excited for the franchise.  I did not even want to see Solo.  I saw Solo only because I had MoviePass and wanted to make the most out of the movie club subscription.  Otherwise I would not have bothered with Solo.

Nowadays, Star Wars to me is just like the DCEU, Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, and MonsterVerse franchises.   I really don't care for any of them.  I rarely see any of them,

i.e.:  

I have not seen Justice League, and I do not plan to see Aquaman or Shazam unless they get terrific reviews like Wonder Woman did. (I've seen the trailers for Aquaman and Shazam, but their trailers were not impressive enough to overcome my extremely negative opinion of DCEU.)  

I have not seen any Pirates or Transformer movies after the second movie, which was more than a decade ago.  (However, I may see Bumblebee in theaters - because the trailer impressed me; I'll still wait for its reviews and Rotten Tomatoes score before I make a final decision.  At least Bumblebee has my interest.  I did not even care about Transformers 3/4/5/etc. enough to bother checking their reviews or Tomatoes score.)  

I have not seen the latest Godzilla or King Kong movie, and I do not plan to see anything else from the MonsterVerse.  The trailer for the first crossover movie was so cheesy, the premise sounded so ridiculously stupid, that I think I won't bother with the movie.

I have no plan to see Star Wars Episode 9.  And, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so wrong about The Last Jedi, I won't even go see Episode 9 if its Rotten Tomatoes score is very good - because I no longer trust Rotten Tomatoes on Star Wars.

 

Disney and LucasFilm either is in denial or still has not realized.  I think Star Wars Epsiode 9 will seriously underperform at the box office.  By then, it will be too late to take corrective action and reverse course, and Star Wars will have degraded into another cheap franchise like The Pirates of the Carribean and Michael Bay's Transformers.
 

Edited September 4, 2018 by ktchong

[Malcador]

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/09/03/buzz-aldrin-slams-first-man-movie-controversy-posts-photos-us-flag-on-moon-with-proud-to-be-american-hashtag.amp.html

 

Apparently the flag planting not being shown is a problem.  Is an amusing one, but still one.

[Malcador]

Pretty sure that most people know it was an American achievement and if the movie's chronicling Armstrong's life that'll be obvious as well, so not really seeing the damage done by omitting it.  A movie about Iwo Jima isn't going to be harmed or somehow revisionist to leave out either of the flag raising as how significant is that to the battle ?

 

People saying the movie does show the flag on the moon's surface in many shots so, if true, it's even more of a non issue.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Malcador

[Hurlshort]

I'm pretty sure he planted an MTV flag, not a US one.

 

[Volourn]

"Pretty sure that most people know it was an American achievement and if the movie's chronicling Armstrong's life that'll be obvious as well, so not really seeing the damage done by omitting it. "

 

The damage is the goal is to brainwash and change history in the memories of viewers. An idiot Kanadian actor even bragged about the fact that that is their goal. That it was a 'world accomplishment' even though it was clearly an Amerikan one. And, a white male one at that. Don't worry, when they do another movie of the moon landing. The star will be an arab female.

[Malcador]

Hard to believe people will think that a US organization and US scientists, engineers and pilots (Paperclip folk aside ) - which I imagine the movie isn't leaving out, even if it's an Armstrong biopic - did something and it's not an American achievement.

[Tale]

Did I mention I watched Upgrade over the weekend? That movie was surprisingly fantastic.

[Hurlshort]

Apparently the flag is shown in a bunch of shots, so this might just be a bunch of hullabaloo.

 

The first steps and the speech Armstrong gave would seem to be the big moments from a historical perspective.

 

Also I love Gosling as an actor, but like all Hollywood types, why do we care about their opinions? Celebrity is not a sign of intelligence.

[injurai]

People A doing thing B to achieve thing C is different than People X doing Thing Y to achieve Thing Z.

 

I do agree the moment is a testament to what humanity can achieve when they apply thing B to achieve things L,M,N,O,P.

 

As an American and as a human I'm proud of the achievement. It's not mine, it was other people's. But I get to share in the legacy. Nobody shares Andrew Wiles or Albert Einstein's achievement, but we get to benefit from the legacy and we too can venture into uncharted territories of both knowledge and achievement. We all inherit the legacy of B and a free to take up it's torch.

 

I do find it odd how so many modern people (by which I mean more so those of which who choose to operate in a public spotlight) often can't balance the distinction between individual achievement, group achievement, human testament, and inherited legacy. Perhaps a focused film could get distracted trying to do all of that, but you'd think at the very least the viewers and critics could capture that distinction post-facto. Rarely does this occur in the public spotlight, rarely do people take the opportunity for the more interesting conception. Rarely are people honest over that which is non-explicit.

[Raithe]

Hey, how much did you see us complaining when Errol Flyn and the Yanks won Borneo in WW2 regardless of how few Americans were there compared to the British, or U571 captured an enigma machine... or Mel Gibson impregnated the English Queen for Scotland...

 

Hollywood and the movie machine love to play around with history regardless. It's part and parcel. Even with the "true stories".

[Malcador]

 

U571 captured an enigma machine..

Well, there was plenty of "outrage" over that Even got a mention in Parliament - https://www.parliament.uk/edm/1999-00/792

[ktchong]

So last night I helped some friends, Asian friends, sign up for AMC A-List.  Then we headed straight to an AMC to watched The Meg.

 

As we were leaving the theaters after watching the movie, we had an interesting discussion.

 

"Oh yeah, another movie with the big manly white savior hero and his Asian female love interest.  And this one was financed and produced by a Chinese company. What's with that?"

 

"Well, the director and screenwriters are still white."

 

"They are Jews.  Jewish men love Asian women.  Of course they want to make movies to promote and encourage Asian women to be with white men. It's a Hollywod conspiracy and propaganda, I tell you!"   (i.e., to Asians, Jews are just a subtype of white people, like wood elves are a subtype of elves.)

 

 

That is the sentiment among Asians with all these Hollywood movies that keep pairing up white men with Asian women - but NEVER the other way round.  In fact, Hollywood does not even pair up Asian men with Asian women in movies.  It does not fit into their agenda and narrative, I suppose.

 

Except The Meg is not 100-percent completely a Hollywood production.  It was financed and produced by Chinese, which really just made it worse because they could have taken a stand and made a difference and made a difference, but they did not.  Instead they resorted to using that very stereotypical trope that is very insulting to many Asians.  Which was especially disappointing.

 

Oh well.  Just saying.  Does not mean I'm gonna turn Republican and go around yelling "Jews will not replace us!"

Edited September 5, 2018 by ktchong

[Volourn]

*shrug* Aasian women are found to be attractive. Asian men not so much. Blame women - Asian women and white women and other women - for that. L0L

 

 

Besdies, you full of kaka.  Crazy Rich Asians was just released. It was almost Aasian including the main couple. Why ignore that?

[Malcador]

Reminds me of Alex Jones theorizing that Rose was put in TLJ to prepare people for Asian dominance, or something

[SonicMage117]

@Ktchong

 

Hello friend, I'd have to disagree on a few of your opinions here.  Seems to be just the usual nostalgia-based opinion we hear time and time again and I'll explain why, swiftly.

 

 

 

 

Adressing the biggest Dianoga in the room...

 

The classic trilogy is just as bad as the newest (Disney) Star Wars movies in every way. Somwhow, as nostalgic/classic fans, we tend to have a desire to discard a franchise or parts of it when we don't like where the lore is or how it's being handled. We'll whine about the films we didnt like and excuse the errors of the older ones we do like in a desperate attempt to prove our point. If we are going to be realistic about the lore and the delusion of it being ruined, we can agree that the lore was always this way, meant to be this way.

 

As a massive fan of Star Wars myself, I often carry the burden of being blunt about this with fellow fans and acknowledge the fact that story was never the strong-point of the humbled space opera. It's not that the story is getting ruined, people are just getting tired of a franchuse that was predictable to begin with. For that reason, it's not sad to see the popularity for movies dying off.

 

It always was strange to me - as well as plenty of Star Wars fans how Vader being revealed as Luke's father was considered a plot-twist/climax. It was so forseeable that it was comparable to Palpatine being "revealed" as the sith lord. Additionally, purist fans hare to come to reason and accept the fact that Jar Jar became pivotol despite the unapprovaple and Pod Racers and Starfighters are now just as iconic as the tie fighters/x-wings to boot.

 

Hardcore fans such as myself long for the inclusion of plot-hole fillers and that's where other means of mediums spaces comes in (Books, Video Games, Comics, Cartoons), which are and always  have been more important than the classic movies and modern ones. All the same. Most fams who can't accept the new lores and cling to the old films do not even delve into the lost lores , it's very sad.

 

 

 

 

 

Further on, and into the Hutt's lair....

 

 

 

If we open our minds a bit, and learn to see if we can appreciate the films for ourselves instead of going by reviews or others' opinions, you may find yourself surprised, pleasantly surprised at how close the production quality of the new Star Wars films really are compared to the older ones - no better, no worse. I suspect if we had the old Star Wars films released now, they would get the same feedback, legacy can be such a blinder. This seemingly well applies to critics as well.

 

 

Is/Will the franchise REALLY die? The answer is: Only on the big screen which is the lesser importance anyway. As said earlier, Star Wars is making money through other means, Disney and LucasFilm are well aware of this. They're very smart, the fall of Star Wars' success on the big screen wasn't anything that's surprising. So the fact that old-school fans hate that Star Wars as a whole is making far more money now than ever is yet another thing to whine about. The name isn't in any danger and I doubt it will ever be.

 

Lastly, there is no need to use big fonts, some of us are old yes but these old eyes have seen many things and still see as well as they did in the yester years of travels to Deagostini.

 

Okay Gweedo, it's been a pleasure. Lord SM117 out but spectating (as always).

[algroth]

*shrug* Aasian women are found to be attractive. Asian men not so much.

Tony Leung is daddy material though. <3

[Vitalis]

J.J. Abrams, who has a track record of disrespecting and discarding canon of an established franchise to suit his visions, planted the seeds for the inevitable fall of the Star Wars franchise just as he had planted the seeds for the current ongoing disintegration of the Star Trek universe.

 

Star Trek is dying because CBS' Les Moonves hates sci-fi and had refused to let anything happen with the franchise besides STD.

 

The JJ Abrhams Star Trek is done by Paramount who had the licensing to do something different from the Main ST series, which they did. They are also in a bid to get the original ST thrown out in favor of their version, which is likely if CBS ever remerges with Viacom.

[SonicMage117]

^Reminds me so much of 80's/90's B-movies I used to see. Plus it has Becky G (if you don't know she is, google is your friend).

 

Interesting...

[LadyCrimson]

There are plenty of hot Asian males. Just not usually, apparently, in Hollywood casting.

Bring Gong Yoo over here, among many others. As a female, I wouldn't complain at all. Although imo Hollywood would do actors like Gong Yoo no favors. So on the other hand ... leave your grubby hands off of them, Hollywood.

[Volourn]

Dude, it is just fact that women of all races find Asian males the 'least attractive'. That isn't me or Hollywood. That is women. even Asian women aren't as gungo ho about Aasian men like other races are of their old. Just like, sadly, black  women as opposed to black men are not usually rated high on the 'sexometer'. of coruse there are exceptions though. Sometimes the truth is harsh.

 

Just like the harsh truth is I'm a '1'. You just have to suck up the hard facts. Don't cry over it. LMAO

[Maedhros]

Yeah, my sexual organ is definitely more racist than my brain. I think it's the same with most people.

 

------

 

Saw Silence by Martin Scorsese. I thought it was better than most of his films, which many probably wouldn't agree with. Loved the tense atmosphere and the setting. Feudal Japan is always fun.