Topic: The Movie Thread

@KALofKRYPTON Maybe I'm being bias because I'm a Will Smith fan but I honestly wouldn't mind a Deadshot solo film. Both he and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn were the only plus points for me in that movie.

I wasn't on board with the idea of Ledger being cast as The Joker initially but he proved me wrong. For me, he's Joker is one on the best and iconic on screen villains of all time. Like you, I think Phoenix is probably a good pick for the project as well mainly because I can actually see him as the Joker.

I also loved Under The Red Hood's animated movie version of The Joker.

@WanderingBullet I've no problem with Will Smith - I just think it wasn't the best move to anchor the film around him so heavily. Deadshot is a deathly boring character at the best of times (I mean, you've got Captain Boomerang!). Casting someone a with a little less star power and focusing more on the team really would have helped. As would not trying to be too Marvel-like in the edit (and trailers).

As I say Ledger is great, but his Joker is a total contrivance for that film. I'm not sure I can articulate it well enough to make sense to be honest. He's great, it's a good film for the most part too - but the story and script always feel so entirely contrived by way of narrative convenience, that I don't think Ledger's Joker could exist effectively outside of it. it is the way of Nolan's film making that his characters and story beats only ever exist to very specifically serve the narrative; an insular feeling I suppose.

SO what do you all think of the Star Wars Episode IX cast announcements, i'm pretty sure @RogerRoger will be happy

EDIT: Also it looks like the Disney/Fox deal is done so i wonder how that will impact things and i wonder how long until we get news on the X-Men and Fantastic 4 coming to the MCU?

I rarely watch super hero movies, even though I like comic books. My main complaint is they can be a bit superficial. But to each its own of course!

Anyway, I was excited for the Nolan Batman films back in the early 2000s, based on Nolan's involvement. And now I'm finally hyped for a super hero movie again, thanks to Phoenix' involvement in this new Joker movie. Don't let me down!

(Also, I did like the Watchmen movie)

Saw Deadpool 2 the other day and I really enjoyed it. I liked it more then the first one. I especially liked the end bits during the credits. Can't wait for the third one.

@Tasuki Nice. I've already pre-ordered the Blu-ray from Amazon. Still waiting for Infinity War to be available for pre-order.

@Kidfried I wasn't really a big fan of the Watchmen movie. There was also that one scene which was pretty disturbing.

@WanderingBullet @KidfriedI loved Watchmen. Excellent adaptation I thought.

I watched Coco (brilliant) and The Greatest Showman (waste of 2 hours) at the weekend.

Hoping to catch Teen Titans Go To The Movies with my daughter at some point this week too.

I rewatched Spider-Man Homecoming this weekend and I feel properly hyped for the game. September 7th couldn’t come soon enough.

@FullbringIchigo Thanks for the tag about the cast announcement for Star Wars: Episode IX, which I am quite pleased about, not least because Lando is FINALLY coming back. I'm also glad that they've found a respectful way to include Carrie Fisher (that her family approves of), and that we're gonna see Luke again, presumably as a Force Ghost to give us some proper closure. It's a shame that they won't be able to include Harrison Ford and have a proper reunion, but this sounds like the closest we're gonna get; after the divisive reaction to The Last Jedi, I'm not surprised Disney and JJ Abrams are playing the "safe crowd-pleaser" cards to close the trilogy.

@RogerRoger same, although i did enjoy the Last Jedi myself i can see why others wouldn't, it wasted too much time introducing and building up new characters that should have been used to build up the existing ones, some characters were out of character (and strangely not Luke as many say, what he did is pretty much what all Jedi do in situations like that, run away and hide from their troubles) and Reys power wasn't explained very well, it felt like the first part of a series not the middle like it should have been as if they had made an intro movie and then made another one

still i think JJ can end it properly, he is a pretty good film maker and i don't mind them playing the "crowd pleaser" cards if it means we get a good, enjoyable film out of it

@FullbringIchigo Yeah, I'm all for going nuts with Star Wars, but don't do it in the middle of an ongoing trilogy which is designed to (in Disney's mind, at least) make Star Wars appeal to the masses again, after many tuned out during the prequel era. Rian Johnson is getting to make his own trilogy, separate from everything else; he should've gone wild there, and played it a little safer.

PS: Nice new avatar! I have that .gif somewhere, but was also thinking of using this one day...

...from the filming of the same scene! Great minds!

@RogerRoger yeah they should have waited to take the big risks because the fallout from TLJ even impacted Solo which is actually a pretty good film but a lot didn't go to see it because of the Last Jedi

also yeah with all the Star Wars news coming out lately, The return of the Clone Wars, the Episode IX announcements etc, etc i felt like using a Star Wars gif for my avatar, it was either joyful Obi-Wan or a dancing Darth Vader, i went with Obi-Wan obviously

@FullbringIchigo Still haven't seen Solo yet, am waiting for the Blu-Ray (which is out the same week as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I think... speaking of, the new Tomb Raider film is out on Blu-Ray now, I should probably get that soon, too).

Joyful Obi-Wan is the best Obi-Wan.

@WanderingBullet Which is in the comic. As much as I despise the scene, I'm glad they didn't go for a lighter tone than the source material.

So in continuing my Spider-Man hype, I watched The Amazing Spider-Man tonight, after having watched Homecoming a couple nights ago. Actually, it had been a while and I forgot how good The Amazing Spider-Man actually is. Andrew Garfield actually does a good job. He doesn’t have the boy-next-door charm on the screen that Holland has, but he really hit the unassuming dorky teenager quite well. And the love story is much better and more believable than the Homecoming one. The villain was so much better in Homecoming, that’s for sure. I didn’t care for TASM’s main villain. But the kinetic feel of the cinematic shots were great toward the end as he really gets his web slinging going and swings through the sky scrapers and does all the acrobatic moves. I like the design of the suit in this one too, although without the CG rendering like in HC, the suit does look a little ‘cheap.’
I plan to continue my tour through Spider-Man cinema next by watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

@Th3solution I really, really detest Garfield in the role.

He's just aloof and hipster cool. There's very little Peter Parker about him (Ramones shirt and skateboard?!?...). He makes a decent enough Spidey though.

As for the Amazing films - the first is way better than the second. Not without it's problems; missing character arcs, messy parents story, bizarrely nonsensical end sequence with the cranes...There was a lot of physical stunt-work for the web swinging though, which does makes things feel a lot nicer.

TASM 2 is probably one of the best examples of a 'hot mess' in recent years. Raimi's Spider-Man 3 was churned up by studio interference and pretty bad as a result (not that the Sandman arc Raimi wanted was much better on its own) - and TASM2 is partially a victim of the same. Largely the biggest problem is Electro - remove him from the film and it would probably be a much better viewing experience.

The suit for TASM got a lot of flak, the TASM2 redesign is closer to a classic suit - which looks much better.

Holland's suit in Civil War looked a lot better than in Homecoming I thought. I don't particularly like Holland, but at least he's young and pulls off dorky to some extent.

@KALofKRYPTON I can see what you’re saying. The whole skater dude vibe is a little goofy and probably out of character. But I like how in the dynamic with his peers he is portrayed as a recluse rather than the star of the academic decathalon team and you get a real feeling of his isolation and being alone. And as I alluded to, the chemistry between he and Gwen is really good. Better than the love interest in HC and what I remember about Mary Jane from the older films. But I get what you’re saying. It’s definitely a deviation from the classic Peter Parker. Despite my loving comic book hero lore, I don’t actually really read comic books. So my lack of being fully conditioned by the source material has likely made the modernization of the character less shocking. But I don’t necessarily condone them straying from the franchise’s roots, it’s just that I don’t know any different.
I haven’t ever seen Spider-Man 3, having avoided it due to all the bad reviews. And the first two Rami/McGuire films I saw long ago as a kid and haven’t returned to lately but I have fond memories of. I’ll probably be too burned out on the franchise after TASM2 to try the Rami films, but I am curious. I just remember the Green Goblin being kinda lame.

@Kidfried Yeah, I think it's great when films try to be faithful as possible to source material but I just don't feel comfortable watching those kind of stuff. Speaking of twisted and disturbing scenes in movies, Old Boy and I Saw the Devil come to mind. Both of them are Korean movies. I think most people are familiar with Old Boy since there's a Hollywood version starring Josh Brolin. The latter is about a cop seeking revenge after his fiancée was brutally murdered by a psychopathic murderer.

@KALofKRYPTON Same here. Couldn't stand Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker or Spider-man. Thought he was a bit too cocky and arrogant at times when he was Spider-man. Loved the suit in TASM2, though.

@Th3solution Raimi's first Spider-Man it still a great film. It has aged in that the CG is pretty awful looking these days, and it is so very stylised as Raimi projects are. Willem Defoe is pretty perfect casting for the Goblin. The suit was hokey, but he made it work for the most part.Other than that, it's still better than Homecoming and TASM/2.

Spider-Man 2 (I've probably said this here before) is still the finest modern superhero film ever made. The cast, the script, music, action, direction, costuming... It doesn't miss a single beat. Nothing is shoehorned in to serve a wider franchise and the 2 hour runtime never feels so. It's still very watchable.

Spider-Man 3. Wow, it's mostly just a shame. On paper it should've been great. Raimi back in charge, cast all back on board, Sandman, Venom, Gwen Stacy (for some reason)! Without spoiling it for you, and I do suggest that you watch it, it is a bit of a bloater - and I don't think I've ever really been driven to dislike the core cast of characters in a film in that way before or since. The behind the scenes issues are well documented at this point - but yeah, SM3 is the result of Sony Pictures pushing their weight around - much like TASM2.

@KALofKRYPTON I’m now legitimately interested to watch the Raimi trilogy. I probably will wait though as I run the risk of Spidey burn-out.