Topic: The Movie Thread

@Jaz007 Ah ok. Only saw the first one with Sylvester Stallone. Mildly entertaining I suppose but have no intention of watching the others, no matter how many action stars they chuck at it.

Always thought Nolan's Batman films and the Bond films starring Daniel Craig would have been better with a 15 or 18 rating rather than a 12A (think that is the UK equivalent to a US PG-13).

That is a shame about the Venom movie, not seen the trailers yet but I thought that it would be a good fit a more 'mature' rating. I thought Logan and Deadpool showed the industry you don't need to have a 12A rating at the most to have a successful comic book movie at the cinema.

I really like Hardy as an actor but agree with @KALofKRYPTON in that he has been massively miscast as Venom.

Finally got around to watching Black Panther recently. There's far too many Marvel movies at this point to possibly rank them, but I certainly enjoyed it.

I don't get the notion that it should be nominated for best picture though (a sentiment that seems to be popular, at least online). It's definitely a bit more topical than your average popcorn flick, and Killmonger is certainly one of the most memorable Marvel villains (Loki notwithstanding, that's not a hard accomplishment TBH), but other than that it's pretty par for the course in relation to it's peers.

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL NOW?!

SO excited. This is going to be THE film of 2019, as far as I'm concerned.

Saw the trailer in the theater today when I went to see Mission Impossible: Fallout.

Which was pretty decent. Don't remember having seen any of these movies before, and I clearly missed some context from previous films, but I think I got everything. It was a fun spy action-thriller. Lots of masks and double, triple, and quadruple-crosses.

@RR529 Black Panther was OK, mostly hype though.

@Ralizah I saw MIF at the weekend too, really enjoyed it. The rest of the series are also really good, apart from MI2 - which is a horrible John Woo mess. I re-watched the first one last week and it really has dated extremely well.

I am looking forward to Godzilla. Hopefully they don't present it like the last one though. There's always a human element to the Godzilla films, but to use the perspectives that they did and cut us off from so much of the actual kaiju action was infuriating!

But yeah - all the best kaiju are due so it should be a blast. Rodan!!

@Ralizah @KALofKRYPTON Mission: Impossible is a series which has no business being so darn solid and dependable, given that it's now six films strong. Any franchise of that size experiences fluctuations in quality at least once or twice, but even M:I2 is enjoyable (providing that you know John Woo directed it before you start watching, and therefore expect a John Woo film rather than a spy thriller). Since M:I-III, they've been getting consistently better with each installment, and I'm genuinely upset that I can't go and see Fallout at the cinema. Can't wait for the Blu-Ray.

@RogerRoger That's a shame - it really is an action spectacle. Not sure if you've watched any of the behind the scenes stuff - but as usual, the stunt work is ridiculous! Tom Cruise really is my favourite mental Scientologist!

@KALofKRYPTON He is a stuntwork artist, for sure. An incredible physical actor and one fearless SOB, even with all the safety precautions and film trickery in place on a set.

I've never, ever been disappointed by his performance in any film.

@KALofKRYPTON They tried the Jaws approach of slowly building up to the climactic scenes with Godzilla, but that doesn't really play well with kaiju films. As I've told people before, Kong: Skull Island is MUCH more like what I expect from a modern, American take on the kaiju film.

I also wanted a better protagonist. They led the advertising with Bryan Cranston, but the real protagonist was some plain-jane military guy who I barely even remember any details about.

And the monsters Godzilla fought were pretty generic design-wise.

With that said, if this turns out great, then the gradual evolution of American Godzilla from trash (Zilla 98) to a mix of disappointment and awesomeness (Godzilla 2014) to a legitimately awesome monster movie (King of the Monsters) will have been more than worth it. I'm SUPER excited to see these iconic monsters being given a huge budget Hollywood treatment.

@RogerRoger I don't enjoy Tom Cruise as an actor, but I do appreciate how engaged he is with his own stunts.

Now if someone could just convince him to leave that criminal cult he's in...

@RogerRoger Honestly, even if you are planning to see the film, have a look for the behind the scenes helicopter stuff. Actually bonkers!

@Ralizah Yeah it was Kick Ass, forget his name, Aron something?
I really would have been fine with it but for the forced 'human perspective'. From the early promo stuff, I thought the other Kaiju was going to be Rodan, but I'm glad he wasn't wasted for it. I'm glad they used generic ones to start off now.

I still quite like GINO (Godzilla In Name Only, the popular Japanese term for '98) as a film. But it's not proper Godzilla.

Have you seen Godzilla Final Wars? Highly recommended if not. I'm yet to see Shin Godzilla, but it very much on the list.

Also, as if The Dark Knight is ten years old!

@KALofKRYPTON I had the opportunity to see Shin Godzilla in theaters but didn't. I'm regretting that decision now.

Final Wars is actually one of the few I haven't seen before, although I do of course know about wonderful little scene where Zilla shows up and gets wrecked in less than a minute by the true King of the Monsters.

Regarding Godzilla 98... everything about it was generic and forgettable. They even cribbed material from Jurassic Park. It's a part of the 90's I never want to revisit. Not that it's the worst movie with the name "Godzilla" (not by a long shot... Godzilla's Revenge, Son of Godzilla, I'm looking at you guys: thanks for introducing and establishing a worse kaiju than Godzooky )

A lot of the old Godzilla films struggled to balance human drama with monster drama, so I can't really blame Gareth Edwards too much for falling into the same trap as so many Japanese directors. It takes major skill to make a proper Godzilla film.

I need to revisit the classics, as I've not watched them for... more than 10 years? It has been a long time.

I distinctly remember my favorite movies in the franchise, though, and how I would rank them:

1) Godzilla (OG, because c'mon! Powerful metaphor, haunting imagery... a true classic of cinema)
2) Godzilla vs. Biollante (This film is BRUTAL, or at least I remember it being that way; darkest Godzilla film I've ever seen, and with one of the coolest villains. I remember it having a good balance of human and monster stuff in it)
3) Godzilla vs. Destroyah (One of the only movies that has brought be to tears over the death of a monster; this one was emotional, epic, and climactic, and Godzilla looks really, really neat in his final hours, with his steaming, radioactive body. Also some cool thematic callbacks to the original)

@KALofKRYPTON My favorite Scientologist is Beck for sure.

@KALofKRYPTON @Ralizah Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the dudes name in Godzilla and Kick Ass.

@Ralizah I tend to tie GINO to Deeper Underground, I'm pretty biased towards Jamiroqaui to be fair 😂

Do check out Final Wars. It really is a blast, and somehow manages to fit in one of the best motorbike chases on film! It also has a really terrible, but entertaining English dub.

Totally agree on vs. Destroyah!

@JohnnyShoulder That's the one!

@Kidfried I mean, at least Beck kinda had no choice - he was born in to it 😂

If I remembered correctly, I think the director already said that unlike Godzilla (2014) the monsters will get more screen time in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Personally, I liked Godzilla (2014) way more than Kong: Skull Island. The story was okay I guess, but I honestly didn't like the human characters in the latter.

I also found Shin Godzilla to be quite boring.:/

Regarding Tom Cruise, that scene where he broke his ankle and continued to stay in character to complete the take...O_O A lot of other actors would've probably yelled, "Cut!".

Just finished watching Upgrade. Thoroughly enjoyable film. Recommended!

A Blade movie might be coming to MCU's Phase 4.

Also Men in Black 4 is also slated for a 2019 with both Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson starring.

@WanderingBullet Hmmm - I'm not sure I can get on board with a kid-friendly Blade film. The first two are really great films.

I can get on board with MIB though - certainly with Tessa Thompson. Her and Hemsworth were great together in Thor, and while MIB 2 is best left unmentioned 1st and 3rd still hold up.

@KALofKRYPTON Loved the first MIB movie but the other two weren't so good. That being said, I do like Brolin's impersonation/impression of Tommy Lee Jones, though. Haha, only thing missing is Taika Waititi but the 4th instalment already has a director.

@WanderingBullet Ooh, yay, I love the MiB films! Although the third was my least favourite; yes, Brolin's take on a younger Jones was decent, but I want to see the actual Jones, because his dead-pan comedy was a big part of why the first two were so memorable and enjoyable.

Nothing beats the moment in the second film where, in the middle of a heated (flying) car chase, he turns to Will Smith and yells "What is a Game Boy?!"