Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger Yeah, the third one was my least favourite as well.

@RogerRoger Yeah, the third one was my least favourite as well.

@RogerRoger Yeah, the third one was my least favourite as well.

@WanderingBullet Ugh. Pass. Will Smith made those movies for me.

All three were fun, although the first was certainly the best.

@Ralizah I too would love for Will Smith to reprised his role but I think he's currently working on four other movies. I hope they're good though since he hasn't been in good movie for quite some time now.

MIB 2 is pretty awful. Feels like it has an actual cast of 5 people and never really does anything other than a producer mandate of 'like the first one, but more!'.

MIB 3 on the other hand was a thoroughly nice surprise.

The Giver (TNT) - Caught this yesterday afternoon. It had an interesting premise (a story of people fighting to regain human emotion & free will, even though it may weaken the safety of their "utopian" society), but too much was left unexplained, such as there not being enough back story, and the ending didn't make much sense.there's a barrier around the city that dulls it's citizens' humanity, but for some reason it just shuts down if the main character, who is one of the few characters who is allowed his humanity, walks beyond it's border.

Ex Machina (Netflix) - Very interesting watch. A coder for the world's largest search engine company wins a chance of a lifetime to live with a week with the company's reclusive founder. When he arrives he learns that the founder is working on groundbreaking AI technology, but in a very suspenseful film, neither the founder or the AI are quite what they seem.

Don't these things ever stop anymore?

There's just so much member berries everywhere. And like the South Park episodes on them so successfully portrays they often aren't labors of love.

Not saying the movie is going to be bad in advance. It might be really good, but it's just a trend that has become so tiring.

A series with a great take on the workings of nostalgia is the third season of Twin Peaks by the way. Which is not only a story about an evil Cooper clone, but also an examination of what it actually means when you revisit an old franchise.

Last night I finally got to see Tomb Raider, this year's cinematic take on 2013's reboot.

And I really, really enjoyed it. I had pretty low expectations going in, which might've helped, although my best friend had said positive things last week (but she and I sometimes disagree on films). I thought it was incredibly solid for what it was, and was an engaging and entertaining couple hours. I also thought that the changes to the story were necessary for making the translation to the big screen; the games are full of flashbacks and audio logs which just wouldn't have worked, and condensing everything (including plot elements from Rise) down into 118 minutes meant you wouldn't have gotten the same emotional impact if, for example, Lara never found her father, or found him dead. Was it a tad cheesy when he sacrificed himself at the end? Sure it was, but this is an adventure film, so it's allowed. The action set-pieces were excellent but also nicely spaced out, and the film didn't shy away from allowing the characters to pause, talk, think and feel at key moments, which was another surprise.

I really hope Alicia Vikander returns for a sequel, because I liked her Lara a lot (despite being ready for a return to a more mature, self-confident Lara in the games, I wouldn't mind the films carrying on with the younger, more formative Lara seen here) and the promise of her doing battle with Kristen Scott-Thomas, who is just awesome, is too great to ignore.

Made me wanna watch Indiana Jones again, though. So I probably will.

@RogerRoger I liked it, too. Definitely the best video game movie adaptation I've ever seen.

It always baffles me when I see a movie, enjoy it, and then notice that it's getting panned by most people. And then something like Bridesmaids gets universal acclaim...

@Ralizah Welcome to my world.

Glad you and @beemo liked it as well, because I'd heard nothing but snide and / or dismissive comments about it. Worked wonders getting me in the mood for Shadow of the Tomb Raider next week, too, especially since it more-or-less blended the plots of 2013 and Rise into what was essentially a two-hour "Previously on Tomb Raider" recap.

I saw Crazy Rich Asians today. It was boring with a few amusing moments. It failed as a comedy and flat characters (especially the main couple worst of all) with a story that doesn't make itself very interesting ensure it's not a good romance either. I can't believe they're thinking of making a sequel, it's not deserving of one in the slightest. I would rate 4/10 according to the Pushsquare rating system.

Searching is a pretty good mystery and family drama with an interesting presentation style. It's admittedly a bit gimmicky, but the acting is pretty solid, and the film kept my attention from beginning to end.

MiB 2 is the only one I haven't seen yet. I've heard nothing but bad things, but still wanna check it out due to the K forgetting his time at the agency plot.

I loved MiB 3, the ending makes me cry and it's my favorite entry in the series. I'm a little sad that as far as we know, the new MiB movie is a reboot rather than taking place in the same continuity.

@AdamantiumClaws Just know that you'll never get the time back!

Shame it's a reboot when there's no need. If there's a series that could absorb all of the changes any new creative team could throw at it and still remain canon it's MIB!

So.... Just read that Denis Villeneuve is making a Dune movie... I was not aware of this. I mean, what a truly great choice of director.

I do hold a certain affection for Lynch's film, but DV is such a great pick!

@beemo I really enjoyed Tag too.

Did a lot of watching over the weekend.

Moviewise:

Skyscraper - OK, it's exactly what you think it is.

Arrival - finally sat down to watch it properly. Lovely film - though reading a little about the book afterwards, I do wish I'd read it first.

Patient Zero - Trash! Utter, complete, waste of time trash. This really is an awful film. How they managed to get Stanley Tucci, Natalie Dormer and Matt Smith in for it I'll never know. Perhaps for Smith he's trying out his terrible American accent in something he knows won't be seen far & wide. But, yeah - one to avoid if you value your time.

It was a big movie weekend for the Mister and me, too. We got through Wonder Woman and Justice League (so he's all caught up with DC now) as well as Summer Wars (beautiful film, hadn't watched it in years and still cried), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Air Force One. He also put forward Beautiful Thing which was NOT my particular vessel of leaf-infused hot water, but it at least broke up the otherwise action-heavy playlist.

We're getting to the end of our "let's share our favourite films" period, so not sure what'll be next. Probably a television show, something we can just marathon.

@RogerRoger the only movie i watched over the weekend was Avengers: Infinity War, i watched it with my dad, like we have with all the Marvel movies for the past 10 years and he enjoyed it although because he hadn't seen one in a while he forgot who most of the people were at the start

Oh - I forgot! Also watch Jurassic World:Fallen Kingdom, which I suppose shows just how forgettable that was. Didn't think I'd be in a position to say that there was a Jurassic Park film less engaging and significantly more by the numbers than Jurassic World, but there you go...