Topic: The Movie Thread

@FullbringIchigo There was an element of that with Justice League, when my partner suddenly realised that he'd seen Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash in BvS. Otherwise, my father and I watch Star Trek and Bond together, and there's a good deal of "Who was that again?" there as well. Must be a universal thing!

@KALofKRYPTON Is that out on Blu-Ray now, then? I suppose I should get that alongside Solo, although both feel like an obligation more than anything.

@RogerRoger maybe our dads are just going senile?

@FullbringIchigo This could also be true.

@RogerRoger erm... possibly, somewhere, maybe.... I certainly wouldn't pay to watch it myself.

Still haven't seen Solo - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hate it given the conversations I've had about it.

@KALofKRYPTON I'll keep my eyes open when in town later in the week, and will obviously have thoughts which I'll share once I've watched both.

@RogerRoger Just needed to edit that response to make actual sense...

I’m anxious to see Solo again. I watched it in the theatre and I believe I posted my comments here. But I found that I actually enjoyed Infinity War much more than I expected to on the small screen for the second viewing. I wonder if Solo will be actually better seeing it from the couch.

@Th3solution @RogerRoger Well, I thoroughly enjoyed Solo! Wish I'd managed to catch it on the big screen.

I'm aware that the film did badly and there were many reports of behind the scenes issues - but it is actually great slice of Star Wars - far more so than TLJ could ever hope to be.

The films holds to a pretty blistering pace and the not insignificant runtime does seem to fly by.

I had reservations about Alden Ehrenreich given some of the reporting on the film, but he's actually pretty charming in the role; some parts of the intended comedic scripting fall a little bit flat, but generally the script and performances range from solid to great. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was great as expected (if you've seen any of Fleabag) and even perennially badly miscast/not very good Emilia Clarke puts in a decent turn.

There's a great amount of fan-service here too, some subtle, some not so subtle (and one that is probably the most specific expanded universe reference that most people won't get I've seen in a film in a while) but all handled very well.

Congrats to Ron Howard really. Great fun.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Paul Bettany. What a fantastic villain he makes!

@KALofKRYPTON Sounds like Solo is not a movie I would enjoy then,but thanks for your impressions all the same.

I watched Dallas Buyers Club yesterday. It's years old already, but it's on Netflix and has a terrific cast so I gave it a shot.

I was deeply moved by the film, but I don't know how to relate to the way it butchered history for drama's sake. It's based on a real story, but pretty much all changes they made from the truth actually made the movie worse.

I was grossed out by the film's rodeo scenes, only to learn afterwards the protagonist didn't even visit rodeo's in real life. Basically these scenes are cruelty for cruelty's sake.

Also, the film introduced a female doctor that never existed and made the protagonist act homophobic (which he wasn't), and they made ATZ (AIDS medicine) out to be a way lot worse than it actually is.

The film was meticulously crafted, and has outstanding acting, but the history altering just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

@Kidfried I really enjoyed DBC. Certainly a moving and well crafted piece of film.

I personally don't have an issue with the artistic license - the contrived parts around the truth of the story make for a better film, while still highlighting an historical issue most people watching may well have been ignorant of.

I was certainly left curious enough to look in to the film and the reality after watching it.

Why don't you think you'd like Solo?

@KALofKRYPTON Thanks for the tag; I'll dial down the dread in my anticipation accordingly.

@RogerRoger it's a pretty good film. It's a genuine shame it did so badly for whatever knock on effect that had on Disney's plans.

The reference I mentioned was so very unexpected. I properly laughed. You'll get it, probably some others here might too, but I can't imagine even many Star Wars fans would unless they've been gaming for a while.

@KALofKRYPTON Thanks for your take. Rereading my comment I think I sound too negative, though. I was moved by the film, and enjoyed it as well, through the acting and story, and as you said highlighted an important issue.

I think it's a must see for many as well. And it's clear to see that a lot of effort was put in it as well, from acting to editing, sets and sound design.

And my favorite films, series and games have often been those that I am able to criticize strongly. Metal Gear is my favorite gaming series, Twin Peaks my favorite TVseries, but I can go on and on about their shortcomings too.

Hey did you hear the latest rumour, Henry Cavill is OUT as Superman in the DCEU movies and the entire thing might be cancelled after Wonder Woman 1984

https://screenrant.com/dceu-reboot-movies-warner-bros/

@FullbringIchigo Which in a way is a good thing. The universe thing was and is lame. Just make great stories, instead of worrying about the money.

@Kidfried @FullbringIchigo NOOO! I like the DC movie universe. It has so much promise most of the movies are pretty good. Suicide Squad in particular. I hope they don’t. It’s because of this, copy My marvel, and stuff like a random Joker movie they have issues. If they just did their own thing it’s be great.

@FullbringIchigo I really, really detest WB sometimes.

They're so utterly reactionary when it comes to the DC movie slate.

Cavill is easily their best deployable asset. Wonder Woman was great, and Gadot is great, and I'm sure the sequel will be great - but there's very little to say when you start off a cinematic universe in a very particular style but bottle the follow through (as if MoS didn't actually make money) and insist on what you believe to be the best chance at quick cash.
Just make a Superman film. The brief glimps of a heroic, iconic Superman in JL is the best part of the whole thing - yet still they won't make a proper sequel. Urgh.

@Jaz007 @KALofKRYPTON yeah i think he was a great Superman and WB really have messed up the DCEU, they needed to take time to build up the characters and world before jumping into the team up but they just tried to catch up to The Avengers because they saw it make a boat load of cash, the thing is The MCU EARNED that film because all the main characters had already had themselves established by then

@Kidfried yeah they should have concentrated on making good films instead of just looking at Marvels money train and trying to chase it

@FullbringIchigo 100% agree with ya. Plus I don't think there has been a decent villain in DCEU film yet. Something needed to be done as even there best film was way behind some of Marvel's big hitters.

@FullbringIchigo Having recently re-watched Wonder Woman and Justice League, I kinda feel like I'd be okay with that being the ending. I say that as somebody who adores Batfleck (but Ben Affleck's health issues must come first, and I truly hope he's okay; no franchise is worth suffering for on such a personal level) and personally, I'd love to see it continue, but I'd be fine if it didn't.

It's pretty self-contained. Everything (with the exception of Justice League's post-credits scene) is resolved or didn't need resolving to begin with (like the memorial to Robin in BvS; we don't need to know what happened, it was there to be a narrative touchstone, to give context to Bruce's paranoid, battle-weary mindset) and the most interesting characters have had, or are having, their own standalone films to explore things further (Aquaman) or give their present-day actions added depth (Wonder Woman).

As a series of four films (I ignore the abysmal Suicide Squad) I'm quite happy with them, just as I'm quite happy with the series of four bat-films we got between 1989 and 1997. We'll see if Aquaman, Shazam and the Wonder Woman sequel add anything meaningful to them; if they do, great, but I don't think they're gonna be essential either. Well, maybe Wonder Woman.

Besides, I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm not supposed to like DC films. The amount of corporate drama and Marvel manhood-measuring that surrounds every release and infests every online comment section drags down the viewing experience. It'd be nice to, one day, just watch Justice League and enjoy it without having to remember all the controversy and criticism. I mean, I've always got my LEGO sets and Batfleck statue, but that's just not the same thing!