Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger Thanks for the confidence that my random thoughts don’t disappear into the ether. 😅 But even if they do it’s okay.

I’m with you - I tried reading some extended universe Star Wars stuff, but just couldn’t really get into it. It did seem incongruent at times with the Lucas vision. Even playing the video games I feel weird that, for example, Starkiller is never mentioned in the films.

But yeah, apparently rumor is that Rowling is obsessive with protecting her IP. I think that everything HP related runs thorough her for approval. From the Universal Studios rides and attractions to the toys and video games. I could be wrong about that but that’s what I heard.
And speaking of, I watched the first Fantastic Beasts prequel last night again. I’ll hold off on posting overall impressions until after I watch the second one. Preview- it’s actually better than I remember.

Another random movie thought — The previews for the Dora the Explorer movie 😂. It actually looks halfway decent. They turned Dora into Lara Croft!

@Th3solution Yes, I've heard the same about JK Rowling. The one specific thing I do know for sure is that she had casting approval for all the kids in the first film, knowing what they'd be dealing with as they grew up throughout the franchise. I think she made good calls.

And now I'm gonna go look up that Dora the Explorer trailer!

@RogerRoger Lol, yeah, not sure if Dora the Explorer is a thing in the UK, but its like a kids show here with a focus on learning Spanish words. I never thought of her as an action hero raiding tombs like Lara or Nathan Drake 😆

@Th3solution always remember though, Voldermort was defeated by school children. The very children he was trying to destroy.
The one thing that I take from the stories is how does Harry deal with life after the events? For example, if this happened to us in high school and now you are sitting behind a desk at a dead end job, how would you feel day in, day out? Always telling people "I saved the world, you know". It must be depressing at some point as he technically peaked at high school. I look back at my time in high school and it feels a life time ago, so much has happened since etc.
Just a funny thought I always have.

@Th3solution I'm fully prepared for that Dora movie to be a better version of Tomb Raider than any of the actual, licensed Tomb Raider adaptations.

@ZeD He'd totally go to Vegas and get a magic show residency! Maybe get a cameo assist from Luke Goss...

@ZeD To be fair, they were schoolchildren with the aid and assistance of the most powerful wizards of their time. But yeah, hard to top that after high school.

But to your point, I think that’s an interesting thought about life after a tragic and epic save-the-world series of events. It’s part of what I like about the Lord of the Rings — it has the epilogue showing how Frodo and company has a really hard time mentally adjusting after returning to the Shire following the events of the quest to destroy the ring. Bilbo also struggled with living a normal life after his adventure and longed for something more to his life after the quest with the dwarves. He mentions to Gandalf about how empty he feels and “thin, like butter spread over too much bread.” Granted that was some of the effect of the ring, but Frodo appears to experience the same post-adventure crisis of identity.

@KALofKRYPTON Lol, as a high school drop-out that may be his best option 😉. He’d probably make more money that way than any of those Hogwarts educators. 😅

So, I went to an early screening (the film doesn't officially release until tomorrow) of Annabelle Comes Home, the latest entry in the increasingly expansive Conjuring Cinematic Universe. This collection of films is noteworthy not only for establishing an almost Stephen King-esque shared universe full of stories, monsters, and sometimes vaguely interrelated stories, but also for the... sometimes wildly varying extremes of quality with which they're composed. For example, the first Annabelle film was, in no uncertain terms, pure mediocrity, which isn't unexpected for a spinoff horror film. What IS surprising is how the second Annabelle film, Annabelle: Creation, was actually a surprisingly excellent and scary film. Although I didn't like them, the mainline The Conjuring films have both been VERY well-received by critics, with the first commonly being hailed as one of the best horror movies since the turn of the century. Other spinoffs haven't fared well. One was a mildly interesting failure (The Curse of La Llorona had a winning premise and should have been good, but it was let down by failing to be scary AND borderline offensive cultural appropriation: considering the people behind this movie are almost certainly white liberals who whine about the "lack of diversity" in film, why did they think it'd be a good idea to take a ghost ostensibly rooted in Mexican mythology and then proceed to make the film about a bunch of white people being terrorized by the Mexican ghost; there are hispanic people in this film, but they're used as a mere plot device to introduce their cultural terror to a white American family. You want more non-white representation in Hollywood films? THIS was the perfect opportunity to introduce a completely non-white cast without it seeming politically motivated, and somehow the filmmakers blew it. Don't use other cultures as props for horror stories about white Americans, please). One was just sort of bad (The Nun, which had atmosphere for days, but failed miserably when it came to the monster and actual scares).

Annabelle Comes Home is, thankfully, one of the more successful entries in this franchise, although it may be more or less appealing depending on what you end up looking for. While it does a very effective job of gradually ratcheting up tension over the course of the film and leaning away from a reliance on boring jump scares, it's... not a terribly creepy film at its core. Part of this is probably the heavily character-oriented focus. Part of this is also the lack of any real sense of danger for most of the characters. Unlike most horror movies, where it quickly becomes apparent that the lives of the main characters are at stake, this film, about a group of teens who happen to loose the cursed doll Annabelle and attract the attention of several spirits who had previously been dormant in the home of the Warrens (the paranormal investigators who so many of these films tend to fall back on), feels less dire in terms of its threats. Although Annabelle's name is in the title, the doll is recontextualized as a sort of conduit for the supernatural, so the star of the show, aside from surprisingly charming cast of characters, are the various ghosts that harass them. I mentioned a lack of danger because, while things do get dangerous for some of the cast, you distinctly get the sense that most of the ghosts are just terrorizing these kids for the fun of it. While the ghosts themselves aren't particularly scary, they're often surprisingly creative: there is a sort of ethereal werewolf that prowls around outside of the house; a fellow known as the Ferryman who's gimmick revolves around coins: he likes to materialize corpses with coins over their eyes, himself has coins covering his eyes, and, best of all, likes to flaunt his bling by tossing coins out of the shadows at one of the increasingly alarmed teenagers; there's some sort of samurai ghost that apparently butchered a bunch of people in Japan hundreds of years ago, although we don't end up seeing as much of him as I would have liked; there's also some sort of cursed TV that seems to show the victim what happens to them several seconds in the future. Other entities show up, but they're less interesting, like the boring wedding dress ghost that possesses women and makes them kill people.

The supernatural shenanigans are often used to highlight conflicts and concerns related to the characters, which ends up working pretty well. Despite the lack of an actual sense of danger in this movie, the direction is tight, and it avoids some obvious stereotypes of horror movies to deliver an experience that is more heart-warming and fun than I was expecting.

@Ralizah Thanks for the write up. I always wondered why all these movies were appearing with evils from The Conjuring, but never knew there was a cinematic universe!

I enjoyed the first film which I had with my ps4 bundle, but I don't think I've seen any of the sequels or spin offs. I'm a bit sceptical when it comes to horror sequels, probably to do with franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th being flogged until there is nothing left of them. But I may give some the other films a go.

Just saw Far From Home. It was decent I guess would be the word. Not great, not bad just entertaining. Was a very very safe follow up to Endgame. Some cool fight scenes but the story was pretty predictable from the jump. Definitely didn't start off phase 4 with a bang

@redd214 Wow, I’m surprised. I heard really great things about it from critics. I’m still going to see it, but I was expecting to be blown away.

@Th3solution yeah it wasn't bad at all. Just kinda average tbh. Had some good setups for next films I think but I personally wasn't blown away by it. Still go see it, I'm glad I did! Pushed me over the ledge to finally get the dlc for Spiderman ps4 so I guess that's a plus lol

@redd214 Ok, good. Maybe it will motivate to actually play the base game. 😄 Its been sitting in my backlog since it’s release date.

So I got in to see Spider-Man: Far From Home. I would echo that the movie was a solid effort, well worth the time, but not necessarily top-tier. Good, not great.
It’s a little bit slow to develop and for the first 20 minutes or so I was concerned it was going to be a dud, as it felt like the film was trying too hard and the humor fell flat and the characters seemed thin. But it warms up and eventually it hits its stride with some of that representative Marvel levity. It never reaches the emotional highs and lows of the MCU’s best stuff, but the jaunt through Europe is sure to please a lot of the fans who live in the Old World. I didn’t feel the story was as predictable as @redd214 did, but I do think the plot is kind of weak. The supporting cast is great though, as is Holland. I really like this version of M.J. a lot and I love their chemistry on screen.
If you see it, be sure to stay for both post credit scenes. The last one is actually important, unlike some of the the Marvel movie end credit scenes that are 5 seconds of pointless fluff — This one seems to contain some actual influential plot.

@Th3solution that's great glad you got to see it!

@Th3solution @redd214
I'll see it some point. Not the biggest fan of MCU Spidey, or Holland really.

My local independent is showing Predator tomorrow night, so I may just watch that

I have one VERY important about Far From Home @Th3solution

So important that the answer to it could shatter the very fabric of time and space!

Reality itself could cease to exist as we know it!
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... Mysterio's fishbowl helmet in it much? xD

I liked Homecoming better but I still thought the movie was good and I liked both the second and third acts. The jokes were a hit and a miss, though. I do have to say that Mysterio was another really good villain. I also liked the Vulture. So essentially the MCU Spider-man is two for two when it comes to good villains.

It also has arguably the best mid-credit scene.

@Th3solution i enjoyed the film EXCEPT the mid credits scene because i really don't like it when they use that plot device in super hero movies, (trying not to spoil anything but when it was used in The Dark Knight Trilogy it ruined the whole thing for me because most of the time it's just unbelievable especially considering what the characters has done before that point ) but the post credit scene was awesome and i'm really looking forward to where they are taking that one

I’m hopefully going to see Ari Aster’s Midsommar on Sunday, so will post my spoiler-free thoughts for any concerned folks.