Topic: The Movie Thread

@Th3solution I was actually overjoyed at their Bond rankings, as they put Roger Moore's over-the-top extravaganza The Spy Who Loved Me in first place. The rest was business as usual (basically GoldenEye and Casino Royale surrounded by too much Connery) but it gave me some hope!

But you're right; I trust most of us here far, far more than anybody who writes in Empire.

@RogerRoger hey did you see the latest Bond news by the way?

Apparently in the next Bond film James has retired and there is a new 007 played by Lashana Lynch

that's actually really interesting, it's something the series has never done before, a James Bond film and he ISN'T 007

i'm pleasantly intrigued

i also wonder if even if she is 007 in this film will she be filling the "Bond Girl" role in the movie?

@FullbringIchigo Thanks for the tag; I'd seen rumours, yeah. I think it's a great idea, even if it destroys my preferred theory that "James Bond 007" is the full codename passed from agent to agent (which still works fine for the films before Casino Royale, as it helps to explain how the actor and therefore character changed without a franchise reboot every time).

I think that the concept of a "Bond Girl" has been quietly reduced and / or removed over the past four films. Love interests are one thing, but the previous two films caught a lot of flack for having shallow female characters that Bond only used to further his own goals. Skyfall was a huge success and arguably its "Bond Girl" was M, and Bond only shared a very brief farewell kiss with Camille in Quantum of Solace. For this next film, Lea Seydoux is returning and so I hope that demonstrates a more mature perspective on Bond's attitude towards women. I'm sure there'll still be plenty of moments where Bond must flirt with somebody to complete his mission (that's the nature of the franchise) but my guess is that it'll be handled a bit more responsibly from now on.

After all, the Bond franchise has always moved with the times, and we've certainly entered a new era of equality and representation that they'll need to address in some way.

Still waiting for my Michelle Yeoh / Wai Linn spin-off adventure, though.

@RogerRoger another thing is that by recasting 007 instead of recasting James Bond it opens it up for so many potential people to play 007 plus it also means the series wont need to be rebooted again because they would all share continuity

there is also the fact that she hasn't really done any lead roles in films before (and only a few in TV) and to be honest she wasn't that memorable in Captain Marvel either, she seems to be a person who plays supporting roles or one off's so it could be a one time thing just for this movie

and apparently her characters name is Nomi

i still think Idris Elba should be the next 007 and now this film has set the precedence of more than one person holding the number there shouldn't be any real issues with it, he doesn't have to be called James Bond after all

EDIT: also i think at the end of the 25th 007 film that Bond should become the next "M" and then we get the new 007 to lead future films, that way we still get fresh blood but still have Bond in them and keep continuity with the other Daniel Craig films

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Netflix) - Watched this last night and it was a really fun time. It was definitely a visual spectacle (I really liked how it avoided the homogenized look Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and other western CG productions have), and it had some fun characters.

Given the rumours, that Danny Boyle quit the film because Craig and others want to kill Bond at the end (properly kill, not Skyfall teaser kill), I'm not sure that's likely... but it sure as heck sounds better than what they're potentially planning.

@RogerRoger if they killed off Bond that would cause an uproar unless they are planing to reboot again after this film then it's a none issue

still as much as i love Bond it's been going a long time and over the past few films has not really blown cinema away, not to mention the switching around of distributors and the lack of interest from investors (hence why the last film had so many sponsorship deals) so maybe it is time to kill him off and stop at least for a while, come back in about 10 years with a new, fresh take

but then again a few months back Daniel Craig said he would be up to doing another after 25 so maybe they wont kill him off

@FullbringIchigo Given that Daniel Craig never says "would love to do another one" (quite the opposite, in fact) then I'd take that as guaranteed that they're killing his Bond.

Especially after he flatly denied being a Stormtrooper, too.

@RogerRoger yeah but that was because it was an uncredited cameo so he couldn't confirm it until after the film was released

of course they could kill him off and then skip forward 10 years and then BOOM his kid James Bond JR comes in or something

@FullbringIchigo You mean like this...?

@RogerRoger i remember that show

but basically yes like that

@Ralizah @jacobia So I saw Midsommar on Saturday, I don’t really have it in me to try to put together an in-depth review but I can say I absolutely loved it. It was basically what I thought it might be, but was worried it wouldn’t be. In a lot of ways it was felt like my favourite part of Hereditary, the very end, drawn out over the entire film. The music and visuals were stunning, I’m glad I saw it at the cinema. The upside down, twisting camera going into the site was a touch of dizzying magic. Wonderful sense of beautiful dream meets dreadful nightmare throughout.

Niggles...

Not everyone was happy though. Overheard one girl on the way out say to her partner “I was just waiting for something to happen and it never did”, and he goes “Thats 3 hours we won’t get back”. Did we watch the same movie?!

@kyleforrester87 Glad you liked it! Yeah, that upside down camera was a wonderful touch. Really communicated the idea that the characters were entering a space where ordinary social conventions and expectations don't apply.

@Ralizah oh yeah, lots of laughing, which was understandable. But then 2 girls behind me got the giggles and wouldn’t stop, even when Dani and the other laddies were screaming at each other, which got a bit annoying!

I will say, despite how much I enjoyed it - it’s probably going to be one of my favourite films come to think of it - I am not desperate to see it again in a hurry. Some of that is down to its long run time. We’ll see in a few months, though. I have seen Bladerunner 2049 a few times in the past year and I always enjoy it and that’s a bit of a commitment too, although less of an emotional drag. I’d like a version of it with the same mood where everyone just has a nice time for 3 hours, frankly.

@kyleforrester87 The thing for me is that I don't really "watch" movies like this so much as experience them. So emotionally resonant or intense experiences like Midsommar are very draining for me, and I rarely rewatch them. Some of my all-time favorite films I've only seen once, to be perfectly honest. Whereas B-movies with no emotional resonance are easy to digest, and I rewatch them frequently when I find them on TV. It's probably why I've seen the hilariously bad 90's Judge Dredd film so many times over the years.

@Ralizah lol I nearly mentioned Dredd as an example of a film I can watch multiple times. Of course, I meant the new one, which on balance is probably my “favourite” film if I had to pick one. I can’t really tolerate the 90s one haha

@kyleforrester87 Oh man, I still need to watch the newer one. Never got around to it. I've heard it's a very decent action movie, though.

I can't blame anyone for not wanting to watch the 90's film. It's objectively awful. I love it, though. It's like cinematic junk food. I know I shouldn't be watching it, but it's addictive and I'm going to 'consume' it regardless of what I should be doing.

Action movies are great at being low-investment (emotionally speaking) wastes of time. I've also seen Die Hard, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and Kill Bill Vol. 1 (pretty much the only Tarantino film I've gotten on with, to be perfectly honest) more times than I can count. Those are all fantastic action movies, and it's hard not to watch them when I come across them.

@Ralizah oh man watch the new one and let me know what you think. It does what it sets out to do pretty much flawlessly. Karl Urban is so cool.

“What happened in there?”

“Drug bust.”

Papillon (DVD) - True story from the 1930's that sees a Parisan thief framed for a murder he didn't commit and sent to a penal colony in French Guiana that was famed for being inescapable. I won't spoil the ending, but the film chronicles all the escape attemps he made over the years. Given the subject material the film can be quite a bit raw & gritty, but I thought it was an interesting watch and was really into it. I know there was an older version, but this was a more recent adaptation (Raimi Malek, the guy who played Freddie Mercury in last year's Bohemian Rhapsody, had a prominent role).

the LEGO Batman Movie (TNT) - It's not often I catch a full movie on cable (commercials & all that), but I had the time this afternoon and caught it just as it was starting so I figured what the heck. I actually had a lot of fun watching this. It got a little chaotic during the climax, but it was a good time overall and is one of the few movies I've seen in recent times that has legitimately made me laugh. Much like Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, it's a bit of a breath of fresh air compared to both contemporary superhero flicks & typical western CGI cartoons (though I know there've been a couple of other movies with the LEGO aesthetic).

Info about Marvel Phase 4

Mahershala Ali as Blade! I do have concerns about how Marvel's gonna do a PG13 Blade, though.

Also, Taika Waititi's returning for Thor 4!

And here's IGN's reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsbKOwZ9KGk