Topic: The Movie Thread

@Frigate

Wasn't expecting the big trailer discussion on the back of what I said...

Sic Parvis Magna.

As for your question, of course yeah, there have been films which haven't quite been the quality products that their trailers made them appear to be. Same with games. EA hire the best in the business; remember those gorgeous CGI trailers for Dragon Age II which hooked so many into an admittedly-clunky, loading-screen-infested castle simulator? And my goodness, there isn't a single dull trailer for Star Wars: Battlefront II.

The trick is to balance showing enough of the film so that people feel like they "get what they were sold" with the notion of ensuring that the audience are surprised on opening night. By their very nature, trailers are spoilers, and it's difficult to know how much people wanna know walking in, or how much is gonna get them to walk in at all. A recent example of perhaps showing too much was the second trailer for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which revealed both Wonder Woman and Doomsday in a crescendo of money shots. Luckily, I ended up adoring every single frame of that film, but its marketing meant that I instantly knew how the film would end, because they'd shown me Doomsday.

I quite enjoy trailers that walk the fine line, or will even try and mislead people to a very small degree in order to maintain some mystery. Quite a few Trekkies were disappointed when Kirk never ended up beaming aboard the Enterprise-D and fighting alongside her crew in Star Trek Generations, because the trailer was cleverly edited to make it look like he did. I actually respect that, as I felt what they did with the whole crossover idea was far more original, so it was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't like they'd engineered false footage or made the Trailer Voice Guy tell lies, so I couldn't feel betrayed.

Plus, and this is perhaps where I'll leave this because we're straying away from movies, I think game trailers have more responsibility riding on their authenticity. You go see a film based on its trailer; that's, what, seven bucks for the ticket and two hours of your life? Compared to sixty bucks for a game and the potentially sixty-plus hours of your life it'll take to complete.

So thinking about it, no, I'm not sure I have ever felt let down by a movie trailer, because there isn't much at stake... but game trailers? Absolutely. Quite a few times, actually.

For Your Eyes Only (Blu-Ray) - Releasing in 1980, it's the first 80's entry in the long running Bond series, and this entry sees the famous super spy seeking out a device that can control Britain's nuclear sub fleet, after the spy ship in which it was located is sunk. He'll have to act fast though, as a Soviet linked criminal organization is after it as well.

• I really quite enjoyed the more deliberate pacing of the film, which was a nice change of pace from the thrill a minute pace modern action/adventure films tend to have. This really gave you the time to appreciate all the locales, and I really thought all the underwater scenes, as well as the scenic mountains where the bad guy's lair were located, were quite beautiful (especially at Blu-Ray quality).
• The action scenes were good fun, and all the more impressive that they were handled by real stuntmen & physical props (I really want to recognize the opening helicopter scene, and the ski resort chase).
• Think what you will of me, but I like seeing what they were able to get away with in terms of sexual content in these old PG & PG-13 films, whether they did it intentionally, if they just didn't think resolution would be good enough for people to ever see it, or if things were just more relaxed on this type of content (to me it adds a sort of rawness to them that modern PG & PG-13 films don't have, as it seems like they go through them with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing slips through), and there certainly were a few of those moments here. As one example, in one scene where our heroes are ransacking the sleeping quarters of the bad guy's henchmen, you can clearly, albiet briefly, see a couple of photos of topless women pinned to the walls, and there are a couple more moments like this as well.

Overall I really enjoyed watching this one (more than I thought I would, honestly) and can't wait to get to the other 80's, 90's, and early 00's Bond films (I plan on buying them up through the Brosnan films).

@LN78 That trailer was amazing. Still get goosebumps from it!

@LN78 Ha ha me too. I think I downloaded it!!

@LN78,

• forgive my ignorance, but I don't know who Charles Dance is, lol (I enjoy watching movies, but I'm not a huge film buff).
• To be fair, when it came to Bibi, James didn't seem that interested (that kinda stuff doesn't really bother me much anyways for better or worse, probably due to all the anime I watch).

Finally got around to John Wick 3. Liked it more than John Wick 2 for sure, but the whole secret society of assassin's stuff was pretty thin material to start with, the first film managed it rather well by constraint of budget; but since 2 and now with three, delving 'deeper' in to it really does things no favours whatsoever.
The first film just manages to work within a healthy suspension of disbelief - by Parabellum, we have 'secret assassin organisation' branded SWAT vans driving openly about the place dropping off SWAT teams.

The action is mostly great as always - even the 'vicious crufts' set-piece was fun enough to watch.

@KALofKRYPTON I enjoyed the film but I thought story wise it was the weakest of three movies. On the other hand the action was the best among the three. As much I like the franchise, I still don't get why do they need so many assassins in one city for.haha

@WanderingBullet

The Wick series actually reminds me of The Matrix films. A great stand alone movie that worked on several levels; followed as soon as possible by cash in sequels that take a sound premise (when kept under a certain restraint) and 'develop' it so much that it becomes ridiculously unpalatable.

At no point during Parabellum did I get the sense that anyone was trying to keep anything secret; and why would they, since everyone seems to be in on it anyway and the police don't exist?!

@KALofKRYPTON Don't quote me on this but I think the creators mentioned that the police are aware of the assassins organisation. They just decide to ignore it.haha Which kinda makes sense since in the first movie there was that one officer who went to John Wick's house due to a complaint from the neighbours.

@LN78 I wasn't particularly interested if I'm honest. As I say, 2 wasn't very good.

JW is very much a film that would have been better served just left alone.

@WanderingBullet
See, that 1 officer - the 'local' cop who it totally makes sense for Wick to know and have an arrangement with. That's fine, I buy that.

A city/nation/global -wide 'look the other way' policy is so unbelievably unworkable that it does just break the thing for me, a lot.

@LN78 Hahahahahahahaha!!
You've hit the nail on the head there!

@RR529 Glad you enjoyed For Your Eyes Only as much as you did, particularly highlighting the excellent helicopter stunt work and ski chase. The latter sticks in my mind a lot, as I think it might be my favourite ski chase from all the Bond films (and they do love their skiing).

Over the weekend, my partner and I watched Ocean's Thirteen and I'm happy to report that I won't be hunting down @Gremio108 anytime soon, as it was actually enjoyable.

Not exactly difficult after the travesty of Twelve, but hey. I actually appreciated that it was relatively straightforward in its ambitions. You're walked through the heist's set-up quite early on, and then you just get to watch its execution. There are no rug-pulls, no insane calamity twists, no insulting nudges towards the audience... it's just a charming, affable picture in which a bad man gets what he deserves. Whilst its treatment of women is a little cringeworthy, it wasn't offensive, so I guess that's something. I'll likely forget it sooner than I forget the waking nightmare that was Twelve, but for all the right reasons. Good to watch with some take-out.

We also watched Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the "brand new digital restoration" which really made all that floodlighting pop (seriously, does this film have a single interior devoid of white light streaking in through a window, vent or grille?). Despite thinking that the original didn't need a sequel, we agreed wholeheartedly that this is just a fantastic experience, on every level. As an action film, the stunts are second-to-none (that helicopter pilot must've been insane). As a sci-fi spectacle, the practical and computer-generated effects are gorgeous. As a note about humanity, about how easy it is to become the very thing you seek to destroy, it's pretty powerful stuff.

Put simply, they just don't make 'em like they used to. What a fudging awesome movie!

@LN78 We went for the theatrical cut, despite having two other options on the disc. Neither of us had seen it in aaaaages (and I don't think I'd ever seen it in its entirety, either) so we reasoned that we'd go for the version we'd likely seen before, as a reminder.

It's my disc so I might give it a revisit, as I tend to like extended cuts and added bits and whatnot more than he does. How much is restored? I can't imagine much; it's quite a tight film.

@RogerRoger Glad you liked Thirteen. I was worried it was going to be poor, and that I'd given it an easy ride after Twelve. I might re-watch it at some point seeing as I don't remember it.

After reading and posting about it on here the other day, I got talking about the Ocean's films with a couple of friends. My mate said that he was loudly criticising Ocean's Twelve at a party around the time of release, when someone overheard and pointed out (without irony) that they were bound to be running out of ideas by the twelfth instalment.

@Gremio108

Those aren't merely shorthand smileys; I genuinely just laughed out loud at your friend's friend.

Ah, to be that innocent...

@RogerRoger, yeah, I have other stuff I want to watch, but after FYEO, the other Bond films are probably my most highly anticipated (still, going to watch things inbetween as to not get burned out).

@RR529 Wise move. Whenever I'm re-watching Bond, I tend to pause between each change of leading man. This makes the Moore era the longest to get through (I don't count Never Say Never Again, so Connery only ever did six in my book) and, despite my utter adoration of both Octopussy and A View to a Kill, I do tend to flag. Here's hoping you enjoy them when you get to them!

@LN78 Wow, high praise! Okay. I wasn't gonna double-dip quite so soon, but I may give it a second shot in the next couple weeks, given what you say. Thanks for the recommendation!

@RogerRoger I'd second what @LN78 said regarding T2. There's just one scene in the Special Edition for me that should've remained in the theatrical cut. The rest are nice enough additions, and only slightly impact the damned near perfect pacing of the film.

Easily one of the (if not 'the') finest movie sequels ever made along with Aliens and Spider-Man 2.