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Topic: The Movie Thread

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Th3solution

@Arugula Disney Plus, brother. It’s the bomb. It’s all there for $6 a month. (Well Frozen 2 won’t be there for a few months but soon)

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Speaking of Disney+, as I’m amping up to go see Rise of Skywalker I started rewatching the Star Wars prequels on a whim on D+ and I think I appreciate them more now. I just wish the acting was better. The story and production value are really good. The script doesn’t do the actors any favors, but Liam Neeson, Ian McDiarmid, and Ewan McGregor do fine and make it work. The acting is just so inconsistent. It’s too bad; such a missed opportunity. The Trade Federation characters are so mishandled. And poor Jake Lloyd clearly got no help from his director.

Edited on by Th3solution

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

JohnnyShoulder

@Th3solution Not seen Frozen or heard Let It Go (in full anyway) and have no intention to either. Don't think it has much to do with be too 'manly' either. I'm just very fussy when it comes to animated films and even more so when it comes to singing in films.

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

RogerRoger

@LN78 Have a belated "Thanks, you've made me wanna watch Die Hard again!" as a Christmas reply.

@Th3solution Glad to see you enjoying the prequels as you head towards The Rise of Skywalker, even though you make some valid and fair criticisms (hey, despite my undying adoration for them, I'd be a fool to call them perfect films). Ian McDiarmid is the thread that ties everything together, and can make the worst dialogue sound like Machiavellian poetry. If you do nothing else this holiday season, just revel in his epic, saga-spanning performance!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Th3solution

@JohnnyShoulder No, I understand. Musicals aren’t for everyone, for sure. In fact I definitely need to be in the right mood to tolerate musicals and in general I find them annoying. But Disney usually has them nailed. The songs usually are both catchy and humorous. They have it down to a science.

@RogerRoger Included in the Star Wars Renaissance I’m experiencing (Prequel rewatch, Mandalorian, Rise of Skywalker) I have a brand spanking new copy of Fallen Order to crack into. I might just suffer from Star Wars overdose if I don’t watch out. Thanks to Christmas giving I also have a copy of Death Stranding now too, so maybe I will have to do it first, but your praise of Fallen Order and my recent SW hype has me anticipating Cal’s adventures more atm.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Ralizah

Just got back from Rise of Skywalker.

Was it just me, or did that entire movie feel very busy the entire time? Nobody ever settled down. It felt less like an organic cinematic experience and more like a series of sequences tenuously connected by the same characters and plot. I get that some of this was inevitable with TLJ leaving nothing for this film to build on, though. And boy, that plot is just the most asspully thing ever. Suddenly, Palpatine is back! And he has somehow amassed a nightmare armada of ships with planet destroying weapons called The Final Order! And Rey is his granddaughter, for some reason...

Also, what's up with the way Darth Puberty and Mary Sue kept transporting physical objects between each-other?

Of the mainline Disney films, The Last Jedi is still my favorite, even though I have major issues with it. I liked Rogue One and Solo more than any of the newest trilogy, though.

Edited on by Ralizah

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

RogerRoger

@Th3solution Yeah, I'd seen elsewhere, great gift score! I'm always of two minds myself; do you strike whilst your mood is strong, making the most of your enthusiasm for Star Wars and yet risking burnout, or do you leave it long enough that other things take over, meaning it could sit in your backlog until you inadvertently see some major spoilers and think "Ah, what's the point now?" I don't have an answer for you, I'm afraid. When faced with such a quandary, half the time I've screwed it up. I'll just tell you that you're looking at twenty-four hours, maximum, when starting Jedi: Fallen Order whereas apparently Death Stranding is longer. Maybe knowing that helps?

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

@Ralizah Did this separately, otherwise Sol would've seen through the spoiler tags.

Welcome to the "What kind of Haribo-fuelled breakneck insanity did I just watch?!" club, with regards The Rise of Skywalker. Interesting that, despite your major issues (and tons of its content being invalidated now), you still prefer The Last Jedi but then, hey, each to their own!

Just to answer your question, though, the transportation of physical items between Darth Puberty and Mary Sue (which is what I'm gonna call them forever in my head canon now, thank you) was established in The Last Jedi when, during one of their Skype calls, a crashing wave beside the latter left water on the former's glove. I guess their connection is meant to grow stronger with time, and it's been two years, so they've naturally graduated to snatching necklaces and whatnot.

Yeah, I really wanna watch Rogue One and Solo now.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

AhmadSumadi

@Ralizah Abrams chickened our and made a YouTube fanfic film instead of giving us a real story. TLJ is also my favorite of the trilogy. It told a story and did new things in the Star Wars universe. ROS tried to erase TLJ because Abrams chickened out. Hell, there are so many unfinished stories in the trilogy because of what ROS did. It’s probably the worse way I’ve ever seen a story be told through cinema.

AhmadSumadi

HallowMoonshadow

I watched Moana & Beauty and The Beast (The Live Action version) for the first time over the past two days. Truth be told I didn't care for either of them.

Moana felt kinda disjointed in the story department. In fact not a whole lot actually happens (at least it seemed that way to me) and aside from the wayfaring song (Which yes... I forgot the name of) and The Rock's "You're Welcome" song I found the tunes rather forgettable. Well I remember the crab one too... but I just didn't like it 😅

Some nice animation though. Horray for some actual 2D animation popping up and some styles that aren't just Disney's cookie cutter "everyone looks the same" 3D!

Also were those coconut monsters basically supposed to be a U/PG version of The War Boys from Fury Road?! 😂

Still overall it was quite disappointing...

... At least it would've been had I not seen the live action Beauty and The Beast the day before.

Ouch. Pretty much the entire cast felt miscast to me. Alright Ian Mc'Kellan was alright as Cogsworth but really only because he IS Ian McKellan and Ewan McGregor has an ok (I guess?) French accent as Lumiere.

Songs were utterly forgettable in this version though. Luke Evans does his best as Gaston but is lacking a certain something and Emma Thompson was the best singer out the main cast (Audra McDonald/the opera singing wardrobe is the best overall) but...

Honestly the animated version is pretty much perfectly cast and they can all sing better too. Even Angela Lansbury. Her version of Beauty and the Beast seems to have more heart in it to me.

I remember the fuss they made over Belle as well with Emma Watson this time around and ... Pffft! What were they watching? Don't even get me started over that whole Josh Gad "Lofou" bit...

Utterly stupid patting on the back that didn't actually do anything meanwhile or important.

Honestly I zoned out the film a number of times as aside from a few new scenes (Magic portal book coulda been used to save Maurice no?) it was pretty much shot for shot. Except nowhere near as good as the animation

Let's hope Paddignton 2 holds up to the original or the only film I'll be enjoying over christmas is Muppet's Christmas Carol for the umpteenth time

Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"

WanderingBullet

My favourite out the three is The Force Awakens. But I do have to have to say the new villains introduced since The Force Awakens have all been pretty underwhelming. Snoke looked like he could be badass villain during that first hologram scene but nope, Kylo Ren killed him with no problems. Speaking of Kylo Ren, the guy's just so mopey, ugh. Another one was Captain Phasma, thought she looked so cool in trailers but her character was such a let down.

Rise of the Skywalker had a few good and cool moments but overall story was pretty bad with hardly any payoffs. It does have some nice cinematography and visuals though. Some of the better moments were Han Solo's scene and the scene at the end with Poe and Zorri. Thought that scene where Rey stopped the spacecraft from leaving and accidentally zapping it with lighting looked really cool. Not to mention, the part where she handed Ben the lightsaber even though this new power didn't make any sense at all. Oh yeah, I also liked Babu Frik.haha

I would love see another Han Solo movie or maybe even a tv series, but this time starring Harrison Ford.

Edited on by WanderingBullet

Huntin' monsters erryday.

Ralizah

I saw a trailer for the live-action Mulan beforehand. I'm glad they're using this opportunity to give the film a vastly different tone. Feels much more like a wuxia film than another rote adaptation of a classic Disney cartoon.

@RogerRoger @AhmadSumadi I'm of the opinion that TLJ is an interesting film, but that:

A) Rian Johnson isn't who you should give a family-oriented space opera film to if you want it played straight. Snark and subversion are part of his DNA as a director, and they work well in genres where people appreciate these things. For example, Knives Out, his most recent film, was a terrific little whodunnit that was structurally intriguing and, in its own somewhat awkward way, addressed certain social anxieties. Like Ghostbusters and Feig, TLJ was a mismatch of property with director.

B) If you do, for some reason, give Rian Johnson a SW film, make it the last movie in a trilogy, not the middle one. Middle films are far setting the stage for the finale while upping the ante for the heroes. Johnson's specialty is breaking, subverting, and/or deconstructing things.

C) With that said, there are just aspects of TLJ that suck any way you slice it. A lot of the dialogue. The entire casino planet section of the film. The slow motion chase through space. The dynamic between Poe and Holdo and how the intentional lack of communication led to tragedy.

D) It was, at least, as has been said, trying something new, though. And I appreciate that. I like the idea of a SW film that functions as kind of a meta-commentary on heroism, cultural legacies, myth vs reality, etc. instead of re-iterating on the "SPACE NAZIS BAD!" theme over and over again, which is all Abrams seems to be capable of.

E) I think there's a time and a place for creators to burn down their own properties and confront/challenge their audiences. But it works best when the original creators do it themselves, as they fully understand and begin with the implicit trust of the audience.

I guess if I had to sum up my feelings on them:

TFA: Remake of A New Hope, but one that fundamentally doesn't understand what made that film great. Not aggressively bad like certain prequel films, but at least those had the courage to try and tell unique stories in that universe. Not so with this film. Is aggressively bad passion and originality superior to milquetoast mediocrity? That's hard to say. I admire it more, but I don't know if I could sit through the prequels again, whereas I could easily find this on TV, shut off my brain, and (mostly) enjoy it.

TLJ: Interesting approach for the series. With more interesting characters and not as part of a trilogy, this could have been very interesting. It utterly fails as the middle film of a SW trilogy, though, and as a traditional SW film generally. There's also plenty of bad writing aside from the continual subversion of established tropes. I didn't hate it, but it really left the final film in the trilogy with nothing decent to build on.

RoS: Not as unoriginal/unimaginative as TFA was, but the plot feels... yes, very fanfic-y. It also confirms my suspicion that JJ Abrams doesn't have the vision to do anything interesting with the franchise. He turned Star Trek into a series of generic sci-fi films with nostalgia baiting, and he did the same thing to Star Wars.

@WanderingBullet The best part of Rise of Skywalker is absolutely the visuals. That stormy Sith planet was flat out gorgeous to look at in a theater, and I liked a lot of the sequences in space on a purely visual level. It was a gorgeous film.

Also, that one lightsaber battle was pretty well-choreographed, I thought.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Haha, Beauty and the Beast (1991 original) was one of my favorite films, and I was so disappointed by the remake that I still angrily rant about it to this day to my friends/family, who mostly liked it. It fails on so many levels. Subtext becomes text. Belle goes from a nuanced, kind, but very socially disconnected young woman to someone who projects a deep sense of superiority and smugness (Emma Watson was so miscast that I have a hard time even finding the words to describe my disappointment with her dialogue and performance). LeFou goes from a great Mr. Smithers-esque kissass to an endless gay joke. Nobody really nailed the characters they portrayed, which, imo, is mostly down to the director and scriptwriter, who clearly didn't understand why the original film worked so well in the first place. New songs sucked. The pacing sucked. The film sucked. Easily the worst of Disney's remakes.

Edited on by Ralizah

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

HallowMoonshadow

Ralizah wrote:

Beauty and the Beast (1991 original) was one of my favorite films

The 2017 version wasn't that bad it ruined the original for you too did it @Ralizah?

Ralizah wrote:

I was so disappointed by the remake that I still angrily rant about it to this day to my friends/family, who mostly liked it

Lol I kinda did the same to my mother whom enjoyed it. Last time I trust her bad taste 😂


As for Star wars I already said a page or two ago I went off the series as of late and tbh I don't mind at all.

Love reading all these spoilers and seeing the mess that the past two main films were. Especially with Rise of Skywalker baeically just flat out ignoring the Last Jedi.

Dunno what it was about Rogue One though but... I just really felt it was a pointless film with a story that didn't need to be told. I personally felt that it didn't add anything to what was already said at the beginning of the original/4th.

Dunno why I feel so strongly about it though.

I think I ended up disliking it more the Force Awakens with Darth Puberty and Mary Sue (...Yeah like Rog I'm rolling with those terms for them too 😂)

Edited on by HallowMoonshadow

Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"

jacobia

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Paddington 2 is just as good, if not better than the first one. Hugh Grant is the perfect villain in the sequel.

It isn’t a dream
You only heard yourself
The means of your life
Create and melt

PSN: jacobia

RogerRoger

@Ralizah So much we agree on, so much we disagree on... but an excellent write-up all the same. I could write another wall of text, but I fear that I've been at the forefront of some Star Wars overload around here of late, so I'll just quietly admire your position for now.

Having said that...

Also, that one lightsaber battle was pretty well-choreographed, I thought.

...after the choreography disaster of the throne room fight in The Last Jedi, I was very pleased with both major sequences of lightsaber combat. I also liked how they returned to a style more reminiscent of the Jedi's heyday, going for a more showy and spectacular display of "weapon and wielder as one" and even featuring (however briefly) some good ol' lightsaber windmills!

Untitled

@WanderingBullet I also completely agree with your dissatisfaction towards how the new trilogy has handled Captain Phasma. She had so much potential, particularly as part of Finn's defection storyline (which itself was criminally underserved throughout).

But hey, Babu Frik for the win, though.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

FullbringIchigo

@RogerRoger Captain Phasma is the new Boba Fett of Star Wars, Looks cool, does nothing of note and goes out like a cartoon character

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

RogerRoger

@FullbringIchigo Preach.

Expect every single toy line to feature a figure of her going forward.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

FullbringIchigo

@RogerRoger i thought it already was
Untitled

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

RogerRoger

@FullbringIchigo That giant backpack missile launcher must've been from a deleted scene.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

FullbringIchigo

@RogerRoger it would have been pretty awesome if she did rock up wearing that in the movie honestly

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

HallowMoonshadow

Already seen it by the time you posted but cheers @jacobia

Paddington 2 was very good though.

The pop-up book sequence was a very heartwarming moment and a well made sequence too which was reminiscent of the old tv series.

Hugh Grant was a great villain (probably one of his best performances in a while in fact). The performances by all the cast were top notch in fact.

I think it might've been an even better sequel. Might have to watch it again!

Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"

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