I finally watched The Good Dinosaur at the recommendation of several users (I remember @RogerRoger being one) and found it to have the same charm and motivational message that all the Pixar films have. I’d say it’s on par with the recently viewed Onward although obviously a completely different setting.
For some reason The Good Dinosaur flew under the radar for me when it come out, and I don’t think it was marketed much. I also think it’s a poor choice of title. Not that the film isn’t about a good dinosaur. But I think the title undersells the heavier themes and it makes it sound like a simplistic kid show. Of course, it is a family oriented movie, but it has serious themes that are not just targeted at 5 year olds and that adults can enjoy (as is typical for these Disney Pixar projects). And in the true creative and imaginative style, it was just genius to make the humans animal-like and the animals human-like. Fantastic. I loved that. It was also a beautiful movie in 4K HDR10. The colors were very pleasing. It was an interesting contrast of realistic landscapes and detailed backdrop, with the cartoonish main character and dinosaurs.
@kyleforrester87 I didn’t hate Brightburn but I probably wouldn’t watch it again. In terms of recommendations, you’ve probably seen most of what I’d say. It depends on what you’re looking for though, something light or something a bit more thought-provoking? Think of it as on a scale from Dumb and Dumber to The Deer Hunter 😂😂
@nessisonett I should probably watch Deer Hunter again to be fair 😂
Well, I would like to see something like Midnight Special but if I say that people will start recommending films like Flight of the Navigator so I’m reluctant lol.
Some recent enjoyable movies I saw off the top of my head..
Midnight Run
VFW
Color Out of Space
Dragged Across Concrete
One Cut of the Dead
But really I’ll give most films a crack.
I wonder has anyone seen Beyond the Black Rainbow (director of Mandy)?
@kyleforrester87 Hmm, you’ve probably seen these but I’ll give it a go.
Unforgiven - slow burn Western with great visceral action
Good Time - another great thriller but not sure if you liked Uncut Gems or not cause it’s the same dudes
Under The Skin - a great subversion of E.T., Midnight Special and the like, and one of ScarJo’s best performances
Whiplash - I’d recommend it to anybody that hasn’t seen it but I reckon you probably have
@nessisonett thanks for all these, I’ll look into them and watch at least one over the weekend 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 (Under the Skin is the only one I know of, and I haven’t seen it!)
@LN78 Makes sense given most of the classic Westerns were originally samurai movies! That’s actually really cool they did one the other way and I should definitely check it out.
I finally watched The Good Dinosaur at the recommendation of several users (I remember @RogerRoger being one) and found it to have the same charm and motivational message that all the Pixar films have.
@Th3solution I think the word I'm looking for is "Phew!"
Real glad you ended up enjoying it, especially after your recent comments about Disney / Pixar films and their narrative originality (or lack thereof). Also great that you got to see it in such high quality, as it's a very beautiful film; that's an element which pulled a lot of weight with me.
Blimey, I loved Spidey, you liked The Good Dinosaur... we're batting a thousand!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Haha, yes indeed. Glad that I finally watched it and honestly I never would have if you and others hadn’t suggested it and it was so easy to just click it on a random evening while browsing Disney+. In the opening minutes I did start to question my theory about every Disney movie having the death of a family member, usually a parent, to be a central plot point. “This kid has two loving and healthy parents?! No way that this lasts.” ...and then, just like clockwork, we have the tragic death of the father. So Yeah, the recipe isn’t changed but the creativity and execution of the world and characters is what makes it so fun to watch. ...🤔 ya know, it’s kind of similar to Marvel’s Spider-Man in that regard. The formula isn’t groundbreaking but it’s all in the care of the execution.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Blimey, you're right! We obviously have "a type".
I did like its somewhat-slow opening, setting up a lot of its unique charm and style. I also think that the music and visuals did a lot more of the heavy lifting, given that key moments were comparatively dialogue-free when held up alongside other gag-a-minute animated films. Those were most certainly good decisions made, regarding the execution.
Am looking forward to getting Disney+ and being able to randomly click around. From what little I saw of it over the weekend, I reckon it's gonna be a worthwhile service.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
GoldenEye (Blu-Ray) - Next up in my Bond journey is the first entry of the 90's (and the first with Pierce Brosnan in Bond's shoes).
In this entry, Bond must track down a criminal organization that has stolen a powerful Soviet era satellite weapon that fries all electronic devices in it's attack range, and his search leads him to a surprising culprit.
It's noticeably an evolutionary entry for the series, but I think it strikes the perfect balance of modernization & tradition. In terms of action it's generally more high octane than past outings, with Bond & foes alike spraying machine guns everywhere, a destructively fun car chase involving a tank, and an impressive leap of faith off a mountaintop airfield in it's opening moments, though it also remains true to traditions in terms of offering a decent array of gadgets (nothing too campy, but it does feature a grappling belt, lazer watch, and a narratively important explosive pen). This balance of old & new also extends to the women in Bond's life, as although he's still as flirty and persuasive as ever, it's now balanced out by the fact that Judy Dench plays his no nonsense boss "M". Likewise, while the film's "Bond Girl" has a couple sultry scenes, she also comes across as a capable & necessary computer hacker (I personally would have preferred to see a bit more "cheesecake", but by this point the ratings scale was a bit more solidified, and they couldn't push the PG/PG-13 rating quite as much as they could in the late 70's & 80's, and I can't deny it still strikes a nice balance). Overall a nice first outing for Brosnan.
Currently Playing:
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PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@RR529 That's a nicely written summary. Overall I think Goldeneye is very good, it has a lot of great moments. I do really like the main villain in it.
Just saw it and I’ll give Daniel Craig credit for the effort on the Louisiana/Cajun accent in Knives Out, but it was just bad enough rendition of the regionalism to be distracting in an otherwise good film. I would have preferred him to just speak in his normal British accent; the Cajun dialect added nothing of importance to the character that I could see. Although it was a funny joke when someone referred to him as Foghorn Leghorn there toward the end. 😆
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RR529 Excellent write-up, and you're right; GoldenEye is a hybrid of traditional Cold War thriller tropes and signposts of where the modern, 21st Century Bond would be headed. Gonna be fascinated by what you make of Tomorrow Never Dies in particular, and the subsequent Brosnan films in general.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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