Topic: The Movie Thread

Seeing the end of Ender’s Game on TV again. Good movie until the end. They managed to “accidentally” have a prolonged war with a sentient intelligent species then felt bad afterwards. Wow, you really cared if you didn’t check or didn’t check until the end of the war, or really realized after you were defeated. Being desperate they’d come back to Earth or just attack another intelligent planet carelessly. It’s also hard to feel bad for a hive mind that really amounts a few sentient consciences. It does t exactly scrams a Mcintosh thinking intelligent species so much as one mind-controlled by a very secret few.

@Jaz007 It’s been a while since I saw the movie and even longer since I read the book series, but —
I don’t think humanity in general felt bad about the war afterwards except Ender and later his followers as he attempts to relay the thoughts of The Queen. The humans had no way of communicating with the Formics until Ender speaks to the Hive Queen at the end. And ironically, the Hive Queen states she had no intent to harm the humans until they kept attacking. And I don’t think humanity felt bad about the genocide as much as Ender, who was the unconscious deliverer of their demise. Some of the point of it is that this generational child prodigy Ender, the boy who was supposed to have never been born because of population control laws, ends up being the executioner of a species. Of course he was tricked into thinking he was playing a game and was driven to blow up the hive in his final “test” as a means to get expelled from the program, but he discovers he did exactly what the military wanted him to do and “won the war” in real life. He is the main person who feels bad and guilty. He is a victim of mankind’s treachery. But at the same time he is the slayer and destroyer of a species. The remaining books in the series follow his attempts to rectify his actions and bring the Hive Queen’s egg to a safe world to populate.
Anyway, I’m not sure the movie portrayed the whole story quite as well as it could have, but the end still packs a punch. It’s a great book and the series was pretty good too.

Eureka Seven: High Evolution 1 (Amazon Prime Video) - The first entry in a planned film trilogy to retell the story of the Eureka Seven TV anime, and as a huge fan of said series, I found that this missed the mark. It opened up at a point 10 years before the start of the series, showcasing an event that was central to the series' back story for the first time, and while this segment was a feast for the eyes, it's an absolutely terrible starting out point as it's full of in-universe technobabble that's not at all welcoming to newcomers, and even series fans who haven't watched it in recent memory. Then it decides to jump to an arc in the middle of the story, when Renton was living with Charles & Rey, while occasionally jumping back to the events of the first episode, that again would probably be confusing to newcomers, and also isn't optimal for a rewatch as well. Worse, this segment of the film (which is the bulk), is simply cobbled together by reusing scenes from the TV anime. Now, the series still looks good IMO (especially with how it's been remastered), but it's still a bit of a jarring transition moving from the modern film quality animation, to touched up scenes from the original TV series (especially considering the 4:3 aspect ratio).

I was pretty satisfied with Detective Pikachu. It wasn't the best movie ever made, but it absolutely sets a new standard for video game-based cinema, features a STUNNING mix of real humans with often convincing CG pokemon, and integrates more "adult" subject matter in a way that doesn't feel overly dark or jarring. The very beginning of the film seems like a pretty deliberate call-back to the beginning of Pokemon: The First Movie. There are lots of easter eggs and whatnot in this as well. Very much a movie designed to please Pokefans.

Never followed the Pokemon anime or played any of the games. I'm also not a fan of Justice Smith. That being said, I still want to watch it but I'll wait to till it's on Netflix or something.

@WanderingBullet Same here with Pokeman. Even if I was still going to the cinema I'd give it a pass and wait till it hits home viewing.

Batman: Hush Trailer

Looking forward to it even though they didn't use Jim Lee's art style.

Finally took the kids to see Detective Pikachu and was overall impressed. I've never played Pokémon before so some of it went over my head but I thought it was above average. Was rather touching at moments too which I really wasn't expecting.

They played the Sonic trailer before the movie and I dunno, I wasn't as repulsed seeing it on the big screen as I was when I watching on my phone. Dunno why. Will most likely end up watching it eventually, def not in theaters but it'll be a $1 rental sometime I'm sure.

Just watched John Wick 3: When Dogs Bite Back.

For me, action wise I think it's the best among the three movies but story wise it's the weakest. Having said that, it's still good and worth watching.

I’ve been on bit of a Batman and DC spree lately. I started Injustice 2 and I finished watching the Nolan trilogy last week as a kind of comfort food for the soul. I’ve always really liked those movies. They certainly stand the test of time (mostly) although they are far from perfect. One of the aspects of the films I like is the actors — I like Bale, Ledger (of course), Neeson, Hardy, Murphy, Hathaway, Caine, Eckhart, Oldman ... Probably the only one I can’t stand is Gyllenhaal. I cringe a little bit when she’s on screen. To be fair, Holmes wasn’t much better as Rachel in the first film. But overall, I have enjoyed the performances.

And, almost like a cruel joke being played on me by the Universe, I hear about Robert Pattinson. Please, no. I just got used to Affleck in the role and actually quite enjoyed his portrayal after I came to grips with how he approached being Batman. An older, more experienced Bruce Wayne, with a subtle and stoic feel. It worked. ....But honestly, I just can’t see in my mind’s eye Pattinson as the Dark Knight. Robin, maybe, Scarecrow or Deadshot, or maybe even the Riddler... but please not Batman. My brain just can’t make that jump. 😫

@RogerRoger Yeah, I might warm up to the idea of Pattinson. I barely know Hoult, but my memories of Beast in X-men do not endear me to the idea of him as Wayne either. And I, thankfully, also have never watched a minute of Twilight. But I know the internet memes and reputation. The fans are out in full force already, so we’ll see if WB succumbs to social media pressure.
The comments are rolling in —
“Will the Batsuit sparkle in the sunlight?”
“Movie’s title released — Batman: The Glitter Knight”
“Hell has officially frozen over...”
“At least George Clooney is about to not be the worst Batman anymore”
Etc, etc ....
😂 I thought he was okay as Cedric Diggory, but the Twilight thing is just hard to overcome.

@RogerRoger Ha, ha! No worries. Yes, Diggory is a side character who plays an integral role in the 4th book/movie. He’s a slightly sappy popular kid in the school — this heartthrob type of ‘student body president’ archetype who everyone adores. (Seeing a pattern here?) I never considered Bruce Wayne to be a heartthrob per se. A billionaire playboy, yes, but a pretty boy who seems to not incite any sort of heroic command of a scene? Eh, we’ll see.
(And don’t worry, I won’t judge you for being a Harry Potter avoider. The fan base can be a little annoying, but the story is quite clever. 😉)

I'd take Pattinson over Hoult. He has a good chin, he can brood - and not to put too fine a point on it, but Hoult just isn't 'handsome leading man' enough.

I'd still prefer Armie Hammer.

How's Pattison's acting? Never watched any of his films apart from little bit of the first Twilight movie.

@RogerRoger Good to know cause his acting wasn't really that good in the Twilight. Or maybe that was just how his character was supposed to be... lol

@RogerRoger [following on your tangent 😅] -
The fourth HP movie is where the films start to stray from the books a bit. They films continue to be pretty good, but the books are just too thick to include everything. The fourth book was my absolute favorite, so the film disappointed me somewhat. The fifth book and movie were the worst of the series in my opinion. Besides an obligatory major event for the entire HP arc occurring at the end, I didn’t care for the story of The Order is the Phoenix as much as the others. (But Gary Oldman is a great Sirius Black just as he is wonderful at Commissioner Gordon) Things really get back to a better quality story-wise with the 6th and 7th book. It can be complex with the way Rowling wove a tapestry of characters and events together which link the first books and the last books into one large tale. She really relies on a person knowing and remembering all the little plot and character points to get the full impact. Anyways... since I’ve been in a rewatching mood (Did The Dark Knight recently, in the midst of a rewatch of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and plan to do all the MCU movies in story order later this summer..) maybe I’ll rewatch all the HP and see if they still hold up.

@WanderingBullet He was good in The Rover and Good Times I seem to remember, even if those films were a bit average.

@WanderingBullet I'm not familiar with Justice Smith's previous work, but I thought he did a bang up job here. Guy has real talent.

@JohnnyShoulder I see... I just read people saying the samething about him in Good Times.

@Ralizah I've seen him in Jurassic World and The Get Down. Not a big fan to be honest.

So: John Wick Chapter 3. It's a lot of fun. I wasn't a huge fan of Chapter 2, which I felt wasn't sure what it wanted to be and had some boring action setpieces, but this film fully embraces the more cartoonish and camp aspects of the franchise. Any attempt at telling a serious story is firmly in the past now, and what we're left with is a charmingly self-aware and ultra-violent action spectacle. And boy, what a spectacle! It gets ridiculous enough that I was reminded of Kill Bill vol. 1 at points. Everything is incredibly well-choreographed, of course. Loved the motorcycle stunts, increasingly improbable kills, the ninja battle, Halle Berry's death-squad of wall-climbing dogs, etc. The script also doubles down on the mythological and more fantastical aspects of the setting, which helps with the almost apocalyptic tone this film adopts at points.

I really appreciate the internal consistency of the action. So many action movies treat gun clips like they're limitless. I absolutely adore the awkward moments when combatants run out of bullets and race to see who can reload their guns the fastest. Or how much of an obstacle baddies clad from head-to-toe in bullet-proof armor really are for someone armed with non-armor piercing rounds.

Fair warning, though: this movie is darn violent. Moreso than previous films. There are a lot of kills that inspired shocked reactions from the audience I saw it with.