Topic: The Movie Thread

@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.

@Ralizah Cool.
I'll get to it at some point. I wasn't all that keen on Chapter 2 either (when compared to the first), so I'm in no rush to see 3.
I'm only prioritising seeing Rocketman and Godzilla over the next couple of weeks.

Pedant alert!
Also, most weapons in films like these will be loaded with magazines, not clips. Sorry, couldn't not say it.

@KALofKRYPTON You're probably right. I know next to nothing about guns beyond them being machines designed to propel sharp pieces of metal.

I have no real interest in Rocketman, but I'm incredibly excited about Godzilla. Everything I've heard makes it sound like a proper kaiju movie. Next movie of note for me is Brightburn.

PSA: Rocketman is excellent!

Hana-Bi (Amazon Prime Video) - 90's Japanese film about a police detective, Nishi (played by Takeshi Kitano), who, after a series of events throw his life into disarray, decides to throw everything away and make the most of things while he can. I really got into it, and say it now outranks Sonatine as my favorite Kitano film.

Weird Science (Amazon Prime Video) - 80's Teen Comedy that sees a couple of high school nerds that, while trying to create a female AI to practice interacting with women, somehow manage to create a real life bombshell beauty, who both listens to their every whim, while also having the power to alter reality itself. It's goofy 80's schlock (and of course the boys learn some self confidence & that people will like them for who they are by film's end), but I definitely enjoy these kinds of films from time to time, and like seeing what they were able to get away with, with a PG-13 rating at the time (it almost reminds me of a Shonen anime/manga, in the sense that it's definitely not a film aimed at adults, yet there is some sexual innuendo, and even a few very brief moments of female nudity, that you wouldn't get in a Hollywood film made today for the same demographic).

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 47 out of 100 on Metacritic currently.

Still going to watch it, though.

@RogerRoger Love Casino Royale, also quite like Quantum of Solace. That's where Craig's outings drop off for me though. Skyfall is better on latter viewings, but it's still not great. Spectre is plain awful though

@WanderingBullet Meta also has the 2014 film sat higher at 62/100. No follow up that's actually focused on the kaiju as opposed to the 8 minutes of Godzilla on screen from crap perspectives could be worse than that!
Also,it has Rodan - so I'm in regardless!

@KratosMD I've often wondered what I would think of the original trilogy getting a first viewing as an adult. You also have the benefit of coming to Star Wars in an era where the prequel trilogy are not the worst films in the franchise (that would be The Last Jedi). Also, don't forget to watch Rogue One (after Revenge of the Sith), it's excellent!

Also, just read that WB has a New Gods movie in development! I don't think I was aware of that... Colour me excited!

@KratosMD I think watching them in release order for the trilogies is a good shout to be honest.

You could watch Rogue One whenever really, as it's essentially in 'side story' territory. But being set just before A New Hope, watching after ROTS would work. Also, I think tonally it works well after ROTS and does an amazing job of shifting to a very 70's aesthetic in places.

@KratosMD I’m on a bit of a series rewatching binge lately, and I will probably do Star Wars soon. I actually feel like Rogue One is a good place to start, and then do episodes 4, 5, 6 then 1, 2, 3 then Solo, then 7, 8. But you’ve already made it through the originals, so putting it after epi 3 is reasonable. The only thing is that you’ll be really tempted to watch episode 4 again after seeing Rogue One.

@RogerRoger In fairness, it could have been the best film ever made and Sam Smith still would've ruined it anyway.
It's just such a weak film. Never really gets away from the 'Quantum was just a placeholder until we sorted out the rights' thing either...

@KratosMD @RogerRoger you could also watch them in this order

A New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi

that way it frames the events of those films like a flashback, then you can move onto the Disney films if you want to

Critics are trash and give lots of fun films bad ratings. Impressions I've heard from people who are kaiju fans and have actually seen the film are borderline ecstatic. Nobody is going in to a Godzilla film expecting a life-changing script.

@RogerRoger "I know Ed, life isn't always fair. Just think, next time I shoot someone, I could be arrested."

@Ralizah unlike games which are both a major monetary expense and take up time and books which usually take me a while to get through. Films are done within 3 hours and you can watch them much later for a pittance or free. I pay zero attention to music or film reviews. Life is far too short.

@themcnoisy That’s a good point. If you watch a bad movie, you’ve lost 2 hours and maybe $5-10. If you play a bad game you might lose 50 hours and $60.