Topic: The Movie Thread

@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.

@KALofKRYPTON Oh, I really like SPECTRE… or at least, I think I do. I got sidetracked the other day because I'm not feeling well, so I've switched to watching the Naked Gun films to cheer me up.

@KratosMD Yeah, I reckon KAL is right on the money there; watching Star Wars in release order, rather than numerical order, makes sense because the prequels give lots of nods and hints towards the future that fans / audiences wouldn't have otherwise picked up on. There are numerous moments George Lucas could just have a single, wordless reaction shot or play a piece of music over something which would've otherwise required exposition, and you just go "aah, of course..." and it all ties beautifully together. At least, I think so.

Rogue One and Solo are great fun, but definitely for once you've got a handle on the "core" six films. They actually fit rather nicely after the prequels.

To be seeing all of them again for the first time... well, I'm a little jealous. Enjoy!

@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.

@Th3solution exactly. I noticed during the trailers and pre film adverts when watching Guy Ritchies Aladdin, you can buy a years pass for £170 adult / £130 child at my local cinema. There are some stipulations to use when I asked about it - such as it can't be early access screening, you can only watch a film once, you can only reserve seats on the day you are going and its the basic seats (which are always good anyway in this cinema). Basically it's a good deal but you are at the back of the queue when a super popular film comes out - there are also some stipulations around 3d films which you can only view during off peak weekdays Mon-Thurs and Sunday morning. That last rule is fine by me as I work Weekends and am off every Tuesday!

Anyway for £170 and 7 free hours a week I can watch 156 brand new films in their entirity. Do I really need reviews when they are so cheap to consume on every level?

@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, I liked the first movie even though Godzilla hardly featured in it. So I was happy when they said Godzilla will have more screen time in the sequel.

@themcnoisy Yeah, that’s a good deal if you do take the time to go to the theater every week. I got something similar to that a couple years ago — won it in a raffle. It wasn’t a whole year, it was like 6 months of unlimited movies at a certain theater. I saw some lousy movies that year because, as you say, the only barrier is the time to go and watch it. The local theaters don’t do that program anymore around here. Your problem is going to be that you’ll run out of movies to watch. Do 156 movies even come to the theater in a year? Lol

In following my summer ‘movie series re-watching plan’, I gobbled up another favorite series of mine this week, The Lord of the Rings.
I re-watched the 3 Peter Jackson The Hobbit films a few months ago, and although I do enjoy them, I can’t deny they are full of so much fluff and extraneous storyline so as to detract from the real story of Bilbo, the ring, and the journey to the mountain.
...But despite The Hobbit’s shortcomings (see what I did there), The Lord of the Rings movies really nail the delivery. To me they are a real masterpiece in film and a joy to watch. As is always the case, I can’t help but compare the movies to the books, but aside from a few deviations, I just really love what Jackson did with this trilogy. Some things pop out on watching them after so many years — how fake the hobbit and elf ears look at times, how Saruman and Gandalf’s hair doesn’t match the color of their beards, how a scene will cut from day to night immediately in order to bring the foreboding mood required, the occasional last gen look of the CGI (although in general the special effects hold up very well), the recurrent use of the slow motion close ups to emphasize sadness or foreboding, the occasional cheesiness in dialogue.... and so on and so forth.
But as a whole, what a great ride this is. Watching all three (of the extended cut versions I might add) in close succession over several days gave me an appreciation of the impact of the ending. The Fellowship of the Ring opens with the wonderful party atmosphere in the Shire and you feel a warmth of the community - a quiet and happy place where the biggest problems are the mundane squabbles of relatives and nurturing one’s crops. A real serene and safe place. By the end when you return to the very same place, you feel as if you look upon it differently, just like Bilbo or Frodo does. You’re seeing the Shire through a different lens now. Like the hobbits, after seeing the horrors of the world, they have a hard time being comfortable at such an innocent and naive place. They have changed through their adventures and trials. And as a viewer, I felt changed as well. Emotionally impactful, chock full of wisdom and symbolism — it’s a series I will be able to watch over and over again.

Next up: Harry Potter. The big project later is the entire library of 22 MCU films.

Ever wonder how Godzilla can fully submerge himself while swimming but when he stands up you can see like 80% of his body?lol Just seems like a lot of times the depth of the sea changes for story convenience.

"I would like now to introduce a most distinguished American. This week, he is being honoured for his one thousandth drug dealer killed. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Lieutenant Frank Drebin of Police Squad."

"In all honesty, the last two I backed over with my car. Luckily, they turned out to be drug dealers."

@Th3solution As much as I can't stand The Lord of the Rings, I really appreciate your write-up. Reminds me of how much I can sometimes love a film, or series of films, that everybody else seems to hate; whilst I genuinely cannot grasp how you could take so much away from the experience, it's awesome to hear / read that you have. Best of luck with Harry Potter!

The Fellowship of the Ring is the only movie I've ever genuinely struggled to stay awake during. Took me three attempts to finally get through it.

I spent like 8 hours in the cinema watching all 3 Lord of The Rings films back 2 back 2 back. And the first two were the extended versions. Suffice to say I did not want to to see the inside of the cinema for awhile or have any popcorn.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godzilla_king_of_the_monster...

90% audience score. About what I expected. The kaiju fans who are going to see this are loving it.

Movie critics, once again, are demonstrating their own irrelevance.

@RogerRoger @Ralizah Definitely the pace of the LoTR series can crawl at times, just like the books do, but in a different way. In the movies it’s excessive battle scenes and long scenes showing scenery and vistas while lutes and flutes play classic music in the background while you watch elves and dwarves running from point A to point B. In the books it’s pages and pages describing said vistas and old kings and historical context. It’s a preference thing, I suppose. First off it’s high fantasy which is already a personal preference issue. Secondly, it’s steeped in high symbolism, which is also not always what some people care for in a movie or book. Thirdly, (and this relates to being of the fantasy genre) there is loads of back story and history that can make following the narrative a chore, especially with a bunch of strange foreign sounding names and creatures to try to follow.

But every time I see the movies I just adore the message of the strength of will trumping out sheer brute force. In the small and simple lies great power to affect and change the world. That the world is not won or lost on the battlefield and with large armies and heroic deeds, as much as it is won in the heart of men where the largest battles rage, where power and corruption’s seeds are sown. And the simple everyday man (or hobbit) can be stronger in spirit than the mightiest of warriors.