Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger Edge of Tomorrow is actually adapted from a manga called All You Need Is Kill.

@RogerRoger Ah, yes - Edge of Tomorrow is an under appreciated gem. The video game-like respawn process resonates so well. Glad you enjoyed it. As you say, it was nice to see Cruise in a role where he’s quite fallible, cowardly, and non-heroic.
Blunt is also great in A Quiet Place, and I’d definitely recommend that if you can stomach the light horror aspects (it barely classifies as a horror show, definitely more of a thriller, but is quite tense so beware). I haven’t seen her version of Mary Poppins but I hear it was good as well.

@Th3solution It’s amazing just how much I love Tom Cruise as an actor despite all the Scientology nonsense. He’s just endlessly watchable.

@RogerRoger Dark Phoenix is rather bad. I'd put it as bad as Apocalypse I think.

In other movie news, I finally got to see a film I only discovered a few weeks ago through a video essay about Streets of Rage (the link is tenuous), and that film is Streets of Fire.

How it passed me by all these years I cannot say, but none of my IRL friends seem aware of it either.

It was a big budget box office bomb released in 1984; billed as a 'rock & roll fantasy' and from the writers and director of The Warriors and 48 Hours - it had all of the elements in place to be a huge success. Costing a whopping $14m and only taking a NA box office of $8m for its entire run, (by contrast, Star Trek III-which opened at the same time took $34m its first weekend) the film washed out and the plans for a trilogy and seemingly the career of lead Michael Paré were shelved.

After I'd seen it mentioned, I tracked down the trailer and knew I had to see it!

I was gifted the basic dvd in case it wasn't worth getting the blu ray, suffice to say, I will definitely be getting the blu ray for the remastered 5.1 audio!

I enjoyed Streets of Fire immensely. Its the sort of film that I'd have liked to have seen growing up and been entertained but perhaps a bit confused by (like Buckaroo Bonzai). The alternate neon infused 50s setting is beyond compelling, and the mostly Ry Cooder soundtrack - combining bits of 80s power ballads, early rock n roll vocal styling and even a bit of rockabilly is excellent.
Unfortunately, while the audio and visuals absolutely shine, the script isn't the best. Which is a shame for a story that is chock full clichés and needs something serviceable to tie the amazing production together.
Most of the performances are fine, some are fantastic, like 18 year old Diane Lane, extra creepy young Willem Dafoe and Rick Moranis playing against type, but Michael Paré often comes across flat. He hadn't done much work at that point, and is on record as saying he was massively overwhelmed by the immense 'Hollywoodness' of the production. The role was offered around, most notably to Tom Cruise - who I think would've had a ball in the part, but he was already contracted elsewhere.

Anyway, I absolutely recommend it. Easy to see why what is essentially a bit of a musical with a wierd setting and relative unknown as lead would get lost on release in 1984 (Ghostbusters, The Terminator, Star Trek III, Beverly Hills Cop, Temple of Doom, The Never Ending Story, Gremlins, Police Academy, Footloose...) - but it still does amaze me that I'd never heard of it.

@KALofKRYPTON I need to give that a watch. I love The Warriors and that looks like it but with the camp dialled up to 11. Could be a laugh at the very least!

@LN78 @nessisonett
I hope you enjoy it.

The soundtrack is on Spotify. It's really something! There's a song sung by Marilyn Martin called Sorcerer. If I remember the credits properly it was written by Stevie Nicks, and is arguably better than quite a lot of her solo releases!

@RogerRoger No problem. I only just found about it last year.lol

Sam Raimi in talks to replace Scott Derrickson as Doctor Strange 2 director after Derrickson left due to creative differences.

@LN78 Last year, Kevin Feige said that Dr. Strange 2 will not be an MCU horror movie, but it will be scary.

@LN78 And the Venom movie changes from having more horror elements that it did.

If anyone wants to see a horror superhero film, just watch Brightburn. Not perfect by any means, but certainly quite effective at what it sets out to do.

@LN78 I think Sony are very smart in what they’ve done. They’ve protected their rights to Spider-Man while giving the fans what they want- him in the MCU. This allows them to create darker stories which is proven to also be what fans what, from the reaction to Joker, Watchmen etc.

@RogerRoger Dark Phoenix was indeed, just there. It’s possibly the most beige, mediocre movie I’ve watched in a long time. It’s a shame because First Class and Days of Future Past aren’t bad at all.

@RogerRoger Interesting in your thoughts on Batman & Harley Quinn. I'm not a huge fan of it. Not terrible, but also not particularly necessary. It feels like it was written by a committee; specifically the 'Harley Is Our Meal Ticket Now So Whoop-Whoop Let't Throw Something Together Committee'. It very rarely feels like it was written by Bruce Timm, which is ordinarily fine for the DC animated stuff, but using Timm's visual style comes with expectations, and those expectations don't include fan-fic level shipping and a generally weak experience.
You could sub in pretty much any of the TAS episodes and watch something with far more creative grace.

@KALofKRYPTON Is that the one where Harley Quinn has two buttcracks?

@nessisonett Isn't that the Hentai version?

@LN78 Yeah some scenes are gloriously gory, which took me by surprise. Bit wierd they had the twist right at the beginning, I thought it would have lent more mystery to the film. It is up there with Chronicle and Kick Ass as my fave non Marvel/DC superhero films.

@LN78 I don't think so, no. But i will check it out as our tastes are quite similar. Cheers.

@LN78 @RogerRoger I can confirm (because I just looked it up on my phone) that Disney+ does have the animated Marvel’s X-men series, 1992-1997, consisting of 5 total seasons. It looks like season 3 contains the “Dark Phoenix” episodes, if I’m just going by the titles. I’m adding it to my watchlist now on the recommendation. Because... yeah, I think I reported it a few months ago here, but the best thing I can say about the latest movie Dark Phoenix was that I fell asleep during the last half and got some nice rest. When I woke up to see bits of the ending in a half-awake stupor, I had no desire to back it up and watch the hour I missed. The sleep was better. Last Stand was like Gone with the Wind by comparison. And I agree the acting was just awful.

By the way, Disney+ also has animated shows: X-Men Evolution (2000-2003, 4 seasons) and Wolverine and the X-Men (2009, 1 season) for other X-Men content, if you’re curious. If you can recommend either of those I might give them a watch too.

And I can also express my vote of disappointment in Aquaman along with everyone else, but yes, the visuals on display do make it worthwhile in my opinion. At times it looks amazing, so at least there’s that.

I so wanted to like Aquaman like everyone else here but it was just a bit obvious, boring and cliched. Shazam, on the other hand, I really enjoyed. It was just a great, fun popcorn movie with surprising emotional depth.

@RogerRoger
It's a pretty throw away thing. I'm aware of a new standalone HQ cartoon. I'm assuming it's very much in the same vein.

Ah Aquaman.
Pretty entertaining. But I'll not watch it for a second time.
It's too long and feels like three competing takes smashed together rather than a well interwoven narrative.

It can and often does look incredible, but it also occasionally looks really rough.