Topic: The Movie Thread

Any Snake Eyes fans here? His solo movie has wrapped principal photography last month. He's my favourite G.I. Joe character but I'm not so sure about Henry Golding being cast as the lead role, though. Storm Shadow will be played by Andrew Koji and Iko Uwais will star as Hard Master. The last two movies were really bad so I don't have high expectations for this one but still I'm still interested to see what they do with his origin story.

This is the only official image so far I believe:

@FullbringIchigo Well I dunno, Shakespeare plays work perfectly well with colourblind casting, even the historical ones. They did them a while back on the BBC with Sophie Okonedo as Margaret of Anjou and she was brilliant. Plenty of shows with historical basis deviate from history in far worse ways than having a character be a different race. Although the Bond example’s interesting. I think it’s a bit patronising to turn all these movies into having female leads and such. Instead they should be focusing on writing good female character driven movies instead of handing out male leftovers. I mean, Ocean’s Eight? They couldn’t even find 11 actresses, one of which is Rihanna?

@LN78 Woah, I’d never heard of that before. It’s really interesting to read about, especially considering Orson Welles was only 20 years old. I wonder how many of the actors actually went on to find work though, there can’t have been many opportunities for them in the film industry back then.

@LN78 Lots of great movies are flopping or underperforming at the box office these days. Hard to be really successful any more if you're not part of a few mega franchises owned by a very old and greedy rodent.

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, the director threaded the needle to make it BOTH a Stephen King story as well as a follow-up to the film of The Shining (which is incredibly hard, because... well... Kubrick). I'm also glad he didn't attempt to ape Kubrick's style. Even if you love Kubrick (I don't, personally), you have to admit that there's no real way to recreate the cold, harrowing feelings of the original. This story, despite the terror and suffering involved, is one that's warm with humanity.

I really liked the actress they found for Wendy. She looks very similar, but she has an inner fortitude that Kubrick's terrified waif didn't possess. Jack is less... he's alright, but it's difficult for me to separate Nicholson's iconic performance from the character. Still, there is a bit more humanity with this character. They both feel like they were torn from the original Shining novel.

Actually, my least favorite aspect of the movie is that it attempted to connect back to Kubrick's film at all. I understand why they did it, but The Overlook in this film just doesn't have the cold, alien film from Kubrick's film, so the imagery that originated in that movie feels gimmicky ripped from that particular context.

But overall, yeah, I really dug it. It's my favorite (unofficial) X-Men film.

I've not seen Gerald's Game, but I guess I need to add it to the list of movies to watch.

@Ralizah Jack’s actually played by the wee boy from ET. It’s a strange choice but he played it alright.

@nessisonett Looking at the actor's credits, it looks like he's been in most of the director's previous films. Seems like they work closely together.

He did well enough. Nobody can (or should try to) replicate Nicholson's performance.

@nessisonett @LN78 yeah but plays have always been like that, for some reason when it comes to the stage there is less of an issue about this kind of thing and i think it's because when it comes to plays the casts change so much and so often because each time it is live that it's no longer a issue where as with film it's a more permanent thing for example as i mentioned Bond take Dr No there will always be a version you can watch that has Sean Connery as Bond even if they remade it or rebooted but with a play if you watched one ten years ago you can't watch that same one again

and i also think because films have a wider reach that will last decades there is more of a need for historical characters to be as accurate as possible because they will more likely be held up against the people they are supposed to be

@FullbringIchigo Honestly, the amount of ‘historical’ movies I watch that have terrible accents anyway, I don’t care what race the person is. That Mary Queen of Scots movie made me cringe so hard, they had Saoirse Ronan (Irish) playing the title character and Margot Robbie (Aussie) playing Queen Elizabeth I. I would genuinely be happier having that lassie who played Cho Chang be Mary Queen of Scots, at least she’s got the accent 😂😂

@nessisonett yeah a lot of the time when people put on accents they are terrible you would think IF they couldn't get someone with a natural accent to play the role they would at least coach the actors they do choose in how to use one properly or just forgo the accents altogether

@FullbringIchigo Sean Connery having an Scottish accent in everything he ever did lol.

@LN78 Ah yes Connery's accent in The Untouchables is particularly bad. One that i don't get is Benedict Cumberbatch for Dr. Strange. Not down right awful, just jarring when you are used to his normal accent. And there is really not much need for it, just have him as an English man living in America. Is that so out of the ordinary that the filmmakers thought that general moviegoers wouldn't get their heads round it?

@LN78 @JohnnyShoulder I think it's a case of rather having some dodgy accents than upset the rabid comic-book fan on the internet and change a character's nationality.

@BearsEatBeets and so they can have whatever actor is big at that moment in the film

anything to draw in the numbers

@LN78, @RogerRoger, yeah, although I wasn't sure how well I'd like it (Phantom Menace) going in due to the prequels' reputation & the fact that it's been so long since I last watched any of them earnestly, but I'm glad to say I actually had more fun with it than many of the blockbusters the Hollywood of today is producing, and will definitely be going through with the rest of the series (not sure if I'll include the modern films, other than maybe Rogue One inbetween the trilogies, as I remember liking that one).

Anyhow, as that was the last film to go in my last purchase, I just ordered my next 4:

• Weird Science (the comedy of the group. Very 80's, but I like it)
• Evangelion 2.22 (continuing on from 1.11, it's the next film in line of the Evangelion remake saga, and my Japanese related film of the bunch)
• License to Kill (the next Bond film in line)
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (next SW film in line, and my sci-fi pick).

I watched Batman vs Superman tonight, after having watched Nolan’s trilogy recently. It’s... not the worst film in the world. Comparing it to early MCU, it’s probably better than the first two Thor movies, the last two Iron Man movies and the Incredible Hulk by quite a margin. I actually like a lot of the ideas but it’s a very messy movie. Martha-gate is silly but I appreciate the sentiment. Batfleck is a great Bruce and the fights are good but I don’t like how bulky he is. There’s no skulking from the shadows, World’s Greatest Detective, just brute force.
I’d watch it again but it falls flat in some key aspects, like the entirety of Lex Luthor. Jesse Eisenberg is far more menacing as Zuckerberg than he is as Luthor, where he attempts a kinda ‘off the wall’ performance. It doesn’t work. Although this one sold me on Cavill. He does look a bit like a Rob Liefeld drawing (my pet hate) but he carries himself well and you can tell he’s just trying to do the right thing. Amy Adams (another fantastic actress buried by an awful superhero role) has as much charisma as Zod’s naked corpse. It’s painful at times.
It’s such a shame that Justice League turned out the way it did, I’m going to rewatch it but my memories aren’t good. They really shouldn’t try to be the MCU because it’s not working. BvS actually holds up OK in that regard, it’s its own beast and that’s no bad thing. It’s a frustrating movie, but I’d watch it over TDKR any day.

@RR529 First time watching Evangelion 2.22? It's a really wild action movie, and, unlike, the first Rebuild film, actually diverges from the original series pretty significantly.

@FullbringIchigo Being historically accurate with casting is obviously one of few scenarios where casting based on race would be justified. I say that only goes for actual history though, and not adaptations. I don't see why James Bond wouldn't be able to be a black person. His race is not at all inherent to his character, so changing it should make no difference. It's never as easy as just saying that that is how they were orginally written. Many of the works being adapted were written a long time before en masse diversity like we are trying to have now was accepted in any way. I don't see there being anything wrong with retroactively creating some more diversity with the older material. As long as race, sexuality or gender isn't of inherent importance to a character, there should be no reason it can't be changed.

Creating new characters of diverse nature is definitely one of the things most important to do, but surely going back and changing a gender, a race or a sexuality here and there can't hurt. These new characters to create aren't going to become prevalent any time soon, so we might as well adjust some characters while we are en route. Altering the race of someone like James Bond isn't cutting back on representation for white people. We have plenty of representation. So much so that changing any one role is entirely negligible for the state of our representation. It's the minorities where every character counts.

Equality, like you say, is the state of everyone being equal. The minorities we have right now are minorities exactly because they aren't represented equally. There will always be more opportunities for white people than there will be minorities. Always be more for heterosexual people than there will be for LGBT. Upping the representation of those underrepresented doesn't mean we become underrepresented. We are not responsible for the actions of racist ancestors, homophobic pasts or sexist history, but we can do our best to make sure that this time, we get it right and do strive for the equality we all should want. We're not there yet.

A more detailed look at Wonder Woman's 1984's Golden Eagle armour originally designed by Alex Ross:

https://www.polygon.com/2019/12/9/21002606/wonder-woman-1984-...

@Ralizah, I actually did watch 2.22 a number of years back when Toonami aired it, but that's been awhile. The only apparent deviation that comes to mind was that new Eva pilot (the girl with glasses in the pink plug suit), and I think a big twist at the end. Looking forward to watching it again.

@Tjuz Personally, generally and in the case of Bond (and others)- I'd rather he wasn't made an ethnic minority or in to a woman. (movie) Bond, despite the slightly softer leaning in the newer films is a pig - and he should absolutely stay that way. I don't think there's any need to put a black man (woman) in to those shoes.

In the broader sense - just make new characters rather than changing some IP that 'should' make money just to check a box.
Those that lead the 'charge' to advocate for diversity changes to existing IP, or at the very least foster a political view of any particular release tend not to be the audience who would be paying to see it.

On the subject of 'representation' in general; I just don't get it. I watch films, TV, read books and play games etc. Never once have I felt the need to see myself represented in these things. I turn to them for escapism. If any of those thing feature a cast of characters who happen to be racially and socially diverse, great, if not - no problem either.

It is for me, largely a bit of a drum to beat for some people and an exercise in narcissism for others.