Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger Shazam is good but aquaman is really hammy. It's like almost really good but bits of it are like a straight to TV Christmas movie. It's just the style of the film, I don't fault it for it but it does stick out. Still worth a watch though!

Finally got round to watching Blade Runner for the very first time by watching the Final Cut version. Overall I loved it. Older sci-fi films have always fascinated me with how imaginative their visions of the future are, plus it's also got a nice noir feel to it as well. Harrison Ford was great as the lead role.

Tonight I watched both Lost in Translation and Night is Short, Walk on Girl. Lost in Translation is one of those movies that’s extremely polarising but I think I liked it. I say think because I did find the portrayal of Japanese people as a bit demeaning but I liked the overall plot. The use of music is great too and totally fits with my own tastes. Having ‘Just Like Honey’ by Jesus and Mary Chain closing out the movie is one of the best closers in any movie I’ve ever watched. However, it’s a bit hard to like the two main characters and so I’d probably say it was a 4 star movie.

Night is Short, Walk on Girl is a movie I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time now, as a huge Masaaki Yuasa fan. It’s a sorta spin off of The Tatami Galaxy, possibly the greatest anime of all time, and so contains a few of the same characters. Being just as bombastic, clever and insane as the rest of his work, it’s an absolute triumph and I’d recommend it to anybody who loves anime, romance or overall madness. This one’s probably a 4.5 star movie.

This morning I watched Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (Blu-Ray).

The second film in the Evangelion remake line, it's animated just as beautifully as the first (in addition to the stunning action sequences, I really enjoy the scenery shots, especially those that center on Tokyo III "waking up" or readying for combat). While it still mostly retells the events of the TV series at this point, major deviations are starting to show themselves such as a completely new Eva pilot, the changing of a pilot during a major accident, and that out of this world finale! After this point it'll be all new to me as I haven't yet seen 3.33, and am interested in seeing how this plays out.

lol

Oh boy.

Be sure to let us know what you think of that film.

Evangelion 2.22 is one of my favorite anime films, even if I feel like it completely betrays the tone and 'point' of the original series. It's a spectacular action movie, for sure.

Nothing will ever top The End of Evangelion, though.

So Rise of Skywalker...

It's not great. But I've seen much worse.

The story macguffins are numerous, the continuity is often askew and narrative leaps plentiful. Looks nice, sounds great and the fight choreography, while pretty pedestrian is at least watchable without too much eye rolling.

The first third of the film is a train wreck. As are the finer points of the scripting. The story itself could've worked rather well over two films and with a little more narrative sense.
Bit of a shame on the whole, as it would've made a good basis for episodes 8 and 9.

So after watching Blade Runner the other day, I've now watched the sequel, Blade Runner 2049. Overall, it was enjoyable enough, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the first one.

My main issue was the world felt fairly bleak in Blade Runner 2049. The original had a more optimistic view of the future. It was a fun sci-fi adventure, with flying cars and other cool sci-fi things. On the other hand, 2049 focused more on poverty and the environmental impact of the world, and had a much more run-down feel to it.

The overall story was good in 2049, but I felt that the quality of the writing was better in the original. The original's story felt more concise and more impactful. The characters were alright in 2049, but none really grabbed my attention like the wonderful characters in the original did.

So overall, I enjoyed Blade Runner 2049. It was worth watching. It's a decent sequel, but personally I much prefer the first movie.

(Also, I kept almost instinctively calling it Blade Runner 2077 by mistake)

@LN78 @crimsontadpoles I always enjoyed Bladerunner when in was younger, but the more I see it the less I have enjoyed it. I think all the different cuts annoys me and I now can't remember which version i saw when I was a younger. Couldn't get into the sequel and it failed to hold my interest.

@RogerRoger I don't think an extended cut would be particularly helpful.
Perhaps it might help fill in a few plot holes (and pot holes) of the narrative though. That first third or so only the word 'editing' scrolling through my subconscious! 😂

@LN78 oh yeah. Comedic gold. That's probably my favourite plot hole, The set of the fleet in general, but also - why have a ground assault on the tower that they can clearly see and get to from the air, and also, why didn't the Final Order (😂😂) just switch back to the tower that the Resistance just left alone because it was turned off? 😂😂

@LN78 Yeah, guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the first one, and was more distracted with the cool sci-fi things.

Lion King 2019. Technically stunning to experience with a great voice cast. Seth Rogen as Pumbaa is ace but I thought Danny Glover was weak as older Simba. The big problem is the animals are all photo realistic, it all looks a bit odd as there is little facial animation. I'm not sure how Disney rectifies this going forward. This is a particular problem with the musical numbers and most of them feel a bit flat. I still enjoyed watching it, but as with Aladdin (which i have more an affinity with) the original is just so much better, with a lot more soul and charm.

Rambo: Last Blood (DVD) - Watched this with the family last night.

After seemingly finally settling down, living his days out at a scenic ranch near the southern US border, the titular action hero must come out of retirement whenever his adopted niece (Gabrielle) is kidnapped by a sex trafficking cartel while on a trip to Mexico in search of her dead beat dad, and he takes it upon himself to kick some butt & bring her back.

If you can get over the fact that the man is in his 60's (70's?) at this point, it can be a thrilling (albiet dark & very gruesome) action flick. Not something that'll win any awards (in fact the critics seemed to despise it, largely due to political reasons based on some I read, with a metascore in the 20's, in comparison to it's user score in the 70's), but it's not a bad way to spend an afternoon/evening inside.

@RR529 To be fair, it wasn’t so much ‘political reasons’ as much as insanely xenophobic portrayals of Mexicans, who were in fact all Spanish which probably shows how little they cared considering they felt that was ‘close enough’. I lasted an hour but I only really liked First Blood anyway.

@JohnnyShoulder The ones I’ve watched so far are Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. While not great I thought they were still decent and watchable. Can’t beat the originals, though.

I did find it odd that both Simba and Nala sang Can You Feel The Love Tonight during the daytime. lol

@RogerRoger Love that film.

I'll be interested to read your thoughts on Spider-Man 2. Still the best modern superhero movie ever made for my money.

3 isn't great - but not as bad as people make out.

The amazing Peter Parker films are not good... at all

@RogerRoger I love those movies, although I only went to see 3 and the Amazing ones in the cinema since I was (sorry) too young to see them 😂😂

@RogerRoger @KALofKRYPTON Tobey Maguire's still the best Spider-man. Wasn't a fan of Andrew Garfield but Amazing Spider-man 2's classic suit looked great.

Are there any actors you guys thought did such a great job that you can't see anyone else portraying those superheroes? For example, I think Ryan Reynolds's amazing as Deadpool and was born to play the "Merc with a Mouth". Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man is another tough act to follow.

@WanderingBullet I couldn’t see another Wolverine to be honest. Hugh Jackman did border on parody at times but he was definitely iconic.

@WanderingBullet
I think it can really be down to the creative direction of the film as to whether another actor could take any particular mantle.

Maguire for example, would be terrible as the Amazing Spider-Man version of Peter Parker.

Just as Affleck for me is the definitive live action bat, dropping him in to Batman Forever wouldn't really work.

I'm with @LN78 on Reeve though. You could drop him and his Superman in to any other Superman project and make it instantly better.

@LN78 Agreed.

He looks great even though he’s not super ripped like the actors we see portraying superheroes nowadays.

@nessisonett He was good in most of the X-Men films but really great in Logan.

@KALofKRYPTON Good point. I get that they were going for TDK look but did it bother you that Affleck's version was bit on the chubby side?