Topic: The Movie Thread

Oh man, Die Another Day is absolutely terrible. I don’t know what I was expecting but I love Goldeneye and can somewhat tolerate Tomorrow Never Dies. It’s a shame because I love Pierce Brosnan Bond but the movie is just incredibly bad and rarely in a fun way. At least it gave us one good thing - the Madonna song. Easily the most laughable Bond song with baffling lyrics such as “Sigmund Freud.... analyse this a-a-analyse this”. The autotune puts T-Pain to shame. The whole film is a complete waste of time and especially bad considering The Bourne Identity came out the same year, which clearly influenced their path forwards with Casino Royale, my favourite movie in the series.

@nessisonett Ooof, yeah the Madge Bond is awful. I can remember watching it at the cinema and almost walked out part way through.

Really sad to see about Joel Schumacher, I actually really do like Batman Forever even if it isn’t the best of movies. I mean, the guy did St Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners as well, three iconic Brat Pack movies of the 80s and early 90s. He might have got a bad rap but it’s still sad to see another Hollywood giant go (that hasn’t had dodgy stuff come out). He claimed that he had sex with over 20000 men which means he’s an absolute legend in my book 😂😂

@RogerRoger I do think Doctor Strange is an underrated movie. Civil War goes for excess and for your general audience, that works but Doctor Strange focuses on an arc, without the trappings of a half-an-hour final battle which I appreciated. Benedict Cumberbatch is a brilliant actor who got famous due to an extremely inconsistent show with pretty terrible writing so I think a lot of people had pre-conceptions about him before he did Doctor Strange. I think what makes it great is that the redemption arc is one of the most believable out of all the movies, they dedicate time at the start to really pull you in and grasp his desperation.

@RogerRoger Valid points, all. It’s so interesting to re-experience these through the eyes of a first-timer. I agree that Civil War definitely felt more like Avengers 2.5, with all the characters showing up together. For sheer bombastic fun there are few sequences better than the airport battle.

Glad you found Dr. Strange enjoyable. I saw it in the theater (actually, most of the MCU I saw in theaters) and the visuals were mind blowing in a 3D cinema. I’m not always a fan of 3D, but this one was fantastic with the added visual effects. But yes, Stephen Strange is a great character. I really enjoy his and Tony Stark’s relationship later on.

@RogerRoger @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy For more Mads Mikkelsen I’d definitely recommend Death Stranding 😄
...Okay, okay... I’ll shut up about that game. 😜

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Ha, Ha! Yeah, I’ve gotta get my quota in of DS references! Kojima is counting on me!

InuYasha Movie 2: Castle Beyond the Looking Glass (Amazon Prime Video) - As I continue my way through the series I watched the second movie last weekend. In this entry the series' main villain Naraku appears to be defeated, but after the cast splits up to seek their own individual quests a new villain appears and draws them together once again.

This is probably my favorite of the films, if only because it features the first of only two kisses the leads share throughout the entire series (I know I'm a sucker, lol). Otherwise it's a fine film that captures the spirit of the show well, and I like the fact that the villain is based on an actual Japanese myth (the tale of Princess Kaguya), which is a nice touch.

@LN78 Yep, so many great tracks on there that totally suit the atmosphere of the movie. For them to attempt covers of both Joy Division and Suicide, that’s pretty brave considering the reputation both bands have.

@RogerRoger Well done, it’s a huge undertaking! Ironically, I think I’d place Iron Man 3 at the very very bottom, I actively loathe that movie compared to ones like Thor 2, which I can’t bring myself to have any feelings about! That’s what opinion’s all about though, we’re bound to appreciate movies for different reasons and especially since I watched them all in the cinema at the time they came out. I’d probably rate the two Spider-Man movies way up in the top 5 as well, I really like the comedic take on the stories. Are you going to dive into the often-confusing, more-than-occasionally-terrible world of the TV shows next?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, I loved Black Panther’s aesthetic, themes and the acting was great but oh man, those effects are insanely bad. The bit where they fall down the big hole punching each other is like early 2000s stuff. I think the single worst scene for effects is still the bit in Ragnarok where Hela kills all the Asgard guards (Asguards?)

Recent watches...

What About Bob?
Terminator 1
Terminator 3
Come to Daddy
The Lighthouse

@kyleforrester87 I loved The Lighthouse, easily one of my favourite movies of the last few years. Definitely odd but it’s an interesting watch and the visual style really captures the dirty, visceral feeling of being stranded on that island.

@nessisonett I mean it was worth it for the seagull scene alone, but yeah it was an enjoyable movie. Need to watch it again at some point.

@RogerRoger obviously it’s got nothing on T1 or T2 (T1 is inside my top 10 favourite films) but it’s not an awful follow up. This is only the third time I’ve seen it, it’s still the best of the newer bunch IMO. I like the ending.

@RogerRoger Since I do love the comics, the way they handled the Mandarin really did annoy me, he’s a great villain with loads of history and I’m glad they’re revisiting him in Shang-Chi, with the real Mandarin this time. I’m not a big fan of Tony Stark either, all things considered, probably similar to your thoughts on Star-Lord. Add in elements such as pointless female character #2 in the form of Rebecca Hall who was woefully underused and Guy Pearce becoming just a really silly baddie at the end and the whole film felt quite messy. Adapting such an iconic story like the Extremis storyline and then doing it such a disservice just never sat right with me, same as how they ruined Malekith in Thor 2. It’s really not one of my favourite movies ever made 😂😂

@RogerRoger Bravo, sir! I’m happy to see that your MCU experience was a positive one. And your list is really interesting. I mostly agree with your reactions and impressions and I think that’s a notable take on Iron Man 3 and it’s shifting focus. Did you notice the little boy (I forget his name now) was present at Tony’s funeral at the end of End Game? That was a nice touch. I loved Iron Man 3 mostly because of all the different suits that debut, but I do appreciate the showing of Tony’s vulnerable side. Not sure if you saw my take on the whole MCU where my theory is that the whole series can be seen as the rise, fall, and redemption of Tony Stark, and so IM3 is pivotal in that tale as well. Like you, I’m not a student of the comics, so the apparent mistreatment if The Mandarin didn’t register with me, but I can see how that may bother some.

But yeah, I’d put GoG, Ragnarok, and Civil War up higher and Ant-Man and the Wasp and Capt America TFA down lower, but as you say, even the worse in the series are solid 7’s for me.

I’ll be curious to see what you decide to follow up with. You’ve probably been superheroed-out at this point. 😄

@LN78 Yeah, I think it’s important to note that those were the days before trailers truly started ‘lying to us’. I can’t remember trailers actively inventing scenes or building hype around a character only to completely subvert it on delivery before then. Now look at how much it happens with especially the wider Disneyverse. I’m half expecting a new Indiana Jones movie where we see him donning the hat and whip in the trailer only for poor Indy to be in a nursing home in the actual movie and replaced by Chris Pratt as his time-travelling future grandson á la Trunks in Dragon Ball Z.

@LN78 @nessisonett @Th3solution @RogerRoger Yeah I wasn't keen in the bait and switch they pulled with Iron Man 3 and was quite hyped on seeing The Mandarin in the MCU. And i disliked the ending as if felt I was watching a Transformers movie. I think that was the point I started not to watch as many trailers as I did for films and games, as I was finding i was getting more disappointed, mostly due them spoiling the final product.

@JohnnyShoulder Did you ever see Batman V Superman? The one that was out a few years ago? What did you think of that? I know that's DC but yeah. Maybe your not a fan of DC? Or do you like that universe as well? Did you ever read any of the Alan Moore DC Comics?