Topic: The Movie Thread

@LN78 I’ll definitely post my thoughts when I do. Yeah, the Netflix logic offered up the Indiana Jones movies as alternatives when I searched for it there, as other titles ‘similar to’ it that they did have in their library. So that’s a great sign since I really like those.

@LN78 I think I’d probably lean toward the optimistic side, for the reasons you state. It’s always a tricky situation when tackling an established franchise that’s been dormant for many years, but I feel like there was some lessons learned with Crystal Skull that Mangold is apt to take into consideration. And, although I wasn’t quite as enamored with Logan as the collective viewership (I actually liked The Wolverine a little better, but both were solid and apparently miles better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine which I avoided due to the backlash) it was at least daring and showed a willingness to deviate from customary formulae to achieve the impact. Also, ironically he has producer credits on two films I just happened to have watched in the last couple weeks — The Call of the Wild and The Greatest Showman, both of which I was able to find some enjoyment from, despite being different from my usual movie watching fare. Agree on Ford v Ferrari too — that was a really good character-study type of film. If nothing else, the guy has shown a solid ability to manage top tier actors. I haven’t seen 3:10 to Yuma or Knight and Day or Girl, Interrupted, but I liked Walk the Line fairly well, even if it was just a standard safe biographical style film. He has quite a breadth of work and having worked with the likes of Cruise, Phoenix, Jackman, Jolie, Bale, and Ford before, I think as long as he is given freedom to do things his own way then it should be an interesting take on Indiana Jones.

@RogerRoger I agree on Winter Soldier being in the MCU’s top 5 or so. It’s uniquely constructed as an espionage thriller so serves as a breath of fresh air in the series. And I like the evolution of Cap’s character into the moral compass for SHIELD. They balance Cap’s Boy-Scoutish ideology of the 1950’s with his renegade machismo quite well. It does have some of the best action sequences in the series too, imo.

@RogerRoger I’d probably say Thor 2 is the worst of the lot so I wouldn’t think too deeply about why you almost fell asleep! I’m not a huge fan of the Iron Man movies (especially 2 and 3) either so I did think the movies got better throughout Phase Two.

Definitely agree on that one. I did fall asleep when I watched Thor 2 for the first time. A few years later I rewatched it and almost fell asleep again! It is not a good movie. Not offensively bad, just dull and lifeless.

@RogerRoger By the way... are you keeping track of all the infinity stones so far? It’s one thing that watching the movies in close succession is a bit easier to do, as opposed to watching each separately as it’s own stand-alone movie. For me it was almost like I needed a spreadsheet to keep up with them all and there are plenty of places on the internet that do that for you but I’d discourage you from googling it because you’re sure to end up with spoilers at this point, and there’s sufficient explanation later on for those who’ve watched the movies more casually and for viewers who missed one or more of the 23 movies. 😄
But the movies reward people like me who are super-fans who geek out on the small details.

@RogerRoger
Guardians of the Galaxy is full of comedy, excluding the first 5 minutes. Definitely one of my favourites. The sequel is good fun as well.

@nessisonett Thor 1 was boring, but I couldn't even finish watching Thor 2. It's so bad.

@RogerRoger Honestly, I’m not a big fan of Star-Lord either. Some jokes land but I agree about the whole ‘dudebro’ schtick, it’s similar to my feelings about Tony Stark. I think Winter Soldier and Ant-Man are my two favourites there, they both deliver the most solid experience as a whole movie. I really don’t think much of Age of Ultron at all, even when I went to the cinema. The Quicksilver thing was silly and for an ‘age’, Ultron managed to run its course in about two days. At least we got Vision, I always liked him in the comics. Again though, not a fan of how they handle Scarlet Witch in the MCU since they didn’t have the access to mutants when AoU came out. Her powers are seemingly... red special effects. Looking back on it, I used to go to the cinema and think the newest movie was great but they were usually replaced by the next one, and then the next one. I don’t seem to have many lasting favourites.

@RogerRoger
It's fair enough, I just love films that make me laugh and as you say there are quite a few funny scenes in there. Can't say I have much love for Star Lord as an individual, I don't mind him in the first film. Not sure if there are quite as many jokes in the sequel but it definitely has its moments.
Firm favourite of the Marvel films has to be Thor Ragnarok, lots of great comedy in there, with plenty of other fun moments as well.

@RogerRoger Glad to hear your overall experience with the MCU is favorable still and I agree with most of your takes. As you say, to create so many entries without a bunch of plot holes, inconsistencies, and errors is quite an achievement. But yes, they do exist. As with most science fiction and fantasy there’s the element of ‘suspension of disbelief’ that comes into play a few times here. Question things just enough to be able to appreciate the clever interwoven narrative, but not enough to look too deep to see the cracks. As more entries pile up in your viewing, more possibilities for narrative error might pile up. But I agree with you - as a whole it’s remarkably consistent.

And as a quick aside, I think it’s possible that the Star-Lord character suffers from a little bit of America-centric culture contamination as far as relatability and humor. The dudebro / frat boy/ bumbling bravado is a motif that we seem to have an strange obsession with. I’m guilty of finding great humor and relatability in Star-Lord, but there’s a chance a lot of that is because I know a few Star-Lords in my life. GotG2 and the other future entries do give his character more depth over time and I mostly found myself rooting for him, but your mileage may vary on his goofy personality, even though its evolution adds a few layers eventually.

I can totally see how the music may be a source of distraction if you’re not particularly a fan. Although the future entries use less well known tracks, there is a clear infatuation that the filmmakers have with 60’s and 70’s tunes and it’s a bit of a running theme. I’ve been a fan of that particular era of music so I actually found it enhanced my enjoyment but I know all to well about heavy use of a style of music making or breaking a show. For me, it’s gratuitous use of hip-hop that often sullies a movie experience, so I get it.

Edit: on the subject and as another general movie watching aside — I have found that a lot of movie music comes across much better in a theater setting than it does on the small screen. This is a phenomenon that I notice on rewatching a variety of films. Not sure if anyone else experiences that but the booming of the big theater sound system carries added impact, usually in a positive way, as opposed to watching at home.

@Th3solution I have similar feelings with Hans Zimmer’s soundtracks. There’s only so much BWAAAAA BWAAAAA I can take. The sound mixing’s always awful as well, especially in Nolan movies so the music is crazy loud and you can barely hear what anybody’s saying.

Never had a problem with Star Lord myself. Found it quite refreshing from most of the other characters in the MCU and a different take on a character arc. Absolutely loved the music in Guardians too, so much that I bought the soundtrack, which I rarely do. Thought it suited the film perfectly, it is supposed to be the music on his mixtape after all which also has a sentimental value to him to. It is something that has been copied by future MCU films and not get criticised, so I feel strange for this film to get special attention. 🤷‍♂️

@LN78 Oh yeah, the intent of using the music as a narrative device to connect Quill to his mother is a pretty clever part of the story. Perhaps the same narrative purpose could have been accomplished if his mother’s tape had her favorite bluegrass country western tunes or classical orchestral compositions, but I think the popular music of the day is the easiest path to portray the intended connection to the past, as @JohnnyShoulder points out. And I think @RogerRoger is on board with that (not speaking for him but reading into his last post and correction of his original phraseology) but they do go to the 60’s & 70’s well pretty regularly so I see how that could grate on the experience for a person. But yes, the ‘why it was used’ question is a more objective one.

It is interesting that Guardians 2 seemed to use lesser known tracks though, at least lesser known to me. But I was happy to discover “Brandy” though - which has become a favorite song of mine now but was not on my radar before (despite it apparently being revered as an all-time great song ...)

On the subject of audio, this comic reminds me of every movie in the MCU

Just watched the movie "The Extraction", a very good movie.

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.