Topic: The Movie Thread

@Ralizah You know, I don’t think I actually have. I love Halloween H20 though, now that’s peak schlock. I’ll definitely get round to watching Halloween though, worth it just for the score alone.

@nessisonett H20 is not a great movie, but it's one I have a certain level of affection for. The funny thing is that the recent Halloween sequel was a sort of reboot of H20 and hit a lot of the same plot beats, but I felt like it was a weaker experience overall. Particularly in terms of how it portrated Laurie Strode. In H20, she's trying to move on with her life and, ostensibly, is successful, but he's still haunted by the past. In Halloween 2018, she's a cartoonishly paranoid gun nut who is just waiting for her eventual reunion with Michael Myers. The H20 character is realistic and sympathetic. The H2018 character seems like a parody of the original character.

See Halloween for the great direction and cinematography as well. Like that dead famous opening tracking shot, which used the new technology of the Steadicam to transport the viewer into the head of The Shape - a wonderfully voyeuristic innovation at the time.

The way scenes are framed in this film are incredible, too. The Shape is like a ghost haunting the entire film, and the viewer becomes just as paranoid as the characters, as that ghostly face can materialize from the darkness seemingly anywhere.

Hey i got a fun game! Let's name some highly praised movies you thought sucked and some critically panned ones you loved. I'll start us off.

Godfather: Everybody acts like this is such a deep thought provoking movie. Bored me to tears. Total yawn fest!

Ghostbusters 2 on the other hand gets trashed all the time for whatever reason i still haven't figured out. I loved it! It's better than the chick reboot that nobody saw!

Indiana Jones and the temple of doom is my favorite Indy movie! The ones with the nazi's are too serious and just not alot of fun to watch. Okay last crusade has it's moments. Oh and brace for it! I didn't hate crystal skull. Just Shia and all the CGi that they originally promised wouldn't be used so much. They lied.

Anybody have a dumb totally brainless movie that they enjoyed? Here's one for ya! Weekend at bernies 2. Yeah I'll be honest. It made me giggle through the whole thing! Call it a guilty pleasure movie but i liked it.

Totally feel like I'm dropping into the middle of a conversation I wasn't invited to but, eh, I'm bored:

Da 5 Bloods. Critically praised everywhere I go but the movie is just... off. Generally enjoy Spike Lee films and I really wanted to like this one considering it's one of Boseman's last but, fact is, I can't recommend it.

Also Midsommar. I actively hate that movie but apparently it's the pinnacle of horror filmmaking.

Those just came to mind as they're recent watches for me. I really can't think of anything the other way around. In my experience critics aren't always right when they say a movie is good but usually right when they claim it's bad. Only thing I can think of is S2 of True Detective but then, that's not a film.

EDIT: Well, this is awkward but I feel the need to clarify that I hadn't read any comments above Zeldafan's "Let's play a game" post so I hadn't yet seen comments from @Ralizah praising Midsommar. Just want to go on record as saying I had genuinely just seen it recently (for the 2nd time no less) and this was in no way some passive-aggressive attempt at picking a fight. Anyway just wanted to make that clear. Also let it be noted I agree that it is beautifully shot and I recognize that it does explore grief, attachment, and family.

I’d watch Mamma Mia over The Dark Knight any day.

@RogerRoger It’s utter trash that features Pierce Brosnan singing ABBA!

@nessisonett @RogerRoger and to think I used to like you guys, I love the Nolan trilogy, even the much knocked Rises.
Just kidding of course, the world would very bland if we all liked the same stuff. One critically acclaimed film I disliked was Bladerunner. I dig the aesthetics of it but just found it very tedious. It springs to mind as I recently watched the sequel as it was on Prime. Maybe it's because I went in with low expectations but I quite enjoyed it and thought it much better than the original. Not something I'll probably watch again but I'm glad I've seen it.
Not sure about the other way round, like @Zeldafan79 I very much like Ghostbusters 2. I also like Predator 2 which I believe is generally considered 'bad'. Not in the same league as the original but still enjoyable. I believe Tremors might be in that class in terms of critics but I find it a lot of fun.

@BearsEatBeets funny as I didn't realize Tremors was critically panned as I've always loved that movie and just assumed it must have been well received.

Ditto to your comments on Blade Runner and its sequel as well.

@zupertramp I was curious so I looked it up and it seems it was generally liked by critics. Maybe as it was considered not especially successful commercially I wrongly attributed it a poor reception. Oh well it gave me an excuse to bring up a fun film that maybe deserved more exposure.

@Arugula Judge Dredd is one of my favorite bad movies. I can't think of a single good thing to say about it other than I feel irresistibly compelled to watch it whenever it plays on TV.

I liked Ad Astra as well, but it really is just "Daddy Issues: The Movie." Also, the scene where Brad Pitt hijacks an active rocket is probably the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a film. 😂

@BearsEatBeets

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tremors

Critics liked Tremors, too. It's hard to imagine someone not enjoying Tremors. It's such a satisfying little monster movie.

@Zeldafan79

So, there was this Johnny Depp-fronted sci-fi flick called Transcendence, and it got HAMMERED. By everyone. Still not entirely sure why.

But... I liked it. I thought it was interesting, mostly well-acted, and a lot of the reviews read like they barely paid attention to the larger themes of the film.

As for the other direction... I'm not talking about The Godfather again, so I'll point to something else I've seen recently. I don't quite remember if I talked about it on here. Weird Science. That seems to be generally well-liked. Saw it for the first time recently, and it's perhaps one of the dumbest and most insulting films I've ever seen.

@zupertramp Wait, people aren't allowed to dislike movies I like?

@Ralizah Weird Science is one of those movies my mum used to get out Blockbuster and then watched it recently and was hugely confused as to why she liked it. It’s not even bad good, it’s just atrocious.

@Ralizah @nessisonett I went through a spell of re-watching films I hadn't seen in a long time but generally remembered liking and Weird Science was one of them. I either have bad memory or my taste in some films has altered dramatically because I also found nothing redeeming about it all. The Great Outdoors was another.

@Arugula admittedly if I created my own edit of the film, this would be it in entirety.

@Ralizah nah I figure in a thread about movies there can be disagreement, I just probably would have approached it with more tact had I known it had just been brought up. I mean, who doesn't like tact?

Back to that game though, apparently critics really disliked The Fountain and Seven Pounds so I guess those are my unacclaimed favorites. Or favourites, for those on the other side of the pond.

The Fast and Furious movies are probably my guilty pleasures. Didn't enjoy the second and third films iirc but all the others I've enjoyed.

@JohnnyShoulder Tokyo Drift is probably my favourite racing one and 7 is my favourite Michael Bay-esque one.

Ok, I’ll open myself up to public shaming but....

Movies I liked that most people think are trash:
-Suicide Squad
-The Hobbit Trilogy (still doesn’t sniff the greatness of the LotR trilogy though)
-Napolean Dynamite

Movies I just don’t understand the praise:
-Close Encounters of the Third Kind
-Rocky
-Forrest Gump

I’m sure there are others

@nessisonett Not seen TD since it was released so may like it in retrospect.

Recent movies i thought were 'meh' but were mostly highly praised.
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bumblebee
Moonlight
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

@JohnnyShoulder Hmm, I suspect there’s an odd one out in that list of yours...

@Th3solution No comment on Suicide Squad or Napolean Dynamite but I've yet to see the entire Hobbit Trilogy. I figure if it's only half as good as original trilogy, surely it's still good, right? Not a big fan of Rocky or Close Encounters either. Forrest Gump isn't a masterpiece for me but watchable.

@nessisonett I've never gone out of my way to watch any of the Fast and Furious movies but somehow I've seen Tokyo Drift easily like 10 times. And I'd probably watch it again if I found it on somewhere.

@JohnnyShoulder I recommend the movie Waves if you didn't like Moonlight (honestly, I didn't love it either). As far as complicated coming of age family dramas centering on African American families go, Waves is so much better imo.