Topic: The Movie Thread

@ralphdibny It was more of personal challenge really! But there were a a few on Ral's list which I immediately thought of like Nightcrawler which he brilliantly explained why I liked it so much.

@nessisonett Yeah, I've watched clips online and... there might be some pausing, lol.

@JohnnyShoulder Still need to watch No Country For Old Men. It looks badass. It just keeps... slipping through the cracks.

Annihilation and Ex Machina... they fall into the "I really wish I had loved them" category for me, where I respect the productions but just felt like they didn't personally resonate with me.

I quite enjoyed several of the other films you mentioned. Particularly Skyfall, which is probably a top ten Bond film for me.

@Ralizah No Country For Old Men is a bit of a slow burn but is beautifully shot in places. Think it was Javier Bardem's breakthrough in Hollywood too.

There are a few films on these lists which I've not seen, so will try and get round to watch them at some point.

I watched Saw on 4K blu ray last night. Although they have cleaned it up really well, there is still some grain left which adds to the grimy atmosphere. Still hold ups, although remembering the twists did lessen the the shock of them. Remembering seeing that in the cinema when it was first released and was stunned after what I just seen. Shame they just keep churning out the sequels.

Also totally forgot Miles and Ben from Lost, and Robin Hood from Men in Tights appeared in it! 🤣

If you have an HBO Max subscription, go watch Malignant. I saw it in a theater, but I'm sure it'll probably be perfectly fine on a TV as well.

The advertising makes it look like The Conjuring or Insidious or something. It's not. [Insert joke about "subverting expectations."] James Wan apparently got a blank check to make... whatever he fancied, and, uh... he cashed it. It'll be a while before you see another Hollywood studio throw tens of millions of dollars at a film this self-consciously outlandish again.

Slowly watching through the Rebuild of Evangelion movies since they're free on Amazon Prime, and... ugh. The way they redid the dub is just awful. Evangelion 2.22's Funimation dub had a ton of energy and emotion to it. It was grounded. Great performances all-around. Meanwhile, in this redub, everyone sounds like they're hurrying through their lines, and the new English script is literally translated to the point where it just sounds unnatural in English.

Really disappointing.

I went to see Dune on Monday. Great film, it's right up my alley. I'm going to see it another time next week, because it was a long one, and I think I'll appreciate it even more a second time.

@Octane nice, can't wait to see it. I checked earlier this week and it doesn't release in the UK for a couple of weeks 🥺

I see The Green Knight has been added on Amazon Prime. Really fancied this when it was in the cinema but didn't get around to it... think the missus and I will watch it from the comfort of our sofa tonight now though.

I saw the mention of Green Knight being on Amazon and went to search it because I’m interested in watching it at some point, and I unexpectedly saw in the affiliated list of suggested shows under the movie there was The Division: Agents Origins. I’m not a Division fan per se, having only played a little of the first game, but I was surprised that I was completely unaware that there was a offshoot supplemental TV show based on the game. I follow games media fairly closely (on PushSqure mainly), but that is one area that I think flies under the radar — game related TV and movies. We do get a little nugget about some shows like The Witcher and the endless info about The Last of Us show, as well big budget projects like the Mortal Kombat movie and Uncharted, but I rarely see anything in games media about the Castlevania series, the Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness series, and who knows what else might be out there like this The Division show that I didn’t even know existed. Weird that this could have stealth dropped without any fanfair. Anyways @colonelkilgore since you recently played the game, maybe you’d be interested. It’s free on Prime.

@Th3solution Everytime I see the word fanfare, I think of Danny Dyer on a carousel.

@Th3solution hmmm, I’ll probably read a review or three first if I’m honest… I’ve been burned too many times by cheap and nasty knock-offs of things I like from ‘other’ media being adapted to film or TV. I’m not saying this is that but I’m sure we’ve all encountered that kind of disappointment before.

@Jimmer-jammer so I’ll post more on it tomorrow… I’m super tired after a real busy week… but I definitely liked it. It’s not one for the masses if you know what I mean… but is beautiful, thought provoking and rare film-making. My natural thirst for heroic mythic-fantasy was left unquenched… but my love of ‘show-not-tell’ symbolic cinema was thoroughly ‘exercised’.

After repeatedly seeing praise for it, I finally buckled down and watched Mad Max: Fury Road.

I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I do think it’s overrated. The action and kinetic cinematography is indeed impressive. But I think the film suffers from too much of the vehicular combat and explosive eye candy. All the action and fast-paced destruction is just plain exhausting and makes the whole experience a little fatiguing. When you take out all the action scenes, the storyline left over is pretty threadbare.

The acting performances were good when they had the chance. And I can’t say I disliked some of the unique visuals, but I was expecting more, narrative-wise. And maybe that’s the point. I’ve seen the original Mad Max and Beyond Thunderdome, but it’s been a while. I do remember the franchise isn’t necessarily known for its intricate plot lines or Shakespearean dialogue, but can I have at least a little story and exposition, please?

Oddly, the movie does make me want to play the video game though. 😄

@Th3solution Mad Max gets better upon repeated viewings for me and I appreciate the story beats more so.

@Th3solution I notice you didn't mention Mad Max 2: Road Warrior which for me is by far the best Mad Max movie... and up there with the best action movies of the 80's. I get that you might well not fancy it after not enjoying the others... but its the quintessential movie of the franchise.

Just finished watching the Green Knight what a fantastic movie, also watched Spectre as I never got around to watching it and Shang-Chi at the cinema on Saturday was great I'd pretty much written off the MCU but there is hope!

Looking forward to The Lighthouse as it debuts on Netflix on the 8th October.

Finally got around to watching The Suicide Squad. Brilliant film and it's beautifully shot too, just looks great. I'm gutted I didn't get to watch it in the cinema as I still don't fancy it due to the pandemic. Would have been great to see on the big screen.

So very glad I managed to avoid all spoilers for this film. I would have been gutted if I found out certain things before I watched it and loads of it was a great surprise. Hoping I can do the same for Shang Chi until it drops on Disney+ in November.

@colonelkilgore I don’t remember if I saw Mad Max 2. If I did, I don’t remember anything about it so probably need to give it another try.

@Th3solution I'm sure I've shared this tidbit about Mad Max before but the original film was actually dubbed for its American release so there are actually two versions knocking about. One sounds like it's being voiced by 1950s Hollywood actors and the other is in glorious Austraalian.

I think I like all of them but it's been some time since I've watched any. I struggle to remember any of Beyond Thunderdome though. The first one is definitely the outlier in its plot and premise but I think I prefer it because of that. The second one is a quintessential post apocalyptic movie. I am a big fan of the fourth too.

The game is actually really good, it like mixes all the good stuff from the original movies and Fury Road and makes something fairly unique (in terms of Mad Max anyway). I finished all of it except a few trophies for racing in certain vehicles.

@ralphdibny I think Fury Road’s incessant action set-pieces seem very “video gamey”and are what actually makes me want to play a video game where I can do the things the characters are doing on screen. You know — blow up cars and make them flip through the air in bombastic ways which defy physics, shoot people through the windshield with a gun in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, sway from car to car on a 20 meter flexible pole at 120 kph, stealth climb underneath a big rig while it’s in a high speed chase and shank the driver in the kidneys…. etc, etc.

I also had an inexplicable desire to play Borderlands after watching the movie. 😂

@Th3solution haha I can't remember if you do everything you just described in the game 😅. I'm sure the simpler things you've suggested are certainly in there though!