Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger I’m glad you finally got around to (and enjoyed) the Snyder Cut. I’m even more motivated to get to it. It keeps getting pushed back. I had some time amd superhero-watching impulse this weekend and decided to spend it on Falcon and the Winter Soldier (which is actually getting better the more I delve into it).

Would you recommend I rewatch Man of Steel and BvS before jumping into the Snyder Cut? It’s been a few years since I watched them, but I’m starting to think I might never get around to the whole series if I wait for the time and motivation to start back at the beginning.

@Th3solution I reccomend you watch the backlog of DC films starting with the original Superman, and let us know how you get on. 😂

@JohnnyShoulder Actually I probably do need to watch the old Superman movies just to see if they hold up. 😅 And the old Keaton Batmans. But life is too short for such wanderings. 😛

@Th3solution I've seen Burton’s Batman not too long ago as I got it on 4K disc. It held up pretty well I thought, just the way some of the fight scenes were filmed looked a bit dated.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, the Keaton Batman films are great but what dated it for me was the way he can’t actually turn his head in the rubber suit 😂😂

@nessisonett 🤣 Ha ha, yeah his movement was a bit stiff at times.

@JohnnyShoulder Think his Batman’s just using tank controls 😂😂

@Jimmer-jammer @RogerRoger

@RogerRoger I’ve warmed on The Phantom Menace in recent years. It’s a very very silly movie and Jar Jar and Anakin are still pants but it has Darth Maul and Qui-Gon so it balances out. It’s worth it just for the Battle of Naboo and the fight at the end if nothing else. Plus it spawned Lego Star Wars so there’s that!

@JechtUltima Fantastic 4 2005 is bad but it’s not Fan4stic bad. Mostly because it has the man, the myth, the legend Ioan Gruffudd in it.

@JechtUltima But it had Julian McMahon as well. That’s literally two of my favourite actors in the one movie. And then the newer one had Toby Kebbell. It’s like they’re movies made for me except for the fact they’re utterly dire.

@nessisonett Oh I didn't know Toby (yes, first name terms these days) was in the recent Fantastic Four. Will have to give it a watch now. Maybe.

I held off watching The Falcon & Winter Soldier show as I felt I wanted to reacquaint myself with the characters first (same for Loki). At first I was going to just watch the Cap films and maybe the last 2 avengers movies but after re-watching Captain America I felt like watching Iron Man again. So now it's turned into re-watching the whole saga (even Thor:Dark World).

I noticed Disney+ had a chronological list of the movies so decided to watch in that order, although Captain Marvel came after Iron Man as that's when I decided to go with it. Plus you have to ignore the post credit scene for that. The more films I watch it feels like it's pretty much the release order except for that film anyway.
So far I've done
Captain America
Iron Man
Captain Marvel
Iron Man 2 (which I now realise has future Psylocke and Sue Storm in but as other people)
Thor
Avenger Assemble
Thor Dark World
Iron Man 3
Captain America Winter Soldier (still a high point for the saga).

Enjoying the films pretty much as I remember them with the Thor films still a weak area but enjoyable enough. Also worth noting the true heroes of the saga are these guys

@JechtUltima I did have to Google him, but yeah I've quite liked him in what films I remember him appearing in. If it is in 4k, I'll give it a watch!

Not long returned home from the cinema for the first time since pre-covid, and chose to watch Free Guy. Absolutely loved it, think it's a great film, very fun and obviously for us gamers it's even better.

I expected to enjoy it going in, and I liked it even more than I thought I would.

Just watched The Tale of Princess Kaguya on HBO Max, and... I'm stunned. Simply Takahata's best work, and up there with some of my favorite Studio Ghibli films overall. One of the most beautifully animated films I've ever seen.

@NedStarksGhost Cool. Going to see that on Sunday. I was hoping it'd be decent.

@Ralizah I saw that in the last few weeks, it is on Netflix here in the UK.

Although not up there for me with my favourite Studio Ghibli films, I still enjoyed it and I can't deny how gorgeous it looked.

How do feel about them trying CGI films? I know a few people are totally against it. I'm ok with it as long as the films are good and they still make the more traditional animated films.

@JohnnyShoulder Sorry to disappoint, but I'm terribly opposed to it. Ghibli is/was an exemplar of the artform of 2D animation, and one of the last major animation studios that's still releasing almost fully hand-drawn films.

I'm not inherently opposed to CGI films, or even anime. I saw a Lupin the 3rd movie a while back that had Dreamworks-style CG animation, and it looked... OK. I thought it was a good film. I don't want that to be every Lupin, but I wouldn't mind seeing a line of Lupin films in that style if they continue to be well-written.

But that's not Ghibli. Ghibli has a certain legacy and place in the industry, and them developing CG movies is an almost full betrayal of that.

Films like Princess Kaguya are a perfect demonstration of the inimitability of traditional animation when proper passion and emotion is put behind it. There are sequences in that film where the very animation frames are so loaded with emotion that it'd be literally impossible for a computer to recreate them.

I suppose there's a certain sadness in that it's probably one of the last great Ghibli films we'll get. Takahata is dead now, leaving us one last masterpiece before departing from the Earth. Miyazaki, honestly, has been checked out for years, even before his supposed "retirement" started (and abruptly ended, lol), and his son just isn't up to the task of leading the animation house in his stead. It's a pity he gave in to nepotistic impulses instead of trying to find a proper successor to carry on his legacy.

But even if Ghibli has become a sort of living museum, it doesn't take away from their former achievements as an animation studio.

@Keith_Zissou I believe My Neighbors the Yamadas was also Takahata. He did Pom Poko as well, where the character designs and animation style changed pretty wildly throughout the film as the tanuki characters learned to control and harness their shape-shifting powers. None of his earlier work was visually playful in the same way, though.

The beauty of Princess Kaguya came at a price. I'm pretty sure it's still the most expensive Japanese film ever made, and it took some 8 years to come together. That... just doesn't happen anymore. CGI is so much cheaper and more convenient for use in animation.

Watched the new bill and ted film yesterday (after rewatching the old ones). It's actually a really nice film. It felt a bit awkward in the first few minutes but I actually loved it in the end. Wicked film

I saw Spirited Away over the weekend. A pure gem of a movie and truly magical. Still can't decide which is my fave between that and Princess Mononoke, which I'll be watching again in the upcoming weeks.