Topic: The Movie Thread

@Ralizah His first anime was Voices of a Distant Star, right? I actually haven't watch that yet but it's pretty impressive considering he did that anime on his own (if I'm not mistaken). I've only watched three of his movies so far, the other two were Garden of Words and Children Who Chase Lost Voices.

I actually think its fair to compare Your Name. to some of Hayao Miyazaki's work. It's that good.

@WanderingBullet It was his first work of any significant length. He developed a few shorts before it, though.

I highly recommend looking into 5 Centimeters Per Second. It's perhaps his most distinctive and emotionally overwhelming work, although it lacks the mass appeal, perfect pacing, and complex plot structure of Your Name. You'll get plenty of gorgeous sweeps of the Japanese countryside, somber monologues set to gentle, melancholy tunes, and a painfully realistic look at the long-term effects of unfulfilled love on a man's life. though.

@Ralizah I haven't been able to find 5 Centimeters Per Second in the local stores. Only way for me to see it is to buy it online from retailers like Amazon.

I watched 'Life' last night. The merch department missed a trick there, a Cuddly Calvin would have been perfect for the kids at Christmas.

@Gremio108 I was thinking the other day that I wanted to see that. Do you recommend?

Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of an Alien clone, but it's a good one.

Watched Sonatine this morning. One of the many Yakuza films Takeshi Kitano has done throughout his career. Definitely worth a look if you're into Japanese films.

BTW, I typically watch anime dubbed, and was wondering if Your Name would still be as highly recommended if I watched it dubbed? (I don't even know if it has one as I haven't looked much into it, but I've heard a lot of good things)

Watched Baby Driver the other day. Not a bad film but I think my expectations were a bit high and found it a bit derivative in terms of plot and story. Also thought the scenes in time to music would be better implemented and it came across as a bit gimmicky.

Just a random note ... in 2018 we are getting a lot of video game related movies. Jumanji, Ready Player One, Tomb Raider, Rampage, Wreck It Ralph 2, ...
Frankly, most of the time Video game movies are garbage, but it seems like there is increasing interest in cross-over projects.

@Th3solution If it's a movie based on a franchise that was originally a video game i.e. Tomb Raider, Rampage, Mortal Kombat I find them to be really bad. Something like Wreck it Ralph where as it's not based on video game per say isn't that bad.

I think it's because we already have an idea on what Tomb Raider is suppose to be like and when it's changed or different for whatever reason it just seems bad or odd if that makes sense at all.

As for Jumanji In wouldn't necessary consider it a video gameovie, heck I didn't consider the original a board game movie 😂 but maybe that's just me.

@Tasuki I haven’t seen Jumanji yet. (Not a fan of The Rock, actually. I can’t figure out the appeal there.) But I saw the trailer and it looks like they start by finding an old video game and when they play it, they jump into the game and become the characters they chose in the game. But, yeah, I don’t remember there being a Jumanji video game but maybe there was one before my time.

@Tasuki Actually I found this really good article. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/12/27/jumanji-work...
It talks about not only Jumanji (actually makes me want to see it now) but the author echos almost exactly what you said about why game-to-movie and movie-to-game adaptations fail. It has to do with our preconceived expectations. Evidently Jumanji breaks the mold as it relates to this issue and therefore is more enjoyable, like Wreck it Ralph.

@Th3solution Yeah I don't think there was a Jumanji game before but I can't be certain on that. Jumanji is actual a sequel/remake/reboot of the one that stared Robin Williams from the 90's where Jumanji took the form of a board game so there really wasn't any preconceived ideas before hand as it's not based off of an actual video game.

The Shape of Water: A mute woman working as a janitor in a research facility befriends and falls in love with a water monster that was stolen from its home in South America and brought in for testing. A fairly run-of-the-mill "beauty and the beast"-esque fable that dredges up the usual tired cinematic tropes about the oppressive cultural evils of mid-20th century America, toxic masculinity, and whatnot. Guillermo del Toro is going for the same mix of whimsical fantasy and horrifying, grounded violence that defined the unique vibe of his masterpiece, "Pan's Labyrinth," but it all really fell flat for me. The film's villain... the actor performs his role very well, but the actual character is boring beyond words. The film is also periodically interrupted by unnecessary, and often disgusting, sex scenes, which really takes away from the mood it tries so hard to establish with its excellent set design (this has a retro-futuristic aesthetic not unlike Bioshock going for it). Its best trick is to establish the film's tortured monster man on a spectrum of oppression: he seems like a fellow social outcast alongside the African-Americans, homosexuals, and other oppressed people in this setting, which allows for a fairly smooth integration of biting social commentary into the plot. Overall, though, it was a massive disappointment.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: The mother of a girl who was violated and murdered rents out billboards in her small and poor Missouri community to taunt and challenge local law enforcement after they fail to find her daughter's killer. It has been a week or two since I saw this, and my thoughts on it still aren't entirely in order. It's a remarkable work of art, mixing absolutely vicious satirical jabs at rural white America, a well-paced plot, complex and very human characters, a savagely funny script, grounded acting, and the feel of a Flannery O'Connor story (there's no way she wasn't a huge inspiration on the writer) together to create something special. The writer was a playwright, and that comes across on screen, because this movie is driven by wonderfully written character exchanges. The ending is inconclusive, but so is life, and a neat story that can be tied up with a pretty bow is not what this film was going for. One of the best films of 2017, and an absolute must see.

Princess Mononoke: A warrior from a small Japanese tribe named Ashitaka is exiled from this home after being cursed by a tainted boar god that attacked his village. He sets out on a quest to lift his curse that eventually lands him right in the middle of a violent conflict between a burdgeoning mining town (led by the ambitious Lady Eboshi) and local animal gods who are fighting back against the destruction of their lands (joined by the titular Princess Mononoke, a spirited girl who was raised by wolves). I've actually seen this before, but it has been many years, so much of it was fresh to me. My memories of it were apparently spot on. This film is still an utter delight! Miyazaki's environmentalism and humanism are quite clearly reflected in this film, but it's much less naively optimistic in this regard than previous films of his that treated similar themes (most notably, Studio Ghibli's first major motion picture, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind). It's his nuanced exploration of the "man versus nature" theme and its subversion of traditional cinematic tropes that makes it a really special film in his catalogue. The film is hardly hopeless, though, ending with a grounded and fragile hope. This continues to be one of the best animated films I've ever seen.

^ 3 lovely movies! Though I don't think shape of the water is a masterpiece, it's still worth watching.

@Feena The Shape of Water is certainly a competently produced film, but I fail to see why it has received such critical acclaim. Take out the superior aesthetic design and you have something eerily similar to tripe like Monster Trucks. Not that a movie can't succeed on aesthetics alone (one of my all-time favorite films, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, is arguably nothing but pure style and craftsmanship), but Guillermo del Toro isn't giving us anything transcendentally awesome in form here.

I am seriously toying with the notion of calling Princess Mononoke my favorite Ghibli film. It doesn't have the raw power and craftsmanship of Grave of the Fireflies, but it also doesn't ruin my week when I watch it like the fore-mentioned film (seriously: watching GotF is an exercise in pure masochism unless you have a heart made of tempered steel).

@Ralizah kill bill vol.1 is one of my all time favourites!

Regarding Ghibli, I like most of their production but I tend to prefer the movies that aren't directed by Miyazaki - Mononoke is certainly one of his bests, though. I'd pick something like Whisper of the Heart or Only Yesterday as my Ghibli favourite.

Watched Home Alone 3 with the family last night.

Its actually pretty funny.

Also I miss the time we didnt have mobile phones, life was better somehow.

I watched Bladerunner 2049 this week and thought it was truly amazing.

@Rudy_Manchego My favorite film of 2017. The fact that it flopped in the box office disappoints me to no end.