Topic: The Movie Thread

Wrath of Man... they don’t films like this any more! I’ve always (well apart from that turgid mess that he made with his then wife Madonna) ‘quite’ liked Guy Ritchie’s output. His movies are never really ‘great’ but normally entertaining... and the same for Stath really. Well, this was definitely a change of pace for Ritchie in particular. I’ve always felt his usual schtick is something akin to a wannabe Tarantino with cockney stylings... well there’s been a definitive shift in his creative energy and this was far more Michael Mann by way of Sam Peckinpah. Now I have nothing (absolutely nothing... he’s an absolute treasure) against Tarantino... but there is only one... and no matter how talented the copycat may be it will always be a pale imitation. This worked though... maybe the final third fell off a little, but films like this are so few and far between these days that it got a pass for that from me. Stath was ‘still’ Stath... but the best kinda Stath.

Great old fashioned revenge ‘em up.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy It’s been a while since I watched The Matrix, but I recall it being pretty decent at the time. However, I never watched any of the sequels, so that’s telling. I must not have liked it that much. 😄

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy it never ceases to amaze me quite how differently that people can react to various forms of art and entertainment. The Matrix (& The Matrix Reloaded… which is pretty universally loathed btw) absolutely rocked my world back when they released. I still make sure that I have a day free every couple of years when I watch the trilogy and all the Animatrix shorts.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I also didn’t like The Matrix but I was about 8 years old and drank two whole banana milkshakes and was throwing them back up the whole night 😂

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy yeah it’s just the way of things... there are probably a load of things you love that I can’t stand too. It’s just interesting how varied us humans’ likes and dislikes can be. I guess it’s why proper art and entertainment reviews in the academic realm never really state whether something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’... they just discuss technique and inspiration etc.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Some of the issue with The Matrix is probably that it was relatively novel for it’s time, but since then others have employed similar visual styles and special effects to a better degree.

I’ve also never been a huge fan of Keanu. He’s alright, but I think a tad bit overrated.

Looks like No Time Die is coming to home viewing in the UK, at the normal more reasonable price, on 20/12/21. Probably won't get a chance to watch over the festive period, but will get to it as soon as I can in the new year.

Just picked up the Matrix trilogy 4K blu ray to rewatch before seeing Resurrections.

Finished watching the first Alien movie and overall, it was pretty good. At first I wasn't liking the movie because it just felt so stupid how they simply let the alien onto the ship. But then it was explained why that was the case and now it makes more sense. If there hadn't been a plot twist like that, then I would've definitely disliked the movie. But yeah, pretty good movie and it holds up rather well for a movie from 1979. Looking forward to watching the other ones now!

@RogerRoger Ted Logan from the Bill and Ted movies will always be my favorite implementation of Keanu as an actor. His character is both deeply good-natured and utterly empty-headed, which fits Keanu to a tee.

He's terrible in anything requiring actual acting chops, though, like Speed. He was the worst part of that movie.

@RogerRoger Both John Wick and Bill and Ted kind of tap into his inherently likability in different ways. With that said, while he's a good physical performer, I've never been fully convinced by his potential as an intimidating action star. Although the John Wick films are wisely designed around his limited acting abilities and sell us on the menace of his character through his physical prowess as an assassin.

With that said, he'll always be a dorky teenage metalhead to me:

Trailer for Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) new film. Out in April.

@JohnnyShoulder love both those movies, can't wait to see this one.

@Keith_Zissou @MightyDemon82 Glad we got more Eggers fans on the site. Seems to be a step up from his previous films, both in terms of cast numbers and budget.

@JohnnyShoulder Oh man, I’m very much looking forward to this one. Not just for that shot of Alexander Skarsgård wearing a loincloth covered in blood 😂

@nessisonett I always get the Skarsgård's mixed up. He is the one that played Tarzan and not Pennywise, right? 😄

@JohnnyShoulder Yep, he’s the Tarzan/True Blood one! Bill Skarsgård is his brother and was Pennywise. I find it mad how many kids Stellan Skarsgård has knocking about 😂

@nessisonett They could do Swedish Family Skarsgård film with them all in! 😆

FINALLY watched No Country for Old Men. And it was... alright? I've had kind of that same reaction to Cormac McCarthy's novels in the past, so I'm not really surprised this didn't blow me away. It's an effective, well-directed crime thriller with authentic acting. Clearly a "good" movie. But I didn't really walk away from it with anything that I didn't already go into it with. Characters don't really grow at all. There's not much of a plot to unravel. Thematically, I didn't get much from it other than the pointlessness of violence and a reminder of the omnipresence of evil in the world. It's two hours of unpleasant people doing unpleasant things to other unpleasant people, and less unpleasant people circling the periphery of the plot's events, not wanting to get too involved in a deeply unpleasant mess.

Don't regret watching it at all, but you can add this to the list of films I've seen where the buzz around them largely evades me.

@Ralizah I tried to watch NCFOM several months ago and I never finished it, so I see where you’re coming from. Actually, until I just read your post I had forgotten that I left it unfinished. 😅 So another vote for “it was fine but not particularly mind-blowing.”

Actually, now that I think about it, I think what happened was I started the movie on one of the bazillion streaming services I have and only made it halfway before I had to take a break and by the time I went back to it a few days later it had been yanked from the service.
…which is one of my concerns with GamePass and PS Now too.