Topic: The Movie Thread

What the f**k have they done to Buzz Lightyear.

@LtSarge worth watching if your a fan of the originals but not great unfortunately

@LtSarge Inferior retread of the original, but also overhated. There's some cool imagery in the remake, and I thought Jackie Earle Haley's interpretation of Freddie Krueger was interesting.

If you take it at face value, it's a decent enough horror film.

But don't go in expecting something on the level of the first three films or Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

@Deljo @Ralizah Appreciate the replies! Sounds like I'll enjoy it if I go in with leveled expectations and don't expect anything special. I just love the concept of the movies in general with the whole dreams and stuff, so I think I might like this one as well.

@Iver Is that the one where Bill Nighy’s head gets chopped in half? If so then I’ve seen the last 5 minutes. Which was obviously worth it.

Raya and the Last Dragon

Man, I’ve not been this torn about a Disney or Pixar animated movie since …well, I can’t even remember a time! The good parts of it are among the best in class; and the bad parts are just awful.

The movie started out really promising. The art design was stellar, the performances were sharp and the animation was very polished and really beautiful in 4K HDR. The fight scenes were really well executed. The Disney/Pixar humor was ‘laugh-out-loud’ fun and the voice acting was charming. I was starting to relate well to Raya, albeit in that Disney protagonist cookie-cutter kind of way. But it was good and at about the 15 minute mark I was literally wondering, “Why was everyone so hard on this movie? This is great.”

Then there was a sharp decline when new characters (well, specifically one) showed up. I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s just a very poorly executed major character, in my opinion. I really, really like the main character Raya and most of the supporting characters, but I couldn’t get past how awkwardly designed, rendered, and acted one of the characters was. Even that character’s dialogue was dreadfully written, so it can’t all fall on the voice actor. And visually, it was as if most of the movie was done by the A-team graphical artists, and then they got the local college graphical design students to make part of it. It just didn’t fit.

Then the further I got into the story, it became a similar thing - like the narrative also was multi-personality with aspects that didn’t gel with the rest of the world.

I will say that the show really seemed to be influenced by the increasing competition from other studios like DreamWorks. Disney seems to have strayed a bit with this movie into going for a more superficial style, quick and easy gags, and a forgettable narrative tone and messaging. If you would have told me this was from the makers of Ice Age, I would have believed you. And the ending of definitely seemed tacked on and uninspired. A little bit too “Deus Ex Machina” for my taste.

It’s too bad, because the setting, themes, and basic premise has a lot of promise. Not only did I love Raya as a character and her plight, but I thought the Soul Calibur Ivy styled sword-chain-whip weapon is the coolest thing ever. I like the samurai clothing, the straw hat, the rollie-pollie bug, the baby, the themes of unity and sacrifice… I fancy so much of the design choices that I just wish they would have executed the other parts better.

On the whole I’d still recommend it, when you’re in the mood for a light-hearted animated movie. There are worse ways to spend 2 hours.

I watched some movies this weekend including a first time since pandemic trip to the cinema.

Wonder Woman 84 on streaming. The first half hour of this movie is balls and is so extraneous I would have just cut the whole thing out. The themiscyra portion was out of place, likewise the Superman '78 style shopping mall sequence set the tone for a movie, just not this movie because it dropped that tone almost immediately afterward.

It became OK once it got into the actual plot. I think the film was slightly more enjoyable than the first one, I would have just cut about 40 minutes of pointless stuff out of it which would have made it a lot more coherent and enjoyable as a movie.

Dune (in cinema) - not sure what to think of this one. I love Blade Runner 2049 and I love the original Dune movie which is why I went to see this one. I'm not sure if it's the sum of all its parts but I think it needs a second watch and also a Part 2 to complete the story. I do wonder if this film would be a bit better suited to a 4K viewing on a large Television screen instead of a huge cinema screen projected with what seemed like a dirty lens.

Quite a lot happens in Dune in comparison to say Blade Runner 2049 and I wonder if Denis Villeneuve's large beautifully shot images are better suited to films that have less plot. Decent film, just probably better suited to home viewings where you don't have a bunch of children who don't care about watching a film talking and looking at their phones.

Knives Out on streaming. This was actually really good so I am glad I gave it a watch! Not much to say really. I feel like the imagery while not subtle, was positioned a lot better than in something like Wonder Woman. Visual clues are in some ways less on the nose in Knives out (and in some ways not!) Whereas WW84 will beat you over the head with a visual cue before the plot uses it to end your life with boredom

@ralphdibny Well done on braving the cinema! I was gonna go when I last had some time off work, but had too much to do with moving in to a new house. I would get similarly annoyed at the things you mentioned, so will probably go during the week when normally most people are at work and stuff.

The only parts I enjoyed in WW84 was the opening 10 mins and a couple of the fight scenes. Most of it I found too nonsensical and I ended up scoffing out loud or rolling my eyes at the film. I'm willing to suspend disbelief upto certain degree, but that was too much for me.

@JohnnyShoulder haha sounds like you liked the opposite parts of WW84 to me. I think there's definitely a tight and well paced if unremarkable film in there that could come out around the 105 minute mark but almost 2 and a half hours of it is a bit much.

Cheers, yeah best to avoid half terms and weekends I think. I actually told that group of kids off, I just said "stop talking or leave, there's no point you being here if you are not going to watch the film because you are spoiling it for everyone else". They left after that.

I've been to cinema many hundreds of times in my life, maybe even more than a thousand times and I've only had to have words with people on two other occasions. One was during the Bourne Legacy which was a largely similar conversation and one was during Avengers Endgame where the dude next to me was on his phone the whole time. I just asked why he came to see the most anticipated film of the year on opening night if he was just going to spend it looking at his phone which was flashing a bright screen into my peripheral vision and distracting me.

I think the 12A rating might have been the worse thing that happened to British cinemas 😂. Obviously I am joking because it meant I could watch Spider Man when it came out! I think that was the film it was introduced for actually.

@ralphdibny Think I've turned round and said a few choice words when there a has been a brat that won't shut up, or when they have their feet up on one of the seats behind me.

The most memorable annoying person was when I saw the first Jurassic Park. Some smart alec was scoffin, laughing and saying out loud stuff like 'That doesn't even look real' everytime a dinosaur showed up. I was a lot younger then and didn't have the ball to say anything then! 😂

@JohnnyShoulder haha well you eye it up don't you. If it looks like you are going to get stabbed then maybe it's best to keep quiet. Luckily one of the ways these lads were messing around was that they were moving seats. They got close enough for me to see they were young kids just having a lark so I just told them to lark around elsewhere. I doubt they even payed for the movie and probably just snuck in after seeing something else.

How dare that smart alec back in '93 diss the amazing animatronics of Stan Winston!!

The missus and I decided that we’re gonna watch a Spider-man film every weekend in preparation for Spider-man: No Way Home. Last night was Spider-man 2002, it’s certainly aged some but the Tobey Maguire-Kirsten Dunst dynamic still holds up. Next week, Spider-man 2.

We’re also gonna try and fit in at least a season of the Netflix Daredevil series, just in case Matt Murdock does turn up in No Way Home.

@Keith_Zissou yeah I loved all three seasons, always been planning on returning to it at some point... so the possibility of him turning up in No Way Home seems like the perfect time.

@Jimmer-jammer agreed, it's almost the perfect superhero movie... looking forward to seeing it again next week as its been a while.

The Tom Holland movies are decent tbh... not quite the level of Spider-man 2 but a fair deal better than Spider-man 3 and the two Amazing Spider-man movies.

Just watched Eternals, enjoyed it too. The missus and I were more impressed by the cinema local to our new house though. Leather reclining seating with the most space and room I've ever had at a cinema... very impressed!

@Kidfried Wow, why were you expecting it to be terrible??? I absolutely love Spinal Tap, it’s just the perfect line between outright absurdity and more clever jokes under the surface. Other great mockumentaries would be A Mighty Wind, Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman. What We Do In The Shadows is good too!

@Kidfried This one goes to eleven!

@Kidfried I agree with @nessisonett, What We Do In The Shadows is my fave. Watch the film, then the TV show as some of the jokes will make more sense that way. Especially in the last episode of the first season.

@Jimmer-jammer yeah I am interested in Dune… I actually really liked the Lynch version growing up, regardless of its numerous issues. I really enjoyed the documentary on Jodorowsky’s failed attempt at making his version too.

The missus wasn’t all that up for it but I showed her the Mark Kermode review of it earlier and it’s changed her mind… so I’m hoping we’ll go catch it before it leaves the cinema. Thanks for the recommendation.

Just watched the Suicide Squad sequel and really enjoyed it! Probably my favourite DC movie since the Nolan-verse… it’s as if Wes Anderson made a comic book movie. James Gunn is very talented.