Topic: The Movie Thread

@Th3solution I think Branagh is a definite outlier in terms of ego when it comes to British actors. Our scene is fundamentally more down to earth and even the actors that are a bit silly like Hugh Grant have a modicum of self-awareness. Hollywood is Hollywood but Branagh sticks out amongst other British actors. Also the fact he cheated on Emma Thompson automatically makes me dislike him.

Just got back from Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Even though I'm a little tired of the overused multiverse concept at this point, I thought this film did a good job of using it drive its many wacky concepts, entertaining setpieces, and exploration of inter-generational trauma and meaning. The film is at risk of being a little tropey and sentimental at times, but its emotionally realistic characters help to carry it.

It's too long, though. I'd love to see a version of this film that was tightened up a bit. But I enjoyed it overall. Michelle Yeoh's performance is great, and truly carries the film.

Not perfect, and, weirdly, not even the first high-profile film of 2022 to explore the troubled generational conflict between the mother and daughter in a chinese immigrant family, but still better than most of what comes out of bigger Hollywood studios.

@Th3solution I was really disappointed by DotN. The mystery sucked (seriously, who didn't see the main "twist" coming from a mile away), Poirot didn't actually do much detective work, and, yeah, it took almost half the darn movie before the murder mystery bit even properly started.

Terrible follow-up to Orient Express.

@LN78 Several comic-related things. Happy Death Day 2 comes to mind. Another Earth isn't strictly multiverse, but tackles a similar idea. Some video games. Some novels.

The pool gets a lot bigger if you include the general concept of multiple universes coming together, as cross-overs and metaverse-y crap like Space Jam 2, Ready Player One, etc. seem to gaining in popularity as well for their ability to be economically exploited by companies.

Mostly within the last decade.

I'm more tired of the whole post-apoc/survival genre. But there are still instances of that I love as well.

@LN78 The movie was more interesting in concept than in execution to me, if only because it didn't have enough time to flesh out its concept. For that reason, I prefer what I saw of the TV series.

Bruce Willis is good at playing certain types of characters, but doesn't have a ton of range, in my experience. He's kind of like Nicholas Cage and Morgan Freeman in that respect.

Went to see Everything Everywhere All At Once.
No idea what I just saw but I recommend that everybody does. Definitely one of top movies in recent memory.

@Voltan I want to see that and The Northmen once covid dissapears out of my system. Getting fed up of it now!

Saw and re-saw a few movies the past couple of weeks, enjoyed them all!

Headhunters
Stir of Echoes
The Skeleton Key
Master & Commander
Gothika
Wind River

@MightyDemon82 Yeah, I'll probably watch The Northman as well, looks good!

@LN78 Haha, maybe that's why the creators didn't want Bruce to sustain any injuries (especially to the face) from the explosion, cause it would give away his identity.

Watched the Doctor Who movie from 1996. It’s laughably camp and cheesier than cheddar but I kinda loved it. The moving van guy from Happy Gilmore turned up which was a weird spot. McGann was really quite good in the role and it’s a real shame how it panned out, I’d have loved to watch a series with him, although at least there’s the audio plays. Bit of a random way for McCoy to go though, gunned down for seemingly no reason by a Chinese gang in San Francisco. It was a noble attempt at bringing the show back through a movie but the stars didn’t align even though the tone was really similar to the later wave of shows coming through on American TV like Buffy.

@RogerRoger Well, if nothing else, that Adam West-ized version of the film already has a better Riddler!

@RogerRoger It’s the sort of movie that while it doesn’t all work, enough does to be an enjoyable mess. Plus it’s aged really quite well given how clearly ahead of its time it is, with the WB/CW shows in the later 90s and 00s hitting the same tonal beats. I’d cautiously recommend it to anybody who can switch their brain off.

Finally got round to seeing The Batman and honestly enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s the epitome of a 4 star movie for me, I enjoyed a lot of it but can totally see where a sequel could improve on it. A solid start for a new take on Batman with the best iteration of Catwoman we’ve seen. I love Paul Dano but I do think Riddler could have been a little less unhinged and a bit more cunning and well, smart. John Turturro as Falcone was the standout though, one of the most remarkably nasty characters I’ve seen in quite a while. I quite liked the direction they went with Batman but I don’t think they quite went far enough. They could have really doubled down on the fear aspect, almost like The Crow, especially how he tries to create a boogeyman for the baddies, a legend essentially. That would provide a better contrast to the later growth he shows as an actual hero rather than just a vigilante. Because it really was an origin story of Batman as a hero, rather than just Batman himself. Special shout-out to my man Trevor from Eastenders, thankfully didn’t get his dong out like in Chernobyl! Also waited the whole movie to see the scenes shot in Glasgow’s necropolis only for it to be the last scene 😂

Yep. While I was a little disappointed with some of the villains, they nailed the new Selina Kyle's characterization. Solid pick for the actress, too, although she's new to me (unsurprising, since, looking at her IMDB page, she primarily starred in films I never watched).

@Ralizah How did you feel about the tone? I’ve seen a surprising amount of people saying there wasn’t enough humour which I find crazy. It was pretty close to the comics after the 80s I thought, Batman’s always been played pretty straight given he dresses as a bat.

@nessisonett It didn't really need humor inserted into it (especially considering the endless sarcastic snarking in the Disney Marvel films), but the edgy goth vibe at the beginning was a little overbearing. I mentioned this a few pages back, but the combination of the dark visuals, Batman's Rorshach-esque narration, and the intense, booming music when he was beating up those thugs at the start actually made me burst out laughing.

And, in general, I think it leaned too hard into Fincher territory in certain spots. Sections of it genuinely feel like they border on either being a tribute to or parody of some of his films. Especially Se7en.

But there's enough overlap between the Fincher vibe and a lot of Batman's darker comic stories that it ended up working out. The strong relationship building with Bruce and Selina helped tremendously to give a film more of a sense of its own identity.

Although the film was too long. The final act felt like it was phoning it in. I don't think they really nailed the 'tortured vigilante to hero' transformation arc they were going for.

But, in general, it was a solid movie. I like that it was, like, the only Batman movie I've seen that actually had The World's Greatest Detective do some detective work. And it thankfully spared us the millionth retread of Bruce Wayne watching his parents die, so points on that front as well. The Dark Knight will probably always be my favorite Batman film, but I'll have to rewatch Batman Begins and Mask of the Phantasm again to know where this ranks. Top five, certainly.

@Ralizah I think maybe the problem is that comic nerds think Batman is better than it is. Don’t get me wrong, I like comics but translating it to movies, they’re always going to be a little hokey due to the pulpy nature and that’s alright. So the odd dodgy line or slightly laughably dark and moody moment is fine with me. More than anything though, I’m just glad the movie went for a style and it was consistent. Marvel movies/shows these days have kinda blended into the one quip-filled tone and while I’ve been a fan since I was 7 years old of the MCU (terrifyingly), and X-Men even before that, I appreciate an attempt at noir as it’s at least different.

@nessisonett Definitely. I just think the approach to noir was a little too heavy-handed in spots. The end product still turned out pretty good, though, last half-hour or so of the film aside.

And yeah, the scripts for most of the Disney Marvel films seem to have run with the Joss Whedon approach to dialogue. That was clever and fresh when Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Toy Story were still new properties. It just feels tired now.

All that being said, I've seen all of those stupid Marvel films. They're the blockbuster honed to scientific perfection: inoffensive, visually polished, compulsively watchable (Thor aside; the second film was unwatchable, in particular), and structured in such a way that they can basically count on your butt being in a seat when the next one comes out.

@Ralizah I like your commentary about the MCU because you’re right, they are the entertainment version of McDonald’s —everyone says they hate it and it’s awful, yet somehow the drive-thru is always full when I pass by and they sell a billion burgers a year. They’re obviously doing something right.

And here I am, got my tickets already for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness next weekend. 😄

@Ralizah @Th3solution I used to see every single MCU movie in the cinema as soon as possible. Black Widow was the first one I missed, and then Shang-Chi, and then Eternals. Obviously the pandemic happened but I think post-Endgame we’re still yet to see an actual plan or any payoff. Probably says a lot that I haven’t even seen the last three episodes of Moon Knight that came out.