Topic: The Movie Thread

@nessisonett Roxanne is a far less interesting personality in this film, based on my fuzzy memories of the play. Also, I don't quite remember De Guiche being quite so explicitly rapey in the original.

@Ralizah De Guiche is probably the most realistic character in the play. I would probably say yeah, he’s always been a bit rapey but more in a sort of ‘I’m charming therefore I’m entitled to you’ way.

@nessisonett He's just a revolting rapist in this film. To the point where he sends her a letter pretty much informing he's on his way over to rape her (which pushes her to hastily marry Christian), and then sings some big number about how he's an entitled rapist .

Turning Red - Pretty cute film. Given that it centered around a group of young teens circa 2002 (the same time I was a young teen) I was able to relate to it in parts (though as a guy I definitely wasn't into boy bands, lol).

Interestingly enough, I read an article the other day that stated that the director was partially inspired by Ranma 1/2 & InuYasha (oh, and Sailor Moon too I guess), which is one reason I was eager to give it a go (the Ranma influence can particularly be felt IMO, what with the coming to grips with an embarrassing transformation that's not much under control). I also watched the making of documentary (which was up on D+ the same day) which was pretty interesting (I usually don't watch such things), and during the brief segment they gave to their anime influences while Sailor Moon was the only series they specifically name dropped, they very explicitly referenced Takahashi & you could see some InuYasha & Ranma memorabilia around that part of the office too.

@LN78 Just a follow up to previous conversation. I did finally get around to watching Spielberg’s West Side Story and agree with what you said. It was really well done overall. Not sure if you watched the original movie adaptation from the 60’s yet (I recall you were motivated to do a comparison), but if my memory serves, this new version is quite a bit grittier. It’s been a few years for me since seeing it, but the hatred between the two gangs is much more palpable this go around. In this version the acting feels far superior, the general tone is darker, and the production value seems higher. Obviously this was always going to be a tragic tale, but it’s much more visceral in this new version than I remember from the other.

I still had that initial recoil from the feeling of dissonance when the gangsters start singing and twirling like an episode of “Dancing with the Stars”, but it quickly feels normalized when the acting is on display. This new version does a great job of making the thugs feel like thugs and very unlikable. I think it did a good job making both sides feel like the villains. I could have seen it go very political, but thought it was handled well as a general cautionary tale against all blind prejudice and racism.

Related, the Spanish and Puerto Rican dialogue is much more authentic feeling than I remember from the older version, which I appreciated. I also enjoyed the fact that the cast was mostly unknowns. Besides Tony, I didn’t recognize any of the others.

Overall it’s quite good and I felt emotionally impacted watching it this time, which I don’t think I did when I watched it before.
The delivery of the line “How many bullets are in here?! How many of you can I kill and still have one left for myself?!” was just gut-wrenching.

@LN78 Oh yeah, no pressure but I’d be interested to see how you get along with it when you do find time to watch it.

Boyz N The Hood. Somehow never seen it before now but was on BBC late night. Absolutely fantastic, especially impressive for a directorial debut. Interesting to see how many tropes started with this one movie but it rises above all that with genuine heart and totally natural performances from the cast. And yes, Furious Styles is both the greatest name and the greatest dad in Hollywood.

Turning Red was surprisingly excellent. It's like Fruits Basket had a baby with A Goofy Movie, yet the end result felt really cohesive and unique.

@Fragile Gattaca is a terrific dystopian film. Alas, as an American, Mike Judge came the closest to predicting where we'd go with his film Idiocracy.

I have to agree, loved the first three movies, then things went south after that. Most movie series have good entries and ones that are lacking, Die Hard is no exception.

I really enjoyed the 4th Die Hard myself, it was just the right kind of over-the-top stupid action for me. My favorite part was when the guy hacked a satellite by putting the SIM card in his phone the other way.
But yeah, not so great after that.

@Fragile The first three are one my favourite trilogy of films. The 4th was watchable but nowhere near up to the same standard. I don't remember if I've seen the 5th film. If I have, it has been scrubbed from my memory! 😂

@Fragile Totally. I'm not really a fan of the traditional Christmas movie. Gremlins is another one of my faves.

@Fragile I genuinely forgot there was a 5th Die Hard. I’m not sure I got over them calling the 4th one Die Hard 4.0

Never mind, just saw it was called ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ in the US which is infinitely worse.

@LN78 I hear the 4K is supposed reference quality. Apparently it has a 6K and 8K source format. Have you seen Mortal Engines? The film is a nothing to write about, but the the 4K is probably one of the best I've seen. Also stars Hugo Weaving lol.

I enhanced my Disney + subscription to the bundle to also get Hulu, but they seem to have jack all in terms of interesting movies, and even less when it comes to TV, IMO.

Luckily they do have the two Deadpool movies, but I was hoping it's where Disney was also keeping the Wolverine & Logan since they aren't on D+, but apparently nope (HBO Max apparently has The Wolverine for whatever reason).

I've found a handful of things to add to the que, but most anything else I search for either doesn't show up or requires an even additional subscription (like Starz). Honestly, despite how much I've already watched, there's still more on D+ itself I'm interested in.

Turning Red really is brilliant isn’t it? Probably the best Pixar film in a good long while due to finally getting rid of the tired ‘let’s go on an adventure’ structure they’ve been bogged down by. Incredibly relatable on so many levels, and I can only imagine how much more relatable it is for whole groups of people in the way it tackles Asian-American expectations, ‘generational curses’, attitudes around periods and coming of age stories involving teenage girls. It’s just a great movie. There are so many influences ranging from Studio Ghibli, Ranma 1/2 and Scott Pilgrim to Teen Wolf. The soundtrack especially definitely has a hint of Joe Hisaishi to it.

@nessisonett It's an early favorite for being my film of the year.

With that said, as someone who is sensitive to secondhand embarrassment, a few scenes with the mother early in the film made me want to die. Which was the intent, of course, but I do imagine I looked rather goofy watching portions of the film with my head tucked down into my shirt.

@Ralizah Oh god yeah, the cringe levels induced were very well done. The whole movie actually did that, because 13 year olds are inherently cringey and so it was nice to see that embraced instead of how kids in movies tend to be adultified due to the movies being written by adults.

... I watched Soul for the first time whilst I was away and honestly? I've already forgotten most of it.

I found it rather uninteresting and didn't really like either protagonist. The second act in particular was just a slog to get through and yeah... Don't think I'd ever watch it again 😅

Real shame as Inside Out was so good by the same director (and I think the same writing team too?)

@HallowMoonshadow I was so disappointed by Soul. I loved the opening bit until the actual story started, but then it all fell back into Pixar’s exact same structure of ‘let’s go on an adventure’ while meeting characters along the way. I found the whole ‘Tina Fey possessing the body of a black man’ a bit uncomfortable as well. It could have been a great movie but it felt a bit like they didn’t know what to do after the first 40 minutes.