Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger nooooice! I do wonder how it will fare on second viewing to be honest. I have to admit that I've "seen" the first movie twice, the first time I loved it and the second time I fell asleep fairly quickly...and it was the middle of the day. So I am questioning whether it really was as good as I thought it was lol. I had the same reaction to Scott Pilgrim, great first viewing, not so great on second and third viewings.

I'm wondering if a fan edit is in order, chop out most of the (admittedly amusing but still fairly irrelevant) human stuff except what is actually relevant to Sonic's character. See how long it actually ends up!

I'm hoping Amy makes an appearance in Sonic 3 and that the Knuckles show goes down the route of the Chaotix Crew rather than more echidnas. Though I suspect it will probably take the latter approach.

I quite liked the trap filled sequence, probably the best way a film could adapt a platforming game's level!

@LN78 Shadow the Hedgehog reveal. I wouldn't say it was particularly jaw dropping 😅 but I suppose it got spoiled by Google/YouTube search results even though I didn't even search for anything related to it...

@RogerRoger oh yeah for sure, the bridezilla scene was super funny but toward the end of it, I was just like wtf am I watching 😅.

Totally agree with your pleasant surprise sentiment!

I've caught up with a few films on Netflix as it's too hot for much else. I watched The Invisible Man which I was very impressed with, cleverly unnerving and well shot. I also watched The Equalizer which was enjoyable enough, Denzel Washington is always highly watchable and it only had a few slightly silly moments which prevented it from being great. I'll certainly keep an eye out for the sequel appearing on one of the services.

Watched the Fifth Element this morning. 90's future sci-fi flick centering around Bruce Willis as a(n ex-military) cabbie whom is roped into protecting a woman who is the key to saving the universe from an interdimensional threat as foretold by an ancient Egyptian prophecy.

They ultimately don't focus too much on the nature of the end threat (though it's revealed to be sentient it might as well be some sort of natural disaster), instead focusing on all the myriad factions trying to nab the girl, and it feels oddly constrained for a movie about the fate of the universe (the only section of the film that takes place off Earth is on an opulent cruise ship on a planet that's mostly water).

However it's a decently fun time. It's writing doesn't seem to take itself very seriously, it's very aesthetically loud (like the future is super extreme 90's) in a way that has to be seen, has a fun (flying) car chase & gun fight, Chris Tucker seems to be having fun chewing it up as an OTT TV/Radio personality, and Milla Jovovich spends the entire film running around half naked (fully once or twice) if that's your thing.

Apparently the Joker sequel is going to be a musical? Should be called Ha Ha Land. 🤣

The Northman is out on the 18th July on 4K blu ray in the UK, and already available in the States. I've heard some people say the quality when streaming is not the best, so I will be avoiding watching it that way if possible.

@LN78 Same here, was gutted I missed it in the cinema.

Not seen anything on 4K physical release for Everything Everywhere All At Once, but will keep an eye out for it. The couple of channels on YouTube I watch for physical media that are based in the states, but we usually follow shortly after.

EDIT: Just seen on Blu-Ray.com that it comes out in the States on 5th July.

Watched The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, with Benedict Cumberbatch about the artist guy who painted all the cats. What an unfortunate bloke, his entire life seemed to be a series of misfortunes. It was shot beautifully though and Cumberbatch was good as always. I was really impressed by the direction, especially because Will Sharpe is only 35 and I mostly know him as an actor. I get the feeling he’ll do very very well for himself in the years to come.

@LN78 A sad end to the Cannon films, indeed. I’ll miss the updates you’ve been posting, but if the last two films are anything to go by, it’s probably a good thing it’s over for you.

That’s really interesting about Superman 4 production being such a mess with all the loss of financing. It makes a little more sense why the film was of such poor quality. I’ve never seen the movie, and I don’t know if I ever will, but I’ll be able to watch it through a more understanding lens should the opportunity arise.

Anyways, as always it was a great read there with your final time on the Cannon series and I’m excited to see what kind of random cinematic project you’ll be off to next, if any. 😄

@LN78 It’s definitely been interesting reading about these movies that I’ve mostly never heard of! It’s only really the ones like Superman IV and Masters of the Universe that I’d really heard of. I reckon a reboot/remake series would be interesting, but only if you’re willing to track down the approximately 5 million adaptations of Dracula 😂

It wasn’t my intent to write a full-on review of the movie, but that’s what ended up happening, so apologies to anyone passing by and feel free to skip if you wish. Otherwise, here’s my experience with They Shall Not Grow Old —

I am a bit of a history buff, and particularly interested in war history. World War I has often been overshadowed in the public consciousness by its bigger sibling WWII, (at least over here in North America) so I found this a really unique look into the lives of the frontline men who experienced trench warfare during the conflict of 1914-1918.

For those unaware, this documentary style movie is produced and directed by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) and is made up almost entirely of actual archived video footage and audio recordings of the soldiers who fought. There is no extra narrator, only a series of recorded quotes from the actual enlisted men who share their thoughts and impressions of their service from the time they volunteered to the time they came back home after the war ended. The video snippets are then pieced together to coincide with what they are talking about, so that, for example, footage of training camp correlates with what they say about it. The editing and flow is impressive and it’s amazing work that Jackson and his crew have done. It must have taken hundreds of hours to get film footage and the audio interview footage lined up and calibrated in the cohesive manner in which it is presented. It’s a surprisingly thorough chronicle into life as a WWI soldier, from an era when there was scarcely little video or audio recording being done. The footage is rare indeed, and much of it never before seen by the public.

The layout doesn’t necessarily set this film apart — other documentaries have been produced in this raw style of presenting their subject without third party commentary; but what actually elevates this documentary is that the footage has all been restored and updated with modern computer aided technology. The results are fantastic. The original video is obviously black and white, has no sound, and is in that “Charlie Chaplin” strange sped up jerky motion that limits video recordings of that time period. In They Shall Not Grow Old you get to watch this video footage in a way that displays it with normal timing, color, and sound effects, such that it looks just like you’re watching a modern day recording. It’s amazing stuff.

The stories the veterans tell are piercing and unrestrained, and at times surprisingly casual sounding. They describe moments like watching their mates bodies gets marred by ammo or explosions right next to them, dealing with rats and lice, and how the troops dealt with defecating (replete with video of them using the outdoor latrine 😅). Stories range from commanders ordering a young soldier to be shot when he starting crying out and wailing in fear and anticipation of their imminent offensive across No Man’s Land, to their trips to brothels in France.

It’s a fascinating look into the real calamity of war, yet the men telling these stories seem to approach them with an amazing amount of energy and spirit, almost like recounting their adventures while on vacation. Perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects to me was their retelling of the return home, where the world seemed to have gone on without them and had no particular appreciation for their sacrifice. Life changing events tend to have this effect, but in the era of no social media and very limited news exposure, the civilian world completely lacked any interest or realization of what war really was or what these men had gone through.

TL;DR — They Shall Not Grow Old is not a comprehensive recounting of every aspect of the war and all the different political objectives and strategies, rather these are the personal stories of experiences of WWI soldiers, which in my opinion is what ultimately makes the study of history come alive. And that enlightenment is made easier with the excellent film and audio restoration. I recommend a watch if you have interest in the subject matter.

Also watched X-Men: Days of Future Past over the weekend.

Overall pretty solid, though not as good as First Class (and from what I understand, outside of the spinoffs like Deadpool, it's all downward from here). Nice seeing the old cast too, even if they didn't do much with them.

@Jimmer-jammer It must have been great to see on the big screen. I know it won some awards and was nominated for best documentary at the Oscars, but it did pass by relatively unnoticed by the general public. I’ve been telling all my mates about it. 😄

@RogerRoger I do hope you like it. It does require being in a certain mood, but if you like documentaries you can’t go wrong with giving it a try. I watched it streaming on HBOMax but I might want to pick up a disc version too for the collection.

I watched They Shall Not Grow Old when it first hit theaters years back. The way they restored truly ancient footage of WW1 was nothing short of incredible. Probably the most fully unique documentary I've ever seen.

@Th3solution My dad like you is history buff with stuff like this, so will see where we can watch it in the UK for home viewing. Thanks for the review, as this would have most likely past me by otherwise.

I watched the Bounty this morning. The crew of an English trade ship, the titular "Bounty", after experiencing a veritable paradise in Tahiti followed by the increasing demands of their overbearing captain decide to mutiny.

It's much more of a slow burn than I typically watch (different thematically as well), but I thought was pretty interesting (and based on the end film text wall, based on a true story?). More of a character drama and features a young Mel Gibson & Liam Neeson. Also, even given the era's more lax ratings, I have no idea how this got away with a straight PG rating (I don't think I've ever seen so many boobs in a film), not that it's a bad thing.

Currently free on Tubi & Pluto TV.

On second viewing, it was easier to appreciate Doctor Strange 2 for what it was, rather than what it didn’t do. While it’s still a bit annoying that the MCU is treading narrative water and that it didn’t really follow up on the first film at all, it does function as an interesting and unique take on a superhero movie. Sam Raimi and Danny Elfman do help, of course. Even if the zooms are a bit silly after the millionth time.

Alien 3 is as just as much fun as Aliens. I’ve always thought that, but after watching them both in the last 24 hours I have reaffirmed my opinion.

Theatrical version by the way, I’ve actually not seen the other version(s?). Same goes for any Alien and Aliens, actually.

@ThereThere The main problem is that the motivations and Scarlet Witch’s plan don’t really make all that much sense if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. While it was all a bit contrived, the bits with Scarlet Witch essentially being a Terminator did work brilliantly. Probably down to Raimi’s previous horror work. Yeah, it was definitely naff, but I think it had to be. If you try and sell a lot of these characters too poe-faced and serious then it comes across looking even sillier. DC can attest to that. At the end of the day, he’s a wizard wearing a cape with ridiculous facial hair. Making it a camp schlocky horror movie totally makes sense imo. A lot of Marvel’s characters like Blade and the Helstroms and such all made their debuts in their pulp comics after all.