Topic: The Movie Thread

@KALofKRYPTON @RogerRoger @JohnnyShoulder I watched The Last Jedi again on Blu Ray the other day and I have to say, the great scenes do hold up. And I really appreciated the performances of Benecio Del Toro and Laura Dern more this go around. I didn’t really like Dern the first go around, but in retrospect she does well. Especially Del Toro is great in his role and he may be my favorite part, along with Hamill and Ridley. The issues that the film has are still there, and come across even more glaring in some cases, but I still enjoyed watching it again. Overall I like the direction the film is taking the story, but I realize the way it was rolled out here does leave it open to criticism.

So you didn't like it then?

@RogerRoger Eh. If the abominable Episodes 1 and 2 didn't kill off my "appreciation" for the franchise, then The Last Jedi certainly won't. It has issues, but it's an interesting film.

Then again, for as many times as I've watched the original trilogy, I've never been terribly invested in the universe it sets up. I just think they're fun movies.

@RogerRoger
Can't disagree with much you've said there.
The music is such a non event that I'd not even considered its resonant absence!

Just to make matters worse and spoil one of the satisfying scenes from the film - I'd not noticed this guard's disappearing weapon before...

@KALofKRYPTON The part that I didn’t catch the first 2 times I watched was the part during the Kylo and Luke Force Hologram face off where they start off standing on obviously on a sea of red because of all the laser fire that Kylo rained down on Luke, then after cutting away and coming back, the ground is miraculously white again, because they had to showcase the fact that Luke is not leaving footprints. I guess they felt it was that important to show the feet of Luke and Kylo.
I didn’t catch that until this last viewing and it is a little immersion breaking when you see it. But overall I really enjoyed that last 30 minutes. I liked how Luke came back around and rejoined the rebel cause and became one with the Force, or whatever. Kinda like his father Anakin at the end, reaching for redemption before death
And I saw the fact that Kylo did not realize the clues: the presence of the blue lightsaber, the beard and hair void of grey, the lack of red footprints, the simple fact that all that laser fire didn’t faze him was a sign of Kylo being blinded by the obsession of revenge, his judgment completely clouded by fear and rage, the true enemies of the Force.

@RogerRoger Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your well thought out impressions. I am one of the biggest Star Wars apologists, and I have yet to see a Star Wars movie that I didn’t find a level of enjoyment in. I can look at them with an eye of critique and still find the purpose, meaning, and fun contained therein. (Well, except for Jar-jar. He’s the one thing I can’t make an excuse for). And all your points are valid, although I didn’t experience quite the same emotions as you. Some of the new direction the series is taking has me intrigued, and finding the balance of the old with the new is going to be a tall order going forward.

@RogerRoger I don't think that's a choreography error - I think it's a continuity error.

I'm not saying Rey was going to be stabbed in the back, but I think the scene played out differently at some point, like the ROTS lightsaber swap..

@RogerRoger It could be that - I think the gif was from DigitalSpy.

Given how much of a mess the film is and the recent revelations of how much a mess Rogue One was before the co-writer reshot many key scenes - it seems like Disney are playing pretty fast and loose and hoping things work in the edit.

Thankfully, JJ doesn't work that way - but he's a hell of a lot of work to do to salvage IX.

@RogerRoger With Solo, I'm hoping Ron Howard can make it a better thing than anyone is expecting. He has made some stinkers - but hopefully with so much to draw from he can craft something decent.
He has overseen a huge number of reshoots - pretty much from the day he was brought in as the replacement.
We'll see...

Solo looks... underwhelming. I'll probably see it eventually, but I'm not going to rush to the theater for this one.

@RogerRoger I definitely agree The Last Jedi isn't well-placed in the series, considering what it pulled off. It makes no sense to deconstruct the mythology of Star Wars in the middle film of a new trilogy. It has destroyed almost everything established by The Force Awakens, so what is there to look forward to in Episode IX?

I think it's a decent film, but a terrible middle entry in a trilogy. And it sounds like our feelings aren't too different in this regard. I'm just not actively invested in the wider franchise like you are.

Or maybe I'm just more forgiving of it, considering I hated TFA and was dreading another film like that.

It'll be funny if the new trilogy becomes such a mess that the prequel trilogy actually stands out as the more cohesive and unified Star Wars trilogy in comparison down the road.

I've just seen the trailer for Solo. It looks like a poor man's Mass Effect. Honestly, I'm not hyped for any new Star Wars flicks after watching The Last Jedi and it pains me so.

Moving away from the stars...

I watched Jumanji. It was fun. If you've seen the trailer or have ever seen an action adventure film, there will be no surprises for you.

Light-hearted and good natured, not quite enough peril to go around - but enjoyable.

@Ralizah I agree with the problems it’ll face as a trilogy. Changing directors so much is a bad idea. They should’ve left it with the director of Episode 8. They have completely different styles. JJ Abrams tried to make a normal Star Wars movie, but completely failed at making exciting new lore, or not botching the sith with Kylo Ren. Then episode 8 abandoned everything like new planets and stuff (that casino stilled added a more interesting planet location than anything episode 7 introduced, I just realized that. It wasn’t even trying to. Wow.) and trying to be like previous Star Wars movies and did something totally new and story focused, which I liked. As a result 9 will feel alienated from episode 8. Creating the most dixonnexted trilogy ever in terms of movie style. My opinion of episode 7 also went down after seeing Episode 8, so I think it’ll be a trilogy with one honestly really good movie. The prequels will be a better trilogy. They had enough good ideas and/or lore that added so much to the Star
Wars universe. And I think they get hated on a bit to get hated on. And they’ll feel like a trilogy lol.

And yeah, Solo doesn’t look very good. I usually don’t watch trailers and close my eyes in the theaters when they’re shown, but I didn’t even care about seeing the Solo trailer. I just watched it.

Edit, wow, that was a longer discourse than intended. Oh well, it works.

@RogerRoger TFA was, indeed, a lazy remake of Episode IV with an inferior structure, unlikable characters, and no truly classic moments. The best parts of the film were the nostalgia pandering ones.

Actually, come to think of it, the best part of Abrams' first Star Trek film was also the nostalgia pandering!

His creative limitations are becoming painfully obvious at this point.

I'm just glad the shine has worn off now and people are willing to admit TFA kind of sucked.

Only way I'm seeing a Jar-Jar Binks film is if that meme about him being a Sith lord turns out to be canon, though.

@Jaz007 The reaction to Solo has been really muted, and kind of negative (especially on the heels of TLJ, which has proven to be massively divisive), so I'm curious to see how it impacts the film's box office reception.

@RogerRoger Carry over from the 'What are you playing... thread' as studious as you seem to be with film - I would highly recommend that you check out Mad Max and The Road Warrior. Both are favourites of mine, both vastly different in scope and ultimate direction (there's even a fair school of thought that The Road Warrior is more of a soft reboot/remake of Mad Max due to the apparently rapid overall change in the fabric of society) - I'd like to read your impressions.

The third film, Beyond Thunderdome is also worthy of a watch but gets a bad rep' for being the 'hollywood' movie.

They are all leagues better than Fury Road (aside from sheer spectacle), which I wouldn't recommend to anyone! At all. It is the result of throwing a relatively huge amount of money, hollywood penchant for spectacle and badly cast star at a franchise that needed neither.

The core story of Fury Road isn't particularly bad in the context of the series - but it really didn't (and need to) feature Max at all. The whole thing could've been handled better, and I feel like it would've adapted well as a series rather than movie.

@RogerRoger Only Fury Road on Netflix unfortunately.

If it's the sort of thing that might sway you, The Road Warrior is one of the greatest 'catalogue' Blu Ray transfers out there. Nice clean up job on the print, no discernible DNR and a wonderfully cinematic level of film grain along with ridiculous detail levels. It is one of those discs worth owning for showcasing (good) blu ray transfers.

EDIT: Big Trouble in Little China is another gem of a transfer!

@RogerRoger
I think it's (video transfer quality) something that you could appreciate - though it is something else that can easily become an obsession too.
Given the number of Star Wars transfers out there, I'm surprised it isn't for you already. Incredibly Star Wars has more often than not been horribly handled when it comes to home releases. The best I have are the Limited Edition DVDs from a dozen years ago that each came with a non-Special Edition theatrical version on a separate disc. Not the best transfers (I think the masters are from the Laserdiscs) - but the best non SE versions I could get my hands on. I haven't purchased the Blu Rays as they are even worse. Lucasfilm's constant tinkering with edits, new effects and colour temperature is infuriating.

I do have the 'Despecialized' fan edits (Mods: perfectly legal) and highly recommend those if you haven't seen them. Taking the best possible video and audio sources of non-Special Edition footage and putting together HD versions of the OT. Incredible work!

As for the tech stuff. DNR (digital noise reduction) is what tends to make a HD transfer look really bad. The grain that is a part of the print gets artificially 'scrubbed' - this causes a lot of detail to get muddied when it's used heavily and often ruins a blu ray presentation.
The Road Warrior had a (physical) clean of the original print and a new 4k scan before the blu ray transfer. The natural grain was preserved thus leaving huge amounts of visible detail.

Get Big Trouble in Little China!

@RogerRoger Freak indeed!

For me for the most part, it's a lot of tinkering for nothing. Movie examples of 'revisionist history' (Han DID shoot first) and a cmpany full of people who had to say 'yes' to George Lucas' every whim.

Most of ESB is fine I find. The visual upgrade on Bespin and the addition of McDiarmid (as well as most of the CG additions) I have no issue with. The recolour is annoying though - changing Vader from an imposing gunmetal to overall blue hue is shocking.

There's just too much to list for the other films. ROTS fares best of the prequels usually. TPM is notoriously awful and there is apparently no 'clean print' in existence. AOTC is OK looking, everyone looks rather waxy though - and the reshoot hairpieces are possibly worse looking for the HD transfer than in TPM.

Newer isn't always better. As seen with Star Wars (personal preferences notwithstanding).
A good case in point is the latest RoboCop (1987) blu ray.
MGM released a RoboCop blu ray a decade ago - it was terrible. Loads DNR and a fuzzy, muddy and otherwise bloom laden picture.
Sony released a remaster of the director's cut version a couple of years ago touting a new 4k scan of the print - and it is an amazing transfer. Not much DNR use and the print hasn't been unduly tampered with regarding film grain inherent of a catalogue title of it's age. But - such is the level of detail presented, it's almost film breaking. The vast majority of RoboCop's practical effects have always been easy to spot, so it's not the obvious mattes, squibs, glorious stop motion or early window shatter-explosions that really
pulled me out of the film; it's the oiled fibreglass RoboCop suit.
The film does a really good job of selling you the idea Weller isn't a guy in a suit. The costume, Weller's performance and his co-stars reactions to him always do so well. Until you can see with such clarity some of the seams that weren't visible before, the more obvious sections of fabric under-suit and worse - that the suit is dripping with a sheen of baby oil to create that iridescent look.

If not for the newest, best and most technical proficient version of RoboCop - these things I already knew to be a part of the film could've stayed shut behind my suspension of disbelief.

Batman Begins is an awful blu ray transfer too.

Not sure what I've let myself into, but I've borrowed Justice League from my mate in work.

A brief history: liked Man of Steel, hated Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, thought Wonder Women was only ok. So mu expectations are quite low for JL!

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, it is hard to predict what you’ll think. Eh, in my mind JL is somewhere between BvS and WW as far as presentation and conhesion.

I watched Bone Tomahawk last night. I am currently seeking counselling...