Topic: The Movie Thread

@JohnnyShoulder Been a while since I saw Hurt Locker, but I remember liking it. Should give at rewatch one of these days. Other "classic" war movies I remember liking back in the day but need to rewatch are Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone and, of course, Bridge on the River Kwai.

@zupertramp Ah, Saving Private Ryan, how could I forget that one?! Really liked that one. Wonder if that is easily available on 4K; it would probably be perfect for my upgraded setup

I had severe issues with the incredibly poor writing on Pearl Harbor, it just came across as lazy and was impossible to take even halfway seriously. It was like someone had taken a Leslie Nielsen type war movie parody, ripped out all the jokes and shot it straight-faced. Not only was it extremely stupid, it also used every war movie cliché in the book and at least one of them twice! I remember two wide eyed teenagers, evidently on a date, sitting next to me in the theatre, and not even they could manage to take the movie seriously and giggled at all the contrived dialogue and cringeworthy attempts at romance. The attack sequence itself was spectacular, though

@FuriousMachine @zupertramp I've don't think I've ever seen Pearl Harbour all the way through. For want of a better expression, I found it all a bit too cringe.

I used to really like Saving Private Ryan (also shout out to the porno version, Shaving Ryan's Privates lol), but when I watched it recently I found large parts of it a bit boring. Of course the Normandy Landing and snipers scenes in particular are top tier cinema.

Platoon and Full Metal Jacket (have that one on 4K) I really like also, and I have a soft spot for The Great Escape. It used to always be on TV when I was growing, but it never gets old.

@JohnnyShoulder I actually contemplated walking out of Pearl Harbor (something I've never done before or since), but I had a date to see Evolution later that evening (the Ivan Reitman film with David Duchovny and Julianne Moore) and I really had nothing to do until my date so I stayed until the end. Evolution came across as a cinematic masterpiece in comparison.

I actually picked up Saving Private Ryan on 4K on my way home from work, so I'll be rewatching that soon.

Haven't seen Platoon since the 90's or thereabouts, so can't really speak to whether it still holds up. I liked it as a teenager, at least. Never saw Full Metal Jacket, as I've yet to see a Kubrick film that I didn't find completely soulless and mindnumbingly dull. After Dr. Strangelove, 2001 and the Shining (which I hated with a passion, making me the only one besides Stephen King to not think it's the pinnacle of horror), I simply gave up on Kubrick. I have decided to give 2001 another chance and if I don't hate it I will check out Full Metal Jacket as well.

@LN78 Not good. Crystal Skull was a flaming pile of dog feces, but I'm still going to brave it and make up my own mind with a trip to the cinema when the time comes.

@LN78 To be fair, it was shown at Cannes and nowhere else. Even the Empire guy didn’t get a ticket. I’m not entirely convinced that it’s their audience! I can’t say I’ve been swayed by some of the trailers though, that dialogue is pretty rough. The originals were fun because they were pulpy horror-tinged adventure movies. It’s looking more like Everything Everywhere was a bit of an outlier and modern blockbusters haven’t learned a thing about genuine heartfelt passion at every stage of production.

@LN78 Haha there we go, saw the editor saying he wasn’t invited on Twitter!

@FuriousMachine I don't think I've ever walked out of the cinema due to not liking the film. The time I have is when it has been an audio descriptive screening, but then I did go back and watch the film at a later date.

I've been mixed on Kubrik's films, and the only two I've enjoyed are The Shining and Full Metal Jacket. I'm almost gutted I got the blu ray of The Shining as the 4K transfer is supposed to be really good. I have added 2001 A Space Odyssey to my rental list as I don't think I've ever seen it all the way through.

@JohnnyShoulder Yay! I'm not alone in not fawning over all the works of Kubrick I've always been under the impression that he was pretty much universally loved. I mean, he was technically proficient and all that, but I can't seem to find a shred of humanity in his movies.

I know how you feel about the Shining blu vs 4K. I'm looking in dismay at my blu-ray collection (which, admittedly, isn't all that compared to my packed-away DVD collection) wondering if I can justify double-dipping into the 4K versions of them (knowing myself, I probably will )

@FuriousMachine I've not yet double dipped, but I almost did accidently when I went to buy a film then changed my mind at the last minute, then realised when I got home I already had the film I almost bought lol.

I'm trying to only buy films in 4K I know I really enjoy and watch multiple times. So most of mine are film that I grew up with such as Alien, Gladiator, Beverly Hills Cop, Total Recall, Gremlins off the top of my head.

That reminds me, I need buy more Arnie films from that era as I've only got Predator and Total Recall.

I like quite a few of Kubrick’s movies but I’m not sure there’s really any directors that I love every single one of their movies. Even Wes Anderson and Wong Kar-Wai have ones that I’m not fussed about. In terms of Kubrick though, I think regardless of your thoughts on the movies, you can still appreciate how impressively crafted they are. Poor Shelley Duvall though.

@JohnnyShoulder That's how it starts with me; deciding to limit my purchases to only my absolute favourite movies that I will watch many, many times. Then I get seduced by limited and anniversary editions of movies I simply like and thus grows the collection and shrinks the bank account

Ever since I found myself buying CDs I already owned a while back I've been religiously tracking my collections in various apps/sites and have so far avoided unintentionally double-dipping. Blu-Ray.com works well for this purpose, with an app you can use to scan the barcode of a release and add it to your collection. The site design leaves a lot to be desired, but it works. It also has an expensive feature that shows which Blu-Rays you own that can be upgraded to 4K versions. As a result, my intentional double-dipping has begun I found that my nephews will happily accept my old Blus, so that's an added bonus.

@nessisonett That is very true. I can't think of a single director that has a longer career that I like all of their films.

watched Monster in the Closet on Freevee last night. I was surprised to find that old movie on Freevee. That and only season 1 of the classic 1980s tv show Monsters

Fast X/Fast & the Furious 10 (IMAX)
After ten movies in this franchise, even I'm not able to understand how I can still have a blast watching this... but, inexplicably, I do.
Jason Momoa owns this movie, and is, as is par for the course for this series, waaaay over the top. And I simply love it!
I assume most people know by now whether they love, hate or are indifferent to this franchise, so you probably already know how much mileage you'll get from this. If you enjoy the entries that goes completely off the rails, you'll enjoy this one as well. May be recency bias, but this is my favourite entry right now

@LN78 Ah, but I actually didn't. I complained about the terrible writing in one Michael Bay movie (Pearl Harbor). I found Revenge of the Fallen actually offensive and, worse, boring. The original Transformers had it's moments, but I didn't love it. I've never said anything like "stupid bombastic bulls*it", as I find that that can be quite entertaining in cases. Bay's "The Rock" and "Armageddon" are both good examples, as are many of the entries in the FF franchise. None of these movies are equal, at least not in my eyes, and I have no problems enjoying one and disliking another

@FuriousMachine @LN78 Michael Bay's AmbuLAnce falls under that it is so preposterous it is entertaining. Just wish he never found you could film a movie with drones! 😂

A stunner in 4K too.

Damn, poor Ray Stevenson. He was great in Rome and it looks like Ahsoka will be his last role with it releasing posthumously.

@LN78 Good point, I didn't like the writing in Revenge of the Fallen either, so two Michael Bay movies, then (and, I'll be honest, there are probably more Michael Bay movies that I haven't seen where I'd probably complain about the writing, again). That being said, I still disliked the writing in Pearl Harbor way more than I disliked the writing in Revenge of the Fallen.
And now I simply have to find that Armageddon commentary. I wonder if the DVD release I've got packed away somewhere has it...

Gutted about Stevenson. RIP. Much too young.

@JohnnyShoulder Haven't seen that one, but that shall be remedied