Topic: The Movie Thread

@Ralizah Although the Barbie movie isn’t really what I’d be interested in, I couldn’t help but be compelled to consider watching it by the extensive publicity. I hadn’t even watched a trailer for the movie until the movie had already been out for a week or so. Barbie dolls had always been more of a symbol of antiquated gender ideals and so I was surprised to hear it had a feminist message, so my interest was piqued. The trailers didn’t sell me on it, so I read and watched a few of the 9/10 reviews and talked to a lot of people who loved the movie… and I still don’t get it. I’m repeatedly told it’s a great feminist girl-power movie and yet, whenever people try to explain beyond that it does sound convoluted in its messaging. Some of my feminist friends have been really high on the show so I can’t discount that it must at least somewhat hit its target, but your assessment of the movie tracks with what my preconceived suspicions about the movie have been. I’ve never been a fan of any sort of media that stereotypically denigrates one sect of the population in order to prop up another. It’s a shallow tactic, oft used by many people across all sides when they want to promote one faction is to belittle another. The video game console wars is a perfect example. I was getting vibes from reviews that the Barbie movie was using some of this recipe. I want to go see it as a way to at least support the attempt, and mostly just because the far right is trying to wage war on it, but I don’t think I can muster the effort right now.

I did get around to seeing Puss ‘n Boots: The Last Wish and I really quite liked it. It’s a movie I probably wouldn’t have watched if not for the copious praise it’s garnered. I’ve always felt the Shrek movies were overrated, and most of the Dreamworks films in general. After warming up to the movie for the first 15-30 minutes, I really became invested in the characters and found it a fun movie to waste a couple hours on.

@Th3solution The movie does attempt to tackle the dichotomous legacy of Barbie: that she's viewed both as an icon that demonstrated the possibilities for women to live full, fulfilling lives as members of society as well an antiquated representation of 'ideal' femininity. Just, like with everything else, it does a really poor job of it.

The way it treats a lot of its male characters is obnoxious, but once you think about it for a few minutes, it feels like the scriptwriter's view of women is even lower. There's a major plot point in the movie that doesn't work unless you assume that women are inherently stupid and easily manipulated and need to be 'taught' not to be exploited by men. A character even basically just states this outright, just in... nicer language. But it's the same sentiment.

The film's analysis of gender and the way it relates to how society is structured is insultingly stupid. I read a review from a critic who basically said that this is the sort of film you get when you allow large corporations to dictate feminist messaging, and she was completely right.

I have no issues with girl power stuff when it's done right. This isn't that. This felt like it was written by the female equivalent of an incel.

@Ralizah It’s a hard one because Barbie is incredibly competently made and the set design in particular is great. I liked a lot of it at face value but yeah, it suffers from being Mattel dictating feminist discourse. I totally get that they do have to sort of dumb it down because it’s ultimately a kids movie and this could be an entry point to more nuanced gender theory but the very nature of it being a billion dollar movie undercuts what Gerwig was probably trying to say. Plus it’s resulted in Mattel wanting to make like 12 toy movies instead of realising that it was the perfect storm of marketing and being a blockbuster marketed to women, instead of being based on a toy.

@nessisonett Things can be simplified without being made insultingly stupid, though. You can have a simple but well-written 'girl power' film for younger audiences. This wasn't trying to do that, as far as I can tell. And, more often than not, the film comes off as disrespectful to women itself. Like that entire sequence where the Barbies take back control of Barbieland by using their feminine wiles to set the Kens against one-another, which plays into popular tropes about women being untrustworthy and conniving.

And if it's a kids movie, it's a particularly crass one given the amount of blatant sex humor in it.

But yeah, visually it was great. And I like the sort of surrealist vibe Barbieland had at the beginning.

Scott Pilgrim anime looks real good. The movie’s decent for what it is, but it also completely misses the point of the books and condenses a lot. Hopefully the anime is a bit more of a faithful adaptation.

@nessisonett I loved the film and have been meaning to add the books, to my shelf for a long time. Will definitely be watching the anime.

Watched Shin Kamen Rider last night. Didn't even know it existed, until I was searching for something to watch. Excellent film and just under 2 hours long, hope they do a sequel. Just need to see Shin Ultraman now!

@Jimmer-jammer I wanted to watch this when it first came to cinemas, but never did for some reason, probably pandemic related. Will rectify that though as It did look like an interesting watch with a great cast.

Really hope this gets a UK release, as it's one I've not seen yet.

@Jimmer-jammer That is good to know, thanks! I have heard good things about it. Hopefully there are no Predator's still lurking around your area!

I agree with you on The Last Duel. I wasn't sure what I would make of it, as sometimes a similar approach to story telling doesn't always work, but I thought it did on this occasion! What was Ben Affleck thinking about with his hair though?! 😂

@Jimmer-jammer I thought The Last Duel was really great. I can understand a little criticism at the fact that the third perspective was essentially the truth and removed the ambiguity but I felt that was more a creative decision to show how history tended to completely ignore female perspectives even when their account was clearer.

John Wick 4. An audio-visual treat, especially in 4K and Atmos. Certainly gave my new setup a work out. No real surprises from the franchise, but some really entertaining set pieces. Donnie Yen possibly out Wick'd Keanu though in his action scenes.

Not sure if it needed to be 3 hours long, but it was originally planned as two films. I saw it over two nights so couldn't really tell if felt too long, but action film like this should be a tighter experience and come in around the 2 hour mark max for me.

I was able to get into one of the early access premieres of Gran Turismo. For those interested, my impressions are below:

Overall, it’s a decent movie. I would say I liked it in the neighborhood of about a 7 out of 10. At its core, it’s a rendition of the story of Jann Mardenborough, who became a professional race car driver through excelling in the Gran Turismo video game. Although it’s a biographical account, it’s also a celebration of gaming, and specifically for Sony’s flagship PlayStation product. During many of the racing sequences I couldn’t help but have a grin on my face, recognizing all the little PlayStation references. But objectively speaking, as far as cinematic quality it’s fair to rate the movie as mediocre in many aspects. I’ve looked over reviews for the movie, and they’re all over the map. Interestingly, some of the movie critics mention how the game sheds its gaming references early and then gets right into its racing story, which is only partially true, as fans of the game and more specifically of the most recent entry GT7, will see and hear the specific video game references throughout.

So, if you’re considering watching it, having an interest in the Gran Turismo IP will help a lot. Even if GT7 is the only entry you’ve played then you’ll have a blast seeing parts of the game depicted on the silver screen. Or if you’re a fan of “true story / rags to riches” and underdog genre stories then that will carry the film a long way and you’ll probably be able to forgive some of the disjointed script and lazy dialogue.

Although I know next to nothing about motorsports, I’ve been enamored with the Gran Turismo games since the PS1 and have played nearly all mainline entries GT1-7. I have an appreciation of how the game really makes you calculate corners, be tactical about your lines, and react quickly to subtle changes in the track. I loved how the movie really highlighted how cerebral and mentally taxing racing can be. Unfortunately the script falls into movie tropes in order to keep the racing exciting, and makes some of the sequences a little too “Fast-and-the-Furious”, but I can forgive that. The dramatic moments which often include confrontations with vilified rivals also feels very “Hollywoodized” and probably was magnified for dramatic effect.

I have always been interested in amazing true stories, because often truth is stranger than fiction. And I do like a good film showcasing “against all odds” scenarios which champion the common man or woman. And I think most of us do like these feel-good stories. The audience at my theater did some whooping, gasping, and cheering when the bad guys got their due. The friend I attended the viewing with has almost no gaming experience and has never played GT. But they were able to enjoy the movie due to the interesting true human story and the characters.

And to be fair, the script plays fast-and-loose with many of the true life details. After watching the movie I did a little research and there are definitely some deviations from Jann’s story that were done for effect, including time-shifting of some events. But these disparities are no more egregious than what you’ll find in any other “based on a true story” portrayal. As a small and minor example (and I’ll spoiler tag it just in case, although it’s not really that much of a spoiler) the game has clear references and depictions of Jann playing and competing within the latest Gran Turismo entry, GT7, but in actuality the events depicted occurred in 2011-2015, over 10 years ago, back in the inaugural GT Academy competition on PS3, so Jann was certainly playing GT5 most likely. Yet early in the film he references being able to beat everyone “at the Cafe”, which of course as most fans know “the Cafe” is the hub from GT7 and wasn’t in earlier versions of the game. When the movie shows him actually playing the video game, it’s clearly GT7.

This is my first Neill Blomkamp movie, and so I don’t know what to compare it to. I wasn’t a fan of the often shaky cinematography, but I understand they really went out of their way to have the racing sequences shot in real cars under real conditions with the cars literally speeding around a track and used new special Sony cameras to accomplish cockpit views whilst mixing in stunt drivers. (Incidentally the real Jann Mardenborough did some of the stunt driving and apparently was on set a lot to help with other story details). So the races can be bumpy and frenetic feeling. My problem though is that even the non-racing camera work was too kinetic and had the feeling of someone running around behind the actors with a phone cam collecting video footage. I understand the motivation of trying to make the movie feel more lively this way, and like the viewer is as much a participant as they are an observer to the action, but it really becomes distracting.

The actors did well, especially Harbour, Bloom, and of course Madekwe. The secondary characters were much more paper-thin and cliche recreations of pals, rivals, corporate heads, and romantic interest.

In summary, if you have more than 50 hours invested in GT7, go see it. Definitely go see it. If you absolutely love Sony PlayStation studios, go see it. It you loved the likes of Rocky, Miracle, Rudy, Seabiscuit, The Karate Kid, Cool Runnings, Invincible, Hoosiers, The World’s Fastest Indian, and Ford vs Ferrari then at least consider watching it when it drops to streaming and video.

@Jimmer-jammer Yes, I have District 9 on my watchlist. I watched some of the post-credits interviews and Blomkamp admits this movie out of his usual wheelhouse.

If you do get around to seeing it, then I’ll be interested in what you think. It’s one of those movies with overall “rotten” scores from critics on Rotten Tomatoes but positive reviews from viewers. I feel like the movie will be on streaming services pretty quickly, so waiting is certainly a reasonable approach.

And as an aside, I hadn’t realized that even though the mass release date in the US isn’t until this next weekend, the movie has been out a couple weeks in Europe and the UK. So the sneak preview wasn’t really early, globally speaking. US release was delayed due to something about the writers’ strike supposedly.

@LN78 Will hopefully mean I won't have to subscribe to Disney+ to watch the odd show I'm interested in, as I can just watch them through my physical rental service.

I wonder if this means the 4K box set of the original Star Wars trilogy will go back on sale?

@LN78 Lol, negotiations must be going real well for the studios. Physical copies will mean that many staff get the residuals they deserve for these shows.

Yeah, Bob Iger is searching high and low for additional revenue streams so that he can meet his targets and get his bonuses before the greedy writers and background actors steal all the money. Luckily for us, he realized that there is still a market for physical releases amid enthusiasts and collectors out there, so there will even be steelbooks for these releases (I've been known to be a sucker for steelbooks).
Loki s1 will be out in September already, Wandavision and Prey drops in October and Mandalorian s1 and s2 are set for December. All the D+ series can be pre-ordered from August 28th. Not sure about pre-order date for Prey.
(Steelbook enthusiasts outside US may be disappointed to know that the Prey steelbook is a BestBuy exclusive and they don't ship outside US/Canada... No word on steelbook releases in other markets that I have found, yet)

@LN78 Interesting. Netflix aren't typically interested in releasing on physical, but I suppose it's WB pulling the strings on this one. So far it only seems to release in the UK, and only on Blu and DVD, which I thought was a bit weird.

The Banshees of Inisherin — this was an interesting one for me. It’s a beautiful movie, wonderfully acted. Such a strange and simple narrative. And yet.. the more I ponder it, the more complex I think the story really is. If you take the plot at face value it seems shallow, but I think there’s quite a bit of metaphor there with the backdrop of the civil war. I’ll admit I know next to nothing about Irish history, but I know civil war. The movie also has a lot to say about friendship and social interactions, which I think we can all relate to. I think most of us have either tried to sever ties with a friend who we don’t really like but we’re unfortunately their best friend. 😅. I could relate.

Anyways, it’s a great film, if nothing else to see the picturesque backdrop.

@LN78 Yeah, it was hardly a box-office hit, but could it have tanked so badly that they're reticent to invest in the production of physical, maybe? I thought it at least did fairly OK, but I haven't been paying attention, so for all I know it was a massive bomb. Well, Iger, if you're reading this, I'll buy a copy on UHD, should you deem to release it