Topic: The Movie Thread

Not Shelley Duvall! Always loved her, had such a screen presence. I can’t think of any part anybody’s been better suited for than her with Olive Oyl in Popeye (criminally underrated movie).

Got a month of Disney+, so I've watched a couple of films this past week. The first one was Deadpool 2, which was great! Really funny and cool movie. Then I watched The Predator (2018), which was honestly quite a breath of fresh air compared to the previous movies which felt rather similar. I also finished Commando (1985), which was an okay movie but nothing special. Finally, I just finished watching X-Men: Apocalypse, which was a phenomenal movie! I really like it when franchises aren't hindered by the timeline. Just because the story ended in the future doesn't mean that you can't tell more stories from the past. It's kinda like Metal Gear Solid in that sense. As a kid that grew up watching the X-Men animated show, I really enjoyed this movie.

I'm looking for more movies to watch on Disney+. One franchise I haven't delved into at all is Planet of the Apes. Has anyone watched those movies? There are movies from the 1970s and 2010s to watch but I'm leaning more towards just watching the 2010s. Am I missing out on some overarching story by doing so?

@LtSarge There is no real continuity between the "classic" Apes movies and the "new" ones, so feel free to skip the older ones if you wish. I love the 2010s Apes trilogy to death and the "new new" one, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, is a continuation of those (though very loosely).
I haven't seen all the older ones and I can't really remember which ones I've seen, except for the very first one, the OG Planet of the Apes, which is a stone cold classic!
Anyway, hope you'll enjoy them, whichever way you choose to go

Saw the 1996 Twister the other day, and the reason behind it was twofold: To see if it holds up well enough to buy the upcoming 4K release and to have it fresh in mind when seeing the new one.
Unfortunately, i could only find it on streaming with a crappy stereo mix and this is a movie that will probably be well served by a proper disc version with a lovely surround mix, so my experience was a bit muted.
So did it hold up? Well, yes and no. I had a good time watching it again, but it didn't grab me enough so that I think I might want to revisit it again in a while. Hunt and Paxton are still awesome, though, and there's an excellent supporting cast, but while the tornado action is exciting, the surrounding story is very worn and feels very basic. I'm still on the fence vis-a-vis a 4K purchase of this one.

Twisters, which I just came back from seeing in the theatre, fared a lot better. While it was, in many ways, the same movie (people chase tornados for science and get in dangerous situations), it did enough differently to feel like it's own thing. I guess I could call it a "remix" of the original and not be too far off the mark. I hadn't seen Daisy Edgar-Jones in anything previously, but she charmed me quite effortlessly and she had good chemistry with Glenn Powell, who is turning into a powerhouse Cary Grant type leading man. This also has a good supporting cast and the effects and sound mix are tremendous (as they should be, in a movie like this). I would say I'm more likely to buy this one on 4K than the first one.

@FuriousMachine That's good to hear! I tend to not like old movies like those so I'd rather skip them unless I really like the franchise. But yeah, looking forward to watching the modern ones soon!

Watched Cléo from 5 to 7. It’s hard to really say anything about movies like that, it’s one of those that will stay with me. It’s not perfect, nothing is, but it’s crafted in a way that all movies should be. I came away from that movie thinking about my own life, instead of coming out of a movie thinking about when I can next spend money. There’s an irritating wave of negativity aimed at arthouse media in general, with the domination of popcorn fare and studios destroying the industry creating a generation of people who ironically look down their nose at more thought-provoking media. Anti-intellectualism has gotten so much worse recently, which is crazy to me as media is more accessible than it has ever been. Attitudes of ‘I want to switch my brain off’ or ‘I just want to be entertained’ are crushing artists from making work that genuinely means something, that isn’t just throwaway entertainment. I dunno, maybe Taylor Swift will mention Un Chien Andalou in one of her songs and arthouse will blow up. That seems to be the only way to get people to look outside their bubble.

@LtSarge Yeah, you're safe to skip them. If you fall in love with the new ones, then you could consider watching the first one as a curiosity, to see where it all came from

@Malaise If you liked the original Twister, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well.

The Matrix is returning to theatres here in Oslo on July 19th for its 25th anniversary and I've got tickets to see it on the same big screen I first saw it 25 years ago (well, not physically the same, they've renovated and upgraded the theatre since then). I am very excited! Apparently, it stars that young whippersnapper from the Bill & Ted movies!

@nessisonett Arthouse cinema being niche is hardly a new phenomena. Perhaps the niche has shrunk in recent years, but it's never been "mainstream" as long as I can remember. I'm lucky to live in a city where blockbusters and smaller non-Hollywood movies live side by side in the cinemas, but there's no denying which films puts butts in seats and keeps the lights on in the theatres. When I saw Retour à Séoul last year, there were three people at the screening and with Monster earlier this year there were four. Not sure if they qualify as proper arthouse, though. I never really understood what qualifies and I probably never will... nor do I particularly care, I just love watching movies and like the ones I like and don't care for the ones I don't, no matter if they're blockbusters or not

@FuriousMachine It’s not just cinema, books are suffering massively too. All that’s selling are airport fodder, and whatever’s flavour of the month on TikTok. If there isn’t the environment for creators to feel like they can get their story out there then we all suffer, and the medium suffers as a result.

@nessisonett Hmm, if that's the case, then that is indeed highly unfortunate. Having judged by the increasing number of self-published works, along with what I thought was a solid number of specialist indie publishers, I actually thought that it has never been easier for an author to get their work out in front of eyeballs (marketing notwithstanding), but it would be very sad if that was not the case. Again, it's not an area I follow too closely, as I am simply not the intellectual type, and while I may dip my toe in intellectual waters on occasion, it is not something I actively seek out. Would never look down my nose at anyone who does, however.

@FuriousMachine That’s part of the problem, it’s both never been easier to get your work out there, and never been harder to actually get eyes on it.

@nessisonett Hmm, right... that's where I don't really follow, though. These things have never been of "mass appeal", have they? In my memory, it's only been for "interested parties" and consumed and discussed primarily in intellectual circuits and academia, being no more, nor less, available now than they've ever been? I'm asking, because I sincerely don't know, and it's hard for me to judge as I don't really know what kinds of movies or books that qualify.

Either way, as you can tell, I'm not the right person for this discussion, but it is sad that the types of movies and books you like are becoming less available to you and others

@FuriousMachine Dissemination of information is generally easier with advances in technology but the world is incredibly loud. If something great came along 50 years ago then it would be discussed endlessly and passed around literary circles. These days, you both have to write a very good book and have a hell of a marketing team for it to even reach those people, never mind general public, because there’s a million things fighting for attention and our attention spans are very short. It’s just a different world, but part of the issue is that requiring proper publishers eliminates more off-piste authors as 1) publishers hate risk and 2) far too many authors now are celebrities with ghost writers making murder mysteries or children’s books. Should really just blame Richard Osman for all this.

Those patiently waiting for a physical Godzilla Minus One release, outside of the Japanese release and the upcoming US release (which will be the same as the Japanese, only with English menus and English subs for the movie only, no subs for the extras), take heart:

The Digital Bits reported this yesterday:

I’ve confirmed that the new US 4-disc Godzilla Minus One: 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Deluxe Collector’s Edition from Toho is just the latest of multiple planned physical media releases of the film. More editions are apparently “coming soon” in the months ahead. So expect wide-release versions eventually, and probably international SKUs as well. That’s definitely good news for fans around the world, and there are definitely a lot of you out there!

@FuriousMachine I saw that the other week on Netflix, and was really impressed by it.

I preferred it to the western films, especially the human side of the story, which I've always thought was lacking in the Hollywood movies.

I watched the OG dub, as that had an Atmos soundtrack rather than a 5.1 for the English dub.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, it's an excellent movie and a polar opposite of the Hollywood spectacles (for the record, I'm a fan of those, too). I was lucky to catch it on the big screen here last year and got to experience that lovely Atmos mix in all its glory
I didn't even know there was an English dub for it; not sure if that is available on the US 4K release I mentioned, but I don't think too many die-hard fans care all that much about anything but the original dub. I know I don't
I do hope it releases in Europe with subbed extras, though, as there's an entire disc full of them.

Something a little bit on the side: Anyone on here familiar with the movie theatres in Edinburgh and can point me in the direction of the best one for blockbuster spectacles (Huge screen, excellent sound system)?
Seems I'll be in Edinburgh around when Alien: Romulus drops and I'm considering watching it when I'm there.

@FuriousMachine And made for a 10th of the budget too!

The English dub has actually impressed some people apparently. For live action I usually go for the original dub, but for animation I go for the English version.

I got suckered in by Prime Day and ordered a bunch of 4Ks (since most were only around $10 a pop, save one or two).

• 1917
• Back to the Future trilogy
• Braveheart
• Dune: Part 1
• Kong: Skull Island
• Godzilla (2014)
• Godzilla: KotM
• Godzilla vs Kong
• Schindler's List
• Zach Snyder's Justice League

Not sure when I'm going to have the time to watch all of it though. I've picked up well over a dozen standard Blu-Rays thrifting over the last month that I'm not even close to getting through as well, lol.

Also just remembered I have the "Criterion" Risky Business 4K on pre-order that releases next week as well.