Topic: The Movie Thread

@FuriousMachine but I like gray and joyless lol. Saw this on fb and thought it was amusing.

The casting in Man of Steel... phenomenal. The rest of the Snyderverse, not so much. In fact I mostly hated it. Not particularly liking any of the new casting either (except Lois) but I'm not too bothered being it doesn't look like my kinda thing anyway. I mean really I'll probably watch out of curiosity eventually.

@FuriousMachine @nessisonett I agree she can't act and was overall a bad choice for WW. But I do also recognize her screen presence and charm. It's there though I'm not sure that's enough.

@PeaceSalad Now for a trip to the cinema to see Wicked, mayhaps? 😉

I don't think it's many of y'all's type of thing, but for what it's worth, I thought it was fantastic and a great big screen experience. Erivo and Grande were pitch perfect in the roles, the musical numbers terrifically realised and, despite what online controversy has to say about it, the movie looked stunning. If you have even a passing interest in musicals (or a lack of disinterest), it's well worth the watch.

Watched Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (The new feature length film) on the telly today.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and seemed a step up from Aardman's most recent endeavours the past few years (Was rather unimpressed with Early Man)

Out of the two W&G feature films I think I'd put Curse of the Were-Rabbit ahead of it but I still enjoyed the return of a certain rubber glove wearing villain and Norbot was a nice addition to the menagerie of Wallace's varying inventions.

Though Vengeance doesn't come anywhere near close to The Wrong Trousers short. That's just sheer perfection pure and simple.

@PeaceSalad I’m not what I’d call a huge fan of musicals, but I have enjoyed a few over the last few years and much more open minded to them than I used to be.

I went into Wicked with high hopes but, honestly was a little disappointed. It was good-ish, but it definitely drags at certain segments and needed to be editing down. It could have been great if they trimmed it down to about 2 hrs. But as it stands, even the great music and mesmerizing visuals couldn’t keep my interest enough to keep from checking my watch at the halfway point. It’s too bad, because the story is actually really fascinating with how it subverts The Wizard of Oz, but they somehow make it boring by spending too much time on the pomp. As Hollywood does, splitting the story into 2 parts opens it up for a lot of filler and bloat, to use some RPG critiques we are accustomed to. 😅 If you’re a big Ariana Grande fan (I’m not really) then your mileage may vary.

I liked Les Miserables, The Greatest Showman, Into the Woods, West Side Story, In the Heights, and Hamilton better, to name a few, if you’re looking to try out some modern musicals. Of course if you can stand the older classics, there’s a boatload to choose from.

@Th3solution Into the Woods is about the only musical I'll tolerate. Not sure what it gets right that others don't but for whatever reason it gets an exemption from my aversion to musicals.

A chap called Ben Whitehead is the new Wallace voice @PeaceSalad and he's pretty good. Been doing things for a while as Wallace from what I understand (Games and such) and while not quite the same it's probably a better soundalike then you expect.

It is also on BBC Iplayer (for well over a year) if you don't want to pay for when it releases on Netflix!

It's Nosferatu week! Robert Eggers' version finally makes it to Norway this weekend, so in preparation I will first watch F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (available in full on YouTube here), followed by Shadow of the Vampire; a double feature I was treated to on the big screen some years back. Excited to see if they're as fun now as then!
Then I'll see Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, which will be my first time seeing it, even though I used to have that fantastic movie poster hanging on my wall for many years.
After that, a trip to the cinema to see the new one is in order.
Going to be a good week, I think

I also want to see Nosferatu. It releases here, in England, on New Years Day.
I will get the chance to see it later this week, either on Friday or Saturday.

Now is a good time for me to rewatch Eggers’ three earlier films.

I went to see The Northman at the cinema, and it blew me away. So I look forward to seeing Nosferatu on the big screen.

@LN78 @FuriousMachine so watched both Speak No Evil films. I'd say the American version is definitely inferior. Like, to the point I really had to drag myself to the finish whereas with the Dutch version the story intrigued and compelled as it went along, despite it being about fairly mundane social interactions. And the acting between the two was, imo, night and day. I admit to being bias against McAvoy as I just don't like him but lawdy was he over the top. And the kids were annoyingly bad. Which I could have excused but they were even older than the Dutch kids. Even Davis was so-so. Motivations far less chilling in the American as well.

@LN78 lol, kinda saw that coming.

Can we agree Heretic is outstanding?

@Jimmer-jammer 100% agreed! It was indeed great on the big screen and is easily the best Transformers movie I've seen (and I've suffered through the entire Bay series, though I actually didn't hate the last one, Rise of the Beasts; that one was actually quite entertaining, I thought)

Nosferatu was truly spectacular. I'm a huge Eggers fan and this was great. Not sure where I'd place it out of the 4, will need to think on that and re watch the other movies.

@MightyDemon82 Glad to hear it, seeing it on Sunday!

@Jimmer-jammer Yeah, "The Wild Robot" was another great time at the cinema! I've just compiled a list for an annual video, ranking all the movies I saw at the cinema last year (36 in total) by how much I enjoyed the cinema experience. I was a little bit surprised to find that "The Wild Robot" wound up all the way down at #15 ("Transformers One" landed at #13), but that just goes to show how many movies I truly enjoyed on the big screen last year. All the movies from 19 and up I rated four stars or better, so that's pretty good

@Jimmer-jammer No, it's a video I post in a closed Facebook group, but it isn't all that interesting anyway; basically just a PowerPoint slideshow of the posters of the movies in ranked order with a star rating.
I can transcribe the list here, if you're interested. Longlegs, Gladiator II and The Substance are all on it; the others you mentioned I haven't seen yet, but "Wicked" is on my list once it hits digital here. Unsure about Saltburn and Challengers.

@Jimmer-jammer @FuriousMachine Saltburn has forever changed what I think of when I hear the song Murder on the Dance floor! 😂

@Jimmer-jammer @JohnnyShoulder OK, I'll put "Saltburn" on my list, sounds like it's worth checking out.

I remember the top 5 from my list off the top of my head:

5. Abigail
4. Dune - Part 2
3. Longlegs
2. Smile 2
1. The Substance

(Again: My list doesn't necessarily reflect the objective quality of a movie, but my enjoyment of it at the theater. As an example, "Deadpool & Wolverine" ranked higher than quite a few I consider to be superior quality films, but I had such a blast with it that it ranked high on my list... didn't crack top 5, though, which "Abigail" did, also on the strength of it being so hard in my wheelhouse that it edged out "better" movies)

@FuriousMachine @Jimmer-jammer I'm still not sure whether I enjoyed Saltburn and find it hard to recommend but still think it is worth watching. I put it in the same wheelhouse as MEN and Triangle of Sadness. And maybe The Lighthouse.

Abigail was way more enjoyable then it had any right to be. It knew exactly what it was and didn't take itself too seriously either.

@Jimmer-jammer @JohnnyShoulder Yeah, after their successful relaunch of the Scream franchise, I've been paying close attention to what the Radio Silence guys have been up to, so when "Abigail" hit theatres, I was so there. Bummed that they dropped out of the next Scream movie and I'm not overly fond of the way Spyglass Entertainment handled the Barrera situation. Has dulled my enthusiasm for the next installment.
At least the Radio Silence guys are working on a sequel to "Ready or Not", which should be interesting

@FuriousMachine Hmmmm, I wasn't so keen on the Scream reboot or whatever they classed it as. Just felt like all the other ones I've seen. I'm not massively into any long running film series though as I find I eventually get fed up of them.

Can't say I'm familiar with the rest of the stuff you've mentioned. Ready or Not was ok, I think. I don't actually remember too much about it. Did it star Samara Weaving?

@Jimmer-jammer It certainly had me thinking about it long after I'd seen it, much like the other films I mentioned. A bit like Joker too, which I did not enjoy at all but appreciated the craft involved. I have liked it a bit more each time I've seen it again.