Topic: The Movie Thread

@GirlVersusGame Well, thank you for asking! I have to say I've really appreciated reading all your responses in various threads regarding the LGBTQI+ community. I only wish there were more people like you who were open to and interested in learning more about something they may have previously not actively engaged with! It makes me very happy to see, so thank you for that.

As for the word queer, you're right in thinking that it was used for a long-time as an insult against LGBTQI+ folks, so it's hardly surprising for you to make the connection. Nowadays, it'll still be used as an insult by some, but it's been reclaimed and is actively used by LGBTQI+ people in describing themselves. It's a good umbrella term for when you don't want to spell out all those many letters, and if you write it with good intentions, people are not going to take offense. Obviously there's people who have all sorts of traumas attached to the word who might still feel uncomfortable with its wider usage nowadays, especially older folks, but I'd say it's been fairly successfully removed from the stigma. You're safely able to use it as well as LGBTQI+ pretty much interchangeably! In terms of cinema, I've definitely seen "queer" used far more to describe that sub-section of film.

And yeah, queer cinema essentially is just any movie that focuses on queer themes. Whether it's a lesbian relationship like the ones I mentioned or involving transgender identity. Anything that falls under the LGBTQI+ umbrella and is in whatever way among the main themes of the film can be considered a queer film. The only real distinction comes when you're dealing with "queerbaiting" films. Ones where they're either clearly catered towards or maybe even beloved by LGBTQI+ fans, but don't inherently deal with themes involving that community itself. Or maybe they could be interpreted to, but are not directly acknowledging the themes. In those cases, you wouldn't really use the queer cinema label. Examples of this could be certain cult camp movies (as camp is often associated with LGBTQI+ folks) or movies like Close and Monster (the Japanese one), where you could view the central relationships as likely LGBTQI+, but it's never explicitly stated.

@FuriousMachine The new Predator is all over movies directories on Tor today, high quality too. I heard rumors that they might try to push a home release within a week, I still say January or February. I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. There's still that 'what if they changed it too much'. The novels are quite different than the movies too but pulling off a novel in live action would be beyond impressive.

@GirlVersusGame Ooh, I'll re-up my Disney+ sub when it arrives; been wanting to see it again. I hope it gets a 4K release as well, even if Disney's releases are quite bare bones (some lovely steel, though).
Still, it is a movie that definitely will be more at home on the big screen.
I wish I could allay your worries, but it is indeed very different from the others and there is every chance you won't like the direction they took with it. I know a few people who straight up hated it and I know a few who loved it, like me. I think I could best compare it to a Steven Spielberg Amblin movie in tone. Fun and adventure with the Predator and his friends (typing that out I realise it sounds so very wrong, but it works, dammit I don't know how or why, but it did. At least for me).
It can also be accused of being "tame", in that there are no humans being brutally killed, mutilated or otherwise made to part with their blood and innards, but there is still plenty of that going on. It's just that the victims are creatures and synthetics and there's not a drop of red in sight. Buckets of green, white and assorted other colours, though. I truly hope you'll love it, but I will completely get it if you don't

@Th3solution Happy to hear that Absurd things make me chuckle, so every now and then my brain will offer up some absurdity itself, even if I haven't asked it to. Some of that will inevitably leak into my interactions with other humans, so it's good when it produces a smile instead of physically hazardous eye rolls (a guy I know once got hospitalised and they had to staple them back in place - I still feel bad about that)

Just got back from watching Zootopia 2 and as I sat in the lobby I realised the mistake of booking a matinee ticket to see a family movie: the screening would be full of kids!
They were all very well behaved and didn't make a lot of noise, which probably meant that they were wrapped up in the movie and not bored. One little girl got audibly distressed when (slight spoiler) Judy and Nick's carrot-pen broke, because some of these kids are pure, distilled empathy in human form, bless them, but other than that they all seemed to be having a good time.
So what about me, then? Yup, I also had a very good time with it, maybe even more than the kids at times (to be fair, it was a non-dubbed screening and with the subs a few things got a bit lost in translation). It offered up more of what we got from the original - some fun side-characters ("ZeBros!"), some truly fun jokes (the extrication of an antelope from a tuba made me lol quite loudly) and oozing of charm, warmth, friendliness and fun.
Some excellent additions to the voicecast in Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster and Andy Samberg (and shout out to my man David Strathairn who can voice a villain like nobody's business) and the animation is phenomenally good. After a while I swear I could see the likeness of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan and Fortune Feimster in their respective characters, which may have been my imagination, but, I mean, if Ke Huy Quan was magically turned into at Pit Viper, don't tell me he wouldn't look and behave exactly like that
It may not completely live up to the original, but if you liked that one, chances are good you'll find something to like here as well.

Edit: PSA: Parents will be well advised to instruct their kids not to go around hugging Pit Vipers in real life, even if this movie makes it seem like a good idea.

@FuriousMachine I think I'll just accidentally source a copy and accidentally watch it tonight. When Disney acquired Star Wars I did think the worst, then I watched whichever one had the Death Star and thought it was brilliant. I'll mentally separate it from the rest of the franchise if things don't pan out. I forgot all about Zootopia 2, I did like the first one. I do watch children's movies too and there's definitely one or two Zootopia plushes hiding somewhere at home. It was massive for the Disney Store, and probably is now for the second movie. I just don't want to see them make the Predator soft and squishy. I'm pretty sure all of the books had humans too. There's an Anime movie making the rounds too, it's had mixed responses but it does have Michael Biehn so I'll eventually watch it just for him. It looks like this movie is about two hours long so I'm going to excuse myself and see how Disney did compared to Hulu.

And so it begins...

@Werehog I love the cheesy ones. My favourites have to be "Godzilla Vs Hedorah" "Destroy All Monsters" and of course the OG and "Godzilla Raids Again" love them all really but I paced myself with the set as not to get burned out on my monster Action fetish!

@FuriousMachine So I just finished the movie and I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong. That was actually really enjoyable. It definitely had those Disney moments and I don't know how I feel admitting that a Predator movie made me emotional but they really did a good job of adding more depth to the clan/family mentality of the Predator. The buddy aspect worked better than expected too. I'd definitely separate it from the other movies but not in a bad way. It might even be fair to call it reboot, and I noticed some things like the skull from ID4 Independence Day, some of the same sound effects from Aliens, and I'm pretty sure the drums from the original movie popped in a few times. The shoulder cannon was a little too predictable but that giant power loader thing absolutely wasn't. I did wonder if the Father predator wanted to execute his son because he thought they would eventually become a threat to his title. He could have easily sent him on the hunt and if he died on the hunt there would still be family honor, it seemed like he felt threatened by his sons and by his potential loss of head of the clan.

It will be interesting to see where they take the franchise next. I doubt they will just sit on the IP and not develop it further. I can see why hardcore fans might not like it as much, it's a very different kind of movie but if you take it as a kind of origins movie it works.

@Tjuz I'll read this a few times and then respond, I want to make sure I have the right response.

@GirlVersusGame YES!! I'm so happy that you liked it!
I admit, it took me a few minutes to "recalibrate" when we're first introduced to Elle Fanning's character and the shift away from the other movies becomes properly apparent, but after that I was fully invested in this new tonal direction. As you said, the buddy aspect works quite well.

I think you're spot-on correct re.: daddy's motivations towards Dek. His brother, while formidable, seemed more pliable and "knew his place", thus not presenting a proper threat. Dek seemed like more of a wild card.
I do hope we get a direct sequel to this at one point as I wouldn't mind another movie with these characters and I must admit I would like to meet mommy

Oh, wow, this exchange made me really want to see it again soon! Get your act together, Disney!

EDIT: Well, whaddaya know, it's still showing at a cinema not too far from here all next week. Strongly considering taking a return trip

@MightyDemon82 I'm ashamed to say I haven't started in on my collection yet, despite being very excited about it. I keep trying to find the perfect time to do so, but that keeps eluding me.

I also made the mistake of ordering it from Amazon.com, thinking that the Criterion release was region free as it was available both from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, though quite a bit cheaper at the former, so a barrier is that I need to watch it on my US player instead of my PS5. Which is well and truly silly, because there isn't anything more complicated involved with watching a disc on that player vs the PS5. If anything it's maybe even a click or two less on the remote, it's just my brain messing with me and making me think that extra effort is required. It does that sometimes.

@GirlVersusGame Further to your previous comment, I googled Zootopia plushies and now I don't think I can live without a Gary DeSnake plushie...

@Tjuz I've really appreciated reading all your responses in various threads regarding the LGBTQI+ community. I only wish there were more people like you who were open to and interested in learning more about something they may have previously not actively engaged with! It makes me very happy to see, so thank you for that.

Thanks Tjuz, I don't know if it's something they teach in school, or people just naturally know by default. I'm technically the B part of that initialism and what I know about it could fit on a post-it note. That's what happens when you are raised in a system that demonizes being different. There's no opportunity to learn, not when your first introduction is 'it's wrong'. There's also the hypocritical side to it too where I mentioned how it's a different set of rules for each gender. If you are a male and you like both women and men you become a target, they just see it as 'gay'. If you are female and you like both you are still accessible and therefore of use to that system (sometimes) social standing and association plays into that too. Which is similar to what I saw in that grooming situation which I mentioned above, it was it's own ecosystem with that kind of distinction between social standing, nationality and so on. As in one rule for one person and perhaps one rule for everyone else, it doesn't mean you are following the rules it means you are choosing to follow the parts that do or don't suit you at the time. Of course if you are the one making those rules it's even easier to pick and choose.

The actual law is a different story. If you talk about the subject in the stance of pro then you are viewed as an extremist. Flags can get you arrested, bars get raided, and sometimes identifying as gay can get you arrested and put away for a very long time. People have even lost their jobs over it. I had a close friend once who fled about a year ago to Europe, we aren't friends any more but she came out as fully gay and lost her job. She had a manager position, the company pushed her out and took over. I haven't heard from her since. I think she's somewhere in Scandinavia, she doesn't want to be found.

I believe Q cinema as you say (sorry I can't say it without feeling like I said something derogatory so I won't) would be classed as a kind of extremist tool. It wasn't always like that, it was for me because that's the way I was raised through party rhetoric/and others and now I'm seeing it in living colour. I wouldn't even risk trying to watch some of the movies mentioned (even though I'd like to) because things have a way of getting back to people and it could cause a lot of trouble.

It's the same kind of paranoia people in that community feel every day and mine is due to simply wanting to learn about the subject. Books, articles and even this conversation would be seen as a propaganda. For some people it might be social media, they might not want to put their significant other in pictures and certainly not as a relationship status. So much social media is blocked, filtered, monitored and so are most of the devices and networks I use (even when I'm not there) I deleted my entire pushsquare history so many times now and will end up doing it multiple more times. I hate calling it taboo but I don't know any other word for it, forbidden maybe? that fits too. It's not taboo to me myself but it is to a lot of other people and ultimately they are shaping how a lot of children are going to grow up. I know what happens if one person grows up confused about certain things, not a whole nation.

That word Dei? I learned it through the comments section, the second word woke? here too. I see people thinking it's fun to poke fun at it all but they haven't seen the extreme outcome, and maybe if they did they would change their mind and just let people be. To support that kind of thinking is to support people being lifted off the street and being beaten just for being themselves. That's where thinking like that has lead, thoughts, then words followed by serious action. I'm not trying to go off topic, it's just sometimes we're worlds apart and I don't want to say I'm interested in following up some those movies mentioned without trying to explain why I can't. It's very odd and uncomfortable? to admit you've seen hundreds maybe thousands of movies but didn't even know that subset of cinema existed.

I want to be clear I don't see it as a stigma, I just see static when I try to break through certain (I'm not sure what the word is, my English is going out the window) There's one thing I'm absolutely certain of and that it feels wrong to limit love, it's not something you think it's something you feel. If things were going forwards and not backwards I'd watch all of those movies, I just can't risk it.

Yesterday was very much a 'Kingdom of Heaven' day, so I finally cracked open the steelbook and gave it a showing, dedicated 3+ hours to the director's roadshow. Top quality release, all round.

I wondered if you have yet to partake since getting the gloriously leprous steelbook, @FuriousMachine ? I know we mentioned a while back it was one worth saving for those long dark days/nights. And yesterday evening worked out nicely for it. I can't believe they ever managed to cut anything out of the movie for the theatrical release, as I was pretty much enthralled throughout. I have, today, resisted the temptation to be lured into playing Crusader Kings 3, however. But the draw to defend or reclaim Jerusalem for one side or the other is certainly tempting as a way to expand my knowledge on the area during those crusades, as i'm normally more focused on Northern Europe or the history of the Holy Roman Empire.

Good stuff. And it even had some Pope satire, which is always a welcome addition.

Just got back from seeing Wicked: For Good in the cinema. I wasn't familiar with the story of the musical (purposefully so), so it all came new to me. I thought it was a great expansion on the stuff that was established in Act I, though I ultimately do prefer the first film. Hardly surprising, since I've heard from many that the first act of the musical is preferred in general. It takes much of a darker turn than the more whimsical feel of the first, which both works to heighten the stakes and tension as well as remove some of the fun that made the first so endlessly enjoyable to me.

There's still a few good songs in here too. I felt both Wonderful and For Good were great numbers, but nothing really lived up to my favourites in the soundtrack of the first film. Whereas the first film was very much on Cynthia Erivo's side of the court, Ariana Grande takes this sequel and runs with it. What a fantastic performance she gave as Glinda across both films. I would never have guessed when they originally announced her to star even if I liked her as a musician!

It's not gonna convert anyone who wasn't a fan of the first one to like the second one, but if you did enjoy the first, do finish off the story by watching the second! Despite the different feel, it's still a great movie and way to cap off that saga.

watched some old Christopher Lee Dracula movie that was on METV's Svengoolie two weeks ago.

now im watching Surf Ninjas on Tubi

@FuriousMachine I'm the opposite and watch all my discs on my dedicated player. I've tweaked the picture settings on that input channel just right for my tastes, and don't like how it looks when it switches from Game mode when I watch stuff on my PS5. Same with any of my subscription services, I always use the apps on my TV. There is probably a way to sort that, but I'm happy using it, and my tv auto switches so I just have put the disc in the player and I'm ready to go.

@FuriousMachine that's annoying, but at least you have a player capable. I have done the with a few films and don't have the kit for playing them. When you overcome this dastardly problem you will have a great time.

@Ravix Haven't gotten around to it, yet. Like with the Godzilla box, I keep trying to find the perfect time for it and whenever I do, I remember that I'm still not finished with the magnificent Lord of the Rings 4K discs. I made progress today, though, and now only one disc remains; the second half of Return of the King - the weakest of the movies, in my mind, which is probably why I have been putting it off for so long. That opinion didn't change watching the first half today, but that's a different post altogether. The visuals and audio are still mindblowing, though. That set is truly a jewel.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, for 4Ks it doesn't really matter which player I use, but for the old-timey BluRays like those in the Godzilla collection, which player I can use depends on the region on the discs. Additionally, the PS5 also serves all the streaming apps I use (well, the ones available on the system, anyway), so it sort of becomes my "main" system by dint of having everything else in the same place. My Samsung TV does have all the apps (and a few the PS5 doesn't) but I've been having tons of trouble with the Audio Return Channel to my surround receiver and getting anything but Stereo through it. I did some tests earlier today, though, and the problem seems to have gone away (at least with the SkyShowtime app, which is one of those missing from PS5) and I got full Atmos sound from it. This may herald in a new era where PS5 becomes relegated to "just" the gaming side of things. Either way, I won't have to watch everything on SkyShowtime through my browser anymore and that is a huuuuuge improvement

@MightyDemon82 I think maybe I managed to sort it earlier today, at least to satisfaction enough for my brain to acknowledge that using the standalone player is no hassle at all So, I think I'll start in on the first of the Godzilla discs as soon as I'm done with the final Lord of the Rings disc

@Tjuz I haven't seen the first one but I'd watch the second for Ariana Grande, you said it wraps up the first movie and that the first one was act 1. Does that mean they wrapped up the story completely or are they not done with the story? I'd most likely watch both back to back in the right order. Depending on when it hits the shelves or streaming services. Unlike The Hunger Games, I was an hour into the second disc until I realized they'd packaged them wrongly. I know someone on here was very excited to see it but I'm drawing a blank at trying to remember their name, they create art and have more Barbie games than I do.

@FuriousMachine if your 4k player has Dolby vision, i'd refuse to ever use the PS5 for anything other than gaming. I'm definitely "one of those dolby vision guys" now 🙈 it is a 4k player that you have unlocked, right or is that a seperate blu ray player? I may have got lost in your reply to Mr. Shoulder tbf.

Well, the excuses will soon be expired. Finish LotR and then you can move on to some more epically long epics! I'll probably be putting The Two Towers on at some point this week, too! And then it will be on to Return, also eventually.

I still love how the first extended edition prompts the disc swap after the best joke in the movie 😁 cracked me up both times watching the 4k. Epic inspiring speech... stupid hobbit with no attention span. Perfection!

I'm just going to slap this on at the end, but I realised I've never seen Sin City on an Oled so immediately looked for a 4k... nothing doing... but apparently the Blu ray is top quality anyway. And perhaps it was shot in a way that means a 4k scan might not add much anyway, hence there has been none.

Does anyone have the Blu-ray disc? Or has anyone seen it on OLED before? It feels like it would look superb.