Topic: The Movie Thread

Oh it's because I edited it, now it makes sense. I think I re-edited it maybe three times at different times of the day or night because PFW has my timing topsy turvy. Now I get why Ravix missed some notifications before. Super Ninja was great though, I told the guys I'm going to replace them with ninjas, not really but it's tempting. Alex Lou is an amazing martial artist, he's up there with Bruce Lee (honestly) His escape scene from the police station is so raw and well done, the whole movie has a layer of rawness to it that most movies of the same genre never touched and it just gets better when the five elemental ninjas show up and then he has to take them on too. Some of the small details really stand out like he un-rolls a small roll of felt and then runs across it silently, or the springboard he puts on the ground to bounce up onto the balcony, it's all clever and practical. It's ten times better than any CGI-fest, I still can't believe it was Kuo-Ren Wu's directorial debut. And as for Alex, That man is carved from wood and he's fast too.

The Shaolin Fox Conspiracy might be next. It's a Taiwanese Wuxia movie. Wuxia is known for blending a lot of fantasy elements with historical and cultural settings, they also add some supernatural fighting elements for good measure. It's a real niche brand of cinema with excellent cinematography, poetic tones and a strong focus on artistic form through combat and environment. Both Iron Monkey and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon count as Wuxia cinema. The Chinese government ended up banning the entire genre in the thirties, they said it promoted dangerous superstition, rebellion and anti-authoritarianism. Now it's just heavily censored and regulated, but the classics are attainable elsewhere. Some are even on Youtube, uncut too.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Furious was right, it must have been the re-edits throughout the day/night. It's a good series to put on any WishList. I saw it for the first time on TV at three in the morning, then fell asleep and wondered if what I'd seen actually happened or if it was a dream. Years later I found it was real and made sure to watch all of them. I haven't watched the TV series, it's supposed to be tamer but still good.

there's about 6 or 5 days left for the Very Brady Sequel movie to be on Tubi so i need to watch that movie before it leaves Tubi.

that and im busy with the 1980s James Bond movies on Netflix

@GirlVersusGame Owl was creepy in Blood and Honey II. as for Tigger, he only showed up near the end mostly at that rave massacre. i couldnt even tell him apart from Pooh since both of them have round ears and clothes on.

then the reveal at the end where Owl is using honey to revive and regenerate piglet and Pooh. thats totally weird and doesnt make sense even for the horror movie takes on the Winnie the Pooh characters.

the drawing artwork at the end show PInocchio, and bambi i assume? then some dude with a cape or soemthing

@seinfeldfanatic then the reveal at the end where Owl is using honey to revive and regenerate piglet and Pooh. thats totally weird and doesnt make sense even for the horror movie takes on the Winnie the Pooh characters.

• I thought the same thing, it's apparently so that they can return in the third movie. It's currently in pre-production and is due late May. The same actors are down on the casting sheets, I haven't seen much about the story other than 'they are back'. That was probably a reference to Pinocchio: Unstrung, also coming in May. Robert Englund (Freddy) plays Cricket.

Oppenheimer - great movie! I never really fancied it, which is the main reason that I’m only getting to it now I suppose. I love Nolan… but for the woo-woo thrillers with beautiful photography more than anything, which is why I was super-hyped for Tenet but not for this and Dunkirk. I eventually caught the latter… and liked it well enough but this was a truly great movie. Kinda felt like the perfect mash-up of A Beautiful Mind and The Insider… and maybe better than both.

edit. And I ended up thinking Tenet sucked btw

@graymamba I'm pretty much the same, though I did catch up with Dunkirk recently - it was fine, I guess? - but have yet to check out Tenet and Oppenheimer. The latter for the same reasons as you and the former because nobody seems to care much for it and I can't seem to muster the enthusiasm to pull the trigger on it. You definitely moved Oppenheimer a few notches up on my interest-o-meter, though

@FuriousMachine well I’ll be interested to hear what you think when you give it a go… just make sure you have 3 hours spare 😉

edit. Also, something I didn’t mention was the casting and performances. The whole cast… and there are many involved, are excellent. With Murphy the best that I’ve ever seen him… and maybe Downey Jr too. I’ve always rated RDJ and have liked many if his roles but as far as pure acting goes… this might be it for him.

@graymamba Right, three hours... I knew there was another reason why I was putting these off
Still, if it is good - and general consensus say that it is - the length won't be an issue, so I won't let that stop me.

@Bundersvessel Tenet was the first film that the missus and I ventured back out to the cinema to see post-covid… it felt a mess there too tbh. I then gave it another go a few months back as I really want to like it… but it still fell flat for some reason. I’m as bemused by the fact that I don’t like it as much as I am by its plot.

@Bundersvessel Inception was the last Nolan film I saw at the cinema; up until that one I had seen every one from Memento onward on the big screen. Not that it put me off his films or anything - "Inception" is one of my favourites - but the others didn't have the pull to get my butt to the theatre. I was going to see The Dark Knight Rises, but lukewarm reception made me postpone it too many times and suddenly it was too late.

Am I the only one here who actually likes Tenet?

Much like Interstellar and Inception, it requires repeated viewings. In fact, I watched Tenet at the cinema, twice within a week. Made far more sense the second time around. Perhaps it is too clever for its own good? My only real complaint about the film was that I found the music too loud. It truly was turned up to 11 in some places.

Inception and The Dark Knight are probably my favourite of Nolan’s movies so far.

Fascinated to see what he does with The Odyssey. Have a suspicion that it is going to be an amazing spectacle. That is the only thing so far this year that I am really desperate to see on the big screen.

@Matthewnh I’m sure you’re not the only one but the time/reverse-time plot-mechanic just didn’t work for me on both viewings… and it’s so intrinsic to the story, that it has to work for the viewer.

@Matthewnh @FuriousMachine @graymamba

I liked Tenet. But I know people who literally walked out of it. So it is definitely one of those 😬

I feel like it's a movie that you have to let it wash over you, accept anything and everything you are seeing as a spectacle and wait for the end to really decide on whether you liked it or if it makes sense to you. Sometimes that is hard for people to do, though, as they kind of need to work everything out in the moment or get a feel for where it is going earlier, or to trust in what they are seeing as making sense in that moment. So it is a tough one.

I feel like the reveal was epic, for me. But i'm definitely going to have to watch it again to remember why I liked it (probably due a Nolan marathon at some point)

I feel like Everything Everywhere All at Once is a similar movie in that regard, maybe? Some people definitely thought "this is stupid illogical garbage" (so walkouts or bail outs of watching or caring) but then they miss or don't care about the actual payoff by that point, when that might have changed their mind otherwise.

So yeah. If you aren't invested or accepting of the journey in Tenet by the end, you probably won't like it overall that much. But if you are invested or accepting of it... you stand a better chance of really liking it by the end. A weird one, for sure.

@Ravix It doesn’t bother me that other people like Tenet tbh… more than anything it bothers me that I don’t.

I loved Everything Everywhere All at Once as it goes.

@graymamba yeah, that's why I ponder it being one of those movies that can be difficult for people to like and maybe ways in which people may have a better chance with it. I think a lot of people felt the same as you about Tenet, though. I'm wondering whether to recommend it ti Furious. It is certainly a spectacle, but with potential to frustrate. I'm not even sure how much I like it, but I know I enjoyed it at the time and was satisfied enough by the ending.

EEAaO maybe has a more satisfying conclusion as it entirely subverts what the actual movie you just witnessed was (definitely one where the ending is absolutely vital to forming an opinion of the overall, and I can never forgive people walking out of that one 😅) whereas Tenet was maybe just satisfying on a different level, for me. I'm really going to have to rewatch it soon to see how I feel about it now as I really don't remember the actual specifics of the ending.

@graymamba @Ravix I felt a burning need to chime in and state that Everything Everywhere All at Once is easily one of my favourite movies of recent years and my shelves weep with the absence of a proper steelbook or collector's edition of that little gem. What a movie that is!

@FuriousMachine Gald to hear ‘The Bone Temple’ worked so well for you! I’ve been dying to talk about it with someone but it doesn’t seem like anyone’s gone to watch it 😬 Really hope we get that third entry.

I finally settled on ‘28 Years Later’ as my top film from last year, so I was pretty excited for this one. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of last year’s entry for me but it’s still an incredible film.

I agree that Ralph Fiennes’ performance is brilliant in this (which is saying something in a film chalk-full of them) but the unsung hero for me is Chi Lewis-Parry. This is a difficult role and he absolutely smashed it.

DaCosta really makes this her own and it’s all the better for it. As much as I love Boyle’s energy, I didn’t miss it here at all. This is a deftly directed, beautifully paced film in which DaCosta’s emotional curiosity is given room to breathe, all the while never leaving me in doubt that she’s in complete control. It’s a remarkable film, and together with last year’s instalment, two of the most fascinating films I’ve seen.

I know it’s only January but it will take something pretty special to dethrone it as my favourite of the year.

@graymba ‘Oppenheimer’ is amazing, isn’t it? Anyone who can make theoretical physics seem sexy deserves major kudos. I’m definitely looking forward to ‘The Odyssey.’

Felt like doubling up on some integrity after how much I enjoyed Oppenheimer this morning, so stuck The Insider on. Probably 25 years or so since I’ve seen it and it’s still excellent. Mann at that particular stretch of his career with Heat, The Insider and Collateral (my personal fave but I love all three) was at the top of the game.

@Metonymy yeah that’s a great point about making such a lofty, almost ethereal subject so engaging. Can’t wait for The Odyssey!

watched Very Brady Sequel on tubi last night. still a funny goofy movie especialyl with Tim Matheson in it where his character is trying to deal with the absurd stuff going on with the Bradys

watching Roger Moore James Bond 1983 movie on netflix along with Sean Connnery's Never say Never Again

@Metonymy As I understand it, writing on the third has started but I don't think it's greenlit by the studio yet. People staying away from "The Bone Temple" certainly doesn't help. "Avatar" did its part in steamrolling DaCosta's smaller film, but speculation online points to people not liking/being disappointed with "28 Years Later" last year as the main reason for the numbers being lower than expected. A shame, as both are stellar movies, in my opinion. "28 Years Later" was long in contention for the top spot on my list for last year as well (though I ultimately settled on "Weapons", "Frankenstein" and "Sinners" for my top three) and while I've only seen four movies at the cinema this year, two of them will most likely stay in the top spots for a long time (those two being "Bone Temple" and "Rental Family"). Great start for the year!