Topic: The Movie Thread

@JohnnyShoulder
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I would have to shave off this beard, though, and that ain't happening

@FuriousMachine It's always a treat to see somebody praising Roger Moore's Bond, as he actually is my favourite (or at least one of 'em, alongside Pierce Brosnan). I get why people don't rank him as high, but I do see an increasing amount of comments like yours nowadays, where the hyperbole and instant dismissal is replaced by a good-humoured respect for what he (and the series) set out to achieve. I'm still hoping for that fancy 4K steelbook set, same as Sean Connery got last year. Any day now!

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@Tjuz So, here's the thing... while sure, I knew quite a bit about The Wizard of Oz thanks to its cultural status and thousands upon thousands of references in modern media, I'd never actually seen the original movie before last year, when my partner sat me down and said, "You should really watch this before Wicked comes out." And you're right to say "we all know" its story, because we do, it's ridiculous how almost every character, concept and heck, every line of dialogue has seeped into the public consciousness! But I think I might have been way more lost in Wicked: For Good if I hadn't been made to do my homework.

The first part, maybe less so. It stands by itself quite well, whereas For Good is where everything starts dancing on the head of a continuity pin. I can totally understand what happened to the person you watched it with, and don't blame her for getting confused (especially since there were a couple moments which demanded a little eye-rolling and a healthy suspension of disbelief, which I was happy to provide). Indeed, you can tell her that, even after I'd been brought up-to-speed, I still didn't spot a lot of the clues regarding who would eventually turn out to be who, so methinks we weren't supposed to!

But yeah, since I didn't have that lifelong attachment to Dorothy and her adventure, I was more than happy to be told a powerful tale about (as your friend rightly says) a friendship strong enough to endure the desperate hatred of a fascist regime. On that basis alone, I had a blast!

Given your reply, I take it that you really enjoyed both films? Had you ever seen the musical before?

@Werehog Yeah, I skipped the Sean Connery collection as it was a bit pricey and I wasn't that interested (might still pick up the non-steelbook collection on a sale, though), but a similar release for the Roger Moore movies will be more difficult to pass on... and considering my financials, they may feel free to take their sweet time with such a set

@Werehog Ah, I'm glad your partner sat you down for the Wizard of Oz beforehand. I probably should've done the same, but instead I just relied on the cultural osmosis to carry me, which worked fine in and of itself. I do think that the parts that intentionally tied into the original story were largely the worst. Maybe they would've hit better if I had seen the original film, but judging from what you said, it didn't make you roll your eyes any less. The whole Boq/Nessa storyline in particular I'd say was just actively bad, which I couldn't say about any point in the first act. I even rewatched that one in the cinema, which is something I almost never do. I couldn't go back for the second even if I appreciated it for what it did for the most part. It didn't help that none of the sequel's musical numbers were on the level of Popular, What Is This Feeling or Defying Gravity in my opinon, which alone make the first film endlessly watchable to me. I'd happily put it on right now if I had a good reason to!

So yeah, I really did enjoy both films. I hadn't seen the musical before. It only played in the Netherlands when I was but a young'un. I remember begging my mother to go to see Wicked back then, as I was incredibly fascinated by any stories with fairy-tale narratives, but she never took me. I think she probably thought I was too young to be in that type of audience! Ever since, I had been hoping for a film adaptation to eventually come and be good... and my payers were finally answered on that one. It was a long time coming and it didn't disappoint! Like I said before though, I'm a huge fan of musicals, so this type of story with musical elements felt like it was tailor-made for me. I've been lucky enough to see other live productions later in life, such as Sweeney Todd, but if Wicked would ever get another European production close to me, I'll be first in line to see the stage version in all its glory!

Off out this afternoon to go and see "Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. Looking forward to this. It looks right up my street.

@MightyDemon82 I echo the film title! I do like Sam Rockwell, and you don't see him in much these days.

@MightyDemon82 That one looks so awesome, but no word on any theatrical release over here yet. I fear it will skip theatres entirely here, which is truly a shame. Looking forward to hear what you think

kind of watching but listening to the movie for background noise is one of the Croods movie on SyFy on Hulu Live this morning

@JohnnyShoulder @FuriousMachine Just out from watching it and it was alot of fun. The final third of the film was absolutely bonkers and I loved it.

@MightyDemon82 Sounds awesome. I've heard it mentioned in the same breath as "Everything Everywhere All At Once", would you say the same kind of weirdness applies?

I saw Crime 101 at the cinema last night (I had to move some things around which landed "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" tomorrow and I decided to catch this one in the calendar void left behind )

It's a classic "cops and robbers" film, based on a novella by Don Winslow, starring Chris Hemsworth as a very put together thief who's also very not put together when it comes to human relationships and Mark Ruffalo as the "on the outs" cop who's the only one seeing that a string of robberies form a pattern that shows they are committed by one individual. Halle Berry and Barry Keoghan also stars as an insurance agent and a loose cannon thug, respectively.

First off, this movie has invited - and received - comparisons to Michael Mann's excellent "Heat" and those are comparisons this movie struggles hard to live up to. So, a classic along the lines of "Heat" this movie is not, but taken on its own merits, it is nonetheless a solid entry in a genre that seems to have been more or less dormant for a while. The movie itself references old Steve McQueen movies and it is clear that it wants to play in that same sandbox, which it does quite successfully.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with Ruffalo's character treading dangerously close to being a cliché, but Ruffalo manages to infuse him with enough charm to make him more relatable and not just a cardboard cut-out "down on his luck" cop. Hemsworth switches nicely between being razor sharp when he's on the job and almost bumbling when he's not and Berry is predictably compelling in the role of a career woman who realises she has been strung along by the boy's club in charge for most of her professional life. Her role is a bit slight and could have benefitted from more screen time, but she does excellent work with what is there. Keoghan is the MVP, though, portraying a character that is so unpredictable that whenever he's on the screen one truly feels uncertain about how things will play out.

Shout out to Jennifer Jason Leigh as well, who is thoroughly short changed with only one and a half scene in the entire movie. I can only hope the part was initially bigger but got trimmed for time or pacing or something like that.

Speaking of, the movie is over two hours long, but felt like it has an even longer cut lying around somewhere, hopefully shot and cut so it may one day be put together again. There are a lot of interesting character beats and interactions here that could absolutely be expanded upon in a longer cut. It would maybe throw off the pacing of the movie, which is fine but struggles a bit at times, so that may be the reason things are as they are, but I would be interested in seeing a longer version nonetheless.

All in all, it's a very good crime caper with some great character work, some solid action beats and a couple of truly tense scenes (a scene at a hotel serves up some excellent tension), driven by a cast that are very good at what they do.

Whoah, this one got long. Sorry 'bout that, I translated my original impressions posted on Facebook and felt like expanding on a few thoughts, so that turned into this wall of text

TL;DR: Good crime movie!

@FuriousMachine Definitely a similar type of weird. The main cast are all fantastic. I loved the couple played by Michael Pena and Zazi Beetz and i'll watch anything with Sam Rockwell, sadly he doesn't dance in this one but still has an energetic performance.

@MightyDemon82 I love Rockwell, he just brings so much to every role he plays! I saw a clip from this movie featuring Haley Lu Richardson's character and looks like she might be getting her big screen break with this one too. Can't wait to see it; one of the movies this spring I'm most excited for (along with "Project Hail Mary", which is based on one of my favourite sci-fi novels of recent years).

I just got back from seeing "Iron Lung" and oh boy... I will need some time to digest that one! (but I loved it).
I'll try to post some thoughts on that some time tomorrow, along with the Norwegian big-budget monster movie "Kraken", which I saw earlier today.
(I've been hindered from going to the cinema due to illness and various other fu**ery for the last three weeks, so I'm trying to catch all the ones I missed before their run ends - got "The Whole Bloody Affair" for tomorrow, "I Swear" on Monday and "Cold Storage" and "Send Help" on Wednesday)

@FuriousMachine The trailer for "Project Hail Mary" looked great. Saw that infront of the movie today. I haven't read anything by Andy Weir but I liked "The Martian" movie.

The only thing I know about "Iron Lung" is that the director is a YouTube. As soon as I read the word "Kraken" I went and watched the trailer. Hopefully that was good because I love my monster movies.

I'm glad your feeling better and able to get out and enjoy the movies on the big screen.

@FuriousMachine @MightyDemon82 Doesn't Iron Lung hold some kind of record for the most amount of blood in a movie or something? I keep seeing the director being mentioned like his is a big thing, but I've never heard of him before.

Been watching a lot of horror movies the past month.

I first watched Friday the 13th Part 2 and 3. I'm sad to say that these movies just didn't appeal to me at all. They haven't aged well in my opinion.

I then watched the three (American) The Ring movies. These were absolutely fantastic! I absolutely love the concept of watching a video and then having only one week to live. The time limit is definitely frightening.

After that I watched almost all of the Paranormal Activity movies, except for the first one. This is the best horror movie franchise I've watched, I even liked it more than Final Destination. The camera POV makes the movies feel real. Combining that with supernatural elements makes for genuinely terrifying moments.

Lastly, I just finished watching It. Lots of shock value in this one as well as plenty of iconic moments! The concept of having a clown that can perform deeds that only children can see is very interesting. Bill Skarsgard did the role of Pennywise splendidly, almost too well if you ask me. Makes you wonder if that was acting or if that was his real self, lol. The movie also gave me Stranger Things vibes and the fact that Finn Wolfhard was in it further added to that. Can't wait to start up Chapter Two tomorrow!

i noticed on Hulu that they now have the new Together horror movier. im surprised they already got that movie since the movie just came out in theaters like last month or whatever?

@FuriousMachine So I watched Bone Temple finally tonight and we were both confused by the ending with Cillian Murphy, my entire time-line for the series is now officially discombobulated. I thought he was one of the infected many movies ago, she did too. I really liked the Iron Maiden scene, I've seen them live and the Doctor upstaged them all with his portrayal of Old Nick. All I can think of is that there were multiple endings and we watched particular one were Cillian Murphy absolutely did die. I appreciated all of the Duran Duran too. I checked and there are three endings and we watched the one where he did turn infected.

@MightyDemon82 Thanks mate, this time of year wreaks havoc on my body and mind, so I've learned to float on the good times and keep my head down for the bad

I heartily recommend both "The Martian" and "Project Hail Mary" novels, they are excellent reads. "Artemis" was a bit of a disappointment compared to those, but still entertaining. Weir is easily one of my favourite authors at the moment.

"Kraken" wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Worth seeing (though be aware that there is also a Russian movie with the same name making the rounds; I have no idea how that one is). Will expound later.

@JohnnyShoulder @MightyDemon82 "Iron Lung" was indeed written by, directed by and starring the YouTuber "Markiplier" and I would say he did a surprisingly good job with all of that. I suspect he's one of those filmmakers who make good works because they know how to surround themselves with the right people (which is more or less what a good director will do). I don't know of any record, but there sure were plenty of blood (the movie takes place in a submersible traversing oceans of blood, after all).
It was definitely up there with the finales of the last two Evil Dead movies.

@GirlVersusGame I was unaware that the original had different endings. Interesting

@FuriousMachine At least three, I think we must have watched the director's cut and that then became what I knew as the overall official time-line of the series. She thought so too and even remembered things about the movie before Bone Temple that I didn't, it almost sounded like she'd watched it again without me or else her memory was on point and mine was lagging behind. You might have those alternative endings on a DVD or BluRay somewhere. It's possibly they shifted endings around like in The Mist, many people have only seen the happy ending of The Mist. Not the proper one, which I think was brilliant, the score too.

If you end up watching that ending I'd love to know what you think. It's by no means a short segment.