Movies

[NotMiki]

Mr. Holmes: pretty good movie about Ian McKellen being oooooold Sherlock Holmes.  Went in expecting a detective movie, and it's not, really.  It's a movie about being a detective.  Specifically about being Sherlock Holmes.  And more specifically Sherlock Holmes living in the shadow of a fictional version of himself.  Great acting all around, but it unfolded in a very orthodox movie plot kind of way that was a bit unsatisfying.

[Fenrir]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation: I found it pretty good and standard. Well done, forgettable.
I did like the last one more. And John Wick / Mad Max, obviously.


I feel a rise in prominence of the main female character in these movies and that is pretty refreshing. Holywood is learning, only having a standard James Bond Girl would have made Mission Impossible feel outdated?

On the other hand, the token black guy did absolutely jack shit during the entire movie, just like in Jurassic World. He did survive though.

[The Duck]

Yeah, I'm kind of the opposite. I thought Ghost Protocol was good but ultimately forgettable, and that was with Brad Bird who I generally like. There are just more setpieces that are memorable, although some things in Rogue Nation are so stock and generic that it's annoying (everything to do with Alec Baldwin's side arc was really boring).

Rogue Nation still doesn't approach Mad Max (god Mad Max is so good) or John Wick, but there was a level of competence that just isn't there in a lot of Hollywood action films right now. It's just a solid film, and that's nice after this summer sucked so badly movie-wise.

Jack Reacher, which is the same director plus Tom Cruise, is similarly competent although it was more forgettable other than the opening scene and also Werner Herzog forcing a guy to chew his fingers off.

[Fenrir]

I only saw the last MI once at release, but I definitely remember four cool things: That opening segment with the Lost guy dying immediately, The tower climbing and fights, the sandstorm stuff, and the garage fight.

Rogue Protocol I'm already forgetting! The underwater segment was cool but Tom Cruise got superdumb.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Just remember any time he's on screen: Tom Cruise owns slaves that the Church of Scientology gave him.

[The Duck]

I am lightheaded from the wisdom tooth painkillers so I watched MAD MAX FURY ROAD again with some friends and I love it so much. There are few moments in cinema that make me so excited that I scream but introduction of the war party and the Doof Warrior is one of them. The movie is just so well shot, beautifully edited, and the action is so coherent and each action scene is incredibly well considered and choreographed, which sadly is a rarity nowadays. What I noticed this time around was the sound design, which usually just passes over me. The whole thing is just a spectacle that is completely unlike anything else that is out there, and the pacing is pretty much perfect.

I would be really happy if people started naming their daughters Furiosa instead of Bella/Katniss/whatever YA bullshit that is out there.

[Cotigo]

I would be really happy if people started naming their daughters Furiosa instead of Bella/Katniss/whatever YA bullshit that is out there.

While I agree that is a one way ticket to being called Furry-Osa on the playground

[Grefter]

Eh, that takes a better understanding of fetishes than catpiss or an abuse victim does.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Not if Obeme removes the Constitution so he can be president forever and he makes us all get jobs at the socialized gay marriage factory performing abortions, then they'll teach kids about furries in school and force them to have ritual sex as a tribute to Satan.

[Captain K]

^true, I heard it on Fox news

[superaielman]

The Departed- Pretty excellent. This was pretty paint by the numbers until a certain falling death about 2/3rds of the way through, and then it kicked into overdrive. I get why it won a bunch of awards when it came out.

[superaielman]

Another Martin Scorsese film!

The Wolf of Wall Street- Guh.  The Departed sucked me in and left me hooked; the wolf of wall street just left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  It suffered from two different problems. The first problem (and the smaller of the two) is that the film was way the fuck too long, it needed to be an hour shorter. The second is that the main character is so completely revolting on a moral level  that you can't help but hope the film ends with him ODing or getting shanked in prison. That is a pretty impressive feat, since it's based on a fucking autobiography.

[The Duck]

The Wolf of Wall Street- Guh.  The Departed sucked me in and left me hooked; the wolf of wall street just left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  It suffered from two different problems. The first problem (and the smaller of the two) is that the film was way the fuck too long, it needed to be an hour shorter. The second is that the main character is so completely revolting on a moral level  that you can't help but hope the film ends with him ODing or getting shanked in prison. That is a pretty impressive feat, since it's based on a fucking autobiography.

Well, looks like it had the intended effect on you, in contrast with a lot of people who looked at that depiction of Jordan Belfort and thought everything was glorious.

Phoenix - This is kind of an okay movie for most of the runtime that has a very strong ending. I don't know how to judge it. It starts off slowly and there is exposition that isn't entirely necessary and doesn't necessary build towards the end, but it comes together so beautifully in the final scene. It's one of the few things in movies that left my mouth agape at the end. Nina Hoss is a really brilliant actress, pretty perfectly conveying the consequences of what her character had gone through she  is a survivor of a concentration camp and clearly has PTSD. She slowly learns to become herself, so to speak, and it makes me interested in other collaborations between her and this director. With some judicious cuts I think it could have been great, but I quite liked it, although I don't know what to do sometimes about films whose quality is made primarily by the ending.

[Meeplelard]

Wait, there are people who think Wolf of Wall Street was GLORIFYING him?  I thought the whole point was that you're suppose to hate his success such that when everything explodes in his face at the end, you can't help but smile.

I guess the tone might imply otherwise, but that's the movie trying to be entertaining, and not just dull "let's put this guy down!"

[Grefter]

There is people that think Fight Club is about how cool fights are.

[NotMiki]

There is people that think Fight Club is about how cool fights are.

maybe they shouldna made the fights so cool. ever think of that?

[Grefter]

How many fights do you see in Fight Club?

[Cmdr_King]

Depends on if we count "I'm kicking my ass, YA MIND" doesn't it?

[Hunter Sopko]

Depends on if we count "I'm kicking my ass, YA MIND" doesn't it?

I dunno. If we counted that, then we have to count the similar scene in Liar, Liar.

[superaielman]

Well, looks like it had the intended effect on you, in contrast with a lot of people who looked at that depiction of Jordan Belfort and thought everything was glorious.

It was more than that. I've seen plenty of movies and shows with revolting main characters (Breaking bad!) that were great, this film fell very short of that. The main didn't feel charismatic at all to me, he felt like just another everyday thief. I thought the film was at it's best when it showed him for the loser that he was.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Finally saw Inside Out. Had to just be a terrible pirate because it is impossible to find in this country because apparently animated movies are for kids and kids can't read subtitles so suck it gaijin.

I bawled. Like constantly. From about the fifteen minute mark to the end. Just bawlfest. The metaphors are a bit on the nose but fuck it the feels are real.

Definitely my favorite Pixar thing since Wall-E.

[Fenrir]

I rewatched 12 monkeys for the first time in 10 years or so. It has aged a lot (Cinematography is very 90's with lots of smoke and unnatural colors) but it is way better than I remembered. I watched it while feeling catatonic from a bad cold and all the imagery and disgressions about insanity completely fucked me up.

Gilliam sure likes having a ton of random shit happening in the background just to make every scene look busy and kafkaesque.

[The Duck]

Twelve Monkeys really does hold up, although I agree that it's very much tied to its era. Gilliam has a great visual mind but at the same time is getting progressively worse with age. His last few have been very bad, although he's been sporadically productive.

[Sierra]

I remember liking it more than I expected too when I rewatched it after a long absence a couple years ago. Have not personally seen any of his movies more recent than Fear and Loathing, though (and glancing at IMDB there is at least one since that I'd not even remotely heard of). I am also really due a rewatch of Baron Munchausen.

I used Brazil as my model for Hell when my D&D group got there earlier this year.

[Fenrir]

Yeah I feel that Gilliam has Tim Burton syndrome. In fact I couldn't tell them apart before.

I cannot imagine a movie less pleasant to rewatch than Brazil (not that it's a bad thing)