Author Topic: Movies (Read 308574 times)

Captain K · « **Reply #2700 on:** August 06, 2016, 08:17:27 PM »

Suicide Squad: not great, but decent. There's really no emotional investment at all for the first 2/3 of the movie, but the last third is pretty strong. Will Smith did a good job and so did Jay Hernandez.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #2701 on:** August 06, 2016, 11:47:26 PM »

Trip Report 4: Lost in Translation-

I love the opening. It sells the premise too well: human life is a series of rituals, and once you leave your comfort zone it's just a pile of contradictory nonsense that happens without meaningful pattern or context. Oh I guess we bow now, okay I need this message in an envelope, oh yes I am a giant in the land of the Lilliputians I cannot shower here.

And setting all that up makes the unlikely main plot make sense. Two lost souls living in a fish bowl, y'know? And for both of them that lack of context but continuation of ritual puts in question their own native rituals, so they anchor to each other. And together they make their own code of conduct to reassemble themselves in a way that worked in their new location. They've added a little piece of japan and each other to themselves.

Basically its an exercise in taking apart the basics of human interaction and blowing them up a bit so we can see how they fit together. Very cool.

The Duck · « **Reply #2702 on:** August 07, 2016, 03:02:34 AM »

Lost in Translation very much holds up and is in this tradition of Sophia Coppola and Spike Jonze basically directing movies at each other in terms of their relationship (Her is the next one). The one thing that makes me cringe is the "lip my stocking" scene.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #2703 on:** August 08, 2016, 04:50:06 AM »

Suicide Squad: Ash wanted to see it, so we saw it. There was a good movie in here somewhere, but it didn't make it out. Editing and pacing are an absolute mess. There is some good dialogue. Meh.

Captain K · « **Reply #2704 on:** August 08, 2016, 06:28:18 AM »

Yeah second DC movie in a row where editing is a major problem. Not as big a clusterfuck as BvS, but still a problem.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #2705 on:** August 10, 2016, 09:21:43 AM »

If your plan is to stop an Evil Superman, why are your two main people a guy with a gun and a 120-pound girl with a baseball bat?

Captain K · « **Reply #2706 on:** August 10, 2016, 11:59:07 AM »

Don't forget the guy who just throws boomerangs.

Shale · « **Reply #2707 on:** August 11, 2016, 06:28:30 PM »

Just boomerangs? Man, I knew they were going to cut out the best part of the comics.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #2708 on:** August 12, 2016, 10:07:53 PM »

Quote from: Captain K on August 10, 2016, 11:59:07 AM

Don't forget the guy who just throws boomerangs.

People thought Ant-Man was a dumb name and then DC was like "yo check out this guy: CAPTAIN BOOMERANG."

Captain K · « **Reply #2709 on:** August 12, 2016, 11:52:34 PM »

I mean I'm perfectly fine with a guy who just throws boomerangs, if he actually threw boomerangs. He does almost entirely nothing in the movie. And he's not the only one.

Deadshot: main character, good backstory, good acting, actually does something
Harley Quinn: main character, so-so backstory, decent acting*, actually does something
Diablo: minor character, good backstory, good acting, actually does something
Captain Boomerang: couldn't understand anything he said, does nothing
Killer Croc: couldn't understand anything he said, does nothing
Katana: couldn't understand anything she said, does nothing
Slipknot: Is Slipknot

*Margot Robbie has been largely praised for her portrayal, but she's pretty much copying Arleen Sorkin's version note-for-note. She doesn't bring anything new to the character other than looking good in hot pants. Not that that's a bad thing!

Sierra · « **Reply #2710 on:** August 13, 2016, 12:23:46 AM »

I have to ask whether Slipknot serves basically the same purpose here as in the comic. (Get his arm blown off because Captain Boomerang needed a guinea pig, and because John Ostrander hated Firestorm villains or something.)

Captain K · « **Reply #2711 on:** August 13, 2016, 02:51:08 AM »

See how tiny this text font is? It's still bigger than Slipknot's role in the movie. And it's not his arm that gets blown off!

superaielman · « **Reply #2712 on:** August 16, 2016, 12:58:02 AM »

Deadpool- It was fun. I find the character to largely be insufferable (I hate fourth wall breaking) but it was still amusing. Colossus did a fantastic job playing the straight man in the film, that I was not expecting.

Grefter · « **Reply #2713 on:** August 16, 2016, 01:46:08 AM »

Quote from: superaielman on August 16, 2016, 12:58:02 AM

Inam the literal human embodiment of Joy.

The only emotion I can feel is self loathing.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #2714 on:** August 20, 2016, 11:23:08 PM »

Trip Report 5- John Wick

Man the intro here is fantastic. Everything being so stripped down. The house set is shot simply, almost no dialog, just... watching Keanu sell the shit outta that barely functioning detachment from humanity. And then another 15 minutes of him inching his way back to life because this puppy will not let him just lie there and die.

What really makes the movie is once the action starts, it actually retains a lot of these elements. The set pieces are flashy with tons of judo flips and shit, but in a very minimalistic way. We have exactly enough information to appreciate exactly how devastatingly deadly Keanu is, and that there's really very little the mafia can do to keep him from killing them all.

The attention played to the gunplay is pretty great. I'll admit this is something I saw commented on when I was reading up on the movie later but damn. Put them down, headshot to be sure. Oh he's under cover, hit his foot to get him to jump, then headshot. Very nice.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #2715 on:** August 21, 2016, 05:02:02 AM »

Kubo and the Two Strings: Fucking great.

SnowFire · « **Reply #2716 on:** August 26, 2016, 02:21:04 AM »

Quote from: AndrewRogue on August 21, 2016, 05:02:02 AM

Kubo and the Two Strings: Fucking great.

Sierra · « **Reply #2717 on:** August 29, 2016, 08:26:44 PM »

Watched Terminator: Genisys while at the elder sibling's place over the weekend. This movie is continuity climbing up its own anus.

NotMiki · « **Reply #2718 on:** August 29, 2016, 09:04:49 PM »

Quote from: El Cideon on August 29, 2016, 08:26:44 PM

Terminator: Genisys is a Chuck Tingle novella but without the charm.

dunie · « **Reply #2719 on:** August 30, 2016, 05:06:54 PM »

flight movies back to the US:
The Boss: average comedy, some good lines (generally the raging feminist ones)
Keanu: average stupidity
Kung Fu Panda 3: meh, almost every comedic joke fell short of its punchline, female twirling Panda was p cool tho

Fenrir · « **Reply #2720 on:** August 30, 2016, 05:36:31 PM »

I saw a bunch of Wes Anderson movies. I think they get way better the second time you see them, as you stop caring about plot
Life Aquatic is still the best

Sierra · « **Reply #2721 on:** August 30, 2016, 05:48:26 PM »

I'd actually put Life Aquatic near the bottom of the pile. Not that this means it's bad (I don't think he's made a genuinely bad movie, although there's definitely a few that I'm markedly less fond of than the others.)

Grand Budapest Hotel > Royal Tenenbaums > everything else, for me.

Fenrir · « **Reply #2722 on:** August 30, 2016, 06:09:43 PM »

Life Aquatic is definitely his least focused movie, I believe it's a positive. I care about a small new neat different thing about it every time.

Also there are fight scenes

The Duck · « **Reply #2723 on:** August 30, 2016, 07:01:41 PM »

One of my favorite things is that the interns have to share a gun.

I've never gotten a good handle on the Darjeeling Limited outside of the scene where one of them says "if we weren't brothers, were we friends in real life." I also have a slight distaste for Rushmore because I can't stand Jason Schwartzman.

Grand Budapest Hotel > Royal Tenenbaums > Moonrise Kingdom > Life Aquatic > Fantastic Mr. Fox > Bottle Rocket (?) > Rushmore > Darjeeling Limited

I think? Grand Budapest sits better in my memory than it did coming out of the theater, funnily enough.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #2724 on:** August 30, 2016, 11:09:50 PM »

Jungle Book: This movie is far better than it has any right to be. I've not heard much about Disney's other "Live Action adaptations of animated classics" they seem to be spending all their time on lately, but if they're all as good as this, I may want to give them a try. Assuming they don't have more Bill Murray and Christopher Walken *cringe* singing....

Ghostbusters 2016: Another pleasant surprise. I actually really fucking love this movie. I recognize objectively that there are problems and some plot holes, but the movie is wonderful and energetic in the moment in a way I hadn't really felt since Avengers. Faaaar outstrips the original GB to me, especially having just recently rewatched that and cringing at all its eighties-ness. Yeah, I said it. Fight me.

Anyway, I would really like to see a sequel if only because the cast and chemistry was amazing. Hell, I'd be happy with just another "Saturday morning cartoon" version. Fun stuff all around, but apparently it didn't do so hot in the US, so I guess that's not happening?

News:

Author Topic: Movies (Read 308574 times)