Author Topic: Movies (Read 299474 times)

Sierra · « **Reply #2750 on:** November 02, 2016, 09:14:34 PM »

Hot Fuzz is quite possibly the most well-written comedy I've ever seen (and is absolutely in my top ten movies of any style). Rewatching is almost mandatory to pick up all the million or so callbacks the second half of the movie makes to the first half.

World's End has some great moments but does strike me as the least consistent of the group (for all that I probably still prefer it over Shaun of the Dead just from general distaste for zombie stories).

NotMiki · « **Reply #2751 on:** November 02, 2016, 10:28:36 PM »

^

Except I definitely like Shaun of the Dead better. I think Hot Fuzz is so transcendentally brilliant that it makes the other two look worse in comparison, frankly.

LordDirtyBrit · « **Reply #2752 on:** November 03, 2016, 01:15:24 AM »

Hot Fuzz is easily my favourite of the lot for the same reasons which Lemon stated. The reason why The World's End missed the mark for me was due to the rather rushed ending. During the first half, when The World's End was more of a relationship comedy than a take on the Sci-Fi genre, I honestly thought it would be able to top Hot Fuzz.

Hot Fuzz, although close, isn't my favourite comedy film though. That honour goes to The Big Lebowski.

MasterLemon · « **Reply #2753 on:** November 03, 2016, 10:58:57 AM »

Quote from: El Cideon on November 02, 2016, 09:14:34 PM

Hot Fuzz is quite possibly the most well-written comedy I've ever seen (and is absolutely in my top ten movies of any style). Rewatching is almost mandatory to pick up all the million or so callbacks the second half of the movie makes to the first half.

World's End has some great moments but does strike me as the least consistent of the group (for all that I probably still prefer it over Shaun of the Dead just from general distaste for zombie stories).

Don't get me wrong, The World's End is a decent movie. Even though you summed the film's biggest issue perfectly. The first two were consistent with their genres whereas The World's End brings in the Sci-Fi parts too late into the plot.

superaielman · « **Reply #2754 on:** November 03, 2016, 11:46:35 AM »

I'll second/third the Hot Fuzz>Shaun>World's End. World's end had a really weak ending. Shaun of the Dead is good fun but not a total masterpiece like Hot Fuzz was.

MasterLemon · « **Reply #2755 on:** November 03, 2016, 03:58:40 PM »

Hear, hear! It baffles me when environmental messages are shoved into movies; considering how technology is used to make them.

LordDirtyBrit · « **Reply #2756 on:** November 03, 2016, 05:39:41 PM »

I also felt that The World's End's ending was quite rushed. One second it was explaining the androids, then it was dedicated to the group escaping, and then we have the run-of-the-mill post apocalyptic future epilogue.

SnowFire · « **Reply #2757 on:** November 06, 2016, 01:47:16 AM »

Doctor Strange: Pretty good! I liked it. Worth seeing in 3D too, if you can.

For more nitpicky, vaguely spoilery comments...
* I like how confident they were in their movie that they spent so much setup time in House's normal life, then in Nepal, with no villainous interruption. I could easily see a version of this movie made in 2000-2005 chopping that all out and going straight to "I found a mystic artifact and am now awesome, next fight scene!"
* I get why they did it, but the Rachel McAdams character is a bit *too* forgiving IMO. I guess they didn't want to end that relationship on a downer and knew there wasn't room for her in the final showdown, but considering what a stupendous ass Strange is toward her, she rubber bands fast, even given a near-death experience no-regrets excuse.
* The Mirror World is introduced as a place to play with spells, but then later on, Mordo implies that their spells are useless, or don't work, or something? I was a little confused on that plot point. He could have just said that dark dimension powerz were totally amplified there or something to give an excuse for why they'd be at a disadvantage.
* I'm not surprised they didn't show the bad guy attack on Hong Kong, because it'd be expensive, not include Strange, and also probably make no sense. It's like 3 guys vs. 30! It'd be one thing if Dark Dimension powers made them invincible or something, but we've already seen that isn't true.
* I liked the final showdown! There's always some amount of "because the script said so" BS in a magic-heavy confrontation, but this felt like clever BS rather than by-fiat BS.
* The plot notes of this movie are suspicious similar to "Green Lantern", if you ignore that this was a way better movie. Arrogant guy gets superpowers... his boss(es) get owned... suspicious nonsensical stuff happening off-screen.. evil dark god enemy... his mentor & ally with a suspiciously sinister name has a post-credits scene of going bonkers....

Captain K · « **Reply #2758 on:** November 06, 2016, 03:30:26 PM »

Doctor Strange: I guess Marvel Cinematic Universe burnout finally hit me. There was nothing wrong with this movie, but it just left me feeling "meh" instead of wowed. It's smartly written for the most part, and the climax is extremely clever.

The good: Benedict Cumberbatch's American accent
The bad: "Sling Ring" That sounds like some crap J.K. Rowling would write.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2759 on:** November 06, 2016, 06:04:15 PM »

Quote from: Captain K on November 06, 2016, 03:30:26 PM

Doctor Strange: I guess Marvel Cinematic Universe burnout finally hit me. There was nothing wrong with this movie, but it just left me feeling "meh" instead of wowed. It's smartly written for the most part, and the climax is extremely clever.

Preeeeetty much how I felt after Civil War.

Lady Door · « **Reply #2760 on:** November 06, 2016, 06:44:37 PM »

I liked Doctor Strange better than just about any other movie in the MCU, even having seen almost every other movie in the series.

I was very satisfied with this movie. I didn't leave it feeling super hyped the way I did after the 2+ hour quip-fests that have become the series, but this movie was just so much ... better... as a movie that I am left liking it a lot more. This is also the first time I left thinking, "I'm glad they waited to make this movie." It needed a lot of advancements in cinematic trends (thank you, YouTube, for finger tutting) and technical capability (hi, Inception!) to show what it did.

Sherlock Holmes, master magician, would watch again.

(Did not see in 3D. Think I might actually feel sick/get a headache with this one in 3D.)

Shale · « **Reply #2761 on:** November 06, 2016, 10:34:41 PM »

I also liked Doctor Strange way more than I was expecting to, even despite Cumberbatch's atrocious American accent. I think I'm burned out strictly on Avengers movies, not Marvel movies, so that's nice (still haven't seen Civil War, and I'm okay with that).

Anyway, the movie was really well done visually and managed to do the CGIfest thing in a way that made the art direction stand out rather than swallowing it, which is sadly rare. (Oddly, the thing it comes closest to is the Devil may Cry reboot.) Also the story and set pieces were absolutely what I wanted to see from a Strange movie, rather than a standard action movie with magic instead of guns/power armor/thrown shields/etc. Especially the last fight and how it resolved. I'm looking forward to the sequel more than any (live action) superhero movie other than GOTG2, I think.

SnowFire · « **Reply #2762 on:** November 06, 2016, 11:22:03 PM »

Yeah, +1 to Shale on the final confrontation being pretty neat and not "Avengers but with magic." I should add that I have seen neither Avengers 2 nor Civil War yet, so hey, I'm doubly insulated from Marvel burnout!

I will say that to the extent they team up Strange with any other part of the MCU, Thor is probably the right choice. Strange's powers are *really* hax, mostly held back by ominous rumblings about "the bill coming due" for breaking the law of nature. That's not a very good fit for a plot involving, like, Captain America or Iron Man. He's probably best kept to his own movies, or else only interacting with characters who already screw around with multi-dimensional nonsense like Asgardians.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #2763 on:** November 07, 2016, 12:29:56 AM »

You know who tends to pair really well with Strange? Spider-Man. Make it happen, Marvel.

Super hyped about this movie and it needs to hurry up and be in Japan already.

LordDirtyBrit · « **Reply #2764 on:** November 09, 2016, 10:14:53 PM »

Jurassic Shark: I Hate Everything's Search for the Worst video influenced me to watch this one. I can see why this was considered the worst movie on IMDB at one point, it's as bad as you'd expect from a movie with that title. It's not even like The Room or Birdemic where there is some fun to be had from how misguided they were.

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut: Had this around so I decided to view it for a laugh. It's a short, but amusing film which doesn't entirely come off as an extended episode of the show. The longer running time allows for jokes to be worked into the running time and the songs never outstay their welcome.

Scar · « **Reply #2765 on:** November 11, 2016, 04:37:34 PM »

Marvel did good with Mr. Strange.

I feel like I should re-watch this film in 3D on shrooms.

Sierra · « **Reply #2766 on:** November 13, 2016, 01:37:37 AM »

Watched new Ghostbusters while at the parents' place today. Was decent, but more enjoyable when being a straight comedy than as a special effects extravaganza. Ditz Hemsworth was usually the highlight, but everyone was good.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #2767 on:** November 14, 2016, 02:17:18 AM »

Had some free time and managed to get ahold of Zootopia and Kubo and the Two Strings. These are quite possibly the best animated movies I've seen in forever. Bravo to both films for being more than a special effects extravaganza.

The Duck · « **Reply #2768 on:** November 15, 2016, 02:31:18 AM »

I watched Moonlight, Arrival, and Handmaiden (by the same dude as Oldboy and Stoker). All excellent, all worth watching, all to help escape some of the horseshit going on. Will probably write these up later.

Sierra · « **Reply #2769 on:** November 16, 2016, 01:11:22 AM »

Assault on Precinct 13: Interesting movie to watch in the context of a year punctuated by police shootings and protests. It opens with the police gunning down a small gang skulking through backstreets late at night. We don't have much context and it's hard to make any real judgment about what happened. Yes, one of the victims had a rifle, but the police also appear to have fired first. That's all the information we have and, probably significantly, that's about as much information as anyone else has.

It's nice not to see anything be over-dramatized in the manner of a modern thriller--all of the obscure actors turn in solid, professionally low-key performances, and the score doesn't butt in for effect more than it has to (I dig Carpenter's low-fi 70's synths, as always). The movie mines its fear from the breakdown of communication in society--once the mob is moved to anger, they operate more like the xenomorphs from Aliens than like rational human beings. This is an understandable perception for the people trapped inside the police station, who know nothing more than that a gang of strangers is trying to murder them for something they didn't personally do. The gang members rarely speak, they engage in sabotage offscreen that we only perceive through its deleterious effects upon the main characters, and they make direct appearances only in order to rocket into a hail of gunfire like rage-fueled kamikazes. Carpenter appears to have scouted out the bleakest corners of L.A. to shoot in--and suburban L.A. at that, there's no visual connection with the glitzy metropolis of your usual Hollywood production. We could be on another planet if not for the locational subtitles. I don't think we see any buildings higher than two stories, and everything but the police station itself seems to be in severe disrepair. I tend to think that Carpenter sympathizes with crumbling communities rather than demonizing them in the name of law and order, though (Escape From New York and They Live I think both make his skepticism of authority screamingly apparent). It's interesting to note that Carpenter deliberately made the gang pan-ethnic. For all that the gang looks a barely-human menace through the eyes of the staff (and prisoners) trapped in the police station, I think it's hard to seriously contend that Carpenter was really trying to condemn any one group of people. It reads more like a lamentation of what happens when civil discussion collapses.

I was really impressed by this considering it was a novice effort*. I enjoy Carpenter's movies when he's on his game. Too bad he hasn't been for like thirty years. I'm wondering now what it would be like to suddenly discover Big Trouble in Little China for the first time, as opposed to it being one of my favorite movies for basically my entire life. I guess I should actually watch Halloween one of these days.

(*Dark Star doesn't really count. It's hilarious, but it's only like forty minutes long, which is impressive enough for what's basically a studio-endorsed student film but not what you'd call feature film range.)

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2770 on:** November 16, 2016, 03:15:09 AM »

The first two Halloweens are good, serviceable slasher flicks. Halloween 3 is completely different. Very quality Carpenter but not at all a slasher movie.

If you haven't, also watch Prince of Darkness and especially In the Mouth of Madness. Good ol' Apocalypse Trilogy

Fenrir · « **Reply #2771 on:** November 16, 2016, 09:24:28 PM »

Miss Peregrine: This was allright. Decent Burton kid's movie, that got a bit boring at the end.
The lore was highly convoluted if you don't pay attention. I understood Inception but not this.

There was a real standout scene about the bad guys eating eyes, would probably be completely traumatizing for kids. The movie was almost worth seeing just for it, we were laughing like madmen.

I might be weird about Burton. I'd rank the Burton movies like this:
1) Sweeney Todd, oh man it is just the best and i can almost sing along the entire film
2) Big Fish, I cry everytime at the end
3) uuuuh sleepy hollow?
4) whatever I don't really care about the others

The Duck · « **Reply #2772 on:** November 16, 2016, 10:06:37 PM »

I think Tim Burton has only made like three good movies, the other one is Ed Wood.

Shale · « **Reply #2773 on:** November 17, 2016, 03:47:39 PM »

From what I can tell they kept the convoluted lore from the books and made up an entirely new layer of complicated lore (including the eye-eating) to put on top of that.

Cotigo · « **Reply #2774 on:** November 17, 2016, 04:40:04 PM »

I used to be really into Burton as a teenager but yeah as an adult there's not a whole lot of stuff he's made worth watching to me. But then again me and films, etc.

Here's a fun game. Take an existing intellectual property and decide which remake/sequel would be the worst in Burton's hands. (The best one I've come up with is Tim Burton Presents American History X)

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Author Topic: Movies (Read 299474 times)