Movies

[LordDirtyBrit]

I also found the CGI in the first film to be quite tacky. Apparently it was because the effects were included later when editing the film. While they aren't perfect; the CGI from the second film onwards is much better as, from what I've learnt, the effects were included early into editing which obviously meant they were able to spend more time towards making them look good.

In terms of directors, I found Alfonso Cuarón to be the best director for the series. I'm with Lemon and El Cideon on Columbus and Yates seemed to be way too focused towards teen drama from what I remember. I also found the cinematography in the Cuarón to be the most exciting.

[Captain K]

Mad Max Fury Road:  Why is this random-ass sequel to a decades-old franchise so good?  I mean, the story is nonexistent, but you do not want to take your eyes off the screen for a second in case you miss something.  Somehow a movie about deformed skinheads and fire belching and sand is the most artistic movie ever made.

[Grefter]

Because practical effects are great

[The Duck]

Because practical effects are great

This is the first thing I watch every morning because it makes me scream.

[LordDirtyBrit]

Finished watching the Harry Potter movies. All in all, none of them are what I would call masterpieces. But none of them are outright terrible either. The closest to bad was Half Blood Prince due to the hefty amount of teen drama and shoddy editing during the third act, but even it still had some fun parts (Broadbent was brilliant as Slughorn).

If I had to rank the films, my order would be:
3>8*>5>4>2>1>7>6

*8 refers to Deathly Hallows Part 2.

[dunie]

Suited - HBO doc. Held off, finally watched it. Friend is dating Mel. I bawled during the scene with the teenager, because for fucks sake can we have more humans like the grandmother who care positively about each other?

[LordDirtyBrit]

Pearl Harbour: Decided to watch this film as a joke on Valentine's Day in order to entertain some buddies on a Discord chat. This is my first time with a Michael Bay movie and I don't want to see anything else by this guy. The quality of this movie was summed up by this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z3GJiZqDCI

[Hunter Sopko]

Watch The Rock. That's about all the Michael Bay that's worth watching.

[Shale]

Lego Batman: Very enjoyable despite significant pacing issues. Everybody involved clearly had loads of fun making the movie - the performances are really great, it looks amazing and there's tons of in-jokes and background gags. It also uses the Lego license well in the same vein as The Lego Movie despite being confined to one setting, which was a surprise.

[Captain K]

A Tale of Tales:  What the flying fuck.

I kept watching this movie wondering what they were leading up to.  What's their endgame?  SPOILER:  Nothing.  Absolutely fucking nothing.  There's no resolution, no moral, no point whatsoever.  It's like the scriptwriter died halfway through the script and they just said "eh, film it anyway".

Seriously the most pointless thing I've ever watched.

[LordDirtyBrit]

Watch The Rock. That's about all the Michael Bay that's worth watching.

I'm aware it was the one film Michael Bay made which got anything close to good reception. I might pick it up if I ever see it.

[SnowFire]

Edge of Tomorrow - Apparently Google Play was renting movies for 1.49 and spamming my email, so sure, fine.  Although apparently they're now ashamed of the title so it's been retroactively retitled its tagline, Live Die Repeat Edgeoftomorrow  (no, really, the font is actually tiny on the "old" title).  Odd.

Anyway, it's pretty good, very much "video games the movie."  The one thing everyone agrees on is that somebody massively wimped out on the ending, makes about as much sense as Ocarina of Time's.  I checked the original Japanese light novel ending, and that one is ridiculous in a different way.  Much more stereotype of shonen anime, there.  (Apparently in it, Our Heroes realize that leaving both alive means there are TOO MANY TIME LOOPERS that will cause even their victory to reset, so they have to fight each other to see who will live.  Come on, just rip off Terminator 2 if you must do this kinda thing.)

[dunie]

Get Out. Went to see this. Theater in Atlanta - created a much less positive vibe than the celebratory white sadism of Django. That was so weird. I never thought I'd sit next to a white person who was clapping about white folk being brutalized until Django. So weird. The folk in the theater less happy.

Movie was okay. It's less of a horror than it is a suspense but I suppose there's some fine line there?

[The Duck]

Get Out. Went to see this. Theater in Atlanta - created a much less positive vibe than the celebratory white sadism of Django. That was so weird. I never thought I'd sit next to a white person who was clapping about white folk being brutalized until Django. So weird. The folk in the theater less happy.

Movie was okay. It's less of a horror than it is a suspense but I suppose there's some fine line there?

How did you think it worked as a racial commentary? There's a lot there but I didn't think it was quite as deep as others I'e read. Like, I think it's fairly upfront with what it's saying (most of my strongest reactions were from things like the microaggression montage rather than anything conventionally horrifying) and plot-wise, things escalate to the point where I think it loses the thread. I almost wish it had more of the polite white liberal bullshit since that's where most of the commentary was to me but things ramp up pretty quickly.

I thought it would be funnier (most of the humor is one character), but it is technically very strong (Peele's apparently a horror buff and it shows). I didn't love it like a lot of people do but it's worth seeing and in a theater setting with others.

[LordDirtyBrit]

Grown Ups: Continuing the theme of bad directors, I decided to see what an Adam Sandler movie was like. I found Grown Ups at a charity shop so I thought, why not? Grown Ups is easily one of my worst' Hollywood' movies of all time. The entire movie just seems like an excuse for Adam Sandler to go on holiday, the lack of an overall narrative and several scenes dedicated to him looking great (the water park and anything to do with his wife) are key examples of this. None of the jokes hit bullseyes as most of them are dedicated to milking each member of the main cast's one note (Kevin James is fat, David Spade is horny) and the others are based around weak and poorly delivered slapstick. I can safely say I'd never watch the sequel.

[Captain K]

Damn if you're going to go cold into Adam Sandler at least start with The Waterboy or Happy Gilmore or even Fifty First Dates.

[LordDirtyBrit]

Too late. I've seen Grown Ups and I want nothing more to do with this director/writer. I'm aware Sandler has been involved in the occasional decent film, but a film like Grown Ups leaves a bad impression. It's like playing Sonic 2k6 as your first Sonic game, chances are you won't want to play any more titles in the series regardless of their quality due to how bad that game was. That's my take on things anyway.

[The Duck]

There's a really funny podcast called The Worst Idea of All Time which involves two New Zealand comedians watching Grown Ups 2 every week for a year and talk about it, and it is so bad and miserable that you can hear the deterioration of their will to live as time goes on.

They then did the same thing with Sex in the City 2 and said it was worse.

[Shale]

I also saw Get Out, and thought it was really good. The racial politics are very on the nose, but in the current climate if you're going to err on one side or the other you go big. Beyond that it worked really well as a horror/comedy with the emphasis on horror; Peele's direction was great and the cast nailed the "creepily WASPy" vibe. Especially the scene with the cereal, holy crap,

[Grefter]

Wow, okay.   So like Grown Ups 1 was seen as a return to form and an Okay Movie tm when it came out.  Not amazing, but the first decent Sandler comedy in a long time (check Rotten tomatoes views from near release they are more middle of the road than later).   So that is rough, because the bottoms of that barrel is a long way off.

Punch Drunk love is unironically good though and Fofty First Dates apparently holds up though.

[Sierra]

But Punch Drunk Love is less an "Adam Sandler move" then just a good movie that coincidentally happens to have Adam Sandler in it. It's a disservice to conflate with anything that typically characterizes an Adam Sandler movie, excepting the basic physical presence of Adam Sandler.

[Grefter]

And he didn't write or direct Fifty First Dates, that's kinda the point.

[Hunter Sopko]

Yeah. The stretch of Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, and The Wedding Singer... these were all really strong and quotable comedies when they came out (And still are, though I'm not as enamoured with The Waterboy nowadays).  There was a REASON Adam Sandler was so well liked, aside from being good on SNL. 50 First Dates is okay, it kinda holds up but I liked it best the first time.

Punch Drunk Love is also unironically good.  Highly recommend it.

[LordDirtyBrit]

There's a really funny podcast called The Worst Idea of All Time which involves two New Zealand comedians watching Grown Ups 2 every week for a year and talk about it, and it is so bad and miserable that you can hear the deterioration of their will to live as time goes on.

They then did the same thing with Sex in the City 2 and said it was worse.

They were paid to do this right?

[Grefter]

In the same way any comedian with a podcast is.  Via crowd funding and exposure pretty much.

The best episodes are when one is touring on the other side of the world so the time zones are fucked and they are both so isolated.