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What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
12 Dec 2017 17:45 #258993
by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
I didn't see the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie in the theater, but I heard great things about it from friends and the internet. When I saw the trailer for the GotG sequel, I thought it was hilarious. So I finally checked out the first one from the library, and was underwhelmed. I knew all the characters from the comics, and there were some smile-worthy moments, but I don't remember laughing even once. And the relentless action seemed more tedious than exciting. I was so disappointed that I didn't even want to see the sequel, especially after hearing it wasn't as good as the first one, which was meh.
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13 Dec 2017 11:30 #259027
by Sevej
Replied by Sevej on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Just got back from TLJ. It's good. A little bit slow in the 2nd quarter, bu the rest is amazing roller coaster ride with lots of surprises.
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15 Dec 2017 01:28 #259131
by Vlad
Replied by Vlad on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Re-watched The Hateful Eight. Although I love Tarantino, I didn't care much about it when I saw it first, but that was 9 months before the elections, my idea of this country and what's going on through people's minds was very different back then. Now, I really appreciated Tarantino's vision of racial/cultural/gender divide.
Starting with Walter Goggins angry: "I guess someone reads too many newspapers printed in Washington DC" (that was 9 months before "fake news", etc.!) to its (again, in hindsight) prophetic ending.
This film feels so fucking modern and poignant, and there's so much in it about people seriously hating each other based on their general principles and world views, and being so focused and blinded by their hatred that they are unable to see the real dangers of their situation - that, as it usually happens, has nothing to do with any big ideas.
Starting with Walter Goggins angry: "I guess someone reads too many newspapers printed in Washington DC" (that was 9 months before "fake news", etc.!) to its (again, in hindsight) prophetic ending.
This film feels so fucking modern and poignant, and there's so much in it about people seriously hating each other based on their general principles and world views, and being so focused and blinded by their hatred that they are unable to see the real dangers of their situation - that, as it usually happens, has nothing to do with any big ideas.
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15 Dec 2017 02:13 - 15 Dec 2017 02:15 #259133
by __
Hmm, I thought it was just OK, I mean its got some great action stuff in there but lots of stuff that is either stupid (I mean given the internal logic of what you're watching, making no sense) or just extraneous. As a result the film felt too long and bloated with unimportant stuff so then the really key moments actually didnt get enough time and felt rushed. I didnt feel like there were loads of amazing surprises, theres really only one moment that stands out, and I'm not sure they even pulled it off very well, it just felt way too rushed after that bit in terms of how that character developed again. Some of the scenes were cringeworthy bad in terms of not making any sense at all, I think thats a consquence of the big budget too much shit going on syndrome (like, the originals were limited in effects, locations, and characters, so the entire first movie was built around some small ships dodging through defenses to blow up a big death star, here, every single battle is bigger, and more mental than the death star battle but just feels cheap and stupid because all of a sudden it makes no sense.
Replied by __ on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Sevej wrote: Just got back from TLJ. It's good. A little bit slow in the 2nd quarter, bu the rest is amazing roller coaster ride with lots of surprises.
Hmm, I thought it was just OK, I mean its got some great action stuff in there but lots of stuff that is either stupid (I mean given the internal logic of what you're watching, making no sense) or just extraneous. As a result the film felt too long and bloated with unimportant stuff so then the really key moments actually didnt get enough time and felt rushed. I didnt feel like there were loads of amazing surprises, theres really only one moment that stands out, and I'm not sure they even pulled it off very well, it just felt way too rushed after that bit in terms of how that character developed again. Some of the scenes were cringeworthy bad in terms of not making any sense at all, I think thats a consquence of the big budget too much shit going on syndrome (like, the originals were limited in effects, locations, and characters, so the entire first movie was built around some small ships dodging through defenses to blow up a big death star, here, every single battle is bigger, and more mental than the death star battle but just feels cheap and stupid because all of a sudden it makes no sense.
Warning: Spoiler!
Imperial Fleet pulls up out of hyperspace, one guy in a little ship takes out all the huge guns on the big ship before they send out tie fighters. They have blasters that can blow up bases on planets, but forget about this later. They have some tracking device but cant keep up with the rebels in "non light speed mode" who can just "keep out of range" so the empire just chase them waiting for their petrol to run out. Later on, the woman stays on the big ship to "trick" the imperial "life form" detector into ignoring the cloaked transporters, they ignore this GIANT FUCKING SHIP while it swings round in space (shades of Karl Pilkington and his monkey in a banana controlled space ship, TURN LEFT!), they ignore its prep for light speed UNTIL THE POINT ITS AIMING RIGHT FOR THEM. and then it blows them up of course. Though weirdly enough, a LIGHT SPEED COLLISION doesnt destroy the ship enough so that Finn survives to have a fight with Phasma (who has no place in this movie). And why the casino bit and the dumb ass horse things was included i have no idea. Or Benicio del Toro. Or indeed the whole "lets call Maz on the Iphone and get a tip about a "codebreaker" on a planet near enough (I guess) to be able to get there, and get back to sneak on board and disable a tracker. Why the fuss about a red flower badge only to see some guy in a posh accent throw some dice. Or you know, you could just swing the ship round and light speed through the tracking ship like you do later in the movie. Dont worry, I know that all that random shit is just there so in future movies we can get the amazing "reveal" on those characters. Hint: nobody fucking cares.
so basically, all the interesting stuff, like the Rey-Kylo connection, Rey with Luke, Reys flirtation with the dark side, the confrontation with Snoke, the rapid switch back to Kylo being a bad guy, all of that gets a bit swamped by the stupid stuff that a) made no sense and b) was just pointless filler
oh and for gods sake they even included another 24 hour wow I just met you but now I love you so Ill just kill myself to stop you killing yourself, though you were about to blow up a deadly weapon, and now you didnt, and you dont have a ship but I guess you can just walk back to the base in time to escape or something. Also note to Finn, when flying towards a deadly beam weapon that melts your ship (shown), FLY OUT OF THE BEAM until the very last bit, and try NOT to fly into the beam instead, for some utterly bizarre reason.
Actually, in reflection, this film is full of fucking stupid, but yeah, it had some cool stuff in it so I guess it was OK. I feel like the "its full of surprises" angle is way overblown, and this film is in no way "as good as Empire Strikes back".
they could have made some great films if theyd focused on less characters, less locations, less extraneous stuff but maybe thats just big budget movies these days, or just lack of courage to make a film about one core idea instead of trying to link 87 different things and just forcing random stuff in there that just bloats and doesnt add anything. I'm happy to be in the minority, most people will probably love it. For me, the new sequels are "better than the prequels" but thats all I can say, and is hardly great praise.
oh, to be fair, its fantastic that Rey developed how she did, and it is great that they have a very charismatic female lead ready to take the story into the next episodes. I'm not one for political correctness and clumsy enforced diversity but I do think they did a great job making a universe with all kinds of races, genders and characters seamlessly together and with a strong and capable female lead without relying on her having to have a "love interest" in order to be justified
so basically, all the interesting stuff, like the Rey-Kylo connection, Rey with Luke, Reys flirtation with the dark side, the confrontation with Snoke, the rapid switch back to Kylo being a bad guy, all of that gets a bit swamped by the stupid stuff that a) made no sense and b) was just pointless filler
oh and for gods sake they even included another 24 hour wow I just met you but now I love you so Ill just kill myself to stop you killing yourself, though you were about to blow up a deadly weapon, and now you didnt, and you dont have a ship but I guess you can just walk back to the base in time to escape or something. Also note to Finn, when flying towards a deadly beam weapon that melts your ship (shown), FLY OUT OF THE BEAM until the very last bit, and try NOT to fly into the beam instead, for some utterly bizarre reason.
Actually, in reflection, this film is full of fucking stupid, but yeah, it had some cool stuff in it so I guess it was OK. I feel like the "its full of surprises" angle is way overblown, and this film is in no way "as good as Empire Strikes back".
they could have made some great films if theyd focused on less characters, less locations, less extraneous stuff but maybe thats just big budget movies these days, or just lack of courage to make a film about one core idea instead of trying to link 87 different things and just forcing random stuff in there that just bloats and doesnt add anything. I'm happy to be in the minority, most people will probably love it. For me, the new sequels are "better than the prequels" but thats all I can say, and is hardly great praise.
oh, to be fair, its fantastic that Rey developed how she did, and it is great that they have a very charismatic female lead ready to take the story into the next episodes. I'm not one for political correctness and clumsy enforced diversity but I do think they did a great job making a universe with all kinds of races, genders and characters seamlessly together and with a strong and capable female lead without relying on her having to have a "love interest" in order to be justified
Last edit: 15 Dec 2017 02:15 by __.
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15 Dec 2017 09:12 #259144
by Shellhead
I was a big Tarantino fan, but the last time that I enjoyed one of his movies was Death Proof. The Hateful Eight was okay, but felt long and might have benefited from a 75% reduction in the use of the N-word. I read somewhere that it was Tarantino's version of John Carpenter's version of The Thing. But your analysis offers an interesting perspective, so now I have two reasons to re-watch it. Will need to find a block of time when my girlfriend isn't home.
Replied by Shellhead on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Vlad wrote: Re-watched The Hateful Eight. Although I love Tarantino, I didn't care much about it when I saw it first, but that was 9 months before the elections, my idea of this country and what's going on through people's minds was very different back then. Now, I really appreciated Tarantino's vision of racial/cultural/gender divide.
Starting with Walter Goggins angry: "I guess someone reads too many newspapers printed in Washington DC" (that was 9 months before "fake news", etc.!) to its (again, in hindsight) prophetic ending.
This film feels so fucking modern and poignant, and there's so much in it about people seriously hating each other based on their general principles and world views, and being so focused and blinded by their hatred that they are unable to see the real dangers of their situation - that, as it usually happens, has nothing to do with any big ideas.
I was a big Tarantino fan, but the last time that I enjoyed one of his movies was Death Proof. The Hateful Eight was okay, but felt long and might have benefited from a 75% reduction in the use of the N-word. I read somewhere that it was Tarantino's version of John Carpenter's version of The Thing. But your analysis offers an interesting perspective, so now I have two reasons to re-watch it. Will need to find a block of time when my girlfriend isn't home.
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15 Dec 2017 09:59 #259150
by hotseatgames
Replied by hotseatgames on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
It's heavily influenced by The Thing. It's a good film, but honestly you are better served by just re-watching The Thing.
Which isn't a fair thing to say, since you could say that about almost any other movie.
Which isn't a fair thing to say, since you could say that about almost any other movie.
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15 Dec 2017 13:03 #259176
by Vlad
Replied by Vlad on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
It is very heavily influenced by The Thing, I think Tarantino said this himself. And, unlike The Thing, The Hateful Eight is really really long and takes a long time to get going. It is not a perfect movie by any means, nor one I'd want to re-watch on a constant basis (like Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill). Just saying there's more to it than I thought after the first viewing.
Another thing that I really liked is the feeling of cold this movie transmits. I think it is the best blizzard movie I've seen, if that's worth something.
Another thing that I really liked is the feeling of cold this movie transmits. I think it is the best blizzard movie I've seen, if that's worth something.
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15 Dec 2017 13:28 #259180
by Gregarius
Replied by Gregarius on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
I finally caught up with Hateful Eight for the first time last week. Didn't care for it. Tarantino is an infuriating director to me. He clearly has a lot of talent, both for directing and writing, but he's also so self-indulgent that each successive movie contains a lot more chaff than wheat. But man, when there is wheat, it's pretty damn good.
I saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri a couple of days ago. It's really, really good. It's a fairly heavy drama with only a few touches of humor, but it is filled with interesting twists and turns. The best thing I can say about it is that it doesn't shy away from asking big questions about anger, guilt, forgiveness, revenge, and all the choices we make in our lives, little and big. Go see it.
I saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri a couple of days ago. It's really, really good. It's a fairly heavy drama with only a few touches of humor, but it is filled with interesting twists and turns. The best thing I can say about it is that it doesn't shy away from asking big questions about anger, guilt, forgiveness, revenge, and all the choices we make in our lives, little and big. Go see it.
Warning: Spoiler!
The movie has an open ending. I tend to like these if they're done appropriately and with purpose (as it is here). However, the two ladies behind me did not agree: "What!? That's no way to end a movie!" "No it ain't!"
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15 Dec 2017 13:42 #259183
by Grudunza
They missed the whole point.
Replied by Grudunza on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Gregarius wrote:
Warning: Spoiler!The movie has an open ending. I tend to like these if they're done appropriately and with purpose (as it is here). However, the two ladies behind me did not agree: "What!? That's no way to end a movie!" "No it ain't!"
They missed the whole point.
Warning: Spoiler!
The character in the movie didn't get resolution, and neither do we.
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17 Dec 2017 21:10 #259238
by Black Barney
Replied by Black Barney on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Anyone catch FERDINAND yet? Thinking of taking Emily during holiday season. Looks decent. Obviously won’t top CoCo or anything but doesn’t look to be another Boss Baby
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18 Dec 2017 07:36 #259243
by Erik Twice
Replied by Erik Twice on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Roger Ebert once talked about a hypothetical film about a man falling down from a building in one of his reviews. This movie, he argued, would be utterly pointless: There can be no possible ending but the man splattering into the ground and no possible character development other than the man falling down.
Life is that movie. It's an Alien clone in which the alien, instead of being dangerous, simply cannot be destroyed. They shoot at it with a flame-thrower pointblank and it doesn't die. It goes out of the spaceship and keeps breathing. And its luck never runs out. It sneaks in in the last second, always, no matter how ludicrous or dumb it would be for it to survive.
In other words, it's that "man falling down" film. There's no possible development other than the characters dying and no possible ending other than the alien killing all or most of them.
One of the reasons I didn't like Alien was that characters were made to hold the idiot ball in order to advance the plot. Here, there's no need for them to make mistakes, they never had a chance. Their actions never mattered.
Life is that movie. It's an Alien clone in which the alien, instead of being dangerous, simply cannot be destroyed. They shoot at it with a flame-thrower pointblank and it doesn't die. It goes out of the spaceship and keeps breathing. And its luck never runs out. It sneaks in in the last second, always, no matter how ludicrous or dumb it would be for it to survive.
In other words, it's that "man falling down" film. There's no possible development other than the characters dying and no possible ending other than the alien killing all or most of them.
One of the reasons I didn't like Alien was that characters were made to hold the idiot ball in order to advance the plot. Here, there's no need for them to make mistakes, they never had a chance. Their actions never mattered.
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18 Dec 2017 07:43 #259244
by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
That's a good critique of that movie, I hadn't thought of that. I thought it was ok and didn't hate it. But it certainly didn't evoke much tension or excitement.
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18 Dec 2017 07:56 #259245
by hotseatgames
Replied by hotseatgames on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
I thought Life was okay, and quite tense in moments. I felt that a key event happening early on meant that the film meant business, and I'm also a big Jake G fan, so I was also more predisposed to liking it. But I agree, it's not the movie that it could have been.
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18 Dec 2017 09:28 #259251
by Shellhead
I think that you are forgetting that the crew of the Nostromo included an android who was specifically put on that ship to bring back an alien, and was very secretive about his mission. Ash lied about the signal and told the crew that it was a distress signal when it was actually a warning beacon. He also breached the quarantine to let the infected and exposed crew members back on board. He didn't program the auto-doc to save Kane, he used it to analyze and monitor the alien. And then he lied when he gave Kane a clean bill of health, leading to the spaghetti dinner incident. Aside from Ripley's suspicions, the crew was blindsided because they had no reason to think that one of their own would lie and betray them for the sake of an alien specimen.
Replied by Shellhead on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Erik Twice wrote: One of the reasons I didn't like Alien was that characters were made to hold the idiot ball in order to advance the plot. Here, there's no need for them to make mistakes, they never had a chance. Their actions never mattered.
I think that you are forgetting that the crew of the Nostromo included an android who was specifically put on that ship to bring back an alien, and was very secretive about his mission. Ash lied about the signal and told the crew that it was a distress signal when it was actually a warning beacon. He also breached the quarantine to let the infected and exposed crew members back on board. He didn't program the auto-doc to save Kane, he used it to analyze and monitor the alien. And then he lied when he gave Kane a clean bill of health, leading to the spaghetti dinner incident. Aside from Ripley's suspicions, the crew was blindsided because they had no reason to think that one of their own would lie and betray them for the sake of an alien specimen.
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18 Dec 2017 11:11 #259256
by Black Barney
Replied by Black Barney on topic What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
One Lieutenant Ripley managed to outwit an unkillable space beast too.
The reason LIFE sucked so bad is because there is no Lieutenant Ripley or ANYTHING close on board that space station. At one point some chick has the thing attached to her while doing a spacewalk. She could kick off the station and send them both into deep space or a nice warm re-entry. Either way, that's the end of the movie right there, a hero's death and crisis averted.
The reason LIFE sucked so bad is because there is no Lieutenant Ripley or ANYTHING close on board that space station. At one point some chick has the thing attached to her while doing a spacewalk. She could kick off the station and send them both into deep space or a nice warm re-entry. Either way, that's the end of the movie right there, a hero's death and crisis averted.
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