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Author Topic: The Movie Discussion Thread!  (Read 128965 times)

nenjin

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1215 on: May 18, 2022, 09:29:22 am »

Watched Beyond The Black Rainbow.

I...had a time with it. I like the concept and some of the execution but it's an art house film for 85% of the movie.....

Then it hard brakes left into reality, and has an ending that made me laugh my ass off.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
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hector13

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1216 on: May 18, 2022, 01:28:46 pm »

What is Nick Cage in Pig? Anti-cage cage?
Cage Pig in the Big City

That’ll do Nick, that’ll do.
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Il Palazzo

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1217 on: June 08, 2022, 07:35:38 pm »

I'm watching something called 'RRR' on Netflix. It's a bit too much to take in in one sitting, but lord is it the silliest fun ever. An overmuscled heroic bromance made in India. It's all kinds of ridiculous. The sheer stoic, hairy, bulging hyper masculinity on display beats what Arnie and his gym friends did in Predator. The villainous British are beyond dastardly. The pathos is laid thick. The action scenes are both absurd and well-crafted. It's just so much fun I can't even.
It'd be great to watch with a bunch of friends, some drinking game, and lots of cheering. Or, indeed, in a crowded cinema with lots of popcorn.
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scriver

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1218 on: June 09, 2022, 03:57:23 am »

What is Nick Cage in Pig? Anti-cage cage?
Cage Pig in the Big City

That’ll do Nick, that’ll do.

Don't worry, LW

I remember
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Love, scriver~

nenjin

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1219 on: June 11, 2022, 11:46:23 pm »

Finally saw the new Dune. I enjoyed it. I think the Lynch version is the more interesting watch still, being weirder, more charming and handling the spirituality aspect in a less literal manner.

But I have to give props to the new Dune movie for the visuals, and the edgier, cleaner, darker take on Dune. The sense of scale really lent it self to this oppressive, dangerous dark future vibe. I particularly liked how the Voice was utilized in the ornithopter scene. In Lynch's Dune, it's this slow, resonating, melodic voice wielded pretty delicately. In the new Dune, the commands are quick, savage, snapped like a whip. Scarier for a completely different reason. I don't know if "Weirding Modules" will be in Part 2, but the way they've handled the Voice makes you believe it could be weaponized. I enjoyed Paul actually getting mad at his mom and her witch friends for playing god with him, that was kind of a real human reaction one probably would have, which wasn't something you often got in Lynch's starchy Dune. I also felt like "Spice" being a literal powdered substance sprinkled into the sand was an homage to the classic Dune RTS, which is my first recollection of it being depicted that way. I dunno why but when I saw that in the new Dune I got a genuine nostalgia hit of dopamine. I hope it was a nod.

I'm not so wild about how they communicate the plot of the books in some places however. Having Paul essentially just shout about the future conflict and see literal visions he interprets accurately in one scene rushes through it IMO, and misses the exploration and experience of it as it occurs over the books. Pauls journey in the first book is a mystic, spiritual and metaphysical one but I feel like they're plowing into and through those things. Paul talks about being Emperor in the new movie before he even talks about how they'll take revenge on the Harkenens or bring the galaxy to a halt by holding the spice hostage. They're rushing at some pivotal themes from the books, and between that and the prophetic/revelatory elements, I honestly feel like the Lynch movie, acid-trippy as it is, handled this more subtly, even if it did rush the ending and prematurely turn Paul into a god. In the new movie they tell Paul he's "the One" before they've even left Calaban, so we as the audience have no doubt that he's "the One." Doesn't matter that we might not know what that actually means, as long as we know it. Everyone's got a strategy to deal with the weight of Dune Lore hanging over the movie I suppose, but for what this movie spent its time on I felt like they could have done the prophecy elements with a little more subtlety, been more abstract and mysterious and taken a little more time with it.

That does a lot to set the tone and themes of the movie, and makes it very much feel like a modern movie in that regard, where "the Chosen one" trope is so entrenched people move past it and on to the rest of the movie too often. The books are about "the One", and both movies too, so I'm not complaining about the trope itself. It's just in the books the knowledge of it unfolds over the course of the story, blending into the political story of the first book and serving as a transition into the themes of the next books. In Lynch's Dune you get a sense of the unfolding plot around Paul hanging over the immediate plot of what's happening on Arakkis. (And then Act 3 covers like 5 years in montages *ahem*.) The new Dune is kind of jumping the shark IMO by taking him straight to the direct knowledge of what Paul Muadib becomes. If your character screams about armies of fanatics murdering in their name in one scene, and then in the next asserts that they should be the new Emperor...hrmmmmmmm....If Paul from Book 1 knew what Paul from Book 2 knew, they'd have just made a quiet life for themselves in the desert instead. New Dune's Paul apparently already knows where all this is headed already.

Not exactly sure I enjoyed newer Lady Jessica looking like she's about to have a breakdown at any moment either. Hard to compare her to Lynch's Lady Jessica, who just had so much poise all the time. The new Dune's Lady Jessica felt me feeling like I'm watching someone try to play nobility, whereas the other actress embodied it. The new actress definitely pulls off "Witchy" better than the other one though.

A couple more gripes I suppose. I did feel the tempo of the movie slow way down for the additional scenes with Duncan and Keyes. Some other scenes felt a bit drawn out too, like the Spice Harvester rescue. It was a visual feast but then all the action stops dead so Paul can have another literal vision and create a pretext for that "See how big the Worms are?" scene. I remember always feeling the tension of the scene in Lynch's Dune, and the pride of the moment when they sell the Duke caring more about people than Spice. It's a real ra ra ra moment with a nice Worm payoff. They were half way there in the new Dune, doing that ra ra ra moment, when they had to insert some more because drama and spectacle required it. Suddenly made the rush to get the guys off the harvester less urgent when the main character is now a football field away and needs to be rescued from a worm the size of 4 city square blocks. I also kinda laughed when Paul has a vision in the middle of a continent-spanning sand storm to just let go of the steering controls of his ornithopter and take a nap until it beeps at him. I dunno if that was an attempt at a quasi Star Wars "Use The Force Luke" moment, but it was weird and stretched the bounds of credulity.

All in all though I did enjoy it as a fan of Dune. Some stuff was hit and miss but I generally liked the characters and the way they were handled, and the visuals did a lot to carry the movie for me, even if the story adaptation didn't always. I will look forward to part 2 some day. 
« Last Edit: June 12, 2022, 02:34:21 am by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Cthulhu

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1220 on: June 12, 2022, 12:31:44 am »

The voice is great, though my favorite depiction is that first scene before the gom jabbar, the way it just cuts straight to him kneeling like the voice is slicing through the frontal lobe and yanking the brain stem, no conscious awareness of the action. 

I don't actually remember duncan's role much in the book, a lot of stuff I've forgotten over the years, read it like ten years ago.  I did think it gave him a little too much, the knife-fighting was a little too twirly for my taste, lacked some grit and ugliness but the visual image of the sardaukar silently floating down into the fight is great.  Also the scene with duncan flying around in the ornithopter, again a little too much big hero jason momoa stuff and also they forgot the laser-on-shield thing.
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nenjin

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1221 on: June 12, 2022, 02:38:51 am »

I could have taken of left the fighting TBH. Armor and costumes were cool, the action wasn't bad...but I felt it was at odds with the how shield combat is supposed to work. There ddin't seem to be much "slow blade" in how people fought. The color coded shields telling us and them what got through the shield was cool....but also a little gimmicky. Like when Paul and Gurney are sparring and he's like "I got you"....with his face underlit red from where Gurney is holding a knife to his bits. One would think it'd be a tactical disadvantage to telegraph to your enemy when they've gotten through your shield.

Anyways, minor complaint. Unlike Blade Runner 2049 I wasn't exhausted by the story or the relentless visual spectacle by the end. Which is good! But I feel about this movie much the way I did about BR2049 when I got around to it. Interesting world, great visuals, decent acting....but how the story was done didn't necessarily grab me.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Travis Bickle

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1222 on: July 24, 2022, 04:02:09 am »

Saw The Boondock Saints recently. It was a pretty good film with a lot of funny moment. I think my only real problem with the film is that it drops in quality more or less as soon as the filmmaker realized that he needed an actual ending to the film. After the confession scene is done it's pretty much downhill with the brothers finding out that this hitman working for the mafia is actually their father before they go to kill the mafia boss and deliver a speech after which the movie pretty much just stops. It didn't even have any sort of grand climactic shooting scene once both Smecker and Il Duce were on the brothers' side.

Might try to watch the sequel at some point. I don't imagine I'll enjoy it as much as the original, as is the case with most sequels. I don't believe that Willem Dafoe, who was a highlight of the original film, is even really in the sequel.
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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1223 on: July 24, 2022, 02:05:43 pm »

I'm watching something called 'RRR' on Netflix. It's a bit too much to take in in one sitting, but lord is it the silliest fun ever. An overmuscled heroic bromance made in India. It's all kinds of ridiculous. The sheer stoic, hairy, bulging hyper masculinity on display beats what Arnie and his gym friends did in Predator. The villainous British are beyond dastardly. The pathos is laid thick. The action scenes are both absurd and well-crafted. It's just so much fun I can't even.
It'd be great to watch with a bunch of friends, some drinking game, and lots of cheering. Or, indeed, in a crowded cinema with lots of popcorn.

I'm planning to see this too, soon. I've heard amazing things!
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Starver

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1224 on: August 10, 2022, 05:43:47 pm »

I really haven't seen many films at all, recently[1], but I did just have my first visit to a cinema in... 2¼ years? Someone I know wanted to see The Railway Children Return, and I was happy enough to accompany her (having the advantage of transport, and having actually been to the cinema myself at times within the last 20 years[2]).

Several thoughts, and one or two comments passed on.

Not sure how well it'll work outside the (nostalgic) UK audience. Makes several big digs at the 'Merkins and their various peculiarities, and I'd be interested to know if it has been seen and understood over in Leftpondia. If you don't know the original Railway Children, to which this is an incidental sequel (it establishes its continuity), that's one thing, but the "trousers/pants" lines may be the least awkward parts of that, given it (rightfully) points out both their tardiness and institutional racism . Much appreciated in my particular set of fellow audience-members, of course. ;)

No big surprises in the plot. Most plot-driving-points were fully telegraphed (one off-screen situation, excepting), details alone were a minor mystery. Did not spoil things too much, though as it is at times a tear-jerker, I actually found myself welling up in advance of the various emotional reveals, in some form of antipation. By the time the 'realisation' hit, I had peaked already, though I noticed that my (trope-naive?) accompanying guest was reaching for the tissues more at those later times. Having said that, I don't know how I'd do it better, especially as it's not my usual Big Screen fare.

Era-depiction (1944, late-war on the Home Front) seemed very good! Having an eyewitness to the era at hand, they seemed to do a good job with most things. One character's choice of clothing was queried ("girls didn't wear that kind of thing"), but it was a central character-trait for her and maybe just no girl known to this person did. Or it was a modernist nod (but no so lazy as to fold it into the other girl who dressed more normally but had learnt to behave unladylike... no complaints about that, and logical enough given the last year or three of her life).



Apart from the general plot-arc (reminiscent of the Children's Film Foundation œuvre, by the end, but I won't say why), it seemed to employ its fair share of idiot-balls along with its not infrequent canny character-insights. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded about that sort of thing. It did surprise me, though, when a couple of highly obvious Chekhov's Guns were left hanging on the wall (metaphorically), making me wonder if there were bits of the screenplay orphaned from the original need to have them. Not detracting. Perhaps made it better for my expectations to be played with.

I liked the actors (young and old). Courtney was a bit more doddery than I'd have liked (clearly a practiced intelligence within his character, but do people he liaises with (in-universe) appreciate that, or does he culture the misapprehension for killer diplomatic blows later? ...another possible Chekhovian weapon, perhaps), if it's not perhaps the veteran actor himself, though it works either way. Agutter is very much the lynchpin (on the adult side of the equation). Smith does it well enough (having first knowingly experienced her in Doctor Who audio episodes, I always expect her to talk to one or other of the Doctors (McGann, I think) when I hear her speak in any part...), though her character clearly cannot run a school, not knowing where her (literal, guest and/or scholarly) children are at various times. The youngsters are, IMO, flawless and a credit to whatever stage-school or local auditions (crowd-scene members) put them into their roles (CFF comment, aside). The military gentlemen are mostly anonymously blending in (with one notable exception, plus of course the other) in the manner of mooks and/or plot-fodder that you generally have no reason to care individually about (though I'm sure at least one White-Helmet must have been a notable character, in theory, I didn't catch or recognise any name involved).

The (real) scenery was a good find by the Location peeps. I don't know if all the green-covered stuff was all within shouting distance of the Keighley & Worth Valley corridor or not, but they certainly found enough bits of bygone landscape to steam through, trundle around or run across, and I certainly didn't notice any satellite dishes or contrails... ;)


Not really my thing, as I said, and I'm in no rush to see it again. But (despite what I might say, above) I would not discourage you from seeing it, if the opportunity arises (between Super Pets and whatever else you might want to see, or wait for it to be on the (comparatively) small screen in some form or another). I still wonder if it'll work in general for US audiences (some will hate it, others may overly appreciate its moralising commentary and not worry too much about the rest) and not all parts of The Rest Of The World will get it, probably, being just so much quitessentially British in many ways... It might take an anglophile to appreciate anything like I saw it being appreciated, but I can't speak for its curiosity value by those who may not even know the original[3].


(PS. "Bobbie"'s entire family's current surname is identical in both films, I'm fairly sure. That seems like two generations of daughters who passed on their maiden-names entirely intact to their offspring... Somehow/for some reason.)


[1] The nearest I seem to get are the small vignettes advertising a particular anti-zombie management/resource game, as ads viewed on my tablet, which seem to farm a central-casting of thousands to depict everything from parking disputes to slapping contests to love and/or marriage disputes in the light of how much easier it is to play the game having obtained a certain bonus character or three and inputting a promocode or two...

[2] Not an exageration. We went to see a new film together before, probably the last time she went there, and I checked its release date. 2002!

[3] No actual knowledge necessary, the connection between the two films is dealt with in a handful of lines, and is non-essential backstory. Though the strong but emotionally-reversed echo of the emotional end of the original in the emotional flashback/weird-dream-bit of this new one is clearly very much intended.
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Il Palazzo

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1225 on: August 24, 2022, 03:39:13 pm »

Yesterday I watched Kieślowski's A Short Film About Love. It's on youtube, if you care. Today I've realised the plot and themes can be very accurately summarised by the immortal words of the Poet: What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more.

What a weird film, though. Excellent, but dreary and odd.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1226 on: September 08, 2022, 05:35:13 pm »

Just saw Everything Everywhere at Once and I got to say it's pretty rate I find a 10/10 movie. Not a single complaint, criticism, or even nitpick. The entire thing is a creative joy executed perfectly. Basic premise is what if you had a Lovecraftian entity who existed everywhere in every dimension at once, and they had to deal with all the intergenerational pressures of being a 1st gen Chinese migrant failing at running a laundromat

Also
Spoiler: spoilers (click to show/hide)

Il Palazzo

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1227 on: September 08, 2022, 05:36:29 pm »

Is it streaming yet? Or did you watch it in a cinema?
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1228 on: September 08, 2022, 05:38:45 pm »

Is it streaming yet? Or did you watch it in a cinema?
Saw it on a streaming service at a friend's house
Not sure which one they used

Il Palazzo

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Re: The Movie Discussion Thread!
« Reply #1229 on: September 08, 2022, 05:39:20 pm »

Come on, dude. Which streaming service? (sorry, didn't see your ninja edit)

ed: Looks like Amazon Prime.

ed2: which I can't use because it's region restricted :/
« Last Edit: September 08, 2022, 05:47:09 pm by Il Palazzo »
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