Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:41 am Post subject:
How about a MOVIE review thread of sorts?
Subject description: (I watch a lot of movies instead of tv)
I'm going to do recent movies, there's no sense arguing about classics... or things we've seen 17 times as reruns.
DO NOT WATCH LIST:
IO
Tau
Revenge
Wildling
Parts Per Billion
King of Theives
Bad Times At The El Royale
Patient Zero
Alpha
Ocean's 8
The Titan
Wraith
Scorched Earth
Crazy Lake
Wasteland
A Private War
Robinhood
Holiday
The Isle
WATCH IF BORED OR MASOCHISTIC:
Mortal Engines
The Meg
Black Panther
Replicas
The Last Jedi
Tomb Raider
Thoroughbreds
Halloween
First Man
Bandersnatch
Venom
Peppermint
The Predator
Bent
The Mummy
How It Ends
A Quiet Place
Rampage
Death Wish
Stephanie
Pacific Rim 2
Overlord
Get the Girl
WORTH WATCHING LIST:
The Babysitter
Annihilation
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Solo: A Star Wars Story
A Simple Favour
Hoaxed
Deadpool 2
Once Upon A Deadpool
Ant-man And The Wasp
Mile 22
The Equalizer 2
A Leaf Of Faith
Upgrade
Spinning Man
Ready Player One
Terminal
Batman Ninja
How To Talk To Girls At Parties
Red Sparrow
The Commuter
Caught
The Cloverfield Paradox
Spiderman: Into The Spider-verse
Avengers: Infinity War
Project Gutenberg
Ashes in the Snow
Aquaman
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai Last edited by G-E on Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:27 am; edited 2 times in total QUICK_EDIT
I don't see the Bumblebee or Dark Knight movies (that last one only for the Joker) on that list.
Do you even do movies?
Then there're the War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron movies.
And lastly, if you love good music and atmpsphere and/or proper fan contribution, there're the Bionicle movies: Mask of Light, Legends of Metru Nui, Web of Shadows, Island of Doom (aka Ignition 1), and Ignition 2. QUICK_EDIT
We need a new transformers movie. _________________ If you are a MetalHead (Heavy Metal Fan) and don't want to be a metalhead, Just remove your metal ball from your head. �:p .
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There's the Bumblebee movie (which I haven't watched yet) and the War for Cybertron movie and Fall of Cyberton movie.
No, i meant a remaster on transformers prime as a movie, it's my favorite series, sadly it ended in 2015. _________________ If you are a MetalHead (Heavy Metal Fan) and don't want to be a metalhead, Just remove your metal ball from your head. �:p .
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Haven't seen most of those, but would say I thought:
Tau was very good
Black Panther was excellent
The Cloverfield Paradox was only so-so
Solo was absolute garbage, The Last Jedi was a much more watchable movie
And a few others:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Excellent, and very thought-provoking
The Circle - Mostly good, but disappointing end
High-Rise - Pretty good, but got lost in some bad reviews that seemed to miss the point
Passengers - Just awful _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I think movies like Passengers and High-rise are very polarizing, they are decent, but kind of a slow-roll and not everyone likes that kind of thng.
My list was mainly my average impression of entertainment value, that's why I have the "watch if bored" category, good enough to sit through, but not good enough to get excited about.
I actually thought Venom was better than Black Panther, purely because it was far less predictable, had more humour in it, and didn't try to pretend it was an epic. The dialogue in BP was torture, the plot was nonsensical, and it more or less destroyed all the narratives about diversity and equality, since they were effectively a selfish isolationist ethno-state that engaged in global espionage. Besides which the characters all were assholes except the mountain gorilla guy, he was actually honorable. Several times in the movie it felt like I was watching a sci-fi version of Juice. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I was only posting 2018+ movies, I think going back farther stops being of use to most people.
Though if everyone wants to contribute their list of best/worst recent movies, that could help?
As far as your review of The Meg, I think it's more like a late 90's nostalgia type of movie. Feels like it was made at that time. Masochistic, no. QUICK_EDIT
I don't get why people enjoy the recent DC/Marvel superhero movies. They're obviously done on pure milking purposes. They're all the same, shallow and full of clichés and political correctness.
A recent good movie that comes to mind is Blade Runner 2049. It had a good cast, great visuals, and most importantly, the plot kept me interested all the way. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I don't get why people enjoy the recent DC/Marvel superhero movies. They're obviously done on pure milking purposes.
While true to some extent, the same can be said about most sequels/prequels in any genre including action.
Crimsonum wrote:
They're all the same, shallow and full of clichés and political correctness.
Most "blockbusters" are formulaic, because people are still moved by the same humanistic challenges, even if acted out by aliens or robots. As for PC, they really didn't used to be, it used to be like a joke inserted into a movie, only in the past 4-5yrs (outside of rom-coms) has it infected the actual storyline.
Crimsonum wrote:
A recent good movie that comes to mind is Blade Runner 2049. It had a good cast, great visuals, and most importantly, the plot kept me interested all the way.
Indeed that was a good flim, but like the latest Predators movies, it had many copied elements from earlier ones, pulling off such distinctiveness achieved mainly with side plots and a different point of view, was a big feat. It also leaves the door open to another sequel...
Star Wars Ep7 was better than it would have been purely because it hit all the nostalgic notes, like Bladerunner taking elements almost directly from older movies. Without those elements it would not nearly have been as interesting or entertaining to the fanbase, and maybe not even to new audiences.
I think there's another factor at play too, movies without supernatural or alien characters have to rely on predictable or known human dramas, like power struggle, sexual desire, betrayal etc. It's just as easy to make such dramas formulaic and mundane, failing to make a story about a fairly oridinary life seem enthralling. The non-human characters create believable discontinuity and genuine unpredictability, which means you don't need complicated twisting plots to keep people wanting to see more, yet it doesn't feel less complex either by doing so. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
A couple more good movie surprises: Glass, and The Head Hunter.
Glass wasn't so much a great movie, which I guess is inline with Unbreakable and Split, but it had several interesting twists, including the very end where the somewhat altruistic plan of the villain is revealed.
The Head Hunter reminded me a lot of the 13th Warrior and the Evil Dead films, it isn't a comedy, but it isn't too serious either. It really works because of how simplistic it is, with many scenes of stillness or suspense, seeing virtually none of the violence implied. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Just watched The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Terry Gilliams latest work. I definitely recommend it.
For those who don't know, Gilliam first tried to make a movie based on the Don Quixote story back in the early 90s but the movie was devastated during production, never making it to completion, and a documentary based on the disaster was released called Lost in La Mancha, which too is worth a watch. Now, he's finally done it, however it's not exactly the same film - instead it's developed into something that incorporates his film making struggles.
It follows a cocky young director making a feature film of Don Quixote based on a short film he'd made prior, but the production isn't meeting his expectations. Trying to rediscover the creative magic, he goes back to the local village where he shot the short and ends up meeting people who were in it, and sees how the village has changed. He finds the actor who played Don Quixote is still playing the character now, seemingly insane, and who then drags the director into a surreal journey that ultmately becomes a celebration of imagination in cinema.
As a fan of Gilliam's I'm so glad he made it, but it also feels quite sad as it seems almost like a parting gift to the art form. His entire career has been defined by struggling to get his imagination through the hollywood machine, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is almost like a summation of that, and by the end he passes on the torch to the next generation of film makers. QUICK_EDIT
So I've seen Avengers: Endgame. It was a bit slow in the beginning but it eventually caught on. This is a must see movie in the MCU.
I saw monday, I concur. It wasn't a great plot, but nothing terribly objectionable except perhaps Capt Amrika wielding Mjolnir, and fat Thor being almost useless at the final showdown, at least compared to his performance in Ragnarok. All in all, entertaining, not deep, not terribly complex, but well put together. I'm glad they minimized Capt Marvel, the way she sliced through Thanos' ship, she would have negated half of the fighting.
I also saw Cold Pursuit yesterday, a recent Liam Neeson movie, which was surprisingly good. It has a windy plot like something you'd get in a Guy Richie or Tarantino film, but slow and subtle. Only one scene bothered me, in the beginning of the adventure, Liam finds out his son died, and initially he shows no reaction, then suddenly he's drunk and suicidal. The combination of those back to back just seemed wrong. I had no complaints about the rest of the movie, it had a lot of interesting characters, entirely believable acting, short over-acting bits, and some unexpected humour.
Oh and I watched Escape Room over the weekend sometime, which I would say missed the mark for me. It was designed to be like a cross between The Cube and Saw, but PG. Some of the rooms were clever and there were some interesting scenes, but the more it dragged out, the more unbelievable stuff happened, until it turned into jumpscare/gotcha plot. It started out good enough to watch, but turned into a giant mehhhh... _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Good:
Once Upon a time in Hollywood
Kill the Irishman
John Wick 3 Parabellum
Joker
Terminator Dark Fate
Uncut Gems
Ford vs Ferrari
The Aeronauts
Freaks
Doctor Sleep
Fair:
Zombieland Double Tap
Escape Plan The Extractors
I watched a few decent flicks lately, all worth watching, so I figure some scores to relate their standings:
The Gentlemen - quite good, unusually happy ending for a Guy Ritchie film, the grand reveal just wasn't adequately foreshadowed
8.5/10
Clover - crime drama, similar to a Guy Ritchie film, but less nuanced, could have been funnier with better actors/director
7.5/10
Guns Akimbo - wasn't really expecting much, delivered more, similar to Mayhem and Ready Or Not which the same girl was in
7.5/10
The Irishman - for 3.3hrs I was expecting an epic, what I got was kinda dull with low effort acting, feels more like a documentary
7/10
Richard Jewell - for such a simple movie, and such a slow roll, it was very well done, it just lacked that special sauce to be great
8/10
Underwater - reminded me of The Sphere and Leviathan, my only complaint was the whole "humans are bad" guilt complex
8/10
Knives Out - a decent attempt at a humourous murder-mystery, the acting was better than the plot, most of it was predictable except the double twist at the end
7.5/10
The Room - a rather predictable end, and a real absence of good reasons made the ending seem forced, or tacked on rather than meaningful
7/10
I watched so many forgettable movies lately I don't even feel like listing them, uuuuggghhhh!
So why don't I mention this instead: I watched Zack Snyder's Justice League cut, and I can say it was at least 6.43 times better than the original release... for the simple fact that it actually made sense!
Watching the original was brutal, it was disjointed like it was made with jump cuts, entire scenes that would have explained following scenes were missing, so a viewer had to imagine what leads to that moment without so much as a clue. This new version gave the characters depth, you got a sense of the seriousness of things and you weren't left scratching your head wondering why a bunch of brooding men (and woman) were suddenly motivated to do anything. One prime example is cyborg's daddy is shown redeeming himself in his own way, giving that story arc of bad parenting meaning rather than being a plot device...
There were many subtle changes like making the film even more gray and less vivid than it already was, but all the action was about the same, though with the additional runtime there was a lot more of it. A lot of the really stupid scenes weren't so bad with a proper lead-in, and the inclution of Darkseid gave the movie a greater sense of scope, rather than some ornery horned dude throwing a tantrum.
If I were to give the original a scorecard I would have said 6/10 production quality as you'd expect, but 3.5/10 for execution, 2/10 for story, and 1/10 for directing. For the new one, I'd give it a solid 6.5/10 overall. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
OmegaBolt: I have not watched Moonlight, but I liked Mandy perhaps because I understood the whole Luciferian/Dante's Inferno ascention theme...
On to the reviews of sorts!
Terrible:
- Cosmic Sin
- Assault on VA 33
- Insight
- Enhanced
- Battle in Space: Armada Attacks
... more I can't remember
Mediocre:
- The Devil Below
- The Vault (aka Way Down)
- Rising Hawk
- Honest Thief
- Stakeout
Good/Entertaining:
- Cherry
- Boss Level
- Space Sweepers (KR)
- Synchronic (despite the subversive anti-white themes)
Also special mention to a movie slightly older than I want to keep this thread (2018+): Blame! from 2017. Japanese 3D anime, there doesn't seem to be an english dubbed version yet, but I understand it is just gaining popularity here in the west, just recently started playing on Netflix. It's quite good, gives off a lot of Matrix vibes. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I've already forgotten a number of movies I've watched lately, but I did finally get a chance to see Black Widow... and ughhh.
Ok so production quality was up to Marvel standards, but the damned feminist tropes permeated the movie excessively.
You have the broad themes:
- young girls being unwanted/superfluous/disposable, when the villain says they are an unlimited resource, although perhaps this is more reflective of Hollywood itself
- the male villain oppressing the young aspiring women, preventing them from achieving their own dreams, because naturally women would be building skyscrapers and working on oil rigs if they could
- manipulation/gaslighting by a male benefactor, you could even say he's guilty of mansplaining
- "girl power" themes throughout, including the assassin enemy of Natasha's also being a woman
- the bully theme is also fleshed out with the villain being an old man who is also weak, showing that once you stand up to a bully they aren't really powerful, it's all just an illusion
- the "men aren't shit" aka "women don't need men" theme is also covered, Natasha's fixer friend is a total simp, probably frightened of a balloon popping, the fake dad is presented as a brutish moron with no tact, aaaand there's basically no other men besides the villain, so the three archetypes of men not worthy of respect
They have some lines sprinkled throughout the movie which support these tropes, while some are presented more overtly as comic relief. I know I'm not the only one sick of hearing/seeing that shit, and if they go down this path much longer, they'll find they've alienated their audience just like Star Wars. The purple-haired feminists are a very small fraction of the audience, and it doesn't make sense to pander to them economically or socially. It also certainly doesn't help people get along, if fundamentally men are viewed with suspicion, but also not afforded any respect to begin with.
To be fair it isn't nearly as bad as Captain Marvel, a character who is implied to be oppressed in literally every scene. I once joked that Captain Marvel is just a movie of Carol Danvers standing up from a kneeling position a bunch of times, with some special effects thrown in. It really had no emotional depth beyond that. You were just supposed to accept that she's oppressed when someone disagrees with her, and she's the bravest woman in the world for learning to be more assertive.
I know this is more of a rant than my usual review, but it's just another example of ideology and movie experimentation that doesn't belong in a blockbuster franchise. That's what indie films are for... _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
G-E, what you described could be explained shortly as ,,GET WOKE GO BROKE"
What disgusts me is that they managed to degenerate women in those movies. back then you had strong, powerfull women in many classic movies, see Sarah Connor for example in 86 and 92 Terminator.
In matter of fact, that movie explains what is wrong just when you compare two movies: In old Terminator you had strong woman fighting villian, and that villian looks like tough guy, muscular in black leather jacket, holding shotgun and riding motorcycle. Now, in last terminator movie, you have woman looking like emos/ladyboy or something fighting villian who looks like schoolboy beaten by schoolgirls! Enoguh said! next time I want to see villian who looks like Mark Zuckenberg hahahahaha!
Anyway, about movies. I watched several of them lately:
- Fast 9 - that latest Fand and Furious. Crap movie, do not waste time on it. Last invention, Vin Diesel fighting 1 alone 10 men in same time! and no scratch. he is superman now. 1/10
- Jungle Cruise - just released recently, watched it in cinema. Not bad movie, In Disney style. Nice jungle effects, I am impressed by how tribe looks. And nice story, unpredictable. But still, no heavier content, since it is Disney... 7/10
- Old - Just watched it in the cinema a few days ago as well. Nice horror movie with decent story. Location in tropical area, suitable for summer. It had its moments. 7/10 as well.
- Exterminate All The Brutes - This TV mini series is just about racial extermination of some people, nations and such... it begins from colonialistic time until recent. It had 4 episodes, one hour per episode. Not bad as well. 8/10 _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
No, it is not, it officially failed and shortly after release Tim miller accused James Cameron that it was his idea to kill John Connor in the movie, because fans mostly negatively reacted to it. They did not want him killed. I did not want as well. But Miller and Cameroon had arguings over that, and we could see that this movie went to hell already.
Not just as movie, it also failed as business, it was box office bomb. It costed $185 million to produce and millions more to market. I think around 260 million $ it earned. For example, Joker crossed the $900 million mark globally over the weekend. And temrinator lost 120 million over the weekend than expected. One of the biggest failures. _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
Old but... could you explain how this is "good"? As in a worthy sequel to T1 and T2? Really?
My reviews focus on entertainment value, as a standalone movie it's fine. In comparison to the others, it does let the franchise down, but then so did T3 even more.
T4 with Christian Bale was also a decent standalone movie, though it totally broke the meta. I can understand they would try to make a stopgap man-machine instead of a machine-man, but there's already an explanation for that in T1, with early Terminators being unconvincing robots, and a lot wrong with the process/movie reconning that. We could even argue they blow up a mini-nuke inside the lab where this metal boned man, regardless of his upgrades, his fleshy bits would have been vaporized.
If I made this thread reviewing each movie in terms of content, or acting ability, or even the various brainwashing agendas at play, it would cease to describe their primary feature: watchability. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Oh by the way, the last Terminator movie has one awesome thing which greatly annoyed fans, when Terminator is raising his own family because he ,,chosed so". he found bullied woman with a baby and could ,,CHANGE PAMPERS" and listen to woman actually... And she stayed with him for years! Can you imagine this into TERMINATOR MOVIE? badass villain in black leather jacket in bike wearing shotgun now changing pampers to babies! _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
Alright, again I feel I have to write a longer blurb for this one... I watched The Green Knight.
Ugh.... that's my reaction.
It was well shot, the acting was pretty good, but it was irritating.
This is a knights of Camelot story, and even the king makes references to Anglo-Saxon brothers and sisters, of which he is one. Yet, somehow his SISTER is a pajeet? Not just that, but she has 4 maids who are also brownies, as is Sir Garwin, the protagonist. So here we are starting with a tale, where half the people you see are Indian, in medieval England.
More to the point they are integral to the story, like Sir Garwin's mother, the king's sister, also belongs to some secret witches coven, and funny enough they are brown too! The peasant girl he's screwing around with is white of course, as are all the other knights who have no actual effect on the story, so there's no actual explanation as to how this diversity snuck in, which itself is also irritating.
There's also a dream sequence whereby Sir Pajeet has a baby with the peasant, and another baby with an arranged marriage to a pasty white princess, and both the kids turn out DARK. Not even like a mixed-white you could mistake, everything keeps going back to over the top Indian-ness. It's almost like they are rubbing your nose in it, and when you pull away, they rub a fresh one in your face.
This is the state of movies today, they are rewriting white people out of their own history. They are cynically making people black or brown without giving them new characters, just skin transplants, the people depicted should feel the shame of their essence being reduced to skintone.
I'm not saying they were bad actors, I'm not saying they had poor screen presence, or bad mannerisms, quite the opposite, but that's my point. They are hollow, worthless substitutions that shouldn't please anyone. They are embodiments of the anti-white thread running through Hollywood, nothing more. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I watched recently that famous ,,The Green Knight". Well, that movie is specific indeed. Not bad to watch it is interesting. It is really interesting in some parts, although somehow unfinished at the end and weird.
I watched ,,The Wretched", it is a decent movie with witch. It is not boring after all.
Few night ago I watched ,,What Lies Below". Shitty movie. Mother and daughter visits house on lake, and there is mother's boyfriend. he supposed to be some alien or leech man and hunts them. A silly movie, do not waste your time on it.
I also watched recently ,,Gaia" movie. It is also somewhat specific, not bad, but do not expect much from it. Almost whole movie is located in the nature, and related to it.
I also watched ,,The Wrong Turn" 2021. Nothing special. Regular Wrong Turn movies are when mutants hunt people. This time around, some weird community members are hunting them. Oh, there is also ,,modern agenda" as seen in movies with gays, and white people being ,,weird" and psychos and what else. You will see lot of that in movie. Of course ,,strong female" is victorious here.
By the way, speaking of ,,modern agenda" in movies.. G-E, man I have some perfect movies for you to watch! One movie released this year into three parts. There are tons of those ,,woketards" how you prefer to call them. Movie is ,,fear Street" and there is part one, part two and part three, all three in different ages, from the middle age of witch-hunting to the modern times. There are lot of lesbian sex and stuff haha! Oh, G-E, you must watch part three! You have never seen these ideas. They nailed it. You want me to put in spoilers tag? _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
I watched Dune last night, I wish they didn't make so many scenes so terse, a few extra minutes to soak in the visuals or the gravity of the situation would have helped a lot. The graphics were excellent as you'd expect, and the general cinematography was good, including how interior vs exterior scenes were shot. The scale of Dune was fairly represented, with wide corridors and giant rooms, but it was unfortuate that we never got to see any of the capitol city aside from the industrial rooftops.
There's not a lot of dialogue in the movie, so the visuals do most of the talking. I found it understandable when they added explanatory dialogue, but it was an odd contrast when they muttered oneliners straight from the book, often by the wrong characters or at weird moments.
Which brings us to Liet Kynes, one of the race+gender swapped characters in the movie, who was supposed to be the father of Chani. By doing the swap, they negate one more synchronic connection between characters. Maybe not an important one, but it would add a little clarity as to why Chani is so pragmatically neutral to begin with, like her father.
They did up the technology levels we saw in previous iterations of the films/shows, not just in the fact that we have real flapping ornithopters! The weapons used by the Harkonnens during the attack were creative and believable, we see the related technology used elsewhere too, which adds continuity in a subtle way. Other details that seemed absent from prior attempts are things like glow-globes, and that was an oversight I never understood. Denis is clearly a fan.
The movie ends at the point where Paul and Jessica are about to be accepted into Sietch Tabr, and provides a good demarcation between the two movies, though I have to say it was a very anti-climactic ending.... they all just walk off into the sunset. It could easily have been 20min longer without feeling excessive, and I expect there's going to be extended cuts of both. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I watched Dune last night, I wish they didn't make so many scenes so terse, a few extra minutes to soak in the visuals or the gravity of the situation would have helped a lot. The graphics were excellent as you'd expect, and the general cinematography was good, including how interior vs exterior scenes were shot. The scale of Dune was fairly represented, with wide corridors and giant rooms, but it was unfortuate that we never got to see any of the capitol city aside from the industrial rooftops.
There's not a lot of dialogue in the movie, so the visuals do most of the talking. I found it understandable when they added explanatory dialogue, but it was an odd contrast when they muttered oneliners straight from the book, often by the wrong characters or at weird moments.
Which brings us to Liet Kynes, one of the race+gender swapped characters in the movie, who was supposed to be the father of Chani. By doing the swap, they negate one more synchronic connection between characters. Maybe not an important one, but it would add a little clarity as to why Chani is so pragmatically neutral to begin with, like her father.
They did up the technology levels we saw in previous iterations of the films/shows, not just in the fact that we have real flapping ornithopters! The weapons used by the Harkonnens during the attack were creative and believable, we see the related technology used elsewhere too, which adds continuity in a subtle way. Other details that seemed absent from prior attempts are things like glow-globes, and that was an oversight I never understood. Denis is clearly a fan.
The movie ends at the point where Paul and Jessica are about to be accepted into Sietch Tabr, and provides a good demarcation between the two movies, though I have to say it was a very anti-climactic ending.... they all just walk off into the sunset. It could easily have been 20min longer without feeling excessive, and I expect there's going to be extended cuts of both. Some scenes I would change with this
Dune is gorgeous, indeed. I am glad that the same director is going to make the sequel. Can't wait.
Stumbled upon the Phone Booth with Colin Farrell the other day. A really great film with zero CGI or stunts. But still is engrossing thanks to interesting plot twists. highly recommend QUICK_EDIT
Honestly didn't think the new Dune was a great adaptation.
The characters were completely uncharismatic. The Atreides felt as cold as the Harkonnen, didn't feel any love between the family etc, unlike in the book. Gurney seemed like an asshole, despite being described as "a romantic", Duncan is just annoyingly blokey. The Baron was boring, didn't have the manic obsession like he does in the book. You don't really see how the Harkonnen function on fear, ambition and manipulation, in contrast to the Atreides.
I don't know why they cut Feyd Rautha, easily the more interesting of the two Harkonnen nephews - kind of an evil parallel of Paul. Is he just gonna fight Rabban at the end now?
The mentats are basically non-existant and I don't think it explains what they are. Their design with the black lip square thing is dull compared to the book. Thufir has no presence, are we gonna care about him at the end? Also Paul was trained as a mentat, but that's completely ignored. Piter de Vries is background, despite being a fun character.
Spice barely played a role. Think there's like one line that says "its important to space travel", "it extends life" but that's about it besides Paul getting high from a bit of dust. I don't even remember them even explaining why the Fremen have blue eyes honestly.
Stilgar felt weirdly comical even though the rest of the movie was trying so hard to be serious. I honestly wish it was a more fun film, considering some of the concepts are and the "chosen one" stuff they focused on is very cheesy. His first scene was probably the most engaging scene in the film just because Havier Bardem isn't a wooden plank.
Design wise it looked like Halo or something, which IMO betrays what makes Dune cool: that it's basically a medievalish/rennaissance like setting with space travel and nukes.
Even the worm presence is pretty bad honestly, could've been so much cooler.
Basically think they failed to capture what's interesting about the book. It just turned into a "chosen one" story, but didn't get in the awesome concepts like space travel through hideously mutated psychics, the way the feudal empire works, the plans within plans, the eugenics, the Fremen dream to terraform the planet which would destroy the empire, the fear of leading universal jihad, humanity vs barbarism. They ignored all the "histories" bits too, which give you a lot of important background and could've been incorporated somehow.
What saddens me the most is that it didn't do this stuff, yet also managed to only tell half the story in 2hrs 35mins. I dunno what they were doing for all that time. And I agree it could've used room to breath still, which only shows how inefficient the storytelling is. Thought they were gonna go deeper into the book, not shallower. I don't want to compare it the '84 film too much, but IMO that did a far better job in capturing the world and psychology of the book than this one, while also telling a complete story in less time. QUICK_EDIT
Honestly didn't think the new Dune was a great adaptation.
Overall I'd give it 8/10, it had a lot to like, just missing that special sauce.
OmegaBolt wrote:
The characters were completely uncharismatic. The Atreides felt as cold as the Harkonnen, didn't feel any love between the family etc, unlike in the book. Gurney seemed like an asshole, despite being described as "a romantic", Duncan is just annoyingly blokey. The Baron was boring, didn't have the manic obsession like he does in the book. You don't really see how the Harkonnen function on fear, ambition and manipulation, in contrast to the Atreides.
I think at least part of this is seeing characters so little, so they make Paul hug everyone to show love, rather than the subtleties of a truly close relationship. And gaddam Chalamet really has to stop talking through his teeth.
OmegaBolt wrote:
I don't know why they cut Feyd Rautha, easily the more interesting of the two Harkonnen nephews - kind of an evil parallel of Paul. Is he just gonna fight Rabban at the end now?
They also cut the spy story arc from the beginning, it just jumps right into the hunter-seeker without setup. It's possible they were worried a modern audience couldn't handle so much overlapping plot, but it's also possible they omitted it because of how they relegated the mentats to be extras.
OmegaBolt wrote:
The mentats are basically non-existant and I don't think it explains what they are.
The fact that Dr. Yueh had more quality screen time than any mentat is just weird, but they didn't really show the other factions much either, no Emperor, no mention of Tleilaxu, IXian tech etc. I have trouble imagining they'll all come rushing into the picture in time to make sense of the world in part 2, it will be even more chaotic.
OmegaBolt wrote:
Spice barely played a role. Think there's like one line that says "its important to space travel", "it extends life" but that's about it...
Indeed, no one talks about it except economically, so once again we miss the foreshadowing or at least the importance to the non-exporter. I doubt they will get into the relationship between the Sand Trout and water on Arrakis.
OmegaBolt wrote:
Stilgar felt weirdly comical even though the rest of the movie was trying so hard to be serious. I honestly wish it was a more fun film
Stilgar was the best casting choice they made, he pulls it off well, so well he makes the others look bad.
OmegaBolt wrote:
Basically think they failed to capture what's interesting about the book. It just turned into a "chosen one" story...
It almost seems like they were afraid to use the word Jihad, and instead gave Paul some weird hallucinogenic rambling in the tent to explain his holy war as "unquenchable fire"... surely the most important theme in the book deserves more setup than going native in part 2? All the wonder and mystery about Dune about story arcs through time, interweaving with a sense of prophecy were limited to the Bene Gesserit alone. They are the only ones fleshed out to reveal long term plans, and Mapes does a piss poor job of carrying the messianic arc with her 35sec of screentime.
OmegaBolt wrote:
What saddens me the most... I don't want to compare it the '84 film too much, but IMO that did a far better job in capturing the world...
It should have been an extra 45min to fill it with what makes it Dune, instead of making it a generic sci-fi movie.
My only hope is that they adapt the other Dune books, so that at least in totality they cover everything that makes it special, and binge watching it is at least fulfilling. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I actually saw this one in the theatre. The film just dragged on most of the time. No memorable action scenes. They did not elaborate on the villains ultimate goal. Only good part was the ending.
It had a lot wrong with it, particularly for being a James Bond flick, but it was still reasonably entertaining I thought, certainly enough to sit through without wanting your life back.
I agree with a lot of the criticism levelled against it, but the most important part that stands out to me, the entire movie seemed to be a franchise suicide note. It's like they badly wanted to end it for future generations, because Bond is just too "problematic" for the fanatical leftists. I find this appalling at the base level, yet I also think they are entirely making up the idea that characters like him aren't wanted anymore. Women still want strong men, children still want strong role models, and men don't want to see sissies apologizing for being male in their movies.
It was a clearly a product of re-shoots however, they got blasted from all angles for going woke during the initial trailers, which seemed to have forced them to cobble together a reasonable story. The sacrifice they made is that you don't really learn any of the characters, they are just placeholders, entirely forgettable. The one character who is fleshed out is Bond's love interest, and she gets tossed around like a ping pong by the script. I'm sure it's a far better movie than they intended though...
Aside from that, my more general commentary about the series is that after Casino Royale the movies were all dark and hopeless. James Bond is supposed to be optimistic and hopeful, the hero that saves the day, with wit, grit, and cool toys. Seducing a woman (or two) along the way is both a way to add positive emotional drama, and slip in some skin for the fun of it. This is what separates James Bond from John Wick, there's something to live for, not just fight for. Notice that killing dozens of people is still not "problematic" to the leftists, but those sexist remarks and stereotypes OMGWTFBBQ! _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Saw a 2021 russian film called A Siege Diary. Quite enjoyed it. About a woman in the siege of leningrad trying to make it across the city. Some good dark humour and quite emotional at the end. All the hallmarks of Russian cinema if you like that. QUICK_EDIT
HOWEVER, it was clearly yet another nostalgia movie that rehashes so much from the previous, and it has to lose points for lack of originality. Fundamentally the role of the architect is rehashed, as is Morpheus, with just enough changes to be distinct. I understand there's supposed to be an element of similarity in this world vs the first, but I think they were a little excessive with some scenes.
Naturally there's plenty of gripes about the casting and action sequences.
First of all you get the impression that most of the "free" people are black, because there are so many, and coincidentally all the experts in the movie are black too. All the aggressive git-r-done folks are female, yay #empowereredd! Yet all that is even more strange with the lack of actual characters. For such a big movie, there's really only a dozen characters that aren't extras. This makes the movie feel a lot smaller, and detracts from the world building.
Second you have the action, the fight scenes are totally rip-offs from #1 with added amplitude. Whereas running on the walls was a special new thing in The Matrix, here it seems like it's a core part of any fight. None of the unimportant characters know how to shoot or stab, so in a chaotic melee absolutely none of the main cast gets hurt, except Neo. The fight scenes also don't visibly reach any resolution, they fight and the camera comes back with the fight over more than once, almost like they didn't want to show any real violence.
So it's not entirely a love story, not really a thriller, kinda like an action movie, and not really a philosophical one in any meaningfully new way that they haven't already covered. There did seem to be an extra emphasis on the idea of what's real, but that seemed to be more of a plot gimmick to justify what little drama Neo has. And that's another sticking point, Miiiiister Aaaaaaanderson becomes Neo with hardly a challenge, there's a guy who supposedly lived in ignorance for decades, and like a lightswitch he's Neo again, with some minor teething pains.
If this had been a standalone movie, referencing a past that didn't already exist on film, I would have given it 8/10, but because it borrowed so heavily, introduced almost nothing new, and some regurgitated things were cranked to absurd, I can't give it more than 7/10. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Ok I thought this one should be something of a New Years special...
I can officially say I've found the best movie of 2021: The Toll (aka Tollbooth) 2021
It's not because it's great in any sense, at times it feels like some British daytime dramas, BUT it hides within that, folds and layers and twists worthy of Snatch, just without the ever-present soundtrack and voiceovers. The acting is all good, not great, most of the questionable parts are like flair rather than over-acted, they convey the ridiculousness without being in-your-face. They play on a lot of stereotypes not familiar to people much outside the UK, but there too I think most people will catch on, if they pay attention.
There's very little "action" in the movie, what there is is stylized and almost film noir. As with a lot of films of late, there's a number of flashback/flashforward moments, yet tastefully few, it is not trying to use it to confuse or mislead you. The overall cinematics are a mix of broad and small scale, there's not many settings in which all the scenes play out, however the scenery is all quite good, and thus never feels as cheap as it is. The natural lighting gives it a particular thematic look you find in TV a lot.
So why would I give it a 9.5/10? Well the simple answer is, there's nothing particularly wrong with it, it does everything well, and never once made me cringe or roll my eyes. It didn't introduce crazy marxist ideas in the story, nor did it overplay any tropes. Nothing about the movie annoying me might sound rather minor in the grand scheme, but I can tell you it's a big compliment, being so hard to pull off right.
It's entertaining, suspenseful, funny, and in general interesting. It starts off slow, but plot arc after plot arc gets introduced, and by the end of it, there's about 8 overlapping threads interweaving. The ending is also satisfying.
Note that Arctic Void is pretty devoid of content, it's more of a mystery, where most of it is spent looking for an answer. It won't be for everyone, but for what it is, they did it pretty well. The ending is a bit ambiguous like The Thing, so don't expect fulfillment.
Hydra was likewise simplistic, but well acted, with a few fun fight scenes. It's more of an unintended redemption movie.
Leviathan had good pacing and acting, though not much happens, it is most depressing Russia at its best. You will enjoy it if you revel in misery.
The common thread here is that these movies don't patronize you, nor do they explain in detail what's going on, you have to follow for the reveals, and fill in some gaps by observation. In other words, the best kind of filmmaking, even if the subject matter isn't enthralling. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
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How about a MOVIE review thread of sorts?
