The Movie Thread....what are you watching?

[HamSandwich]

Saw Jurassic World 2.

I thought the first Jurassic World was good, probably mostly nostalgia.

#2 went off the rails, and I can't figure out if it's in a good way or a bad way. Spoilers: Did they really just set up a where dinosaurs roam free humans can be cloned? Living dinosaurs requires some suspension of belief, but this seems to be going in a far more ludicrous direction. I was also not expecting to feel far More emotionally connected  a dinosaur than any of the actual characters.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

A little late but...

If any of you were fans of the original Super Troopers movie.... DO NOT watch the sequel! It was a HUGE let down in my opinion and I really wish I could get those 2 hours of my life back.

[juansolo]

Annihilation
I really like Alex Garland's work, be it as a writer and now as a writer director. There are a lot of old Sci-Fi tropes going on here, in a good way, and I found myself really enjoying the film. The trailer mis-sells it a bit, as a lot do these days. I really liked it.

Shame I don't have Netflix (not into streaming) and getting physical releases of things here from them takes forever. Still, that's why we import and have region free blu ray players. I wish Netflix would sort out their releases though. 3 seasons into The Expanse and we've just got a release date for it on blu here. Sorry for the mini-rant. I just want to watch films and if I can't go to the cinema to do it, then holding shit back for years just annoys the shit out of me.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Instantly forgettable formulaic, tensionless entertainment. I took my godkids to see it. They seemed to enjoy it as much as the popcorn they were eating at the time. I can't remember much about it.

A Quiet Place
A lot like an old lower budget horror, where because the budgets were low, you had to concentrate more on building tension and not showing you things. I miss this sort of film making so much. I really enjoyed it a great deal. Felt like an old John Carpenter film (one of my favourite directors) now I look back on it.

Ready Player One
I read the book and it was written for me. It pandered to my nostalgia in a massive way and I loved it. Now I knew going into it that the film would have to appeal to a much greater audience and be dumbed down a little. As it was, I enjoyed it. I prefer the book, but the film is worth a watch for any gamer out there.

Tomb Raider (reboot)
I think this might be the first video game film that actually gets it. It has the references and signature moves in there, without going totally overboard with them. It takes some beats and plot-points from the games but actually makes a decent adventure out of it. I really liked it. For people who are not gamers, it's a modernised Indiana Jones type origin story.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
This is one of those films where the actors seemed to be having a of fun making it and playing against type. That whole schtick is by far the most enjoyable part of the movie. It's light, it's worth a watch if it's on.

Hitman's Bodyguard
Odd couple buddy movie with Sam Jackson 'Sam Jacksoning' and Ryan Reynolds trying not to slip into Deadpool mode. Gary Oldman flicks the bad guy switch as effortlessly as ever. Enjoyable, forgettable bollocks.

The Last Jedi
Ok so I've seen it. It had problems, some big ones, BUT I didn't come out of it as offended as I expected to be.

**I don't normally do this, but I feel I need to with this as I'm going to go into plot points so SPOILERS**

Superleia was stupid. If ever there was a perfect character moment squandered this was it. Had she stayed dead it would have added poignancy to Ren's inaction and subsequent turn against Snoke. It would have given the rebellion a reason for a loss of hope as their last beacon of it was extinguished. Instead Jedi's can now survive explosive decompression, extreme cold, vacuum, and can fly in space. That's now a thing.

Luke's becoming an arsehole. The dude redeemed his own father who was the ultimate bad guy of all time, literally responsible for the deaths of billions. But his nephew has some dark thoughts (that he was creepily spying on...) and he decides in that moment that he must die. THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Luke is the personification of hope and that was just thrown away. This is the biggest misstep of the whole film. Sure he's impulsive, but to make him an opportunist murderer of his own nephew!? WTAF?

The little stuff: Porgs, the whole casino section, the general who through not disclosing her plan, caused the casino section, the milking scene, Hoth redux, General Huxley being the least intimidating general of all time, the little out of place comedic skits. All this is annoying but not enough to really wind me up.

But it was not all negative, and that was a surprise to me.

I liked the subtext of the casino scene, just not the execution. The elite class profiteering from the war, playing both sides for their own personal gain with no regard to the consequences to the people. Benicio Del Toro's character being a proper rogue and a more obvious criminal. They could play more into that for me and make something interesting of it. From an outside perspective, the rebels could be seen as many things from resistance/freedom fighters to terrorists, the empire from a rightful legitimate government trying to restore peace, to an oppressive totalitarian regime that needs to be overthrown. This could make an interesting film in itself following a character like DJ on the outside of the conflict. It's really what I hoped Disney would do with the Star Wars franchise. It's a great universe to play in. Why are they just focusing on one story?

Then there's Rey and Kylo. Their relationship is by far the most interesting in the story and I think Adam Driver does a magnificent job of portraying his inner conflict. Rey having her beliefs challenged and that moment of choice, I liked because she had reason at that point to go either way.

It's a misstep in my opinion. It had some good ideas and some really bad ones. I've seen it, I don't really want to see it again.

[madbean]

I liked Annihilation but not as much as I hoped. But...the scene at the end with Natalie Portman in the lighthouse. My god...the music was so intense it gave me chills. I re-watched that sequence probably 5 times.

Not a movie but I've been watching Afflicted on Netflix. It's about people with strange chronic illnesses. Not particularly entertaining but interesting. At least half the people in it seem batshit crazy, IMO (though they are all clearly suffering so I am empathetic even though a few are quite deluded).

[Willybomb]

I'm currently trying to get through Black Panther so I can get onto Infinity War.  Between building pedals, a baby, and building a 1/72 Catalina PBY-5a in RAAF colours, facebook, and work, I'm not really giving myself a chance to watch it properly.

[stringsthings]

latest Justice League movie ... intriguing! 

[matmosphere]

Juansolo, I agree the superleah thing was just bad. I found myself later wishing it was somehow implied that Kylo Ren saved her, instead of it happening because of some innate ability. Sadly on the second watch there was nothing there.

Ant-man and Wasp was a pretty good ride. Not a great movie but fun to watch.

[juansolo]

Almost forgot:

Split aka: M. Night Shymalan's return to form...
( though IMO, I don't consider two previous good films to be form )

It's pretty good. He's building himself his own little world to play in, and I like his take on the genre. Will be interesting to see where he goes from here (which is all I'll say without entering spoiler territory). McAvoy is really impressive in his roles in this.

[alanp]

I started watching Seven Samurai. Great movie, but it's more than three hours long, and I had to deal with something halfway through Need to pick it up again at some point.

[somnif]

I started watching Seven Samurai. Great movie, but it's more than three hours long, and I had to deal with something halfway through Need to pick it up again at some point.

I saw it in a theater here in town recently, from an actual 35mm print. Had an intermission in the middle of it. Little indie theatre and they had a reel-change problem in the last act, so we got to sit in a dark theatre for 10 minutes while they unloaded the reels and warmed up a digital projector to show the last act of the movie from a digi-file (hell it may have been the blu-ray for all I know).

They had, somehow, wound the film on to the reel the wrong way around, so the sound band was on the screen and the sub titles were mirrored. Hilarious, but kinda useless for those of us who wanted to actually watch the flick.

[Willybomb]

Split was pretty good, although not as good as Unbreakable, and I'm looking forward to Glass.

[matmosphere]

I started watching Seven Samurai. Great movie, but it's more than three hours long, and I had to deal with something halfway through Need to pick it up again at some point.

I saw it in a theater here in town recently, from an actual 35mm print. Had an intermission in the middle of it. Little indie theatre and they had a reel-change problem in the last act, so we got to sit in a dark theatre for 10 minutes while they unloaded the reels and warmed up a digital projector to show the last act of the movie from a digi-file (hell it may have been the blu-ray for all I know).

They had, somehow, wound the film on to the reel the wrong way around, so the sound band was on the screen and the sub titles were mirrored. Hilarious, but kinda useless for those of us who wanted to actually watch the flick.

Fantastic movie!! I'd love to see it on the big screen someday.

Modern film projectors don't require reels being matched and switched. The reels are combined into one large plater that feeds the film into the projector.

90% sure what happened was that they attached the last reel upside down and backwards and didn't catch the mistake. It would take a good amount of time to fix, which is probably why they switched to the blu-ray.

Every Thursday after closing employees used to stay and watch all the new movies just to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

[somnif]

Yep, pretty much. It was a great 5 weeks, they ran a Kurosawa/Mifune series, so we got Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Hidden Fortress, and Yojimbo. Downsides, its an older style theater, so flat layout. Not terrible, but when you need to read subs on the bottom of the screen, you can really start to hate the dude with the eraserhead haircut in front of you....

Also the AC really could not handle a packed sold out house in Southern Arizona, it got a wee bit steamy at times. But, we got beer/wine, good food, and good movies, so it was fun.

[stringsthings]

theaters rule.

[matmosphere]

Yep, pretty much. It was a great 5 weeks, they ran a Kurosawa/Mifune series, so we got Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Hidden Fortress, and Yojimbo. Downsides, its an older style theater, so flat layout. Not terrible, but when you need to read subs on the bottom of the screen, you can really start to hate the dude with the eraserhead haircut in front of you....

Also the AC really could not handle a packed sold out house in Southern Arizona, it got a wee bit steamy at times. But, we got beer/wine, good food, and good movies, so it was fun.

That's a solid summer!