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

[GermanCdn]

Having spent a lot of time in airplanes watching movies over the last year, here's my quick take

A Star Is Born - way better than I expected for a lot of reasons.
Bohemian Rhapsody - amazing, and I'm not a Queen fan, but to watch the interpretation of their creative process in the studio was inspiring, and the Mike Myers tongue in cheek joke was perhaps the funniest line of hi career (the Dana Carvey cameo was also funny)
Venom - I actually thought it was quite funny, but I'm not particularly a comic book movie fan
Avengers Infinity War - if there was a movie, that didn't star Ryan Reynolds, that could make me a comic book movie fan, this was it
Predator - pass, c'mon, if you're going to remake a movie, at least try
Rampage - actually pretty funny
Red Sparrow - not too sure I paid much attention to the storyline, but Jennifer Lawrence made it the movie equivalent of a Shania Twain video, satisfyingly entertaining if put on mute.
Atomic Blonde - see Red Sparrow
Night School - nope, Kevin Hart needs a strong comedic opposite
Deadpool/Deadpool 2 - because when you've watched every other movie available, you need to go back to something that's fun to watch for the 20th time
Super Troopers 2 - disappointed, had a long time to come up with new jokes, and they really didn't
Peppermint - think Jennifer Garner from the good Alias seasons, only more mature.  So, good movie then.
San Andreas - Formulaic Dwayne Johnson movie
Can You Ever Forgive Me - no, no I can't.  If I wasn't strapped in a chair on a plane with nothing better to do, I'd demand those minutes of my life back
The Meg - fell asleep three minutes in.  Don't think I missed much.  The parts I caught looked reminiscent of the first Jaws movie.
Bumblebee - please stop wrecking my childhood by continuing with the Transformers movies.  Learn from Police Academy - you should have stopped at the the third one
Overlord - seemed like the castoff scenes from Predator
The Dirt - yeah, those were the good old days of rock and roll
Thor Ragnarok - best comedy I have seen in a long time

[juansolo]

Avengers: Endgame - Finishes the franchise satisfactorily. It's not as strong a movie as Infinity War, but I also couldn't think how it could work better than it does.
The Equalizer 2 - Rinse and repeat. Brings nothing new to the table sadly. Ultimately found it a bit dull.
MI: Fallout - The MI machine continues to turn out MI flavoured entertainment. They're all much of a muchness now. Enjoyable, if only to see what insane stunt Cruise has decided to do this time.
Incredibles 2 - Not as strong as the first, I'm not sure it ever could have been. Enjoyable Pixar sequel stuff.
Colossus: The Forbin Project - Skynet v1.0.
In Order of Disappearance - Scandi black comedy/thriller. Worth a watch if that's your thing. You'll probably find it all a bit odd if it's not.
Unsane - I like Soderberg for some reason, so picked this up. Gimmicky way it was made aside, it was ok.

[alanp]

I have an admission to make... I have never seen _Avatar_.

Why? Because James Cameron directed it, post-_Titanic_. I've refused to watch anything with Leonardo "Pretty-boy" Dicaprio in it ever since, and I want those wasted hours of my life back.

I know that Cameron has been involved in a lot of really, really, really cool stuff that is not the steaming pile of romantic turds that was _Titanic_, but...

[matmosphere]

I have seen Avatar, but later after it had been out a few years. I do not remember much about Titanic other than that I didn't really like it but, and I know this will be unpopular, I'd rather watch it again than watch Avatar again.

I don't remember why I disliked Titanic but I remember exactly why I didn't enjoy Avatar. it's way to long and the story is handled really poorly (and it's kinda dumb anyway). It's like they started out with a story and then decided to just string together some stuff they thought would look cool in 3D instead. The worst part is that within two or three years every other movie was doing the same visual kind of stuff better AND had real storylines.

[somnif]

I have an admission to make... I have never seen _Avatar_.

Why? Because James Cameron directed it, post-_Titanic_. I've refused to watch anything with Leonardo "Pretty-boy" Dicaprio in it ever since, and I want those wasted hours of my life back.

I know that Cameron has been involved in a lot of really, really, really cool stuff that is not the steaming pile of romantic turds that was _Titanic_, but...

Ever see Ferngully? Dances with Wolves? The Last Samurai?

If so, you've pretty much seen Avatar. A Generic-As-All-Hell "going native" plot, with an overabundance of decent CGI and a bunch of abandoned secondary characters and plot threads.

I legitimately have no idea why it made so much money. It was ok, at best.

[rockola]

I have seen Avatar, but later after it had been out a few years. I do not remember much about Titanic other than that I didn't really like it but, and I know this will be unpopular, I'd rather watch it again than watch Avatar again.

Titanic at least has Billy Zane as the bad guy. Avatar has no redeeming qualities. Ten years ago, I wrote a long tirade on this very subject: http://ola.rinta-koski.net/2009/12/21/psychedelic-daffodils-and-the-blue-man-group/

[somnif]

Titanic at least has Billy Zane as the bad guy. Avatar has no redeeming qualities. Ten years ago, I wrote a long tirade on this very subject: http://ola.rinta-koski.net/2009/12/21/psychedelic-daffodils-and-the-blue-man-group/

The thing about Avatar is how many FAR more interesting stories it could tell about the world it built up. The space marines, the cryo-sleep hyperspace trips, the we-swear-we're-not-Weyland-Yutani businessmen, the ruined earth, ...and it decided to focus on the story of an ex-Grunt hooking up with a blue cat lady.

[EBK]

Titanic at least has Billy Zane as the bad guy.

Billy Zane dressed up as the iceberg? Cool! 

And, I've never seen Avatar either.  I actually forgot it existed until now.

[Willybomb]

Finally got around to watching Endgame.  Some very funny bits in it.

[thesmokingman]

I have an admission to make... I have never seen _Avatar_.

Why? Because James Cameron directed it, post-_Titanic_. I've refused to watch anything with Leonardo "Pretty-boy" Dicaprio in it ever since, and I want those wasted hours of my life back.

I know that Cameron has been involved in a lot of really, really, really cool stuff that is not the steaming pile of romantic turds that was _Titanic_, but...

Ever see Ferngully? Dances with Wolves? The Last Samurai?

If so, you've pretty much seen Avatar. A Generic-As-All-Hell "going native" plot, with an overabundance of decent CGI and a bunch of abandoned secondary characters and plot threads.

I legitimately have no idea why it made so much money. It was ok, at best.

Pocahontas, Apocalypse Now, Shogun ...

[alanp]

Saw a couple movies last night.

_Ryuzo And His Seven Henchmen_ by Beat Takeshi. It's an "old farts up against young whippersnappers" kinda movie, but ex-yakuza, versus ex-bosuzoku. Pretty damn funny, and despite the fact that they are all criminals, you find yourself liking each of them.

Especially Mac, who I was amazed had not been arrested years ago on firearms charges.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4176776/

The other one was _Russian Ark_, which is famous for the fact that the entire movie was shot in ONE TAKE, no cuts, no transitions. The other thing that it is famous for is being set in the Russian Hermitage. Can't really describe what goes on, but it's well worth a watch.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318034/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

[juansolo]

Alita: Battle Angel - The subject matter was quite a bit watered down (several characters morals and arcs were quite a bit darker than the films) and over all it was PG-13'd up. That said, it was still an enjoyable film. The effects were utterly stunning and though it crammed a lot of plot into one film I thought it pulled it off well. Personally I'd have preferred it adapted it like the anime and maybe stuck to that season as the plot and tone for the film, but still, it's as good as we could have hoped a Hollywood adaptation to be.

SIcario 2: Soldado - I really rated the original and think that was a masterpiece of cinema in a lot of respects. This is a little more workman-like in execution in comparison and is very much part one of two. Where I mean that the first film stands on its own and this feels more like the first half of a bigger film. I hope they do a part 3 to close it off.

Solo - Yep, got there in the end... Starts badly. I found myself rolling my eyes a couple of times at the beginning. But for some reason I tolerate these things to the end. By the end it was pretty decent. I think were it not for The Last Jedi jading everyone, it might have done better. But it was by the numbers stuff. Which let's face it, is what Disney/Holllywood do. Hell there's a lot of blatant Firefly stuff in there and quite frankly, I'd prefer to just watch that again over Solo.

Chernobyl (series) - A humbling, shocking and horrifying look at what arrogance and ambition can do. I'd like to think this sort of shit doesn't happen now, but it does. It often amazes me that we're all still around... Required viewing.

There was some other stuff but it was while I was house sitting for a friend and it was all Amazon/Netflix stuff. Most of it was shit and left so little impression I can't remember what they were called.

[matmosphere]

Chernobyl (series) - A humbling, shocking and horrifying look at what arrogance and ambition can do. I'd like to think this sort of shit doesn't happen now, but it does. It often amazes me that we're all still around... Required viewing

Yeah, I kinda want to watch that, but I just moved and I live about 60 miles south of there now, so kinda don't want to watch it too.

Stranger Things 3 is was an improvement over season 2.

I recently saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, love the books don't know why it took so long to see the movie. Overall it was pretty good. Not as much fun as the old BBC one.

I caught the last half (maybe 3/4) of Deadpool 2, it was kinda funny, but really seemed like it was trying to hard. Can't say I've got any desire to watch it again.

[EBK]

I recently saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, love the books don't know why it took so long to see the movie. Overall it was pretty good. Not as much fun as the old BBC one.

Agree that the old one was better.  Weird, right?

Zaphod's second head just wasn't right in the modern take, even though it was a very crappy practical effect in the old version.

[madbean]

On Prime:

This movie is just incredible. Definitely one of the best I've seen this year (I don't go to the movies much).