Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[VomKriege]

The Wandering Earth is the gigantic epic Chinese blockbuster about the Earth turned into a gigantic spaceship to flee away from our dying Sun into a new Solar system, humanity being relegated to underground cities for the 2500 years of the travel and Earth being guided by a space station built for the purpose. As the planet passes Jupiter to do some gravitational slingshotting, disaster strikes and an astronaut on the station plus his estranged son on Earth will be at the spear of a last ditch effort to save the planet...

After a rocky first half where the moment to moment storytelling is kinda pushed through at a frantic pace, I found the Wandering Earth to be a rather pleasant variation on disaster films from the late nineties / early aughts, one much less callous and morally vulgar than Emmerich entries or Armageddon. Maybe has to do with different priorities in the writing or sensibilities ? I couldn't tell but the characters being flatter or plainer than the quirky stereotypes US films abundantly used may actually mesh better with the high stakes of an utterly straight faced tone (despite how ridiculous the premise is) appealling to our most selfless instincts. There's a lot of sacrifice towards a long term project spanning several generations but I was surprised by the amount of insubordination and disobedience portrayed all throughout. Maybe I was selling the CCP censors savvyness short here ? But it makes for much more compelling drama.

The film is obviously derivative (Beyond Diebuster, you have 2001 and a bunch of other influences) but it never gets to the point it's crippling to the overall work. Same with the VFX work, some parts are a bit behind the state of the art but the general quality is never a detriment to the spectacle and bigger than life vistas.

And wow, Ng Man Tat (Stephen Chow favorite sidekick) sure managed to keep his career going strong in this brave new PRC world. Good for him, it's nice to see a familiar face.

It's not high art by any means but you can give it a try.

[Don Rumata]

Chinese dramatic (and action obviously) cinema has had some of my favorite movies of all time, but their CGi big blockbusters have been all horrible so far, so i'm kind of skeptical.

[VomKriege]

Chinese dramatic (and action obviously) cinema has had some of my favorite movies of all time, but their CGi big blockbusters have been all horrible so far, so i'm kind of skeptical.

I'm really not familiar with post-retrocession big budget Chinese films but I thought it was much less garish than any of the bits O saw over the years. The world depicted here reminded me of the Expanse (the underground cities have the same production value even...) and the tone is rather subdued. I could totally see how one could find it flat and generic however.

[clothedmacuser]

5% of Godzilla consists of shots like this.  The rest is somehow even worse.

[TVC15]

[Leadbelly]

I Am Mother : Man, the film designers must have liked Portal ? I'm a sucker for robots and sci fi si I gave it a shot. It's all competently done but the seams start to show (the film start to look visually cheap in the last third) as things go along and you'll never be caught off guard by the story. Cool robot tho.

I quite enjoyed the movie. Anyone who has listened to or read about the potential problems with advanced AI will figure out where the story is going, but it is still a fairly entertaining ride none the less.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1138140790163722240

[Bebpo]

Rocketman - I don’t know much about Elton John’s life story but this was pretty fun even if it’s a little long and meanders and just sorta ends in the end quarter. Main guy did a good job and the musical bits were nice.

[Rahxephon91]

Jesus I thought that Godzilla post was going to some pedo place.

[VomKriege]

I Am Mother : Man, the film designers must have liked Portal ? I'm a sucker for robots and sci fi si I gave it a shot. It's all competently done but the seams start to show (the film start to look visually cheap in the last third) as things go along and you'll never be caught off guard by the story. Cool robot tho.

I quite enjoyed the movie. Anyone who has listened to or read about the potential problems with advanced AI will figure out where the story is going, but it is still a fairly entertaining ride none the less.

I think the story is paced fine and there's enough setups and payoff throughout but the conclusion is maybe a tad too transparent for anyone familiar with SF.

[Great Rumbler]

The Banana Splits but it's actually Five Nights at Freddy's:

[Joe Molotov]

tfw when you get high and watch Boomerang at 2am, but there was something in that weed

[TVC15]

[Joe Molotov]

We should all reflect upon Street Trash, and the usage of trans imagery it brought to the splatterpunk genre with the severed penis scene.

[TVC15]

We should all reflect upon Street Trash, and the usage of trans imagery it brought to the splatterpunk genre with the severed penis scene.

And its brave, unsympathetic view of tHe homeless is as real as it gets.

[TVC15]

[Leadbelly]

So Men In Black International has been utterly trashed by the media. However, it has a 71% audience score. It is usually the audience score I go off because critics are up their own arses half the time. I'm not sure what to make of the 'verified' audience though. It has a 71% rating by a 'verified' audience. I guess it is to combat mass downscoring, but... what constitutes a verified audience exactly? I mean it wasn't entirely to do with an organised mass downscoring that Star Wars The Last Jedi got such a low audience score for instance. It was blamed on that though.

That said 'verified' may just simply mean what it suggests and is totally trustworthy. In that case Men In Black might be worth a watch.

[Leadbelly]

I Am Mother : Man, the film designers must have liked Portal ? I'm a sucker for robots and sci fi si I gave it a shot. It's all competently done but the seams start to show (the film start to look visually cheap in the last third) as things go along and you'll never be caught off guard by the story. Cool robot tho.

I quite enjoyed the movie. Anyone who has listened to or read about the potential problems with advanced AI will figure out where the story is going, but it is still a fairly entertaining ride none the less.

I think the story is paced fine and there's enough setups and payoff throughout but the conclusion is maybe a tad too transparent for anyone familiar with SF.

Well...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's predictable to the average person in the sense that robots destroying the world is kind of what they have always done, from Terminator to The Matrix. However, the interesting twist, if you can call it that, is that the AI was programmed to be benevolent and to help mankind rather than destroy it. And the thing about that is, it is doing exactly what it was intended to do. The reason the AI destroys the world isn't a glitch or anything else in its programming. The issue arises in the way the AI solves problems. And that is hinted at, at the start. The AI explains a scenario to the girl where there are 4 or 5 people with organ problems and 1 that is sick and will die if not given attention. The solution the AI comes up with is to let the one die and then give the organs to the people that need them, saving 5 people in the process rather than simply 1. This to the AI seems like the best possible outcome and therefore is doing exactly what the AI was made for.

However, as I mentioned, anyone who has listened to or read about the potential problems with giving control over to advanced AI would see this twist coming, as did I. I remember Elon Musk for instance explaining a scenario where an advanced AI may choose a completely unexpected solution to what seems like a totally benign task. So he explains how an AI might be tasked with getting rid of spam mail and the best solution it may come up with is to get rid of humans. By getting rid of humans you get rid of spam mail (lol). Something like that might be overlooked in the programming. I've heard similar worries along these lines aired. And so, yeah I kind of knew where it was going. Still kind of liked that detail in the movie

[close]

[VomKriege]

Yeah but I mean that part wasn't exactly hard to see coming too, even without being an IA scholar. That's kind of implicit from the whole conceit.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I mean the robot wouldn't be breeding humans for a purpose and have 60k embryos in storage if it was in a KILL KILL ALL HUMANS KILL.

[close]

[Transhuman]

So Men In Black International has been utterly trashed by the media. However, it has a 71% audience score. It is usually the audience score I go off because critics are up their own arses half the time. I'm not sure what to make of the 'verified' audience though. It has a 71% rating by a 'verified' audience. I guess it is to combat mass downscoring, but... what constitutes a verified audience exactly? I mean it wasn't entirely to do with an organised mass downscoring that Star Wars The Last Jedi got such a low audience score for instance. It was blamed on that though.

That said 'verified' may just simply mean what it suggests and is totally trustworthy. In that case Men In Black might be worth a watch.

Has something to do with whether you purchase your ticket through "fandango", whatever the hell that is

[Great Rumbler]

So Men In Black International has been utterly trashed by the media. However, it has a 71% audience score. It is usually the audience score I go off because critics are up their own arses half the time. I'm not sure what to make of the 'verified' audience though. It has a 71% rating by a 'verified' audience. I guess it is to combat mass downscoring, but... what constitutes a verified audience exactly? I mean it wasn't entirely to do with an organised mass downscoring that Star Wars The Last Jedi got such a low audience score for instance. It was blamed on that though.

That said 'verified' may just simply mean what it suggests and is totally trustworthy. In that case Men In Black might be worth a watch.

Has something to do with whether you purchase your ticket through "fandango", whatever the hell that is

Fandango is one of the bigger movie ticket sites.

[Leadbelly]

Yeah but I mean that part wasn't exactly hard to see coming too, even without being an IA scholar. That's kind of implicit from the whole conceit.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I mean the robot wouldn't be breeding humans for a purpose and have 60k embryos in storage if it was in a KILL KILL ALL HUMANS KILL.

[close]

Maybe yeah. And it's not so much being an AI scholar as it is simply listening to people speak about how things could go wrong. It was through doing that, that I caught on quite early. That's what I mean. I guess others could just catch on to it anyway.

So Men In Black International has been utterly trashed by the media. However, it has a 71% audience score. It is usually the audience score I go off because critics are up their own arses half the time. I'm not sure what to make of the 'verified' audience though. It has a 71% rating by a 'verified' audience. I guess it is to combat mass downscoring, but... what constitutes a verified audience exactly? I mean it wasn't entirely to do with an organised mass downscoring that Star Wars The Last Jedi got such a low audience score for instance. It was blamed on that though.

That said 'verified' may just simply mean what it suggests and is totally trustworthy. In that case Men In Black might be worth a watch.

Has something to do with whether you purchase your ticket through "fandango", whatever the hell that is

Okay so it sounds like it is pretty trustworthy then. It is simply people buying tickets through fandango.

[TVC15]

[Joe Molotov]

Brain Damage is a slapper

[Crash Dummy]

saw new x-men, it's pretty bad and not in an entertaining way

[TVC15]

[thetylerrob]

Anybody else watching Too Old To Die Young? I watched the first 2 episodes this weekend and I can't stop thinking about it at work. I think it's riding the fine line between Drive and Only God Forgives pretty well. If you've enjoyed anything Nicolas Winding Refn has made before you should definitely check it out.

[Bebpo]

Watched Oz Perkin’s The Blackcoat’s Daughter - The nicely shot, great music, weird mysterious acting slow burn of it was totally up my alley. The ending though was a little bit of a “that’s it?”. I still think I liked it, but ending is the weakest bit. It’s interesting for sure. Kinda reminds me of Hereditary except a lot less good.

[Tasty]

I remember not liking it but I don't remember the reason, and I generally enjoy those kinds of films. Might be time for a rewatch and reevaluation.

[Bebpo]

I’m gonna watch starry eyes next tonight because of your post earlier

If you didn’t like Blackcoat’s Daughter you probably still won’t. The main issue imo is there’s just not much to the story and it’s definitely a style over substance flick. But it kept me on the edge until the end so I generally liked it.

[toku]

Starry Eyes is great and it's kinda crazy that lead actress hasn't had bigger films since. Starry Eyes is probably the biggest thing she's done and that was almost five years ago?

[EightBitNate]

Minding The Gap is an excellent documentary on Hulu. Will resonate with you if have even the faintest knowledge on skateboarder culture.

[Great Rumbler]

Looks like it could be pretty fun.

[Tasty]

Starry Eyes is great and it's kinda crazy that lead actress hasn't had bigger films since. Starry Eyes is probably the biggest thing she's done and that was almost five years ago?

She really reminded me of Daisy Ridley with a less weird jawline.

Spoilers:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, until the end, when she looked like Pawnsutucky from Orange is the New Black.

[close]

[Bebpo]

Sorry guys, didn't like Starry Eyes

At first I was like man, this is original and fun, why did these guys waste their time on Pet Semetary after this. Then once it hit the middle is just was...boring? Like it wasn't scary or tense or funny or particularly interesting besides the mystery and that just sorta meandered for a while and then the ending was ok. Didn't feel it was particularly well directed (Pet Semetary was maybe a step up for that) and felt like the script had a clever concept beginning/ending but didn't really know how to make a whole movie out of it. Just felt kinda boring and waste of time.

Definitely liked Blackcoat's Daughter much more just for the pure cinematography/direction/music and sense of dread.

[Bebpo]

I guess like one of my issues with Starry Eyes is the message is on point, but the execution is so-so and takes away from the message for me.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The message that you have to sell your souls/humanity to join the ranks of the stars in hollywood is fine. But I think if they were doing it this way the movie should've been about the main character choosing to give up more and more to stardom. Instead she like decides to sleep with the producer and then everything after that she doesn't really have a choice, her body is wasting away and she either dies or kills all her friends and self-preservation is kinda a thing, so I felt the message is kinda poorly delivered. Also all her friends are dicks.

[close]

Then again The Blackcoat's Daughter has a huuuuuuuuuuuge plot whole

spoiler (click to show/hide)

In that there's no way the parents of a decapitated child wouldn't recognize the murderer 9 years later. That was just dumb and probably shouldn't have been the parents since their mainly just used to deliver the time gap twist

[close]

But the more I think about the more I like The Blackcoat's Daughter. The story is very, very short and simple and it's just beautifully shot and delivered. I read that the writer/director described the film as a poem and I think that's a good description of its brevity with masterful execution.

[Tasty]

Starry Eyes

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The message that you have to sell your souls/humanity to join the ranks of the stars in hollywood is fine. But I think if they were doing it this way the movie should've been about the main character choosing to give up more and more to stardom. Instead she like decides to sleep with the producer and then everything after that she doesn't really have a choice, her body is wasting away and she either dies or kills all her friends and self-preservation is kinda a thing, so I felt the message is kinda poorly delivered. Also all her friends are dicks.

I think that fits the themes very well. She sucked cock to get an acting job, and confided in her friend, and her friend betrayed her. After that, she couldn't escape the situation, and to my mind that mirrors how trapped such women can feel by their reputations.

[close]

[Tasty]

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1141690/James-Bond-25-set-mutiny-director-Cary-Fukunaga-Playstation-Daniel-Craig

However, The Sun’s James Bond insider now alleges director Fukunaga – who replaced Danny Boyle – caused a set mutiny this weekend after being “several hours” late for shooting due to an intense gaming session on his PlayStation.

[Don Rumata]

Bond's product placement has gone too far.

[Tasty]

Bond's product placement has gone too far.

Sony's not even distributing this time

[Joe Molotov]

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1141690/James-Bond-25-set-mutiny-director-Cary-Fukunaga-Playstation-Daniel-Craig

However, The Sun’s James Bond insider now alleges director Fukunaga – who replaced Danny Boyle – caused a set mutiny this weekend after being “several hours” late for shooting due to an intense gaming session on his PlayStation.

Now we know the real reason why he didn't direct True Detective S2.

[Tasty]

Now we know the real reason why he didn't direct True Detective S2.

So he's the western version of Yoshihiro Togashi?

Someone needs to confirm if Fukanaga was playing DQ11 or not!

[Tasty]

'Avengers: Endgame' getting rereleased with deleted scene, post-credit tribute in bid to top 'Avatar' cnb.cx/2XY8WbT

Being part of the 0.0001% of people yet to see this has paid off

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Be too poor and depressed to go see the biggest event movie you've been excited to see for years brehs 

[close]

[nudemacusers]

'Avengers: Endgame' getting rereleased with deleted scene, post-credit tribute in bid to top 'Avatar' cnb.cx/2XY8WbT

Being part of the 0.0001% of people yet to see this has paid off

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Be too poor and depressed to go see the biggest event movie you've been excited to see for years brehs 

[close]

Find a lonely dude on Grindr and offer a handy for a ticket

[Tasty]

There are no gays in Connecticut.

[nudemacusers]

There are no gays in Connecticut.

I’ve driven thru Connecticut recently; no way this is true.

Also when did you move?! 

[Tasty]

Decemberish

[Joe Molotov]

Anyone seen this movie Demonlover?

Two corporations compete for illicit 3D manga pornography, sending spies to infiltrate each other's operations.

wut

Steam vs Epic Game Store

[Great Rumbler]

'Avengers: Endgame' getting rereleased with deleted scene, post-credit tribute in bid to top 'Avatar' cnb.cx/2XY8WbT

Being part of the 0.0001% of people yet to see this has paid off

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Be too poor and depressed to go see the biggest event movie you've been excited to see for years brehs 

[close]

More like Infinity Snore

[Cauliflower Of Love]

I probably missed out on the miley cirus conversation from black mirror. People are panning it because "omg attention" but I was listening to conan podcast with the dude who wrote hamilton (pick a single name dude!), about how artist express themselves in ways that don't quite get grasped at first.

Pretty sure miley has seen some shit and I can appreciate the concept of that black mirror episode.

Lin-Manuel Miranda laid his dick down on the table, very cerebral dude. Under pressure!

[VomKriege]

started watching kungu fu flicks for no reason

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

It kinda sucked. I mean I guess the fights were good but the plot and stuff... It was an okay film at best. It was weird at times. Weird plot, dude becoming a buddhist and going like thou shalt not kill but then still kinda stand there and watch some other guy do the killing thats gonna be a no from me dawg.

Five Deadly Venoms

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! This was amazing. Awesome characters, awesome fights, intriguing plot. ITS JUST LIKE ONE OF MY ANIMES!

Only bad thing I can say about it, the ending was a bit abrupt. Still a decent ending though.

One movie you can seek out is Heroes of the East by Liu Cha Liang, same year as 5 Deadly Venoms . Superlative & varied fight scenes, good pacing and more levity than the Shaolin series. It's a banger of a film but I'm super partial to Yasuaki Kurata in it.

Chang Cheh who directed 5 Deadly Venoms looms pretty large and made plenty of films.

You can maybe look for films by Chu Yuan from that period, Miracle Fighters or the early Ching Siu Tung Duel to the Death. It veers more towards chivalry (and fantasy) than just kung fu but a lot of the narrative springs are similar. The last two are more "early modern HK" than "Shaw Brothers" but close still.

[VomKriege]

I also indulged on Priest that Great Rumbler (edit : toku actually) suggested after my hate watch of Legion for more Paul Bettany-starring not-so-packed action & edgy Christian imagery and wow it's even worse, which is no small feat. It's pretty incredible to see something so underwritten coming from Hollywood, even the most mediocre schlock will come with some baseline story beats usually. Going sequence to sequence is jarring because there's zero flow to the story and writing, there's no buildup to anything and the timeline and geography gets legitimately confusing in parts (turns out nothing looks more like monochromatic flat desert than another monochromatic flat desert). The film can't handle parallel editing for shit which is a pity because the big set piece relies on it. That climax, by the way, will make you go "Huh wait, is that it ?".

It's really a lot of nothing stretched really thin made more infuriating by the director winking because he's withholding some pieces of the plot and lore (sorely needed) in the foolhardy hope of a big budget sequel. Overall feels like it was emergency edited / reshot in parts. Alternate post nuke retrofuturist western movie is no less valid than any fantasy pretext but there's no world building, it gets really silly you have Blade Runner cities, GPS and Old West pocket watches and phonographs in the same universe thrown at you.

Legion had all of the same shortcomings, but the tighter unity of time and place made it less noticeable. The only thing Priest has going for it is Karl Urban hamming it up and Brad Dourif making a cameo. Why even bother get Plummer to waste him like that ? Maggie Q is well... (Do you remember Maggie Q ?) and the young up and coming fresh face is the blandest thing ever. Phil Collins daughter too. You gotta feel for Bettany, sadomasochistic Catholic executioner is really a bizarre typecast to fall into.

[toku]

Now you gotta watch the two season Legion sequel tv show they made on syfy to complete the cypher:

[Tasty]

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/original-ghostbuster-dan-aykroyd-talks-the-new-seq/1100-6467838/

Dan Akroyd: "Jason [Reitman] came up with this idea, which is just so good, everybody got it right away and understood. It will connect, better than anything, to the first [Ghostbusters]. That’s about all I can say about it, but the two movies will connect, in a way that hasn’t been done before. In a way that hasn’t been done before.

Calling it now: the Ghostbuster kids or whatever in the new movie will open some kind of door or portal, look through it, and see something like:



Sprinkle in some CG de-aging for inserted close-up shots of the three remaining actors interacting with the new cast, and there you go.

[Tasty]

https://twitter.com/KingsmanMovie/status/1141373459827527680

Should be fun.

[Raist]

That Avengers re-release thing is pathetic

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/original-ghostbuster-dan-aykroyd-talks-the-new-seq/1100-6467838/

Dan Akroyd: "Jason [Reitman] came up with this idea, which is just so good, everybody got it right away and understood. It will connect, better than anything, to the first [Ghostbusters]. That’s about all I can say about it, but the two movies will connect, in a way that hasn’t been done before. In a way that hasn’t been done before.

Calling it now: the Ghostbuster kids or whatever in the new movie will open some kind of door or portal, look through it, and see something like:

(Image removed from quote.)

Sprinkle in some CG de-aging for inserted close-up shots of the three remaining actors interacting with the new cast, and there you go.

It's 2019, shitlord

What will hapen is that it will be revealed that the Ghostbusters 2016 team is actually the original one after SRS.

[Great Rumbler]

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/original-ghostbuster-dan-aykroyd-talks-the-new-seq/1100-6467838/

Dan Akroyd: "Jason [Reitman] came up with this idea, which is just so good, everybody got it right away and understood. It will connect, better than anything, to the first [Ghostbusters]. That’s about all I can say about it, but the two movies will connect, in a way that hasn’t been done before. In a way that hasn’t been done before.

They're going to use actual ghosts! 

[Joe Molotov]

This time, everyone gets sucked off by a ghost?

[Tasty]

Believe literally anything Dan Aykroyd says, brehs

I dunno, I'd really like to believe this:

https://twitter.com/ross_maclean/status/871321678046998528

[TVC15]

I masturbated to Point Break before passing out last night again. I just love how you could tell that Keanu and Swayze were at the very least making out during downtime in shooting. I also love how when young Keanu's short hair is wet, he looks like some sort of sexy vaguely asian lesbian. The sexiest kind of lesbian. Fantastic movie.