Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Tuckers Law]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Sherlock movies and Man from UNCLE, I actually really enjoyed those as well.

Snatch is his best movie though, very hard for that one to be beat or even matched.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/1480048143815294983

[Potato]

Saw the spider thing.

Outside the fan service, you have a strangely paced film with pretty average or rehashed fight scenes and little ongoing impact or relevance to the ongoing storyline.

Fan service was pretty good though.

[Bebpo]

Rewatched Ghostbusters II last night in the 4k release. Looks jaw-droppingly good with this restoration.
Hadn't seen the movie since I was a kid, it's fine. Not a great movie like the first, but totally fine and watchable. I know it gets a lot of hate, but I don't think it's that bad. I think the worst part rewatching both films is how Ernie Hudson's character gets shafted and it's really a 3 person team with occasional butt of jokes Ernie Hudson :\

Now that I've re-watched I & II over the last few months I'm ready to watch Afterlife tonight.


/still gonna watch Ghostbusters 2016, but will watch Afterlife first.

[Bebpo]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

When people say the major studios are creatively bankrupt this movie is like the personification of that. It's fine but like it's the worst retread I've ever seen of an old IP. First they make it a kids movie going for that Stranger Things but even younger audience, and then they don't even bother coming up with a new story. And they totally waste Paul Rudd when the trailers made it seem like he was at least the lead of the film.

I can't see how 2016 is gonna be worse. At least that one is about adults busting ghosts and is not just a retread storyline. Will watch it and see.

[Bebpo]

Also this got me thinking. Does Sony Pictures have the worst script writers/studio idea people of any major studio for their big budget films?

Ghostbusters Afterlife
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
James Bond Spectre
The Dark Tower
The Venom Movies
And most people don't like Ghostbuster 2016 either

When was the last time Sony Pictures made a big budget tentpole movie that actually had a good story? Googling their films it doesn't seem like any time in recent history.

And no, we're not counting the new Spider-Man movie since that's definitely not on them.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I can't see how 2016 is gonna be worse. At least that one is about adults busting ghosts...(SNIP)

Gonna have to lower your expectations and add some airquotes around some of those words...

As for Sony Pictures, after The Interview hack I think they scaled back on movies and focused more on TV, and tbh their TV side is absolutely fucking killing it.

I think Jumanji is probably their biggest most recent blockbuster franchise...? I thought Zombieland: Double Tap was pretty good too

[Raist]

The fuck is this

[Tasty]

GB 2016 has shockingly poor production values and is aggressively unfunny. I honestly can't see how Afterlife is worse.

[Uncle]

GB 2016 has shockingly poor production values and is aggressively unfunny. I honestly can't see how Afterlife is worse.

I guess it depends on what kind of worse you're looking for...

• a comedy about blue collar weirdos starting a business busting ghosts like the original except it tries way too hard to be funny
• a meaningful children's film filled with heart and whimsy and emotional reverence for SNL alums who drunkenly stumbled their way to box office success

[Joe Molotov]

The fuck is this

The story all about how my life got twisted upside down.

[Bebpo]

GB 2016 has shockingly poor production values and is aggressively unfunny. I honestly can't see how Afterlife is worse.

I guess it depends on what kind of worse you're looking for...

• a comedy about blue collar weirdos starting a business busting ghosts like the original except it tries way too hard to be funny
• a meaningful children's film filled with heart and whimsy and emotional reverence for SNL alums who drunkenly stumbled their way to box office success

I feel like you're giving Afterlife too much credit there.
If the movie was just a kids movie filled with heart and whimsy it'd actually be good. It's a nostalgia fan-service vehicle with no originality.

The only thing that works in Afterlife is the main girl and her friend and their ghostbusting adventures. Everything else in the movie really doesn't work like the Stranger Things kid and Paul Rudd.

[benjipwns]

[Bebpo]

Was gonna watch Ghostbuster 2016 tonight, but I figured my "watching bad movies" streak with Amazing Spider-Man 2, Matrix 4 and Ghostbusters Afterlife and tomorrow maaaaybe Eternals gonna join that needed a break.

So I watched The Last Duel. Was good. Wasn't as impressed as a lot of people that were talking about it like it was Scott's new Kingdom of Heaven DC. But it was a good solid movie that didn't feel like 2.5 hours. Thought everyone except Affleck did a good performance and the duel itself was great. The other action sequences were just kind of ok.

I think I kind of expected to the movie to have more to the story than the premise/trailer, but it really doesn't. Still a good film.

[HardcoreRetro]

The fuck is this

3 years ago, my guy Morgan Cooper uploaded his fan trailer to YouTube, showing how he envisioned the Fresh Prince as a drama. Now, here is the first full look at his retelling of the story that’s always been so close to my heart.

[Madrun Badrun]

The Eternals was a weird movie.  It's very similar to Justice League and has a lot of the same issues, however on the whole it's much more coherent.  It is very pretty to look at.  I didn't care about most of the characters until the end.  That being said I am interested in a sequel now. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also 2 seconds of BLADE!!!

[close]

[Cauliflower Of Love]

The fuck is this

3 years ago, my guy Morgan Cooper uploaded his fan trailer to YouTube, showing how he envisioned the Fresh Prince as a drama. Now, here is the first full look at his retelling of the story that’s always been so close to my heart.

His life got flipped-turned upside down

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Can't help but feel a 10 hour bel air 'drama' show is still never going to hit the emotional resonance of the 'feel good sitcom' scenes where wills asking why his dad abandoned him / carlton wonders whether his getting stopped by the cops was legit / Will fesses up it was his amphetamines carlton took / carlton hands the gun he just bought over to will

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Or when will was hitting on 15 year olds


Or got married to have sex

[Bebpo]

So on apparently the most divisive superhero movie ever, outside of the end stuff being a bit messy, I thought Eternals was excellent and one of the most interesting thing Marvel has done.

Like Shang-Chi's first 3/4ths, it actually feels like a real non-cape movie, which I think is a plus. I want Marvel to break out of the generic superhero mold and do more interesting things. Shang-Chi was more interesting. Eternals was more interesting.

If it wasn't for Black Widow being generic superhero mold zzz, I'd say the 4th Phase is their best phase yet. Especially adding Wandavision into the mix. Looking forward to Spider-Man in a few months when it gets on streaming.

[Madrun Badrun]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife:  I liked this.  I'm not a big fan of the originals, but I appreciate tightly plotted kids' movies.  At times, some of the humor seems to match the originals.   

[Bebpo]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife:  I liked this.  I'm not a big fan of the originals, but I appreciate tightly plotted kids' movies.  At times, some of the humor seems to match the originals.   

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Probably explains why you are ok with the Gozer/Keymaster thing again.

I really like Ghostbusters 1 and doing the whole ARE YOU THE KEYMASTER possessed thing again was just super lame. Especially since it basically wrote out Paul Rudd's character who until that point seemed like he was actually a smart nerdy guy who was gonna be involved in solving the mysteries with the kids.

[close]

[Bebpo]

I think Eternals kinda lowered my interest in the MCU, just because I don't want to go back to normal superhero films after that  

Also I'm bummed Eternals bombed. Feels like Marvel won't try something like that again in the future.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

But now I'm more hyped for Blade. Ali's one line delivery sounded perfect.

[close]

[Rahxephon91]

Exactly man.

Honestly, I liked Eternals. The parts I didn't were mostly the parts that felt like they were setting up other movies. Now it wasn't perfect and I'd like to see it again to have a better opinion. The story felt like it was more interested in dealing with themes of myth and what roles play in ones life. I mean these people are Gods and so I felt the story had a more epic feeling to it.  I don't know, I really enjoyed it. One thing that I don't think gets any praise was that the action was good. The Eternals worked as a team and that was well realized on screen.

I don't know, I just remember walking out of that theater thinking that the movie had a bit more meat on it's bones then normal MCU stuff. And I wasn't hyped for it(I'm sure I made a post around here about how I thought it looked pretentious, how the woke argument around it was annoying). But I genuinely enjoyed it.

[Bebpo]

The movie is so divisive I talk to friends and they say the action is bad and I'm like what, the way they show off some OP powers is pretty cool.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Flash vs Superman with dozens of after images punching Superman against the wall looked awesome.

[close]

Everyone thinks Eternals is either good, ok, or bad. So basically got the whole spectrum covered and no one can agree on anything from characters to CG to action.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Eternals


More like when will this eternity end.

[Potato]

So on apparently the most divisive superhero movie ever, outside of the end stuff being a bit messy, I thought Eternals was excellent and one of the most interesting thing Marvel has done.

Like Shang-Chi's first 3/4ths, it actually feels like a real non-cape movie, which I think is a plus. I want Marvel to break out of the generic superhero mold and do more interesting things. Shang-Chi was more interesting. Eternals was more interesting.

If it wasn't for Black Widow being generic superhero mold zzz, I'd say the 4th Phase is their best phase yet. Especially adding Wandavision into the mix. Looking forward to Spider-Man in a few months when it gets on streaming.

Spiderman is about as superhero as superhero movies get.

I'm going to watch Eternals tonight with my daughter

[Cauliflower Of Love]

eternals was marvels power rangers movie

[Bebpo]

I feel like it's Marvel's PG-13 version of Watchmen. If it was another hour long the comparison would be more apt.

I think Snyder's Watchmen is terrific, so that's not really a dig.

[Potato]

I'm halfway through Eternals. This is trash.

[Bebpo]

One of the many things I liked about Eternals was that with a large cast, first film, and mostly independent from MCU, every characters was fair game to die and didn't have plot armor. Gave it a little more tension and made it interesting seeing which characters would make it through the movie for further MCU appearances.

That being said the disconnect from the general MCU has its negatives

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I wasn't thrilled that they literally wrote this film out of the MCU almost completely in the end. By zapping out the ones on the earth outside the girl and then by having the space crew go chase them to the far ends of the galaxy, they basically just wrote out every single one of them outside the little girl from further MCU stuff for a long while.

Would've liked a few to stick around on earth and be involved in future stuff. Now that their mission was over they'd be free to do whatever they wanted and interact with stuff.

But also I'm just glad that Barry Keoghan survived. Having him and his weird creepiness in MCU automatically makes MCU better. The role they gave him was a great fit for his style.

[close]

[Bebpo]

Re: Ghostbusters Afterlife, this was linked to me and it's a pretty good teardown of why the movie is bad even if I don't really agree with all of it and it's way too harsh

https://gizmodo.com/ghostbusters-afterlife-the-spoiler-faq-1848344731

Still planning on watching 2016 soon to compare. Also planning on playing the PS3/X360 Ghostbusters game based on the Ghostbusters 3 script to compare since I'm in a Ghostbusters nostalgia mood.

[Bebpo]

So the new Scream is getting good reviews. Was Scream 4 actually good? I saw the old ones but last Scream I saw was in the 90s.

[Potato]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Literal extinction level event and not a single avenger bothers to even turn up to find out what the fuck is going on.

Earth as a setting was not even relevant outside of a few shoehorned token lines.

Angelina Jolie was hot garbage, Salma Hayek is hot but not a superhero, Rob Stark was ok, gay black dude was cool, weird Irish guy was the only interesting character and was criminally underused, sad Asian girl was unconvincing, Indian dude had a couple good lines but was gazumped by his valet (Harish Patel is always amazing), Asian powerfist guy just remind me of Dr Strange's sidekick too much. Didn't give a shit about the weird kid.

Celestials that are not Kurt Russell are about the least interesting beings in the whole MCU.

The only positive to this film was the post credits scenes.

[Bebpo]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Sure, that works. But then you have to get the audience to feel empathy for an alien planet at risk.

Literal extinction level event and not a single avenger bothers to even turn up to find out what the fuck is going on.

I mean no one would've known what was going on until it was too late. The whole finale took place over like 5-10 mins. Also I think having to make every property so connected in the MCU where you're like in every movie "Where were XX other capes" is just overkill. You just have to run with it. Even stuff like Wandavision and Hawkeye has this same issue.

Earth as a setting was not even relevant outside of a few shoehorned token lines.

It was because it's a 2.5 hour movie and it saves them the time to explain an entire world's history and make people care about that world.

Angelina Jolie was hot garbage, Salma Hayek is hot but not a superhero, Rob Stark was ok, gay black dude was cool, weird Irish guy was the only interesting character and was criminally underused, sad Asian girl was unconvincing, Indian dude had a couple good lines but was gazumped by his valet (Harish Patel is always amazing), Asian powerfist guy just remind me of Dr Strange's sidekick too much. Didn't give a shit about the weird kid.

Celestials that are not Kurt Russell are about the least interesting beings in the whole MCU.

Eh, everyone likes different characters. I thought everyone in the cast was likeable and interesting except Rob Stark but they gave him a plot reason for his wooden acting and I thought Salma Hayek was the only legit wooden/uninteresting character in the main cast. I liked the lead and Gilgamesh from Train to Busan was cool. I found Kumal a little bit annoying but still enjoyed him and I like everyone else was good with what they had.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rob Stark is totally emotionless the whole movie but then you find out that he knew the whole time and tried not to care/become attached to humanity/earth over thousands of years so it at least explains that.

[close]

[Potato]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Sure, that works. But then you have to get the audience to feel empathy for an alien planet at risk.

I guess. It was hard enough feeling any empathy for Earth in that film.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Sure, that works. But then you have to get the audience to feel empathy for an alien planet at risk.

I guess. It was hard enough feeling any empathy for Earth in that film.

which earth, the empty london city, or the empty random beach, or was it the empty field with a house on it

[Potato]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Sure, that works. But then you have to get the audience to feel empathy for an alien planet at risk.

I guess. It was hard enough feeling any empathy for Earth in that film.

which earth, the empty london city, or the empty random beach, or was it the empty field with a house on it

I think the empty field with a house on it that was meant to be Australia, but looked nothing like any landscape that we have in Australia (one of the most ecologically unique places in the world).

[shosta]

Macbeth was a turd.

[HardcoreRetro]

Which one? There's like a million Macbeth movies. The 2021 one?

[Don Rumata]

Which one?

Shakespeare's? 

[Potato]

Othello (1995) with Kenneth Branagh and Laurence Fishburne is still my favourite Shakespeare film adaptation.

Also, this review of Eternals sums up most of my thoughts nicely https://www.tor.com/2022/01/12/i-dont-wear-a-cape-eternals/

[HardcoreRetro]

Which one?

Shakespeare's? 

He filmed his own version? The Lumière brothers are fucking frauds.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Eternals shouldn't have been set on earth.

Sure, that works. But then you have to get the audience to feel empathy for an alien planet at risk.

I haven't seen it yet, but that's not that hard to do, even in big budget mainstream scifi - Avatar and Guardians Of The Galaxy both managed it. Also certain episodes of star Wars.

[Nintex]

Even video games manage to do that

Reach

Tallon IV

And Tallon IV is literally extinct

[Rahxephon91]

I mean the entire point was that they are gods that have to deal with their relationship or distance from humanity. Why would you not set it on earth?

[Potato]

I mean the entire point was that they are gods that have to deal with their relationship or distance from humanity. Why would you not set it on earth?

Because a giant space ship emerging from the sands of Iraq and giant monsters attacking people in the middle of London should probably attract the attention of one of the multitude of superheroes that are running about with flying ships and magic and all sorts of powers?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

...and let's not talk about the enormous world-ending celestial that is emerging from the earth...

[close]

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I've not seen this take made, and it's such an obvious take I have to assume someone else has made it, but I'm going to drop it anyway;

the Eternals is the MCU Cloud Atlas.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

how do i watch spiderman


also i fell asleep so fucking hard trying to watch macbeth, needs more gary whitta

Othello (1995) with Kenneth Branagh and Laurence Fishburne is still my favourite Shakespeare film adaptation.

Also, this review of Eternals sums up most of my thoughts nicely https://www.tor.com/2022/01/12/i-dont-wear-a-cape-eternals/

oh a woman directed this

[bork]

GB 2016 has shockingly poor production values and is aggressively unfunny. I honestly can't see how Afterlife is worse.

I guess it depends on what kind of worse you're looking for...

• a comedy about blue collar weirdos starting a business busting ghosts like the original except it tries way too hard to be funny
• a meaningful children's film filled with heart and whimsy and emotional reverence for SNL alums who drunkenly stumbled their way to box office success

I feel like you're giving Afterlife too much credit there.
If the movie was just a kids movie filled with heart and whimsy it'd actually be good. It's a nostalgia fan-service vehicle with no originality.

The only thing that works in Afterlife is the main girl and her friend and their ghostbusting adventures. Everything else in the movie really doesn't work like the Stranger Things kid and Paul Rudd.

I disagree- I think it did both the "kids movie filled with heart and whimsy" and "nostalgia fan-service vehicle" stuff well.  It didn't feel like a retread of the first Ghostbusters, even with the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gozer and underlings

[close]

stuff, either.  It felt like a proper sequel.  It's a very different type of movie from the other Ghostbusters films, but I think I may like it more than GB2.  I tried to rewatch it again recently and couldn't get through it, whereas I can watch the original over and over again.

[bork]

Haven't watched Eternals yet.  Probably will today- I hope they do a decent job of explaining why these characters weren't there to fight Thanos. 

[Tasty]

Is Eternals on D+ yet?

A D+ is about what I'm expecting going in.

Probably doesn't help I just watched Spider-Man and haven't seen Black Widow or Shang-Chi, so the only meh MCU movies I've as reference are Thor 2 and Captain Marvel from years ago.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

it's on d+


or d-

cause that film phew

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Is Eternals on D+ yet?

A D+ is about what I'm expecting going in.

Probably doesn't help I just watched Spider-Man and haven't seen Black Widow or Shang-Chi, so the only meh MCU movies I've as reference are Thor 2 and Captain Marvel from years ago.

black widow is fun, and shang chi is eh.

iron man one and incredible hulk still the best marvel movies in the past decade.

[Rahxephon91]

I mean the entire point was that they are gods that have to deal with their relationship or distance from humanity. Why would you not set it on earth?

Because a giant space ship emerging from the sands of Iraq and giant monsters attacking people in the middle of London should probably attract the attention of one of the multitude of superheroes that are running about with flying ships and magic and all sorts of powers?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

...and let's not talk about the enormous world-ending celestial that is emerging from the earth...

[close]

Yeah this is a problem with Super hero universes since their invention...

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Haven't watched Eternals yet.  Probably will today- I hope they do a decent job of explaining why these characters weren't there to fight Thanos. 

[BadAss2961]

Scream '22 was meh. Not terrible, but not really worth it either.

The opening scene really sets itself up as a foreshadowing of just how lacking it is in all aspects compared to the original.

The new cast is mostly forgettable and poorly acted outside a couple exceptions in Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mikey Madison.

Some of the kills are pretty brutal, but the setups are completely uninspired. The tension just isn't there.

The reveal is super lame, especially the motive. All the sequels have this problem given the nature of being connected to the original.

[bork]

Is Eternals on D+ yet?

A D+ is about what I'm expecting going in.

Probably doesn't help I just watched Spider-Man and haven't seen Black Widow or Shang-Chi, so the only meh MCU movies I've as reference are Thor 2 and Captain Marvel from years ago.

black widow is fun, and shang chi is eh.

Black Widow is the 'eh' one.  I'd put Eternals on that list, too.  Was a snoozer.

[bork]

Eternals: Most of the story in this movie felt pointless and they cut have easily have cut half of it out with nothing lost.  Some have said that this is "a different kind of Marvel movie," and if by that they meant "stupid and boring," they're on point.   

This took way too long to get going and the most interesting things that happened were the post-credit scenes that introduced characters/events not even featured in the main story.  The Deviants just being CG monsters meant they had zero personality and when one of them finally displayed one it was like "LOL HE DEAD!" 

The "Thanos explanation" given was just fucking stupid and given the plot reveals in this movie, what he did almost presents him as more of a hero than anyone else in this film. 

Also The Eternals have been alive for millions of years and never even got a different haircut?  Plus it really was kinda weird how much Icarus looked like Bucky/Winter Soldier cosplaying as Superman.

I mean the entire point was that they are gods that have to deal with their relationship or distance from humanity. Why would you not set it on earth?

Because a giant space ship emerging from the sands of Iraq and giant monsters attacking people in the middle of London should probably attract the attention of one of the multitude of superheroes that are running about with flying ships and magic and all sorts of powers?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

...and let's not talk about the enormous world-ending celestial that is emerging from the earth...

[close]

They really should have made the setting for this movie take place before Iron Man 1 if not even earlier (say, before Captain Marvel or even Captain America) or even further in the past.  No Thanos explanations would have been needed and it wouldn't have changed much of anything with the story except for Dane Whitman, who is such a minor character that he could be cut and nothing would have mattered.

[bork]

If it wasn't for Black Widow being generic superhero mold zzz, I'd say the 4th Phase is their best phase yet. Especially adding Wandavision into the mix. Looking forward to Spider-Man in a few months when it gets on streaming.

I feel like it's even split between the multiverse stuff, which has been pretty awesome (Loki and Spider-Man No Way Home at least- haven't seen What If? yet.) and everything else.  Haven't watched Hawkeye yet either, but Loki is the only TV series that I enjoyed a lot.  Wandavision started off strong, but became kind of a letdown.  I do think some of that had to do with multiverse-teasing in both the show and from social media, where everything was almost frothing at the mouth waiting for a big reveal that never happened.  Instead, Loki was that show.