Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[toku]

[Yeti]

I kind of liked Suicide Squad, sure it was a bad movie but at least it was an entertaining movie. I had fun.

[Momo]

http://trekcore.com/blog/2017/01/zoe-saldana-really-hopes-well-get-a-star-trek-4/

tl;dr : acctress wants a paycheck. No I hope the abramsverse is dead.

[chronovore]

http://trekcore.com/blog/2017/01/zoe-saldana-really-hopes-well-get-a-star-trek-4/

tl;dr : acctress wants a paycheck. No I hope the abramsverse is dead.

I liked BEYOND better than either of the previous two. A lot better. It suffered from runaway concept artist silliness with Yorktown design and having that silly design be central to plot resolution. The rest of it was a lot of fun.


It'd be fun to see Chris Pine's Kirk dealing with his dad; that's apparently the pitch for Kelvin Timeline film number 4.

[Momo]

My pitch is I'd rather have TV shows in the main universe.

[Bebpo]

The Wailing - Yeah, I dunno about this.  Reviews are great.  It's gorgeous looking.  The plot's interesting.  But at almost 2 hours 40 mins it's just so slow I couldn't deal with it.  Plus the main character being kind of a dolt and make dumb decisions was frustrating.  Then after the long haul it gets to the end and the plot is interesting and it sorta leaves it all super ambiguous as to what the film was actually about.  I read some interpretations and don't really find any of them fully satisfying.  It's a little too slow and too ambiguous for me.  It's a good movie, but sometimes a movie just doesn't click and that was this one for me.

[Great Rumbler]

I was of a similar mind about The Wailing. I mean, I did like it and it's got a lot of great things going for it, but other aspects of it are just confusing and a bit frustrating. One thing that really just didn't work for me was

spoiler (click to show/hide)

when the Japanese man went full-on demon at the end. Just felt a bit too ridiculous and I thought it worked a lot better in the rest of the movie when things were more ambiguous.

[close]

[Bebpo]

I think if it was half the length I'd have enjoyed it a lot more even with the exact same story.  It's just so long and I felt in the middle it sorta meanders and then gets interesting again in the end.  I guess with such a big length and stuff getting interesting in the end I expected a better payoff/more satisfaction for the time invested in the plot.

One problem I have:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm generally fine with the lady in white = good, Japanese man = bad; movie about faith and how confusing good/evil can be.  Although it's not really, because the guy originally thought Japanese guy = evil and was pro the woman, and the only reason he changes his mind is because someone who seems legit and knows what they were doing told him otherwise.  So I dunnooooooo.  But my main problem is the Shaman, I've watched some explanations and I feel like every one I watch has a plot hole.  Some say he was the Japanese guy's lackey, others that he was legit good guy shaman and then gets possessed and becomes the lackey of the evil spirit that's possessing the Japanese man, but I feel like both of those have plot wholes at points in the film if that's true.  I feel like the shaman's role is too amibiguous and considering he is the sole plot person that convinces the main guy to not believe the woman in white, I'm not satisfied with the overall plot not having a good satisfaction of who the shaman is in all of it.  I think maybe it could have been less ambiguous about his character.

Another thing is it feels a little xenophobic considering Korea/Japan relations where the old Japanese foreigner is THE DEVIL :|  Like it can be social commentary, but I also feel in kind of re-enforces the bad past scars between the countries.  Not sure if that's a good thing tbh.

[close]

[benjipwns]

I watched Coalition about the forming of the government in the UK after the 2010 election. Some of the actors were crazy spot-on for who they were playing, especially the guy doing Gordon Brown. He was more Gordon Brown than Gordon Brown really is.

Oh wait, here's the whole thing that comes up when I searched for the trailer:


Why are the British the only ones who can make decently enjoyable realistic political programs? I mean if you're willing to count Veep sorta.

"Gamechanger? Everything's a gamechanger these days! The new logo's a gamechanger! My left ball's a fucking gamechanger!" - I hope this is a real quote.

[Bebpo]

Isn't Veep done by a British guy (who did In the Loop) though?  So it's sorta British.  But yes I agree with you 100% on that they nail the politics writing.

[benjipwns]

That's why I figured you could count it sorta. He left the show before this last season though.

Yes, (Prime) Minister I still feel could be used as a backbone of a politics course, even in the U.S.

American political comedy/drama usually seems way over the top grandiose and silly...ultimate example: The West Wing

I guess maybe British writers aren't concerned about not playing favorites even with their fictional characters. This movie showed everyone in pretty "bad" light, petty, being fake at times, cursing, etc. though it was mildly favorable to Nick Clegg. But like Yes, Minister, The Thick of It and Veep never have anyone who's all good/perfect even the people never shown, just talked about.

Though I guess too that's fair criticism for many common/mainstream American shows and movies. It's obvious from the start who you're supposed to be rooting for and against. Even character "flaws" are like "they're too humble/trusting" or whatever.

[Himu]

One Piece Film Gold

Great fun! Cool action and animation! Heists! One Piece! Only negative is boobs.

Hidden Figures

Great movie. I don't think it'll win any awards from the academy unfortunately but I thought it was informative, inspiring, and a good ol time. Went to see it with my mother and boyfriend and we all came away with smiles. Great movie and it has QUEEN JANELLE in it!!!!

[Bebpo]

That's why I figured you could count it sorta. He left the show before this last season though.

Yes, (Prime) Minister I still feel could be used as a backbone of a politics course, even in the U.S.

American political comedy/drama usually seems way over the top grandiose and silly...ultimate example: The West Wing

I guess maybe British writers aren't concerned about not playing favorites even with their fictional characters. This movie showed everyone in pretty "bad" light, petty, being fake at times, cursing, etc. though it was mildly favorable to Nick Clegg. But like Yes, Minister, The Thick of It and Veep never have anyone who's all good/perfect even the people never shown, just talked about.

Though I guess too that's fair criticism for many common/mainstream American shows and movies. It's obvious from the start who you're supposed to be rooting for and against. Even character "flaws" are like "they're too humble/trusting" or whatever.

Interesting that he left the show before the latest season.  I'm really behind on all my comedy TV shows I like, I think I'm around midway through S2 in Veep.  Hopefully if he left the show it means he's going to make more great movies now.

[benjipwns]

He's taking some time off, IIRC, he mentioned that he hadn't expected to be on Veep as long and never did further seasons of The Thick of It because he felt like he was getting into the realm of trying too hard with unbelievable characters.

I remember similar comments made by the creators of both versions of The Office, that they couldn't keep seriously going farther so they had to leave it to others.

And that's with the shortened HBO and UK show order lengths for many of those. (First two US Office seasons were shortened as well.)

[benjipwns]

  From the Director of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

[benjipwns]

dying at this

[benjipwns]

Hannibal Buress on the cast 

Story by Reno 911! creators 

[benjipwns]

#F8
BAYWATCH
RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

YEAR OF THE MOVIES OF THE YEAR

[G The Resurrected]

#F8
BAYWATCH
RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

YEAR OF THE MOVIES OF THE YEAR

Tickets bought! DBOX'n this bitch

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I tend to judge present day Jackie Chan movies on a curve. But just because age and a stunningly long list of debilitating injuries have taken their toll doesn't mean the man can't still put on a good show. Case in point, I found Railroad Tigers to be a pretty good time. Jackie leads a team of railroad bandits during the Japanese occupation and train related action and heisting shenanigans ensue. Also a lot of goofy slapstick, sneering villains, unconvincing CGI, and an near endless and James Cameron-esque climax occur. This film is clearly an attempt to harken back to Chan's glory days, but with an ensemble cast and a less punishing workload for him, and that's great in theory, but the filmmaking skill isn't quite there and the special effects don't thrill as much as old-fashioned stuntwork does. So its an imperfect imitation of Jackie's classics, but that's okay, because what we've got here is still a good bit of fun. The dude has at least three more flicks dropping in 2017, if they're all this good I'd say that's a pretty good year for him.

[VomKriege]

Looks a bit like a mix of Shangaï Express & Magnificent Warriors too. Richard Ng  
The CGI really is 

[helios]

[benjipwns]

I think this is a very important video. Maybe the most important video. This is a video that won't be forgotten for the next 50 maybe even 100,000 years.

[Quaker]

I watched Coalition about the forming of the government in the UK after the 2010 election. Some of the actors were crazy spot-on for who they were playing, especially the guy doing Gordon Brown. He was more Gordon Brown than Gordon Brown really is.

Oh wait, here's the whole thing that comes up when I searched for the trailer:


Why are the British the only ones who can make decently enjoyable realistic political programs? I mean if you're willing to count Veep sorta.

"Gamechanger? Everything's a gamechanger these days! The new logo's a gamechanger! My left ball's a fucking gamechanger!" - I hope this is a real quote.

This is only going by your short description but it sounds similar to what HBO already did with Recount and Game Change.

[Stoney Mason]

Watched "Your Name" a couple of nights ago. It was good. Better than I expected. It's all about the feels and I have a feeling that if it was live action, I would think it was quite hokey but it works well enough in animated form.

[Himu]

i really need to see this new jackie chan movie. fuck, I still need to see fences too.

[bork]

Ocean's 12 popped up on Netflix recently and I watched it last night.  First time I've seen that movie in...I don't remember.  I saw it in the theater and I watched it at least once on DVD, but that's about it.  Meanwhile, I've seen Ocean's 11 (one of my favorite movies of all time) and 13 so many times that I've lost count.

And after seeing it again...I remembered why I don't go back and watch it like the other two.  What happened here?  The story was kind of dumb and there were a lot of boring parts.

[Mupepe]

The Julia Roberts pretending to be Julia Roberts shit is one of the worst things in any film. 

[bork]

The Julia Roberts pretending to be Julia Roberts shit is one of the worst things in any film.

Julia Roberts not being in 13 at all

[chronovore]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/raw-red-band-trailer-963958


Looks tasty.

[chronovore]

Hell yes. I just re-watched Ocean's 11 and saw Ocean's 13 for the first time. 11 is AWESOME, just brilliant and tight and perfect. 13 is a near return-to-form, but just slightly trying too hard to be 11.

12 is not something I ever need to see again. I think Clooney just wanted a nice working vacation in Europe with his friends. Nothing wrong with that, but the Julia Roberts plot conceit was just wankery.


THE LOBSTER - I loved this movie. Humor doesn't get darker than this without going to explicit violence or dead children. Everyone turns in stellar performances. Watching Colin Farrell's subtlety makes me finally understand why people were so excited for him early in his career. He manages to sell the role entirely. More than any of this, the writing is thoughtful, efficient, and biting. Amazing observation about the slavish ways we define ourselves by societal norms in relationships. Even when we're bucking the trend by not coupling up, we are stuck with other roles defined by others who should, in theory, appreciate individuality.

Several still-dating Boritos would benefit from seeing this movie just for the ridiculousness about shared features or interests being an unreliable barometer for relationship viability.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Tickled is an incredible documentary. Starts out with the producers endeavoring to make a puff piece documentary about an odd fetish sub-cultural, and it quickly turns into something more sinister and disturbing. It's Jinx-like in the sense that it behooves you to just go in blind and enjoy the ride. Lots of intriguing twists and turns.

[bork]

Hell yes. I just re-watched Ocean's 11 and saw Ocean's 13 for the first time. 11 is AWESOME, just brilliant and tight and perfect. 13 is a near return-to-form, but just slightly trying too hard to be 11.

12 is not something I ever need to see again. I think Clooney just wanted a nice working vacation in Europe with his friends. Nothing wrong with that, but the Julia Roberts plot conceit was just wankery.

I watched Out Of Sight last night.  Had never seen that and was getting Ocean's vibes from it initially, but it wound up being nowhere near as good.  I couldn't see Clooney's character as anything but a younger Daniel Ocean, though- he even goes to jail at the end and it's almost like you could say the character serves his time between the end of that movie and the beginning of Ocean's 11. 

Also re-watched Solaris.  Not quite as good as I remembered it, but still enjoyable.

[Great Rumbler]

Also re-watched Solaris.  Not quite as good as I remembered it, but still enjoyable.

Solaris is alright, but I ended up not enjoying it as much as the 1972 version, despite the latter being much slower and harder to follow. That last scene, though...perfection.

[chronovore]

Hell yes. I just re-watched Ocean's 11 and saw Ocean's 13 for the first time. 11 is AWESOME, just brilliant and tight and perfect. 13 is a near return-to-form, but just slightly trying too hard to be 11.

12 is not something I ever need to see again. I think Clooney just wanted a nice working vacation in Europe with his friends. Nothing wrong with that, but the Julia Roberts plot conceit was just wankery.

I watched Out Of Sight last night.  Had never seen that and was getting Ocean's vibes from it initially, but it wound up being nowhere near as good.  I couldn't see Clooney's character as anything but a younger Daniel Ocean, though- he even goes to jail at the end and it's almost like you could say the character serves his time between the end of that movie and the beginning of Ocean's 11. 

Also re-watched Solaris.  Not quite as good as I remembered it, but still enjoyable.

Read the book. It's Elmore Leonard gold. Probably only two of Elmore's crime books have translated well to the screen: Rum Punch (Jacky Brown) and Get Shorty. That's it. That's all of them. (His westerns are another matter entirely.)

[benjipwns]

Justified doesn't really stick to the original Raylan stories either, and I think he said they did way more with the character/concept than he intended, the Raylan book is based on the Justified version, not his original IIRC.

Then adapted stuff from it into the show. Making it an adaption of an adaption of an adaption.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

as a big fan of practical effects reliant movies of all sorts, excellent character actors getting leading roles (Brian Cox, love that guy), and the director's previous film (Troll Hunter), I should be pretty well primed to enjoy The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and I did. Its a fun and modest little shocker with some gooey special effects (the title is accurate, if nothing else) and some reasonably strong formal chops. And fortunately for me, the body horror effects don't manage to be too nauseating for a somewhat squeamish fellow like myself. The gore is leavened by the fact that the film isn't actually that violent, and most frightening effect manages to be a somehow increasingly placid corpse's face as the movie progresses and things go progressively haywire. Its brief, its somewhat clever and well executed, it doesn't leave much of a lasting impression but its a good time while it lasts.

[VomKriege]

We tried with friends to watch that yesterday, but to no avail...

Dude hosting has an app called Exodus, you see, a dubiously legal streaming centralizing different sources (ability to watch the trailer as pulled from Youtube). I'm not really in the game or following the news anymore and just browsing the horror section made my head spin. There's tons and tons of films being produced : most of it is shovel quality, with the constant being terrible photography, making it look they just shot that shit raw with some low grade camera. The thing though is that a lot of those features are not just amateur hour and are often attached to real producers and distributors, and sometimes you see familiar faces (Lance Henriksen for instance). Apparently Orion Pictures is still a thing, a shell (owned by MGM ?) having under its name quite a bit of those terrible films. Whoever owns it didn't even bother updating the logo : it's still the same footage than from the eighties.

Big trends seems to be Shark something movies, Exorcism and Possession and having some eighties-lite poster. Among the twenty (?) or so trailers we watched, none of it genuinely good and exciting, the highlights were :

- Shark Exorcist, probably the zenith of the derivative shark trend as far as the pitch go (otherwise looks like one of those forced & boring "shitty film on purpose" / "parody").
- Jim Wynorski is still making films. Scared Topless.
- Another Z-movie luminary is also still making his thing : Mike Mendez directed The Last Heist with Henry Rollins.
- Gnome Alone, basically a Leprechaun with Vern Troyer. We have it from one of our relations the film sucks though.
- Bunny, the killer thing, a finnish film. Go check the trailer for a good laugh. ( ). Actual film is probably shitty though.
- Fire City was probably the most interesting. Directed by a SFX artist, lots of demon makeup and a Wicked City / Nightbreed feel to it, I guess ?

We ended up settling on watching Siren, a feature film borne out from one of the sketches in V/H/S about a group of friends celebrating the imminent wedding of the protagonist, ending up in a satanic-goth strip joint and mistakenly freeing up a naked lady who is in fact a demon/siren thing (not unlike in looks to the Splice monster). There's some decent ideas but overall it's fairly poor. The film is padded up quite a bit despite being only 80mn long, especially with chase sequences that mostly consist in going circles in the same location. Besides the characters are too thin to really feel engaged.

[VomKriege]

https://twitter.com/realgdt/status/821812881893244929

https://twitter.com/realgdt/status/821791584048005120

freenudemacuser summed up my feelings on GAF :

Where is the "no" button on twitter?

[Mupepe]

Why the hell would you say no??

[Joe Molotov]

Mountains of Madness or gfto

[Madrun Badrun]

I feel like Mountains of Madness would make a pretty bad movie compared to other Lovecraft stories. 

[VomKriege]

Why the hell would you say no??

The two Hellboy movies were rather average, and the second film was a downgrade from the first.

Mountains of Madness or gfto

Unless the project has been retooled, it's probably not happening. I believe that when it was in talks, it was budgeted at 120-150m$, a rather expensive price for a film to be rated R with some of the risk offset being the then presence of Tom Cruise. The whole project was buried down back in 2011. Universal, which was supposed to produce it, probably preferred to bank on the safer bet of the Mummy (production budget unknown) and creating a "cinematic universe"™ for its monsters ?

A penguin model, probably destined for the film, was exposed at an exposition of Del Toro's own collection of stuff

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[G The Resurrected]

Kong Skull Island

Saw an early screening and holy shit this movie is awesome. It's Godzilla 2014 but with a real story and amazing scenes of violence and savagery. The movie was a bit long, but I'm sure it's in the process of final edits. Kong was awesome and the monsters are even cooler, but its the humans that are really something else in this movie.

[Tasty]

[benjipwns]

Brian03Sanchez  1 hour ago
Maybe this movie will save marvel

[toku]

[Tasty]

UK version with more swears:

[Momo]

the trailer kinda shows too much for my liking and to be honest deflated my hype for the movie a little, I still think it will be one of the best hero movies though

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

How is Sleepless flying so far under the radar? This movie kinda kicks arse. Its nearly as good as its French source material, trading its grit for gloss (Vegas setting and all) and getting great action scenes as part of the deal. Like the original, it takes a crapload of competing factions(cops, criminals, and in between), puts them in one location, gives them a pair of Macguffins to chase/fight/cross amd decieve each other over. Its economical, chaotic fun, but with action and staging with an eye towards visual clarity (so appreciated). Its a B-movie, but its a pretty good one. I'll bet Jason Statham is kicking himself acrobatically right now for not.getting this gig.

[benjipwns]

  sure checked every box on that trailer

[toku]

What Out of Sight is great. Not Soderbergh's best but a definite point of interest.

[benjipwns]

written by John Gatins, Kieran Mulroney, Michele Mulroney, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless

jesus christ

[Momo]

Power Rangers will p4p be the movie that disappoints most people this year, followed closely by ghost and the shell and bible stories : jesus removed the thorn from the diplodocus paw.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

well its certainly gonna disappoint its financiers something mightily.

also I'm calling King Arthur, Valerian, The Emoji Movie, and Transformers 5(ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) as some of the major bombs of this year.

[VomKriege]

It's weird to see such an elaborate movie coming from a franchise that is in essence as cheapskate as it gets.

Maybe they can sell back the footage to some Japanese V-Cinema producer !

[benjipwns]

I've seen speculation that they could wind up spending $200-250 million on the thing.

They have some absurd expectations for it:

Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate, in a conference call to analysts said "We could see doing five or six or seven [Power Ranger films]."

[Momo]

well its certainly gonna disappoint its financiers something mightily.

also I'm calling King Arthur, Valerian, The Emoji Movie, and Transformers 5(ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) as some of the major bombs of this year.

I sincerely hope not for Valerian, I really, really want it to be a thing.

[VomKriege]

I've seen speculation that they could wind up spending $200-250 million on the thing.

They have some absurd expectations for it:

Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate, in a conference call to analysts said "We could see doing five or six or seven [Power Ranger films]."

Pure speculation, but I'd expect Saban to have signed a pretty sweet deal and not be the suckers left out to dry...

I sincerely hope not for Valerian, I really, really want it to be a thing.

I commented on that in another thread, but financially I wouldn't worry too much for the film. According to the paperwork they submitted to French public institutions for film; they expect 50m Euros in foreign sales, have pre-sold it for 9m or so just for broadcast to French channels, are getting 12m in tax breaks, and have a major chinese partner involved (with distribution in China guaranteed). I would expect it to do OK at the very least on the worldwide market. It's not certain it will be a popular hit at the North American box office though.

[ToxicAdam]

Looking at the schedule, Valerian only has to compete with Spider Man (in it's third week) and Planet of Apes (in it's second week). The week it opens it's up against Dunkirk.

I think it should do okay (unless word of mouth ravages it).