Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Assimilate]

Just saw Mother. Going to have to read some analysis of this but whatever it is I just watched, it was cathartic.

Hated it, thought it was dumb, basic and obvious.

are you fucking serious? compared to what else coming out of shitty ass hollywood?

Compared to what it presents itself as, I'm not going to judge a Marvel movie along the same scale (yes i judge ambitious, artsy and 'good' movies harsher)

You say it was dumb and obvious but a ton of people didn't get it at all. I thought it was fresh, clever, and really well executed. It's a slow crazy ride that builds up and reveals itself. Not sure how you find that "obvious"

I dont care about a ton of people, this is my opinion. Just for the record, I read a ton of books and watch more films than I care to admit, i just dont report it in here often. Also I dont care about Mother enough to discuss it further 

 

Chill Ebert.

[Tasty]

I didn't like The Invitation haha, I remember enjoying the pace of the build up of it, but found the payoff to be too predictable and uninteresting.

I enjoyed it a lot, for a couple reasons:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

- The overall movie took its time, but I knew that something would have to happen in the last 25 minutes, and I had been keeping an eye on the runtime.
- It didn't go in a direction I would have hated (aliens, robots, clones, ghosts, etc.)
- Usually when I watch a cult suicide movie like The Sacrament (by everyone's favorite overrated horror director Ti West), the suicide is sooooo overwrought and overdone. I loved how small-scale this was (that is until the ending, which I also loved.)
- The music was so, so, so good and integral to the whole experience. I really felt I was in Logan Marshall-Green's shoes the entire time.

[close]

[TVC15]

I didn't like The Invitation haha, I remember enjoying the pace of the build up of it, but found the payoff to be too predictable and uninteresting.

This is how I felt. It felt like a big buildup to a reveal where it was the obvious thing all along. It wasn’t bad or anything, just a bit disappointing.

[TVC15]

Frances Ha - Loved it. Loved pretty much all the characters. Use of B&W felt fitting. There’s a lot of new wave in this. Frances the character was a delight. She does bad and stupid things and seems to make all the wrong decisions, but she still comes off as very endearing. Greta Gerwig did a fantastic job here.

[Momo]

Saw Black Panther, 7/10 for me, one of the better Marvel movies, but still very much a Marvel movie.

[chronovore]

Black Panther It's a good marvel movie. That's about all I can say about it. Really the costume design was impeccable. The battle music was great. But man, when they weren't in action the music was so cheesy and hamfisted . It was distracting. Predictable to a fault. But it had the best villian in the MCU movies so far.

Early man A return to form for Aardman. A little cheesy, well,quite cheesy, even squeezing in a few fart jokes, but it was very enjoyable and adorable. Sorta surprising how mis-marketed the movie was. They played it like a "stone age meets bronze age" When really they should've been like "Best soccer movie since Shaolin Soccer." I mean it's a world cup year after all. I don't know if it was worth seeing in a theatre but definitely great DVD or streaming material.

But Shaolin Soccer wasn't a massive hit in the USA, it was a niche hit. And soccer is still an unappreciated sport in the USA, so the marketing really had a difficult pitch to work through. No pun intended.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Black Panther It's a good marvel movie. That's about all I can say about it. Really the costume design was impeccable. The battle music was great. But man, when they weren't in action the music was so cheesy and hamfisted . It was distracting. Predictable to a fault. But it had the best villian in the MCU movies so far.

Early man A return to form for Aardman. A little cheesy, well,quite cheesy, even squeezing in a few fart jokes, but it was very enjoyable and adorable. Sorta surprising how mis-marketed the movie was. They played it like a "stone age meets bronze age" When really they should've been like "Best soccer movie since Shaolin Soccer." I mean it's a world cup year after all. I don't know if it was worth seeing in a theatre but definitely great DVD or streaming material.

But Shaolin Soccer wasn't a massive hit in the USA, it was a niche hit. And soccer is still an unappreciated sport in the USA, so the marketing really had a difficult pitch to work through. No pun intended.

Yeah, that might be true. But still, you could easily tap into the soccer mom market. At least it's something. The marketing makes this look like a Croods meets Ice Age thing, which it's not, and also I think people would be like "Another cave man movie? No thanks." Really the only reason I wanted to see it was Aardman making it. But I'm way, way way in the minority of people who actually know what Aardman even is, or what they produce.

[TEEEPO]

Frances Ha - Loved it. Loved pretty much all the characters. Use of B&W felt fitting. There’s a lot of new wave in this. Frances the character was a delight. She does bad and stupid things and seems to make all the wrong decisions, but she still comes off as very endearing. Greta Gerwig did a fantastic job here.

frances ha is a film i've grown to appreciate overtime despite only having seen it once. there has been more than several occasions where my thoughts randomly lead me to recall all the bad decisions frances made in relation to the bad decisions i consistently make throughout not only my own life, but my friends as well. i have a lot more in common with frances than i cared to admit at the time and a large reason why i didn't exactly love the film was because i found her insufferable.


also, lady bird was amazing

[bork]

[Joe Molotov]

Help Bore, should I see the black movie or the lady movie this weekend?? 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I may watch both, but I'm more hyped for Annihilation atm.

[close]

[Assimilate]

also, lady bird was amazing

 

 Annihilation

THis.

[Momo]

Was excited to watch Annihilation in the theater, but now i have to watch it on netflix, thanks obama 

[Assimilate]

Was excited to watch Annihilation in the theater, but now i have to watch it on netflix, thanks obama

wait, wut?   

Momo just saved me money getting a date to go to a movie and dinner. Now i can sit home with beer by myself and Netflix... maybe the date to

 

[Joe Molotov]

Was excited to watch Annihilation in the theater, but now i have to watch it on netflix, thanks obama

wait, wut?   

Momo just saved me money getting a date to go to a movie and dinner. Now i can sit home with beer by myself and Netflix... maybe the date to

 

It's not on Netflix if you're in Murica, only shithole countries.

[Assimilate]

Was excited to watch Annihilation in the theater, but now i have to watch it on netflix, thanks obama

wait, wut?   

Momo just saved me money getting a date to go to a movie and dinner. Now i can sit home with beer by myself and Netflix... maybe the date to

 

It's not on Netflix if you're in Murica, only shithole countries.

And i'm currently in one for another week!

 

[Momo]

Shitholes only get it like 2 or 3 weeks after the limited cinema run I think

[Assimilate]

Shitholes only get it like 2 or 3 weeks after the limited cinema run I think

But there's also Mute coming out on netflix friday.

[kingv]

I just finished reading the Southern Reach trilogy, and can’t help but think Annihilation is going to be hot trash after seeing the previews. It looks like it takes the premise of the books, and then removes all of the interesting parts to make it more palatable for the mass market.

[Joe Molotov]

I just finished reading the Southern Reach trilogy, and can’t help but think Annihilation is going to be hot trash after seeing the previews. It looks like it takes the premise of the books, and then removes all of the interesting parts to make it more palatable for the mass market.

The scuttlebutt is that the studio higher-ups hated it for being too cerebral and not mass marketable enough, which is why they passed off its international distribution to Netflix.

[ToxicAdam]

Not sure if I can blame the studio execs. We just came off a year where Valarian and BR2049 made about the same box office.

[chronovore]

Finally saw Wonder Woman. It was fun, mostly popcorny garbage with one reasonable insight into humans bringing shit on themselves. Chris Pine was funny, Gal Gadot was gorgeous, David Thewlis was great as usual. The CG human animation effects were surprisingly bad, like Matrix-Reloaded-levels of floaty, unbelievable bullshit.

[Great Rumbler]

I just finished reading the Southern Reach trilogy, and can’t help but think Annihilation is going to be hot trash after seeing the previews. It looks like it takes the premise of the books, and then removes all of the interesting parts to make it more palatable for the mass market.

The scuttlebutt is that the studio higher-ups hated it for being too cerebral and not mass marketable enough, which is why they passed off its international distribution to Netflix.

Ah, so it's a Cloverfield Paradox situation.

[Tasty]

Cerebral is the last thing I'd describe Cloverfield Paradox as.

[Great Rumbler]

[Corporal]

Found an old DVD case that had fallen behind my storage thingamadingdongs. It's even a Special Edition!

Currently watching Save the Green Planet. What a delightfully crazy film.

[bork]

(Image removed from quote.)

 

[Tasty]

Too bad they killed him off.

Save Zemo but kill Michael B Jordon brehs

[Bebpo]

Probably gonna go see Annihilation tonight. Never even heard of the movie until yesterday and was like wtf Alex Garland has a new movie and it has creatures and sci-fi and good reviews? Whaaaaaa

I blame it on having a totally generic name. Also the movie is going to fucking bomb. Undermarketed hard sci-fi the week after BP?  :'(

Too bad they killed him off.

Save Zemo but kill Michael B Jordon brehs

spoiler (click to show/hide)

If you read the comics you know that Killmonger's been dead and brought back to life multiple times.

Still a chance!

I'm still hoping in BP2 they're like "oh after you fell off the waterfall we rushed Forest Whitaker to the one person hospital in secret and saved him, and now he's fine" I want Zuri in BP2
Only character they actually kill off on the BP supporting team is FW, dooming him to never be in another Marvel movie again :\ Ghost Dog deserves better.

[close]

[Tasty]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

AFAIK they've never brought someone back in the MCU movies. They did it to Coulson in Agents of Shield but that led to like a year and a half of PTSD shit. And I think they lost the formula too.

I mean, with the Infinity Stones anything is possible, but I doubt we'll see him again.

[close]

[Corporal]

More movies should feature a gun fight between a man with a gun and a bee swarm. Including close ups of the individually shot down bees.

I'm feeling the itch for more Korean movies now. Only thing I have readily available at home is "My wife is a gangster", which will do I guess. Not in the mood to dig through prime videos and ending up with dub-only crap.

But my god, is the beginning of that movie cringy. Yikes. I mean, it's by design, but... argh. ARGH. Can't fall asleep to that. The Fremdscham is killing me.

[Tasty]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/annihilation-will-mess-with-your-mind-and-have-you-begg-1823193820

There’s no doubt that it’s a great film, but it feels like a movie best appreciated after two viewings or even three. Surely there are things one could miss on a first viewing or forgive upon reflection, and thematically, that makes total sense. I can’t wait to watch it again. But, on a first viewing, Alex Garland’s Annihilation is an amazing movie that falls just shy of being incredible—a fact that still makes it definitely worth checking out.

And it rules. It’s not the book, that’s for sure, but it gives the book a deeper, more satisfying spin.

Seems like the reviews for Annihilation are pretty good. Excited!

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Save the Green Planet, Man, I love that movie.

Speaking of delightfully crazy, Double Lover is winding its way through an American limited release, and it is something else, lemme tell ya. Brazenly sexually explicit, even by the standards of French cinema, and weird, even by the standards of its director. It's hard to tell how seriously you're ever supposed to take this decidedly unserious and intentionally lurid film, but a big part of the pleasure I had from watching it was seeing (and being constantly surprised) by how exactly it goes off the rails. But before it gets all crazy it at least plays the part of a typical highbrow French drama to begin with. A fragile young women begins psycho-analytic therapy to help with her persistant stomach pains, they fall in love and happiness ensues, until she discovers the existence of a disavowed twin brother, than shit gets kinda strange as she tries to uncover the mystery of the brothers seeming feud. Its a hoot. Its the best Paul Verhoeven film I ever seen that he didn't actually make.

[team filler]

annihilation doubters annihilated

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

So I've been gradually building my knowledge base on Indian film. I'm not gonna lie, its actually kinda tough to get into 'Indian Film' because there's no one Indian cinema industry, there's actually dozens of them, stratified by language, artistic ambition and financial resources. Even people I know who speak an Indian language have a limited perspective ('That guy's movies? I dunno, he's only in Tamil films, right?').

My longwinded point being is that I see a fair number of films that I take something from, but I can't actually easilly reccomend to most people. But the pleasingly nasty thriller Nh10 is a notable exception. Its got a compact running time, minimally intrusive songs, and a simple (and rightiously angry) premise. A couple of well meaning but basically flawed yuppies attempt to intervene in an honor killing, and then shit gets grim. Its a well made thriller that nimbly leaps over many of the traps that much other Indian, and even Asian cinema falls into that makes it a bit impenetrable. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for any outside the mainstream thriller that's even a bit clever, as my previous post may attest to. The same director/actor combo have another film out this summer, so I've got something to see in July and then derail this thread away from a Marvel film. Huzzah!

[eleuin]

And it rules. It’s not the book, that’s for sure, but it gives the book a deeper, more satisfying spin.

  Really curious how they explain the literal unexplainable

 

[paprikastaude]

https://screenrant.com/rush-hour-4-chris-tucker-jackie-chan/

[Madrun Badrun]

3 was really bad and Jackie Chan has gotten too old to do cool stuff.

[Yeti]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/annihilation-will-mess-with-your-mind-and-have-you-begg-1823193820

There’s no doubt that it’s a great film, but it feels like a movie best appreciated after two viewings or even three. Surely there are things one could miss on a first viewing or forgive upon reflection, and thematically, that makes total sense. I can’t wait to watch it again. But, on a first viewing, Alex Garland’s Annihilation is an amazing movie that falls just shy of being incredible—a fact that still makes it definitely worth checking out.

And it rules. It’s not the book, that’s for sure, but it gives the book a deeper, more satisfying spin.

Seems like the reviews for Annihilation are pretty good. Excited!

It seems like the reviews are mixed from what I've seen, even within Gawker media sites 

https://themuse.jezebel.com/annihilation-is-a-weird-but-ultimately-lackluster-sci-f-1823200354

don't read this review by the way, it seems to just be a summary of most of the movie from my quick glance at it

[Momo]

why would you go to jezebel for a film review though?

[BlueTsunami]

Theres a scene in Annihilation thats still giving me the creeps

[BlueTsunami]

Just got out from Annihilation. This shit right here is that pure sci-fi that gets your imagination going. Really tapped into what it means to be human, and how, as life forms, we're all connected. Not in the spiritual sense but at the cellular level. Once you start scrambling this aspect, things become unfamiliar and truly alien. People have been throwing around other films to try and describe this one. I came out with impressions of The Thing, Predator, and Tarkovskys 'Stalker'.

Premise aside theres one particular scene, I won't go into details, that completely unsettled me. Worth the price of admission to add that scene to your nightmare rolodex.

[toku]

Getting excited in a way I haven't been since I came out of Splice almost ten years ago

 

[Momo]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/joss-whedon-exits-batgirl-movie-1087384

Solid reasoning imo

[Great Rumbler]

Haven't read the article, but is it because working for WB/DC is a nightmare that no one wants to deal with?

[Momo]

Haven't read the article, but is it because working for WB/DC is a nightmare that no one wants to deal with?

He claims he realized he didnt have a story to tell (solid reasoning if true)

Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn't have a story," Whedon on Thursday told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. Referring to DC president Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. Picture Group president Toby Emmerich, he added, "I'm grateful to Geoff and Toby and everyone who was so welcoming when I arrived, and so understanding when I…uh, is there a sexier word for 'failed'

FAKENEWS RUMOUR

spoiler (click to show/hide)

People are saying DC quietly let him go because his ex wife said some stuff about him and they dont want to be #metoo'd so they will use this as an opportunity to get a female director

[close]

[Momo]

I want Annihilation in my veins, fuck this netflix shithole country deal

[Momo]

I HATE the music in this trailer but I wanna watch this

[Bebpo]

Annihilation was alright. It's interesting, but the main thing is it's like a 30 min short story that is visual art. It's not dumbed down, but it's also not particularly cerebral sci-fi storytelling, because there's just not that much of a story...or dialogue. It's cool though. Probably better on drugs. Reminds me of the feel of a lot of 90s sci-fi, which isn't a bad thing.

I'd say the closest thing to Annihilation is 2001. It's got that Kubrick/screensaver thing going on.

To be honest, while it's a fine movie and recommendable, it feels a bit of a waste of Alex Garland who is first and foremost a screenwriter. Since he's adapting someone else's novel, it really doesn't feel like his stuff at all.

[TEEEPO]

yea, annihilation needs to be seen on the big screen

sorry breh

[Bebpo]

I kind of feel like Annihilation would've worked better as a Walking Sim game. It's like the movie version of one if that makes sense.

[BlueTsunami]

Yeah the film nearly explains nothing about the stranger aspects. There is some exposition here and there but a lot of it seems to call on you as a viewer to work it out.

I've watched some negative review vids where they call this aspect out as bad film making and they may have a point that is if you're talking about a flick thats accesible and tries its best to lay out its concept. A film like this would be considered obtuse to a viewer expecting that.

I'd still definitely consider it cerebral though, from how I was thinking about a lot of the strange aspects. I mean its expository through the characters experience and the scientific concepts therein. In this regard the film has been compared to 'Under the Skin' which has a similar structure just not as totally devoid of traditional exposition.

[TVC15]

So is it still a self-contained film as was originally planned? I know Garland at one point said he was ignoring the other two books.

[BlueTsunami]

So is it still a self-contained film as was originally planned? I know Garland at one point said he was ignoring the other two books.

I haven't read the books so I cant really say but it ended

spoiler (click to show/hide)

pretty ambiguously in one way

[close]

[Bebpo]

I think it's cerebral in concept, but most of the film is just watching that one concept play out in "watch how things are messed with in the shimmer", the characters other than Portman (who I thought did a great job), are really thin.

Also one thing that seemed kinda dumb to me, but maybe someone can explain it

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What's with all the skulls placed out in front of the lighthouse? Considering everything's naturally mutating and there's no being/force, and everything is just nature including people becoming meshed with the natural landscape, the imagery of all the skulls laid out like THE EVIL LAIR seemed kinda of dumb if it was just for some cool visual sake?

[close]

Good music too. I just read up on the novels and they seem ok, like they seemed praised for the prose and the feel of being there with all the strangeness, because the actual plot in the trilogy just taken from a wiki summary is kinda 

So is it still a self-contained film as was originally planned? I know Garland at one point said he was ignoring the other two books.

It's self-contained and has a pretty conclusive ending.

[TVC15]

Watching Child’s Play for the first time in a while. It’s on Hulu.

Good god is the kid annoying. I’d have sawed his fucking head off and posted the video on reddit if he was my kid.

[BlueTsunami]

I think it's cerebral in concept, but most of the film is just watching that one concept play out in "watch how things are messed with in the shimmer", the characters other than Portman (who I thought did a great job), are really thin.

Also one thing that seemed kinda dumb to me, but maybe someone can explain it

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What's with all the skulls placed out in front of the lighthouse? Considering everything's naturally mutating and there's no being/force, and everything is just nature including people becoming meshed with the natural landscape, the imagery of all the skulls laid out like THE EVIL LAIR seemed kinda of dumb if it was just for some cool visual sake?

[close]

Good music too. I just read up on the novels and they seem ok, like they seemed praised for the prose and the feel of being there with all the strangeness, because the actual plot in the trilogy just taken from a wiki summary is kinda 

So is it still a self-contained film as was originally planned? I know Garland at one point said he was ignoring the other two books.

It's self-contained and has a pretty conclusive ending.

On your spoiler

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I took it as either the squads remains, or even darker, since this being seemingly copies us down to the cellular level maybe they were copies of the husband that were killed until he gave in

[close]

[team filler]

Watching Child’s Play for the first time in a while. It’s on Hulu.

Good god is the kid annoying. I’d have sawed his fucking head off and posted the video on reddit if he was my kid.

The kid was great in the first movie.

[TVC15]

Watching Child’s Play for the first time in a while. It’s on Hulu.

Good god is the kid annoying. I’d have sawed his fucking head off and posted the video on reddit if he was my kid.

The kid was great in the first movie.

His mom would be really cute if she had a dick.

[TEEEPO]

i felt like annihilation has more in common with films like apocalypse now, come and see and stalker than say 2001 and under the skin where the latter are more cerebal and the former are psychological journeys through hell.

[TVC15]

Loving the reviews dunking on Mute.

“More than fifteen years of gestation clearly did nothing for Mute, by far his worst film to date, and easily one of the worst in recent memory, period ... at the very least, serves to make The Cloverfield Paradox no longer Netflix’s worst high-profile sci-fi misfire this month.”