Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[gorfias]

Uncharted
I got to see this at the theater and found it a hoot. Lot of talk of there being miscasting. Tom Holland is a little small and young for Drake. Walberg? Not my idea of a Sully. But visually, I came to accept them. The immersion can be interrupted every time Holland opens his mouth and you hear Peter Parker rather than Drake but the kid can pull off some physical stuff that comes across as very credible. You'll have to suspend disbelief many times in many ways but if you're able to do so, you're in for a good, roller coaster of a time.

On an interesting note, much as Marvel and DC got into movie making, looks to be Playstation's turn. The movie starts with an opening similar to Marvel's with a collage of images of characters, in Playstation's case, like Kratos and Elly from Last of Us.

I look forward to more Playstation movies. Uncharted was easily the best video game adaptation ever. A-.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Superman 3 is not very good. Neither were 1 or 2, really, but 3 very not very good.

 

[gorfias]

Superman 3 is not very good. Neither were 1 or 2, really, but 3 very not very good.

For the time in which they were made, and about the most major super hero movie before it was Adam West's Batman, 1&2 were a miracles to me. Superman 3 had a couple of bright points but when I saw it in the theater with that horrible campy opening, I knew this was going to be a wrong headed S$% show. But while it is wrong headed (casting a comic, Richard Pryor in a major part of a movie that should be fighting for some gravitas) much of it was competent. Now, for a real #$#% show, see Superman 4, which is incompetent. You need to see it for yourself to see just how quickly things can crash. It is documentary levels of incompetent.
Example:

 

[Agema]

My wife was out for the evening, so it's another dose of 80s B-movie!

Q - The Winged Serpent (1982)

"Q", because few people want to spell or pronounce Quetzalcoatl. Aztec mythology themed horror about NY being terrorised by... well, guess. Human sacrifice, a big Harryhausen-style animated monster, as the police try to find out what's going on with people dying all over the city. Plus a side story about an ex-junkie's struggle to find his feet after time in the slammer, just to give it a little more dimension. It's very much of its type and serviceable enough - better than the similarly styled C.H.U.D. I saw a while back. Note the old school racist trope of killing off the black cop sidekick near the end, which I feel they had to work at a little in this one.

The purist in me wants to point out that Quetzalcoatl was really a sort of god of justice and rulership (and many other things in various places and times), so not perhaps the best Mesoamerican mythical being to turn into a random monster.

Terror Train (1980)

Slasher horror. A bunch of frat arseholes terrorise a geeky kid, who seeks revenge a year later when they're on some sort of party train excursion. This probably has to be just about the least notable of Jamie Lee Curtis's horror films, but it's not that bad. Distinctly cheap, and cliched even that early in the slasher horror era, but ticks the right boxes adequately enough. Just watch as the deserving and not-so-deserving party-loving 20-somethings get slaughtered, and relax. Wait, should you be relaxing during a horror movie? Oh, whatever.

Death Ship (1980)

Horror where a cruise liner is rammed and sunk by a mysterious vessel. The survivors climb onto the vessel (not realising it's the one that sank them) and it turns out to have been some Nazi torture/murder vessel. This is perhaps interesting, because it's into the territory of some of the more barking mad horror movies of the 80s. It doesn't seem to have quite decided whether it wants to be Nazi mad scientist or Nazi occult supernatural or both - broadly, it's just kind of a bit random, like the scriptwriter/director just wanted to do stuff and thought to themselves "What the hell, the viewers won't be that disciminating". However, the sad thing is it could have been a really effective psychological horror with more attention. As it is, it's mostly just a little chaotic.

So there we go. Three movies you'd never call good, but are the kind of stuff I enjoy.

 

[thebobmaster]

Say what you will about Terror Train. It is certainly the only slasher movie to have David Copperfield in a significant role.

 

[Ezekiel]

Joker

Before I watched this I said that I wasn't interested in a movie about the Joker. After finally watching it yesterday, I say we didn't need a movie about/celebrating the Joker. Cynical. Pointless. Canonically irritating. Pessimistic. Unbelievable, despite dropping all the comic elements and aesthetics that the filmmakers thought were beneath them. Any message it might have about mental health treatment and wealth inequality in America or caring about your fellow man is muddled by the celebration of the murderous character and the ridiculousness of his story. I'm curious about the reactions in the cinemas. If there was cheering or awe when he murdered certain people. The circumstances are unconvincing. A standup video tape that would never be aired on a talk show. How is that funny, worth showing to your nightly viewers? A couple of rich people who would probably just avoid rather than confront him physically on the subway. Some kids beating him up earlier. You'd think the universe is out to destroy him. His colleague giving him a .38, like he can afford to. Rupert Pupkin's story was more credible. Not bad, but the way it resonated with the masses is strange. I still say Joker is nothing with Batman. They need each other.

Someone said this is Taxi Driver and King of Comedy smashed together. Accurate.

 

[Ezekiel]

with Batman

*without Batman

 

[Thaluikhain]

10,000BC is an ok movie. I keep expecting it to turn into Stargate, but they never quite went that far.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Unstoppable
(Prime video)

Rating:
Pretty good, more so for the film making on show than anything else

Synopsis:
Chris Pine (Captain America) & Denzel Washington star alongside Rosario Dawson in a film based on the events of the out of control CSX 8888 incident

CSX 8888 incident - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some of the events were modified for the film to have more hero moments and tension but the core events (even some minor ones remain).

Basically run away train going fast carrying a lot of Molen Phenol (it's dangerous) and the fight between Rosario Dawsons character Connie as the local line controller and her boss in corporate office as a main overall line controller over what to do which is complicated by Denzel Washington as an elderly veteran railroad engineer whose been partnered with Chris Pine character a rookie train conductor who is having issues due to a a restraining order stopping him seeing his wife after he threatened a police officer who he thought was getting too friendly with her. Simple idea, corporate vs local people and what to do with an out of control train carrying dangerous cargo as it speeds towards ever more populated areas and a tight corner with fuel storage tanks either side. Corporate don't want to lose money, Connie doesn't want to risk the lives of the public as do Chris Pine and Denzel Washington's characters.

Thoughts:
While not going to really blow anyone away this is one of those films in the vein of Sully and Deep Water Horizon about real heroic actions and events that went down somewhat seemingly aimed at older dudes in the audience who aren't into superhero films. The real reason to watch this film though is the cinematography / direction, it's directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun, Domino) and the runaway train is shot in the style of a horror film villain. It's brilliant in making it seem massively intimidating. I'm talking the sort of killers eye perspective shots but it's in the train cab looking through the two windows or you only ever see the train in the distance or out of focus somewhat for a moment or it's shown dashing between trees or only part of the train is in shot so you almost never get a clear shot of what the train looks like most of the time making it seem more unnerving and a threat. It's a really clever little bit of work which is contrasted against the heroes and their train where we get nice crisp in focus shots and sweeping shots following their train and it's action.

 

[thebobmaster]

Unstoppable
(Prime video)

Rating:
Pretty good, more so for the film making on show than anything else

Synopsis:
Chris Pine (Captain America) & Denzel Washington star alongside Rosario Dawson in a film based on the events of the out of control CSX 8888 incident

Do you mean Chris Evans, or Chris Pine (Captain Kirk)?

 

[Ezekiel]

Batman Begins

Finally watched the 4K for the first time, after being disgusted by the transfer two years ago and switching to the included Blu-ray. It's... okay. I do prefer it now enough that I can get rid of my BD backup, but it's still a frustrating transfer. Richer, deeper colors that are also too warm a lot of the time. Surprisingly good clarity, but every now and then it softens so much.



If only, Mister Ducard. If only. My opinion of the movie was lowered a bit with this viewing, watched between episodes of the animated Batman series. The idea of superheroes and villains is pretty absurd, no matter how much the filmmakers try to remove the more fantastic comic-like elements. Avoiding it all just makes your work look confused and pretentious. The water vaporizing weapon and all the power/water mains and trains feeding into Wayne Tower and the League of Shadows sacking Rome and burning London down are almost silly enough to be Batman, but the tone and villains aren't, which makes the aforementioned plot devices feel dumber. Scarecrow doesn't even seem that interested in his own science and doesn't fully concoct the fear toxin himself. It's just a plant he gets from the League of Shadows and synthesizes into a gas, not his own research into fear and phobias. Ra's al Ghul had to be turned into a regular guy, the Lazarus Pits cut, because fantasy is a giant no-no. Even though it's a fucking comic about men and ladies in silly costumes battling and plotting. It needs to embrace the theatricality and fantasy of what it intrinsically is so that it all doesn't come off feeling like it's trying so desperately to be something else. It takes itself so seriously.

What I strongly suspect is that there were creative differences between co-writers David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan. A tug of war of what this movie should be, with Goyer leaning more on comic and Nolan leaning more on realism.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, always thought Batman should be silly, and Batman and Robin shouldn't have been condemned for being so.

OTOH, IMHO, Batman Begins more or less gets away with it, the latter ones not so much.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Cheech and Chong's next movie.

It's a chaotic mess with no real plot or direction. As such it is perfect. Really captures the feel of being a young druggie dropout, just a day or 2 in the life. The film knows it's audience.

 

[Gordon_4]

Batman Begins

Finally watched the 4K for the first time, after being disgusted by the transfer two years ago and switching to the included Blu-ray. It's... okay. I do prefer it now enough that I can get rid of my BD backup, but it's still a frustrating transfer. Richer, deeper colors that are also too warm a lot of the time. Surprisingly good clarity, but every now and then it softens so much.

View attachment 5659

If only, Mister Ducard. If only. My opinion of the movie was lowered a bit with this viewing, watched between episodes of the animated Batman series. The idea of superheroes and villains is pretty absurd, no matter how much the filmmakers try to remove the more fantastic comic-like elements. Avoiding it all just makes your work look confused and pretentious. The water vaporizing weapon and all the power/water mains and trains feeding into Wayne Tower and the League of Shadows sacking Rome and burning London down are almost silly enough to be Batman, but the tone and villains aren't, which makes the aforementioned plot devices feel dumber. Scarecrow doesn't even seem that interested in his own science and doesn't fully concoct the fear toxin himself. It's just a plant he gets from the League of Shadows and synthesizes into a gas, not his own research into fear and phobias. Ra's al Ghul had to be turned into a regular guy, the Lazarus Pits cut, because fantasy is a giant no-no. Even though it's a fucking comic about men and ladies in silly costumes battling and plotting. It needs to embrace the theatricality and fantasy of what it intrinsically is so that it all doesn't come off feeling like it's trying so desperately to be something else. It takes itself so seriously.

What I strongly suspect is that there were creative differences between co-writers David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan. A tug of war of what this movie should be, with Goyer leaning more on comic and Nolan leaning more on realism.

Goyer is an asshole who should be kept as far away from comic book movies as possible.

Yeah, always thought Batman should be silly, and Batman and Robin shouldn't have been condemned for being so.

OTOH, IMHO, Batman Begins more or less gets away with it, the latter ones not so much.

See Batman Begins has just enough of both worlds that it could have been DC’s Iron Man. If Clark Kent of the Daily Planet had shown up to ask questions at a press conference at the end after Bruce assumes ownership of Wayne Enterprises, it would not have felt unnatural to me.

But as soon as The Dark Knight was just a (very good) Michael Mann movie with Batman in it, any chance of either a wider DC universe or even just a fantastical Batman franchise was dead in the water.

 

[Agema]

Redwood (2017)

Horror about a couple hiking in a deep US forest, with a mysterious mausoleum deep inside. The man is a musician, seriously ill, and enjoying the great outdoors in what he fears might be his last months alive with his girlfriend. However, there's a hint that maybe this isn't just the cliche of two hikers going off the beaten path and getting themselves in trouble, but there's something more nefarious afoot...

This is mostly fairly good, and there's some lovely scenic shots of the forest. The film is mostly the hikers chatting to each other and enduring periods of peril, but ultimately the material is perhaps too slender to support an entire movie: as a tighter, shorter, film it would probably have been superior - although of course shorts would be less likely to do good business. Or, it needed a more developed relationship aspect between the couple, although that might not sit well with the horror dynamic. Xander from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Nicholas Brendon) turns up as a Park Ranger, probably the only recognisable cast member, although its little more than a cameo.

 

[Ezekiel]

Goyer is an asshole who should be kept as far away from comic book movies as possible.

Maybe so, maybe not. I've only seen his Batman movies and the first two Blades. Regardless, I'm sure the realism was more Nolan's doing.

Humanity and realism, says Nolan, is the crux of the new pic.

“The world of Batman is that of grounded reality,” he says. Burton’s and Schumacher’s visions were idiosyncratic and unreal. Nolan says, “Ours will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises.”

The bat and the beautiful

Steven Spielberg liked the script. George Lucas, his partner, didn't. So last week, the umpteenth attempt to revive "Indiana Jones" at Paramount got stalled one more time.

variety.com

I may check some of the special features tomorrow to verify, but it's rare that I watch any special features.

 

[Ezekiel]

Someone just told me that the Goyer-written segment in Gotham Knight, which takes place in the Nolan universe, has Batman fighting Killer Croc. I watched that forever ago, so I didn't remember.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Coda: Really Good / Great

Ruby is the only hearing member in her nuclear family (mother, father and older brother are all deaf,) and she discovers her passion for singing is well merited. She finds herself at odds between her desire to explore her talent and her critical role as her family's interpreter in a ruthless fishing business and society in general.

Really good movie. I don't typically watch this kind of stuff, but the gf eats it up, so I found myself dragged into it. This was one of the better ones. Well acted, very poignant and moving. Recommended.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Batman

The great:
Pattinson's take on Bruce Wayne. He really makes it his own - an emo rockstar crossed with a jaded hero cop, basically.
All the actors, especially Pattinson and Kravitz (great chemistry) and Dano.
The lighting and composition are beautiful gritty 70s noir.
Some decent action that makes sense, tracks easy and serves the plot perfectly.
Suspenseful as hell.
The music. Far from the Christmasy Danny Elfman soundtrack or the Hand Zimmer epic bombast, the music here sounds uniquely funeral and portentous.
Generally every aspect of the movie comes to its own beautifully. Very little was taken for granted from other adaptations.

The not so great:
Drags at parts. It's not the length so much as the structure. Sometimes it feels very episodic, with story loops opening and closing without moving the plot forward.
Wish Riddler was a bit more involved in the plot. Most of it is literally screened or phoned in.
This might be a PG-13 thing but the movie doesn't get anywhere near as dark or hopeless as it likes to affect. There's lots of people comparing it to Se7en and Zodiac - those are much more grim, not to mention graphic. But because the Riddler character acts and behaves like Zodiac, and at the end of the day this is more police procedural than superhero flick, I guess the comparisons are fair.

The worst part:
A certain scene teasing future movies and villains that felt more mandatory than anything else. I'm not in love with the casting either.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Yeah, always thought Batman should be silly, and Batman and Robin shouldn't have been condemned for being so.

OTOH, IMHO, Batman Begins more or less gets away with it, the latter ones not so much.

I reckon the main reason the Schumacher Batman movies are unpopular is because they immediately follow the Burton ones. I do think the Burton movies stand as the best solo live action Batman adaptations but in a vacuum, Forever and and Robin are pretty fun high budget tributes to the 60's show. But I guess there's just not enough interest in a comedic live action Batman right now. Would be interesting to see what someone like Edgar Wright could make of it.