Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Thaluikhain]

Fel

“Wielding fel magic is like fixing a machine - you have to break a few things to get it to work.”

wowpedia.fandom.com

Fel's been in Warcraft since day 1, but I'm not sure when the term actually started to be used.

The earliest citation I can see for that article is from Warcraft 3 (or rather the manual), and says that chaos magic is really fel magic. That seems like a bit of a retcon to me, but ok.

 

[Hawki]

The earliest citation I can see for that article is from Warcraft 3 (or rather the manual), and says that chaos magic is really fel magic. That seems like a bit of a retcon to me, but ok.

As in, fel magic has always existed, it's the name itself that comes later. In WC1 & 2, y'know how orcs have access to warlocks and necrolytes? All their magical abilities in those games stem from fel magic, it just wasn't named as such then.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

The Pope’s Exorcist

It’s fine, as standard fare goes for these types of vehicles. A family moves out of the city into creepy old house and it turns out to be a spot for demonic action, and a possible Vatican conspiracy coverup. It’s based loosely on the experience of a real life exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth. Russell Crowe does a fine enough job of convincing us he’s an Italian priest. Dips into some philosophical bits about belief and the discretion between “needing” exorcism or mere psychological persuasion. The demon possessing the kid got a few chuckle worthy lines in, and saved more of the theatrics for the very end which, while expected, didn’t serve to detract much from what preceded.

 

[gorfias]

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Beau is Afraid

If I had the time and the patience I would make a Venn diagram intersecting circles labeled "mother!", "a Terry Gilliam a movie" and "Under the Silver Lake", with the overlapping sections titled "journey to nowhere", "sexual repression" and "overexcited imagination". And dead center in the middle you'd find Beau is Afraid, which is about a pathetic man's slow, nightmarish journey to nowhere as he squirms under the shadow of a simultaneously absent and overbearing mother.

Three hours is one hour ten minutes too long for something with such tenuous foothold on its own reality. Whole chapters and sequences of events open randomly, develop indefinitely and close suddenly, and then we're on to something else like it's a variety show. Even Inland Empire didn't feel this disjointed. And while the ending does tie everything more or less together it still feels anticlimactic, because 1) it undoes one major fucking plot point and 2) it all boils down to a joke, basically.

As a person of many hours of retail the last hour is the equivalent of a customer who won't shut up while I go uh huh, yeah, sure, of course, uh huh, yup, right, oh really? Uh huh, yep, ok, sure, of course, yeah.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Man On Fire: Good / Great

Denzel Washington takes on the task of being a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, a young girl in Mexico whose well-off parents are worried about the spate of kidnappings in the area. Of course, so the movie can happen, Fanning is kidnapped, and Washington becomes the titular character to rescue her.

Older movie I'm sure most have seen, so I wont' go into an overly verbose critique; I just wanted to call out that Fanning, who was around 9-10 years old at the time it was filmed, was a pretty exceptional child actress in this outing.

 

[Gordon_4]

The earliest citation I can see for that article is from Warcraft 3 (or rather the manual), and says that chaos magic is really fel magic. That seems like a bit of a retcon to me, but ok.

I remember reading somewhere that Warcraft started out life as a Warhammer Fantasy game that Blizzard were unable to secure the licence for. I suspect Chaos as a form of magic was a relic of that (assuming it’s true) and having it renamed Fel was just part of their rebranding OR not wishing to tempt the Gods of Litigation.

 

[BrawlMan]

Man On Fire: Good / Great

Denzel Washington takes on the task of being a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, a young girl in Mexico whose well-off parents are worried about the spate of kidnappings in the area. Of course, so the movie can happen, Fanning is kidnapped, and Washington becomes the titular character to rescue her.

Older movie I'm sure most have seen, so I wont' go into an overly verbose critique; I just wanted to call out that Fanning, who was around 9-10 years old at the time it was filmed, was a pretty exceptional child actress in this outing.

One of my favorite Denzel Washington/Tony Scott combo films, along with Deja Vu. Man on Fire is based off a book from the 80s, but instead takes place in Italy, instead of Mexico. There was an adaption from the 80s that is decent, but I never watched it.

 

[Gordon_4]

Man On Fire: Good / Great

Denzel Washington takes on the task of being a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, a young girl in Mexico whose well-off parents are worried about the spate of kidnappings in the area. Of course, so the movie can happen, Fanning is kidnapped, and Washington becomes the titular character to rescue her.

Older movie I'm sure most have seen, so I wont' go into an overly verbose critique; I just wanted to call out that Fanning, who was around 9-10 years old at the time it was filmed, was a pretty exceptional child actress in this outing.

I love the scene with Christopher Walken and the Mexican police when they ask what he thinks Washington’s character is going to do.

“A man can be an artist in many ways. Cooking, painting, sculpture. Creasy’s art is death. And he’s about to paint his masterpiece”

 

[Hawki]

I remember reading somewhere that Warcraft started out life as a Warhammer Fantasy game that Blizzard were unable to secure the licence for. I suspect Chaos as a form of magic was a relic of that (assuming it’s true) and having it renamed Fel was just part of their rebranding OR not wishing to tempt the Gods of Litigation.

You read wrong.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (also known as Warcraft I; sometimes abbreviated as O&H) is a real-time strategy game (RTS) and the first video game in the Warcraft series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released on 15 November 1994 and quickly became a best seller.[2] The...

wowpedia.fandom.com

The TL, DR version is that while it's true that during development, Adham wanted to get a Warhammer licence in order to increase sales, the game was already in development by that point, and the deal never went through, in part because the rest of the developers wanted control over their own IP. So while there's some inspiration from Warhammer in Warcraft (e.g. green-skinned orcs), Warcraft was never going to be a Warhammer game, and both have drawn from the same well of fantasy tropes.

 

[Gordon_4]

You read wrong.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (also known as Warcraft I; sometimes abbreviated as O&H) is a real-time strategy game (RTS) and the first video game in the Warcraft series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released on 15 November 1994 and quickly became a best seller.[2] The...

wowpedia.fandom.com

The TL, DR version is that while it's true that during development, Adham wanted to get a Warhammer licence in order to increase sales, the game was already in development by that point, and the deal never went through, in part because the rest of the developers wanted control over their own IP. So while there's some inspiration from Warhammer in Warcraft (e.g. green-skinned orcs), Warcraft was never going to be a Warhammer game, and both have drawn from the same well of fantasy tropes.

Alright, fair enough then.

 

[gorfias]

Man On Fire: Good / Great

Denzel Washington takes on the task of being a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, a young girl in Mexico whose well-off parents are worried about the spate of kidnappings in the area. Of course, so the movie can happen, Fanning is kidnapped, and Washington becomes the titular character to rescue her.

Older movie I'm sure most have seen, so I wont' go into an overly verbose critique; I just wanted to call out that Fanning, who was around 9-10 years old at the time it was filmed, was a pretty exceptional child actress in this outing.

Stunt casting! Dakota Fanning rejoins Denzel Washington in Equalizer 3 this week!

The Equalizer 3 (2023) ⭐ 6.8 | Action, Crime, Thriller

1h 49m | R

www.imdb.com

Big George Foreman Netflix

The biggest sports star of my formative years was Muhammad Ali, who was also the most recognized man in the world for decades. As I recall, they made at least 2 movies about him: the later one starring Will Smith, the OG, staring the man himself and they both end with him winning a fight no one thought possible against George Foreman.

Joe Frazer could beat Ali. Foreman obliterated Frazer. And yet Ali, who shouldn't have stood a chance, cocky and arrogant, knocks George out.

George's story is a fantastic one too and very unusual. We see his rise and fall. He goes from boxer to preacher but circumstance takes him back to the ring in his late 30s, early 40s. No heavy weight boxer has ever achieved anything like this before.

TBH: I hoped to hear a bit about how he got mixed up in selling electric grills that did/do pretty well for him.

I completely forgot he got to fight Holyfield. And acquitted himself very well.

The cast is spectacular. Poor Khris Davis has to play George both as a young bruiser and as and over-weight middle aged gentle giant. Sullivan Jones does a terrific turn as Muhammad Ali. Forest Whitaker slips into his Doc character like a glove.

Ended a bit abruptly but fixes that some with some end titles to fill you in on what happens later.

Likely pedestrian for non-fans but it took me back.

8.5/10

 

[Xprimentyl]

Stunt casting! Dakota Fanning rejoins Denzel Washington in Equalizer 3 this week!

The Equalizer 3 (2023) ⭐ 6.8 | Action, Crime, Thriller

1h 49m | R

www.imdb.com

That's why we watched it again; we've got tickets to Equalizer 3 this Friday; my gf made the connection, and we decided to rewatch their first film together.

Big George Foreman Netflix

The biggest sports star of my formative years was Muhammad Ali, who was also the most recognized man in the world for decades. As I recall, they made at least 2 movies about him: the later one starring Will Smith, the OG, staring the man himself and they both end with him winning a fight no one thought possible against George Foreman.

Joe Frazer could beat Ali. Foreman obliterated Frazer. And yet Ali, who shouldn't have stood a chance, cocky and arrogant, knocks George out.

George's story is a fantastic one too and very unusual. We see his rise and fall. He goes from boxer to preacher but circumstance takes him back to the ring in his late 30s, early 40s. No heavy weight boxer has ever achieved anything like this before.

TBH: I hoped to hear a bit about how he got mixed up in selling electric grills that did/do pretty well for him.

I completely forgot he got to fight Holyfield. And acquitted himself very well.

The cast is spectacular. Poor Khris Davis has to play George both as a young bruiser and as and over-weight middle aged gentle giant. Sullivan Jones does a terrific turn as Muhammad Ali. Forest Whitaker slips into his Doc character like a glove.

Ended a bit abruptly but fixes that some with some end titles to fill you in on what happens later.

Likely pedestrian for non-fans but it took me back.

8.5/10

That's a generous review. I give it a 6/10. It was a bit too rote and generic, but maybe that's my subjective opinion given how many biopics I've watched recently. Basically, I didn't learn much that I didn't know, and he went through all the trials and tribulations of so many other famous people. It wasn't a bad movie, just not interesting, imho.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Bird Box Barcelona

Passable as dinnertime entertainment. The first one was a big cheapo marketing stunt and this one plays out more or less the same beats but I generally found it an improvement. It gets a decent mileage form the Barcelona setting, there's some good production value on screen, we get a better look at the disaster part of the disaster movie and crucially there are a couple of neat twists near the beginning that meant the movie had a natural tension baked into the characters beyond the keep your eyes shut gimmick. So yeah, had fun with this one. At least it wasn't dull and soulless like the average Netflix vehicle. And I got a kick from Leo Sbaraglia as the Argie villain.

 

[gorfias]

That's why we watched it again; we've got tickets to Equalizer 3 this Friday; my gf made the connection, and we decided to rewatch their first film together.



That's a generous review. I give it a 6/10. It was a bit too rote and generic, but maybe that's my subjective opinion given how many biopics I've watched recently. Basically, I didn't learn much that I didn't know, and he went through all the trials and tribulations of so many other famous people. It wasn't a bad movie, just not interesting, imho.

Your grade is more in line with the mainstream. IMDB had it at 6.6. For me, it was just in my sweet spot.

 

[Gordon_4]

Jurassic Park - 10/10 (30th Anniversary special cinema re-release)

It’s Jurassic Park, what worked in ‘93 still works now.

Spoiler

Also everyone in modern discourse can just shut the fuck up about ‘Marvel quippiness’ because I’m telling you now, it is weaved all through Jurassic Park to an almost identical degree.

 

[BrawlMan]

Jurassic Park - 10/10 (30th Anniversary special cinema re-release)

It’s Jurassic Park, what worked in ‘93 still works now.

Spoiler

Also everyone in modern discourse can just shut the fuck up about ‘Marvel quippiness’ because I’m telling you now, it is weaved all through Jurassic Park to an almost identical degree.

The only reason so many people complain about Marvel quips is because it's popular, and that lately for the past several years, it's been done poorly or inappropriate and tone for certain movies. The fact that these quips have become in the hands of less capable writers or constantly doing the same shitck doesn't help matters. It comes up hollow, empty, and just plan unfunny. Especially when it bleeds into non Marvel properties. it's been a minute since I seen the original Jurassic Park, but I know the quips didn't bother me there.

 

[Trunkage]

Jurassic Park - 10/10 (30th Anniversary special cinema re-release)

It’s Jurassic Park, what worked in ‘93 still works now.

Spoiler

Also everyone in modern discourse can just shut the fuck up about ‘Marvel quippiness’ because I’m telling you now, it is weaved all through Jurassic Park to an almost identical degree.

It was there before JP. Capitalism requires movies to have one-liners. Hasta la vista, baby sells

 

[Trunkage]

So... I watched the original TMNT with my kids. It's not great. So, the Foot is tracking one turtle and then they find their lair. The Foot destroys the liar and the turtles crash at April's house... who they just met. Then, one of them gets tracked AGAIN, and they smash up April's place. My kids got bored and we stopped, but I wouldn't be surprised if the third base is somehow found. It feels like the word Ninja needs to be taken out of the title

Like most animatronics of the era, it's terrible. Oh gods, the mouths. So disturbing. I don't know how I like this when I was younger, my kids sure couldn't get into it

 

[Gordon_4]

So... I watched the original TMNT with my kids. It's not great. So, the Foot is tracking one turtle and then they find their lair. The Foot destroys the liar and the turtles crash at April's house... who they just met. Then, one of them gets tracked AGAIN, and they smash up April's place. My kids got bored and we stopped, but I wouldn't be surprised if the third base is somehow found. It feels like the word Ninja needs to be taken out of the title

Like most animatronics of the era, it's terrible. Oh gods, the mouths. So disturbing. I don't know how I like this when I was younger, my kids sure couldn't get into it

Well, spoiler, they don’t. And they don’t get tracked a second time. Danny (Charles’ kid) gives them up to Shredder because he catches a glimpse of them in April’s apartment and he’s still on the man’s Kool Aid. The first time was forgivable since Raph was hauling April around and may not have been as stealthy as he would normally be.