Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[BrawlMan]

i think it’s just easier for some people to make political hay out of superficial and highly visible things like movies than to engage in the actual political engagement required of participatory citizenship. Posting your pink outfit you put on to go see Barbie is easier than challenging your husband, father, or boss for how you’re treated.

Basically insecure dickwads with nothing better to do with their lives, and hate the fact that those different from them are getting positive roles, or not shown in a shallow, negative light.

Unfortunately for me my expectations were impacted heavily by the political and critical noise around the film. Everyone seems to love or hate it and hate everyone else who disagrees with them. It's kinda like that Ghostbusters 2016 thing where if you don't like it youre incel nazi and if you do then youre a "woke something something rant about gays."

Yeah, don't ever let that happen when you can. I chose not to see GB 2016, because I wanted live-action Xtreme Ghostbusters. Also, I didn't want to get sucked to dumb ass culture war.

I'm starting to think I'm just gonna shut off the news. I'm already pretty good with grey areas and glass houses. I don't need to constantly be told whats right and wrong by the media anyway.

That's the best thing you can do.

 

[Thaluikhain]

At 41 I'm starting to think I'm just gonna shut off the news. I'm already pretty good with grey areas and glass houses. I don't need to constantly be told whats right and wrong by the media anyway. So somebody msg me if the worlds ever about to end or something so I can at least get my pontoon ready.

Yeah, getting away from the news, or at least limiting it, sounds like a bad thing, due to it being important to be well-informed, but it's often the right move.

 

[thebobmaster]

Tonight's movie was 2001's The One, starring Jet Li as both the hero and villain, due to multiverse stuff. This is quite possibly the most 2001 movie ever made. The first action scene is backed by "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and the second "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed. That sums it up, I think. It's not good, but it's joyfully so.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Tonight's movie was 2001's The One, starring Jet Li as both the hero and villain, due to multiverse stuff. This is quite possibly the most 2001 movie ever made. The first action scene is backed by "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and the second "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed. That sums it up, I think. It's not good, but it's joyfully so.

Oh yeah, saw that one ages ago, bought it on DVD some years back (probably as part of a sale where you buy 2 and get a third free or something), not watched the DVD yet.

Not a good film, but they tried to do something inventively weird, so credit for that.

 

[Baffle]

Tonight's movie was 2001's The One, starring Jet Li as both the hero and villain, due to multiverse stuff. This is quite possibly the most 2001 movie ever made. The first action scene is backed by "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and the second "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed. That sums it up, I think. It's not good, but it's joyfully so.

Is there a moody scene where he stares into the distance and listens to Kid Rock making silly noises?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Yeah, getting away from the news, or at least limiting it, sounds like a bad thing, due to it being important to be well-informed, but it's often the right move.

*steps on soapbox*

Please let's not not conflate "idiots xitting about Barbie" with "news." Common but dangerous mistake to make when online. Especially local news- labor, legal issues/crime, sanitation/environment. National/international- macroeconomics, tax policy, foreign policy. Participatory democracy is our responsibility and being informed is our duty. For example we should all be knowing about the UAW strike. This is real news.
But yeah it only requires like 15 minutes a day to be informed, so I support "turning off the news" if it means getting an hour a day back that you used to sacrifice to yelling about Barbie type stuff.

*steps down from soapbox*

 

[Bartholen]

Steel (1997), 3/10

I had a bad movie night with friends, and this was the first one we watched. It's a firmly buried by history superhero film starring Shaquille O'Neal as the titular hero, who's a DC character, but considering this is well before Spider-Man I have no idea how faithful this is to the source. Steel is about a man serving in the military when one of his friends dies in a weapons test, leading to his resignation. But then he finds out the weapons that killed his friend are finding their way to the streets and he turns into the street superhero Steel to stop it.

Cards on the table, I have only a faint recollection of the events in this movie, because the first half was so boring I just zoned out. It's riddled with cliché, the movie obviously wants to be Batman really bad, and Shaquille O'Neal's performance has to be seen to be believed. But the second half more than makes up for it with plenty of hilariously awful effects, stupidity and all around crappiness. All in all I'd say this was a pretty good so bad it's good movie. Bit of a slog in the beginning, but once he dons the suit there's plenty of laughs to be had.

Captain America (1990), 3/10

The second of our bad movie night. This is the infamous movie from the 1990s, which to my memory came about because Marvel was nearing bankruptcy at the time. It tells the typical Cap story: WW2, Red Skull, frozen in ice, wakes up in modern day. It's a pretty entertaining watch too. Its toaster-level production values are often contrasted by the stunning beauty of the on location shoots in (now former) Yugoslavia. The story is preposterous and dumb, Cap's primary superpower seems to be his ability to effortlessly steal cars, and the acting is proper crap. But then it's again contrasted by Red Skull's performance, where the actor seems to be having way too much fun and is honestly way better than the movie deserves.

All in all a very solid bad superhero movie double bill.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Summer Wars

(Own copy on Bluray)

Rating: 8/10


Thoughts Tagline: A strangely cosy film ahead of it's time.

Thoughts:

So this is another film by Mamoru Hosoda who directed the film I gave a near perfect rating to before in the form of Belle. This is one of his earlier films but you can very much see this as almost the starting point for Belle. It mixes two major plot threads with high school student Kenji approached by a girl from his year Natsuki for an undefined summer job and with nothing else going on, other than working basically as a moderator / maintenance person for the metaverse like virtual world of Oz he decides to take it. The job turns out to be pretending to be not just her boyfriend but actually her fiance in front of her family to maintain a fake story Natsuki has been telling them about having a fiance and what he's like which has all come to a head due to her family deciding to throw a Birthday party for her grandmother. Things are further complicated when Oz is mysteriously compromised by a strange attacker and Kenji is blamed as the culprit. As Oz has many of the real worlds functions now tied to it this throws the Japan into chaos with GPS systems breaking and massive gridlock as traffic control systems are hacked.

What starts as seemingly almost trolling turns nasty and escalates with Kenji with the help of Natsuki and her family having to go to proverbial war the with attacker as they threaten to drop part of a satellite onto a random nuclear reactor in the world to cause a meltdown and massive explosion.

Oddly this is another film about family and the idea of found / adopted family but with a more Japanese twist also about legacy, and how it is important to remember but also not the most important thing above all else. It's also about the dangers of A.I. in an ever more interconnected world with a sort of commentary upon the recklessness of the US military. The final sort of theme being about how all the silly things others may say as little or unimportant actually matter from doing maths puzzles to playing card games to video games.

This wasn't quite up to the massively high bar set by Belle but it was still pretty good and seemingly aiming to be a lot more relaxing as a film.

What lost it a few points with me is some of the almost anime cliche stuff and humour including an anime tradition of an explosive nosebleed / pass out scene.

Otherwise a pretty damn good watch and this is coming from some-one who doesn't generally watch anime.

 

[thebobmaster]

Is there a moody scene where he stares into the distance and listens to Kid Rock making silly noises?

No, but it makes up for it by having not only the climax, but also the final fight scene in the movie, be backed by two different Papa Roach songs. The last song in the movie being "Last Resort".

 

[BrawlMan]

Tonight's movie was 2001's The One, starring Jet Li as both the hero and villain, due to multiverse stuff. This is quite possibly the most 2001 movie ever made. The first action scene is backed by "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and the second "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed. That sums it up, I think. It's not good, but it's joyfully so.

Oh yeah, saw that one ages ago, bought it on DVD some years back (probably as part of a sale where you buy 2 and get a third free or something), not watched the DVD yet.

Not a good film, but they tried to do something inventively weird, so credit for that.

I disagree. Not only is The One a great film, but is one of Jet Li's best Hollywood films. And is so much better than any of the Matrix sequels that came afterward. The One I can watch almost any time and ever get bored.

Is there a moody scene where he stares into the distance and listens to Kid Rock making silly noises?

No.

No, but it makes up for it by having not only the climax, but also the final fight scene in the movie, be backed by two different Papa Roach songs. The last song in the movie being "Last Resort".

Yyeeeeessssssssssssssss!!!!

​

The most bad ass ending in action film ever!

BTW @thebobmaster, you ever seen Drive (1997)? High reccomendations. Make sure it's the Director's Cut, if you watch it. Good news: the movie got re-released in the States on Blu Ray and DVD, with the Director's Cut being the default now, so you will never have to watch the shitty theatrical cut.

​

 

[thebobmaster]

Tonight's movie was the original The Producers. Not gonna lie, the first 45 minutes I found amusing, but also felt like the movie had been overhyped for me. And then...the play opened. Oh, no. This movie deserves all of its comedy accolades. It's been a while since I've seen something that just leapt across the boundaries of good taste with abandon, and do so hilariously.

Edit: And no, have not seen Drive. The films I'm watching are through streaming, so I'm not sure I'll get to it this month, but I'll keep it in mind.

 

[BrawlMan]

Edit: And no, have not seen Drive. The films I'm watching are through streaming, so I'm not sure I'll get to it this month, but I'll keep it in mind.

Don't bother with the Amazon Prime version of Drive (1997), if you're doing streaming. You can try checking, but they only have the theatrical of the film through an official stream service, yet the Director's Cut you have to buy on Blu-ray/DVD.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Captain America (1990), 3/10

The second of our bad movie night. This is the infamous movie from the 1990s, which to my memory came about because Marvel was nearing bankruptcy at the time. It tells the typical Cap story: WW2, Red Skull, frozen in ice, wakes up in modern day. It's a pretty entertaining watch too. Its toaster-level production values are often contrasted by the stunning beauty of the on location shoots in (now former) Yugoslavia. The story is preposterous and dumb, Cap's primary superpower seems to be his ability to effortlessly steal cars, and the acting is proper crap. But then it's again contrasted by Red Skull's performance, where the actor seems to be having way too much fun and is honestly way better than the movie deserves.

All in all a very solid bad superhero movie double bill.

Fun fact, Cap is played by J.D. Salinger's kid.

 

[thebobmaster]

Tonight's movie was the original 1941 The Wolf Man. It's a classic for a reason. Quite a brisk watch, but the performances by Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains both really make the film work quite well, and the effects on the titular character are incredible by 1941 standards, and still hold up decently well today. Worth a watch.

 

[thebobmaster]

And my new movie tonight was Kung Fu Panda 2. Honestly, better than the original to me. Lot more character focus, a more complex villain, and a solid balance of serious themes and humor, without going too much to the crude side. Jack Black is so good as Po.

 

[Gordon_4]

And my new movie tonight was Kung Fu Panda 2. Honestly, better than the original to me. Lot more character focus, a more complex villain, and a solid balance of serious themes and humor, without going too much to the crude side. Jack Black is so good as Po.

Yeah that one really came and blind sided me. Like Kung Fu Panda is good; its a fun and goofy martial arts movie with heart in the right places. But the sequel? It was just determined to put your heart through the wringer and by God did it succeed.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The Raid 2

The Raid: Redemption is probably my favorite action of the 21st century. It's got the kind of straight-forward, compelling simple premise that movies like John Wick and Fast and the Furious are praised for, but with actually really well done, visually arresting and stylish action, that someone adds realism and grit. And most importantly it introduced many a westerner like myself to the Indonesian martial arts of pencak silat.

I either never knew or completely forgot about the fact that they made a whole freaking sequel until it came up in a recent Escapist stream. Silly me.
Well... it sure is a sequel. It's 2.5 hrs long, which is way too long for an action movie in my book, but of course the fights continue to be great so who am I to complain. There is also a pretty decent car chase and really solid cinematography all around, including the dramatic scenes.
This movie feels like the producers or directors full ambitions because I definitely felt like I was seeing what looked like homages to the Godfather and Goodfellas and such, or at least indirectly.

The final boss battle fight is for sure an all-time great.

So in conclusion: if you haven't seen The Raid: Redemption... like, seriously, what the hell man, lol. But if you have, well... here's some more, but a little bigger, and sometimes a little stupider.

 

[Piscian]

The Raid 2

The Raid: Redemption is probably my favorite action of the 21st century. It's got the kind of straight-forward, compelling simple premise that movies like John Wick and Fast and the Furious are praised for, but with actually really well done, visually arresting and stylish action, that someone adds realism and grit. And most importantly it introduced many a westerner like myself to the Indonesian martial arts of pencak silat.

I either never knew or completely forgot about the fact that they made a whole freaking sequel until it came up in a recent Escapist stream. Silly me.
Well... it sure is a sequel. It's 2.5 hrs long, which is way too long for an action movie in my book, but of course the fights continue to be great so who am I to complain. There is also a pretty decent car chase and really solid cinematography all around, including the dramatic scenes.
This movie feels like the producers or directors full ambitions because I definitely felt like I was seeing what looked like homages to the Godfather and Goodfellas and such, or at least indirectly.

The final boss battle fight is for sure an all-time great.

So in conclusion: if you haven't seen The Raid: Redemption... like, seriously, what the hell man, lol. But if you have, well... here's some more, but a little bigger, and sometimes a little stupider.

favorite ending scene of all time

 

[Bartholen]

Redline, 8/10

This is the cult anime classic from 2009 by Studio Madhouse. It's about Redline, a galactic racing competition in which the most skilled and/or unhinged racers from across the universe gather in an all-out, no holds barred blowout of madness. Saying more than that feels almost pointless, because this is a movie that's extremely light on plot, characterization, themes or substance. Almost to the point of them being nonexistent, and them feeling mostly like an obligation. This is pure surface and spectacle above all else, perhaps one of the most style over substance films ever.

But boy fucking howdy what spectacle it is. This was in production for seven years, and the result is one of the best looking films ever, period. Every single second of production time oozes off the screen. The artstyle is extremely distinctive and unique, the animation feels like it's on crack the entire time, there's enough individual and extremely creative character designs to fill several seasons of Rick and Morty. The soundtrack, sound design and extremely stylized animation all come together to create one of the most overwhelming sensory experiences in cinema. It's simply madness. There's a sense of power and impact in the roar of the engines and crashing of vehicles I haven't seen matched outside of Top Gun Maverick last year. Only this year with Across the Spider-verse did I feel this movie's level of animation was finally matched. It also has one of the best english dubs of any anime ever, and where I wholeheartedly advocate watching it with english voices instead of japanese.

It's also very dense in its presentation and worldbuilding. It feels like a movie made off of a long anime series that doesn't actually exist. While the characterization is light, that doesn't mean it's shallow. Each main player is extremely memorable in their look and personality, and you get the sense that all of them have tons of history and backstory, both on their own and with each other. What brief snippets of worldbuilding we get hint at an entire galaxy rich with lore and interesting dynamics. On one hand I wish we could see more films made in this universe because it feels there's tons of room to explore, but on the other it's part of what makes this film so wholly unique and singular: nothing like this will ever be made again. And sometimes things are meant to stay that way.

 

[BrawlMan]

The Raid 2

The Raid: Redemption is probably my favorite action of the 21st century. It's got the kind of straight-forward, compelling simple premise that movies like John Wick and Fast and the Furious are praised for, but with actually really well done, visually arresting and stylish action, that someone adds realism and grit. And most importantly it introduced many a westerner like myself to the Indonesian martial arts of pencak silat.

I either never knew or completely forgot about the fact that they made a whole freaking sequel until it came up in a recent Escapist stream. Silly me.
Well... it sure is a sequel. It's 2.5 hrs long, which is way too long for an action movie in my book, but of course the fights continue to be great so who am I to complain. There is also a pretty decent car chase and really solid cinematography all around, including the dramatic scenes.
This movie feels like the producers or directors full ambitions because I definitely felt like I was seeing what looked like homages to the Godfather and Goodfellas and such, or at least indirectly.

The final boss battle fight is for sure an all-time great.

So in conclusion: if you haven't seen The Raid: Redemption... like, seriously, what the hell man, lol. But if you have, well... here's some more, but a little bigger, and sometimes a little stupider.

favorite ending scene of all time

The Raid Duology ruined mainstream action movies for me. Not all obviously, but many.

Redline, 8/10

This is the cult anime classic from 2009 by Studio Madhouse. It's about Redline, a galactic racing competition in which the most skilled and/or unhinged racers from across the universe gather in an all-out, no holds barred blowout of madness. Saying more than that feels almost pointless, because this is a movie that's extremely light on plot, characterization, themes or substance. Almost to the point of them being nonexistent, and them feeling mostly like an obligation. This is pure surface and spectacle above all else, perhaps one of the most style over substance films ever.

But boy fucking howdy what spectacle it is. This was in production for seven years, and the result is one of the best looking films ever, period. Every single second of production time oozes off the screen. The artstyle is extremely distinctive and unique, the animation feels like it's on crack the entire time, there's enough individual and extremely creative character designs to fill several seasons of Rick and Morty. The soundtrack, sound design and extremely stylized animation all come together to create one of the most overwhelming sensory experiences in cinema. It's simply madness. There's a sense of power and impact in the roar of the engines and crashing of vehicles I haven't seen matched outside of Top Gun Maverick last year. Only this year with Across the Spider-verse did I feel this movie's level of animation was finally matched. It also has one of the best english dubs of any anime ever, and where I wholeheartedly advocate watching it with english voices instead of japanese.

It's also very dense in its presentation and worldbuilding. It feels like a movie made off of a long anime series that doesn't actually exist. While the characterization is light, that doesn't mean it's shallow. Each main player is extremely memorable in their look and personality, and you get the sense that all of them have tons of history and backstory, both on their own and with each other. What brief snippets of worldbuilding we get hint at an entire galaxy rich with lore and interesting dynamics. On one hand I wish we could see more films made in this universe because it feels there's tons of room to explore, but on the other it's part of what makes this film so wholly unique and singular: nothing like this will ever be made again. And sometimes things are meant to stay that way.

The best racing movie ever made! The Fast and the Furious franchise wishes it was as good as Redline! Something the later F&F films post F&F4 lack is a killer soundtrack.

​