Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Bartholen]

The Green Knight, 8/10

It's a Dark Souls movie except it's not called Dark Souls: A lone wanderer going through a dangerous, mystical landscape on an esoteric quest the reasons which even he can barely comperehend himself, encountering various strange characters of whose nature and intentions no one can be quite sure. It looks great, has phenomenal atmosphere and really good acting. The lighting here is especially interesting, since it's mostly presented in a completely naturalistic manner, or to put it in another way: it's literally one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. But you can always tell what's going on.

It's maybe a bit long, the pacing gets pretty weird towards the end, and unfortunately the effects on the titular character look distractingly poor in comparison to the otherwise pretty great effects. I feel like there's a whole host of things to get out of it if you're familiar with the poem it's based on, but that in no way detracts from the movie. I'm a sucker for movies that emphasize atmosphere over story, and this is a treat in that regard. I've never seen an attractive woman making sexual advances on the protagonist be more anxiety-inducing than in this movie. Know what you're getting into though, this is not a typical medieval or fantasy movie.

 

[BrawlMan]

Venom: Let There Be Carnage: YAY! / Great

Just saw @Piscian's review above, I PERSONALLY couldn't agree less. I had a lot of fun. They embraced the silliness and the film worked well as both an action movie and a buddy comedy. This is coming from a shameless Venom fan; I'll leave it to the overly-analytical pedants to rip it to shreds because "not perfect." 11/10.

I will take that $10, though, since you offered.

Same here. If the previous movie can be described as decent, then the sequel is just regular good that embraces its goofy tone. I love the buddy antics between Venom and Brock. Better pacing, better action, and better dynamics with the main villain. Woody Harrison as Cletus/Carnage is comic book accurate as hell. The destruction scenes of him, and later, Shriek are amazing. The final battle is much better too. When you get the chance to see Let There Be Carnage, make sure to tune in to the after credit sequence.

Also (BIG SPOILERS): Venom is in the MCU now! You heard that right! I fucking called it! Due to the shenanigans caused by MCU Peter in No Way Home. Spider Man and Venom, let's go!

 

[BrawlMan]

The Green Knight, 8/10

It's a Dark Souls movie except it's not called Dark Souls:

Is it the Dark Souls of movies and film making?

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Daybreakers (unseen edition DVD)

Worth watching?:
The Box quote from Variety says "Take The Matrix and 28 days later and then you've got Daybreakers"
My response to the quote having watched the film is "yeh Daybreakers something lesser than either of them and not particularly good"

Reviewy thing:
I want to like this film because it has some nice interesting ideas which with a bit more time in the oven could have come out as something great. The film is set after a 2009 plague started by a virus originating from bats (yes shockingly relevant for the current year) only instead of Covid-19 the plague was a virus turning people into Vampires. The film works to imagine a world where Vampires have taken over with underground walkways to help move about in daytime and specially modified cars to let them still drive in the day. There's the idea of without mortal problems what would be fine in the world so teenagers and everyone pretty much smoking as cancer is no longer a risk and a really impactful opening when a teen girl vampire kills herself by standing in the sunlight due to realising she's stuck as a teen girl doomed to never grow older or grow up.

The big plot as such of the film is with so much of the world now vampires, the remaining humans are being farmed for blood but blood supplies are running low due to lack of humans left with some parts of the world falling into chaos. Vampires who don't get blood start to deteriorate and mutate into subsiders (the more monstrous kind of vampire in some depictions where they're half man half bat basically). Edward Dalton is the head of haematology at one of the leading blood suppliers and is working to try and create a substitute for human blood but not having much success. Edward hopes that with a substitute it will bring an end to human hunting being done by the military to supply the demand for blood but the head of the company Edwards boss says there will always be those who will pay a premium for the real stuff. Edward himself apparently subsisting on pigs blood but it's mentioned even that is starting to become sort in supply. Though why he chooses pigs blood over human is never explored more.

After a chance encounter with some humans he ends up drawn into a plan by a human group to try and cure the vampire virus after a vampire was accidentally cured by being exposed to the sun but doused out by water before burning up fully.

A lot of the films issues is it brings up ideas and drops them or doesn't explain them fully. What are the other implications of kids not growing up now beyond kids smoking? How would a school system work in such a world?

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Part 2

There's a subplot about how a vampire senator is helping the human as a number of other high up elites in the vampire society want to turn back into human but that's not explore more really as the senator ends up killed off by the vampire army who somehow managed to find and raid his holiday cabin where he helps shelter some of the humans who are still surviving.

There's a twist moment at the end where Edwards lab assistant argue that he can't allow Edward to cure the vampire plague but it's never explained actually why the assistant doesn't want things cured. At least with the CEO character it's revealed that he had terminal cancer before becoming a Vampire so him being one cured him of it. It's also brought up and dropped that Edward was turned by his brother and the brother revealing her turned Edward because Edward was dying but it's never specified what of or how.

In terms of theme and ideas the fairly on the nose comparisons to capitalism can be see with a literal blood sucking CEO character and the idea of vampire poverty with people struggling to get blood to sustain themselves. It could be see as blood somewhat relating to food in the analogy due to issues with possible food shortages being a thing in the future or oil because basically there's an army fighting to collect it mostly ignoring the harm to humans being caused to get it while some people oppose fully eliminating blood use entirely because their business is built on it. Also part of the end of the film where the cure starts to be spread by the literal eating of the rich.

 

[Bartholen]

Is it the Dark Souls of movies and film making?

No.

But I know what is.

Malignant, 7/10

I went in having heard good things about it, and read the plot synopsis on the theatre page. "Eh, sounds interesting. A good bit of slow, suspenseful horror, though the plot sounds a bit been there, done that." It was also my first time in the movie theatre without any corona restrictions, and seeing the theatre packed on a Saturday evening was really heartwarming.

And that's as far as I can discuss it without spoilers. I'll just say I enjoyed the movie very much, though it has issues, and I urge everyone to go and see it, because these types of movies come out in theatres like once a decade.

Spoiler: Onto spoilers now

First off, I'd forgotten that this was by James Wan. So when the movie opened like an R-rated superhero movie I legitimately had to check if I was in the right screening room, because it was so off from what I'd expected. Most horror I've watched in the last few years (the very little there is) has been by A24, so I guess I'd just grown an assumption that any horror movie that gets any good recognition must be by them. But hoo boy, is Wan's subtle-as-a-sledgehammer style a change of pace in that regard. The movie starts out at a screaming register, then settles into a fairly standard psychological thriller vibe, but the final third was like a half-hour long moshpit where everything was turned to 12 and I loved it. I was a bit miffed how the movie seemed to start out just blatantly supernatural, and I was guessing some sort of demonic possession must have been going on. It was pretty standard fare, but the camerawork and the chemistry the actors have goes a long way to elevate it.

But boy fucking howdy when that reveal hit my jaw was on the floor! Suddenly everything clicked into place, and the movie - which hadn't been very scary at all mind you - turned into a full on roller coaster ride. It turned so silly and over the top, yet it didn't feel like the movie had switched in tone and style at all. The action scenes in the third act are legitimately fantastic, and just go to show that Wan knew exactly what he was doing with this movie. The concept - a sort of modern Jekyll and Hyde - is so out there, but as a premise for a horror thriller it's genius. There was some nice body horror, great action, an immensely satisfying reveal, and genuinely amazing camerawork.

There are problems though. For the first half it's not really that scary, though that's subjective. While it initially seems the movie is just straight up supernatural, the reveal makes Gabriel's electricity powers even less explicable, and the movie just expects you to accept it without any explanation, which could be a dealbreaker for some people. The ending is also rather Hollywood, even though it logically follows that Emily's life is fucked: she's killed double digits worth of people, including police officers and the only ones with in-depth knowledge of her situation, she's suppressed the thing that could prove her innocence, and then there's the whole dead husband, dead baby thing. For all intents and purposes she's in a massively worse situation than in the beginning of the movie, minus the abusive partner.

But overall this movie was a fucking blast.

 

[BrawlMan]

No.

But I know what is.

Malignant, 7/10

In what regard? Without spoilers, if possible. If not, no worries.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Rewatched The Evil Dead. I remembered it as being a straightforward horror movie instead of the outwardly comedic beats of the sequel, but even the first one is already going for dark humor. I also think the movie has a similar relationship with Alien and Terminator of featuring a protagonist who's remembered as a badass even though that really happens in the sequel, and the original movie is plainly about desperation. Sequel's where Ash actually handles himself like an action hero and starts spouting cheesy one-liners, much like Ripley and Sarah Connor in the sequels. On that wavelength even Rambo starts off as a story of survival moreso than action, with a character who's purely reacting to a situation that's out of hand. As I recall he doesn't even kill anybody in the first movie (throws a rock at a chopper, sniper guy falls at most).

 

[BrawlMan]

As I recall he doesn't even kill anybody in the first movie (throws a rock at a chopper, sniper guy falls at most).

Not in the original novel the movie based off of. Rambo has a higher kill count in the First Blood novel than its film adaption.

 

[Gordon_4]

Not in the original novel the movie based off of. Rambo has a higher kill count in the First Blood novel than its film adaption.

He also gets shot by Col. Trautman in the end of the novel.

 

[BrawlMan]

He also gets shot by Col. Trautman in the end of the novel.

Yep. They did shoot the scene as an alternative ending.

 

[gorfias]

In theaters and HBO Max, News of the World. Beautiful movie. Well acted. Interesting pacing. A major action scene occurs 1/2 way though the movie and I'm wondering... what are they going to do for another hour in this 2 hour movie.

I like that they show that people don't teleport from one end of a large area to another. It takes time to cross, say, Texas. Like 1917 before it, it shows how much we take for granted in this information age.

Not world changing. Just a good competent movie. 7/10.

 

[SilentPony]

Just saw Venom 2.

Its fine. Its 90mins of the same shit, Tom Hardy is still a fantastic actor and he steals the show, I was right that Woody was completely miscast as just...I dunno. His character, personality, mannerisms and motivation changed between every scene. He wasn't so much a character as he was just like a traffic cone that vamped.
Ultimately it was a rushed movie, but makes sense given the actual plot of the movie:

Spoiler

Venom is in the MCU. That's it. That's the plot of this movie. Wibbily wobbily space magic happened and he gets to fight Spiderman in the next movie.

Overall Spoilers/10, its a necessary movie.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Me and some friends watched 2011's The Adventures of Tintin last night. Pretty damn good! Extremely well voiced and animated, I found myself getting pretty engrossed in some scenes. I feel like it went a little too fast at a few spots though, at least for my taste. Definitely a firm 9/10 regardless!

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Me and some friends watched 2011's The Adventures of Tintin last night. Pretty damn good! Extremely well voiced and animated, I found myself getting pretty engrossed in some scenes. I feel like it went a little too fast at a few spots though, at least for my taste. Definitely a firm 9/10 regardless!

I thought it was a shockingly good looking movie, although it took some time to get used to Tintin. I've always had it in my mind that he's just a kid, like I was when I read his books.

 

[Bartholen]

In what regard? Without spoilers, if possible. If not, no worries.

In the sense that it's as hard as Dark Souls to get this kind of movie even made in this day and age. And it's also as hard as Dark Souls to make it work as well as it does. And it's also apparently as hard as Dark Souls for some people to figure out what the movie is even going for. I also found it as hard as Dark Souls not to just grin with delight when walking out of the theatre out of the sheer fact that this movie was even made, let alone released in theatres.

 

[SilentPony]

Okay Venom

Spoiler

The dead detective coming back to life with glowing blue eyes? Am I missing something or do I have no idea what that was about? Was that something established in the first movie? Is he a mutant? Calypso was a mutant, so its established. Was it a MCU thing, maybe to do with the Eternals and their fights with the Symbiotes? I read they cut like a good 30mins of run time, to get to the plot faster, so I guess Detective gets magic space powers and comes back to life was self-explanatory enough? Anyone have an insight?

 

[Piscian]

Okay Venom

Spoiler

The dead detective coming back to life with glowing blue eyes? Am I missing something or do I have no idea what that was about? Was that something established in the first movie? Is he a mutant? Calypso was a mutant, so its established. Was it a MCU thing, maybe to do with the Eternals and their fights with the Symbiotes? I read they cut like a good 30mins of run time, to get to the plot faster, so I guess Detective gets magic space powers and comes back to life was self-explanatory enough? Anyone have an insight?

It's another pointless Easter egg for a comic character no one cares about. I wouldn't sweat it. Yeah I was just thinking to myself this morning I'm not like a trained editor but I'm pretty confident this movies scenes transitions are so rough I can point in studio exactly where scenes were cut out, but I really do think Sony knew it was a stinker so they cut it down to fit as many showings in opening weekend as possible. It wouldn't surprise me if, intact, it's 120-130 min.

Spoiler

I also think the big tease is a nothing burger Sony negotiated with marvel to sell tickets. I'd bet $20 it doesn't go anywhere

 

[SilentPony]

Spoiler

I also think the big tease is a nothing burger Sony negotiated with marvel to sell tickets. I'd bet $20 it doesn't go anywhere

See i hope its more, if for no other reason that I love Tom Hardy, I think he does a great job as Eddie and I'd love to see him in the MCU. I think as an actor he deserves it, and it could lead to some great movies.

 

[Piscian]

See i hope its more, if for no other reason that I love Tom Hardy, I think he does a great job as Eddie and I'd love to see him in the MCU. I think as an actor he deserves it, and it could lead to some great movies.

I need him to evolve and start embracing being Venom if I were to pay to see another one of these. The whiny existential crisis shit was old by the end of the first one imo.