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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| March 2017
- Thread starter Divius
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Logan: Overall a great movie kind of mired by some repetitiveness in its story. Jackman and Stewart are absolutely great and the nods to X-Men, in continuity to the movies or not, sometimes just a pop culture reference, is always a nice bit of humor. Action has some nice brutality to it though I felt it needed a bit more in its final act to feel like its escalating it.
BTW, saw some shit article on Cracked about how Logan "rips off" Children of Men. Ah, the good ole "It rips off..." garbage from people who can't for an actual critique. Logan's not perfect, I think its third act wanders and there's some plot elements that could have used better buildup and explanation, but overall I found it a great, grounded (relatively, of course) and emotional superhero film. It's at its best when it's a road movie, thankfully that's most of it.
BTW, saw some shit article on Cracked about how Logan "rips off" Children of Men. Ah, the good ole "It rips off..." garbage from people who can't for an actual critique. Logan's not perfect, I think its third act wanders and there's some plot elements that could have used better buildup and explanation, but overall I found it a great, grounded (relatively, of course) and emotional superhero film. It's at its best when it's a road movie, thankfully that's most of it.
WHo is this
*giggles*
Discotheque
Banned
Femmeworth da gawd. Aka ms. Negativity
Cripplegate
Member
The Salesman (8/10) - If you've seen any of Asghar Farhadi's previous films, you know what to expect here. The dude is consistent. He's also consistently great. This is another intense, incisive examination of Iranian mores, and while it's more of a slow burn than some of Farhadi's other films (it takes a long time for the plot to get moving, so to speak), the increasingly intense and uncomfortable atmosphere of the final sequence of events, and the way the sense of "truth" and "justice" becomes more frustratingly confounded as the details become more clear, is masterfully executed. I couldn't breathe by the end.
It's not as tight a package as A Separation (one of the best of the decade, so far), and I had some narrative quibbles along the way, but I'd still recommend it heartily. It's a fine pick for the Oscar, though I still need to see three of the other nominees (I saw Toni Erdmann already and liked it a lot, but I would certainly have picked The Salesman over it.)
It's not as tight a package as A Separation (one of the best of the decade, so far), and I had some narrative quibbles along the way, but I'd still recommend it heartily. It's a fine pick for the Oscar, though I still need to see three of the other nominees (I saw Toni Erdmann already and liked it a lot, but I would certainly have picked The Salesman over it.)
Phantasm Ravager I never watched this series before recently...may have watched part one way back in the day but it wasn't memorable. Now, having watched the whole series, I can say it's best binged and I can definitely see why it has a cult following. Ravager really does what I wanted to see other entries do which is more of the other world stuff. It doesn't really explain much more but you get a feel for what may have happened to the other places shown in previous entries. I think this has some nice closure to it as well. Effects weren't great but neither were the rest of the films. Cool series!
Messofanego
Banned
*giggles*
Tangent, but I have noticed how people who are negative about most things, what they consider great because you think they might have super high standards, is actually ehh? Like you'd think they would mention some obscure foreign films or a Charles Burnett joint, but nope it's just stuff loads of people like too.
Fancy Clown
Member
In Logan almost everyone, and everything, is either old, sick, broken, or very, very pissed off. Or in Logan the character's case, all of the above. It's great. Meaty action scenes are balanced out by surprisingly weighty character driven scenes that have a potent emotional core driven by a deep sense of regret. Logan accomplishes what most superhero movies don't, by actually trying to tell a story first and foremost, rather than trying to be a Superhero Movie. I was impressed that most of the character moments are quite economically told, relying on vague hints about the past and excellent performances from its three principle characters rather than on the nose dialogue and large bouts of exposition. I only hope studios take note that Logan's successful mature take on the genre has just as much to do with its storytelling as it does the viscera. Definitely caught some serious feels at the end and a lot scenes involving Patrick Stewart. Very easily the best superhero movie since Dark Knight, and it's not even close.
The Naked City: This nuts and bolts police procedural can be intermittently dull with its investigative drudgery, but much like High and Low there's a sense of satisfaction from watching ordinary guys working together to do a dirty job. It's not always compelling, but I appreciated the lack of glamour. The real star of the show of course is the city itself, with some truly beautiful location shots, and the span of the city that gets covered adds a wonderful texture and verisimilitude that would otherwise have been lost in the stages confines of a studio backlot. In each nook and cranny of the city we gain insights to the all sorts of people, some of whom aren't even directly relevant to the investigation. Many of these characters feel too much like broad, goofy caricatures, but they helped build up the idiosyncratic tableau of everyday life in the city that is The Naked City's real strength.
The Naked City: This nuts and bolts police procedural can be intermittently dull with its investigative drudgery, but much like High and Low there's a sense of satisfaction from watching ordinary guys working together to do a dirty job. It's not always compelling, but I appreciated the lack of glamour. The real star of the show of course is the city itself, with some truly beautiful location shots, and the span of the city that gets covered adds a wonderful texture and verisimilitude that would otherwise have been lost in the stages confines of a studio backlot. In each nook and cranny of the city we gain insights to the all sorts of people, some of whom aren't even directly relevant to the investigation. Many of these characters feel too much like broad, goofy caricatures, but they helped build up the idiosyncratic tableau of everyday life in the city that is The Naked City's real strength.
Death Metalist
Member
Patrick Stewart was godlike in the film. The dinner scene and then the follow up
to him on the bed talking about it being his best night ever and that he doesn't deserve it, I just, I CAN'T.
Fancy Clown
Member
I know, right? Like damn.
I really loved how blunt the movie was too. Like when Logan
tells Laura that he keeps the bullet because he's thinking about shooting himself
Puck Beaverton
Banned
Yeah I was surprisingly feeling emotional towards the end with Xavier. Stewart fucking killed it there.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I hope LOGAN shows Feige (MCU dude) "Hey, it's okay to have superhero movies not expressly tied in to a cinematic universe". Their movies have made so much moolah that they could easily fund smaller budget creator-driven films.
Glass Rebel
Member
Logan was pretty good and I think unlike the other X-Men films this one might actually hold up on repeat views. I have my issues with the movie, in particular Caliban, some of the action, Xavier cursing and I was kinda so-so on the gore but it really hits the emotional beats better than most of these movies and for that alone it deserves some praise. It's without a doubt my favourite X-Men movie.
MidnightCowboy
Member
More superhero movies like Logan please. Not necessarily in tone, it doesn't fit for every story, but in craftsmanship and emotion. Not perfect, but very enjoyable.
Messofanego
Banned
I loved the gore and all the damn squibs. When the camera pans up and Logan tenses his muscles to push out the bullets, I was impressed. Each slash had an accompanying wound. Really good makeup, special, and visual FX work. All the headstabs were great.
Fancy Clown
Member
I like that Logan isn't 100% murder machine the whole time and frequently misses slashed, razes people, and generally gets his ass kicked a good deal so that when he does land one of those limb-rending swipes you really feel it.
And then once he's doing sweet tag team combos with X23 it's all the more satisfying.
I hope so too, but I kinda doubt it. Maybe if Thor 3 is as much of Taika movie as I'm hoping it is, and it does well, then we could see that sort of thing from Mahvel. But they are probably only letting him do his thing because no one gives a fuck about Thor no more, and his comedic style fits well with the breezy tone they've adopted.
And then once he's doing sweet tag team combos with X23 it's all the more satisfying.
I hope so too, but I kinda doubt it. Maybe if Thor 3 is as much of Taika movie as I'm hoping it is, and it does well, then we could see that sort of thing from Mahvel. But they are probably only letting him do his thing because no one gives a fuck about Thor no more, and his comedic style fits well with the breezy tone they've adopted.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
Escape from LA (1996) - ooof, frontloading the movie with a lot of CGI shots that came out extremely poorly was not the best idea. I feel that the previous one is more coherent in its parts, even if this one is technically the bigger = better movie. The ending however, has considerable more impact here.
Aesthetically however, New York takes precedence over LA.
rewatch: batman & Superman: Apocalypse - yeah, no. casual sexism everywhere, shitty writing, and the animation is barely animation worthy. It has the Darkseid Smallville fight, but that's basically the only worthwhile part.
Aesthetically however, New York takes precedence over LA.
rewatch: batman & Superman: Apocalypse - yeah, no. casual sexism everywhere, shitty writing, and the animation is barely animation worthy. It has the Darkseid Smallville fight, but that's basically the only worthwhile part.
darkwing-buck
Member
They've already got a few of those; the lack of heavy continuity/cinematic universe links didn't make them better or worse movies.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I'm praying to all the movie gods that Thor is a Taika film through and through.
Yes but those films also had a lot of studio oversight. I'd like it if there were those type of films where the director and writers were pretty much left alone to do their thing.
Lot of atrocious hot takes in here that makes the comic enthusiast in me go 
. One thing though Logan is a stretch when calling it a "super hero movie"
Second, whether a film fits in or not into a cinematic universe has nothing to do with its quality.
Furthermore, Logan is part of singers x-men universe.
Finally, a character doesn't need to die for there to be emotional weight. People always confuse that. There can be depth, finished character arcs, and etc without.
Overall: what is wrong with yah
. One thing though Logan is a stretch when calling it a "super hero movie" Second, whether a film fits in or not into a cinematic universe has nothing to do with its quality.
Furthermore, Logan is part of singers x-men universe.
Finally, a character doesn't need to die for there to be emotional weight. People always confuse that. There can be depth, finished character arcs, and etc without.
Overall: what is wrong with yah
Fancy Clown
Member
This a whole post is weird in general and kinda misses the point of what people are talking about, but this part especially...like no one in this thread has said this lol.
Someone mentioned Rhodes should of died for there to be emotional impact on the last page. Keep up
nothing weird about the post
Edit: what makes Logan so unique is that it is not a super hero movie, and doesn't pretend to be. Logan has that weight because there are no heroes to back him up. No jet. No mansion. Turning a character from God mode hero to a person just trying survive is awesome. Tag on an R rating and boom. Hot fire
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I'm fine with the CUs just as long as we can have films like LOGAN in them that don't have to set up something in some great overarching 12 movie plot or be some sorta payoff for a previous film. Gimme a gritty Moon Knight movie based on Ellis' run.
Or that Ryan Gosling Hawkguy movie I keep droning on about.
Actually, outside of Iron Man showing up, Spider-Man: Homecoming looks quite standalone and character driven (maybe?). I'm hoping that film delivers.
Or that Ryan Gosling Hawkguy movie I keep droning on about.
Actually, outside of Iron Man showing up, Spider-Man: Homecoming looks quite standalone and character driven (maybe?). I'm hoping that film delivers.
Discotheque
Banned
Absolutely. Whether or not you're a big fan of the marvel movies it's still nice to have the variety that some properties outside of their umbrella bring us
Personally I think Logan and dofp are the best marvel movies since spiderman 2. And Logan in particular was something needed now when everything else (including from dc) has felt so formulaic and unengaging on a character level.
Fancy Clown
Member
This is what I'm saying tho. He's still a "super hero" in that he is super powered and generally tries to save people, but instead of trying to fit in all the bland and contrived bullshit that people think of as a "super hero movie" like it's some kind of genre and hit all the checkboxes that make the nerds happy, it decides it's gonna ditch all the baggage and tell its story in the best way to fit the material and more or less forget about everything outside the 2+ hours of film it's got to tell it.
It's still a super hero movie though. He's a super hero. But it shows the potential for what that can mean.
I wouldn't consider it is super hero movie. I would just call it a comic book movie. The man goes out of his way to try and avoid saving people in the film. But that is not what a super hero film is about. We will just have to disagree on that one.
And lol what does being a nerd have to do with enjoying a super hero movie. Logan is the result of a world where there are no more capes and etc. like I said earlier. It works so well because of what is build off of.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Moment of silence for Edgar Wright's Ant-Man please
Oh what could've been.
Oh what could've been.
Hawkeye could work if they reboot it. Moon knight can hit Netflix though.
I appreciate the tv stuff for the street level stuff.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I feel like they're gonna need some universe reset after Infinity War. Probably gonna happen actually, just a soft one because Infinity Gem shenanigans.
Moon Knight hitting Netflix is the most realistic outcome but I've been disappointed with their output barring Daredevil season 1 and the Punisher stuff in s2. I feel like they'd muck it up somehow.
Infernostew
Member
I would've actually watched a Marvel film that's not Guardians of the Galaxy.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Someone mentioned Rhodes should of died for there to be emotional impact on the last page. Keep up
nothing weird about the post
Edit: what makes Logan so unique is that it is not a super hero movie, and doesn't pretend to be. Logan has that weight because there are no heroes to back him up. No jet. No mansion. Turning a character from God mode hero to a person just trying survive is awesome. Tag on an R rating and boom. Hot fire
It was me. I agree it didn't have to include a death. But I will also say Rhodes dying would have caused a more emotional rift between Stark and Cap than what we got. It honestly felt like a couple of friends getting into a wrestling match after drinking too much, and maybe one of them sucker punches the other, and the next morning they're gonna be best buds.
Rhodes dying would have changed that. Again, doesn't have to have been the way to address it, but there just seemed to be very little consequence to the film's central conflict.
I liked Ant-Man, but Edgar Wright's Ant-Man had the potential to be the best MCU movie IMO, based on Wright's previous work.
Fancy Clown
Member
I mean his arc is
all about coming around to being a hero again
I use "nerd" to mean the people that are obsessed with shit like continuity, references, or being faithful to the original material to the point where they care about the fandom aspect more than the narrative itself.
Wait you only watched guardians of the galaxy!?
And George yeah! I feel like Marvel Netflix keeps repeating the same mistakes when it comes to having a weaker second half of a season.
Daredevil season 1 and 2 are my favs then luke cage.
I hope the contract they have with Netflix when it comes to episode length ends soon
Nah Spider-Man 2 is a cape/super hero movie 100 percent. Yea wolverine is a super hero but Logan is about him giving that shit up. Most of the film is him saying "don't have time for that hero shit" like I said we will agree to disagree about that.
I like what marvel is doing with the universe approach and it is pretty cool. I mean if you have the rights to all these heroes why not put them in a film together. Where else am I going to get Black panther ethering other heroes outside of comics.
Comic book movies can still exist and they do outside of the MU. The problem is there aren't many good ones. Last great one outside of MU I recall was Scott pilgrim. And dredd was another good one
Sorry for the double post! On mobile. Won't happen again.
-Flow out
Split Finally got off my ass to watch this! First off that ending, yes please. Make more of these. For the movie itself it was very uncomfortable to watch this dude in action. Second this did not go anywhere I ever dreamed. I figured
so when dude
and then the movie runs with it...I was really digging it. And that ending! I'm a Shyamalan fan so that was a nice cherry on top.
they were personalities or something
goes all roided out
Infernostew
Member
Yup. No interest in the other stuff unless a director I love is doing the films.
Did you like guardians? It so check out the othe films
Discotheque
Banned
It's the superhero movie we needed for a while. Praying WB learns from this success and somehow lets Matt Reeves give his batman characters time to breathe for some character development and drama. They're still in growing pains with their films so they got time to make big changes before they get too comfortable.
Read this article too (after you've seen the movie tho cuz of spoilers). Pretty good opinion on the superhero genre as a whole.
http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/all-things-must-pass-the-emotional-reality-of-logan
That twist caught me so off guard when I heard that familiar music, had me grinning. Anya Taylor Joy has killed it with the February horror releases. 2 years in a row now.
Infernostew
Member
Liked it enough that I'll see the sequel but I'm not hyped for it or anything.
I dont think Logan should be compared against the MU like that article does it. They are both going for two different things. Why can't we have the amazing super hero set pieces that we get from civil war as well as the stuff like Logan. I think the MU is a great approach, they just need to mix up the formula. Logan is amazing but I still want the x men property back home. Or at least singer off the handle
This is not true.
I recommend Ant Man if you liked Guardians of the Galaxy. Probably the only other film with a similar tone.
Infernostew
Member
Not gonna watch Ant Man after what happened with Wright.
Huh? what I said is not a true or false type of thing..
You mentioning ant-men just proves my point. Hence the other films part
Edit: watch the first two cap movies mane
Infernostew
Member
If I were to watch any Marvel stuff, it would be those 2.
I didn't like the second cap movie, in fact I barely remember it. I do know that it has a giant ship blowing up at the end of it (very similar to most MCU films). I still haven't seen the first one.Huh? what I said is not a true or false type of thing..
You mentioning ant-men just proves my point. Hence the other films part
Edit: watch the first two cap movies mane
Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy are much more enjoyable than the other MCU films I think.
Civil war
Cap 2
Iron man
Guardians 1
Ant man
Would be my top five in that order. Iron man was ahead of the time though. Lord have mercy that suit in action with the iron man theme.
Guardians is mostly all quips and does a lot of weird stuff with the characters(comic book guy here)
Cap 2 is the strongest film imo without bringing other characters in the mix. Plus it has some of the best action scenes in the MU
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