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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| March 2017
- Thread starter Divius
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Rhomega Beta
Member
Blazing Saddles: Great Mel Brooks comedy with great characters, with my favorite being the governor (playd by Brooks himself). Gene Wilder and Harvey Korman are great here, but I think Gene was better in Willy Wonka and The Producers. Then the climax gets...weird. I want to see Young Frankenstein and History of the World Part 1 more now.
Cripplegate
Member
I understand the sentiment, and wouldn't try to sway you. Ant-Man turned out alright, though, in part because of Wright's work. You can still see the DNA of it throughout. There are some clever visuals and visual effects work in the film, a refreshing antidote to the bludgeoning CGI in something like Age of Ultron (a contrast made all the more obvious since they released a mere two months apart).
NipplesAndToes23
Member
Powerpuff Girls. It was pretty good. Nice origin story for them and way better than a lot of stuff made by Hollywood in the 2000s like Fantastic Four.
Net_Wrecker
Member
The whole MCU is super disposable for me. I show up for em to see these superheros I'd never thought I'd see on the big screen, but they're basically like a standard network procedural at this point. Everyone quips, things explode/implode, repeat. The emotional scenes don't really do anything for me, nor does the overarching visual style, or music. idk
Iron Man 3 is cool for the troll though. And those sections where it was just a Shane Black movie. The end was nonsense.
DC's hopeless. Deadpool was solid, liked it mostly for Reynolds' physical comedy. X-Men has done nothing for me. Y'all say Logan is great, I'll see that by next week maybe..
Save me Ryan Coogler and Taika Waititi.
Iron Man 3 is cool for the troll though. And those sections where it was just a Shane Black movie. The end was nonsense.
DC's hopeless. Deadpool was solid, liked it mostly for Reynolds' physical comedy. X-Men has done nothing for me. Y'all say Logan is great, I'll see that by next week maybe..
Save me Ryan Coogler and Taika Waititi.
Discotheque
Banned
Meh. Marvel could revive Kubrick and still manage to churn out an average movie at that studio.
Next great hope now that logan pulled through is Matt Reeves batman. Provided WB remembers how they operated with their franchises before this cinematic universe mode kicked in.
Also tv is doing some cool stuff with legion. I think a cable network is where we could see some really cool shit go down like a Grant Morrison adaptation. Hell even preacher was ok, not particularly great but it was cool to see them try adapting that with its quirks intact.
Next great hope now that logan pulled through is Matt Reeves batman. Provided WB remembers how they operated with their franchises before this cinematic universe mode kicked in.
Also tv is doing some cool stuff with legion. I think a cable network is where we could see some really cool shit go down like a Grant Morrison adaptation. Hell even preacher was ok, not particularly great but it was cool to see them try adapting that with its quirks intact.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Y'know what, That Ghost Rider arc on Agents of SHIELD was the most fun I've had with a superhero in a long time. Genuinely enjoyed his scenes and looked forward to him on screen.
Haven't watched Legion or any of Marvel's Netflix stuff because I really can't pick up any new TV shows right now (I JUST finished The Americans S4, jesus christ)
Haven't watched Legion or any of Marvel's Netflix stuff because I really can't pick up any new TV shows right now (I JUST finished The Americans S4, jesus christ)
You finished just in time for 13 more episodes!
Jezebel (1938): Bette Davis' consolation prize for not getting to play Scarlett O'Hara, another movie (released beforehand) about a Southern belle with an anti-hero streak. This is a lot more playful, in some respects, than later works I've seen from William Wyler. Davis is terrific in the lead role, and it's easy to see how this got her her second Oscar; Henry Fonda is a bit boring, even if perhaps that suits his character. The ending feels somewhat incomplete. Also, while this isn't actively pro-slavery like Gone With the Wind, nobody would ever mistake the plantation slaves here for a progressive portrayal of blacks on film.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
If you do watch a new superhero show, make sure it's Legion. So good.
Discotheque
Banned
i get what you mean but I love that about it. for the time being. they can't keep that up for a lengthy amount of time but for it's short 8 episode 1st season by all means keep it up.
it's basically like Mr. Robot season 2, but I noticed a lot of people hated that.
Net_Wrecker
Member
I knowwwww. Weird always being excited for a show that never really goes out of its way to be exciting. Good stuff.
I do want to check it out eventually. I'll get back to you in 2023, if we are still here.
And by "we" I mean humans.
And by "here" I mean alive on Earth.
And by "." I mean the sentence is over.
Most genre cable/premium shows are to an extent. Like, Mr. Robot is so far up its own ass it flipped inside out. These showrunners/creatives get an inch and take a mile. All you can hope is that they land the plane instead of crashing, or, maybe even worse, gliding aimlessly.
Discotheque
Banned
it's a lot like Mr. Robot's second season. Although the mutant powers and 60s mixed with present day aesthetic do differentiate it. but it has fairly similar presentation, especially dealing with the lead's schizophrenia.
Net_Wrecker
Member
I'm ok with that if I know going in. Mr. Robot S2 was a problem because it felt like they were picking up steam at the end of S1, and instead of continuing from there they detoured into psycho-anime character study territory which significantly slowed the momentum of the cybercrime part of the show. My expectations are set for S3, unless Esmail goes left again and turns it into something else.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Yeah, this is how I feel too.
That's the same year I'll probably finish watching Breaking Bad. I'm on the 3rd episode and it's been like 6 months since I started...
I am discovering what a hot take is
The funny thing about MCU being disposable is that it's sort of keeping Hollywood alive. I think for that, it's really interesting to see a piece like Logan succeed within that climate. Like Deadpool was trying to be a Van Wilder film so I get why that succeeded, but Logan felt like an honest attempt to appease cinephiles and comic book fans and for that it feels like good art because it's creating really good work within industry limitations.
I don't really buy the Dark Knight musings I've read in other places because I felt that film gave rise to a bunch of wannabe dark gritty copycats. Instead Logan feels more like its own piece of thought because it takes the time to tell its own story and flesh out its characters in a way that feels human.
Eh, to clarify, I didn't like Logan THAT much, but I force myself to watch MCU stuff because I get a glimmer of hype from a trailer or two only to cringe myself through another viewing. Logan I could handle, and that genuinely surprised me.
I don't really buy the Dark Knight musings I've read in other places because I felt that film gave rise to a bunch of wannabe dark gritty copycats. Instead Logan feels more like its own piece of thought because it takes the time to tell its own story and flesh out its characters in a way that feels human.
Eh, to clarify, I didn't like Logan THAT much, but I force myself to watch MCU stuff because I get a glimmer of hype from a trailer or two only to cringe myself through another viewing. Logan I could handle, and that genuinely surprised me.
Fallout-NL
Member
Glass Rebel
Member
Article is kinda wack because it starts off pretty nicely and then turns into an incoherent rant about "real movies".
Like funny action movies have never existed.
Like movies that only explore themes on a surface level have never existed.
Reads like the kind of articles written about Dark Souls at the time. Embarrassing.
Fallout-NL
Member
Is that what he does? I think he compares Logan to the types of superhero movies that have been prevalent for the last 10 years. In that sense, describing those films as 'movie flavored products' (when comparing them to something much more focused like Logan) is very much on point if you ask me.
Also, Dark Souls is amazing so every gushing article that was written about it is probably deserved.
Discotheque
Banned
Best hot take I've read in this thread in a while has gotta be Borgnine's Birth of a Nation review. Classic.
Glass Rebel
Member
I have generally little respect for elitist and prescriptivist opinions on what a media product should be. "More focus" isn't what makes a movie a movie. "Movie flavoured product" is a hilariously sad description and I can't believe an actual adult used it.
But I shouldn't be surprised. There's this weird and misplaced insecurity around superhero movies because they're making money hand over fist. It's not enough anymore to just call them "alright", "mediocre" or "bad", nah, they aren't even real movies anymore. Reminds me of the discussions surrounding hip-hop of the 00s. They have become an easy target, I guess.
MidnightCowboy
Member
Watched a little bit of Midnight Special on HBO and maybe it's because Logan is still fresh in my mind, but I see some definite similarities. Ultimately, beneath the genre veneer (sci fi/comic) they are both family road trip movies. Fatherhood is a huge theme in both, specifically through the lense of a strained, less than ideal father-child relationship. Both are dope.
Fallout-NL
Member
I see what you're saying. But there's no denying that the need for these things to never really end - and the need to appeal to so many people - has an effect on what these movies usually feel like. To me that feeling is that they are utterly disposable. Logan does not feel like that.
Comic book superhero movies. But it's just personal preference like anything. I actually like Spider-Man 1 and Batman Begins more.
*giggles*
Not far from what I gave it. 2/5. I might reconsider giving it a 3 on a rewatch though since it's average.
Saw an 11:55 showing of Get Out by myself yesterday (6 bucks!). This is one of those films where reading about it afterwards gave me a greater appreciation for it. Maybe my expectations were too high after seeing the 100% on RT, but I was a little underwhelmed initially, and thought it was a decent horror film with a film with a few great moments.
After reading a couple reviews, an interview with Peele, and reflecting a bit, my opinion has shifted more positively. The film really does a masterful job at putting you in the shoes of a black man in an unfamiliar situation, and creates a persistent unease and tension. There are some great comedic moments as well. The best part was when
It also confronts a lot of uncomfortable racial questions/habits and forces people not affected by racism (like me) to think about these things. Really can't recommend this enough.
Skimming through the thread right now to avoid Logan spoilers. Gonna try and see it on Friday.
After reading a couple reviews, an interview with Peele, and reflecting a bit, my opinion has shifted more positively. The film really does a masterful job at putting you in the shoes of a black man in an unfamiliar situation, and creates a persistent unease and tension. There are some great comedic moments as well. The best part was when
the police car rolls up while Chris is on the ground strangling his white girlfriend, there was an audible gasp in the theater.
Skimming through the thread right now to avoid Logan spoilers. Gonna try and see it on Friday.
Glass Rebel
Member
I'm gonna go against the grain here and actually say that being tied to a larger universe adds to the mediocre movies. Let me preface by saying that there like a handful of MCU movies I consider truly good to begin with. The rest ranges from alright, over mediocre to really bad.
But I don't think their quality (or lack thereof) has anything to do with the need to tie into a bigger universe, rather than just the people involved in them. When I watch Thor: The Dark World (I'll use this as an example now), I can come up with a list of issues before even touching the "Marvel formula" (which I find to be a very lazy criticism either way) or stuff that ties them to the extended universe. They are mediocre/bad regardless of their place in the MCU or their tone. On the contrary, even with a BvS-tier movie like Thor: The Dark World at least you get to see characters and worlds you're familiar with fleshed out. One of the best scenes and only ones worth a damn in TDW is when Loki impersonates Cap.
And it's not like Logan doesn't use the history of its main characters to its benefit. It's just fucking good at it.
Discotheque
Banned
I think you're missing his point. Being a part of a universe isn't the problem. It's how they use it as an excuse to make all the movies consistent in presentation. It basically feels like a one size fits all approach. I leave every marvel movie feeling the same way about it. Sure a few are better than others but not drastically different. This "heist movie", "spy movie" thing has been overstated.
You'll never see something like Logan there not because of its approach to referencing the franchises past. Nah it's because it's too sad, and too bleak, too violent, too slow at times etc. They reach for sentiment every once in a while but never nail it because those moments are cut short or hamstrung by the next scene. No follow through.
It's working out for them in that audiences trust them and know going in what they're gonna expect. Hence the very consistent box office success all their movies have. It's a reliable brand. And if you like those movies all the power to you. You're getting so many every year to enjoy. But to hell with them having the xmen tho. It's nice to have at least one marvel property outside of their control.
Welp that's about all I gotta say about this subject in this thread for a little while now. Good talk brehs.
Onto this before trilogy rewatch now that I just got the criterion in yesterday.
You'll never see something like Logan there not because of its approach to referencing the franchises past. Nah it's because it's too sad, and too bleak, too violent, too slow at times etc. They reach for sentiment every once in a while but never nail it because those moments are cut short or hamstrung by the next scene. No follow through.
It's working out for them in that audiences trust them and know going in what they're gonna expect. Hence the very consistent box office success all their movies have. It's a reliable brand. And if you like those movies all the power to you. You're getting so many every year to enjoy. But to hell with them having the xmen tho. It's nice to have at least one marvel property outside of their control.
Welp that's about all I gotta say about this subject in this thread for a little while now. Good talk brehs.
Onto this before trilogy rewatch now that I just got the criterion in yesterday.
Slow fucking clap. Someone gets it. And good use of the TDW.
Edit: Logan is fundamentally different than most marvel movies from the get go because of the universe they are both set in. Logan only works because it is set further in the future of the x men movies with no mutants and everyone is old as fuck
Time for some reviews.
Logan
THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE SINCE - well, no, there are a few others I like more than this one. But this was still pretty great, anchored by a trio of excellent performances from Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, and Hugh Jackman in not just his franchise best outing, but one of the best of his career. The action is pretty brutal, with lots of head stabbings; honestly I don't think a lot of it is particularly well shot, but there's some good stuff in here. Wasn't a fan of the choice for final villain, which I thought, thematic relevance aside, is a pretty cheesy idea and a little out of place for the more grounded approach this movie is going for (on that note, I did like Boyd Holbrook's Pierce, who is a charismatic villain if not a terribly consequential one in the grand scheme of things). Great ending. Sad and grim and bittersweet, but, unlike a certain Dawn of Justice, the tone here feels earned and fulfilling. All in all, a well-deserved send-off for two of the genre's biggest and best stars.
8/10
Le Mans
Watching the recent The Man & Le Mans doc, and seeing how much of himself McQueen poured into the production, inspired me to check out the finished product. It's a good thing I watched the doc first, because it gave me a greater appreciation for a movie that I ultimately didn't like that much. It's not particularly bad, but it's tough to watch because it's purely racing. There's very little in the way of plot (it's a race), dialogue (McQueen doesn't speak until 40 minutes in) and defined characters (you barely learn people's names). The movie is really just 95 percent racing: a constant stream of watching cars drive, pass each other, turn, break, crash, fly over guardrails, explode, finish in vague did-the-race-just-end finishes.
It's a really impressive technical achievement, from the camerawork to the sound design, and the fact that it was done with real drivers in real cars on the real Le Mans course gives it an authenticity that other racing films of its day, much less now, don't have (or so I've read; not that I would really know the difference :lol). But because it's so much pure racing, with barely any character or story work being threaded through it, it all starts to blend together and it's easy to lose focus of what's happening. I appreciate McQueen's passion for the project, and I think his goal of trying to get the purest, most accurate depiction of racing on screen was a success. It's just hard to really care about what's happening.
6/10
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
The story of a pair of tasteless hacks who come to America, produce a bunch of shit, and are driven out of business. Not much of a tragedy in my eyes. I generally like obscure-genre/filmmaker-primer documentaries like these, because it gives me insight into cult subsections of cinema that I knew little, if anything, about. And that's true of this film too. But, after watching this, I could just as well continue not knowing or caring about the history of Cannon Films. These guys weren't the second coming of Roger Corman, who, amid all the other schlock, made some genuinely great films. All they did was just make a lot of shit movies. There's some fun anecdotes in here, and it's an interesting story at times. But at the end of the day, these guys weren't some unsung heroes of independent or exploitation cinema. Maybe if I had some childhood affinity to Cannon movies, I could have gotten some nostalgia out of this. But I don't, so I didn't.
5/10
Logan
THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE SINCE - well, no, there are a few others I like more than this one. But this was still pretty great, anchored by a trio of excellent performances from Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, and Hugh Jackman in not just his franchise best outing, but one of the best of his career. The action is pretty brutal, with lots of head stabbings; honestly I don't think a lot of it is particularly well shot, but there's some good stuff in here. Wasn't a fan of the choice for final villain, which I thought, thematic relevance aside, is a pretty cheesy idea and a little out of place for the more grounded approach this movie is going for (on that note, I did like Boyd Holbrook's Pierce, who is a charismatic villain if not a terribly consequential one in the grand scheme of things). Great ending. Sad and grim and bittersweet, but, unlike a certain Dawn of Justice, the tone here feels earned and fulfilling. All in all, a well-deserved send-off for two of the genre's biggest and best stars.
8/10
Le Mans
Watching the recent The Man & Le Mans doc, and seeing how much of himself McQueen poured into the production, inspired me to check out the finished product. It's a good thing I watched the doc first, because it gave me a greater appreciation for a movie that I ultimately didn't like that much. It's not particularly bad, but it's tough to watch because it's purely racing. There's very little in the way of plot (it's a race), dialogue (McQueen doesn't speak until 40 minutes in) and defined characters (you barely learn people's names). The movie is really just 95 percent racing: a constant stream of watching cars drive, pass each other, turn, break, crash, fly over guardrails, explode, finish in vague did-the-race-just-end finishes.
It's a really impressive technical achievement, from the camerawork to the sound design, and the fact that it was done with real drivers in real cars on the real Le Mans course gives it an authenticity that other racing films of its day, much less now, don't have (or so I've read; not that I would really know the difference :lol). But because it's so much pure racing, with barely any character or story work being threaded through it, it all starts to blend together and it's easy to lose focus of what's happening. I appreciate McQueen's passion for the project, and I think his goal of trying to get the purest, most accurate depiction of racing on screen was a success. It's just hard to really care about what's happening.
6/10
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
The story of a pair of tasteless hacks who come to America, produce a bunch of shit, and are driven out of business. Not much of a tragedy in my eyes. I generally like obscure-genre/filmmaker-primer documentaries like these, because it gives me insight into cult subsections of cinema that I knew little, if anything, about. And that's true of this film too. But, after watching this, I could just as well continue not knowing or caring about the history of Cannon Films. These guys weren't the second coming of Roger Corman, who, amid all the other schlock, made some genuinely great films. All they did was just make a lot of shit movies. There's some fun anecdotes in here, and it's an interesting story at times. But at the end of the day, these guys weren't some unsung heroes of independent or exploitation cinema. Maybe if I had some childhood affinity to Cannon movies, I could have gotten some nostalgia out of this. But I don't, so I didn't.
5/10
Messofanego
Banned
I definitely had Midnight Special in the back of my mind while watching Logan. Glad I'm not the only one who made this connection.
PassiveObserver
Member
Get Out (2017) - Believe the hype. So refreshing to all that racial baggage get dealt with right in the open.
Platform - (2000) - This films sits pretty at #2 on TIFF Cinematheque's best films of the 2000s list. Jia Zhangke has become my favorite Chinese director, but this one is admittedly a hard sit. It took me 5 separate viewings to get thru its 150 minutes. The languidness of the plots and incessant long takes literally put me to sleep multiple times. In the end, I still appreciated this film, which got across the world-weariness that the youth must've felt in rapidly changing culture of China during the 1980s. There's a great interview with the director on the DVD where he talks about first encountering rock music on the village radio, and how music ties into his fondest childhood memories. Which brings me to the next movie I watched this weekend...
Radio Days (1987) - My gf gives me the side-eye for watching so many Woody Allen movies, but I've been catching the ones I haven't seen as they pop up on Amazon Prime (just missed Shadows and Fog, dang). This one depicts the times when radio was the prevailing form of entertainment, and the period-ness of the film is on-point. Gorgeous movie. I totally got that sense of misplaced nostalgia for things I hadn't experienced. I didn't have high expectations when I booted up this one, but its low-key sweetness won me over. This is upper-tier Woody.
Platform - (2000) - This films sits pretty at #2 on TIFF Cinematheque's best films of the 2000s list. Jia Zhangke has become my favorite Chinese director, but this one is admittedly a hard sit. It took me 5 separate viewings to get thru its 150 minutes. The languidness of the plots and incessant long takes literally put me to sleep multiple times. In the end, I still appreciated this film, which got across the world-weariness that the youth must've felt in rapidly changing culture of China during the 1980s. There's a great interview with the director on the DVD where he talks about first encountering rock music on the village radio, and how music ties into his fondest childhood memories. Which brings me to the next movie I watched this weekend...
Radio Days (1987) - My gf gives me the side-eye for watching so many Woody Allen movies, but I've been catching the ones I haven't seen as they pop up on Amazon Prime (just missed Shadows and Fog, dang). This one depicts the times when radio was the prevailing form of entertainment, and the period-ness of the film is on-point. Gorgeous movie. I totally got that sense of misplaced nostalgia for things I hadn't experienced. I didn't have high expectations when I booted up this one, but its low-key sweetness won me over. This is upper-tier Woody.
Cripplegate
Member
Now you're ready for the 193 minute version!
TheWorthyEdge
Member
Da fuq.
Ozzy Onya A2Z
Member
Enjoy this, another classic from Brooks.
Fancy Clown
Member
I'm not a huge Mel Brooks fan tbh, but Young Frankenstein is fuckin amazing.
Atraveller
Banned
LOL
AngmarsKing701
Member
Marvel movies are popcorn movies. They're good fun but it's just popcorn.
Rhomega Beta
Member
Odd that this person gave Apocalypse Now 4 stars, a movie which features Playboy Playmates, and in the Redux version, the main characters get to have sex with them in exchange for fuel.
This is where I'm at too. Up until about Age of Ultron-ish I was always hype as fuck for the next movie because Ive grown up loving the comics and animated series, and getting to see it all brought to life over the last 15 years has been really great to see. But we've reached the point now where individual stories are being reiterated two, three times over. And the formula remains the same for most of them. They've beaten it all to death because the money they're making is fucking bonkers because like me, people will keep going to see these childhood dreams on the big screen. It just sucks because the typical one sentence response to 80% of these movies is "that was awful," or "yeah man, that was pretty good. I liked that one." I just don't see where this ends.
All this being said, I just saw Logan, and it definitely is the most transcendent superhero film since Nolan's Batman trilogy. It's better than anything in the MCU, significantly. Job well done, gentlemen. Pack it up, we're done here.
And you lost me
MidnightCowboy
Member
It for sure is tho. Closest is Winter Soldier.
Yeah I was going to say either Winter Soldier or Iron Man, and as great as those are, they don't break away from the constraints of the type of movie that they have to be to serve their universe that's been constructed.
I am putting civil war over it.
Aaaaand you've lost me.
I loved Civil War though. It was everything I wanted from a Marvel team-up movie since the beginning. It was so damn fun, and I came in fearful as fuck because of how much of a trainwreck Age of Ultron was. And STILL, it's simply just a really good marvel movie. It's not a game changer cinematically speaking.
I don't need a game changer or a movie to re invent the wheel. Just deliver and civil war did. I loved it for the opposite reasons I loved Logan.
The Mistfits (1961): 6/10. Damn Marilyn lookin' ROUGH, nothing more than an average chunky mid 30s blonde at this point. At 1:12:46 I'm almost positive a titty pops out. I rewound and paused it 8 times like http://i.imgur.com/NOLAH4h.jpg. Movie was all right.
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