Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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Fascinated by your choice not to capitalize Pancherello.
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Marketing can be incredibly powerful when it works...
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Matrix film runtimes
The Matrix - 136 minutes
The Matrix Reloaded - 138 Minutes
The Matrix Revolutions - 129 Minutes
The Animatrix - 102 minutes
The Matrix Resurrections - 148 minutes
Wachowski just couldn't help herself.
The Matrix - 136 minutes
The Matrix Reloaded - 138 Minutes
The Matrix Revolutions - 129 Minutes
The Animatrix - 102 minutes
The Matrix Resurrections - 148 minutes
Wachowski just couldn't help herself.
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Spiderman No Way Home - Don't be fooled... it's another Marvel movie complete with nonsensical character motivations, witty banter from characters not meant to be witty, middling to bad CG (some of the shit looks straight unfinished) and some of the most bland, flat direction this side of a CW show. It's 90 minutes of middling Marvel movie pablum and the last 60 are a sloppy fan-service blowjob. I mean seriously... in many ways, this is even worse than Ghostbusters Afterlife in that department in how shameless the emotional manipulation is. It has multiple instances of shoehorned "I'm the Juggernaut bitch!" level meme references.
That said, there are still a lot of little things to like in the writing. A lot of this movie is fixing mistakes from previous Spiderman movies, both in fine details and in broader story beats:
As a movie-going experience, I had a good time but I'd never watch it again. The fact that we're getting so many of these shameless fan porn movies (Ghostbusters, this, Matrix) is an interesting response to the last several years of awful "fuck what the fans want" reboots/remakes/sequels.
That said, there are still a lot of little things to like in the writing. A lot of this movie is fixing mistakes from previous Spiderman movies, both in fine details and in broader story beats:
Spoiler:
As a movie-going experience, I had a good time but I'd never watch it again. The fact that we're getting so many of these shameless fan porn movies (Ghostbusters, this, Matrix) is an interesting response to the last several years of awful "fuck what the fans want" reboots/remakes/sequels.
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Also saw Nightmare Alley. A little noir story (based on a book and a movie from the 40s) from Guillermo Del Toro. Speaks a lot to class determinism and the long American tradition of con men using carnies and the art of mentalism as a backdrop.
It has a great cast (I love seeing David Strathairn in just about anything) and a smart if a little by-the-numbers story. Something about the movie's look and art/set design rubbed me the wrong way though. It straddles this weird line between the mundane and the hyper-real that didn't really do it for me. Like if somebody half-assed the Sin City/Spirit look.
It has a great cast (I love seeing David Strathairn in just about anything) and a smart if a little by-the-numbers story. Something about the movie's look and art/set design rubbed me the wrong way though. It straddles this weird line between the mundane and the hyper-real that didn't really do it for me. Like if somebody half-assed the Sin City/Spirit look.
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Have you actually seen it?
I didn't give a shit about it and wrote it off as total fan service trash/kiddy nonsense, I only saw it because I wanted a 4k reference quality title and ended up really enjoying it. It's charming and fun in a way that very few modern big budget movies are.
I think Holland is a pretty good PP/Spidey but aside from him and Marissa Tomei I don't really enjoy much else in these. Zendaya in particular is terrible and has the screen presence of a wet cat. Far From Home was a mess anyway you cut it, the writing in particular was insultingly stupid. I'll check this new one out when it hits streaming.
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Whoops, you mind tricked me, because I knew that. The surprising thing about the spelling is that it's PonchErello and not PonchArello, which is how they always pronounce it. The surprising thing in general is that you know Poncherello at all.
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Candyman (1992)- I never knew this was based on a Clive Barker story, makes a lot more sense now lol. Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd are both great as is the general atmosphere and score. The setting is fairly interesting, for some reason I remember it taking place in the south but the slums of NY is far more original. The design of Candyman himself is fantastic, nice and simple but very effective. His dialogue I always thought was bit goofy but it makes sense considering it's Barker thing. None of it would sound out of place coming from Pinhead instead.
Still need to see the remake.
Still need to see the remake.
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The new one is actually a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring 2 and 3.
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The things you don't know about me could fill a damn book.
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Would the whole book be as interesting as learning you know about CHiPs????
Let me know when pre-orders are up
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Get Thrashed- Pretty straight forward documentary about Thrash Metal. Unfortunately it's poorly produced and fairly repetitive. The poor production can be written off as the makers not being very experienced and the repetition is because frankly the genre is pretty limited. The plus side is that since the filmmaker was in a prominent Thrash band himself he gets some pretty good interviewees. I wish that they had gotten a bit more into the technical side as the better Thrash bands have some extremely talented musicians in them. Still worth a watch if you're into the genre.
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The Guilty - very average. Gyllenhaal does the best he can with a poorly-written character that has about zero development yet this redemption arc that's just completely unearned. Honestly, the voice acting is better than anything else in the movie, with Riley Keough in particular being really good. I was hoping for better coming from Fuqua and Pizzolatto.
The Last Duel - liked it quite a bit. Good acting from all of the leads (Affleck voluntarily playing a smaller role than originally planned worked out quite well for both him and Adam Driver), solid action and a very satisfying ending.
Copshop - meh. Butler and Grillo are always going to be at least a little bit fun in a movie together, but this felt like the bare minimum and nothing more than that to me. Overrated.
The Last Duel - liked it quite a bit. Good acting from all of the leads (Affleck voluntarily playing a smaller role than originally planned worked out quite well for both him and Adam Driver), solid action and a very satisfying ending.
Copshop - meh. Butler and Grillo are always going to be at least a little bit fun in a movie together, but this felt like the bare minimum and nothing more than that to me. Overrated.
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Stalker
I had only seen a crummy file of this before the Criterion restoration, so this was my first time watching it in HD. Very cool in terms of atmosphere and has a Soviet grit that I love (similar to Dekalog in its bleakness, but obviously with more of a sci-fi bent). The obligatory philosophizing is much more bearable compared to the Solaris pity party. It's not a fun / enjoyable watch, but it's a great movie.
I had only seen a crummy file of this before the Criterion restoration, so this was my first time watching it in HD. Very cool in terms of atmosphere and has a Soviet grit that I love (similar to Dekalog in its bleakness, but obviously with more of a sci-fi bent). The obligatory philosophizing is much more bearable compared to the Solaris pity party. It's not a fun / enjoyable watch, but it's a great movie.
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Matrix 4 hits HBO Max at midnight west coast time if anyone plans to check it out.
It's getting shockingly decent reviews on RT
Matrix - 88%
Reloaded - 73%
Animatrix - 89%
Revolutions - 35%
Resurrections - 70% after 119 reviews
Of course, Reloaded got good reviews and we already established that none of us liked that one.
We'll see how it goes. Expectations still low.
It's getting shockingly decent reviews on RT
Matrix - 88%
Reloaded - 73%
Animatrix - 89%
Revolutions - 35%
Resurrections - 70% after 119 reviews
Of course, Reloaded got good reviews and we already established that none of us liked that one.
We'll see how it goes. Expectations still low.
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I'm not saying that I'm coming around to Reloaded. I still think it sucks. But there were slivers of ideas in there that could have been used to create something great.
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Like, I've said before:
-Cut out the rave/Trinity and Neo sex scene entirely. Cringey shit, goes on forever.
-Cut out the Neo vs all the Smiths brawl. It looks like shit, it has no stakes, at the end Neo just flies off anyway, and it goes on way too long.
-Shorten the Chateau fight and the chase scenes. They're well shot and choreographed, but again, low stakes and way too long.
-Cut the cake orgasm. Narratively the scene reinforces that programs can be altered by eating things which serves to color all of Neo's interactions with the Oracle, but it's just such a cringe scene.
And then you've got a solid movie. Still self-serious and indulgent, but not such a damn chore to watch.
I maintain that the world building and plotting of the movie are actually good. It's the clunky characters and overly long scenes that weigh it down.
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I honestly thought I would hate the new Matrix but it's pretty okay.
The bad:
-looks pretty cheap as far as CGI and some of the makeup
-bad action scenes. Neo stops most threats in this movie just by holding his palms out in front of him. The rest of the action is shot with a shaky camera, from way too close, and there are way too many cuts.
-Not sure it was necessary to recast the two people they did
-little bloated, which is a running theme in this series
The good:
-new characters played by NPH and Jessica Henwick
-the evolutions to the lore and world building make sense
-it's self aware and aware of the criticisms of the original trilogy
-no scenes that were so bad they tanked the whole movie like the rave scene in Reloaded
It's still well short of the first movie or Animatrix, but I'd call it better than Reloaded. Maybe a 6/10.
The bad:
-looks pretty cheap as far as CGI and some of the makeup
-bad action scenes. Neo stops most threats in this movie just by holding his palms out in front of him. The rest of the action is shot with a shaky camera, from way too close, and there are way too many cuts.
-Not sure it was necessary to recast the two people they did
-little bloated, which is a running theme in this series
The good:
-new characters played by NPH and Jessica Henwick
-the evolutions to the lore and world building make sense
-it's self aware and aware of the criticisms of the original trilogy
-no scenes that were so bad they tanked the whole movie like the rave scene in Reloaded
It's still well short of the first movie or Animatrix, but I'd call it better than Reloaded. Maybe a 6/10.
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Also, there's a (pointless) post-credits scene so if you care, watch through the credits
Movie also definitively places Matrix Online outside the canon, despite what a buncha nerd sites claimed when they saw Morpheus had been recast (Morpheus dies in Matrix Online, but in a totally different way than in the movies).
Canon: Four films, Animatrix, shitty Enter the Matrix game
Non-Canon: Matrix Online, Path of Neo PS2 game, presumably the comics
Movie also definitively places Matrix Online outside the canon, despite what a buncha nerd sites claimed when they saw Morpheus had been recast (Morpheus dies in Matrix Online, but in a totally different way than in the movies).
Canon: Four films, Animatrix, shitty Enter the Matrix game
Non-Canon: Matrix Online, Path of Neo PS2 game, presumably the comics
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lol as if anyone even cares. This kind of shit is sperg level 10.
Not in any hurry to see the new one but at least the concuss seems to be that it's better than 2 and 3.
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You're wrong, Terry. I care that the Path of Neo PS2 game is definitively non-canon. This is important for me to know. famicommander is a goddamn hero.