Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

[evil wasabi]

Can't be as blatant as that shit Shape of Water movie that everyone loved a few years ago.

not... everyone loved that movie.

I would like to see Shape of Water re-done, mixing it with The Strain. Del Toro has a lot to answer for in the past 5 years, but mostly on those two productions. Fix them both, at the same time.

 

[Rocko]

I really liked The Shape of Water, I thought it was a really well made movie. Imo his best since Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[evil wasabi]

I really liked The Shape of Water, I thought it was a really well made movie. Imo his best since Pan's Labyrinth.

it was manufactured to win an award, so I guess it had to appeal to some denomination of the public.

 

[Rocko]

it was manufactured to win an award, so I guess it had to appeal to some denomination of the public.

Its user ratings seems rather decent to have only appealed to a denomination of the public.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Its user ratings seems rather decent to have only appealed to a denomination of the public.

Do you have any idea how enormous the simpleton demographic is? They have huge spending power as well, because while not typically wealthy, they have no compunction against burning through almost anything they make as soon as it comes in. So from a business standpoint, it makes perfect sense to create shallow, comically hand-holding, ham-fisted product for these mental underachievers.

 

[fake]

Russia is only 29 years old. Before that it was part of the now dissolved USSR. But we can presume you meant the soviet union quashed expressionism and creativity. To a large degree, yes. And today I don't think we have a lot of good russian film, because media is merely a vehicle for the oligarch to present his fucktoy du jour.

But there have been a lot of good film from the Soviet Union, and Russia. You can find them on Amazon Prime or Youtube for free. Here's what I am have seen that I liked.

The White Sun of the Desert
Brat (Brother)
Brat 2
Leviathan
Viy (split up as a tv series on Amazon, but was a trilogy in Russia)
Dovlatov

I haven't seen Burnt by the Sun or Russian Ark, but apparently they are good as well. There is a series of comedies about a guy named Shurik that are fun, but I don't think that they are worth going out of your way for unless you're into Soviet film.

Modern cinema is dead. So if you wait 100 years I don't think we will have anything better than Tarkovsky's Solaris. What Russia lacks in quality film, they make up for in income polarization and microcosmic spheres of influence.

I just watched Solaris. It's definitely a hard pill to swallow when you keep in mind that Tarkovsky thought 2001 was trash. Probably an unpopular opinion, but it seems to me like Tarkovsky would often touch upon a concept and then let the viewer think about it rather than diving into it and showing how it could deeply affect characters. In Solaris, for example, Kris' love for Hari is kind of turned on at the flip of a switch. He doesn't seem to struggle much with the fact that Hari isn't the real Hari. At first, he's scared and kills the simulacra. Then he's just kind of put off by the fact that she's back again. And then he's just like "let me put your hand on my cheek." I dunno. Maybe that cold sort of emotion is a Russian thing. Or maybe it's just the passage of time. But I think that a more modern movie would actually explore the turmoil that falling in love with a clone would cause. Like, maybe, she can't remember a particular memory that's important to Kris and then he is reminded that she isn't the real Hari, and that causes him to come to resent fake Hari. I dunno, just rambling at this point. But long story short, I think that Tarkovsky's movies are visually immense, but I can't really get behind the idea that he creates deep characters and themes. Interesting, sure. Deep, not so much.

Stalker > Solaris

 

[evil wasabi]

Stalker > Solaris

No one has seen the original stalker by Tarkovsky. Just the remake.

 

[fake]

No one has seen the original stalker by Tarkovsky. Just the remake.

If a movie kills you and your crew, it's your best movie, even if it's a remake.

 

[SouthtownKid]

No one has seen the original stalker by Tarkovsky. Just the remake.

There's a remake of Stalker??

 

[evil wasabi]

There's a remake of Stalker??

The original cut was destroyed because it was improperly stored. Tarkovsky had to reshoot the entire thing.

In an interview on the MK2 DVD, the production designer, Rashit Safiullin, recalled that Tarkovsky spent a year shooting a version of the outdoor scenes of Stalker. However, when the crew returned to Moscow, they found that all of the film had been improperly developed and their footage was unusable. The film had been shot on new Kodak 5247 stock with which Soviet laboratories were not very familiar.[9] Even before the film stock problem was discovered, relations between Tarkovsky and Stalker's first cinematographer, Georgy Rerberg, had deteriorated. After seeing the poorly developed material, Tarkovsky fired Rerberg. By the time the film stock defect was discovered, Tarkovsky had shot all the outdoor scenes and had to abandon them. Safiullin contends that Tarkovsky was so despondent that he wanted to abandon further work on the film.[9]

After the loss of the film stock, the Soviet film boards wanted to shut the film down, but Tarkovsky came up with a solution: he asked to be allowed to make a two-part film, which meant additional deadlines and more funds. Tarkovsky ended up reshooting almost all of the film with a new cinematographer, Alexander Knyazhinsky. According to Safiullin, the finished version of Stalker is completely different from the one Tarkovsky originally shot.[9]

If the interviews on the Criterion release are to be believed, Stalker's completion was a miracle, and that the budget was almost non-existent, but somehow props and materials needed for scenes appeared (but weren't stolen, which one guy explicitly stated)

 

[SouthtownKid]

Ah, I thought you meant there was some lackluster Hollywood remake, like with Solaris.

 

[evil wasabi]

I watched the Charlies Angels [rere]boot, and it was very rere, if you know what I mean. This version, with Kristen Stewart, lacked the fun and style of the last reboot. Gone were the whimsy of Cameron Diaz, Drew Berrymore, and Bill Murray, the quirkiness of Crispin Glover, and other performances by Sam Rockwell, who should really do more movies. Why does he not do more movies? Is he not trying? Or does Hollywood not understand him?

Anyhow, so Charlies Angels 2019 is about Kristen Stewart who is outwardly lesbian, and 2 other woman who I don't know, but are half white half black or half white half indian. It's weird in that it feels they are trying to check boxes. Box checking is a thing these days.

So anyhow, the tl;dr on this movie is that: all men are bumbling fools or evil or a combination of evil and bumbling. Even Chris Pang, who is the sole Asian in the film, which otherwise was doing a good job at box checking. Pang gets all the fun scenes but really, this movie is flat, and I don't feel like Kristen Stewart convinces, has fun, or has a pulse. Robotic.

Hopefully we get more Sam Rockwell movies though.

 

[kickrunner001]

I watched the Charlies Angels [rere]boot, and it was very rere, if you know what I mean. This version, with Kristen Stewart, lacked the fun and style of the last reboot. Gone were the whimsy of Cameron Diaz, Drew Berrymore, and Bill Murray, the quirkiness of Crispin Glover, and other performances by Sam Rockwell, who should really do more movies. Why does he not do more movies? Is he not trying? Or does Hollywood not understand him?

Anyhow, so Charlies Angels 2019 is about Kristen Stewart who is outwardly lesbian, and 2 other woman who I don't know, but are half white half black or half white half indian. It's weird in that it feels they are trying to check boxes. Box checking is a thing these days.

So anyhow, the tl;dr on this movie is that: all men are bumbling fools or evil or a combination of evil and bumbling. Even Chris Pang, who is the sole Asian in the film, which otherwise was doing a good job at box checking. Pang gets all the fun scenes but really, this movie is flat, and I don't feel like Kristen Stewart convinces, has fun, or has a pulse. Robotic.

Hopefully we get more Sam Rockwell movies though.

I see the new version isn't worth looking at.I'd rather stick with the last one. At least it was funny.

 

[evil wasabi]

I see the new version isn't worth looking at.I'd rather stick with the last one. At least it was funny.

you should know that market access is manually given, and that I won't give it if your posts are low effort.

 

[jro]

The Wretched - yet another indie horror movie with a strong premise and execution that ranks somewhere between mediocre, bad, and a hint of WTF?

There are a handful of scenes where characters do things that make zero sense, even for a horror movie, and it really drags things down. The ending is also entirely too clever for its own good and is where most of the aforementioned WTF comes in. Bad movie.

 

[fake]

My friend gave me her Shudder password. The selection is...not that great. There's a decent amount of Argento, a few classics, and a few contemporary hits (like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) but 95% of the library is stuff you'd see on the SyFy channel at 1PM on a Sunday in 2002.

 

[Neorebel]

There's a remake of Stalker??

There's a remake of Solaris too that's alright

 

[evil wasabi]

My friend gave me her Shudder password. The selection is...not that great. There's a decent amount of Argento, a few classics, and a few contemporary hits (like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) but 95% of the library is stuff you'd see on the SyFy channel at 1PM on a Sunday in 2002.

There’s a lot of fun stuff on Shudder.

Check out:
Revenge
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Deadwax

And remember that syfy has commercials, and commercials are bad mkay.

 

[fake]

There’s a lot of fun stuff on Shudder.

Check out:
Revenge
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Deadwax

And remember that syfy has commercials, and commercials are bad mkay.

I have Beyond the Black Rainbow on BluRay (they don't make a 4K version) but I'll watch those others.

My friend gave me the password so I could watch Host, which was good IMO, but people who hate Paranormal Activity will hate this as well.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

The Man with no Past -lovely
It's a 9

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Ok maybe an 8.25

 

[Naika]

Rewatched Starship Troopers with the Wife and it still holds. Best satire on fascism ever.

 

[famicommander]

Both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton are confirmed for the Flash movie. Affleck is returning one last time. Presumably Barry will fuck up the timeline in Flashpoint and the end result will be Keaton's Batman replacing Affleck in the mainline continuity. Either that or Keaton is just playing Flashpoint Thomas Wayne and they're going to have someone else replace Affleck as Bruce long-term. I don't think Robert Pattison's Batman movie is part of the same universe.

Anyway, here's a fan trailer someone made which is already better than the Justice League movie we actually got:

They missed an opportunity by not including Mark Hamill's Trickster, Danny Devito's Penguin, and Terence Stamp's Zod. Because the villains seem pretty outmatched here. You have to think Batman, Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Flash are gonna be way too much for two non-powered villains.

I'd say they should've included a villain from Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman show but I honestly don't remember them adapting any of the major Wonder Woman villains from the comics. I think Baroness von Gunther was in the pilot but that's it.

 

[evil wasabi]

Both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton are confirmed for the Flash movie. Affleck is returning one last time. Presumably Barry will fuck up the timeline in Flashpoint and the end result will be Keaton's Batman replacing Affleck in the mainline continuity. Either that or Keaton is just playing Flashpoint Thomas Wayne and they're going to have someone else replace Affleck as Bruce long-term. I don't think Robert Pattison's Batman movie is part of the same universe.

Anyway, here's a fan trailer someone made which is already better than the Justice League movie we actually got:

They missed an opportunity by not including Mark Hamill's Trickster, Danny Devito's Penguin, and Terence Stamp's Zod. Because the villains seem pretty outmatched here. You have to think Batman, Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Flash are gonna be way too much for two non-powered villains.

I'd say they should've included a villain from Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman show but I honestly don't remember them adapting any of the major Wonder Woman villains from the comics. I think Baroness von Gunther was in the pilot but that's it.

Peter Dinklage as Dr. Psycho?

I mean, I don’t know shit about WW outside of what I learned in the Harleyquinn lesbian show.

 

[famicommander]

Peter Dinklage as Dr. Psycho?

I mean, I don’t know shit about WW outside of what I learned in the Harleyquinn lesbian show.

I'm not a big WW fan either but I know some of her recurring villains. The Cheetah and Giganta are probably the most recognizable. Beyond that she usually fights characters from Greek mythology like Ares, Circe, Medusa, and Hades.


I actually didn't know who Dr Psycho was until the Harley Quinn show. I may have seen him in something at some point but nothing that I recall.

You'd think a character that has been around as long as Wonder Woman would have a better rogues gallery.

I mean

Batman - Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Bane, Mr Freeze, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Clayface, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Ra's Al-Ghul, Killer Croc, Mad Hatter, Hush, Black Mask, Zsasz, Man Bat, Poison Ivy, Ventriloquist, Rupert Thorne and all the other crimelords

Superman - Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Metallo, Bizarro, General Zod, Mr Myxzptlk, Darkseid, Doomsday, Mongul, Parasite, Livewire, Toyman, Superboy Prime, Bruno Mannheim, Silver Banshee, Lobo, Cyborg Superman

Flash - Reverse Flashes (The Rival, Professor Zoom, Zoom, and Inertia), Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master, The Top, Golden Glider, Abra Kadabra, The Trickster, Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, Captain Boomerang, Shade

And Wonder Woman has like a handful that aren't just ripped out of the Odyssey or the Iliad.