Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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He was good. I think by far the best thing he's done as an actor is Gone Girl. He pulled it off and then some
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It's explained indirectly why Neo has powers in the real world.
His function as the One was to reintegrate his code into the Source, which would cancel out all the remnants from everyone who had rejected the reality of the Matrix since the last time it was rebooted. This reintegration would allow the Architect to improve the next version of the Matrix. The reason he has powers within the Matrix is because he has all of the abilities anyone else ever discovered by rejecting the Matrix. Neo is not bound by the rules of the Matrix because he's literally the manifestation of everyone who saw through the facade of the Matrix since the last time it was rebooted. Everyone who sees through the facade is either killed by Agents or saved by the red pills, but their residual self images remain in the Matrix code and eventually get combined into the One.
His secondary function is to select the people who would seed the new version of Zion after the machines destroyed the current one. In order to do that successfully, he'd have to be able to affect Sentinels in the real world. Otherwise the Sentinels would just wipe them out during the building stages.
Neo doesn't have the powers in the real world until after he returns to the Source (the room with the Architect). He was supposed to take the other door and reintegrate his code, then reseed Zion, but instead he took the other door and saved Trinity, then used his powers in the real world before he was supposed to, which is why his consciousness was dumped out of his body and he ended up in the trainstation Mobil Avenue (Mobil being an anagram for limbo).
The Machines have their own morality, and the Matrix is based upon choice. Neo in choosing not to reseed Zion abandoned his purpose in the eyes of the Architect, so the Architect scheduled him for deletion. But since the Matrix is based on choice, no program can be deleted against their will, so the ones who choose not to be deleted are left in Mobil and the Merovingian controls their fate from then on (which is where Exiles like his supernatural henchmen and the Keymaker came from).
His function as the One was to reintegrate his code into the Source, which would cancel out all the remnants from everyone who had rejected the reality of the Matrix since the last time it was rebooted. This reintegration would allow the Architect to improve the next version of the Matrix. The reason he has powers within the Matrix is because he has all of the abilities anyone else ever discovered by rejecting the Matrix. Neo is not bound by the rules of the Matrix because he's literally the manifestation of everyone who saw through the facade of the Matrix since the last time it was rebooted. Everyone who sees through the facade is either killed by Agents or saved by the red pills, but their residual self images remain in the Matrix code and eventually get combined into the One.
His secondary function is to select the people who would seed the new version of Zion after the machines destroyed the current one. In order to do that successfully, he'd have to be able to affect Sentinels in the real world. Otherwise the Sentinels would just wipe them out during the building stages.
Neo doesn't have the powers in the real world until after he returns to the Source (the room with the Architect). He was supposed to take the other door and reintegrate his code, then reseed Zion, but instead he took the other door and saved Trinity, then used his powers in the real world before he was supposed to, which is why his consciousness was dumped out of his body and he ended up in the trainstation Mobil Avenue (Mobil being an anagram for limbo).
The Machines have their own morality, and the Matrix is based upon choice. Neo in choosing not to reseed Zion abandoned his purpose in the eyes of the Architect, so the Architect scheduled him for deletion. But since the Matrix is based on choice, no program can be deleted against their will, so the ones who choose not to be deleted are left in Mobil and the Merovingian controls their fate from then on (which is where Exiles like his supernatural henchmen and the Keymaker came from).
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The main issue, as I keep saying, is the lack of strong characters. Neo is nothing more than an archetype who asks questions so that other characters can explain shit to the audience. Trinity isn't even a character at all, she's simply motivation for Neo.
The Oracle and Morpheus are the only characters that have a genuine arc.
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The Fog (1980)- Not one of Carpenter's best but still enjoyable. Plagued by a slew of production troubles and some inconsistent performances and editing but the basic premise and setting are solid. I also watched the remake a while ago which might just be the worst remakes I've ever seen.
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If only there was a method to green screen away guys' dorky ponytails in real life.
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Deadtime Stories- Another 80s horror anthology, this time based on classic fairy tales. Whoo boy this one is easily the weirdest one I've seen so far. It's fairly adult themed and just has a bizarre trashy vide to it similar to early John Waters stuff. Aside from some of the effects sequences it really feels like a bunch of people just fucking around. I'd recommend it just because it's so unbelievably strange.
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Was rewatching Miami Vice. It's slick as fuck. An oddly stunning film. It really shouldn't work this well, all the wonkiness and strange use of sountrack, strange song choices. But it does. Utterly beautiful. Very tastefull framing, photography is on point, Mann gets the otherwise hard unrefined digital aesthetic to behave with a certain elegance.
It's kind of perfect for what it is.
It's kind of perfect for what it is.
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Ok thats it, Ive gotta watch this movie tonight.
They took the series off fucking Starz for some reason so I unsubscribed. I think if I pay for peacock's ad-free option, I'll be able to watch again ad-free. You can watch the series for free on NBC but the commercial breaks are a fucking ass rape and make it not worth it
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Crazy. I rewatched this yesterday, too. The two things I couldn't stop thinking about is how much better I like this than Heat, and how hard it is to believe the guy who plays Sonny is the Penguin in the new Batman movie.
Completely unrecognizable.
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Crazy. Reminds me of De Niro playing Capone a slight bit.
Edit: was not too invested in the last Batman trilogy, and I like the cast sufficiently to be somewhat excited. Pattinson looks like a decent Barman but more particularly Paul Dano as the Riddler, I want to see that. He pretty much is in very familiar territory here, few have done villains like this actor, I really like his acting and oddness.
I am not into super heroes in general so i won't care how right or wrong they get it. Cat Woman doesn't quite do it for me here though, and you can bet there will be a feminist twist to her character, a little forced.
Only Cat Woman I ever enjoyed watching was back in Batman Returns
Edit: was not too invested in the last Batman trilogy, and I like the cast sufficiently to be somewhat excited. Pattinson looks like a decent Barman but more particularly Paul Dano as the Riddler, I want to see that. He pretty much is in very familiar territory here, few have done villains like this actor, I really like his acting and oddness.
I am not into super heroes in general so i won't care how right or wrong they get it. Cat Woman doesn't quite do it for me here though, and you can bet there will be a feminist twist to her character, a little forced.
Only Cat Woman I ever enjoyed watching was back in Batman Returns
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The Irishman was so boring I fell asleep and never bothered rewatching it.
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I turned it off at the part where they expect me to believe that a middle aged De Niro is beating up a deli owner . I'm sitting there watching an old ass man pretend to beat a dude up, de Niro looked even older than he really is in that scene and I decided I wasn't fucking retarded enough to continue the film or take it seriously
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You guys are nuts the Miami Vice movie is garbage, not even in comparison to the series. It's just bad. The visuals are somewhat interesting but that's about it.
Abominable- Sasquatch horror from 2005. It's an interesting movie as it isn't just an 80s low budget throwback. It's shot and lit exactly like something from that era and 75% of the cast are 80s horror standbys. Lance Heniksen, Dee Wallace Stone and Jeffery Combs. It's also kind of ambiguous as the sets, decor and cars are all of the period but there are cell phones, internet and computers. It's a really weird mix. The monster is serviceable and at times quite impressive.
Recommended if you're into fun trash.
Abominable- Sasquatch horror from 2005. It's an interesting movie as it isn't just an 80s low budget throwback. It's shot and lit exactly like something from that era and 75% of the cast are 80s horror standbys. Lance Heniksen, Dee Wallace Stone and Jeffery Combs. It's also kind of ambiguous as the sets, decor and cars are all of the period but there are cell phones, internet and computers. It's a really weird mix. The monster is serviceable and at times quite impressive.
Recommended if you're into fun trash.
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The movie is a fucking disgrace.
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Miami Vice the film is a guilty pleasure. It's got a gonzo feel to it, you either like it or you don't.
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Ok I'm finally watching this.
I can tell already (I'm only 10 mins in) that I'm going to love it
Maybe I'll write more later
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Says this and then goes on to praise the Sasquatch movie.
The only Sasquatch movie that's even a little bit worth watching is The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, starring Sam Elliott.
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OK Miami Vice (2006), some thoughts:
Something I'd have rather seen in theaters. Corny and flat storytelling. Really weird dubbing or stereo effects
Sex scene with Rico at the beginning was surprisingly good and really sweet, kind of a touching scene that I don't see in film much.
Gong Li is dimensionally attractive and puts on a really great performance tbh. So good that it's out of place. It's a strong highlight and undeniable even if you think the movie blows. Aside from her, pretty horrible line delivery and casting across the board. Some exceptions here and there I guess-- Barry Shabaka Henley for instance didn't delivery his lines badly at all, but I can't really understand why he was cast as Castillo. In any case, to my surprise, I really warmed up to this version of Castillo.
Some talking scenes look like NPC dialogue from a PS4 game or something.
Couldn't really tell if Sonny was hot or not . . . which is strangely congruent to how I feel about the original Sonny, but it's not in the same way here. He is a lot more likeable in the series. Colin is too young and soft, it's not convincing. I do think they gave Rico a really good modernization though.
great film work, shots, sets, etc. The aerial scenes were particularly impressive, and there's really too many awesome shots to keep track of. Big fan of the cinematography. The colors were rich and tastefully saturated, no unnecessary tinting or filter-type look in shots . Deep blacks. I really like the way the whole movie was filmed. Gonzo is a good way to describe it.
Cool LED screens and shit that pop out. Opening scene, and Castillo flying in the helicopter scene, comes to mind
Lots of really tasteful direct reworkings of classic Miami Vice scenes here and there too. You know, just the speed boating, the night-time port drug deal showered in blue & black (think back to one of the Charlie Glide episodes), the preliminary stone-cold poker face-off indoors with the middleman, surrounding henchmen, etc. etc. but the action scenes are disappointingly trash for the most part, they generally don't have the balls that they had in series, and that's partially due to the lack of a Jan Hammer score-- or any solid score at all -- the music selections here were confusing and not very memorable aside from the opening scene with that weird remix of Numb by Lincoln Park. That was kind of cool for some reason.
You can't help but think about how many awesome artists could've created a solid musical score for this film in 2006 like they did in the 80s with films like this, like Tangerine Dream did for Thief, or Wang Chung in Live & Die In L.A. for instance.
There was absolutely no thought put into the cop & criminal elements of the film. Like what the fuck was with the pizza trick in the trailer park? lmbo The white supremacists as the main bad guys was just weird too, I don't know if that was an attempt to offset the (still present) Cuban scarface disparage the show is known for or what, but it was honestly out of place
There's a lot more I could say really, being a pretty big fan of the show.... I liked the 2006 Miami Vice though overall! It is a bit of an empty vessel but Mann & Yerkovich did themselves a solid homage to their 1980s trend-setting masterpiece of a series; they did what they could do with a cheesey quintessential 80s cultural & stylistic staple in the mid 2000s.
It could have been better but not by much.
But hey, you know what? It beats the hell out of Drive starring Ryan Gostling. Fuck that movie.
PS: Just as I was about to say "I'm so glad they didn't find a way to put that fucking Phil Collins song in there!" the credits roll with that bad alt-metal cover version. Music was not this film's strong point.
Something I'd have rather seen in theaters. Corny and flat storytelling. Really weird dubbing or stereo effects
Sex scene with Rico at the beginning was surprisingly good and really sweet, kind of a touching scene that I don't see in film much.
Gong Li is dimensionally attractive and puts on a really great performance tbh. So good that it's out of place. It's a strong highlight and undeniable even if you think the movie blows. Aside from her, pretty horrible line delivery and casting across the board. Some exceptions here and there I guess-- Barry Shabaka Henley for instance didn't delivery his lines badly at all, but I can't really understand why he was cast as Castillo. In any case, to my surprise, I really warmed up to this version of Castillo.
Some talking scenes look like NPC dialogue from a PS4 game or something.
Couldn't really tell if Sonny was hot or not . . . which is strangely congruent to how I feel about the original Sonny, but it's not in the same way here. He is a lot more likeable in the series. Colin is too young and soft, it's not convincing. I do think they gave Rico a really good modernization though.
great film work, shots, sets, etc. The aerial scenes were particularly impressive, and there's really too many awesome shots to keep track of. Big fan of the cinematography. The colors were rich and tastefully saturated, no unnecessary tinting or filter-type look in shots . Deep blacks. I really like the way the whole movie was filmed. Gonzo is a good way to describe it.
Cool LED screens and shit that pop out. Opening scene, and Castillo flying in the helicopter scene, comes to mind
Lots of really tasteful direct reworkings of classic Miami Vice scenes here and there too. You know, just the speed boating, the night-time port drug deal showered in blue & black (think back to one of the Charlie Glide episodes), the preliminary stone-cold poker face-off indoors with the middleman, surrounding henchmen, etc. etc. but the action scenes are disappointingly trash for the most part, they generally don't have the balls that they had in series, and that's partially due to the lack of a Jan Hammer score-- or any solid score at all -- the music selections here were confusing and not very memorable aside from the opening scene with that weird remix of Numb by Lincoln Park. That was kind of cool for some reason.
You can't help but think about how many awesome artists could've created a solid musical score for this film in 2006 like they did in the 80s with films like this, like Tangerine Dream did for Thief, or Wang Chung in Live & Die In L.A. for instance.
There was absolutely no thought put into the cop & criminal elements of the film. Like what the fuck was with the pizza trick in the trailer park? lmbo The white supremacists as the main bad guys was just weird too, I don't know if that was an attempt to offset the (still present) Cuban scarface disparage the show is known for or what, but it was honestly out of place
There's a lot more I could say really, being a pretty big fan of the show.... I liked the 2006 Miami Vice though overall! It is a bit of an empty vessel but Mann & Yerkovich did themselves a solid homage to their 1980s trend-setting masterpiece of a series; they did what they could do with a cheesey quintessential 80s cultural & stylistic staple in the mid 2000s.
It could have been better but not by much.
But hey, you know what? It beats the hell out of Drive starring Ryan Gostling. Fuck that movie.
PS: Just as I was about to say "I'm so glad they didn't find a way to put that fucking Phil Collins song in there!" the credits roll with that bad alt-metal cover version. Music was not this film's strong point.
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Excellent stuff Sylvie, interesting angles.
I think the Mogwai track where it opens with the shot over the waterfall - a doomy, plodding, gothic piece really pulled me in, even though it was a very odd choice, but it gave the sequence that was to follow a unique undertone.
It is a very odd film, I think I never watched a single episode of the series so I don't have anything to contrast with other than Collateral which Mann made 2 years prior and is in a very similar vein (really enjoyed that one).
I think the Mogwai track where it opens with the shot over the waterfall - a doomy, plodding, gothic piece really pulled me in, even though it was a very odd choice, but it gave the sequence that was to follow a unique undertone.
It is a very odd film, I think I never watched a single episode of the series so I don't have anything to contrast with other than Collateral which Mann made 2 years prior and is in a very similar vein (really enjoyed that one).