The last movie you saw Thread

Post by **Alatar** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 10:26 am

Just saw X-Men: Days of Future Past. Enjoyable, but not as good as I hoped. Looking forward to Edge of Tomorrow.

Post by **yovargas** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:05 am

Alatar wrote:Just saw X-Men: Days of Future Past. Enjoyable, but not as good as I hoped.

May I ask what you didn't like. I actually had low expectations and came out thinking it ranks amongst the best of the superhero movies!

Post by **Lalaith** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 1:26 pm

Al, I think you'll enjoy Edge of Tomorrow. Even though I read some pretty detailed descriptions ahead of time, it was still tense and exciting. There was also some humor (just a touch here and there, it fit with the intensity of the movie). I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but he was very good in this. Emily Blunt was also very good--a total badass--and I loved that. If you don't think too hard about the science of anything, you'll be fine.

(The aliens were freaky, btw. Loved it!)

Post by **Frelga** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:11 pm

I heard good things about Edge of Tomorrow. Not so good about Godzilla, so you probably made a good choice, Lali.
I'd like to see the X-Men, as I'm on a Marvel kick right now. Plus, the two Sirs!

Post by **Alatar** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:02 pm

yovargas wrote:
Alatar wrote:Just saw X-Men: Days of Future Past. Enjoyable, but not as good as I hoped.
May I ask what you didn't like. I actually had low expectations and came out thinking it ranks amongst the best of the superhero movies!

I couldn't honestly tell you. Lots of little things. No continuity. Wolverine had adamantium claws despite losing them in "The Wolverine", no explanation for Professor Xaviers resurrection after "Last Stand", the complete changing of Ellen Page's characters abilities, and what the hell happened the Wolverine who lived through the last 50 years? Did he just get snuffed out? Too many questions with too few answers. Also, did we just have a hard reset on the entire history of the X-Men? No Dark Phoenix, no Stryker giving Wolverine Adamantium? Seriously?

Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:18 am

It seems that all your problems with the film have primarily to do with the fact that it doesn't seem consistent with the other X-Men films (which frankly wouldn't bother me much).

If possible, how would you say it sits as a standalone film?

Just trying to determine whether or not I go see it in the cinema...

Thanks!

Post by **yovargas** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:40 am

Ah, okay, I see.......considering that I haven't paid much attention to the other ones none of that was stuff that was on my mind but I can see how it'd be irritating stuff.

Post by **Alatar** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 1:49 pm

PdG, its a decent standalone movie, but I was expecting more given the stellar cast and Bryan Singer's involvement. A bit like Prometheus, if that makes sense to you? Ridley Scott back in the world of Alien with Michael Fassbender and Rooney Mara. How could it not be awesome?

Or, for that matter, George Lucas with Samuel L Jackson, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee, Natalie Portman and Brian Blessed! How could that go wrong!

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:46 pm

*Finally healing after many years of pain, Passdagas the Brown's Star Wars prequel wound opens up again and bleeds profusely*

Thanks, Al!

Post by **kzer_za** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:16 pm

Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors. I love this movie and got to see it on big screen. If you have any interest at all in noirs, this is essential.

The Hurt Locker - A solid, somewhat low-key modern war movie. It won't be a classic, but it's good. Probably deserved its Oscar (though I haven't seen Avatar yet), though 2009 wasn't the strongest year.

A Fistful of Dollars - Morricone's soundtrack is excellent. Besides that, this is historically important for Leone's and Eastwood's but really isn't very good. And the ending is just plain dumb. This is an Americanized remake of Yojimbo, which is my favorite Kurosawa film and better in every way besides the music.

The Dark Knight Rises - There are times this movie feels like it's overreaching and biting off more than it can chew (for example, some downright silly pseudoscience even for a superhero movie). Still, it is an enjoyable and mostly satisfying conclusion to the Batman reboot. I don't love Nolan like some people do, but overall his Batman movies stand as one of the better film trilogies. Batman Begins might still be my favorite of the three, but maybe that's because I've seen it the most times - need to rewatch The Dark Knight. The Prestige is my favorite Nolan movie overall though.

Post by **yovargas** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:48 am

I just watched the first Alien movie which I'd never seen before. I'm not typically one for "back in the good ol' days" type thinking but, man, sometimes I see a movie like this and wonder, did we forget how to make truly great movies at some point in my lifetime??

Post by **Inanna** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:19 am

CAT. CAT. swishing tail. CAT.

Post by **axordil** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:46 am

It's like a metronome or something...

In answer to yov's question, truly great movies still happen, but there are forces that conspire against them. Every budget that goes to a sequel or reboot (both of which are statistically unlikely to be good, much less great) doesn't go to an original film. Every commitment to a "known" property means a fresh, new property doesn't get made. Hollywood is very much a zero-sum game unless you bring your own money.

Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:51 am

I think 12 Years a Slave is a truly great movie.

Post by **axordil** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:10 am

It may well be--I always like to wait a few years to make the "great" call, just to let things settle down. But it was the movie equivalent of high-brow commercial or middle-brow literary fiction...and Alien was a SF horror flick.

What I'm saying is that there was a time when even meh-budget genre movies could end up being great, not merely movies with a higher purpose in mind. And it's still possible...but I fear it's less likely.

Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:16 am

I certainly don't disagree. Star Trek Into Darkness is a good example. There are elements of that genre film sequel that are very good, but it is marred by the need to include formulaic fight scenes and the like.

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:02 am

If we are talking animation, most definitely.

As for Live-action films, I certainly think one or two great movies come out every 6-7 years or so. (Pan's Labyrinth or the Dark Knight, for instance)

What I find disappointing is the lack of good CLEAN comedies and satires. They don't make movies like Gods Must be Crazy anymore!

Post by **Alatar** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:10 am

Hugo was a beautiful movie in every sense of the word.

Post by **yovargas** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:07 pm

While watching Alien, I couldn't help thinking of Gravity, two stark movies about women to survive terrifying experiences in space, and how if Alien had been made today it likely would've had all the stuff that bugged me about the Gravity: unnecessary backstories, sentimental dialogue, big motivational speeches, intrusive "inspiring" music. Comparing the two, it made me feel like modern movies - outside of the consciously independent/arthouse movies like 12 Years - are rather patronizing and tend to look down on their audience, like if we're simple-minded kids who need to be spoon-fed everything. For whatever reason, directors used to be allowed to make big movies that treated their audience like adults.

Also: CAT

Post by **JewelSong** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:10 pm

I saw "Maleficent" with my youngest son yesterday.

It was hilariously, spectacularly dreadful. It was a huge mish-mash of special effects, CGI, bizarre and unexplainable plot holes and characters, bombastic and inappropriate music, scenes and dialogue that was part LOTR, part Harry Potter, part Indiana Jones and part Disney. Like they just grabbed anything they could and shoved it into the story...which didn't make much sense to begin with.

The only good part, really, was Angelina Jolie's make-up and costume. And she did a pretty good job with the acting, considering the lines she had to say.

After it was over, my son and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. So it was a fun outing, at any rate!