The last movie you saw Thread

[Eldy]

I finally dragged myself to the theatre (not normally a big investment, but it's a ... fun time of year ) to see Avatar: The Way of Water today. I figured this deserved to be seen on the biggest screen possible, so I drove a bit further than usual to catch it in IMAX 3D. My thoughts are broadly in line with Túrin's and Alatar's upthread: I enjoyed it, but I didn't come out of it with my mind blown or anything. My eardrums, on the other hand...

I haven't seen the first Avatar since 2010 so I'm not sure if the story of 2 is in fact a step down or if I'm just more discerning than I was at 15, but for a three hour movie it feels like it both didn't get a lot done and didn't have enough room for everything. Part of that's the smaller scale and lower stakes to the final battle, as well as a bad case of only-half-a-movie syndrome, which of course is common when two sequels are shot are back-to-back. That said, there was plenty to like here, particularly the effects and action, as expected. I was less than enthralled by the teen drama and the decision to write the protagonists of the first film as bad parents, but the further glimpses of Na'vi mysticism were appreciated. Bringing back my favorite antagonist from the first film worked well, and there were some fun supporting characters, particularly the "evil" space whale and the Australian whaling captain (always grumbling about quotas) he goes up against.

Unlike the first Avatar, I doubt I will see this again during its initial theatrical release, but there's a good chance I'll rewatch it in two years before seeing Avatar 3. And I will almost certainly be there for that one, too, and not solely because of nostalgia for the first film. Though that definitely plays a role.

[Alatar]

The Banshees of Inisherin

Fab movie but I wonder how well it will translate outside of Ireland?

(Jude and Lali may recognise a few spots!)

[RoseMorninStar]

That film looks intriguing, they've been advertising it here. Seems a bit dark.

[Alatar]

Its a black comedy, very much in the McDonagh vein. For those who only know McDonagh from his movies (In Bruges, 3 Billboards, etc) this is much more in line with his plays, (Beauty Queen of Leenane, Skull in Connemara, Cripple of Inishmaan etc)

[RoseMorninStar]

I'm not familiar with any of those films. I'm don't get out much. I read a synopsis of the 'Banshees' plot, it was thought provoking.

[Frelga]

Road House (1989) is a movie I would have loved when I was 14. Sam Elliott was already a silver fox, and he's still one. Patrick Swayze got one of those faces I just find off-putting, but that's not a problem because there's so much of the rest of Patrick Swayze to see.

This one goes into the good bad movies pile. Don't see why it needs a remake, though.

[Maria]

We watched "Alienoids" this week and I have to say: it's the best dubbed science fantasy movie I've ever seen.
Of course, it's the *only* movie that described itself as science fantasy that I've heard of, so it's not got a lot of competition!

Anyway, I liked it quite a bit except for the end, "To Be Continued" Part 2 has a release date listed of "2023". OK... it's 2023 now. How about the sequel??????

We also watched "Black Adam" yesterday. It was good enough in a formulaic sort of way. Some slight surprises here and there, but otherwise rather predictable. It was fun watching Dwayne Johnson glare a lot, but otherwise the movie doesn't have much going for it.

My husband has always had a dislike of dubbed movies, so I'm surprised he stuck with Alienoids through the whole movie. I was impressed with the quality of the production, really. I may have to watch some more Korean science fiction. Or science fantasy. Whatever.

[narya]

I finally got around to watching the movie Ad Astra. I watched it with hubby, who had no clue how much he had in common with the main character. I could see - as hubby never will - the similarity about never making close relationships with anyone because your dad abandoned you (died) when you were a kid. The ending was hopeful. The science was tolerably good. The cinematography was rich. That's how I ended up stumbling into it - I saw a short clip on how they filmed the moon scenes in infrared to get the stark black and white effect, and from that, wanted to see the rest of the movie.

[Maria]

That sounds interesting, I'll have to try it.

[narya]

I just finished watching Tenet on TV. The advantages of watching it on the small screen are 1. Not getting overwhelmed by the excessive blasting of anything and everything that moves (more violent than James Bond movies, and more gritty), 2. The ability to stop and rewind to catch important little bits of action and dialogue I missed the first time, and 3. The ability to have closed captions on, which paired well with the mushy sound quality of the dialogue (especially while everything was exploding). After the movie was over, I read several articles explaining the byzantine plot, and encouraging me to watch it several times to get the full effect. I think I'll pass on the multiple watches. But on the whole, I did enjoy seeing it the first time. I especially liked the part where one character was explaining temporal physics to the other character and said "so, does your head hurt yet?".

[Túrin Turambar]

I just finished watching Tenet on TV. The advantages of watching it on the small screen are 1. Not getting overwhelmed by the excessive blasting of anything and everything that moves (more violent than James Bond movies, and more gritty), 2. The ability to stop and rewind to catch important little bits of action and dialogue I missed the first time, and 3. The ability to have closed captions on, which paired well with the mushy sound quality of the dialogue (especially while everything was exploding). After the movie was over, I read several articles explaining the byzantine plot, and encouraging me to watch it several times to get the full effect. I think I'll pass on the multiple watches. But on the whole, I did enjoy seeing it the first time. I especially liked the part where one character was explaining temporal physics to the other character and said "so, does your head hurt yet?".

I like Tenet, I think it thinks things through more than most time travel films, but this sketch is definitely accurate.



I saw Oppenheimer Sunday. It's very good, as expected. It is also, as expected, a heavy a complex film, and I haven't been able to put my impressions down yet. Will write more later.

[Sunsilver]

I saw a movie last night that I thought was really super! It will never make the top 10 movies of all time, but it certainly ticked all of MY boxes for what makes a movie enjoyable.

It was an American production, Jack the Giant Slayer. The cast is pretty much all British, and it takes place in England, so I assumed at first it was a British film. It was directed by Bryan Singer, who also directed the X-Men films, and stars Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy and Eleanor Tomlinson. Peter Jackson was the producer.

Yes, the plot was pretty predictable. It's based on an old children's fable, and most English speaking people familiar with fairy tales know how it goes. And the first 15 minutes sets up the main character and the person you guess is likely going to be his love interest. Meh - I can name at least 10 top-notch movies guilty of this. It's pretty much an unavoidable trope.

It's obviously geared for pre-teens and adolescents - the giants and the horrible things they do would be too scary for kids under 10. (Humans, either cooked or raw, are a favourite item on their menu.)

But the pacing was great, the main characters all very likeable and believable. The villain (Stanley Tucci) was the best villain I've seen in quite awhile - he could almost give Alan Rickman's Sherriff of Nottingham a run for his money! There's pretty much nothing he won't do, no level of villainy he won't stoop to to further his aims. And the special effects/acting of the giants is very well done. It's nearly impossible to distinguish where the CGI leaves off and the real characters in their makeup and prosthetics takes over.

There were a few twists and turns in the plot that really kept you guessing, and the last half hour is really tense, as there seems no way this is going to end well for anyone other than the giants. But it all works out well in the end.

And the capper for me was the final scene, when they show what became of the crown that was a Very Important part of the film!! :o (Hint: final scene takes place in the Tower of London.)

Highly recommend it!

[Túrin Turambar]

Oppenheimer.

Very hard to know where to start writing about this movie. Given that it’s basically three hours of people talking about physics and politics broken up with (spoiler alert) one very big explosion it’s surprisingly compelling. Which is, I suppose, a testament to Nolan’s skill as a director and the formidable talent of the ensemble cast. I’ll probably need to watch it again to properly untangle it. It is not as complex as Tenet, but still weaves together non-linear narratives and subjective and objective storytelling. As with Dunkirk, it puts practical effects to very good use.

There has been a lot of debate on its politics, but I think some of its critics ignore that it’s a biopic and not a documentary. Its morality is certainly grey, and it isn’t jingoistic and doesn’t whitewash its ethically-complex subject. I did think it was hard on Harry Truman, but wasn’t familiar enough with some of the other people and events to know how accurate it was. Which was good, as I didn’t know the end coming in. I like that Nolan isn’t threatened by his audience’s ignorance and, as with Dunkirk, avoids “as you know Bob” explanations to let the film speak for itself. It’s a demanding film to watch.

I saw it in 70mm film, which was great.

[Frelga]

I've seen the criticism that the movie doesn't show the (excuse the worst pun in the history of the board) fallout in Hiroshima. But... we know? We know exactly what they built and what happened.

It's like Spiderman: Homecoming not showing Peter's origin story. We know.

Anyway, son did the Barbieheimer, said he liked both movies and that Barbie was a lot funnier than he expected. He is not a big movie goer, and I'm pretty sure they've only gone for the meme.

[Túrin Turambar]

Barbie.

Was definitely on the fence about seeing it in theatres, given that I’m picky about what I go to the cinema for. And I’m not in the target market (as least I thought I wasn’t, now I’m not sure). But I was intrigued by the trailers and the debate it generated online, and felt I needed to endure the rigours of Barbenheimer to claim I had the full 2023 experience, so off I went.

It’s good! A bit uneven and at times cloying, but some of the satire landed for me. I loved Helen Mirren’s sarcastic narrator and would have liked to have heard more from her. I can see a huge amount of effort went into the production design to get the houses, outfits and the like accurate to the toys, which as a fan of media like LotR is something I can really respect, although the detail was lost on me. The political stuff wasn’t as clunky as I was afraid of, although it was intentionally heavy-handed. I have to wonder how many of the young girls I saw traipsing off to see it a fortnight ago had most of the movie go over their heads.

I’m not the first to notice this, but Ryan Gosling gave a surprisingly-compelling performance, and has to be considered a serious contender for best supporting actor. He took a role that could have been a joke and genuinely threw himself into it.

Definitely worth seeing in theatres for me, and no regrets about going (for comparison, I was squarely in the target market for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the second two Star Wars sequels yet felt tempted at times to walk out of them, so maybe I need to be more open-minded).

[RoseMorninStar]

I give you credit for having an open mind & going to see the film Túrin. I haven't been to a movie since before COVID so I don't know if I'll be seeing it, but I've heard that it's not the mindless fluff that some wish to apply. It seems to be an exercise in applying critical thinking skills instead of going with whatever meme or media bias/propaganda one is exposed to and determining what you think for yourself. As for much of it going over the heads of children...lol... when I watch some of the old cartoons (like Looney Tunes) it is incredible how much 'over the heads of children' humor there is.

[Frelga]

I'd like to see Barbie. It sounds original and fun. But I'm not going into a theater in the middle of the summer covid wave.

Meanwhile, saw Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express. The cast is wonderful, but Branagh is not at all a good Poirot. Weird, because he clearly can do characters who are not hypermanly, he was a perfect Gilderoy Lockhart. Worse, the script doesn't trust the book and tries to add excitement through action instead of suspense.

Now I want to watch David Suchet's version, but I don't want a BritBox subscription and it appears to be the only place that streams it.

[Túrin Turambar]

Meanwhile, saw Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express. The cast is wonderful, but Branagh is not at all a good Poirot. Weird, because he clearly can do characters who are not hypermanly, he was a perfect Gilderoy Lockhart. Worse, the script doesn't trust the book and tries to add excitement through action instead of suspense.

It's a common criticism of the Branagh Poirot films (I share it). I like Branagh, but he seems to think audiences need a Poirot who's a James Bond hybrid. So, for that matter, did the RDJ Sherlock Holmes films. Maybe Hollywood doesn't think an eccentric detective is enough.

[Alatar]

Just watched Oppenheimer. Adored it. Stunning movie.

[Túrin Turambar]

Just re-watched Oppenheimer. The first time, from memory, I've watched a film twice in theatres since Return of the King in 2003. I had read most of the source book, American Prometheus, in the meantime.

It really came together for me on the second viewing, and I was impressed with just how true to life much of the dialogue was. In many cases, word-for-word from actual transcripts of hearings. It doesn't coddle its audience, and I respect that a lot. I'm amazed that a film based around bureaucratic procedure can come across as so compelling. It's really first-class in writing, cinematography, and acting.