Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

vonFiedler

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You Have Seen
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#89: Dangal
This film didn't cheat its way onto the list, so it's not surprising that it's the best Indian film I've ever seen. It is surprising that the film stars the hobgoblin Aamir Khan. Well, "stars", it's much more about his daughters. The true story of the girl who took a gold medal for Indian in women's wrestling. Pretty good sports movie with good messages that isn't held back by massive injections of saccharine like most Aamir Khan films.

#180: Hera Pheri
Another lame unfunny too long comedy. But whereas with most Masala films the unrelated music numbers get in the way of the film, it's the movie getting in the way of these ridiculously juicy music videos:



So anyone who knows the top 250 and has seen my top 250 can probably figure out what my top 10 movies on the top 250 are. But here is the 20 worst. Why 20? So that 10 of them aren't just Indian films.

#20: Prisoners
Almost a good movie, but full of plot holes.

#19: How to Train Your Dragon
Fairly overrated animated movie. Very confusing that this is even on the list.

#18: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
More edgy than even modern video games.

#17: The Third Man
The most anti-climactic mystery ever. Even the title is just trolling.

#16: Spotlight
The made for TV movie that challenged nobody's perceptions and won best picture over Mad Max.

#15: The Maltese Falcon
It's a crime mystery and I don't remember the plot at all. It might not have had one, tbh.

#14: 3 Idiots
A saccharine holier-than-thou Aamir Khan film about how bad school systems are.

#13: American Beauty
It wants to be Fight Club, but in Fight Club the rampant chauvinism is ironic.

#12: Rang De Basanti
It was all fun and games until we killed the secretary of defense.

#11: Hera Pheri
Oh hey, this is in the same post.

#10: Before Sunrise
The opposite of Boyhood, which I recently watched and actually quite liked. Instead of being epic in scope, this one is just really boring.

#9: Double Indemnity
The first film noir. If only it never existed...

#8: Life is Beautiful
The intentional holocaust comedy.

#7: Like Stars on Earth
A saccharine holier-than-thou Aamir Khan film about how bad school systems are.

#6: A Wednesday
The government isn't doing a good enough job fighting terrorism, so let's kill terrorists that they've already captured.

#5: Sunrise
Astoundingly boring film about a woman immediately forgiving the husband who tries to murder her.

#4: The Pianist
The unintentional holocaust comedy.

#3: The Hunt
Why make a rape apologist movie when you can make a child rape apologist movie?

#2: Andaz Apna Apna
One of the most agonizing movies I've ever seen, but at least it isn't four hours long.

#1: Gone with the Wind
Four hours of sexism, racism, and worst of all, boredom.
 
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What just happened is that LaLa Land blew a 3-1 lead.

Just like the Thunder, Warriors, Indians, Hillary Clinton, and the Atlanta Falcons.

#YearoftheUpset

Also, Steve Harvey is like

 
I really liked how the events after he decided to make the part happen were told from the perspective of people reminiscing about him during his funeral. I was pretty much crying before the swing scene but that scene made it pour.

Thank you for the recommendations!
Indeed, reversing the more familiar linear narrative structure... colouring the past with the present, is imo a stroke of cinematic genius in many ways which I have trouble articulating, but I can tell you understand it too.

And you're welcome buddy
 

You Have Seen
250/250 (100%)

#89: Dangal
This film didn't cheat its way onto the list, so it's not surprising that it's the best Indian film I've ever seen. It is surprising that the film stars the hobgoblin Aamir Khan. Well, "stars", it's much more about his daughters. The true story of the girl who took a gold medal for Indian in women's wrestling. Pretty good sports movie with good messages that isn't held back by massive injections of saccharine like most Aamir Khan films.

#180: Hera Pheri
Another lame unfunny too long comedy. But whereas with most Masala films the unrelated music numbers get in the way of the film, it's the movie getting in the way of these ridiculously juicy music videos:



So anyone who knows the top 250 and has seen my top 250 can probably figure out what my top 10 movies on the top 250 are. But here is the 20 worst. Why 20? So that 10 of them aren't just Indian films.

#20: Prisoners
Almost a good movie, but full of plot holes.

#19: How to Train Your Dragon
Fairly overrated animated movie. Very confusing that this is even on the list.

#18: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
More edgy than even modern video games.

#17: The Third Man
The most anti-climactic mystery ever. Even the title is just trolling.

#16: Spotlight
The made for TV movie that challenged nobody's perceptions and won best picture over Mad Max.

#15: The Maltese Falcon
It's a crime mystery and I don't remember the plot at all. It might not have had one, tbh.

#14: 3 Idiots
A saccharine holier-than-thou Aamir Khan film about how bad school systems are.

#13: American Beauty
It wants to be Fight Club, but in Fight Club the rampant chauvinism is ironic.

#12: Rang De Basanti
It was all fun and games until we killed the secretary of defense.

#11: Hera Pheri
Oh hey, this is in the same post.

#10: Before Sunrise
The opposite of Boyhood, which I recently watched and actually quite liked. Instead of being epic in scope, this one is just really boring.

#9: Double Indemnity
The first film noir. If only it never existed...

#8: Life is Beautiful
The intentional holocaust comedy.

#7: Like Stars on Earth
A saccharine holier-than-thou Aamir Khan film about how bad school systems are.

#6: A Wednesday
The government isn't doing a good enough job fighting terrorism, so let's kill terrorists that they've already captured.

#5: Sunrise
Astoundingly boring film about a woman immediately forgiving the husband who tries to murder her.

#4: The Pianist
The unintentional holocaust comedy.

#3: The Hunt
Why make a rape apologist movie when you can make a child rape apologist movie?

#2: Andaz Apna Apna
One of the most agonizing movies I've ever seen, but at least it isn't four hours long.

#1: Gone with the Wind
Four hours of sexism, racism, and worst of all, boredom.
Care to explain more in detail #3 and #4? I dont think we have watched the same movie at all
 

vonFiedler

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Care to explain more in detail #3 and #4? I dont think we have watched the same movie at all
I don't remember The Pianist that much but I know I hated it. I found scenes throughout to range from bad horror to slapstick comedy, and because I couldn't take it seriously, the slower parts were very boring. I don't know if it doesn't translate well from book to screen or if Roman Polanski is a bad director (I haven't liked a movie of his yet).

The Hunt is much more fresh in my mind for how fucking awful it is, in spite of seeing it not long after The Pianist.

For starters take this movie's catalyst into action. The little girl makes a macaroni noodle heart, signs it with here name in her childish handwriting, and then gives it to her teacher saying that Lucas made it for her. This is so obviously untrue it blows my mind that it's an actual plot point. macaroni noodle heart "to lucas" with her handwriting. If you give the movie any benefit of the doubt at this point, then you must think this school is really noble for allowing the mentally disabled to teach.

Midway through the film, Lucas has a girlfriend who has stuck by him and will always trust him because she knows him. Doorbell rings. It's the girl. She says, and I quote, "They tell me that you touched me." Lucas responsibly tells her to go home. Door shuts. Girlfriend: DID YOU RAPE THAT GIRL!!?!?!!!?!?! Bitch, did you just fucking watch that scene?

These are called character plot holes. They are the most damning form of plot hole, because we can no longer fundamentally trust any of the characters. The author has a thesis in mind (we'll get to that later), and it doesn't matter to him how the story comes together. These are two very egregious examples, but the movie is full of character plot holes and more than that, obnoxious moments to manipulate the audience into feeling more sorry for Lucas. When they killed his dog was the third moment when I turned the film off. This film is only better than The Room on a technical level.

Is this a movie about how mass hysteria can sometimes force people to jump to the wrong conclusions? We don't see that. We see characters who know Lucas intimately constantly act out of character in order to move the plot along. When one person sees a new piece of evidence that obviously vindicates Lucas and then decides that he's a pedophilia anyway, that's not mass hysteria, that's a bad movie. If you want a mass hysteria movie, you want the somewhat problematic but at least well made Gone Girl.

Seriously though, if this movie was about mass hysteria, why be about rape, let alone child rape? Why not murder, the thing that mass hysteria is almost always about? In this film's "profound moment", a character says something to the effect of "I guess you can't trust kids". How profound. I sure wish there a was a mass hysteria when I was trying to survive my real child abuse. It'd have been lovely to be in this film's fantasy world. Next time a kid rats a movie producer out for sleeping with them, think twice about it. I wonder how this film won an Oscar...

It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen period.
 
I watched a lot in February 2017. Some good, some great, some shockingly bad. These are all the 2017 films (UK release date) I watched in February.

Toni Erdmann - ★★★★/★★★★★
I'm still undecided over whether this deserves four or five stars. It's an exquisitely paced faux-comedy that produces both wonderfully cathartic moments and a whole lot of hilarious cringe. It's one of the most intelligent comedies in years, and I implore everybody to see it. Despite it being 3 hours long, and long stretches of it are business jargon with little in the way of humour, it manages to be consistently interesting, no doubt due to Maren Ade's direction and Sarah Huller's talent.

Christine - ★★
Gets a lot right on depression, but hits a few bum-notes on the way too. My main problem with this film is that it just doesn't seem to say a lot about anything, really.

LoveTrue - ★★★
The surfer storyline is some of the greatest filmmaking put on screen in recent years. The other two stories don't match, however, in imagery or in interest, and I wish the stories overall would interconnect more than just being about love.

The Lego Batman Movie - ★★★
Its positive is that it's exhaustingly funny. Its negative is that it's exhaustingly funny.

Moonlight - ★★★★
Read Post #1243 for my thoughts.

Lion - ★★★★
Read Post #1243 for my thoughts.

Hacksaw Ridge - ★
Read Post #1243 for my thoughts.

Fences - ★★
Read Post #1243 for my thoughts.

Cameraperson - ★★★
Sadly, I'm not the most politically-minded person and so a lot of Cameraperson went over my head, even if it is well-constructed and at times moving.

The Fits - ★★★★
It's a thin story but intriguing and threatening, building towards an exceptional climax. I shamefully missed the allegory, but that didn't detract from a very good viewing experience.

It's Only The End of the World - ★★★★
Dolan's latest was undeservedly slated. It's brutal, intense filmmaking, faces shot close-up and basked in scorching hues of red and blue. Character interactions moved, astounded and perplexed me in wholly entertaining ways. The flashbacks get a little too silly but this is the bravura direction expected by Dolan.

I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore - ★★★
Pleasant enough, with sharp Sundance-y righting, sweet Sundance-y performances, and quick Sundance-y direction. Very Sundance-y, for better or worse.

20th Century Women - ★★★★
A well-directed and delightfully structured take on growing up, and watching others growing up, in 1979. Takes a few minutes to calm down but by the end I was deeply moved.

The other films I watched in February 2017 were as followed:

The Royal Tenenbaums - ★★★★★ (Rewatch)
The Edge of Seventeen - ★★★★
Airplane! - ★★★★★ (Rewatch)
Adaptation - ★★★★ (Rewatch)
The Wailing - ★★★★★
The Wailing - ★★★★★ (Rewatch)
Singin' in the Rain - ★★★★★

So I watched 1.4 films every day this month, probably a new record or something. Films I'm looking forward to in March: Logan, A Cure For Wellness, Certain Women, Headshot, Catfight, Kong: Skull Island, The Love Witch, Get Out, Personal Shopper, The Salesman, Age of Shadows, Aquarius, Life, Free Fire, Ghost in the Shell, Man Down and The Void. Obviously I won't see all of them but I'm hoping for double digits again.
 

vonFiedler

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A year in film never ends simply on the new year, what with the staggered releases of films that technically belong to late December and with the Oscars in late February. But with that even come and gone, it's time to pack in 2016. I wish I'd seen My Life as a Zucchini already (I have to wait about a month), and I may end up seeing A United Kingdom and Train to Busan. Anyway, now for my top 10 worst movies of 2016:

10. Little Men
A movie about two boys who are friends until their parents squabble over a petty rent dispute. Kind of a dull movie that never amounts to much.

9. The Accountant
I'd like to like this movie, but it's just too baffling at too many points. Like, what the fuck is up with him intentionally overloading his senses? It's ridiculous.

8. Finding Dory
I've seen every Pixar movie except for the Cars films and this is the worst one by a decent margin. An unnecessary sequel with nothing to offer the story but tedium.

7. Jason Bourne
But then you have an unnecessary sequel that tried even less to be worth making even as a movie at all.

6. The Neon Demon
Modeling is eating her! Then it's going to eat me! OH MY GOOOOOOD!!! When it's not pretentious, it's dull. When it's not dull, it's disgusting.

5. Suicide Squad
DC knew they needed a Guardians of the Galaxy type movie to save their floundering franchise. They could hardly have fucked up more.

4. Indianapolis: Men of Courage
Nicolas Cage stars in a foreign made film about Japanese men being shamed by their ghost dads and also it's a Jaws rip-off. Classic example of something being so shitty it's actually good.

3. Dog Eat Dog
Nicolas Cage stars in a film that is so shitty it's just fucking terrible. SCENE FILTER! Am I a good director now? Somehow Willem Defoe also hamming it up does not save this movie from being ugly aesthetically and morally.

2. Patriots Day
It was a bad enough idea to film the Boston Bombing as if it were an episode of 24. It was a worse idea to fill it with subplots about young men not able to fuck Asian women due to terrorism.

1. Assassin's Creed
The worst video game movie I've ever seen, and that's a high bar. As brown as early PS3 but as foggy as the PS1. This felt like watching a 3D movie without the glasses. Somehow manages to fuck up every plot point in a video game series that already had a bad story. Michael Fassbender, alleged good actor, plays two characters while also playing zero characters. A film terrible on every conceivable level.

One can more or less figure out my best movies of 2016 from my top 250, but there are some slight changes and I might as well make it easy.

20. The Nice Guys
19. Rogue One
18. Deadpool
17. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
16. Arrival
15. Ben-Hur
14. Your Name
13. Zootopia
12. Collateral Beauty
11. Doctor Strange
10. Don't Think Twice
9. Passengers
8. Hell or High Water
7. The Salesman
6. 10 Cloverfield Lane
5. Captain America: Civil War
4. The Handmaiden
3. Kubo and the Two Strings
2. A Monster Calls
1. Moana
 
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Any other Scorsese fans see Silence and just not get it?

I feel bad. I wanted to love it. Critics loved it. It's his baby and he's been working on it for 20 years. I love everything else he does. Its premise sounded amazing. But somewhere in the three-hour execution, he lost me. I thought it was excruciating. I nearly walked out.

Someone please tell me where I went wrong. What if he never makes another movie. WE CAN'T PART LIKE THIS.
 
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GatoDelFuego

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I think the success of logan can be an exercise to film companies on HOW to promote a movie. The cast was excellent, and the true plot was completely hidden. Every single bit of the trailer footage happens in the first 20 minutes, which is great. The literal first line of the movie is hugh jackman saying "FUCK". Yeah it's not like the plot is perfect (oh wow the Evil Genetic Corportation did Unethical Genetic Research) and it's still...a superhero movie, but Logan was exactly the movie it needed to be (R-rated, action / emotional fan service farewell to wolverine).

Also:
The old man and the sea is the story of a fight between and elderly, accomplished fisherman, Santiago, and a really big fish. Like... HUGE. The story opens with Santiago suffering eighty four days without catching a fish because he's the unluckiest son of a bitch on planet earth. Honesty, if you were in a boat for eighty four days, it'd be hard NOT to catch a fish... even by accident. Santiago was so unlucky that his apprentice, Manolin, was forbidden by his Ma and Pa to fish with him. But as the Fresh Prince used to say, "Parents just don't understand". So the boy visits Santiago's shack anyway, ignoring the inherent risks of unsupervised playtime with an eldery man who talks to himself. Manolin helps out, moving Santiago's fishing gear, making food, and talking about baseball. Especially Joe DiMaggio, who used to bump fuzzies with Marilyn Monroe. The next day, Santiago tells Manolin that he's going way out into the gulf Stream. WAY OUT north of Cuba. Lady Luck is returning. On the eighty-fifth day of his crappy lunch, Santiago drops his lines and by noon, gets a bite from what feels like a big-ass fish. He's sure he's a winner. He fights and fights and fights and fights but can't pull the monster in.Santiago's leaky old boat is pulled by the fish for two days and nights as he holds on for dear life. Even though he's bloody and beat, Santiago begins to appreciate this mighty adversary. He starts calling him "Brother" or maybe even "Bro". It's sort of a love story if you really think about it. And like most romantic comedies, the reader pictures a delightful outfit changing montage, followed by the inevitable interspecies wedding. But on the third day, Santiago is freakin' EXHAUSTED, and decides he just wants the fish to do what he says and not always swim wherever it wants. So he stabs it. With a fucking harpoon. It's a mess. Super gross. Blood everywhere. Because, like many men his age, Santiago has difficulty expressing his emotions and fears with words instead of giving in to base desires and imposing his gigantically terrible position on any given subject through unblinking violence. Typical. Anyway, he straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and hits the road home, read to act like a total show off to everyone and probably gouge people on the price. But guess what? Pretty soon sharks begin to attack the bleeding Marlin's carcass, because as we all know, life is a tragic opera and just when you think you've finally found something good and true, sharks come along and rip it all to fucking shreds while dry-humping your dignity with their crazy-weird shark dicks. Sure, Santiago tries killing a few of them, but drops his harpoon because his hands are just as old as he is. By nighttime, the sharks have pretty much eaten the entire marlin. Only a bleach-white skeleton remains, silently mocking him in the murky darkness. Santiago realizes he's still unlucky, REALLY unlucky (DUH!) Ma calls the sharks "dream killers". Which isn't really all that fair, I mean, the sharks were just doing their job and the marlin... Jesus, don't even get me started on the marlin. It was just hanging out one day, minding it's own business, maybe thinking about ways it could be a better provider for it's family and WHAM! Harpoon in the brain. Who's the "Dream killer" now, fuckface! The hypocrisy is pretty much boundless at this point. Eventually Santiago makes it ashore. Leaving the bones of the marlin and the boat, he hobbles to his shack. He makes it home and crashes, like I said - He's super tired. The next morning, a group of fisherman gather around Santiago's boat. One measures the skeleton and, holy shit shingles! It's over 18 feet! The head of the fish is given to Pedrico (Strange that this is the first mention of him) and the other fishermen ask Manolin to send their glad tidings to the old man. Manolin brings Santiago newspapers and coffee when he wakes and they decide to fish together again. Many years later there's a Red Lobster restaurant in nearly every city in America offering a casual dining experience and convenient parking.
 

SparksBlade

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really liked logan, specially after getting tired of like last 3-4 xmen/wolverine movies

couple things i found odd about logan
  • how's gabrielle so good at making videos on phone and capturing so many things she shouldn't be able to, then adding her narration to the whole video
  • we never really found out about what charles did 1 year ago
  • can someone explain the timeline to me? logan looked the same from first class(1962) to the wolverine(2013)(haven't watched apocalypse), then shows slight grey in days of future past(2023), grows old in 25-30ish years(let's say 2050)? so that's about 218 years for logan, and charles must've been at least 100 too since he was like 20 in 1962. where'd all other mutants go? (sorry if it's all answered in apocalypse) (source for years: http://www.mtv.com/news/1831220/x-m...-timeline-explained-in-one-handy-infographic/ )
  • how'd everyone plan for "eden"? they all ran away as fast as they could and gabrielle was the one who was obsessed w/ eden and told laura about it. and when did they all agree to meet at those mountains?
  • how'd the kids built those lil houses and got all the equipment they had?
  • in the woods, why don't any of the kids besides laura try to fight? the girl that made twigs and leaves fly coulda done real damage to so many so easily
  • why do the kids not go and help logan fiting with x24? everyone's too obsessed with daniel even when he's no longer a threat and just 1 kid can watch him. i think(like to think ;-;) if they had helped, logan could've lived
 
I didn't think a superhero movie could be better than Civil War.

But that was by an old standard.
Are you saying that Logan is better than Civil War? I've been skipping the X-Men side of "Marvel" in my movie adventures just because I've heard they were just okay and I don't think I'd be interested in any superhero movie/series that is not close to the standard that Marvel has set.
 

GatoDelFuego

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  • how's gabrielle so good at making videos on phone and capturing so many things she shouldn't be able to, then adding her narration to the whole video
  • we never really found out about what charles did 1 year ago
  • can someone explain the timeline to me? logan looked the same from first class(1962) to the wolverine(2013)(haven't watched apocalypse), then shows slight grey in days of future past(2023), grows old in 25-30ish years(let's say 2050)? so that's about 218 years for logan, and charles must've been at least 100 too since he was like 20 in 1962. where'd all other mutants go? (sorry if it's all answered in apocalypse) (source for years: http://www.mtv.com/news/1831220/x-m...-timeline-explained-in-one-handy-infographic/ )
  • how'd everyone plan for "eden"? they all ran away as fast as they could and gabrielle was the one who was obsessed w/ eden and told laura about it. and when did they all agree to meet at those mountains?
  • how'd the kids built those lil houses and got all the equipment they had?
  • in the woods, why don't any of the kids besides laura try to fight? the girl that made twigs and leaves fly coulda done real damage to so many so easily
  • why do the kids not go and help logan fiting with x24? everyone's too obsessed with daniel even when he's no longer a threat and just 1 kid can watch him. i think(like to think ;-;) if they had helped, logan could've lived
  • good question
  • According to some stuff I read, it was intentionally cut after being written to give some emotional depth to the events. But charles had a seizure in westchester (which is where his mansion is) which obviously made the rest of the world say "ok, not putting up with these mutants any more, even the _good guy_ is dangerous to us"
  • First class -> DOFP -> apocalypse -> logan. Every other x-men movie is in a different timeline. Logan's healing factor is diminished as he ages, so his powers no longer keep him "young" as all the other movies and I think he's supposed to age rapidly. Logan takes place in 2029 (voiceover at the beginning of the movie). Charles is definitely near 100 and who knows how old logan is (was logan even in first class?). The mutants were killed off by a 'genetic virus' or something like that (legacy virus? just speculation) by the Evil Genetic Man. The plan was to suppress mutants through a harmless additive to water supplies (or........genetically engineered supercorn that makes Corn Syrup That You Put In Everything (((((thanks will))))), but it turned out to kill all the mutants instead. Whoops!
  • Maybe all the staff were planning for months to make some kind of escape
  • In keeping with the above theory, there must have already been a firewatch station at those coordinates. Perhaps the comic book writer just looked up firewatch stations and decided "hey, let's put eden at this random coordinate in north dakota". But my guess is that everybody planned to meet there long before the movie
  • Good question. Maybe they don't want to be "weapons" after being raised as them
  • Same as above. My BIG question is why the soldiers just don't shoot everybody once they're captured. They're taking them back to execute them anyway, right????? And nobody besides laura can heal from bullets, right??? Why try and capture them???
 

vonFiedler

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Are you saying that Logan is better than Civil War? I've been skipping the X-Men side of "Marvel" in my movie adventures just because I've heard they were just okay and I don't think I'd be interested in any superhero movie/series that is not close to the standard that Marvel has set.
I think that one's enjoyment of Logan is amplified a lot by being a fan of Wolverine. But yes, it's better than Civil War. It doesn't have a formula and I'm not sure that one could really even call it a superhero movie without being partially up their own ass. There isn't much heroism to go around and the super exists in the same sort of Schrodinger's Box that it does in movies like Unforgiven and Eskiya. It is an Action Drama. Hugh Jackman and especially Patrick Stewart put in oscar worthy performances and some critics are even calling for the first superhero best picture nom (which is big words for a March movie). It's all about character development, taking place in a near future that is cynical, depressing, and worst of all, convincing. The movie is laced with social commentary and literature without shoving anything in your face. Things that might seem stupid out context that would just exist for fun in other superhero movies matter as metaphors here. Logan was the product of a wild imagination uninhibited by meddling studio heads. When I say new standard, I mean that from now on, people won't say, "In what ways was that movie better than Spider-Man?". They'll say, "Why couldn't that movie have been as good as Logan?". Logan was a movie that made me cry.
 

vonFiedler

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Timeline is X-Men, the only movie they specifically reference, then Logan. Logan was inspired, but hardly based on, an alternate timeline what-if story. There's no reason to do gymnastics to tie it into any movie other than the one it specifically ties to. Though you could add in X2 for preference. Even then, you have to look at Logan is wholly its own thing that exists with meta-ties to a character most of love, but also isn't weighed down by the franchise at all.
 

brightobject

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logan was so good. Say what you will about the motif of EVIL GOVERNMENT SCIENCE but we already know that these people are an inexorable part of Wolverine's world, cliched as they may be. They made him, after all (and if someone can think of a way to someone make those involved in making him sympathetic please, do tell). To me it's one of those situations where people are like, but....the Nazis weren't ALL BAD. If anything the movie doesn't try to make it so that humans are all hateful evil monsters--note the family that cares for and helps them. In my opinion the world building is so nuanced and subtle that it does away with the idea that this group is some kind of lazily thought up cannon fodder.

This film isnt a superhero film in the traditional sense of the word--not even in the Watchmen or the Dark Knight sense. This shit is apocalpytic and real. Not some popcorn shit with bants up the wazoo, if you get my drift. It feels more like a traditional sci-fi thriller to me (SUPER NOT WELL ARTICULATED)

some moments i liked:

-when logan sees X-23 pop out her claws for the first time. Jackman nailed this scene, and the abject horror and shock on his face -> realization was awe-inspiring. Just imagining his horror that the program he had run from and thought destroyed was still functioning, albeit in a different form, and now experimenting on children--you can see it flashing through his head in those few seconds. Great stuff

-X-23's muteness serves as a pretty good metaphor for the mutants as a whole. Ragtag and hunted, they cannot speak out, not even to each other. Interestingly "mute" sounds a lot like Daniel's favorite slur, "mutie." Intentional? Hopefully (i recall that moment when the dad asks Logan how long his girl was "mute" and Logan's short doubletake) /shrug

-When Logan meets with Dr. Rice (? i think?) and says he killed his father, and Rice reacts awkwardly but not really emotionally. I think this speaks volumes about the movie's themes: the mutants want family and love and to be free. Rice and his compatriots understand nothing about family; Rice doesn't give two shits about Logan being his father's murderer, only about the science. On the other hand, unlike his self-rationalizing partner Daniel does away with pretense and is in it for kicks. I'm not really sure about how the cyborg vs mutant thing is working but it's clear that he sees mutants (perhaps the genetic experiments specifically) as uncontrolled, subhuman, as opposed to the mechanical, inorganic augmentations that the Reavers have.

^thinking about it now a nice machine vs nature aspect going on here. Starts in the arid urban landscape -> wet wilderness

obvious shit about X-24 being wolverines own hatred and dark origins, and X-23 killing X-24 is kind of hope of the future killing the sins of the past if that makes sense
E: I actually think more accurately X-23 and X-24 represent the two parts of logan and his two potential futures and x-23 killing X-24 means the end of the whole (Logan himself), but a brighter future

-Pyrrhic victory of the characters at the end. The government/companies still are making those soldiers. They still have Logan's genes and now they have Caliban's too as well as the rest of the X-men. Even though the kids have escaped into Canada, America is still basically the Nazi Germany of 2029. But it's still a win for them. They've freed themselves, and it;s a good sign for the future.

-The detail they put into this future world. '24 Chrysler, anyone? lol they really put these new ass designs for all the cars. Thats so wild man. Also the self driving/ RC trucks!


some things I didnt like so much:

-why didnt caliban kill himself sooner? Why did the movie never address Caliban's role as an outcast among outcasts after that one conversation with Logan? The movie never played up the tragedy of his existence nor did they give him any real closure (either of which would have been fine by me). So what gives? Cut content? Lord knows. E: ok i know why he didnt kill himself so early thinking back, but i still dont like how they didnt elaborate on his existential crises

-daniel was a shitty villain, just cartoonishly evil. Rice and X-24 were very good as Big Bads and Daniel was good leading up to that point. But having the kids focus on him and giving him any role afterwards was a mistake imo. He's really not very threatening in a true fight (or if he is, he never fucking showed it lol), and was good when he was leading his Reavers and threatening Logan in his car at the beginning, but it would have been better imo if he had been phased out completely and have Dr. Rice and X-24 take center stage utterly

which leads into

-why did the kids not help out more!? Agreeing with the above posts. One could say that they are repressing their powers to fight their conditioning and birth...but then whyd they go all out on daniel? Also the shots of them standing in a circle around daniel looked frankly very dumb. When they can shred soldiers in seconds whyd they take like years to kil this one dude? (Psychic conditioning because he was such a titan in their former lives? doubtful) probably just to be cathartic (it failed, since daniel was never really that scary anyways)

-oh also gabrielas editing skills -_- way to make the exposition tired as shit


but really i think it is a masterwork in character and narrative development--and a pretty good holocaust analogue to boot (fight me). This is prett y rambly and nont well articulated but hey. thin kwhat u want bitch, i liekd the movie
 
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RODAN

Banned deucer.
just saw power rangers. im a really huge fan of PR series and Toku in general so I was pretty hesitant about it. But it really captured the goofy "Saved by the Bell meets Transformers" vibe the OG MMPR had. The writing and dialogue felt like it could have been right at home in any of the series (albeit modernized a bit obviously). Elizabeth Banks as Rita chews the scenery so hard that really captures the feel of the original over the top Rita Repulsa, while also making her more threatening and less goofy. The movie had a bit of a michael bay feel, but it never went full tilt in that direction. They did strip a lot of character from the show, the colours were too dark, the zords all kinda muddled together and the monsters didnt talk or make funny noises. but i mostly chalk that up to the Hollywood Touch. Even in its corniest moments I was enjoying the hell out of it. It's so cool to see this frankenstein of a show become a hollywood blockbuster!
 
Yo I'm back w/ my monthly film update... these are all the 2017 films I saw in March (UK Release Date)

Logan - ★★
Much has been touted of Logan’s grittiness, but the truth is that the film is so preoccupied with maintaining its image of a rugged, sombre superhero flick unlike anything we’ve seen before that it forsakes any notion of basic storytelling. The plot, a relatively simple outrun-the-government narrative, is thrusted by chunky exposition delivered through a phone video. This is in keeping with Logan’s wildly inconsistent method of informing its audience. The film is prone to obvious dialogue, characters reinstating what we already know in order to make sure everyone’s caught up...yet half of the world-building is kept at arm’s length from us, director James Mangold obviously believing that a ‘mature’ drama like Logan must have information hushed up, going overboard with subtext to the point where the film barely gives its audience anything to work with. So we’re aware of the emotional torment of Professor X and Wolverine, but are frustratingly disconnected from it,.

And let’s talk about that emotional torment. Wolverine’s emotional baggage is only outmatched by the baggage of the plot; Logan is an intimidating 141 minutes, bloated by a second-act stretch riddled with convolutions before petering out in an underwhelming finale. Yet despite the considerable amount of time afforded to these characters, the catharsis Logan sorely seeks goes missing, owing to the film’s insistence on forcing drama rather than letting it reveal itself. Director James Mangold doesn’t so much evoke emotion as ram it down your throat, and so the only emotional torment that actually gets through to the worn-down audience is one of boredom.

(Yeah I'm sorry I didn't like Logan)

A Cure For Wellness - ★★★★
I mean it's flawed, but it's endlessly fascinating, twisty and twisted, riotously entertaining up until it gets a little too silly. It's visually very interesting and there's a terrific sense of dread, and the mystery is enough to maintain attention in spite of a lengthy runtime.

The Love Witch - ★★★★
A superb callback to 70s B-movie schtick, dazzled up with a modern agenda, though it's not nearly as feminist or post-feminist as critics are making out to be (which isn't necessarily a negative). I had great fun with this one, and the ending is at once surprising and obvious. Loved it.

Get Out - ★★★★
I mean, everyone loves Get Out, and while I can't say that it's perfect by any means, it's damn entertaining.

Carnage: Swallowing the Past - ★★★
It's a watered down and tired argument for veganism given a fresh makeover to make it seem like it's tackling the topic from a different perspective (hint: it's not). The humour worked in parts and it has good intentions, though one scene in particular botches the whole argument (spoilers: animals are just like us)

Personal Shopper - ★★★★★
Loved loved loved this. It's many things at once, each layer balanced exquisitely by Assayas: it's a ghost story, a meditation on grief, an insight towards jealousy and fame, and a thriller. It'll leave you a nervous wreck by the end, thanks to some supernatural imagery that brilliantly offcuts the film's naturally mundane approach. Kristen Stewart is incredible. Please see this.

Life - ★★★★
Agreeing with vonFiedler when he talks about originality sometimes being overrated: who cares if Life is essentially an Alien ripoff? (Though it's more a loving, clingy homage). It's terrific and terrifying, a gripping contained alien movie that manages to surprise, and sound mixing aside, is technically very impressive.

Other films I saw in March:

The Darjeeling Limited - ★★★★ (rewatch)
A Single Man - ★★★
Fifty Shades of Grey - ★
Let The Right One In - ★★★★
Moonrise Kingdom - ★★★★★ (rewatch)
What We Do In The Shadows - ★★★★ (rewatch)
Audition - ★★★★★
Nocturnal Animals - ★★★★★ (rewatch)
Stoker - ★★★★
 

Pilo

uses walther
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i recently saw the 2016 canadian drama weirdos maybe a week or so ago. its a touching coming of age film that takes place in the 70s in nova scotia and is about a teenage boy who runs away with his girlfriend under the loose pretense of attending a beach party in order to live with his divorced mother. For the most part i'd say it's a very character driven film with a simple story that often takes a backseat to dialogue heavy scenes which dont so much forward the story as they do add to its innate charm. I think revealing any more of the story would somewhat spoil it since the movie is packed with surprises but it definitely does a good job of encapsulating a teenage sense of wonder and mischief which is relatable to kids and nostalgic for adults making it one of the most interesting films ive seen in a while.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
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I've been meaning to post this for some time!

I saw John Wick 2: Chapter: The Second One on opening weekend. My reaction to it is...mixed. What made John Wick such a groundbreaking and great film? In an action scene dominated by Michael Bay, The Expendibles, and Fast Fifteen, JW1 was a breath of fresh air for American audiences, with clean and choreographed fighting scenes. But that alone isn't what made the film interesting. The plot is...basic, but what we ARE given is explored very well. The entire film is a rising action sequence, starting at his home invasion to stalking Iosef in the bathhouse, to the entire 5+ minute section at the red circle dance floor, to the church. We start off with Viggo telling his son that he has fucked up. John Wick is going to come kill him, and there is nothing we can do about it. The image of the bogeyman is told by Viggo, and John Wick fills the image perfectly. Every shootout raises the stakes even more; the whole film is a domino effect. Even when John Wick is fighting somebody one-on-one, it's still got clean choreography. Moral of the story: don't fuck with John Wick. You're not at his level. Now you fucked up. You have fucked up now.


So here we are at JW2. While the first film is an action movie, it managed to weave in some of the coolest world ever. Assassins that operate in plain sight at hotels? Operating under a code? That's cool af. So I was hoping the second film would build on that lore, and it did, which is good. John and Winston have great chemistry together; you can tell they've got a great history. What is that history? We don't need to know it yet, because the world of John Wick is flexible and we can have that story told another time.

First scene: Viggo's brother is panicking because he still has John's car. "Why can't we just give it back?" some guy asks. "Because he's John Wick!!!! He'll kill us!!". "Why don't we kill him then?", the rebuttal. "BECAUSE HE'S JOHN WICK!!!!". So John appears, takes his car, and drives away. What do the henchmen do? They chase after him. Seems to me like John was perfectly fine with driving out. But no, he smashes up his car and drives back in. Time for revenge, I guess? And he kills all the other henchmen, goes up to the office, and offers peace to Viggo's brother. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? What was the point of this whole sequence? Just go give us some action? I sure hope not.

So then we meet our villain, some kind of Italiano guy. He made a deal with John back in the last movie, so now John owes him. "Don't do this. I'm not that guy anymore," says John. So Santino leaves, and blows up John's house with a grenade launcher. So NOW that the Stakes Have Been Raised, John accepts the deal and will work for Santino. ??????????????? What did John think was going to happen? <-- that's a quote from a character in the movie about 3 minutes later, btw. Why is John being so dumb? It's not like things could get WORSE now. He could just move to Wyoming; if Santino needs him so much then he can't kill John. But at least we get to see Ares, Santino's bodyguard, the most badass character in the entire franchise. Speaks in sign language, has all the power in every room and knows it.

So then we go to Italy, do some assassin work, John walks through some tunnels and hides some guns there in case he has to shoot his way out. I wonder if he'll have to shoot his way out? Who cares. I'm excited for that scene, because it's gonna be amazingly choreographed. Turns out that John's target's bodyguard was Common, which makes him very mad that John has made him unemployed. So we get some nice scenes there, but just as John is escaping it turns out he was doubled crossed by Ares. And now, my troubles begin. We get to see John take down about sixty henchmen in the span of 90 seconds. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, headshot, headshot, headshot. There's no point. It's pitch black in these tunnels and everybody just instantly dies. Even in JW1 there was some mustache man that put up a fight in the red circle club. He has no name, but he's got to be the head of security, he's a miniboss. JW2 is just trash minions.

Well, Ares ran off, so we'll save that fight for later. Then Ares appears back at the hotel, where you can't fight each other. "See you soon," she signs. MAN I am looking forward to this fight! So John now has an assassin contract on him. He's got to fight through NYC with about a hundred assassins on his tail. Each assassin gets a few glimpses of what they do before they get the contract. One's a violin player, one's a trash bin cleaner, they all try and take down the bogeyman and they all fail. But then John has his fight with Common, and it sucks. After 5 minutes of pure adrenaline survival through NYC, he has a 30 second knife fight with the one assassin that can go toe-to-toe with him. We're left empty.

Then some more stuff happens and John chain kills another 60 people that apparently didn't take the "don't rush the bogeyman one at a time" class. Why is this in the film? Why not just fast forward? You're not missing anything. And then finally, the Ares fight. She's up against the wall, she's fighting for everything, she finally gets the chance to take on the bogeyman. How should I take him out? Well, the obvious answer is to hide right behind a door and try to stab John as he goes through. A gun? What's that? So now another 30 second knife fight. John whoops her ass easily. He had more trouble taking down one assassin in the first film than facing this character we've looked forward to the whole movie! He doesn't bring out any new moves, it's just the same CQC we've seen the whole rest of the film.


Whereas JW1 kept cascading and cascading, never letting John catch his breath, JW2's action looks more like a seismograph. 20 minutes where no bullets are fired, then INSTANTLY we mow through an entire private army worth of trash minions. Then we take a break for a little and THEN OUT OF NOWHERE LET'S KILL SOME MORE. You know that trick, where John shoots somebody in the head? Want to see it again? The action ramps up to the highest it gets right at the beginning and doesn't know how to do anything different. I watched this a second time with another fan and sitting through it was just such a slog at times. There's no tension during these fights. JW1 was a breath of fresh air that challenged other films to rise to its level. But I don't even think that JW2 rose to its level....if the only thing you up is the body count and ignore pacing, you undermine your own movie. I'd give JW1 an A or A+, but JW2 a B-. Is that REALLY the best you could do? Was this REALLY what JW2 deserved? I'm excited for JW3 but now I'm more apprehensive than I was before. If this is what the audiences want, is it what I want?


http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/15/1...ction-fight-scenes-keanu-reeves-common-gun-fu

This article basically sums up everything. "At its best, the film is thrilling; at its worst, it’s rote". If the series goes down this path, I'm going to hate it. I'd much rather read a summary of the assassin culture on wikipedia then watch the red circle club on repeat for 3 hours. (I believe the red circle club from JW1 is one of the greatest action scenes in film in the 21st century. If you don't know it, check it out, please).
 
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emma

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This weekend I watched all the movies from the DC Animated Movie Universe (which as all based on the New 52 Comicbooks by DC) since I'm a big fan of Superheros and Comics Books and Wondercon was this weekend. I'll rank them and share my thoughts.

Sorry if I'm only supposed to talk about current movies or something like that but Justice League Dark came out two months ago so hopefully that's current enough.

7. Justice League Dark (2017)

This wasn't a bad movie but just didn't compare to the others. The beginning of the movie shows the newly revamped Justice League without much explanation to what happened. Where did Shazam go? Why did Hal Jordan get replaced as Green Lantern? When did Martian Manhunter arrive on Earth? The plot wasn't great, Deadman was annoying and his jokes weren't funny, and Swampthing didn't get to do too much. Matt Ryan, however, is definitely the right fit to play Constantine and enjoyed his voice acting. 4/10


6. Batman: Bad Blood (2016)

The third movie in the Batman trilogy was the most underwhelming in my opinion. Batwomen pisses me off as she is partially responsible for Batman's supposed death and doesn't feel bad at all. He sacrificed himself to save her and he was her inspiration but there wasn't any crying or hint of genuine sadness. Other characters like Nightwing and Robin also aren't has heartbroken as they should of as Bruce was their mentor and father-like figure. I suppose it makes sense that they weren't completely broken since they had a feeling he was still alive, but nevertheless, still strange. Nightwing also sucked as a fighter losing to a mind-controlled Batman and doing a terrible impression of the Dark Knight. I'm still confused on how Talia suddenly becomes evil after acting normally after the events of Son of Batman, maybe the Lazarus Pit when she came back to life? Don't know but still confuses me. Since we never saw a body I assume she is still alive as nobody is dead unless you see the body and even if you see it they still night get brought back to life. 5/10

5. Batman vs. Robin (2015)

I don't really understand Talon's motivation for his actions. I get Samantha told him to kill Damian but I don't think that justifies killing the entire Court and your girlfriend. Damian continues to be the most overpowered Robin of all time as he gains the upper hand against Batman and has the chance to kill him. Nightwing continues to be trash at fighting as he gets destroyed by Talon easily. Seeing Bruce and Dick fight once again together as they used to do as Batman and Robin was really cool and Alfred shooting the Owl soldiers was awesome. The plot was nice as Damian struggling to find out whom he is something people can relate to. 6/10

4. Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)


The Trigon villain was really cool and exciting. I find it strange how Raven easily imprisoned Trigon back in his crystal, but cool nevertheless. Damian's actions when he first joins the Titan is really rude and irritable, you would think by the fourth movie he's in he would learn to be kind, but alas. However, this did set up the nice character development from him and seeing him bond with Raven and the rest of the team. They oversexualize Starfire a lot which is kinda weird but her scene with Nightwing was still humorous. Damian is still overpowered as he somehow learns to dance in the span of two minutes and is able to defeat his undead grandfather. 7/10

3. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)


Aquaman is a great character and I'm happy he got his chance to shine. The entire "discovering Atlantis" plot is really interesting as even though the heroes just fought villains from another planet, they still have to get over their disbelief of something they were told was just a myth their entire lives. The only real problems I have are how Orm kinda easily kills his mother and takes over Atlantis and that Arthur Curry knew he had exceptional power and strength and never tried to figure out why or speculate on how he got it. The Justice League vs. people of Atlantis was awesome and got to showcase everyone's powers. 8/10

2. Son of Batman (2014)


Deathstroke in an awesome villain and its shown as he is able to defeat master swordsman Ra's Al Ghul. He's cruel and shows very little mercy as he kidnaps and presumably tortures Damian's mother and kills her in front of his eyes. Damian's development from Ra's Al Ghul's grandson to the fifth Robin is great and shows how much of an influence Batman has on people. Nightwing finally proves his skills has he is able to capture Damian and bring him back to the Batcave. Overall, really enjoyable to watch. 9/10

1. Justice League: War (2014)


Really nice, I enjoyed seeing the conflict between superheroes as they are forced to come together and save the planet. Batman has great timing in his lines and made me laugh multiple times. Green Lantern is a bit underwhelming as he gets his ass handed to him by Superman and was unable to bring the team together. Billy Batson went from a troubled kid to savior of the world in about two minutes which was odd but understandable. Seeing them all work together to defeat Darkseid at the end was memorable and awesome. 9/10

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is supposed to be released this month and I'm quite excited for it since I enjoyed all these movies besides Justice League Dark. Excited to see Deathstroke come back and the introduction of Wally West and Roy Harper.
 

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