Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Here are a few films I've seen recently. Sorry I don't do stars or anything; I don't really think in terms of grading or number values so these are just straight opinions.


Macbeth (2015)

This is the one with Michael Fassbender as Macbeth, Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth, and David Thewliss as Duncan. I was interested in this one when it came out, but didn't end up seeing it since it happened to come out in the same month as The Force Awakens. But I ended up taking a Shakespeare class this semester and thought it would be cool to finally watch it after reading the play again.

It really opened my eyes to how different it is to actually watch Shakespeare vs. just reading it on the page. Nuances in performance and actually deciding what things will look like go a really long way on the impression it wants to make. In this, it seems Macbeth is the stronger character and Lady Macbeth the weaker, which is opposite to most interpretations. Showing the battle scenes and having Michael Fassbender deliver all his lines with weariness help motivate how he is easily influenced. The play implies the Macbeths had a child who died in one line ("I have given suck, and know / How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me"), but in this they go all the way out and start the film with the funeral of the child. Adds another dimension of Lady Macbeth's role as mother being taken away from her, and her replacing it with violent ambition.

I'd say check this one out if you're already familiar with Macbeth, because it will probably be confusing if you aren't. They still use the original Shakespeare lines, so it can be hard to understand if you know nothing. The main reason to watch it will be to see how different people interpret the same text.


The Truth is in the Stars (2017)

This is just a simple documentary about Star Trek and how it influenced various artists and scientists growing up. It's really just a collection of interviews, so there isn't much to say, except if you are interested in Star Trek I recommend checking it out. It's hosted by William Shatner and the people they got for the interviews are pretty big deals too, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawkin, and Ben Stiller. Really worth a watch if you're into Star Trek or even the relationship of art and life. It focuses mainly on the original series, but the other series are mentioned here and there too.


Amadeus (1984)

Well this was one of those few movies that I just knew was "objectively good", a category in which I'd put stuff like The Silence of the Lambs, or Children of Men, or The Empire Strikes Back, or maybe Citizen Kane. Which is a different category from just "really good classic" but more like...something that is so well-regarded or influential that it has transcended the ability to be criticized? Maybe canonized would be a better word? It's hard to explain, so I'm just gonna stop here. So it's interesting that it's about Mozart, who is kind of in that boat in the musical world.

I'm a musician and student of history so of course I really liked it. I actually watched the first 40 minutes or so in 6th grade when we had a substitute teacher for band class, and I didn't really know what to make of it. Salieri's attempted suicide scared me and Mozart was a real buffoon but I liked it. It's not entirely historically accurate but I think it's a really good film. Again there isn't that much to say about it! It's like Whiplash but from the Classical era haha.


The Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu) (1939)

I saw this for film history class. I enjoyed it when I saw it, but when it was explained to me, I just kinda decided it was probably the best film of all time. Classmates who had already seen it had told me it was considered one of the best films, but really that's a really broad category so I didn't put much stock in it.

I ended up checking up on this movie, and it turns out it's been hovering around #4 on the best films of all time list for a really long time now. So I'm glad it's being appreciated. Personally, I loved Citizen Kane and I loved Vertigo, but I strongly feel this one is superior. In terms of techniques, both camera techniques and storytelling techniques (and the relationship between both), it just blew me away. Especially for something done in 1939. The use of space, the realism of the constructed world, all amazing. Also made me understand the hype behind long takes (in a way that actually enhances the storytelling, not just to show off).

Psycho is the film that made me respect and appreciate classic films, but The Rules of the Game is the one that made me realize why so many people have giant boners for them.


Thank You For Smoking (2006)

Well, this movie came to my attention from The Nostalgia Critic, who did an editorial on it. I wanted to check it out for a while so I finally did. I really liked it. I really like Aaron Eckhart as an actor and he really brought likability to "the most hated man in America". There's a scene with him and Katie Holmes and I couldn't help but think how much better The Dark Knight would've been if she was still Rachel. Oh well.

The tone of this is kind of inconsistent but it's not a huge deal. The biggest issue is the cliche of the ironic echo, where a line meant to build someone up is used again to tear them down. In a movie about the power of words and public image, it works most of the time, but sometimes the execution is a little too karmic/cartoony.

I'd really recommend this one to anyone who is interested in politics, marketing, and rhetoric. They talk a lot about the power of words, how to be persuasive, etc. And I think a lot of what they say is pretty insightful.


Rashomon (1950)

Film history class again, aha. I knew the plot of this film beforehand, as well as its influence. I read vonFiedler's post about it back in 2015, and it really stuck with me. So I had that in mind as I was watching it. In a few ways, it does seem muddled. Why wouldn't they believe the lady who just got raped? But I think the film does successfully complicate it so it's not just "can a woman be trusted or not".

Having known the plot beforehand, what I was really surprised about was how...the truth actually does come out, in a way. I personally have never been a fan of ambiguous endings just because, or to make the movie seem deeper (really the only issue I have with Inception is the ending: even though it's pretty clear he is in the real world, the use of the top attempts to make it ambiguous when it isn't). But the great thing is that it's not actually that hard to synthesize the four stories together and get a general idea of what really happened, especially with the framing story of the man poking holes in certain logic. Once that's done, you see it's not really important what happened, but what each person said and how that reflects their character and human nature. And of course people will say "well duh, that's the point of the whole movie!" However, it's important that they don't just say that it is the point, and that it is actually earned.

Overall, I think this earns its title as a great movie. There are even cool things that are rarely mentioned, like a really awesome samurai swordfight when the bandit is telling his side of the story. I've always been interested in the difference between medieval Japan and medieval Europe (and how they are usually portrayed in movies vs historical record) so it was cool to see that. Lots of dodging and fake outs, and not so much of the blocking!
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Saw Thor yesterday. Probably the funniest marvel movie so far, it really is self-aware and does a lot of stupid jokes but in good taste. I guess they learned that serious thor is an incredibly bad way to do things. Taika Waititi was a definite highlight. I just imagine the movie could have been double as good if hulk's reveal was actually a surprise, not a selling point in every trailer for the past year. "the champion" is so powerful! Nobody knows who "the champion" is! Well, except for the entire audience, because isn't not a secret. Stop ruining movies with trailers.

Now, being self-aware of stupid plot points and making jokes about them doesn't excuse them from being stupid. So by no stretch is this a good movie "objectively", but it is fun to watch.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I thought it was underwhelming as fuck and flawed up the ass, and I haven't watched most of the other DCEU movies. It still has some good moments and I don't regret seeing it (though I kind of regret the expensive RPX showing I went to), but DC needs to get its shit together.
 
Why does The Flash have a suit when he doesn't have experience fighting crime? Did he make it, if so how? If not, who? Why doesn't Batman know his powers when they were in the video from the last time? Should you be making movies if your Flash character is worse than the ARROWVERSE counterpart?

Why after a great movie starring Wonder Woman do we get a regression in tone as her ass gets paraded around in front of the audience while the characters still comment on how hot she is. News Flash: Gal Gadot is still hot even if you don't do this. She's got a piece of the background knowledge, a few choice words for Batman, and an exposition fight wasted on her when there are 3 fresh heroes to show off, and that's pretty much it. What a fucking disgrace.

Why is Aquaman here? Dude's got a trident, zero mobility on land, and the temperament of a frat bro. He even knows what's up with the boxes but doesn't really give enough of a shit until Wonder Woman does his exposition job for him. He's barely capable of taking out a couple foot soldiers at a time and that's just sad.

Why does Cyborg have this weird love thing with Wonder Woman when he doesn't have a dick? Why is his CG so horrendous? Where is his backstory? Why are all the heroes tripping over each other to fill the same niche and obsolete each other?

Superman's role in this movie basically makes it Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock. What was his deal when he just woke up? He clearly remembered everyone, he was just being kind of a dick? Good on him to completely fuck over the message of Team Spirit and coming together and all that crap though, dude doesn't even BREAK A SWEAT carrying everyone's ass through hell and back.

Is Batman even trying anymore? I half expect him to say "I'm too old for this shit" every time he opens his mouth. He's reduced to beating up a dude for no reason other than to make him afraid so the foot soldier guy he barely knows about is drawn to him (who then explodes FOR NO REASON into an image of 3 boxes). Doesn't even put on his plate mail or set traps and bring gadgets for important conflicts, no, HIS big plan is to charge in and die cause he's got nothing better to do.

I hated the big action scenes in the Avengers movies (Particularly the second one) for being man vs army visual porn where the heroes basically execute attacks into empty air while nothing of consequence threatens them, and somehow these managed to be even worse than that. Were these foot soldiers ever intimidating? Was the big bad controlling them any more than a large guy with an axe? No fights had any sense of tension or urgency, the only action sequence worth my attention was the one in Themyscira because they had the decency to make it a chase scene with somewhat interesting camera work. In the last scene they kind of just kicked down the door and walked in without incident, and with an attempt at buildup like this that's pretty much inexcusable.

I love Batman vs Superman, I'm cool with all of its flaws because it more than makes up for it in redeeming qualities. But man did they drop the ball on this one. Between the cringe worthy banter, vacuous action scenes, and nonsensical plot with outright stupid and conflicting themes, it's tough to defend Justice League at all. Maybe next time we can trade out Zack Snyder.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Superman's deal after being resurrected could have easily been explained by using a Lazarus Pit, but they went with some super bullshit thing with the Motherbox. If you're going to asspull the resurrection, you might as well do it halfway competently and use something from the comics that already exists to give you what you want.

Also, you forgot to mention how that Superman fight got started by Cyborg randomly losing control of his weapons for no reason.
 
Superman's deal after being resurrected could have easily been explained by using a Lazarus Pit, but they went with some super bullshit thing with the Motherbox. If you're going to asspull the resurrection you might as well do it halfway competently.

Also, you forgot to mention how that Superman fight got started by Cyborg randomly losing control of his weapons for no reason.
Yeah I'm willing to let that slide somewhat because maybe it just sees that Superman is really powerful and a supposed threat. Plus they foreshadowed the machine taking over and at least the bullshit is "consistent" there.
 

tcr

sage of six tabs
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Saw Justice League, overall an incredibly average and mediocre movie. It wants so hard to be the Avengers without any of the buildup for the characters that was provided by the marvel movies; instead of having good solo films to help set up the formation of the Justice League, it just shoves at you three characters with very little buildup and cohesive backstory giving you little reason to care about any of them. Blazade brings up some good points: why the fuck is Aquaman even necessary in the movie? I get hes a core member and all in the comics, but this is the movies you aren't exactly going by anything in the comics. The whole point of Aquaman in this movie is to be man candy for the female audience because Superman is dead almost the entire time, the man is shirtless throughout half the movie. Hell the opening scene introducing his character he berates Batman for being dumb takes off his shirt then dives underwater for some reason. Wonder Woman is in the same vein, half of the shots of her were just ass shots like this movie is Code Geass R2, which to my understanding is a huge backstep from the Wonder Woman solo film (I have not seen either it, Suicide Squad, nor Batman vs Superman). The Flash was just the typical comic relief character which is odd because they also tried to make Batman the comic relief character and I couldn't help but draw parallels between the Flash, Spiderman (Civil War), and Quicksilver (Xmen) as they are all functionally the same character (immature young kid in over his head that does nothing but spew wisecracks in the middle of battle and looks up to "leader" for support), hell 2 of them have the same powers.

Why would they bring back Superman in this movie? That seems to completely nullify any sort of impact from BvS as everything is just set right. This entire movie just seemed super shallow, with numerous plot holes (Blazade pointed most of the ones out that I could think of) and in general seemed just super unnecessary. I didn't care about the villain because hes given next to no backstory, just teh generic "really powerful dude from the past come back to take over the world," I didn't care about any of the "romances" in the movie because of the absolutely horrid lines provided (after seeing her lover die and come back to life Lois Lane opens with teh words "you smell good" like???) the forced "witty" quips between all the heroes reeks of trying to copy the now stale and formulaic Avengers, and to top it off none of the fights are exciting. The only good one is the fight on Amazon home planet because of the cool camera angles and chasing that happens.

I feel like this type of "genre" or whatever has been overdone to an excessive degree. Every movie involving superheroes has to involve something bigger badder and more alien. thats cool and all but its just so fake and shallow. After seeing thsi movie I have lost any hope of ever seeing a Teen Titans movie no matter how cool I think Raven and Raven's story might end up being.

The worst part of this movie though was the alternative / indie rock remix of the Beatles timeless "Come Together" at the end credits, hearing it actually killed any positives I could speak about this movie as I found it an afront to trying to "modernize" good music and by "modernize" i mean turning it into a carbon copy of an Imagine Dragons song where they don't even sing the chorus
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
The way DCEU has handled Batman is just embarrassing (notwithstanding that one cool fight scene from BvS)
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I finally saw Justice League. Let me just say first that there was probably no way I was not going to like it. I've been a big DC fan since childhood; I grew up watching Teen Titans and the whole DCAU so just this movie existing was really enough for me. I like the Marvel movies too, but only as movies. Doesn't have the same nostalgic connection for me. I was also someone who was actually really impressed by Batman v Superman so I thought maybe I just like things that are bad idk. But I did find this was a weaker film than BvS.

The big thing is that it's hard to tell which parts of it were Zack Snyder and which were Joss Whedon, since Joss did do significant re-shoots (and replaced Junkie XL with Danny Elfman for the score) after Zack's daughter died (he's uncredited though, as far as Director's Guild and Union stuff goes I guess). Some of them are extremely obvious, like the Superman iPhone opening, and probably a lot of the quips. On the other hand, The Flash's jokes were there as far back as the trailer, so it's not all a given.


Things I liked:

I actually really like this portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne as basically a pathetic man. It's always been the subtext (The Dark Knight Rises and Batman Beyond really showed how there is nothing in his life besides being Batman), now they're really bringing it to the forefront. His comment about how Superman was more of a human than he is was so poignant. As I've gotten older, I've started to like Superman more than Batman and I am often annoyed that people think Batman is too cool for school and Superman is too "good and boring" when in real life, Batman would just be a crazy person and Superman the one actually admired. That's not to say I don't think Batman is awesome, but that is something that does need to be addressed.

New imagining of Aquaman was cool. Similar to the way Marvel eschewed some of the cheesiness of its characters. He's different, but in ways that still fit his theme of water. Instead of scales, he has tattoos, like a Hawaiian islander. Cool, that works, plus he's Hawaiian IRL too. They gave him a personality that's somewhere between surferdude and hardcore sailor, keeping him connected to the sea. I thought that was pretty inspired.

I like the Bruce/Diana relationship, all the way back to the Justice League cartoon. I think they're a good fit in how they're both kind of closed off, plus it's like the one relationship in Bruce's life where the power isn't tipped in his favor.

Superman's back! Using the mother box. One of the main defenses people gave about Superman not being heroic enough in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman is that he is still learning and growing to become the classic Superman. He finally is that here, and it's in a way that does feel at least somewhat earned.

Superman's deal after being resurrected could have easily been explained by using a Lazarus Pit, but they went with some super bullshit thing with the Motherbox. If you're going to asspull the resurrection, you might as well do it halfway competently and use something from the comics that already exists to give you what you want.
I didn't mind this because the last thing we needed was to take time to introduce Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins and all that just to get to the Lazarus Pit. And that would probably seem more asspullish to come out of nowhere in this movie. At least the Mother Boxes were already introduced and were established to do something. I had no idea they were gonna use the Mother Box anyway though, I thought Superman was just gonna come back on his own because he wasn't completely dead lol.

Glad Deathstroke is still being used, as well as Lex Luthor. The Deathstroke costume looks a little cosplay-ish, but I assume it's because it was just a cameo and they'll give him a better one when he's actually starring. When he took off the mask he looks great though!

I liked The Flash. Actually, I was very impressed. His jokes in the trailer seemed so painful, and though they didn't all land here, for the most part I found him very charming. No awkward pauses at least. I like the change in making him younger and a contemporary of Cyborg. In most fiction, having one kid on an adult team usually is extremely annoying, but having two works; they can be young together. In the original script, I think, they were supposed to be friends from high school or something like that. Looks like that was scrapped, but I liked how their relationship developed here. I liked that he didn't know what to say to the Russian kids and just said "Dostoevsky!" If only because I can feel smart for knowing who Dostoevsky is. Him seeing Superman carrying an entire complex was also cool, because it works as both a joke and a character moment. I always think those are the best, since even if you don't find it funny, it serves a narrative purpose (expanding his self-comparison with Superman and the whole racing thing). They do his powers in a cool way too that somehow does not feel derivative of Quicksilver in X-Men movies at all.

As far back as June, after seeing Wonder Woman, I said I wanted Cyborg to say "Booyah!" at least once, as a reference to the cartoon which is where he's most known. Got it here. Whew.

We finally got the ice breath lol, that's actually a really long time coming as he was about to use it on Doomsday before he noticed Lois and had to fly away. If anyone remembers that.

Flashback to the first Steppenwolf invasion was cool even though the scene was unnecessary. Cool Easter eggs in this scene, like an older Green Lantern and the actors for Zeus, Ares, and Antiope returning from Wonder Woman. Just a cool sense of continuity since yeah, they would've been around at this time.

Things I didn't like:

The guy with MAGA on his jacket attacking the Muslim storeowner at the beginning was a little...on the nose and super out of place. Did Joss Whedon add this part? I know he is extremely political in a way where Zack Snyder is more religious. I'm actually somewhat impressed they had the balls to just throw this in to the movie that is trying to give the brand more mass-appeal. But again, my least favorite part of BvS was all the real-life references and that still applies here, especially when it's political soapboxing. Come on man, lol. :pirate:

Steppenwolf lol. And I wouldn't even mind that he was just an interim villain with no real motivation who was just there to support Darkseid, if they had taken that, and ran with it. This would've been the perfect way to build up Darkseid. Make this character a kind of prophet or harbinger. It worked fucking amazingly in Adventure Quest with the Devourer Saga (man if anyone here remembers that). Typical "destroy the world" stuff but DAMN it was HYPE because of all the build-up and the Agent of Destruction who always comes first. Worked with Azula in Avatar. Though she was a strong character in her own right, a lot of her was "if you think SHE'S bad, just wait until you see the guy above her" for an entire season. Instead, they put all this backstory about how Steppenwolf tried to conquer Earth in the past and everyone had to team up to beat him, as if he was important. He mentions Darkseid exactly once. This character would be so much better if all of his lines about wanting to conquer Earth were instead replaced with him telling the heroes how Darkseid is coming and there's nothing they can do. After they beat him, they can wonder who could possibly have someone that strong on a leash. Make that atmosphere haunt the whole movie like the Eye of Sauron. It was already set up by Bruce's nightmares in BvS anyway.

All that fighting against a generic army is just so bleh, as people have already pointed out. But it's worse here, because I always felt like the DC movies were really good at avoiding these meaningless fights in a way Marvel doesn't. The fights are almost always against a named character, or have some other form of engagement (like the warehouse scene having tension with Batman up against the clock, and catharsis of seeing him fight for Superman for the first time), except for Suicide Squad's bubble people. There were just so many pointless action scenes here that were actually boring. Amazon scene was cool; I'm a sucker for chase scenes, and it established Steppenwolf's power. Atlantis one was pointless because Steppenwolf was already established. Just have him appear, take out everyone quickly, and go. Didn't need to be prolonged.

On the other hand, I did like the scene where they all fought Superman, especially the parts with Flash. But they kinda should've just brought Lois to begin with? That was an interesting twist though because the whole time I assumed the secret weapon was just the kryptonite gun lol. I also think the decision to bring back Superman was a bit too rushed. Literally bringing back a dude from the dead should be a huge fuckin' deal from a moral perspective (Fullmetal Alchemist did an entire series based on this one premise) and to the film's credit, they do say the right things about it (like how Bruce is doing it out of guilt), but it just seemed way too rushed to be earned. Maybe if they set it up in the beginning and shot the idea down, and then had to come to it as a last resort near the end when Steppenwolf was beating them down too much. But I guess they needed to have the Mother Box established, so I'm not entirely sure how I'd fix that.

Superman coming in at the last second was kinda cool but really he should have just gone with them in the beginning. Kind of a lame way to keep him out of the picture until he can have his big hero moment. Nitpicky though. Another nitpick was that we had to have an establishing scene for Wonder Woman even though we already know who she is? I guess because after her movie did so well, she's one of the main selling points.



Overall, like The Avengers, the first act seemed a bit rushed but it came together as it went on. The characters weren't as developed but the casting choices were so strong that I feel like they held it together and kept every character very likable.

That's all I can think of for now. Sorry the post is so long; I don't have time to make it shorter. Hopefully someone enjoys reading it though.
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
is a Top Artistis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
i just saw the killing of a sacred deer. Psychological horror film by the man who brought us Dogtooth and the Lobster. You should watch it! The sound is some of the most chilling ive heard in a while. cinematography is absolutely phenomenal. really really great on all fronts, even if it peters off a little bit towards the end.
 

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
I don't understand Lady Bird it's not that great...it's the exact kind of 2006-2009 quirky Rom-Com that critics witch hunted but now this is the best reviewed movie in the history of RT? I mean, I guess that's a fair judgement considering there's nothing BAD to say about a movie where everything is at best acceptable and at least written/shot well.

I really don't get the hype.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Ok. Just got back from seeing Disaster Artist. The Room is a really fun film, I've seen it about 5-6 times with different groups of friends.

I guess I didn't really know what I expected from the movie, but I think it really fell flat. For a start, James Franco's Tommy Wiseau impression is really really poor. Aside from the good part of the movie (which I'll talk about), he basically just chops connecting words out of the sentences and speaks in heavily broken english. Wiseau sounds hilarious, but he actually knows how sentences work. You can see him talking here and here. Meanwhile, in this movie franco says stuff like "That great idea Greg" and "OK, we do scene now" and "This town, they no want us no more". He sounds like a troll; "me Tommy Wiseau, me want to make movie."

Second, the tone of the movie is really conflicting. It opens with an inspirational bit where a bunch of audience members talk about how amazing the room is. The next hour is the story of how greg and tommy met and started the film, where you're half supposed to be sympathetic for tommy and half mystified by his "money" and "background". And laugh at him because he can't speak english and can't throw a football (but he can in the room?). Then in the third act an entire theater literally chants for him to kill himself as you see him crying in the back of the theater at the premier. Then he gets up on stage and says it was a lovely comedy movie, and the final clip is an inspirational song playing out while text on screen says "to this day, nobody knows where tommy got the money. But the room has become a hit worldwide". The movie feels afraid to "go in" on Tommy Wiseau, like there is an ocean of content that they could make fun of him for. The movie is at its strongest when Wiseau claims that his acting coach is the late lee strasberg and people just try to convince him that strasberg is dead. Instead, they just have Franco mumble broken english constantly.

The end result is that this doesn't feel like a movie for people that like The Room, it feels like a painfully standard movie about the "mysterious, inspiring cultural phenomenon" that is hollywood and the movie business. The real book detailed a ton more stuff, like how Greg Sostero was cast at the last minute and how mysterious Tommy was inspired by "the talented mr ripley". All of this was cut out from the movie and replaced with critique on the "difficulties of hollywood" and how Tommy Wiseau followed his dreams. There's random bits where Greg Sostero actually challenges Tommy and asks him where the money comes from (maybe you saw that in the trailer!). Does that ever get resolved? Nah. In fact most of the movie really just IS the trailer. The movie really just wound up being a standard, boring movie for NORMIES!!! My local theater is really pushing for people to see this movie, too. Lots of merchandise outside, plenty of posters, and direct advertising to people locally. I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed in the end result :/

The best part of the movie is the "Hollywood premiere" of The Room, where you get to see all the footage starring the lookalike actors. The shot-for-shot remakes of The Room that they did were awesome, and felt like the cool "fan project" that I thought this movie might try to be. At the very least, the movie is interesting to see. But because of its conflicting goals the movie is halfway between an objectively bad, boring biographical movie and a "make fun of Tommy Wiseau" comedy that hits neither of its target demographics (The general audience / The Room viewers)
 
Last edited:

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
The Disaster Artist isn’t a movie for “fans” of The Room the whole thing is about empathizing with Tommy not making fun of him. He starts as an outsider being told he can’t make it and then he “does” in a way but he’s actually even more of an outsider than when he started. He’s a pariah now and everyone who knows him makes fun of him and that’s how he lives his life.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
The Disaster Artist isn’t a movie for “fans” of The Room the whole thing is about empathizing with Tommy not making fun of him. He starts as an outsider being told he can’t make it and then he “does” in a way but he’s actually even more of an outsider than when he started. He’s a pariah now and everyone who knows him makes fun of him and that’s how he lives his life.
If empathy was the goal, then why did they make Tommy such an intensely unlikable character? He's framed as a pedophile that may as well be in the mob to have so much money, warns Greg never to ask him what he does, harasses hollywood producers, is intensely jealous that Greg's girlfriend is stealing Greg from Tommy, screams at the woman he's filming a sex scene with for having a mole on her shoulder, and bullies Greg out of a chance to act with Bryan Cranston because he thinks it would hurt their friendship.

If the movie isn't for fans of the room, then why open it with 10 random fans saying the room is better than the best picture of X year because people don't talk about best pictures after a year? That's the stuff only hardcore non-ironic room fans would do. Nobody at all mentions that it's the "citizen kane of bad movies". The movie feels afraid to call The Room a truly bad movie. Lots of the trailers focused on selling this movie as "come see the mystery behind the cultural phenomenon!" for new people to see, but there is no mystery to talk about, it's just somebody pretending to be a bad director. They toned down the truly bizarre decisions that Wiseau made when making the movie from the book and made them more "pie-in-the-face" funny for the general audience to laugh at. But the end result is just a normal comedy movie. Watching an hour of Tommy Wiseau in real life would be twice as funny.
 
Last edited:

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Yeah it’s really telling that you think a. People need to be likable for anyone to empathize with them and b. That watching Tommy Wiseau for an hour would be funnier.

Again this movie has comedy in it but it’s not a full comedy, and the fact that you think Tommy is funnier because he’s someone to laugh at shows this movie just wasn’t gonna be for you anyway. Sad it disappointed you.
 

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
Wanted to watch a bad movie last night so I went to Hulu's Horror section.

Stumbled upon a movie named "Tall Men", the cover-poster for the movie is three angry looking slender-man(men) so I assumed it was a really bad Slender-Man Copycat movie....holy FUCK was I wrong.

This movie is a cult classic waiting to hit it's prime. An Absolute absurd film with insanely weird characters spliced into a very realistic and dark plot. The movie has NOTHING to do with Slenderman, and instead is a story about the very real life dangers of greed and suffering. I felt the David Lynch influences, straight down to being able to compare Tall Men to Eraserhead without much difficult. The acting is also so fantastically odd.

Please watch this movie, give it a chance. Let it get inside you and I promise you won't regret it.
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Blade of the Immortal (2017): 4/10
If I had known that this was a live action adaptation of a manga before I watched this I probably wouldn't have bothered watching it, but I didn't know beforehand so here I am having come out feeling very underwhelmed. I don't really know how to properly articulate my issues with this movie. It's just a mess of shallow+rushed writing (which, based on a quick look at the characters' pages on its fandom wikia, seemingly skips over a load of contextual/fleshing-out stuff present in the manga), resulting in quite a few interactions being very confusing due to the fact that there is missing context. Rin's actress' face was static and inexpressive all throughout the film, which meant that I could never actually buy into her properly. Additionally, its action scenes are extremely underwhelming all around due to a number of issues, which is a big problem when you consider that this is an samurai action film and, as such, is dependent on using great action to circumvent potentially lacklustre writing. The camerawork is horrible–it's often near-impossible to follow what is going on on-screen due to the camera being very deliberately shaky, and this especially causes issues in fights involving a large number of people where it's already hard to follow anyway–and there isn't any real sense of direction or progression to a lot of fights, meaning that it very quickly gets repetitive and dull. Additionally, there are just no really interesting stakes in play here. One of the biggest challenges for immortal warrior stories to overcome is how you are able to give each fight stakes. This film had everything it needed to create them from its setup, but instead of actually following through on them it just cops out and introduces the concept of the bloodworm poison; while it makes for an interesting plot point and works for the fights versus one person, the fact that its effects were seemingly permanent on certain parts of Manji just meant that it ended up only being followed through on in a meaningful way by removing the whole appeal of the immortal warrior concept until it was overcome with "power of love" bullshit towards the end of the film. Action and writing aside though, it had a handful of good gags sprinkled throughout the film, and its soundtrack was fucking awesome. It's the kind of film which I'd say to watch in the cinema if you go down there and nothing else worth watching is on, but if you're looking for a good pure-action film without taking location+availability into account it's probably better to look elsewhere.
 
Last edited:

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
Showed my Girlfriend The Human Centipede for the first time last night, she enjoyed it. She doesn't understand why people think it's an awful movie which lead me to realize people really think it's an awful movie just because it's somewhat unpleasant to watch at some scenes. It's a pretty great movie, borderline satire of the Mad-Scientist trope of the 30s/40s.
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
I felt like mocking up a personal list for the Oscars. I don't know if it's a very good list in spite of seeing about 70 films and mostly good ones. There are about 30 I'm bingeing atm and some that aren't available for me yet, so it's subject to change.

Best Picture
Logan
The Last Jedi
Baby Driver
Their Finest
Get Out
The Big Sick
Wind River
Three Billboards
The Disaster Artist

Lead Actor
Michael Keaton, The Founder
Harry Dean Stanton, Lucky
Kumail Nanjini, The Big Sick
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Mark Hamill, The Last Jedi

Lead Actress
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Emma Bell, A Quiet Passion
Sally Hawkins, Maudie
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards
Gemma Atterton, Their Finest

Supporting Actor
Adam Driver, The Last Jedi
Bill Nighy, Their Finest
Patrick Stewart, Logan
Ray Romano, The Big Sick
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Supporting Actress
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Dafne Keen, Logan
Rooney Mara, A Ghost Story
Elizabeth Marvel, Meyerowitz Stories
Tiffany Haddish, Girl's Trip

Animated Feature Film
Lego Batman
The Breadwinner
Coco
Captain Underpants

Cinematography
Dunkirk
mother!
Get Out
Baby Driver
Free Fire

Directing
Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok
Darren Aronofsky, mother!
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Edgar Wright, Baby Driver
Dennis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049

Original Music
The Last Jedi
mother!
A Ghost Story
Their Finest

Original Song
Remember Me, Coco
I Get Overwhelmed, A Ghost Story
Genius Girl, The Meyerowitz Stories
It Ain't Fair, Detroit

Original Writing
The Big Sick
Colossal
Three Billboards
Their Finest
Wind River

Adapated Writing
TLJ
It
Lego Batman
T2: Trainspotting
Only the Brave
 
Last edited:

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I wasn't planning to see it but my family invited me to see the new Jumanji so why not? I hadn't seen the original or Zathura, but I knew enough about them. There are a few weird shoehorned references but they're so minuscule you can ignore them. It's definitely a predictable kid's film with cardboard cut-out characters, but I admired how much it avoided being cynical about itself. The four stars really want to be there and you actually believe that they're kids trapped in other people's bodies. The fact that they get put into bodies that are the opposite of their real ones is actually a source of empathy and development for them, not just gags. I still wouldn't really recommend it unless you were interested to begin with or are a fan of these actors, but I really think it's worth noting that among a bunch of cynical cash grab films and other questionable ideas, this film is surprisingly genuine and has some heart.

The ending actually really surprised me too, as I realized after I left the theater.
They actually end up destroying the game in the end. Completely crushed it with a bowling ball. Of course, the game is fucking magic so they could still bring it back, but it surprised me how explicitly they did an anti-sequel hook.

I still wouldn't really recommend it unless you were interested to begin with or are a fan of these actors, but I really think it's worth noting that among a bunch of cynical cash grab films and other questionable ideas, this film is surprisingly genuine and has some heart.
 
saw Lady Bird, thought it was a good movie but not quite my cup of tea. very well made and hardly a wasted scene in the movie; felt very cohesive and told a great story but I probably would have enjoyed it more were I still in high school / college.

also saw The Shape of Water which was an absolute blast. either it or Get Out is probably my favorite movie of 2017 barring guilty pleasure superhero movies
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
vonFiedler maybe next year I'll see enough movies outside my comfort zone to actually make an oscar list. Have marvel/star wars movies ever been up for best picture/best actor before tho? And I thought the academy hated the lego animation studio and excluded them from animation for some reason.

I'm shocked you wouldn't put 2049 on best cinematography :( and what would you think if Disaster Artist wins best picture, repeating last year's example of Hollywood praising a movie that glamorizes hollywood itself :blobthinking:

Hulavuta Is Jumanji actually worth seeing? I can't tell if you are saying it's a good movie to watch or not. I've ran out of interesting movies to see this month and since I pay for unlimited movies I might as well make use of it.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top