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Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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Tiplodocus

I right enjoyed ETERNALS (on Disney+) despite not liking cosmic god type comics. Busy cast but all with clearly defined powers and personality traits so you always know who is who. Definitely a more thoughtful Marvel movie and though the cinematography remains pretty constant, some of the designs and the saunter through human history are great. I'd watch much more of this.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Richmond Clements

Turning Red on Disney+. Wow. Brilliant stuff. Never thought I'd see the day when there was a Disney Pixar movie about a 13-year-old girl getting her first period.

milstar

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 06 March, 2022, 03:11:30 PM
Southern Comfort

I remember hating this one the first and only time I saw it. It looked very cheaply made to me. I should revisit it.
Reyt, you lot. Shut up, belt up, 'n if ye can't see t' bloody exit, ye must be bloody blind.

The Legendary Shark


I think it's a cracking little flick.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




Hawkmumbler

Quote from: Richmond Clements on 13 March, 2022, 04:21:59 PM
Turning Red on Disney+. Wow. Brilliant stuff. Never thought I'd see the day when there was a Disney Pixar movie about a 13-year-old girl getting her first period.

Absolutely staggering that a Disney weary cynic such as myself thought TURNING RED was an unequivocal delight. More of this, less legacy milking corpos.

pictsy

Lepsis

Soft sci-fi commentary on the gig economy.  By and large I think it gets it's point across well enough.  Personally I would have preferred it be more explicit in what it's taking aim at.  I thought the film had bite, but I have a familiarity with subject matter.  I'm entirely unsure whether someone who isn't at all familiar would get the points the film is making.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the performances, pacing and narrative.  There is mystery and satisfying resolution (which isn't particularly outlandish, either).  A good watch.

Jim_Campbell

Sprung for Spider-Man: No Way Home on Prime. Not the same as seeing it in the cinema, sadly, but that was great. Enormous fun, but with a surprising amount of emotional heft. This far out from the initial release, there was no way I could avoid spoilers, but [spoiler]Matt Murdock[/spoiler]'s cameo was still a little thrill (and, checking now, [spoiler]Kingpin's introduction in the Hawkeye TV series[/spoiler] happened two days after No Way Home premiered).

I also approve of the message the movie seems to be sending to continuity nerds, which is basically: "This version? That version? Yeah, that all happened. It's all good — you can have all of it."

And that means we get to have Willem Defoe and Alfred Molina in a movie with three Spider-Mans. (Spider-Men?) Bonkers, but in a really good way.
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Mardroid

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 March, 2022, 08:13:50 AM
Sprung for Spider-Man: No Way Home on Prime. Not the same as seeing it in the cinema, sadly, but that was great. Enormous fun, but with a surprising amount of emotional heft. This far out from the initial release, there was no way I could avoid spoilers, but [spoiler]Matt Murdock[/spoiler]'s cameo was still a little thrill (and, checking now, [spoiler]Kingpin's introduction in the Hawkeye TV series[/spoiler] happened two days after No Way Home premiered).

Yeah, I knew from spoilers that that character would turn up, but I thoroughly enjoyed that scene just the same. [spoiler]"How did you do that?" "I'm a really good lawyer." Hur hur![/spoiler]

I just saw it this week, and yeah, that was very enjoyable. [spoiler]One thing that struck me was how good each of them is in their own way. I think the current MCM Spider-man is closest in character to the comic book version, although I think The Amazing Spider-man actor is pretty close too as a bit older more damaged version, but I've always liked Tobey Maguire's more gentle less flamboyant version. He's just a nice guy (until he wasn't with that Venom spectacle). I wouldn't want to pick one. They're all great , and I like that this film kind of canonises (ptoo! If there's really such a thing!) them all.

I missed one or two of the Amazing Spider-man films. (I was a bit cynical about watching them, happening so soon after Raimi's films, although, I liked the actor's take on him, and did quite enjoy the first film. I think I watched part of the second, also,  in that The Lizard rings a bell but I can't remember much about it. The Electro guy, I remember being advertised as the next film's big bad, but I don't think I saw that film at all. This makes me want to catch them. [/spoiler]

Colin YNWA

Hey you know what Alien3 isn't that bad... well maybe I should qualify that, its riddled with significent issues, but in and of itself its a good film, full of great performances, from a top cast, in large spoilted only in comparison of what its a part of.

I'd not watched this one for years so was my distaste for it, but when I saw it was finally on Disney+ I figured what the heck it was due a revisit, after all I couldn't really remember what I disliked about it. Watching the first reason is clear straight away. Now normally I'm all for films taking story off in different directions and trying new things, but the dismissal of Newt, Hicks is just poor storytelling. You had great characters, folks were invested in. If you wanted to remove them from the story, that's cool step completely aside from that story.

To just kinda handwave them away in such a final way was poor. Its as if the producers and various writers fell down a trap and no one had the courage to say STOP, just take a sec let's not do that. Still they did and so be it, just puts a downer on the movie from the start, which is already viscually downbeat, which sounds a good thing, but takes things too far. Sure anyone can die, the stakes are raised, but its done in such a way as to actually dismiss the tension, not crank it up.

There lies the second issue. The first two films gave us charismatic cast of characters we quickly invested in and engaged with and so as they started being killed off we cared and it mattered. Good, bad, incompetent the people being slaughtered mattered to us. Now there is a similar cast this time, realised by a wonderful actors, but you aren't made to care for them. However good the performance we aren't really given a reason to engage with the folks being picked off. There are also just too many thrown at us to really give any time to develop. So we just have Ripley, who we know will... oh... that's actually one really good aspect.

Finally its good that they didn't try to top the scale of Aliens as that might have got silly, but it doesn't really add anything to the mythos of the series. It kinda goes back to the first film, kinda takes elements of the second, but ultimately really does very little . It leaves it feeling like a bit of a shoulder shrug of a film. We didn't know what to do but knew we had to do something, so ... well that'll have to do.

Its a shame as its not a bad film, some really hocky dialogue aside. Its just not a good film in the context of what's go before. The end is a little chaotic to really know what the plan is. The alien needing a second death, while a bit silly, is pretty fun. The Corporation is bad bit at the end is successful (and maybe points to what the focus of the film should have been, after all the best zombie movies are when the people involved show they are the problem). Ripley's end is satisfying... and any film that does a call back to Ralph Brown saying "No need to be sarcastic" in Withnail is hard not to love. Throwing in Hudson lines from Aliens is more of a problem! So yeah ultimately this isn't the horror show I though it was and might give it another go.

Its certainly given me the courage to try Resurrection again...

Colin YNWA

Oh and watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in the week. Love Tarrintino, struggled with some elements of this, particularly the ending, so Tarrintino in a feel that allows him to do other things BUT so many folks seem to suggest its better on a second watch so I'll hand fire until I get the chance to do that.

pictsy

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 20 March, 2022, 07:56:52 AM
Hey you know what Alien3 isn't that bad...

I've been saying this for years.

I never understood the Hicks and Newt thing.  I get there are plenty of folks that love them and were heartbroken that they were disposed of, but I just utterly fail to see why.  I can only see them as boring two dimensional characters... especially Hicks.  Hudson and Vasquez were far more interesting and likeable characters.  Hicks and Newt are props... especially Newt.  Anyway, I'm resigned to the fact I'm unlikely to get much agreement for this apparently unpopular take.

I am curious whether you saw the theatrical version of the "assembly cut".  The latter does fix a lot a problems with the film.  But introduces one as well.  In that version the bull is the incubator for the Alien and it doesn't work because there is a scene which necessitates it being the dog.  Aside from that the film works considerably better.

Similar goes for Resurrection.  The Special Edition flows a lot better than the Theatrical cut.  Especially the opening act. 

Anyway, I've always liked Alien3.  Love it's bleak tone and the finality of it's ending.  I also think because of the production hell it went through it is an actual accomplishment and is a hell of a lot better than it had any right to be.  This is the hill I die on.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: pictsy on 20 March, 2022, 10:30:36 AM

I am curious whether you saw the theatrical version of the "assembly cut".  The latter does fix a lot a problems with the film.  But introduces one as well.  In that version the bull is the incubator for the Alien and it doesn't work because there is a scene which necessitates it being the dog.  Aside from that the film works considerably better.

It was the regular one - just whatever Disney+ have slopped out. I'm now very intrigued to see the assembly cut to see what it resolves.

Pyroxian

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 20 March, 2022, 02:38:48 PM
It was the regular one - just whatever Disney+ have slopped out. I'm now very intrigued to see the assembly cut to see what it resolves.

The Assembly cut has a slower build up at the start, and also more character building. I find the prisoners more sinister than the Alien in the assembly cut...

pictsy

There is something like 30 minutes of added material in it.  It is as Pyroxian says, plus I'd say it helps the pacing, tone, context and exposition (aside from the bull thing, I honestly think it was a mistake to include that regardless of the higher quality cinematography involved).

Although it's just nice for me to see someone else get something positive from the film regardless.

Colin YNWA

Alas not currently available on a streaming service and the comments from Pyroxian and Pictsy really make me want to see this. Hopefully this cut will become available soon - I do have an uplift DVD player but that's for existing stuff only not for new purchases... no not for new purchases...