Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[broodwars]

Sounds awful like don't bother, just watch the far superior original.

As has been pretty much the case for all the live action Disney remakes, which at this point are proving less worthwhile than the Direct-to-DVD Disney sequels, and that's saying something. And both existed for basically the same reason: to make tons of money with very little creative effort.

[ThePerm]

Definitely not jumping to see Aladdin. I'll watch it when I get Disney's streaming service though.

They should really have made Aladdin a kid. Scott Weinger was 17 when he voiced Aladdin.  I liked what Marvel did with Spider-man. They had people who were 30ish playing Peter Parker. Their best Peter Parker was the youngest smallest yet. I really liked Julian Dennison in Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Deadpool 2. He'd be my top pick.

[Shorty McNostril]

Godzilla 2.



It was definitely a big romp. If you like the monsters beating each other up this movie is for you. The actual story felt very contrived to me. Felt like it was thrown in as an afterthought just to string the monster fights together. But let's be honest, this movie was made for monster fights to I don't think I can criticise it too much for it.

The monster designs were great and they had some interesting moves too. And I never thought I'd ever say this but I never thought I'd get so attached to a giant bug. Mothra was just unexpectedly lovely.

[nickmitch]

Booksmart

This is the classic coming of age highschool movie genre film but for 2019.  The film clearly establishes itself as a 2019 setting early on, even outside of a few kids yelling "class of 2019 forever!".

I went into this movie wanting to like it, and then I did.  So, good on me.  But honestly, it is very good and funny.  The premise is very first world.  The two leads have to party tonight not because it's their last night in highschool but because they not partying in highschool got them into the same caliber of colleges as their peers, who did party.  Once the premise is out of the way, the rest of the movie covers their journey to the big highschool party. 

I was hoping the movie would avoid the cliche where the friends fight and split up, but then they didn't.  There's also a few heart-to-heart moments with classmates who they initially don't get along with, but those moments didn't carry the weight that moments focusing on the main characters do. 

The adult supporting cast features some very funny people (Jessica Williams, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis).  The friendship between the leads felt really endearing and I got a good number of laugh out loud moments.

9/10

[Plugabugz]

Godzilla 2.



It was definitely a big romp. If you like the monsters beating each other up this movie is for you. The actual story felt very contrived to me. Felt like it was thrown in as an afterthought just to string the monster fights together. But let's be honest, this movie was made for monster fights to I don't think I can criticise it too much for it.

The monster designs were great and they had some interesting moves too. And I never thought I'd ever say this but I never thought I'd get so attached to a giant bug. Mothra was just unexpectedly lovely.

Agreed. What a great design.

I do have to argue though, in that universe who would want to live in or insure large buildings?

[kaijugamer]

I've seen the live-action Aladdin. It's not that bad but definitely not a fan of this remake. The singing is good but the performance was static and bland. I'm having this indescribable feeling like what they said in the song.

[nickmitch]

I also saw Aladdin and I liked it.  I thought Jafar stopped acting at one point in the movie, which was weird.  There were some nice throw away lines that kind of explained a few "plotholes" (nothing too important, more like minor gaps) from the original which was nice.  The original also kind of implied that the Genie was the guy telling the story (whether he was really the Genie or it was all made up was a bit ambiguous though), but this goes in a more decisive direction.  The added subplot was also a nice touch.  And yes, the singing was good.

7.5/10

[ejamer]

I'm not really feeling the live-action remakes of classic Disney cartoons.

I'm probably just lame, but there is nothing wrong with using animation to tell fantastic stories. Although it's novel to see those classic stories remade, it's very rare that I enjoy the stories more (or even as much) as the originals.

In the same way, I'm not sold on all games needing super realistic HD graphics. Sometimes abstraction is beautiful and allows me suspend disbelief more easily.

[Stratos]

Pretty sure the animated sequels to Aladdin confirmed that the wandering trader narrator was in fact the Genie. Also sure it was dear Robin Williams doing the trader's voice in the first and third film.

[nickmitch]

Yeah, I remember reading that from the first film.  I don't remember the sequels too well, but I'll take your word on it.  Cool they confirmed it.

[broodwars]

So...Batman Vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Part of me still can't believe this movie actually exists, but it does and it's pretty good!

I don't want to spoil too much of the movie, so suffice it to say the basic premise of the film is that The Shredder & the Foot Clan steal some mutagen, go to Gotham City, and team up with Ra's Al Ghul for a supremely goofy plan. The Turtles follow behind them, and hijinks ensue.

What I like about this movie is that there's clearly a lot of deep love by the creators for the different incarnations of both franchises. The art style is straight out of The Batman, Batman's voiced by Troy Baker, who voiced him in the TellTale Batman games. The Turtles designs are straight out of the most recent TMNT series (unfortunately), but Shredder looks like he's sporting a very nice updated version of his 80s cartoon look. The turtles fight a goon who looks just like Krang's robot body suit from the 80s series. Ra's Al Ghul is sporting his Batman: TAS design, and he even has Ubu with him (who very rarely appears in adaptations these days). Penguin's voiced by Tom Kenny, who voiced him in The Batman, but he's sporting a character design modeled after Burgis Meredith.

The animation is excellent as a whole, colorful; fluid; and never off-model. Really, my only gripes with this movie are pretty simple:

1. Damien Wayne is in this movie - apparently, in the original comic, they used one of the Robins that people actually liked, but probably for the same reason the Turtles have their most recent series designs...we're stuck with Damien Wayne as Robin. Gratifyingly, no one treats him with any respect until near the end of the movie, as he deserves.

2. Mutagen doesn't work either of the ways it's ever worked across any of the various Turtles incarnations, which makes the transformations feel really random and REALLY stupid in some cases. It just seems to run on "hey, there's an animal similar to this character", and really falls flat. Speaking of...

3. There's an extended portion of the film in Arkham Asylum, and it's both total filler and REALLY underwhelming. The movie would have been better off cutting it and fleshing out the cast already established at that point.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the movie. It has a nice tongue-in-cheek tone that works well with this specific pairing of franchises, and the fight scenes are fantastic. And stick through the credits, where there's a really cool thing they do with famous Batman/TMNT comic book covers.

[broodwars]

Finally got around to watching the 1st John Wick film today, and it was...fine, but after all the hype I guess I was expecting something more, something crazier. I expect that's what the sequels are for.

I do really appreciate that the film never cheated during its action scenes, and the action was very well choreographed while being nothing particularly fancy. It's a very workman-like movie, except for all that stuff in the middle with the Continental Hotel. That felt like a lot of time spent world-building for later movies while the plot of the actual movie floundered around. You could have cut out everything involving the Hotel, and the movie would have been a lot more focused for it.

I appreciate the world it sets up with very clearly-defined rules and how the action sequence are very simple and physical while being quite fluid. I'm just not sold on the middle 1/3 of the movie.

Well, on to the 2nd film.

[Adrock]

Always Be My Maybe

Recommendation: DON’T WATCH THE TRAILER OR LOOK UP THE CAST LIST

Aside from a mostly non-white cast, this is about as generic as a romantic comedy can get. Ali Wong and Randall Park play the leads, Ali and Marcus, and are both good. They’re credited as writers in the movie. It has some funny lines and one really good part in the middle with a surprise that is largely spoiled in the trailer because Netflix doesn’t know how to cut a fucking trailer. That part steals its main schtick from Nahnatchka Khan‘s other work which I won’t spoil. While the movie can be funny at times, it felt like it was written with a checklist of rom-com tropes.

Narratively, it’s kind of a mess too. The plot moves really fast. There’s a part where Marcus messes up his band’s audition then like two minutes later, the venue gives them another audition which goes well. What the F was the point of that then? The main conflict between Ali and Marcus at the movie’s climax is resolved in maybe 10 minutes and never felt earned or really, even that big of a deal.

Basically, the entire reason I even wrote all this is because I’d still get about an hour in for that one scene.

[nickmitch]

I saw that last night.  And yeah, you're right about all the romcom tropes and the conflict resolutions.  He failed the audition pretty spectacularly.  Like, why would they just up and give them another audition?

But the supporting cast is really good and I had some laugh out loud moments.  I think it's worth a watch.

[ThePerm]

I'm not really feeling the live-action remakes of classic Disney cartoons.

I'm probably just lame, but there is nothing wrong with using animation to tell fantastic stories. Although it's novel to see those classic stories remade, it's very rare that I enjoy the stories more (or even as much) as the originals.

In the same way, I'm not sold on all games needing super realistic HD graphics. Sometimes abstraction is beautiful and allows me suspend disbelief more easily.

I wouldn't lump them all together. They mostly have different directors. Some will be better than others. I can't picture Guy Richie directing an Aladdin movie, but here we are. I haven't seen it still, but would rather watch a Danny Boyle version.

[oohhboy]

Finally got around to watching the 1st John Wick film today, and it was...fine, but after all the hype I guess I was expecting something more, something crazier. I expect that's what the sequels are for.

I do really appreciate that the film never cheated during its action scenes, and the action was very well choreographed while being nothing particularly fancy. It's a very workman-like movie, except for all that stuff in the middle with the Continental Hotel. That felt like a lot of time spent world-building for later movies while the plot of the actual movie floundered around. You could have cut out everything involving the Hotel, and the movie would have been a lot more focused for it.

I appreciate the world it sets up with very clearly-defined rules and how the action sequence are very simple and physical while being quite fluid. I'm just not sold on the middle 1/3 of the movie.

Well, on to the 2nd film.

Things like the Hotel makes John Wick, John Wick. A straight revenge story would have been boring as we have plenty of that. No matter how good the action might be, it's not a whole package. It's not just a fucking dog.

You can see this incompleteness with The Raid and Raid 2. The Raid is a complete movie. Raid 2 is a self-indulgent sparing session rather than a movie.

Tony Jaa movies are very incomplete. Amazing physical action with fantastic level of effort especially in the hotel assault that made him famous. There isn't much else. Were you hungry for another TJ movie? You certainly didn't watch it for Tony's acting ability.

Hong Kong era Jackie Chan is a great example of something that is the whole package. Great action that he uses to augment a character. Drunk style in Drunken Master. Uses guns in Police story instead of finding excuses to punch everything. It's appropriate for the story.

An action movie also needs some downtime to setup the next set piece, room to feel the acceleration. A roller coaster isn't good just because it's fast, it's about the acceleration.

JW is workman like because he is working. I will see myself out.

[ThePerm]

My favorite Martial Arts Action movie of all time is Drunken Tai Chi. I found it in the bargain bin a few years ago and then several years later suddenly Donnie Yen became a hit in Ip Man. Yuen Woo-ping makes some good stuff. Tai Chi Master(Twin Warriors) is also pretty good.

[Adrock]

I Am Mother

Mother = Skynet with a plan after “kill all humans”

It was a perfectly okay suspense/thriller. Good performances from the small cast. Rose Byrne voices Mother. I’ll pretty much watch anything she’s in even though she’s been in some not great movies. A little pretentious with the characters only referring to each other as Mother, Daughter etc. It made the dialog feel unnatural. Felt like the writers were just really attached to not naming the characters. The ending didn’t work for me. I don’t see how Daughter intends to do what she says she’s going to do, or why Mother agrees to it.

[Stratos]

Watched the trailer with my wife. She is passing on it so I'll watch it next time I have a spare afternoon. Wife was making jokes about how it must be the same writers as Bird Box since there it was always "Girl! Boy!" and now it is "Mother! Daughter!"

[nickmitch]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

If you're only there for the monster fights, it's a solid 8/10.  However, some the people bits are infuriatingly bad.  There's also constant references to Skull Island and King Kong is shown, but doesn't do anything, so they're really working to set up Godzilla vs King Kong.

I'm gonna summarize my issue with the main humans in the story in spoiler tags: The mom character fucking sucks.  A terrorist group comes in and kills a bunch of scientists, sparing her and her daughter because she has the mcguffin. Fair.  They then take her to go use the mcguffic on King Ghidorah.  The terrorist show up at the base and immediately start shooting everyone.  I was first annoyed by how calm she was and her refusal to warn anyone.  Then, her husband has a gun on the terrorists, allowing her and her daughter to escape.  She pulls the daughter back and uses the mcguffin on to awaken King Ghidorah, a seemingly suicidal move that was also in no way helpful in saving her.  But then it's revealed that SHE is teaming with the terrorists.  I thought this was a great twist in the plot and was really into it because it made her character make sense.  But then after giving the whole "the titans need to kill people and rampage the Earth to restore it" speech, and freeing Rodan before people could flee to safety, decided that Ghidorah is actually destroying the earth and then the movie wastes time trying to redeem her.  The problem is, in no way did she say "Hm, maybe killing half the population wasn't a good thing".  And then I'm supposed to feel sad when she self-sacrifices at the end?  That really took me out of the movie.  Like completely ruined the climax for me.  Also, the daughter got over her mom being a murderous terrorist really quickly, as did her estranged ex-husband.  Even her self-sacrifice was really dumb because she's using the mcguffin to lure Ghidorah away in a car when there's a plane available.  Sure, Ghidorah can fly, but you can get it away from Godzilla way fast in a plane!  I hate feeling like those cinema sins guys, and there are a few other nitpicks that I think are made worse because that character had soured me a bit.

With that rant out of the way, a cut of the film without that one storyline would actually make the film perfect for me, and at 2 hours, the run time could spare it.  The fights are good!  And some of the supporting humans are fun characters I wish the film would've focused more on.  I also kind of wish it wasn't almost always night time and raining during the fights.

While I overall think it was good, it's hard for me to higher than 6.5/10

[Adrock]

Toy Story 4

I was a bit skeptical when Pixar announced it was working on a sequel because I thought the ending of Toy Story 3 was perfect. Once I read the premise involving a character that was written out of Toy Story 3, I was on board. The story does feel a little unnecessary though I guess one can argue all movies are unnecessary. If Pixar never made this movie, I don’t think anyone would have been dissatisfied with the way Toy Story 3 left things. That said, the ending here is similarly fitting, a little bittersweet. Overall, the movie is excellent though the writers “cheat” a little bit here and there. For example, Woody is Bonnie’s favorite in Toy Story 3. Andy doesn’t leave Woody if she wasn’t so insistent. However, he’s the only one of Andy’s toys “left in the closet” in Toy Story 4. Kids are fickle so I guess it’s possible, and more importantly, Woody’s arc doesn’t work without it. Also, the chances of Woody and Bo Peep reuniting are so infinitesimal (not sure that’s a spoiler since it’s in the trailer but just being safe). Then again, this is a world full of living toys so it doesn’t really matter. It crossed my mind yet didn’t prevent me from enjoying the ride. I think I like Toy Story 3 better, but that isn’t a knock on Toy Story 4, and I don’t want to take anything away from it. I highly recommend Toy Story 4. It has good dialog and some really genuine moments. Check a look.

[ShyGuy]

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Finally got around to this now that it's on Netflix. Pretty good. I liked it better than Homecoming. I've strangely cooled on Homecoming as time as went on. It's a good movie, but it's not a great Spiderman movie, if that makes sense. At first I was cold on it, but it won me over as it went on. It takes like 20 minutes before it gets into any Spider action.

- What was with the constant chromatic aberration and image ghosting? Was this movie 3D in the theaters?
- The Kingpin looked ridiculous. Everyone is else is semi-realistic in proportions, but he's a hunch back with with shoulders 10 times as wide as his head.
- Miles taking his leap of faith and the upside down shot falling between the skyscrapers looked amazing
- I liked this take on the Prowler. He was a serious threat.
- I was actually hoping for even more flavors of Spiderman. Maybe the sequel?

[nickmitch]

Men In Black: International

This feels like a pretty by-the-books MIB film.  The little alien side-kick wasn't nearly as annoying as I thought he would be and was actually pretty funny.  Other than that the movie doesn't really offend in any way, but doesn't stick out as being particularly great.  It's a good watch if you want laughs and action and have seen everything else.

7/10

[broodwars]

- What was with the constant chromatic aberration and image ghosting? Was this movie 3D in the theaters?
- The Kingpin looked ridiculous. Everyone is else is semi-realistic in proportions, but he's a hunch back with with shoulders 10 times as wide as his head.

That's just a stylistic thing with the film. I don't believe it was converted to 3D.

Watched John Wick 2 yesterday, and I definitely like it more than the 1st film. There's less padding, and you can tell that everyone was having a bit more fun with the movie. I have some nitpicks with the plot (what use are $7 million in an economy that runs on Gold Coins?), but overall it was an excellent film.

One thing that I meant to bring up with the 1st film that I definitely noticed here: there's an insane attention to detail and realism during the staging and execution of the fight scenes. For that early fight in the catacombs, the filmmakers spend the time to show John placing all the weapons and supplies that he'll be grabbing during the later fight so you know he didn't just pull them out of hammer space. Not only does John frequently need to reload during the fight (something action films are notorious for not doing), but they even ensure that he reloads at the appropriate time that a clip for that weapon would have run out of bullets.

At one point, he had an assault rifle out, which typically holds around 30-35 bullets in a typical video game. I counted the number of bullets John fired at one point, and sure enough he had to reload after shot # 31. That's some very fine attention to detail.

I like how the 2nd film raises the stakes without getting particularly nuts, and it removes a crutch the series was starting to lean on (the Continental hotels) so the series can't depend on it going forward.

[oohhboy]

Coins and money are two different non-convertible currencies that buy very different things in a shadow economy with no pricing equivalence as the coins are "Priceless". It represents a value worth more than the dollar equivalent in gold much like normal money where the value isn't the paper/plastic. Both can buy a drink, but only one is accepted at a hotel for the same drink.

It also helps the viewer understand at a glance what is an underworld service/shop as you can't make purchases with dollars.