Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[BranDonk Kong]

So I just saw Rogue One again, this time with my kids. I actually liked it even more the second time, and weirdly enough, maybe because I was sitting about 15 feet further away, though in the same theater, but CGI Tarkin and Leia looked completely believable. Even the lady sitting next to me asked her husband "wow, he's still alive?" in regards to Tarkin.

[oohhboy]

That's pretty funny. My problem with him side from his voice was that he was stiff as a block of wood. It's like they forgot to animate in all those micro-expressions in.

Leia had me perplexed as I thought they cast Maggie Gyllenhaal. She was Leia like, but I thought they had a look alike actor. Either way it failed technically, however the importance to the scene was not diminished.

[ThePerm]

Grand Moff Tarkin took me out of the movie. However, I still thought it was ballsy to do it. They had it almost right, but they needed to take a few more passes. First, it seemed like only the bottom part of his mouth moved. You should see more going on with the cheeks when he talks. If you watch A New Hope you can see his cheeks vibrate as he talks. He also has wrinkles on his cheeks that move when he talks. His head also looks bigger in Rogue One. They're on youtube now, so you can compare. They still did a pretty good job, Still uncanny valley. They used an actor with a similar face structure. They should have used 5, but that would get super expensive. On the other hand, all this is basically an insurmountable task. So, I applaud them for trying even though it took me out of the movie. I prefer this to a total recast. There is probably not going to be a point in the timeline where this will ever be needed again. I wonder what the Benjamin Button people think of this(or maybe how many are the same people). That movie was not perfect, but it was better with the micro expressions.
Though my friend who watched Rogue One with me didn't even notice.
I was like "Zombie Peter Cushing!"
and he was like "who"
"the CG Grand Moff Tarkin, he died over 20 years ago"
"huh, I didn't know he was dead. I didn't notice. I noticed they redid Leia"
So, there's that

Leia looked like a more cartoony version of herself. She was definitely a Disney princess. Thankfully her scene was much shorter.

[oohhboy]

It was plot critical and absurd not to include him. Why the hell would you have the first DS without Trakin in command. It is the same with Leia as she has to be on Tanitive 4 as it links the baton passing of the plans into ANH both literally and thematically. The execution of her face was questionable, however it sets up using her in future movies and again plot critical.

[BlackNMild2k1]

X-Men Apocalyse

how do I sum this up without wasting anymore time than necessary?

....terrible.

and to even quote the movie:
Jean Grey says "we all know the 3rd one is always the worst"

yes, this one certainly was.
not as bad as the 3rd from the original trilogy, but certainly the worst of this new trilogy.

I believe it's time to let the X-men rest, give Singer a non-comic property to go satisfy his studio contract, and let the Deadpool team steer the direction from here on out. like a soft reboot.

[BranDonk Kong]

It's the worst of the new trilogy, but that still makes it the 3rd best X-Men film, because the new trilogy > the original trilogy. Do not kid yourself, the first 3 X-Men movies are all terrible.

[BlackNMild2k1]

And by 3rd best, I assume you mean X-men branded and not series.

But even still I don't agree, as in just branded, X1 & X2, at release, were better movies than this one.

As far as the series go, X3 & XO are the only ones worse than this one.

And what surprised me most, is that quicksilver scene was terrible as well. There wss almost nothing to like in this movie.

[ThePerm]

I didn't think this one was too bad(i did go inwithlow expectations), but I did chuckle at the comment about the third being the worst. If I were to rank it would be FC1 FC2 X1 FC3 X2 X3. I still need to watch The Wolverine. I became disinterested when Aronofsky dropped out.

[BlackNMild2k1]

in it's defense, it wasn't the worst movie I've seen all year, but it was probably the most uninspired use of IP i've seen by far. At least IP that I'm vaguely familiar with...

I will admit that I had to forcefully watch this movie through several sessions, but it really just wasn't very good.
I actually saw the HISHE the next day, and I feel it was very on point and funny. There was practically no character development, and somethings need more time than what was given.

Singer is creatively bankrupt, X-Men has been dragged through the mud. The timeline is a mess, the story is all over the place, and the entire things needs to use Deadpool as a soft-reboot.

Hopefully New Mutants, Deadpool 2, and X-Force can take things in a new direction.
J Law, Mags, and Prof not coming back will force them to let the current line of X-Men just be done.

the fact that DP already made a superior Colossus, and kinda retconned the previous movies to not really exist at this point, is a good restarting point.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Good Guys

Now that was a wonderful palette cleanser. Good Buddy "cop" adult action/thriller movie.
Now I'm disappointed that it took me this long to get around to it, I instead wasted time and money on garbage like BvS, SS and X-Men Apoc.

This is one of those that could make for an entertaining sequel, or maybe a TV show spinoff on Showtime or HBO.

verdict: recommended

[BlackNMild2k1]

Star Trek Beyond

I enjoyed this one. it was fun. Biggest Surprise Idris Elba was in this.
the only thing that really confused me, well there were 2 things, but the main thing that confused me was the SS Franklin navigating under teh waterways in York Town at the end. and somehow keeping pace with the other ships, as it didn't look like there was any connection to how all that worked.
the other thing was how was the human(?) Idris an energy absorbing "shape-shifting" alien and how did Uhura know that it was the Old Captain of the ship that should have been dead almost 100 years ago? She reviewed an old video, heard a voice? but you never see him say it.... so I don't get how we get to that conclusion or why he was suddenly Idris Elba all of a sudden... what made him previously look alien? is it who is sucking energy from that transforms him?

but otherwise enjoyable.

edit: I guess there was also how just playing music suddenly made all the alien ships blow up. I get their synchronized formations were disrupted, but that should have made them fly chaotic, not suddenly have a uniform wave of explosion.


oh well. On to the next movie.

[Spak-Spang]

Black and Wild:  The ships flew so close together that once you disrupted their signal the flying wildly ended in crashing and explosions.  Which is why it wasn't one big explosion but a chaotic wave of explosion as the Enterprise surfed the robots. 

When you write it out it sounds really silly.

[ShyGuy]

Sully: Good movie, very heartwarming, very patriotic without laying it on too thick. Tom Hanks should play an every man dealing with the extraordinary in every movie he makes. He is perfect for it.

Jason Bourne "He's hacking the interwebs!" "Which ones?" "ALL of them." The technology seemed dumber than usual, still great car chases and fights.

[ShyGuy]

The Good Guys

Now that was a wonderful palette cleanser. Good Buddy "cop" adult action/thriller movie.
Now I'm disappointed that it took me this long to get around to it, I instead wasted time and money on garbage like BvS, SS and X-Men Apoc.

This is one of those that could make for an entertaining sequel, or maybe a TV show spinoff on Showtime or HBO.

verdict: recommended

Great movie, but a little too sleazy in parts for my taste. If you haven't seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, this movie is a spiritual sequel to that movie.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Black and Wild:  The ships flew so close together that once you disrupted their signal the flying wildly ended in crashing and explosions.  Which is why it wasn't one big explosion but a chaotic wave of explosion as the Enterprise surfed the robots. 

When you write it out it sounds really silly.

I realize the effect, it was just silly that it was a uniform wave of explosion instead of a chaotic ripple as ships started flying off course and into one another

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Good Guys

Now that was a wonderful palette cleanser. Good Buddy "cop" adult action/thriller movie.
Now I'm disappointed that it took me this long to get around to it, I instead wasted time and money on garbage like BvS, SS and X-Men Apoc.

This is one of those that could make for an entertaining sequel, or maybe a TV show spinoff on Showtime or HBO.

verdict: recommended

Great movie, but a little too sleazy in parts for my taste. If you haven't seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, this movie is a spiritual sequel to that movie.

I remember that, with Val Kilmer. I think that was the last movie he was in that I liked.

[Spak-Spang]

Black and Wild:  The ships flew so close together that once you disrupted their signal the flying wildly ended in crashing and explosions.  Which is why it wasn't one big explosion but a chaotic wave of explosion as the Enterprise surfed the robots. 

When you write it out it sounds really silly.

I realize the effect, it was just silly that it was a uniform wave of explosion instead of a chaotic ripple as ships started flying off course and into one another

Not justifying the effect...because it made little sense, and it was only used to look cool...but I think the music could only disrupt the signal when close up.  So the explosions occurred closer to the ship.  Yeah, the Abram's Star Trek verse has never been about sound logic with technology and science, which is said, because both of those are the building blocks and foundation of good Star Trek stories, and is the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Shallows

This was a pretty intense one. They kept it small and simple. Girl goes to Mexico to surf, **** goes wrong when a shark attacks, now she does her best to survive the ordeal. I can't speak to how realistic it was, or why she would make a certain decision that led to her incident, but the kept it tense and entertaining and that's all I can ask for out this "New Jaws" thriller.

[ShyGuy]

Tarzan The movie wasn't very fun. Gloomy colors and lots of CGI. BUT I do have a theory. The apes that raised Tarzan are the same vicious apes in the movie Congo. IT ALL MAKES SENSE

Hell or High Water Fantastic, best movie I've seen all year. Every actor is great and the tone and style is pitch perfect. I recognize the world this movie takes place in. Captain Kirk is fantastic. Angel is fantastic. The Dude is fantastic. Oscars all around.

[ThePerm]

The Shallows

This was a pretty intense one. They kept it small and simple. Girl goes to Mexico to surf, **** goes wrong when a shark attacks, now she does her best to survive the ordeal. I can't speak to how realistic it was, or why she would make a certain decision that led to her incident, but the kept it tense and entertaining and that's all I can ask for out this "New Jaws" thriller.

You might like Frozen(not the disney movie)

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Shallows

This was a pretty intense one. They kept it small and simple. Girl goes to Mexico to surf, **** goes wrong when a shark attacks, now she does her best to survive the ordeal. I can't speak to how realistic it was, or why she would make a certain decision that led to her incident, but the kept it tense and entertaining and that's all I can ask for out this "New Jaws" thriller.

You might like Frozen(not the disney movie)

I've seen that one. People stuck on the chair lift at the ski resort during a storm or something. I think they just forgot about them and they got stranded at a high point over night. Details are vague, but I remember liking that one.

I just looked it up on Netflix, and I rated it a 3 star, but just it could have been a 3.5. No way to remember since i didn't write an actual review, and Netflix doesn't let you do half stars.

[ThePerm]

I really enjoyed Frozen. Mythbusters even went over it. A lot of fan ideas don't work including my own. I was thinking about Frozen while watching the Shallows. I should make my version of "i'm stuck somewhere and I can't get out" movie.
I've thought about it.

[Adrock]

So Rogue One was awesome.

Full Disclosure: I like but don't love Star Wars. That said, I also really liked The Force Awakens. I presume oohhboy stopped reading.

Rogue One isn't perfect. There were too many characters to keep track of yet only Jyn and maybe Cassian have any kind of development. I still don't know Donnie Yen's character's name. There was a lot of telling, not showing which is like Writing 101. For example, Saw Gerrera was supposedly a Rebel extremist, but I didn't get any impression of what was so extreme or radical about his views or methods. Also, Jedha's importance was kind of glossed over. I get the Empire was mining Kyber Crystals. That still doesn't explain its spiritual importance to the Jedi.

The first Darth Vader scene is narratively unnecessary (and I hated his final line about choking on asperations). Director Krennic was shown to be ambitious yet incompetent well before that. However, introducing Vader was absolutely necessary in order to have his second scene because a character can't have any dramatic weight (particularly given what he did) without an introduction. To anyone new to Star Wars, it'd play out like "Who the **** is this guy?" Since Rogue One is meant to stand alone, the filmmakers wisely didn't rely on the audience having seen any other media Vader appeared in. I'm conflicted in that I found Vader to be extraneous, but the payoff was totally worth it as a fan. This is the Vader I wanted from the Prequel Trilogy yet never got. Rogue One is better at being a prequel to A New Hope than any of the prequels.

Anyway, I liked Jyn Erso though I hate that they cut her "I rebel" line. Krennic was an effective villain even if he was an ineffective director of the Death Star's development. CG Tarkin taking Krennic's glory was so good. K-2SO was excellent. I liked that the Death Star's weakness has been such a point of contention for nearly 40 years that Disney made an entire movie to retcon how silly the exhaust port flaw was. "Oh, it was totally put there on purpose." Ehh, I buy it. The explanation worked for me.

Ultimately, Rogue One is a story that didn't really need to be told, but I'm still glad that it was. I'd really like for Disney to remake the Prequel Trilogy. That's probably asking too much though.

[oohhboy]

You presume too much.

You missed the details so you didn't pick up the character development. It definitely was shown.

I typed this else where but I will C/P this here.

Cassian's entire character arc was about his struggle with morality. He kills people on orders without questioning them. He shoots assets in the back instead of trying to offer some hope of escape. He kills without considering why or the consequences beyond mission accomplished. He is not a good person and he personifies the dark side of the Rebellion.
 
 Bodhi wanted to defect because he felt guilty for helping to construct the Death Star which gave Galan an opening to turn him so he could deliver his message. He redeems himself when he finds his bravery and is at peace. His cowardliness/instability is born from him not knowing what was going to happen and his desperate search for protection with the only leverage he had. The mental pressures from escaping from something as powerful as the Empire would be immense and I am not surprised some people would breakdown.
 
 Jyn only cared for herself and has trust issues after being abandoned and seeing her mother killed by who she saw was a family friend. Going after Kernnic was personal hence why Cassian had to pull her away at the end. Part of her arc was finding out the sins of her family and deciding to redeem herself and her family. She also finds a cause worth fighting for that is greater than herself that she believes in the face of overwhelming odds instead of running away like she has done all her life.
 
 Churrit and Baze was about their contrasting view point on the Force. Baze lost hope when the temple was destroyed while Churrit maintained his faith and was strengthened by it. They share common bonds of disliking the imperials, their formerly shared faith and just from the inertia of their friendship over the many years they spent together. Their arc was to have them reconcile their differences in faith.
 
 K2SO was there to wise crack and question if they *might* be living beings worthy of rights and respect shown by his act of self sacrifice. Other droids in the SW are treated like garbage, pets, appliances, slaves. He is treated by Cassian as an equal and implicitly trusts him. his arc was to reward Cassian for his treatment.

Note that none of the characters has more skills or has some higher power level as the movie goes on which people commonly mistaken for "Development". Nobody has all the skills. They are better people by making better, different choices. They form new bond and reconnect old ones. They reconcile their differences to work togeather. They fight for something greater than themselves with a common goal and do so on their own volition with their different motivations. This is character development.

The Kyber Crystals is what powers light sabres. Baze, the guy with the machine gun takes one and loads up his backpack for power. The Imperials trash the temple to get them. Churrit the Monk and Baze are keepers/guards with a deep connection with the Jedi and the temple.

Saw is an extremist because he was attacking Imperials without considerations of civilian casualties.When they blow up and ambush the convoy in the middle of town. He also tortures people with the mind monster without provocation. The Rebels don't want to be associated with this so they excommunicate him. I can't tell what was worse about Saw. His dialogue was just terrible. FW is a good actor but why would you direct him to act like that or cast him in such a role. Asshole who can barely breath is a paper thin character. He literally sucks up running time.

Vadar's first scene was unjustified from any angle, it did nothing to introduce him other than have him make a bad pun. People new to Star Wars doesn't need to know who he is, all they need to know this is a bad guy called Vadar who looks different from everyone else and he fucks the Rebels up at speed with no one else has. Vadar in R1 has 3 purposes, 1. Link him to ANH in his pursuit 2. Rehabilitate him from the Prequels 3. Ride in at the last moment to crush the Rebel's moment of Triumph.

The details are there and it took me a couple of days for me to coalesce them with just one viewing. It will come to you eventually unless you speed up the process by reading it up.

One of the best scene for Jyn is when she gives her rousing speech to continue fighting to the Rebel council with her new found idealism and she fails completely, convincing no one new to the fight. It is Cassian the most sinful of all of them to bring in a band of equally sinful people for this idealistic fight for good.People deride Felicity Jones performance pointing to this example, but this is exactly what you expect to happen. She played a normal person with normal abilities with a shitty upbringing.

[Evan_B]

La La Land

As a former actor and current big dreamer, La La Land was an effective mix of what was then and is now that struck all the right chords in me. A rather interesting subplot in the movie is the fight against evolution and over-emphasis on tradition, so seeing a studio musical that blends classic elements with more grounded, contemporary acting was an impressive mix of old and new. Is the plot overly idyllic? Sure. But there is something simple and clean regarding the music and foolish charm of the characters that allows the audience to connect and enjoy the plot. Its sobering reality in the final moments hits harder that way, as well, and provides another excellent contrast to the happy endings of past musicals.

Is La La Land perfect? I don't think so. I'd love to have a word with the sound editor, because the balance in the group numbers isn't great. I think it's a bit too heavy-handed with its reliance on classics, but that comes with the nature of the material. However, it is ultimately a reminder of the raw talent that was required of actors in those old studio musicals- Emma Stone is no "triple threat" of singer/dancer/actor, although Gosling damn near pulls it off. It's a hopeful reminder of a genre that relied on the strength of its performers rather than that of computer generated imagery, and it's my personal hope that it's a genre we will see more of in the future- not just shlock movie-musicals based on whatever is on Broadway, but original pieces that take advantage of the blend between cinema and musical. Then again, maybe lightning only strikes once, so enjoy La La Land for what it is before the imitators jump on its successful blend. 9/10