Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Im really glad Bob Odenkirk is getting more serious roles Im glad he's having more success with them than Jim Carrey and Will Farrell did. I love when comedic actors get to play against type cast.

He is one of my all time favorites ever since the days of Mister Show.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

A Mighty Wind actually had a pretty awesome soundtrack. I wonder if it’s on vinyl. I’d file it with my old folk rock LPs.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Pretty solid argument for why Tron Legacy and Maverick are better than most legacy sequels. Gets at the heart of why the Abrams SW sequel trilogy felt so empty, and why most legacy sequels are crap. They tend to lack heart and the new characters introduced serve as little more than stand-ins for the audience to put themselves into the story. I didn’t get that feeling as much watching Maverick or Tron Legacy and felt like the newer characters were more than one dimensional inserts for the armies of fanboys

They should just let Kosinski direct all of the legacy sequels. He’s the only one who really builds on the previously established worlds, while guys like Abrams just give us soulless parades of member berry moments. Member the millennium Falcon? Member Chewbacca? Ohhh member lightsabers? Member imperial walkers? Member tie fighters? (Although heavily flawed, I’ll say Last Jedi came closest to feeling like an organic extension and development of that universe). Even when Kosinski includes an obvious member Berry (we knew they had to have an F-14 and Iceman appear at some point), it tends to feel logical and in service of the story, rather than dropped in because there needed to be a visual reference to the original source film. Abrams and others have never understood that pointless references for the sake of reference don’t create emotional connection to the events onscreen—Abrams would do better as a theme park designer than as a storyteller

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

is this a serious remake? This is the first I’m reading of it. Shitty films deserve earnest remakes that improve on flaws, and I hope they aren’t trying to do some self-aware humor thing like those godawful sharknado films. What makes the original so memorable and amusing is how serious it takes itself. Unintentionally shitty films are funny because the directors and cast usually gave their all and thought they were making something good. I hate it when people try to make intentionally shitty films. There’s just no recreating that feel of unintentionally shitty movies—it’s like watching someone give it their all and fail in a talent show. Even Planet Terror and Machete felt a little forced, although Rodriguez at least knows and loves that type of film enough to almost make his recreations work.

Bob Odenkirk Confirms Role in The Room Remake

Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk will lead a remake of The Room: "I had a BLAST."

movieweb.com

 

[Totenkindly]

is this a serious remake? This is the first I’m reading of it. Shitty films deserve earnest remakes that improve on flaws, and I hope they aren’t trying to do some self-aware humor thing like those godawful sharknado films. What makes the original so memorable and amusing is how serious it takes itself. Unintentionally shitty films are funny because the directors and cast usually gave their all and thought they were making something good. I hate it when people try to make intentionally shitty films. There’s just no recreating that feel of unintentionally shitty movies—it’s like watching someone give it their all and fail in a talent show. Even Planet Terror and Machete felt a little forced, although Rodriguez at least knows and loves that type of film enough to almost make his recreations work.

I have no idea aside from what is in the article, this project was news to me!

 

[Totenkindly]

Pretty solid argument for why Tron Legacy and Maverick are better than most legacy sequels. Gets at the heart of why the Abrams SW sequel trilogy felt so empty, and why most legacy sequels are crap. They tend to lack heart and the new characters introduced serve as little more than stand-ins for the audience to put themselves into the story. I didn’t get that feeling as much watching Maverick or Tron Legacy and felt like the newer characters were more than one dimensional inserts for the armies of fanboys

They should just let Kosinski direct all of the legacy sequels. He’s the only one who really builds on the previously established worlds, while guys like Abrams just give us soulless parades of member berry moments. Member the millennium Falcon? Member Chewbacca? Ohhh member lightsabers? Member imperial walkers? Member tie fighters? (Although heavily flawed, I’ll say Last Jedi came closest to feeling like an organic extension and development of that universe). Even when Kosinski includes an obvious member Berry (we knew they had to have an F-14 and Iceman appear at some point), it tends to feel logical and in service of the story, rather than dropped in because there needed to be a visual reference to the original source film. Abrams and others have never understood that pointless references for the sake of reference don’t create emotional connection to the events onscreen—Abrams would do better as a theme park designer than as a storyteller

Well, I did get a lot out of the end of Super 8 (I think the first minute of the film is one of the most perfect sequences i've seen, you unpack the entire setup for the film before words are even spoken; I cry at that and at the end when the alien grabs him and with the whole final sequence) -- but hey ET was a baby boomer childhood, this was MY childhood, and maybe I'm a special case of an audience. I think the best parts of the film are actually when he is just film-making rather than trying to ape anything. Another sequence is the moment on the train station where young Elle Fanning gives this insane performance that leaves all the other characters stunned... and then she breaks and says, "Is that okay?" Like wtf girl, you are just showing off. That train wreck was also one of the craziest things I've seen in a film, although I am now suspecting he cribbed the concept from "The Greatest Show on Earth" which I have yet to see -- but still, in the theater with surround sound that was just NUTS.

Anyway, yeah, Abrams' gotten worse as he ages. I think he is also better as a producer in many ways, leaving the actual ideas and implementation to others but providing input to them as part of the creative process. There are some decent films and shows in his producer credits lists. I am kinda hoping he doesn't direct much after the TRoS debacle ever again.

---

Back to Kosinski. Despite my issues with Oblivion, I still rewatch that fucking movie at least 1-2x a year. Because it's so gorgeous, the acting is great (ANDREA RISEBOROUGH -- before she dirtied up her look but STILL just incredible acting!), and it's so spacious and clean and makes me feel something. Tron: Legacy bugs me a lot with how empty the computer world feels (I wish they had a more populated world inside) and the plot drags, but visually again very clean, very impressive -- and I just really love the moment he walks into the arcade and turns it on. Damn. Plus, the ending with Bridges and then him riding his cycle with Quorra. Great ending.

And Maverick -- not a "Best Picture" winner IMO -- was still better than the original, better than most sequels, and pretty enjoyable. I would have liked a little more fleshing out / deeper scenes with Connelly maybe, but a hell of a film and not at all what I expected. I was happy about Iceman because it is actually felt like a real relationship. Top Gun ends with him telling Maverick he can always be his wingman ... or vice versa... and then he proves that he sees value in Mav because Mav stepped up and developed a core. It was really touching, not just a call-back, how he is always thinking long-term about what is best for Mav and the AF.

I really hope he gets some more big assignments to direct. he's got obvious strengths, he just needs paired with good writers. Visually he's excellent, and Maverick was actually interesting to watch compared with deader space in the original. I wonder what he might have done with Ready Player One, for example, instead of the shitty callback film that never took any chances because Spielberg was coasting.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Abrams is a good producer. ST ‘09 would have been better if he’d not directed and just taken a backseat role producing. It was almost there but missed the mark. But he had to do it because he always wanted to make a SW film and didn’t yet know he’d be doing one. Yet it borrowed more from superhero film tropes than it did from SW. Into Darkness was crap. He tried to remake Khan instead of looking at what actually made Khan so great, and we’re left with a film that just echoed the major story beats.

I really like Cloverfield. Not usually into the found footage thing.

Spielberg has just become inconsistent and lazy. I don’t think he himself has strong nostalgia for his own golden age (80s), so Ready Player One suffered and felt obligatory. If one of the boomer directors HAD to do it, maybe Cameron would’ve done better? He’s the most tolerable of that crop imo.

Agree on Tron. I wanted to see a populated digital city. Going to listen to that score again today though. I’ll admit my opinion is skewed by the music and the amazing visuals. The sfx have aged great. Though I wanted to cry for the father-son drama. It really is a film about failed parenting at the core. One of the few legacy sequels that tops the original in nearly every way.

 

[Totenkindly]

Abrams is a good producer. ST ‘09 would have been better if he’d not directed and just taken a backseat role producing. It was almost there but missed the mark. But he had to do it because he always wanted to make a SW film and didn’t yet know he’d be doing one. Yet it borrowed more from superhero film tropes than it did from SW. Into Darkness was crap. He tried to remake Khan instead of looking at what actually made Khan so great, and we’re left with a film that just echoed the major story beats.

Yup. I found the movie creatively offensive in many ways, to be honest. That, and the promotional campaign where they constantly lied to say it wasn't about Khan, but oh hey look, it was about Khan all along.

I really like Cloverfield. Not usually into the found footage thing.

the 4K was a nice experience upgrade esp with sound, but it's mainly because it was a unique approach to the monster at the time and maintains the relationship between Rob and Beth as the emotional core of the film. Without that relationship, it would have just been a banging monster of the month film.

Spielberg has just become inconsistent and lazy. I don’t think he himself has strong nostalgia for his own golden age (80s), so Ready Player One suffered and felt obligatory. If one of the boomer directors HAD to do it, maybe Cameron would’ve done better? He’s the most tolerable of that crop imo.

Cameron at least typically is consistent with melding form and nature. What I mean here is that one follows from the other. I've mentioned this before about RPO but one of the most obvious jawdroppers is stealing the image of the Iron Giant (where the actual thesis of the freakin' animated film was "I AM NOT A GUN") and -- doing what? -- making him into a giant weapon for action sequences, no consideration of the actual essence of the real Iron Giant. He can't even say he was doing it as commentary because he makes no commentary in RPO about it but totally buys into it. Lots of crap like that in the film, all superficial.

There's other things like in a Virtual World you can be anyone, but about the ballsiest they get was making the safest character (a guy mechanic/shooter in game) into a lesbian butch woman IRL. How inventive and predictable. The lead played by Olivia Cooke out of game has a big "real world" secret of -- a birthmark on part of her face. No actual disability despite it being a virtual reality (I can imagine VR is pretty big for people who actually could feel like they have full use of their bodies in-game), and she's actually the white girl IRL that she is in the game.... same with the white guy who plays a white guy in the game. (Oh, and the Asian kid is a ninja in game. Wow. Etc.) It's a very normative story and character setup that tries to pretend it's something provocative but it's not at all, it's all status quo. Even the ending is lame, where they all just abruptly decide "getting back to real life" is shutting down the virtual world a few days a week.

I will say The Fablemans was a step back up for him, at least, but it's a core life narrative for him that he deeply knows and deeply cares about. The early 2000's is the last time he had made films that really resonate with me.

Agree on Tron. I wanted to see a populated digital city. Going to listen to that score again today though. I’ll admit my opinion is skewed by the music and the amazing visuals. The sfx have aged great. Though I wanted to cry for the father-son drama. It really is a film about failed parenting at the core. One of the few legacy sequels that tops the original in nearly every way.

Ding -- "Failed parenting at the core." Yup, often fantasy and scifi does best when it's built around a human story that we can all relate to on a human level.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished John Wick 3 rewatch today. It's odd how my feelings have become very mixed on this rewatch.

It's like every film is glossier and more elaborate fight scenes, which are at once cool and also rather laborious and numbing.

The lighting on the film which seemed to be so nuanced in the first film now feels like the color filters are just way over-used and almost too techy and fancy. It's almost like the entire film has become surreal. The desert scene for example is just absolutely gorgeous (day and night both) and I both love it and also find it makes the film feel unreal.

There's the off-the-rails knife duels early on, and John Wick now using horses to kill people as if they were loaded guns, and then the dog sequence is just insane. But by the end it starts to all feel rather old. On the motorcycles on the highway, I can't figure out why they keep pacing him without actually doing anything effectual. And it becomes less and less believable as time passes, with John growing more and more tired. At least with the final few fights, his enemies are actually giving him moments to catch his breath because they respect him and recognize that the fight is unsatisfying for them without Wick being at his peak.

But it just gets more and more repetitive. There are no further plans for a JW centered film after the fourth, which is a good thing, and maybe it should stay that way no matter how great the set pieces are. By the end it felt mostly like noise and thunder, and I welcomed the humor of the BBEG in this film... at least he was funny in how he fawned over getting to fight Wick.

 

[Totenkindly]

John Wick 4: Pretty solid (4 out of 5) movie IMO. It felt a LITTLE long by the end but not nearly as much as one would expect, because there really aren't a ton of locations / complex plotting and the length is absorbed mostly into the set pieces themselves. There's a handful of characters (2 assassins / bounty hunters; 2 hotel managers so to speak; the Marquis; and John) that are in the limelight, with 2-3 minor characters who get substantial time, but the plotting still feels pretty linear.

Keanu's idea of vocal acting in this film is just sounding tired all the time, so it's great that the film is peppered with a ton of solid performances (I especially was thrilled to see Natalie Tena show up for about 10 minutes of screen time, and it's cool to watch Hiroyuki Sanada and Donnie Yen go to town against each other with blades) that basically make up for Keanu's bad delivery. It's really wild to see him and Fishburne in the same scenes, as the latter is booming and commanding the screen with his Shakespearean performance. But I will say this is the best "Keanu fighting amid a downpour" film moment i've seen since Matrix Revolutions. Still, even Donnie Yen can deliver lines that feel believable despite being primarily known for his stunt/action ability.

What Keanu lacks in vocal delivery he still makes up for in the set pieces, although he feels kind of sluggish early on and then his performances get better as the film progresses.

This film actually makes you think about heady ideas a bit ("Consequences" is understated but is really important, and even the end-credits scene buys into this), and feels like it actually digs more substantially into the relational and professional web that Wick is part of. These people actually seem like his friends on some level.

And this is another pro-dog film. Dogs are used in some of the set pieces, and kindness of dogs is valued. (I suspect the Marquis has a cat, if anything.)

Anyway, it was a really nice film, felt a little more focused than other Wick films, and a bit more dramatically deeper (which demanded the longer running time). I enjoyed it.

EDIT: Lol, this makes sense to me:

Keanu Reeves Cut So Much ‘John Wick 4’ Dialogue That He Says Only 380 Words in Nearly Three Hours: He’s ‘Dedicated to Not Speaking’

John Wick is a man of few words. No really. A report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that Keanu Reeves’ eponymous assassin says only 380 words across 103 lines of dialogue during “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which runs nearly three-hours long with its 169 minute runtime. Nearly a third of...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Totenkindly]

Nice short interview with Sanada. I didn't realize he's been doing advisory/producer work and/or didn't come to the States until 2005.

‘John Wick 4’ Star Hiroyuki Sanada Teases His FX Series ‘Shogun,’ His First as a Lead: ‘I Feel Reborn’

'John Wick: Chapter 4'-star Sanada Hiroyuki talks about Keanu Reeves, Japanese period series 'Shogun' and cross-cultural influences.

variety.com

 

[Totenkindly]

James Gunn Just Teased An Obscure Superhero Team, Does This Mean We'll See Them In The New DC Universe?

James Gunn went on social media to tease an obscure superhero team, so what are the chances we’ll see them in the new DC Universe?

www.yahoo.com

Looks like Gunn is gonna out-maneuver Marvel for sitting on its ass regarding the Fantastic Four for so long... Welcome to the existing DC property known as "The Terrifics"!

This is kind of mesmerizing, watching the MCU dropping the ball after Phase 3 repeatedly and driving its talent to a direct competitor. Who woulda thunk?

 

[Totenkindly]

Superhero films: Is this the end of the road?

A combination of grim headlines and poor box office numbers means that the colossal success of the superhero franchises could be a thing of the past, writes Nicholas Barber.

www.bbc.com

 

[The Cat]

Superhero films: Is this the end of the road?

A combination of grim headlines and poor box office numbers means that the colossal success of the superhero franchises could be a thing of the past, writes Nicholas Barber.

www.bbc.com

We're gonna see a go back to high fantasy and potentially grim dark, but fantasy scifi is likely the future...

 

[Totenkindly]

We're gonna see a go back to high fantasy and potentially grim dark, but fantasy scifi is likely the future...

As long as we are done with YA post-apocalyptic worlds, I'm good.

 

[The Cat]

As long as we are done with YA post-apocalyptic worlds, I'm good.

Oh gods below aint that the truth, sometimes I think ya post apocalyptic stories are part of why everything feels so fucked up irl. life imitating art and all that.

 

[Totenkindly]

Avatar 2 Writer Takes Over Marvel’s Fantastic Four Movie In Scriptwriter Change

The Fantastic Four’s MCU arrival could be taking a different route with the appointment of a new writer.

movieweb.com

Aside from Avatar 2, which was saddled with baggage from Cameron, he's worked on some decent stuff at least with a little more serious tone without being needlessly dark. I'm really not sure about the guys who just left the project, so... good?

 

[Totenkindly]

Box Office Update: Dungeons & Dragons over performing to the tune of $40 Million

Dungeons & Dragons is coming in ahead of expectations with an estimated $40 Million opening.

www.joblo.com

So, as far as the film goes...

D&D: Honor Among Thieves (2023): Saw it this morning. Starts out rather flat, leaving me hoping it would improve -- and then it gets better (in terms of plot and emotional depth) as it proceeds. I actually teared up at the end, so... kudos. Compared to the typical shit coming out under the D&D name over the years, at least this is worlds better, even if it never becomes a GREAT film regardless of genre. But it becomes enjoyable, gets some depth, and has a few decent ideas and/or set pieces in it. (One is a tracking shot on the wild shape druid, really neat; and then a few fight sequences including a magical battle of sorts.) The only thing I really hated was the appearance of halflings; maybe it was cheaper to do it that way, but uggh.

As far as characters, the best performance by far is oddly the one people might not recognize, Regé-Jean Page as Xenk Yendar, the paladin. And it's not just because the paladin was cool in terms of being a pally, but also because of Page's performance. He totally nails this. And yeah, you guys are now gonna see both paladins and druids show up more regularly in your D&D games because of this film, I am super-sure -- and especially with the new wild shape One D&D rules to come out. Hugh Grant also has a lot of fun in his role and makes it look effortless -- it's why you cast a guy like him in a role like that, it's like tossing Ralph Fiennes into a film -- he can nail some roles better out of the box than some actors can perform even with a lot of prep. Even a famous actor from Guardians of the Galaxy has a cameo, which is amusing. And yes, there's brief cameos by the D&D kids from the 80's cartoon in this film.

Pine's perfectly fine as the "lead" performance, although he's had better roles. Michelle Rodriguez also has had better roles and this one's perfectly functional for her but rather par for the course. The mage, I kinda figured out to be a wild mage due to the issues he was having.

The jokes don't really land at first (NO one laughed at the first one), but slowly get better and better. I will be honest, Vox Machina seems to be a better mix of evocative drama + humor right out of the box (they made it look easy), this film never seems 100% comfortable in its own skin but becomes watchable and evokes some chuckles and has "moments" in it and thus earns a view.

All in all, a decent effort to at least justify producing more shows & films out of the D&D world. Yes, I wish it had been better, but at least it didn't completely suck like 98% of every similar fantasy film to come out in the last 40 years. I mentally gave it a 3.5/5 rating before peeking, and yeah... the RT crowd gave it an average of 7.3 and Metacritic a 70 or so, so I'm right on that target.

 

[Totenkindly]