Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Totenkindly]

My 4k copy of "War of the Worlds" arrived today. The ending is kinda... eh (and yes, it's modeled after the original, which worked at the time because the concept was horrifying enough for that audience)... but the film at least digs deep into what it might mean when the world goes bugnuts. And I just remember the first twenty minutes and how horrifying they were especially with the closeup shots. The Tim Robbins character really added something to the film as well. I'll see how the quality is on the transfer.

Now, how could the ending have been changed to be more interesting? This is one of these adaptations where changing the ending could have been preferable.

 

[Unkindloving]

I actually hadn't ever really paid that much attention to it but upon reading this post I just had mental flashes to all the different scenes throughout his films where he showcases feet. Cannot unseen now.

😝 Sorry! I noticed the attention to detail / showcasing feet aethestically throughout it and didn't think too much of it until some friends emphatically nodded and told me he definitely has a thing for the tootsies

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Watching Captain Marvel right between Captain America and Iron Man, it flowed well, but I have to wonder watching the first Avengers film why Fury didn’t “page” her a lot sooner. She really could have been helpful in the battle of NYC

I can see how Captain Marvel feels like a bit of a retcon now

 

[Lark]

Watching Captain Marvel right between Captain America and Iron Man, it flowed well, but I have to wonder watching the first Avengers film why Fury didn’t “page” her a lot sooner. She really could have been helpful in the battle of NYC

I can see how Captain Marvel feels like a bit of a retcon now

I agree, I think that the character was meant to be a sort of cosmic hero and all but it would have been cooler if they'd page her at the outset and the message didnt travel through time and space or whatever until the later films.

Like I wonder if any of the super hero genre has dealt with that idea, other than maybe The Boys, of people crying out for help and the "wrong" or some unwanted super turning up rather than the desired one.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Which has always been a bit of a confusing thing for me. I like the idea of venerable old klingons. But that seems only a thing from DS9 onward. TNG and before seem to make them short lived by virtue of dying in battle.

Which led to a really great final Kor episode in DS9 season 7. When the greatest Klingon warriors survive their battles, they are faced with the scariest foe a warrior could face: old age

In general a great episode on what those who attain hero or legend status face when their own legend begins to eclipse the reality of their own mortality. And the embarrassment that comes when they no longer are able to live up to their own legend. Ie how Bob Dylan concerts now will never live up to a ‘65 Dylan show.

 

[Population: 1]

It’s a shame how the whole Conan saga unfolded on screen. Conan the Barbarian was dark and gritty. I read a lot of the source material from Robert E. Howard in my teens and I understand purists being put off by Conan’s origins being that of a slave and not a true barbarian like the character in the comics and stories. However, I still find it to be one of my favorite sword and sorcery flicks. Conan the Destroyer (I was old enough to catch this one in the theater as a teenager) was a major disappointment imo. The dark tone had been downgraded to a cheesy parody of the itself and the story just seemed like it was written by a fan of the first movie.

It reminded me of the final season of the 80’s television show Airwolf. Sure you still had Airwolf but String and Dom were gone and the production was so fundamentally different that it was like Buffalo Bill (the serial killer) had skinned it and was wearing it. It looked familiar from a distance but as you examined it more closely it was apparent something was horribly wrong.

A third film although roughly outlined was never made. Oliver Stone had actually penned a script for the original Conan the Barbarian. I watched an hour long vid on the origins and making of the original movie. The project has always been plagued by infighting.

This was a messy ramble of a post but I don’t care.

 

[Hermit of the Forest]

Clip shows are always bad. Even it’s the only episode from the series you’ve seen they’re still bad.

 

[Population: 1]

A Furiosa movie? Really? Wasn’t that Fury Road? And it’s not even starring Charlize Theron? Does the character honesty hold enough interest and screen time that the role can be given to someone else?

I understand the way George Miller envisioned Mad Max that yes Max is more of a wasteland legend. That it’s more mythology than a chronological account. Well everything past the original movie anyway. Yes this Furiosa movie is also a prequel. However, it begs the question, did people find Furiosa appealing because of the character or because of the actress portraying her? I found her to be rather bland. Not Charlize Theron, I actually enjoy some of her other work. The character just wasn’t interesting imo. I felt Virginia Hey (Zhaan from Farscape) as the Warrior Woman in The Road Warrior was more interesting and she had far less dialogue or screen time.

On a side note, call me crazy, but when I go to see a Mad Max movie (or Indiana Jones or James Bond etc) I expect it’s going to focus on Mad Max. Hopefully this one won’t have his name in the title then.

Not that Tom Hardy’s Mad Max was that compelling, but when a character is portrayed mostly through body language, action, and subtle expression as opposed to extensive dialogue, it does help if they’re the focus of the production. Perhaps he’s better at it than I think. Maybe the next Mad Max film could showcase the actual main character of the franchise.

 

[Totenkindly]

^^ That, I guess.

I mean, I'd watch Theron in anything, pretty much (and have). And Hardy as well.

I'm not sure people are into Furiosa as a character, it's kind of like starting over in terms of any goodwill Fury Road earned. And I really did like Fury Road, but more because of the actors and the production itself -- it looks and feels awesome and invigorating. There's not much really to the story or characters, though -- anything compelling came through the actors and direction.

Pretty soon we'll be watching films about Mad Max's great-great-great-great-grandmother and her assortment of pet birds before the apocalypse happened or something.

 

[Population: 1]

Changes in trailer mentality over the years.. here's an original TESB trailer vs a recently reworked one. (sounds like they cribbed music from the Rogue One trailer #2.)

I find it interesting how mentalities change over time. Not only does it feel more dramatic and organic, it's pretty spoiler-free if you know the actual film more so than the original trailer.

With fans like the above, we will triumph. SAVE THE REBELLION! SAVE THE DREAM!

I love the 80’s (shocking) but 80’s movie trailers were truly awful. I’ve looked up quite a few reimaginings of trailers for movies of the period and yeah what a difference. Unless the movie is a B movie like The Stuff or Evil Dead, in which case I find the original trailers are part of the charm.

Tbh I couldn’t even get through the original trailer just now. lol The new one is quite enjoyable though.

 

[Population: 1]

The original trailer for Excalibur was pretty bad. I’ll spare you all the experience.

 

[anticlimatic]

Godzilla King of the Monsters is the worst movie I've seen in years.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I just saw Magnolia.

You know, I already knew this, but it bears repeating: Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius. To me it seems like his movies address things that I've never seen touched on before. They open up all kinds of interesting connections; moments that make me go "hey, I never thought about it like that before."

Also had no idea that PUA had been around for so long. I guess the fact that people using it become blackpilled must be because it works so well that they can't handle all the success it gets them, lol.

 

[Totenkindly]

It still makes me laugh when I recall that Jerry O'Connell played short stubby Vern Tessio from "Stand by Me," it's hard to believe that was him and I think it took me some years to realize it, after he had become a "thing" as a grown-up movie/TV presence.

I think I have a similar reaction to Anthony Michael Hall playing the thick-necked boyfriend Jim in "Edward Scissorhands," when the last thing I knew he was the scrawny kid in geek movies (like "Sixteen Candles").

(some people don't change much at all; Lindsay Lohan and Ron Howard and Jodie Foster are a few right off the bat who pretty much look like they always have even as kids. Even Danny Bonaduce, lol.)

Trying to recall other radical departures between childhood and adulthood for other folks... I guess Josh Peck did go through a radical weight transformation between Drake & Josh and when he was in the Red Dawn remake, although I think his face anchor points are still the same and recognizable. Haley Joel Osmant is still recognizable as himself but doesn't look like how one might have expected from seeing him in The Sixth Sense and A.I.

Oh, I have two: Peter Ostrum (Charlie Bucket from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factor" -- you can see if it you look at the face structure a bit but not at first glance), and then Peter Billingsley (from "A Christmas Story," for example, but he also reappeared in other things, including Spiderman: Far From Home. It's more obvious with his hair longer and wearing glasses, like his childhood image; but in that film he looked more aged.)

 

[Totenkindly]

I just saw Magnolia.

You know, I already knew this, but it bears repeating: Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius. To me it seems like his movies address things that I've never seen touched on before. They open up all kinds of interesting connections; moments that make me go "hey, I never thought about it like that before."

Also had no idea that PUA had been around for so long. I guess the fact that people using it become blackpilled must be because it works so well that they can't handle all the success it gets them, lol.

Love that film, and I've been wanting to rewatch it for a long time. Even if one is a Cruise hater, he acts the hell out of that film. So many good performances and off the generic expectation for most. (Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character is so sweet.)

 

[Totenkindly]

The Saving Private Ryan detail you might have missed that makes the film even more brutal | The Independent

Damn.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Love that film, and I've been wanting to rewatch it for a long time. Even if one is a Cruise hater, he acts the hell out of that film. So many good performances and off the generic expectation for most. (Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character is so sweet.)

Yeah, I'm not a Cruise fan, but he was good in that.

 

[Population: 1]

Bruce Campbell needs another feature film. Immediately. The man’s a national treasure ffs and sadly he’s not getting any younger.

 

[Totenkindly]

Leigh Whannell needs to be careful or he might actually end up a half-decent film maker. His last two pictures (Upgrade and The Invisible Man) were actually enjoyable, regardless of flaws.

(it's definitely improved since his days writing the early Saw and Insidious franchise films.)

he did show up in a few films as well. For example, one of the two film crew guys with Lin Shaye in Insidious and as the ill-fated Axel in The Matrix Reloaded.

It does help when you have an actress like Elizabeth Moss to do the heavy lifting for the film, but at least the first half of the film "plays" properly -- I dunno if Moss' character knows how crazy she sounded, but it really come off as a crazy woman doing psychotic things rather than an invisible person stalking her. I guess that was the point. The reveal itself is pretty WTF shocking, and then the rest of the film feels more "thriller" than "horror" per se.

There's also a lot there that immediately harkens right back to "Sleeping with the Enemy," it's hard NOT to think of that film. Maybe a homage of sorts? The really weird part is that I haven't thought of Patrick Bergen for years (speaking of that film) and I ended up watching 2/3 of Free Fire last night, where he shows up in a brief part looking, well, pretty darn old. Because I guess it has been a good 30 years since that film.

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched "The Hunt" this afternoon.

Pretty much the movie isn't very meaty in most genres it might be misclassified as. It works best as a thriller/horror-comedy film in my opinion, with its single-focused plot, thin characterizations, and cartoonish levels of violence. I could laugh at a lot of it because I wasn't taking it seriously, but I think if I came into it trying to take it seriously, it would have been a horrible experience.

As far as all the punditry last year, the political outrage was exactly what some of us assumed it was -- political bullshit by people who didn't know a damn thing about the film, trying to stir the pot. No one ends us looking "good" in this movie, which skewers both redneck and elitist cliches. By the end, where things boil down to two characters, you can see where each have been "wronged" so to speak, leading to this absurd outcome. No matter who wins, it doesn't fix any of the shit that led into the film.

Gilpin is MVP and is the highlight of the film. She's easily the most interesting character, and the film's few veers into serious territory rely on her skill as an actress. (Her retelling of an old fable is chilling.)

Anyway, the gist is I ended up laughing my way (or shaking my head) through much of the film. It's light fare, meant to amuse, but doesn't really offer much that lingers -- kind of a blow-off project for Lindleof and Cruz, when they're not writing serious or complex work. Sometimes these films get made on a whim, sometimes the script just gets passed around as a joke.