Topic: Movie thread.

Insomnia

good thriller with amazing performances. not one of nolan's best films, but very solid and entertaining

Eureka Seven: High Evolution 1 (Amazon Prime Video) - The first entry in a planned film trilogy to retell the story of the Eureka Seven TV anime, and as a huge fan of said series, I found that this missed the mark. It opened up at a point 10 years before the start of the series, showcasing an event that was central to the series' back story for the first time, and while this segment was a feast for the eyes, it's an absolutely terrible starting out point as it's full of in-universe technobabble that's not at all welcoming to newcomers, and even series fans who haven't watched it in recent memory. Then it decides to jump to an arc in the middle of the story, when Renton was living with Charles & Rey, while occasionally jumping back to the events of the first episode, that again would probably be confusing to newcomers, and also isn't optimal for a rewatch as well. Worse, this segment of the film (which is the bulk), is simply cobbled together by reusing scenes from the TV anime. Now, the series still looks good IMO (especially with how it's been remastered), but it's still a bit of a jarring transition moving from the modern film quality animation, to touched up scenes from the original TV series (especially considering the 4:3 aspect ratio).

@jump, as I said, it doesn't do anything wrong (at least on a checklist), but is very "diet GitS" in terms of the themes that permeate the series.

Eh, it does a lot wrong. You've got the white washing (even if you ignore Scarlett you still have a supporting cast that has been washed), the cold poet articulation of the characters has been transferred into bad monotone acting as well as gross misunderstanding of the source material. The themes of original anime movies about existential crisis have been converted to basic a revenge story. Even when they were lifting scenes from the original they misunderstood them like when the Major was naked it's to show how (emotionally) detach she is from her body and just sees it as a tool rather than apart of herself whilst here it's because it looks cool.

Again the film is fine if all you liked about the anime/manga is pretty flashing colours.

I recently watched Molly's Game. Arguably one of the top five movies that revolve around poker, at least that I can remember. Rounders is usually the default choice when it comes to poker related cinema. Then a few other less popular choices such as Shade, Maverick, Cincinnati Kid, etc. In any case, Jessica Chastain is amazing (as per usual) and the supporting cast is also quite strong.

If you're a fan of Jessica Chastain's work or of poker in general I high recommend you give it a watch.

Hana-Bi (Amazon Prime Video) - 90's Japanese film about a police detective, Nishi (played by Takeshi Kitano), who, after a series of events throw his life into disarray, decides to throw everything away and make the most of things while he can. I really got into it, and say it now outranks Sonatine as my favorite Kitano film.

Weird Science (Amazon Prime Video) - 80's Teen Comedy that sees a couple of high school nerds that, while trying to create a female AI to practice interacting with women, somehow manage to create a real life bombshell beauty, who both listens to their every whim, while also having the power to alter reality itself. It's goofy 80's schlock (and of course the boys learn some self confidence & that people will like them for who they are by film's end), but I definitely enjoy these kinds of films from time to time, and like seeing what they were able to get away with, with a PG-13 rating at the time (it almost reminds me of a Shonen anime/manga, in the sense that it's definitely not a film aimed at adults, yet there is some sexual innuendo, and even a few very brief moments of female nudity, that you wouldn't get in a Hollywood film made today for the same demographic).

Aladdin Live Action movie

Rim of the World (Netflix Original Film) - A callback to the 80's youth adventure genre (with a few other references, such as a nearly blatant copy of the Jurassic Park kitchen scene), that sees a group of young teens at summer camp end up on an adventure to save the planet from an alien invasion. It mixes comedy (these kids can have some potty mouths, particularly Dariush) with more tense moments. Overall it's mostly dumb fun not to be taken too seriously, and while the CGI isn't the best, due to the tone of the film I didn't mind. If you know what you're getting yourself into it can be a fun watch.

I only found out about it after I ran across a Yahoo article talking about how it was causing an "uproar" over racist jokes (and they even managed to scrounge up 4 or 5 negative tweets as proof!). Admittedly It does rely on a lot of established tropes & cliches (in all aspects), but it's all in an effort to capture the vibe of said 80's films, and while that may mean it has some humour that doesn't gel with with a certain very socially minded segment of today's population, the second coming of Birth of a Nation this is not.

Going through the films of 2018, I came across The Favourite. Since I wasn’t the biggest fan of either Dogtooth or The Lobster I wasn’t expecting much, but it was actually a great movie. It is a very different take on the British period piece, much in the same way Barry Lyndon was. The actresses all do a great job and film is pretty difficult to predict. You are not sure if it is going to be a revenge film, a story of mental and physical illness, or just a story about how power can cause one to fall from grace. It’s rare to see a film that gives a great ending that you didn’t see coming, and The Favourite delivers it with equal parts beauty and bitter irony.

The only real negative for me was some the unnecessary fisheye lens shots in the first half. They didn’t add much to the film and felt like something an amateur would do in an attempt to disorientate the viewer. The rest of the filmmaking is top notch though.

Might see Toy Story 4 this weekend, depending on what happens and if I have time.

@TheAwesomeBowser I'll watch it for sure this weekend. But is it just me or was the movie not advertised as much, at least compared to the previous "Toy Story" movies?

Also interested in seeing "Child's Play." The original haunted me when I was 7.

Looking forward to watching Shaft this weekend. I even watched the original and the 2000s one with Samuel L Jackson in preparation. Critics seem to detest this new one, which means it's going to be a very good time. <3

@Franz
I think you're right about Toy Story 4's advertising.
I don't watch cable TV though, so maybe all the advertising was done there, but I didn't see much elsewhere. Looking forward to it myself, I'll be going next Thursday.

Edit: By the way, I just saw '2010: The Year We Make Contact' for the very first time and was pleasantly surprised.
I always put it off because I heard mixed things about it and figured it could never live up to 2001 anyways.
Gotta say, though it wasn't as good as the first movie, it was still much better than I expected and I enjoyed it more than a lot of recent sci-fi movies.

Gonna watch Justice League: Dark tonight.

I saw Toy Story 4 yesterday and thought it was great! I keep getting worried that these kinds of movies are gonna get stale in the sequels, but Pixar knows what they’re doing.

If tomorrow i saw Aladdin 2019 still being played at my local cinema, probably i want to watch again.... For 5th time. 😆

Watched Toy Story 4 with the kids today and it reduced me to tears. Top to bottom one of the best movie franchises ever!

@redd214
That's what's so special about Pixar movies. Lots of them make me tear up, and some of them make me outright cry. Inside Out was the most effective for me. I've been dealing with clinical depression for over 12 years now and that movie really knew how to rattle my emotions. I even gained some new insights after seeing it.

@Tethutendo that's awesome, glad you got a lot out of that movie! And yeah Pixar movies are pretty much a lock to be good l, such a talented group of people there

@Tethutendo 2010 is an interesting movie! It's more conventional than the original, and the plot ultimately doesn't go anywhere, but some really solid performances anchor it. And Keir Dullea's cameo is cool. They had to reconstruct a lot of sets from production stills because Kubrick ordered the originals destroyed after 2001 wrapped. Also another interesting thing that breaks continuity: in 2010, Floyd denies knowing about HAL's contradictory instructions that made him go insane, while in 2001 the secret video shows Floyd issuing those same instructions to HAL. So either Floyd was lying in 2010, or it's an alternate universe (which was Arthur C. Clarke's personal canon).

@BougieBeetle
I totally forgot about that part, but now that you've mentioned it... yeah, that's quite a plothole.