Topic: Movie thread.

Y'know, when I found out they were remaking it, all I could think of was this: WHY!?

Agreed with everyone on the new Vacation movie. As much as i like Ed Helms, the original movie was one of the great 80s comedy classics, and shouldn't even be attempted to be remade.

Meanwhile, i finally got around to seeing The World's End. Absolutely loved it. Shaun of the Dead is of course the best of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, and i'd rank this one as second best (though i did love Hot Fuzz as well). I'm sure the fact that i'm in that same stage of life as the characters certainly helped my appreciation of the film, as of course did my love of having (more than) a few pints.

Finally got out to see Jurassic World. Loved it. It was almost as good as the original, and certainly better than TLW and JP3. Next I need to get out and see Inside Out.

And I have the night off, so tonight I'm staying home and watching a couple horror movies. It Follows and The Babadook, two indie flicks that debuted at film festivals last year (Cannes and Sundance, respectively) and apparently were very well received.

It Follows was a very good movie. I really enjoyed it and I'm sure you will love it.

The family just finished up The Judge!

Robert Downey Jr. plays a defense attorney with a fast track life who goes back to his small home town to attend his mother's funeral. He's estranged with his family (especially his father, played by Robert Duvall, the local judge with an old fashioned view of upholding the law). However, his father finds himself on the other side of the courtroom when he's accused of murdering an old enemy, and his only hope is to rely on his estranged son. Can they put their differences aside? Both actors absolutely nailed their roles (especially Duvall), and it's a really great film that almost made me tear up at times.

Due to personal interests, it won't wind up as one of my favorite films this year, but it's a great watch if you have the time, and can put up with the language (they drop the F-Bomb at least 20 times...).

The year is half over, so what are the top 5 (or 10, or 15, ect.) films you've seen so far this year? (they don't have to be 2015 releases, you just have had to view them for the first time this year). I'll split mine into Heavy Films & Popcorn Films.

Heavy Films:

5. Monuments Men, The (Encore On Demand)
4. Saving Mr. Banks (Encore On Demand)
3. Unbroken (DVD)
2. Outrage (Netflix/Japanese language film)
1. Last Samurai, The (Netflix)

Popcorn Films:

5. Amazing Spider-Man 2, The (Encore On Demand)
4. Captain America: the Winter Soldier (DVD)
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (DVD)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy (DVD)
1. Jurassic World (Cinema)

So how about you?

Welcome to Cinema Nihongo Thursday! This week I watched 009-1: the End of the Beginning (Netflix/Japanese language film)!

Set in a dystopian future where Japan (now J-Country) has become a third world country caught in the middle of a battle between two superpowers, known as Eastern Bloc & Western Bloc, respectively, the main character is a woman who was orphaned during the fighting, then was raised as a cyborg spy for the Western Bloc. Her creator is seemingly kidnapped by Eastern Bloc spies, and it's up to her to rescue the only "mother" she's ever known.

It's the very definition of a B-movie, where the action is filled with cheesy special effects & gratuitous clearly fake gore, eroticism sometimes bordering on creepy, and zombies, because why not?

It's by no means a good movie, but I'm sure the niche that just adores B-movies will find something to like about it (I'll admit I chuckled a few times at the absurdity of it all). Oh, and I assume it's a live action adaptation of the Cyborg 009 manga/anime series, though I doubt it follows the story of the original at all.

I recently saw Jurrasic World. The movie is extremely overrated. The reason why the original is so well received is because realistic looking dinosaurs in a movie were brand new and because the movie had great cinematography and great action. This new movie has good action, but CGI isn't new anymore and there wasn't a concentration on cinematography in this one. Too much product placement too. I think there was a few plot holes and a lot of confusing plot points. I don't want to spoil it though.

I won't take issue with most of your points, other than the bolded.

Complaining about product placement is one of the silliest things I've ever seen (this isn't solely directed at you, as it's a complaint I've seen many people voice about many movies/games over the years on the internet).

Fact is, Starbucks, Mercedes, Barns & Noble & the like are brands that exist in our real world, and as such having them feature in a movie (or game) brings it that much closer to reality than having Generic Coffe Shop #4, Sports Car Roadster 2015, and Generic Book Store #7, and it makes the experience that much more immersive as a result.

I could understand the distaste if they had the actor/actress shove a bottle of MTN Dew up against the screen yelling "Do The Dew!", but nothing I've seen in most games or movies (including this one) even comes close to that. It just so happens that there is a Starbucks location on the premises of the park (in the background), which just happens to be the kind of partnership I'd totally expect to see in a real world theme park.

It could be worse...much worse.

@RR529: Well everyone in the movie were also driving Mercedes-Benz cars, using Samsung Galaxy phones, and the older brother had Beats headphones on.

@HollywoodHogan: I love that scene. One of my favorite movies.

That really doesn't counter my point. How would the scenes with those products have been any better if the area where the corporate logo is had been blank. The scene(s) probably wouldn't have been any different at all.

Again, I could totally understand the issue if they took time away from the plot for an actor/actress to quip about how much better Samsung is than Apple, or how much better Beats is than Bose, but they didn't do that. There are people in the real world who just happen to use Samsung phones, teens who own Beats headphones, and peoole who drive Mercedes cars, so I don't find it that hard to believe (or intrusive) if characters in a movie happen to do those same things (as long as they don't go out of their way to make a point about it).

Also, in the real world, large companies will order large amounts of a specific product in bulk for company use, so it's highly believable that all company cars would be of the same brand (or even make), and that the partnership may even extend to employees who may get a discount if they buy their own personal car (or other product) from the same company their employer has a partnership with.

@HollywoodHogan, I'll get to your responce as soon as my tablet is charged (as is, I'm on my 3DS, which your video won't show up on).

@RR529: I guess it just doesn't bother you as much as it does me, and that's fine.

Oh geez, Mac and Me. Even the name sounded like a McDonalds commercial disguised as "entertainment"...

EDIT: Also, I miss Wayne's World. Watched that too many times as a kid. Yet I barely remember it because I always watched a bunch of embarassingly bad comedies around the same time...oh, the days of "5 Movies for 5 Days" rentals...

This is one of my favorite scenes from a movie. I'm sure some of you have seen it; it's called Pulp Fiction.
This clip is explicit.

Agree to disagree then

Sorry if I sounded a little harsh in my responses. I don't get into many debates here, but when I do, I feel like I get a bit TOO much into it, lol (which is probably why I don't do it much).

Watched a couple films over the weekend.

St. Vincent (DVD) - Bill Murray plays a grumpy "get off my lawn" type elderly fellow who seems fed up with life, until he ends up finding himself taking care of his new neighbor's son after school. It has both it's funny parts & tearjerking parts (which even managed to get to me), as the boy helps him find new purpose in life, and he helps the boy to fit in to his new life.

It's not the sort of thing I'd typically watch, but I'm glad I did, and am surprised it didn't garner much (if any) Academy Award attention.

Fury (DVD) - This is one I've wanted to watch for awhile, and I must say it didn't disappoint. It stars Brad Pitt as the head of a tank squadron in the last days of WWII. The group has been fighting ever since America entered the war (started fighting in Africa), and only now does the group lose it's first member. They soon get a new member who is still pretty naive about the brutality of war, and as the film goes on you see his innocence fade away as he becomes numb to the horrors of war. It's not for the faint of heart as there are some pretty brutal scenes that happen often, but it's a highly effective way of expressing itself. Despite the dark nature of the film, I've been enamored with tanks ever since I was little, so when the battle scenes came they were a real highlight for me. There was one tank on tank battle in the film that really had me gripped, and their last stand at the end of the film was an action packed flury of gunfire & explosions.

Just finished up Penguins of Madagascar: the Movie (Netflix)!

If you enjoyed the antics of the penguins in the Madagascar films you'll probably get some enjoyment out of this, and even though I myself like them, I felt it was a getting a little long in the tooth here. It was a decent watch though.

TBH, none of the animated films I've seen this year have really impressed me, other than maybe Rise of the Guardians.