Topic: Movie thread.

I enjoyed most of Terminator dark fate definitely more than any of the other sequels after T3 but the way they swept john conner under the rug like he never mattered is what bothered me. Especially considering it's supposed to be a direct sequel to T2. I know the real world reason obviously. Edward furlong is now a washed up drug addict who's star faded a long time ago. If they wanted to do a true legit T2 sequel they should have done it no more than 5 or so years afterward.

The T3 we actually got i thought was pretty good but the lack of Linda hamilton and saying she died plus no Eddie furlong playing john is what killed the franchise. It never recovered after that. Salvation was boring as all hell, Genysis was all kinds of stupid and dark fate felt like a desperate attempt to win back fans but the damage was already done. I heard linda hamilton practically had to be begged to be involved. Arnie even says in the movie, (I won't be back) I think he meant it. Oh well. We'll always have T2!

@Zeldafan79 I'm not opposed to the idea of killing John Connor personally but there are a multitude of other ways it could've been handled that would've been more emotionally effective. One shotting him like a punk even before the title card came on screen just felt like a hasty attempt to send a statement about this being different from the other ones, even if the film didn't really bother to make it feel earned or address it in any way afterwards. If anything he should've been mentoring the new girl as an adult in a sort of "passing of the torch" between the two generations of people who are fated to lead the Resistance. He could've died giving his life to save everyone else.

Ordered my next set of Blu-Rays:

• The Wizard - Essentially a 2 hour long commercial for late 80's/early 90's era Nintendo, it's probably not a very good movie in the objective sense, but it's one I've always enjoyed for the campiness of it all.
• Rebirth of Mothra I, II, & III - A 90's Mothra centric trilogy. I've never actually seen any of these I believe, but I enjoy the Godzilla movies from this era so I figured I'd bite, especially since it's a collection.
• Tomorrow Never Dies - The next Bond film in line.
• Aliens - Watched Alien sometime last year, so I figured it's finally time to follow up.

@RR529 The Mothra movies are enjoyable, but a more kid friendly affair if I remember correctly.

Would this be your first time watching Aliens?

@Losermagnet, I've seen it in parts on TV in the past, but I've never actually seen it from start to finish (same thing with the first Alien before I bought it).

@RR529 Great movie but (and apologies if you're already aware of this) there's a director's cut that adds about 17 minutes and it's one of the few cuts that may actually be worse than the theatrical. It puts the run time over 2 and a half hours and not everything it adds is gold.

@Losermagnet, I think the version I bought is some sort of 30th Anniversary edition (looks like it comes with maybe an art book and a few other things), so even if it has (and probably does have) the extended cut, I'm sure the theatrical version will be an option as well.

@RR529 most likely. Either way you go it's a great movie. I guess it's down to personal preference. Hope you like it and Mothra.

I liked the Director's Cut ....

@BruceCM i like it to, but i'm conflicted about it. Some of the stuff is great for character building, but some messes with the pacing.

Well, from what Cameron said about that, it was supposed to be like that, @Losermagnet .... It should have the option to turn on commentary & so on, so you'd know what had been cut out

@BruceCM I may be opening a whole other can of worms here....but I don't like James Cameron. I'm afraid I can't articulate why. He gave us Aliens and T2, and those are brilliant action movies. But I feel like he never could convince me of the emotion and pathos of his characters.

@Losermagnet Try Titanic. There's emotions and human loss and love and drama and some ice in that one

@jump a movie about a boat!?! I hope it has a happy ending.

Seriously though, maybe I should watch it. I've only seen it once, and that was ages ago.

the Wizard (Blu-Ray)

The Premise:

• When young Jimmy Woods is threatened with the prospect of being institutionalized due to developmental issues his parents just can't figure out, his older brother Corey takes him and runs away from home for fear he'll lose his brother. Soon it's realized that Jimmy immediately masters any video game he plays, and with the help of a worldly girl named Hailey, the trio embarks on a crosscountry trip across the desert southwest in order to reach "Video Armageddon", a competition at Universal Studios where the winner takes home $50,000 (it just so happens that their goal takes them to California, a place that Jimmy seems mysteriously obsessed with). It won't be an easy journey though, as the authorities, their parents, and a bounty hunter specialising in capturing runaway children are all hot on their trail.

The Takeaway:

• I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in (other than the fact that I remember it seemed to prominently feature Nintendo), and while it probably wouldn't be categorized as a good movie, I found it to be an overall fun one (especially for the gamers among us). The idea that a group of pre-teens could successfully hitchhike across country while avoiding all searching for them is absurd, but it makes for a silly good time (also, there's no way a film aimed at kids would be allowed to do anything similar today), plus the guy playing the bounty hunter does a terrific job playing the kind of squirrelly bad guy you just love seeing bad things happen to (the interactions between him and the boys' dad are a particular riot). As for the Nintendo/gaming presence, yeah it's pretty constant. After Jimmy gets his first shot at Double Dragon, it seems like you can't go 5 minutes without someone pulling out an NES or walking up to an arcade (and, while I'm not an expert on these things, they seem to feature NES versions of games in the arcade at times), and throughout it's runtime you'll be exposed to classic titles like Mega Man, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario Bros. 2, the climactic reveal of Super Mario Bros. 3, and more, including a meme worthy scene shilling the Power Glove ("the Power Glove, it's so bad"), or a moment where Corey likens their quest to that of Link in the Legend of Zelda. At times it feels like an overly long commercial for the Big N, and there's definitely a certain charm to that as a gamer. That said it can get surprisingly deep at times (around the halfway point it's revealed that Jimmy's twin sister drowned in front of him, which is the obvious trigger behind his problems that the adults just can't figure out for whatever reason), and I almost started to tear up at the end when it was time for him to put that tragedy to rest.

The Package:

• I've seen some bare packages before (such as Blu-Rays that lack any sort of special/extra features), but this takes the cake, as it doesn't even feature a menu! It jumps straight into the movie like a VHS would (no trailers either), and kicks you back out to the PS4 menu once the credits roll. Granted, that's not really a problem (just more of a surprise at how bare bones it is), and the actual picture quality is fantastic (I'd say it may even look a bit more impressive than a few other older, more popular, films I have).

I watched Jim Jarmusch's 'Dead Man' recently. It was one of the biggest disappointments I've had in recent memory. I could go into detail, but the abbreviated version is Jarmusch's strengths don't seem to work for the abstract western he's envisioned.

I read one review that compared it to the novel 'Blood Meridian'. Now that is more ridiculous than anything in the movie.

Just ordered my ticket for Tenet on opening day here in Belgium, 26th August, on the biggest IMAX screen available in this small country. Can't wait to go back to the theaters. It's been over 6 months. 😬

Over the weekend I watched Rebirth of Mothra (Blu-Ray)!

The Premise:

• After a Hokkaido logging company accidentally unearths an ancient seal, the family of the company boss finds themselves in the middle of an ancient battle between Luna & Mona (Mothra's tiny little retainers that regularly appear beside her) and their evil sister Belvera (new for this film, I believe) who aims to undo the seal and unleash Desghidorah upon the world, a prehistoric threat Mothra sealed away millions of years ago. With the titular Kaiju near the end of her natural life, she may not have the strength left to go another round. It has an environmentalist tone, and doesn't feature Godzilla (the first of a late 90's solo Mothra trilogy).

The Takeaway:

• In many ways it differentiated itself from the typical "Godzilla VS" films (beyond the lack of the big guy), with the rivalry between the sisters giving it a slight "Magical Girl" vibe at times, it included a memorable aerial dogfight inside a living room which is just so different to what you'd expect in a Kaiju film in terms of the small scale destruction & quick speed, which I enjoyed. That said, when it came to the big fight it was no slouch either, with Desghidorah having an awesome design more akin to a traditional dragon (in comparison to King Ghidorah), with some weighty combat (the way it tore into Mothra's catipillar form was surprisingly brutal), and a plethora of special attacks (each monster had at least a half dozen, including a bizzare moment where Mothra bombarded her opponent with a swarm of glowing moths, which is a greater variety than you usually see in Godzilla flicks, outside of Mechagodzilla's diverse loadouts). Of course the special effects can be pretty hoaky, which is par for the course when it comes to the genre, but I actually had a pretty good time with it (dare I say I enjoyed it more than any "Godzilla VS" films I've seen in recent memory).

The Package:

• It didn't have a lot of bells & whistles, but as with the Godzilla films I have, it has the film's Japanese Theatrical & TV spots. These seem to be translated more literally than the film itself, with the subtitles referring to Belvera as Berbera, and more interestingly, Desghidorah as Death Ghidorah (I imagine this was changed in the film itself as the American distributors probably didn't want to have a monster with Death in it's name in a movie largely marketed towards kids, though that's just a guess).

I saw Tenet today.
Like many of Nolan's movies, this one's a real puzzle. Slowly but surely all the pieces fit together and you start seeing the bigger picture. I love it when he succeeds in doing that. Only this time, about halfway through the movie, he manages to turn everything you thought you knew back on its head and it will make you rethink everything you saw until that point. Great soundtrack, great acting, great cinematography, great practical effects,...
I LOVED IT!

Draw me like one of your French girls