Topic: Movie thread.

@TheJGG Speaking of his visual style I listened to a podcast interview with him and I was really surprised to learn he doesn't edit his own films. For a typical director it's not that shocking but considering he has this very recognizable style of quick cuts, call back jokes and visual cues I was sure he would be in the editing room to make sure it all pulls together.

In a way it's sad he's not a bigger director as everything he does looks so great so I'd love to see what he can do with a blockbuster budget as besides Scott Pilgrim which sadly flopped on release all of his films have been pretty small considering what happenes on the screen. Perhaps he's too indie for that and would have to give up too much control like with what allegedly happened with his Marvel movie.

Apparently Avatar has retaken the highest grossing theatrical release from Avengers: Endgame after China re-released it in theaters.

It was $7 Million behind Endgame, but it's currently made $33 Million since the re-release.

@RR529 I wonder if they did that just so they can re-release the Blu-Rays with the subtitle; The Highest Grossing Movie Ever.

So... Zack Snyder's Justice League came out and I have zero intention of watching it. It's way too long, rivalling even the hardiest of Lord of the Rings movies, at 4h2m. Apparently reviews say it's better than the original, so that proves Snyder's vision for this film was better than Joss "Abuser" Whedon's. The creation of that cut is a tale of despair, so it's great that this project was finally realised in the end.

Zack Snyder is a really good editor, I can't wait to see how he improves Joss Whedon's other Marvel movies.

I don't think they did a good enough job explaining why Wolverine, Hell Boy and the other Avengers were not about. That's kinda the problem with shared universes like they never explain why the characters don't help each other in their own movies like why didn't Wonder Woman and Captain America didn't help each other in WWII.

The cheap CGI was annoying, Thanos looked at lo better in Infinity War and they should have explained Darkseid is his secret identity like how Spider Man is actually the normal guy Ben Reilly.

Shame there was no Stan Lee cameo, he created all of these comics so it's fitting he should be in it even if it's the rubbish ones.

The recasting of Vision was weird, I assuming he was black in the comics so they had to get rid of Paul Bettany for woke big tech agenda but they handled it really badly with "I have lots of names now I'm Martian Manhunter" to explain the change.

@TheJGG, the Avatar re-release was more of a Chinese theater industry decision more than anything. They re-opened their theaters a lot earlier than other places, but since Hollywood output has pretty much been on a standstill they started a program where they re-released a number of Hollywood films that had traditionally been popular in the region.

I'm sure Disney doesn't mind either way. Avatar or Avengers it's the mouse who wins in the end.

A couple movies I watched over the last weekend.

Street Fighter II: the Animated Movie (Amazon Prime Video) - Anime adaptation of the popular game. The villainous M. Bison's "Shadaloo" terrorist organization has been kidnapping talented "street fighters" and brainwashing them into terrorist super soldiers. After discovering Ryu's hidden potential it's a race between Shadaloo & Interpol/the US military (represented by Chun-Li & Guile) to find the wandering warrior first.

It may lack an award winning narrative, but I think it succeeds in the areas that matter here. The animation holds up remarkably well, with great detail paid to the fighters' physiques & iconic special attacks. Most (if not all) of the playable fighters of the era make an appearance here and are involved in at least one tussle, so if you're a fan of the franchise I really can't think of anything to dislike here. There's a scene involving Vega stalking Chun-Li in her apartment that's grippingly tense, and the fight that follows is perhaps the most memorable in the film.

Content Guide:

Language (Average) - Typical PG-13 fare.

Violence (High) - It's not super gory or anything, but it's a movie with a lot of detail dedicated to people punching each other in the face, which makes it's bloody moments hit hard.

Nudity/Sex (Average) - There's one gratuitous shower scene featuring Chun-Li which shows off her "B" buttons (bad pun?), but otherwise nothing to note, other than a bizarre scene where Bison is torturing a nude Ken for some reason (though there's no detail down south).

Kentucky Fried Movie (Amazon Prime Video) - Film made up of various parody skits that lampoon various aspects of 70's pop culture & society (as that's when it was made).

It's obviously a bit aged in spots, but there were still a few skits that illicited a chuckle or two. There was at least one I actively didn't care for, and I thought the middle one dragged on a bit (it was a parody of Bruce Lee films with a few Bond nods as well, and it took up maybe half the run time), but overall an interesting curiosity as long as you know what you're getting into (funnily enough there's a 50's courtroom skit that features Tony Dow & Jerry Mathers in character as Wally & Beaver from Leave it to Beaver in the crowd).

Content Guide:

Language (Average) - PG-13 type stuff.

Violence (Mild) - More of a crass comedy, I'm not sure if I recall much blood at all. Some clearly fake scratches in the martial arts skit is probably the worst of it.

Nudity/Sex (Extreme) - It's a crass 70's comedy, with one of the skits specifically making fun of the adult film industry of the era, so it's full of boobs.

Movies I watched last weekend.

the Lady & the Tramp 2019 (Disney+) - Another live action Disney remake, this time a doggy love story that follows Lady, the pampered pet of an upper crust early 20th century couple, as she meets up and gets romanced by Tramp, a street wise stray with a distrust of humans.

It was cute, but otherwise nothing else much to say about it.

Content Guide:

Language (None)

Violence (None)

Nudity/Sex (None)

the Black Cauldron (Disney+) - A mid 80's effort from the house of mouse, it's a traditional fantasy yarn in which the young farmhand Taran dreams of heroic adventure. Be careful what you wish for however, as he finds himself guardian of an oracle pig named Hen Wen, and when the villainous Horned King seeks out the oinker in order to locate the wearabouts of the titular Black Cauldron (housing the soul of an evil king, it can be used to summon an army of the undead), Taran finds himself thrust into the adventure he's always wanted.

I've heard that this was much darker than most other Disney fare, and that rings true. The Horned King has a genuinely frightening design, and an absolute ton of effort went into making his castle absolutely hauntingly nightmarish, with some fantastic special effects on display. Unfortunately that's all the film really has going for it, with a plot & cast that's generic to a fault (I didn't even take to the comic relief sidekick creature thing), it took me a whole day after the fact to even remember the main kid's name.

Content Guide:

Language (None)

Violence (Mild) - Just some bloodless cartoon fantasy swordplay.

Nudity/Sex (None)

@RR529 Sonic’s on Hulu? That seems like a weird streaming service for such a child-friendly film.

I’ve been watching all the Marvel movies and I’ve been enjoying most of them! I had heard good things about WandaVision and decided to watch it all. So far my favourite has been The Avengers (the first one), but I’m only on Ant-Man. I’ve also watched WandaVision, even though it’s in Phase Four haha.

@BabyYoda71, I don't see what's so odd about it. Sure Disney is using Hulu to host the mature rated content/franchises they inherited from Fox (since they don't want to put them on Disney+), but they seem to have a decent selection of kids stuff too, like I think some of the Pokemon movies & the Animaniacs.

@RR529 Disney+ have added Starz and slowly rolling them out country by country for adult content. I've been watching all sorts of horrible things, from Aubrey Plaza having weird sex scenes, Bruce Willis murdering people and cartoon with mean jokes.

DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING!

I know I'm saying this six days after the official announcement but there's a Ghost of Tsushima movie in the works. I'm extremely excited because the game itself has a lot of cinematic quality already, with letterboxing, very beautiful scenery and the music. Chad Stahleski, the director of the John Wick films, is set to direct this as well, so we can expect some slick and creative action scenes at least.

Three actors I think should return for the movie are Daisuke Tsuji, Patrick Gallagher, and Sumalee Montano as Jin Sakai, Yuna, and Khotun Khan respectively. They did facial capture so of course they'll all look identical, but their voices are what set them apart. The Khan is absolutely terrifying, and a beast of a man as we see in various cutscenes, and Patrick Gallagher has experience in these kinds of roles, he played Atilla the Hun in Night in the Museum. Daisuke Tsuji will have to buff up and train but he's the original Jin. He was really good in it as well. And Sumalee Montano has a lot of screen experience as well.

@TheJGG It's a video game movie, it will still suck ;p

@jump Lately they've been getting better, especially after 2017. Detective Pikachu and Sonic were very positive steps. I haven't seen Detective Pikachu but it was really well relieved.

@TheJGG I was joking but if the bar is set to the high standards of Sonic then it does prove my pont. ;p

Apologies, @jump I've been on high alert today because of April Fools jokes. It's almost the end of the day and I haven't been tricked so it's been a clinical experience.

So will the Ghost of Tsushima film, I have faith it'll be a very good experience.

@jump, yeah, I think they're starting to add more adult content outside the US (I think they recently added Family Guy in Canada & a few other countries), but within the States I think they're still segregating that kind of content to Hulu, which they also own.

@RR529 I know very little about Hulu, so I guess I was just comparing it to Star, which has nothing specifically for kids haha.

@ToadBrigade I’m really excited for some of them! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch any of the Spider-Man movies since they’re not on Disney+. I originally watched Black Panther when it came out, but now it’ll probably be even better since I’ll recognize the characters.

@RR529 Star is basically Hulu for all the other countries.

@RR529 Family Guy is part of Star on Disney+ in Canada which is where they are keeping their miscreant shows and movies from now on.

It's disgusting, there's this one part where Samuel L Jackson uses racial slurs and then talks about sexual relations with a parent, there's a propaganda film about monkey evolution on some planet and Jason Lee is promoting an Indian religion!

DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING!

I watched Automata, a sci-fi flick with Antonio Banderas. It was good enough for me to watch the whole thing - scratched my itch for a new sci-fi movie.

Side note: I thought that American Gods series is decent.