Topic: Movie thread.

Yeah for how long the movie is, it is odd that such important elements of the story - like Bond’s relationship with Madeleine - aren’t enriched further. They share absolutely no on screen chemistry, and while giving Bond some vulnerability isn’t a bad thing, Craig’s Bond was always defined as being a bit of a hammer. I liked this about his Bond, and right at the dying moments suddenly asking me to care about him through a cipher family seemed a bit much.

This is much like with the antagonist, I have already forgotten their name - if I ever knew it in the first place - given they best Bond, it is kinda bizarre they aren’t really established at all and it feels like they are in the film for about five minutes.

BUT, I wouldn’t say any of the other Craig films are much better written. They are full of Saturday Morning Cartoon narratives, terrible portrayals of Women, weak villains and the general awkwardness of them seemingly never knowing if they were going for a clean reboot or some kind of “requel” which created all kinds of muddled narrative developments. This was all coupled with what I’d argue is a bunch of films that also have far worse pacing and set pieces. I’d say Skyfall was definitely better than this, but I’d argue all of the other Craig Bond films were way more boring than this was.

I did a mini-binge and watched

Nightmare Before Christmas: For a first viewing I thought it was decent

Rock 'N Roll Highschool: It sucked but the Ramones songs were good.

I want Lashana Lynch to be the next 007. I loved her performance.

On an entirely unrelated note. Should I see Avatar in 3D or RPX 3D?

Mom and I had a bit of a Christmas movie marathon this afternoon. We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Blu-Ray), Trolls Holiday In Harmony (Hulu), All I Want For Christmas Is You (Peacock), and Eloise at Christmastime (DVD). We both enjoyed ourselves watching movies and even ordered some Chinese food.

Yes, All I Want For Christmas is a movie based on the Mariah Carey song, it's an animated one about a girl named Mariah wanting a puppy more than anything for Christmas, so her dad tasks her to take care of a puppy named Jack that belongs to her uncle, to see if she's up to the task. In a twist, turns out Jack was a stray and the story about it being the uncle's puppy was a story Mariah's dad made up, and she ends up wanting Jack more than her dream puppy. Cute movie, they worked in Mariah Carey's music well IMHO.

It was a fun afternoon watching some Christmas movies.

I just watched Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio and without spoiling it I give it a 10/10!

@Kermit1Pineapple That's already out? Had no idea.

Will admit, getting two Pinocchio movies in one year feels kinda nostalgic. I remember as a kid, the original Disney Pinocchio got me watching other adaptations of it (I remember one with Sandy Duncan playing Pinocchio). Having the Disney remake and this in the same year feels nostalgic to me.

@Sunsy kinda surprised me too lol

If you do watch it I highly recommend watching the bts doc of it (even Toby from Labyrinth worked on the film lol)

Three.

@HotGoomba ^{_{oh... that one}}

What's the name of the movie that takes place in the near future where there are giant monster aliens and some guy has to help the president's daughter or something cross the border from Mexico? It's kind of a low budget indie. The genre is suspense, I suppose.

@Gryffin Love & Monsters?

That's not it
I have been meaning to watch it though. Thanks for the guess.

@Gryffin Monsters (2010)?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/

That's it! Great movie. Thanks

@Gryffin I knew my vast knowledge of IMDB would come in handy one day lol. Glad I could help!

Saw The Grinch this morning, local theater had a special showing of it that actually sold out. This was the Illumination version, which happens to be one of my favorite adaptations of it. Had a great time experiencing this one on the big screen, and noticed little details I never noticed before. For example, "Who's Hungry Bakery" or the 3000 on The Grinch's Reindeer horn, or Max throwing Fred the reindeer a look during a scene from when you can see the whole table on screen. Had a good time, and the theater was packed. As a bonus, the theater even had Santa and Mrs. Claus there for the kids in attendance.

That makes Star Wars: A New Hope, Trolls World Tour, and The Grinch, three movies I saw at home first then in a theater. Also, they encouraged wearing pajamas, so I wore some Trolls pajama pants to the movie with my favorite Christmas themed Trolls shirt, lol. I have no Grinch related clothes.

@Kermit1Pineapple Noted then, I love BTS stuff. In fact, that's why I geeked out at the Pinocchio remake ending, since I saw the scrapped idea on the classic Pinocchio DVD bonus features. There's just some magic with BTS stuff that makes it fun to watch.

@HotGoomba Now I'm trying to remember, what's the third Pinocchio movie?

@Sunsy that's one reason I adore Jim Henson almost all of his works have BTS and I watched them at a young age and the thought that anyone can make a film has stuck with me.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika I forgot about this one, and I never seen a trailer to it. I actually can't get used to hearing Pauly Shore voicing Pinocchio, lol.

My Neighbor Totoro (Blu-Ray)

Probably the most famous anime film I've never seen, until now that is.

Not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it was a bit slower than I'd imagined. That said it was gorgeously animated and the pacing must have worked well as I absolutely teared up during the climax. I can only imagine it would have been a favorite of mine growing up if I'd gotten to it earlier.

Watched The Grinch again, but on DVD. Did an encore, and watched it with mom since the theater trip was just me and my friend.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Yeah, doesn't look like something I'd watch either, this is coming from a guy who enjoys adaptations of Pinocchio and animated stuff.

@RR529 Another one I need to watch, have a feeling I will someday since my friend is getting me into the Studio Ghibli movies.